Jill Biden reveals how she really felt about Joe Biden’s health whilst he was president

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0:30learns how to invest and manage money. Learn more at schwab.com. Today we are going under the radar, bringing news stories away from the main news headlines that we haven't had a chance to get into. We're going to be talking about the viral clips of football fans from all over the world, talking about what a welcoming and great country America is. And we're going to be discussing Jill Biden, who's been confessing her true feelings about that Biden versus Trump debate two years ago.

1:01If... That ended his presidential bid. Welcome to AmeriCast. AmeriCast. AmeriCast from BBC News. You hear that sound? Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it. This guy has Trump derangement syndrome. I have four words for you. Turn the volume up!

1:34It's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of AmeriCast in London, England. Hello, it's Katrina Perry joining from Washington, D.C. Katrina, you are very welcome. It's very nice to have you on. We are also going to be joined, I'm reliably informed by Marianna, but she's buzzing about doing a million things, so we're not going to wait for her. We're going to start talking about football. A lot of people saying before it, it's going to be a nightmare. It's going to be heavily politicized. There are all sorts of fears about empty seats because the ticket price is so high. There's a general kind of sense that the United States is not as welcoming.

2:08Actually, it has turned out to be, at least online, something that is the very opposite of all those things, I guess. Yeah, I think all of that's true at the same time because the ticket prices are crazy, really exorbitant. And obviously we see lawsuits proceeding in New Jersey and New York City against FIFA looking for explanations into dynamic pricing and so on. And there have been many, many tales about people not getting visas, not getting through the borders and so on. But for those who are here, it's America. I mean, we remember that fantastic World Cup in 94 that was hosted here. And I know, especially for me being from Ireland, that was a really special World Cup because we almost never get to the World Cup, including this year.

2:56And there's the same sort of fervor and fever around the place this year as well. And of course, this time around, we didn't have it in 94. We have Instagram and all the various social media platforms. So people are documenting their travels around their first encounters with Taco Bell or with McDonald's or with Waffle Houses and all this, you know, kind of standard American fare. Yeah. And talking of social media, Mariana has joined us. She's in the room. Hi, hi, Katrina. I just came running in. Yeah, I mean, this content is going mega, mega viral, which is unsurprising to some extent, because every time there's a World Cup on the whole, you see a lot of this kind of content.

3:36Like you've got fans from all over the world coming to a place, often meeting, you know, the kind of collision of cultures. But particularly in the US, I think a lot of the social media content has been about places where teams chose to make their base. So a team will decide that like a particular city or place that's convenient for them is where they're going to train in between games, because obviously the games are in loads of different places. and one of the clips that I saw pop up on my feed was a TikToker getting quite emotional about how this Louisville in Kansas has become home to Team Algeria who unfortunately lost to, well, unfortunately for them, lost to Argentina yesterday so they might not be feeling quite so joyous today.

4:16But those of the TikToks are basically this town like completely embracing the team. So you've got like restaurants with musicians playing Algerian music, like people who are like thanking Algeria for choosing Louisville. But this is a little flavor of the TikTok and an influencer saying how emotional it made her because she really liked it. Algeria decided to go to Louisville, Kansas for their host city. And the way people in Kansas have accepted them with open arms has just been the most heartwarming. Thank you to Team Algeria for choosing our hometown, Lawrence, Kansas, to come here. And so welcome.

4:51Welcome to the United States. Welcome to Kansas. I came mainly because I was so happy that they chose our town for their base camp. Everybody here has been very friendly and very welcoming, and I'm really glad Algeria is going to be here. And one, two, three, Viva Algeria! Their university also learned their national anthem and played it for them. And the people are coming out all decked out in Algeria gear. I have to say, none of that surprises me. Knowing you pans us a bit and knowing, you know, and you and I have both travelled around, Mariana, together and separately, we travelled around those parts of the United States.

5:31There is a kind of, it's an almost naive pleasure in the world. Also, it's just a culture that I guess, and I don't know whether this is fair, I think it probably is fair, that there'll be lots of people in the States who, because of the States are so big, like don't necessarily travel outside of it. And so to have these cultures come to them to places that they might never go to is kind of amazing, really. Like to deliberately embrace the culture because you're welcoming a team there is quite a special thing. And one of the things about the World Cup that's so positive. And I think that one of the reasons why that influencer says they were crying is because they said they've been concerned about issues like Islamophobia or just kind of anti-immigration sentiment in the US.

6:08And to see that reminded them that there are lots and lots of Americans who very much embrace other cultures and don't kind of harbour negative feeling towards someone who's Muslim or otherwise. and I think that what's really interesting, like I investigate all the bad stuff on social media so a lot of the time I'm seeing the really negative stuff, often very extreme content or often the kind of like troll, rage bait style content that we see even come out of the White House and a lot of this social media content around the World Cup feels really at odds with the kind of like political online world which is quite refreshing because you're probably hearing and seeing from a lot of people whose voices are not often represented online in the same way.

6:43Katrina, that's the point, isn't it? This is the real America. It really is. It really is. Yeah. I mean, you know, when you travel around outside of the big cities and you talk to people and they hear your accent and that you're not American, even outside of the World Cup, any of us, I find they're so welcoming. Particularly Irish, Katrina. Well, yeah, you said it. You said it. Yeah, you just get this incredible warmth, I find. And people are genuinely interested where you're from, what it's like in your country, in your culture. And, you know, they love hearing how we'll say we grew up in secondary school watching American teen shows, as they all did.

7:23And, you know, for many people, that's your sort of first taste of American culture, isn't it? We were actually speaking to the mayor of Lawrence on one of my shows yesterday and it was infectious and contagious, the joy coming across how their town has just completely become Algerian. They've changed the chant that they usually say at high school football matches and all of this to reflect Algeria. And so you hope that that kind of carries on beyond that as well. You know, all these promises to stay in touch and sort of have cultures can be turned into that soft power. Yeah. Oh, they do. I feel like they will.

8:00Yeah. I feel like they give strong pen friend energy. Oh, they stay in touch. I mean, I used to go around Kansas and places. You sound like you don't. So much fan mail. It's so hard. I know. I tell you what I'm thinking about, OK. OK, tease me if you like. But here's my story of getting in touch. I'm doing my usual kind of basically Hugh Grant impersonation in Louisiana. And we're at the prison. There's an extraordinary prison called Angola in Louisiana, a bit north of New Orleans. And it's actually in many respects a very, very gloomy place, as you can imagine. It has a death row, et cetera, et cetera.

8:39And I get on very well with these guys we're talking to who are in for long stretches. and one of them then actually does get in touch with me when he comes back to Washington, D.C. Slightly to my horror at first, I'll be perfectly honest, but actually an incredibly friendly guy and I think he'd been in for quite a long stretch. And it always strikes me that in the outside world, I don't know of another country where there is that sense of genuine kind of openness and it's weird because it goes alongside all that we know about American foreign policy and all the things that have been done by various presidents of various hues down the years, etc.

9:18There is this sort of core in the United States. I suspect, Katrina, it is partly because it is so huge. And, you know, as Marianna was saying, a lot of people don't travel much and a lot of people don't have passports, still don't. No, that's exactly it. And I found before I moved here, I mean, I've been here on and off for 10 years now, that I found it extraordinary that people wouldn't have passports, especially, you know, coming from a small island as I do. Everyone has a passport from weeks after you're born, practically. But then I realized America is not really a country. It's more like a continent of itself, as in U.S.

9:53being, you know, it's more comparable to the European Union or something, where you don't have to leave the U.S. to have different climates, different food. You can have a skiing holiday and a beach holiday all just in a drive. But, you know, it's like any nation, isn't it? the people are different to the politicians and policy is set at one level and people operate their lives just keeping on keeping on and getting through. I do think it's worth saying that these images of openness and really welcoming America do also feel a little bit at odds with some of the decisions that were made in the build-up to the tournament so we did see examples of where fans were not able to travel to the US or very specifically a referee for example you might have I've heard that story about the Somalian referee, Omar Artan, who's 34 years old, was going to be one of the youngest referees to be part of the tournament.

10:44And he was really excited about it, had been posting loads of social content. And in terms of what we know about why he was denied entry, a Trump administration source said that the individual was seeking admission to the US. Upon further exception by custom and border protection, derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organizations, was discovered making the traveler ineligible for admission to the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act. And Artan didn't reply to the BBC's request for comment, but he did speak to New York Times. And he said this was just after it happened.

11:16And he said he was questioned by border officials over his links to Somali militant group Al-Shabaab and had told them he knew nothing about the group. One of the reasons why I think people online are sort of guzzling up the content of America being open and free is because so much of the discourse prior to it was around these issues, issues of fan entry, issues of SNL entry. The irony is, though, with that, that a lot of these people will have voted for Donald Trump. I mean, you can be both things. You can be very much a Trump supporter, but you can also believe in gun rights and the anti-abortion and all the other things that are kind of in other parts of the world, particularly among liberal people.

11:52Oh, goodness, the United States has gone down this avenue. It's those same people often. And it's this, you know, sort of concept of the fear of the other. Like if you don't know people from other places and you haven't met them, you're sort of into this sort of protectionist space, which many politicians here have really leaned into and some would say really exploited. And, you know, the president likes to say over and over, doesn't he, immigrants who come to the US being rapists and murderers. And, you know, he has that sentence he uses where, you know, all the bad ones are sent here and that kind of thing.

12:28OK, another subject, Marianna, Jill Biden. She's back. She is back. She's been back in the news because she's doing interviews about her new book. And she said she wants to, quote, set the record straight. Most of the conversation and a lot of these interviews have ended up focusing on her view of what was going on with her husband while he was president, particularly his health. And there's a discussion about, for example, that very infamous Donald Trump, Joe Biden debate where Biden was heavily criticised for stumbling his words, not answering questions. And now Jill Biden has actually told CBS News she thought her husband was having a stroke during the debate.

13:08Here she is talking to Rita Braver about how she felt watching her husband during the debate. Were you horrified as you saw it unfold? I wasn't horrified. I was frightened because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never since. Yes. Never seen. Never. No. What happened? I don't know what happened. I mean, when I as I watched it, I thought, oh, my God, he's having a stroke. And it scared me to death. Which has to be said is not what she said at the time. So this is just after the debate when they visited that watch party together. I can't thank you all enough for staying and for being here and for all your support.

14:01Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts.

14:09And let me ask the crowd, what did Trump do? Why? Yes. So, Joe, I'm going to hand it over to you because we have such a great group of supporters here. So thank you all for coming. And everyone, Katrina, will remember this debate. But it is worth saying this was the moment that everything collapsed. So there had been a definite effort to keep him there by his team, by the man himself. He did the debate. It was just shocking to America. Well, I say shocking. I mean, it was horrifying. But actually, I think in a sense, not shocking to most Americans, because most Americans were perfectly calmly aware that he shouldn't be running again.

14:56That was the view among Republicans. It was among Democrats, a view pretty much among everyone except them. And I just wonder, Katrina, the rehashing of it all, it's not ideal for Democrats, is it, that she's doing this book tour at all, frankly? No, I mean, I was in Atlanta that night at that debate and you could have heard a pin drop, you know, sort of that half an hour or so through that first answer that Joe Biden really stumbled on talking about COVID and losing his way. And you even see Donald Trump sort of looking at him like, what's going on here? system, making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with.

15:45Look, if we finally beat Medicare. Thank you, President Biden. President Trump? He's right. He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death and he's destroying Medicare because And, you know, it's spurred all of that big debate, as you say. Gosh, it feels like it feels like a fever dream at this point, giving everything that's happened that's just coming up to two years ago now. But Democrats need this discussion brought up, as one said to me, like a hole in the head at this point in time. You know, they're trying to move beyond all of that infighting, all of what was seen as, you know, protecting a party elder.

16:23and there have been books written about who was protecting him, who wasn't protecting him. So there's been a lot of blowback against Jill Biden over the last few weeks since her book came out that she's now saying this, other people saying, why didn't you say that at the time? I think what's difficult for Jill Biden here is when, for example, she's giving an interview like the one we were discussing before, where she says, I've not seen him like that before or since. And, you know, there's that since. And she's like, yes, since. the issue is is that in the sort of very online age it's it's very possible to find lots of examples of where where joe biden doesn't seem super capable of talking or has forgotten something or got something wrong or got himself in a muddle since then and so i think that this wasn't like the only time where there was a sudden moment of war and and and the before as well obviously all the before when he was president but i think that the ability for people now to essentially investigate this stuff for themselves and to be like, oh, hang on a second, well, what was happening here and here and here and here means that you can't really set upon a narrative and say, right, this is what I'm going to say happened because other people will be like, well, hold on a second.

17:33I just, I don't know what you think, Katrina. I mean, Jill Biden, there's a sort of slightly kind of Lady Macbeth side to her. I think it would be better for the Democrats if she just hadn't written the book and just disappeared, frankly, which a lot of people felt should be the fate of the Bidens after the mistake that they made in trying to hang on. The real sting in the tail here, potentially, that has Democrats really quaking and quivering is that one of the Jill Biden book events in New York, Joe Biden was there and said something along the lines of, well, wait till you see my book. It's out in September.

18:08In September, like, you know, a few weeks before the country goes to the polls for the midterms. Now, we haven't been able to get official confirmation of exactly the publication date. But, you know, a few operatives who are trying to sort of swing seats are saying, oh, my goodness, what is going to be in this book? It's going to take over the media narrative for weeks upon end. And, you know, at the time when we least need it. One thing that's interesting that actually I think I kind of know the answer to this question. but nonetheless I think it's worth discussing which is so much of the the narrative now unfolds on social media I feel like the whole kind of like book circuit headlines that derive from those books is almost like feels like you're in two parallel realities I mean some of it does travel like particularly viral clips will travel comments that are deliberately being made on social media will travel and stuff that is like big headline news will obviously get loads and loads of pickup but it is kind of interesting because it's almost like past it like it's almost like the internet's moved on, it's not as interested.

19:08Yeah. Is that true, Katrina, do you think? I think it depends who you are and what you're looking at. You know, I mean, we all get really obsessed about like the latest political happening and who's saying what about who. But to the extent that voters are caught up on that kind of stuff, I don't know. I mean, the writing of a book is a rite of passage here, isn't it? Especially if you want to run for office. And, you know, J.D. Vance just dropped his second book yesterday. He did five or six interviews on all the big US networks yesterday about that. So we'll expect to hear a lot from him in the coming days as he's kind of shipping that book around the place.

19:47But I think there's still there's still a merit in it. But it's like anything. It's it's the clips that tell the story. How many people will actually go and read these books, but they will see those little clips? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And how political people are. I mean, you're right to draw attention to the fact that they're not. I mean, that's one of the reasons why small-town America is so wonderful. People don't give up monkeys about politics, do they, between elections? Anyhow, let us turn to other matters, because we have promised to as many things as we can fit in. A very different subject.

20:18Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's former personal attorney. He wants to make him now the Attorney General. Katrina, just tell us, give us a kind of thumbnail sketch of Todd Blanche, because I think everyone's sort of vaguely aware of him because he's had sort of walk-on parts, hasn't he? But who is he? He has, yeah. He's going from a walk-on part into a main character at this point. But people will be familiar with Todd Blanche from before Donald Trump came back into office when he was facing all the various lawsuits, particularly the hush money trial around Stormy Daniels in New York. And Todd Blanche would be there standing beside President Trump as the president or former president as he was then, would give these long lengthy remarks after court every day.

21:05It was Todd Blanche who was standing up in court doing a lot of the arguing, the advocating for Donald Trump. He actually left his law firm in order to be sort of solely representing Donald Trump. So that's how close the relationship is. Then you fast forward to Donald Trump getting reelected, being back in office. and he was trying to kind of find appointments for many of those who'd been loyal to them and who he trusted and he decided at that point to make Pam Bondi Attorney General which is basically the chief prosecutor for the US. She was another loyalist of Donald Trump's from Florida. We know how things have fared for Pam Bondi, not in the role anymore, largely having to resign over the way the Jeffrey Epstein situation was handled and so there's a vacancy.

21:56So Donald Trump says, I know a guy, my very loyal, close friend, personal attorney, Todd Blanche, who is now in the post as acting attorney general. The way it works, he has to be confirmed by the Senate up on Capitol Hill. So he's got to go through hearings. There's a vote at a committee stage and then there's a vote of the whole Senate. Then he's Senate confirmed and he's sworn into office and away he goes. I have to say, Katrina, The Donald Trump endorsement of him for the job is well worth listening to. And we should listen to it now. So just because it's pure Trump. So this is Donald Trump praising Todd Blanche.

22:35It's a speech in the Rose Garden at the Rose Garden Club dinner, even just last month. Let's listen. We have a man who's doing a great job. I'll tell you, I knew it because he kept me out of jail for years. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. she kept me out of jail, they would indict me left and right. The crooked Democrats, you know, it's amazing. They impeach me, they indict me. And then when I get in office, if I say something like, well, maybe that should be looked into weaponization. And we want to keep it the way it is what we have now. We have great law enforcement. Now we have law enforcement that loves our country.

23:16I mean, just a country. First of all, the thing that it brings home to me is just what the jeopardy was actually for Donald Trump. Because when he says he kept me out of jail, he's not joking, is he? I mean, he really genuinely thinks that, I think, that there was a serious jeopardy. And we used to talk about it a lot, the serious jeopardy that he was under. So you would, in those circumstances, wouldn't you, feel very, very grateful and very close to the people who you thought were responsible for your freedom. Indeed. I mean, I think that's a natural human reaction, isn't it? And he's had Todd Blanche around him in this administration as Deputy Attorney General.

23:50But this step up is quite a remarkable one in terms of, you know, there's a direct line from the President to the Attorney General in any administration. It's a very close relationship, particularly close in this case, especially with some of the reporting that's come out of the Department of Justice in the last year and a half. And obviously we saw a whole pile of lawyers fired. We saw a whole pile quit because they didn't want to sort of represent the government in the cases that they were being asked to represent. So there's a whole sort of chaos pool in the Department of Justice as well. And now we have Donald Trump wanting to put Todd Blanche in there.

24:33And of course, there are Republicans, aren't there, in the Senate who no longer feel the connection to Donald Trump that they once had. Shall I just put it like that? So people effectively have been forced out by him. Tom Tillis in North Carolina who's decided to go but John Cornyn in Texas who actually has been forced out by Donald Trump and the question I suppose Katrina well you can answer it possibly is whether they're going to support this or not and whether it matters Well they are two big questions that we don't know the answers to yet and those individuals and a couple of others are members of what's known as the YOLO caucus you only live once or less politely called the DGAF caucus which is don't give a F, star, star, star.

25:17And there are people who won't be in the Senate next time round. And, you know, John Cornyn from Texas in particular was primaried a couple of weeks ago. He won't be able to stand for election because Donald Trump backed another Republican in his district. So these people feel that now they can sort of vote with their conscience what's good for America. and they're not tied to looking for wadges of cash to try and get re-elected or to be loyal or faithful to the president. So it just takes a couple to not vote for Todd Blanch and then he'll be in real trouble. And if his nomination is rejected, then that's a big problem for Donald Trump.

25:58There's a lot of kind of horse trading before we get there, but definitely it is not a done deal for Todd Blanch at this point. Before we go, time for this.