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Tillis, Cornyn 'are onlygoing to be remembered for Trump' · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: With that, let's enter the group chat.
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  Speaker 2: Basil Snipel is here, Democratic strategists and former executive director
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  Speaker 2: of the New York State Democratic Party. Stuart Stevens a
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  Speaker 2: veteran of the Mitt Romney and George W.
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  Speaker 1: Bush presidential campaigns.
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  Speaker 2: He is now with the Lincoln Project and Liz Smith,
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  Speaker 2: Democratic strategists and senior advisor to political organizations Majority Democrats
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  Speaker 2: and the Bench and MS NOW Congressional reporter Michael Schnell.
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  Speaker 1: What's your reaction to what we just saw?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I used to work for these guys.
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  Speaker 3: It's incredibly depressing. And if we're talking for you on
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  Speaker 3: the air, so corner until us are never going to
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  Speaker 3: run again, and what's in it for them? The thing
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  Speaker 3: that sounds me about these moments is most politicians are
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  Speaker 3: pretty big egos, Which that's okay. So do athletes got
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  Speaker 3: those writers doing musicians? That's fine? Why don't they see
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  Speaker 3: how they look?
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  Speaker 4: Like?
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  Speaker 3: How humiliating it is to someone like Cornyan who is
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  Speaker 3: on the Supreme Court of Texas, highly respected, a former
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  Speaker 3: attorney general. First he's defeated by a guy he would
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  Speaker 3: have put in jail. Kem Paxy Campassi, how'd that work out?
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  Speaker 3: John you know, I mean, you could have said who
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  Speaker 3: you were, and now he's saying stuff that were he
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  Speaker 3: on the other side, he would rip apart the argument.
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  Speaker 3: He's a very smart guy and what do you why
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  Speaker 3: You're going to live the rest of your life and
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  Speaker 3: this is going to be your big moment, last big moment.
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  Speaker 3: And I think all these guys are only going to
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  Speaker 3: be remembered all the stuff they think that, all the
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  Speaker 3: stuff they think they'll be remembered for. I think it's
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  Speaker 3: like segregation. They're only going to be remembered for Trump.
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  Speaker 3: Nobody remembers the bridges that Jimmyslin built or the loans
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  Speaker 3: he got.
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  Speaker 4: For like this.
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  Speaker 3: He was a segregationist. And I think that's how this
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  Speaker 3: whole generation of Republican senators are going to go down.
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  Speaker 2: Except of course this we all live in a world
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  Speaker 2: of short termsm Donald Trump and his inner circle, and
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  Speaker 2: at this point in the second term, even his outer circle,
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  Speaker 2: are becoming obscenely wealthy.
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  Speaker 1: Whether it's the crypto business, whether.
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  Speaker 2: It's private investments, whether it's going to invest in companies
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  Speaker 2: that the president is then going to have the government
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  Speaker 2: invest in. They find out this information, they invest and
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  Speaker 2: they are becoming obscenely wealthy. We don't know for sure,
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  Speaker 2: We don't even we can't even necessarily guess, But we
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  Speaker 2: don't know that any of these guys are cutting deals
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  Speaker 2: like that. But the amount of money that's being made
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  Speaker 2: in Trump's universe, who knows. If you're John Cornyn or
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  Speaker 2: your Tom Tillis and you're looking to retire, maybe you'd
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  Speaker 2: like to retire with a vacation house.
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  Speaker 1: Or a boat.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's how mobs work.
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  Speaker 2: And that's where Donald Trump learned business right here in
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  Speaker 2: New York City.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. No, I think I think you're absolutely right. And
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  Speaker 4: you know the fact that Blanche consistently says, I'm his
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  Speaker 4: personal attorney. I'm his attorney. I'm his attorney. It's signaling
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  Speaker 4: right that you could make any decision you want, but
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  Speaker 4: recognize I'm still very close to this man. No matter
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  Speaker 4: what position I have, no matter what accountability you want
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  Speaker 4: to uh, you want to superimpose over my responsibilities, I
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  Speaker 4: am his attorney. So whatever it is that he asked
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  Speaker 4: me to do, I am going to continue to do.
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  Speaker 4: That's not just about running the department. It's also going
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  Speaker 4: after the people he doesn't like or blessing the people
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  Speaker 4: that he does like right, And so to me, there
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  Speaker 4: was no other option for these guys because, as you said,
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  Speaker 4: and he's indicated, there's a life after being elected or
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  Speaker 4: unelected to office that they want to have and it's
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  Speaker 4: largely find you know, I imagine that the financial benefit
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  Speaker 4: to them to try to make and this is the
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  Speaker 4: thing that this is the point that I think addresses
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  Speaker 4: your issue about the shame that they don't seem to have.
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  Speaker 4: In my view, they feel that the financial windfall makes
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  Speaker 4: it all go away in some in some in some world,
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  Speaker 4: and if they can get on his good side on
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  Speaker 4: their way out, they will find a way to do that.
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  Speaker 4: That doesn't improve our lives, but it certainly improves their
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  Speaker 4: individual lives.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what about now even changing what the attorney general's
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  Speaker 2: job is? Right, It wasn't long ago that Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions,
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  Speaker 2: who deeply supported Donald Trump and his politics, said this
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  Speaker 2: doesn't work for me. Even Bill Barr so Todd Blanch
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  Speaker 2: basically deferring to the president on everything, and then there
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  Speaker 2: are no consequences if the president doesn't follow that legal advice.
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  Speaker 2: Haven't we now changed what the role is for the
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  Speaker 2: attorney general in the United.
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  Speaker 4: States, of course, But Donald, this is this is the
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  Speaker 4: Trump era. This is as you talk about progressive candidates.
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  Speaker 4: This is why progressives have the energy that they do
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  Speaker 4: because they do not believe that any of the institutions
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  Speaker 4: that we hold dear are durable enough to withstand what's
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  Speaker 4: being done to them right now. So maybe we need
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  Speaker 4: to rethink them.
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  Speaker 1: What's your reaction to what we want?
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  Speaker 5: So two things, you know, with both tell Us and Cornyn,
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  Speaker 5: you know, we see what they did as craven, but
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  Speaker 5: I think probably in their own heads they thought that
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  Speaker 5: they were showing some political courage by trying to draw
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  Speaker 5: a line in the sand here and get some strongly
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  Speaker 5: worded letter from Todd Blanche. But we've seen how much
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  Speaker 5: these administrations and their nominees promises mean nothing. What did
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  Speaker 5: RFK Junior promise to Bill Cassidy He wouldn't get rid
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  Speaker 5: of the vaccine schedule, he wouldn't fire all those you know,
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  Speaker 5: the people on the vaccine board.
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  Speaker 6: What did he do? Did those things? So there?
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  Speaker 1: And then Bill Cassidy loss and.
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  Speaker 6: Then Bill Cassidy loss.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 6: Maybe these guys have a humiliation cake.
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  Speaker 5: But the but the the.
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  Speaker 6: When it comes to Blanche.
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  Speaker 5: The other thing I would say is this is, yes,
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  Speaker 5: extremely extremely loyal to Donald Trump, But so was Chef's Sessions.
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  Speaker 6: So is Bill.
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  Speaker 5: Barbar, So was Bill Barr, So was uh Pam Bondy.
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  Speaker 5: And you know what they're always always comes a day
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  Speaker 5: when Donald Trump pushes the envelope too far and they're out.
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  Speaker 5: Like the job prospects for an attorney general and a
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  Speaker 5: Trump administration are not, you know, long for this world.
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  Speaker 5: So I suspect we'll see a similar thing like we're
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  Speaker 5: seeing a play out right now with Genean Piro, where
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  Speaker 5: he will push the envelope too far even for his
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  Speaker 5: personal lawyer, Todd Blanche.
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  Speaker 2: Can I just ask a political question, because to Basil's point,
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  Speaker 2: this is one of the reasons you are seeing these
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  Speaker 2: outsider very progressive In some cases DSA candidates get the
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  Speaker 2: support because people are saying, we want fighters.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the thing.
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  Speaker 2: Even if you're the toughest fighter out there, right Sheldon Whitehouse,
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  Speaker 2: who's obviously an establishment Democrat, he couldn't have been angrier.
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  Speaker 1: The rules are what the rules are.
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  Speaker 2: You could have the angriest, most burned the house down
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  Speaker 2: DSA candidates sitting in that room but it wouldn't change
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  Speaker 2: the outcome of today's.
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  Speaker 5: Hearing, right, And this is what will change the outcome
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  Speaker 5: of this hearing, electing more Democrats, And to elect more Democrats,
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  Speaker 5: we've got to expand the map and grow the tent,
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  Speaker 5: not just in the DSA way, but in a way
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  Speaker 5: where you know, we're talking about the midterms and elections today.
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  Speaker 5: Kansas has election today, Kansas has a big Senate race,
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  Speaker 5: Adam Hamilton Passer likely to come out of it.
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  Speaker 6: Cheap state, cheap date.
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  Speaker 5: Why don't we invest there, Why don't we invest there
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  Speaker 5: and expand the map. Why don't we become a party
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  Speaker 5: that again plays in these red sites. Because until we
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  Speaker 5: do that and build some sort of a durable majority,
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  Speaker 5: we are going to be in this powerless position over
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  Speaker 5: and over and over again.
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  Speaker 2: Michael, you are standing right outside that room. Let's get
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  Speaker 2: your reaction.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, well, stepf we do have some more information that
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  Speaker 7: we're learning from right outside this room. Bill Cassidy on
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  Speaker 7: the other side of the hearing room, he spoke to
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  Speaker 7: reporters as he was heading in or spotted by reporters.
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  Speaker 1: He said he has no.
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  Speaker 7: Comment still on how he's going to vote on Todd Blanche.
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  Speaker 7: So again, once this hits the floor, if Mitch McConnell,
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  Speaker 7: the Senator from Kentucky, who is still recovering from his hospitalization,
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  Speaker 7: if he remains in rehab and not here to vote,
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  Speaker 7: that means Republicans can only afford to lose two of
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  Speaker 7: their own votes and still get Todd Blanche confirmed. So
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  Speaker 7: if Bill Cassidy is on the fence, you still have
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  Speaker 7: Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins who are on the fence. Again,
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  Speaker 7: this is not going to be a glide path. And
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  Speaker 7: still this morning, Bill Cassidy not saying how he's going
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  Speaker 7: to vote. And then one more thing, we're talking a
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  Speaker 7: lot about the Anti Weaponization Fund, about the IRS immunity.
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  Speaker 7: Those are, of course the two key matters that Cornyn
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  Speaker 7: and Untilius were focused on. But one issue that is
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  Speaker 7: so prevalent and has been key in Todd Blanche's confirmation
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  Speaker 7: process is the handling of the Epstein files. Remember when
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  Speaker 7: Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General, had testified up here
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  Speaker 7: on Capitol Hill behind closed doors to the House Oversight Committee.
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  Speaker 7: She laid everything at the feet of Todd Blanche, saying
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  Speaker 7: that he was in charge of overseeing the release of documents,
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  Speaker 7: which by all accounts was botched. You had the names
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  Speaker 7: of rich and powerful individuals be blacked out, and then
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  Speaker 7: you had the information of survivors be left out to
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  Speaker 7: the public. Also the scope of documents, it's still unclear
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  Speaker 7: and many believe that not all the information has been released.
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  Speaker 7: Not to mention, Todd Blanche was the one who met
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  Speaker 7: with Gallaine Maxwell after she was transferred to a different prison,
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  Speaker 7: and that is very much so prevalent today.
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  Speaker 1: Danny Benski, an Epstein's.
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  Speaker 7: Survivor, is right now in this hearing room as senators
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  Speaker 7: are talking about the confirmation of Todd Blanche. She was
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  Speaker 7: up here last week meeting with senators on the Judiciary
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  Speaker 7: Committee dropping off copies of the Epstein files. She told
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  Speaker 7: reporters it would be a chilling effect to Epstein survivors
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  Speaker 7: across the country if Todd Blanche were confirmed.
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  Speaker 1: So a lot certainly.
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  Speaker 7: Going on today, but the Epstein matter is still key
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  Speaker 7: here and should be discussed as well.
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  Speaker 1: What do you thinks to it?
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  Speaker 3: Look, you know, I'm so glad you said this because
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  Speaker 3: the extraordinary that we have a guy first that he's
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  Speaker 3: Trump's criminal defense attorney, which is pretty extraordinary the president
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  Speaker 3: of a criminal defense attorney, but that he gets on
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  Speaker 3: a plane, spends nine hours. But the most notorious convicted
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  Speaker 3: pedophile of our time. Ot of that comes the deal
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  Speaker 3: to go to a club fed. And this is I've
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  Speaker 3: never heard of this before. It's so offended the inmates
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  Speaker 3: of the club fed that Maxwell was coming, that they protested.
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  Speaker 3: It's like, there goes the neighborhood listening Maxwell's coming. Have
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  Speaker 3: you ever heard of that? Like, no, no, no, this is
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  Speaker 3: it's off to our person standards. And he's not even
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  Speaker 3: be an ask about it now, which is sort of
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  Speaker 3: this Trump technique that you advance just something more crazy.
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  Speaker 3: So you have to talk about that, and then you
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  Speaker 3: kind of forget, well, what about the sweetheart deal with
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  Speaker 3: the pedophile?
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  Speaker 1: You know?
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  Speaker 2: In the first Trump administration, I remember speaking to someone
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  Speaker 2: in the administration as senior advisor of Trump when they
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  Speaker 2: was I don't even remember what controversy or what embarrassing
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  Speaker 2: event happened, and I was asking and he said to me,
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  Speaker 2: look up at the TV. This story will be gone
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  Speaker 2: tomorrow and there will be a new one.
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  Speaker 1: And that's exactly where we.
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  Speaker 2: Are right now, except the Epstein files and the Epstein survivors.
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  Speaker 1: They're not going away.
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  Speaker 2: They might not even be watching today's hearing. They might
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  Speaker 2: not know who Sheldon white House is. But a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people, a lot of young people who voted for
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, care a lot about those Epstein files, and
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  Speaker 2: we're watching them disappear into the ether.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, there were these two truths that was
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  Speaker 3: going to happen at base of the contemporary poking Party.
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  Speaker 3: No more Foreign Wars, any Epstein files. Here we are,
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  Speaker 3: Which if Republicans sabre terrible night in November, which I
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  Speaker 3: think they will, probably the truth is going to go
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  Speaker 3: to that. It's you know, when you don't have any
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  Speaker 3: political philosophy, you don't have any sort of conviction, no
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  Speaker 3: theory of government, which Republican Party doesn't have. Now it
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  Speaker 3: is all about just getting through the next moment. And
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  Speaker 3: that's how Trump is. They'll say anything to get through
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  Speaker 3: the next moment. And what Mark Evan says, you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's the guy at the closing time will say anything
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  Speaker 3: that you gets mighty go home with him.