205. The Secret Message in Todd Blanche’s Senate Hearing

0:07Hello and welcome to The Rest is Politics US with me Katty Kay feeling kind of despondent after the very sad England loss but I'm glad that you have brought the appropriate t-shirt Anthony Scaramucci. I think that's a little on the nose actually. I actually think you could have been a little bit more empathetic today.

0:27Katty Kay:For those listening, it says the British blew a 13 colony lead and there's George Washington with his sunglasses on.

0:32Anthony Scaramucci:I think that's a little harsh today. I was cheering for the three lions yesterday.

0:37Katty Kay:I was disappointed to see that. But I will say this, Caddy, as somebody who's vertically challenged, there was a bunch of five foot seven people running around playing against a group of giants and they were beating up on them. And so for all of you people that are built close to the ground like me, there's hope for all of us, I guess I would say. So Anthony Scaramucci, Lionel Messi in the same bracket is what we're saying. That is good. It's a delusion of grandeur. We are roughly the same height, although I'm sure that we don't have the same body fat composition, but we are roughly the same height.

1:13Katty Kay:But listen, to quote Tony Pastor, who's one of the founders here at Gallhanger, you can't defend against a lion like that. You know, you're going to end up getting clawed. But anyway, listen, it was a phenomenal World Cup run for the English team.

1:30Anthony Scaramucci:And everybody should tune in to Gary Lineker and co. on The Rest is Football on Netflix because they're doing a great job of analyzing how that match went down. Those of you who need a bit of therapy, like in my house, tune in there. Okay, for us, it's been a very busy few days on Capitol Hill. There have been two extremely heated confirmation hearings, and we're going to discuss the grillings of both the acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who wants to become the Attorney General and take over from Pam Bondi, and Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, of course, to take over from Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Clayton.

2:05These hearings were kind of exercises in how much loyalty can I show to Donald Trump. In the second half of the show, we are going to talk about the new wave of strikes on Iran. Blockades have been reinstated on the Strait of Hormuz.

2:20Anthony Scaramucci:I have been told that global oil supplies really have no buffer zone and we're close to running on empty. What does that mean for the global economy? But also, how on earth could this whole process have been run so incompetently? So we'll talk about that in the second half. But let's start, Anthony, with those hearings. I watched the hearing several hours each between Todd Blanche and the senators and Jay Clayton and the senators. And my takeaway was that this was a big loyalty test, that loyalty to Donald Trump was being tested in public. And both of these men, Jay Clayton and Todd Blanche, who are respected figures otherwise, well known in Washington.

3:05These are not the kind of Bill Pulte, Cash Patel sort of fringe joke figures as those guys are seen in Washington. These guys have a long history and long reputation and they are respected. And yet, over the course of those hearings, both men in separate ways chose to show that they were going to put their loyalty to Donald Trump and their fear of Donald Trump over any expression of candor. And I think what we saw on Capitol Hill recently was American democracy and the elections process being tested. And I'm not sure it holds up because both of these guys in separate ways show that they are not prepared to say to Donald Trump, Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

3:54Our elections were free and fair in the case of Jay Clayton. And in the case of Todd Blanche, they are not prepared to say, we are going to make sure that a deal that gives Donald Trump immunity from tax prosecutions or investigations is completely ripped up because that is what

4:12Anthony Scaramucci:the president wants. He wants that immunity. I mean, it was, again, it was in the kind of, you know, shocking but not surprising categories to hear these two men fall over themselves in the way that they did. What did you think?

4:23Katty Kay:You know, I know Jay personally, and I've had dinner with Jay. Jay's attended our conference in Wyoming. I have an enormous amount of respect for Jay. He's a very thoughtful guy. Which is what I hear from a lot of people in this town. He's a partner. It was a partner at Sullivan Cromwell. He's a very respected guy. And I will say this, he's going to get confirmed because he is a safe pair of hands in that job in a room surrounded by crazies. But I want to just ask you a question. What if Jay Clayton had said to Senator Ossoff, and I want to set the scene for everybody, Senator Ossoff from Georgia asked the question, who won the 2020 election?

5:07And Jay got combative with them and more or less wouldn't answer the question other than to say that Joe Biden got the electoral votes and the election was certified for Joe Biden. But I guess the implication was that the vote count was fraudulent. This is President Trump's statement. Of course, there's been lawsuits, can't find any fraud. We've looked through the 2020 election. Every single person, like a Sherlock Holmes, scant little to no zero fraud, et cetera. But Jay Clayton is forced, because of this loyalty test, not to flat out say, Joe Biden won the election, Joe Biden got more votes, Joe Biden, et cetera.

5:44him. But, Caddy, what if he did? What would have been the ramifications for Jay Clayton vis-a-vis Donald Trump if he had just said to John Osler, you know, Joe Biden won the election? What would have been the ramifications?

5:58Anthony Scaramucci:I think he'd have been pulled. I think he would not be up for director of national intelligence. And Bill Pulte, who is less competent and more of a conspiracy theorist, would become director of national intelligence. Now, you could, I suppose, make the argument that Jay Clayton, who, as you say, is a respected guy, refused when not just one senator, four different Democratic senators asked him very simply, did Joe Biden win the 2020 election? One of them, John Ossoff, says, this is a job interview. You will be in charge of intelligence. Under the intelligence remit comes the integrity of American elections.

6:38Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election. And the word salad, I mean, it's really worth those of you who want to go and have a quick look at that clip, do it, because it is a fantastic example of verbal gymnastics.

6:52Anthony Scaramucci:I mean, he's been taking lessons from Simone Biles or something. It was phenomenal the way he got away with it. And he just sort of sits there in silence and he's pushed and he's pushed and he won't say the words win and Joe Biden in the same sentence. And I guess he may be saying to himself, well, if I do, the president will get on the phone to me immediately and say, okay, you failed the test, you're out, and Bill Pulte is in, and that would be worse for American democracy. I mean, maybe that is the rationale that he's giving himself. Is that what you're suggesting?

7:25Katty Kay:Listen, I think you're 100 % right. I think he was told by White House officials, if you fail this test, the Democrats are going to ask you this, and there's election fraud. And Trump is speaking this evening. He's got something very important to say to the American people tonight. And I guess it's related to the 2020 election. So that would have been very bad for Jay Clayton. But now it's time for trip US role play. Okay. And so you are now a Roman Catholic priest, which is very unlikely, Katty.

8:00Anthony Scaramucci:Well, there's quite a lot of problems with that. Quite a lot. But I just want you to hear me out. You and I'm Jay Clayton. I'm Jay Clayton because he's a fellow Catholic. Right. Now I'm coming into the confession booth and I am saying to my priest, I'm saying, you know, I just told a very big lie. I'm not George Washington. I went before the Congress and I couldn't speak with the integrity about the election. But father or sister, the reason I did this was to protect the country. The reason I did this is this was a patriotic duty of mine. Did I impugn my moral integrity? Did I do it for the greater good of the country?

8:43Please help me with my moral and relative equivocation. And you say, Jay, my child, at the beginning of that hearing, did you put your hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I did do that. Yes, I did.

9:04Anthony Scaramucci:Did you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Jay, my son? Well, that's why I'm here in the confession booth. I sort of didn't. But again, this is for the greater good of the society. We can't have the Joker, whose name I can't even remember, Pulte, I guess his name is, be the chief. Can we? Jay, go and read Hannah Arendt, because she is the one that will warn you that democracies get destroyed by leaders who put in place loyalty over competency in the aim of destroying the institutions of democracy. And if you stand there in the Senate, my son, and you say that you are telling the truth, and then you do not tell the truth over something as consequential as whether an American election was stolen, then you are destroying trust in institutions.

9:55You are good, Catty K. Could I make a good priest? Oh, God, my puppy would be so proud of me. And for the Catholics out there, that's 200 Hail Marys and 500 rosaries, and you can get out of jail free. Okay, let's go to Epstein. Yeah. Because now I'm flipping over to Todd Blanche, and I want to talk about Epstein for a second. Blanche apologized. He said in about 1 % of the documents, mistakes were made, but he did not commit to meeting with the survivors. What do you say about that?

10:28Anthony Scaramucci:So that's interesting because I was talking to Ro Khanna and Thomas Massey, the two congressmen who have brought this new Epstein Transparency Act, Epstein Transparency Act 2.0. And I was just speaking to them earlier this morning on Morning Joe. And one of the things that Todd Blanche said that has confused everybody, because there were 10 Epstein survivors in that hearing. And one of the senators, Dick Durbin, was pressing Todd Blanche on whether he would meet with those survivors. Are you going to meet them? Are you going to meet them? And eventually Todd Blanche says, well, I would love to meet with the survivors, but if they have lawyers, I can't meet with them.

11:13And both Ro Khanna and Thomas Massey, we were on set together, listened to the clip and looked at me quizzically and said, that's just not the case under American law.

11:23Anthony Scaramucci:There is no reason that he can't meet with them. Remember, by the way, he went and met with Ghislaine Maxwell down in her prison and then she got transferred to a less secure prison. But anyway, that's another issue, perhaps. But he could meet with the survivors. He is choosing not to meet with the survivors. And I think we are in a week, Anthony, where between the Blanche hearing and the new Epstein Act and J.D. Vance going on Joe Rogan's show and saying that they had a communications problem around the Epstein files, not a moral, ethical, political problem, but a communications around the Epstein files.

11:56I think the whole Epstein file issue is back on the front pages again here. He was less combative than Pan Bondi. He did express more empathy for the survivors. He did say in principle he'd be happy to meet with the survivors. But I don't think we got much more from him than we did from Pan Bondi, frankly.

12:17Anthony Scaramucci:And it's still, Todd Blanche, according to Congressman Massey and Ro Khanna, has been a huge obstructionist. when it comes to getting the Epstein files out. So if he's Attorney General, I don't think we learn more about the Epstein files. He's going to be Attorney General. Cornyn's going to vote for him, even though he's talking about this$1.8 billion weaponization fund and so forth as being inappropriate. Cornyn is squawking, but he We will vote for him. But, Cady, something happened. And I want you to answer contrived or accidental and Freudian slip. Contrived or Freudian slip. And I'm going to read this to you, okay?

13:02He is Trump's lawyer. He said, I am Trump's lawyer. Excuse me.

13:09Anthony Scaramucci:Spell that out a little bit more. Do the setup. up. So he was asked about his responsibilities. He was asked about how he sees his responsibilities. And he said, well, I am the president's lawyer. I am Trump's lawyer. And as you know, I have said repeatedly on this program, the Department of Justice has become the Trump family law firm. So he said this and then he took it back. But, Caddy, was that contrived? and then, excuse me, I'm taking it back. Or was that a Freudian slip? I think it was a Freudian slip. I mean, it's interesting that you think it may have been - You think it was contrived.

13:51Yes, absolutely. I think it was contrived. You think he wanted to get out there, I am Trump's lawyer, and then quickly say, I am not Trump's lawyer. 100%. I was Trump's lawyer. Because this guy is a buttoned up guy. Okay, and let me tell you something, okay? Todd Blanche, if you want to go into an aging chamber and go from a 48-year-old looking guy to a 68-year-old looking guy in one year, go work for Donald Trump and go work at the Department of Justice. Because this guy literally looks like he's aging like the Indiana Jones enemies in episode one of Indiana Jones. Okay, so to me, I think he contrived that, and I think he said that to the audience of one, and then he pulled it back.

14:42But he did say something, and this should reassure people listening here, and I quote, I don't believe he is eligible for a third term. And I have said repeatedly on the podcast that Donald Trump is not running for a third term.

15:00Anthony Scaramucci:He's not running for a third term, I agree. And there's one other thing that happened this week that if you're looking for green shoots in the American democracy and the eventual survival of the republic, which we are predicting on this program, the republic of the United States is going to survive, is that Donald Trump paid Caddy Kay$5.6 million this week to E. Jean Carroll. He abided by the court. Yeah. And he has consistently done that. And again, what is Trump after? I want glory and vanity. I want your attention because I'm a miserable SOB and I want money. But you know what? He's going to be checking out at the end of two and a half years.

15:49And Todd Blanche told you that because that was also contrived, Katty K. That's a message. But, okay, two questions for you. First question, if Donald Trump was 10 years younger, would he go for a third term? 1 ,000%. Maybe even five years younger. Totally agree. Okay, second question. Might even go for five terms. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

16:11Katty Kay:I'm permanently staying, not leaving. I'm never, ever leaving. So then the second question is the broader question from yesterday of both Blanche and Clayton, who we've established, are competent people. Do you think competent people who won't

16:30Anthony Scaramucci:contradict Trump on paper are more worrying than ideologues like Bill Pulte or Kash Patel, who say things out loud? No, no.

16:40Katty Kay:These are the John Kellys. And I hate to say this, but I see Clayton and even Blanche, by the way, because he's doing Trump's bidding, but he's generally keeping the cauldron from blowing its top. These are the people that we're going to look back on and say, wow, they equivocated. Wow. It broke his principles, but you know what? We needed some people like them around because otherwise this would be a full-on disaster going on. Now, when Patel came up, Blanche defended him. Let's just set the scene for that and I know we'll go to our next topic. But when Patel came up and they were calling him a loser or whatever they were calling him, Blanche got angry about it.

17:35Katty Kay:But let me tell you something. He thinks Patel is a loser. Okay. You could roll tape and we could analyze it together. And I'm telling you that Patel, I think, is on the way out.

17:49Anthony Scaramucci:I think so too. I think spending all this money on planes is pissing the president off. He doesn't like that. This man gets confirmed. He's going to go to the Trumpster and he's going to say, you got to get rid of the beer guzzling lunatic. Who's taking private jets to go and see his girlfriend playing concerts. Yes. That's another prediction on this podcast. Okay, we're going to take a break and come back and talk about the latest on Iran.

18:17Welcome back to The Rest is Politics US. Quick update on where we are on Iran at the end of this week. We thought it was worth talking about this because we are actually back at war with Iran at the moment.

18:29Anthony Scaramucci:Tehran has launched fresh attacks against American military bases in neighboring Gulf countries, including in Jordan and Bahrain and Kuwait, which suggests that those military bases are no longer safe for American troops going forward. And the US military says that it has inflicted six hour waves of strikes in multiple locations. And the president is reportedly weighing a ground invasion of Karg Island again, which is the island where a lot of the Iranian refineries are. 90 % of Iran's oil passes through there. This would put American troops at risk. But this is something that apparently he has weighed just in the last couple of days.