 We're back with Trump Week. I'm Jay Fidel. Cynthia Sinclair, my left, Tim Apicella at her left. And we're going to talk about an amazing, another amazing week. Title of the show is, it's not an inquiry. Ah, it's an impeachment. Where do we go from here? I'd like to comment on one thing though. You know, this is somehow it was something we could have anticipated a long time ago. We talked about it a long time ago about it as a possibility and now it's happening. And it's, you know, it's so interesting that it seems like it's always been happening. It seems like this is a natural expression of this administration. And we're spending all our time on it. Country is involved in this contortion over impeachment. And, you know, it's another thing that we can thank him for. Thank you for involving us all in this contortion. Where the government is completely ineffectual. And here we are day after day, week after week. It almost feels like we've always been doing this for him. Anyway, OK, so we have impeachment going on. Precious little else, I'd say. And Tim wakes up early in the morning and watches it. So how are you feeling, Tim? Four o'clock in the morning tired. I'm beat. I was taking notes and I realized I fell asleep as I was writing, watching the questioning and I couldn't decipher what I wrote on my notes. So four o'clock is very early to get up on and I'm tired. But, you know, in the last two days, I think this has all been put together. I think it's pretty obvious. And where I see the Republicans is desperately clawing at, you know, A, trying to get the whistleblower's name and identity and, you know, some of these superficial things that really are not pertinent and germane to the argument of this impeachment inquiry. And the bottom line is, they look desperate. And as though they try to argue as effectively as they can, it just doesn't come off well. Well, they have this moving target defense, you know. When one defense doesn't seem to be working, try another one to keep on moving backward. But the question really is, do you think, I'll be asking this throughout the show, do you think the public is buying, you know, the advancing impeachment evidence? And is it buying what's his name, Jordan, and Nunez have to say in their self-serving questions? I think that'll come down to polling. And I don't think there's been recent polling on this. And, you know, I think it's going to shift and it's going to increase the argument for removal from office from a larger percentage of the population. And maybe not from the red states, maybe just more people waking up from the other states. So we may have a split right down the middle in this country. One never knows until we see the numbers. We do kind of already have a split, yeah. So if you want to write the articles now, you guys, and you know what I mean when I say articles, right? Right, articles and impeachment, yes. What would the articles be? Well, obstruction, of course. Privory is an impeachable offense, even though they're trying to back away from, well, they couldn't do quid pro quo. So now we're doing bribery and extortion when we really didn't have any of those things when in reality that's what quid pro quo is, is extortion and bribery. So I think that's what we need. Abusive power, line to Congress, all of those. And I think I wish anyway that they would put the Russia stuff in there. I'm afraid that they won't, but I think it's wrong for them not to. Well, it certainly affects our thinking, the Russia stuff for sure. Absolutely. Yeah. So there's a lot going on, but he said he was going to testify or he was considering testifying. How would that work? Any thoughts about the possibility of Trump testifying in front of this committee? It's useless. If it was in a written form that's as useless as a paper in the garbage. It's not worth the paper it's written on. So unless he shows up in person it's useless testimony. Even if he's innocent. Adam Schiff, would you take the paper? No. Because you can't cross examine on it. That's correct. And there'll be lies and there's a whole fact check. It's a manifesto, it's not a testimony. Exactly. He has lied too many times for us to believe anything that comes out of his mouth anyway. That's true. So what's the point? I don't think he should come. I think he should, oh I think he should show up. Absolutely, under oath. You betcha. But not in written testimony. In all races this very interesting thing is what's a phenomenon that's happening extraordinary. And history will say whether it was a good idea or not to have a trial now. This is essentially a trial. Examination, cross-examination. Adam Schiff is acting like the judge although actually I like to see a real federal judge there doing this kind. Sort of put those bad questions to the side and not let them hijack the hearing with it. But this is a trial. It's what it's turned into. This is not your customary impeachment inquiry behind closed doors. It's a full boogie trial. So let's assume we go through this trial. The evidence as it is comes out. And you don't have to push me very hard to go to impeach him. Right now we have an impeachment resolution by the House and it goes to the Senate. I asked you this question before. And what? Another trial? The same trial? The same witnesses? The same evidence? The same questions? What happens? It's an extraordinary situation. I think that's why they're doing it in the House because they know when it gets to the Senate that Mitch McConnell is going to do nothing. And it's going to be a joke. And they're going to let the Republicans go crazy and hijack the whole thing. And they're not going to let the Democrats really even present anything anyway. So I think that's why they're doing it the way they're doing it so that we can get the evidence out there because otherwise the evidence would never see the light of day. And who's the jury in this trial? The public, huh? Yeah, the voters. And this one it's the public. So they've got to make their points. So big question. Are they making their points? I know we've talked about how Jordan and Nunez they come around and make speeches and remarks that I can't stand watching because it's so deceptive and misleading and stupid. But clearly, are they making their case? They are. Absolutely. What are the high points lately? Well, OK, if you looked at the Sonlin testimony this morning, he has amended his testimony now three times. He's evolving. He's an evolving witness. And the only reason he's evolving is because there's testimony from the other party that is forcing him to evolve. Now, in the good old days, they would have said, you perjured yourself, and that's the end of it. But Congress is allowing him to evolve as a witness. And that's what he's doing. So what did we get today? First off, he's confirmed that, yes, there is a quid pro quo. Again, you could call it bribery. You could call it extortion. But let's go back to Latin term. He's also acknowledged that they were all together on this. We're all on the same page. There were no secrets. And that means three amigas. So what does that mean? Is that a conspiracy? If you know what you're doing and you're asking for is something illegal and you're all on board, all in the directions of the president, which he's acknowledged today, direct acknowledgment that Donald Trump was directly communicating to Rudy Giuliani his desires and wishes. So when you are all working together in tandem and it's something that's not legal, and it is not legal, isn't that a conspiracy as well? Isn't that another article of impeachment, perhaps? The list goes on and on. You have credible witnesses all the way around. Even the Republican witnesses aided to the fact that there was something amiss, even though those were the witnesses that the Republicans wanted to come to the table. Morrison, I think, comes to my mind specifically. Yeah, I just know he's trying to avoid running against Trump, but he's not successful. I enjoy some of his answers. And actually, a more skilled litigator for the Democrats would do better than Adam Schiff, sorry. But I presume he says, what does that mean? He asked me yes and no question, and I presume, or I assume. What does that mean? It's like somebody briefed him on this. And I think that he's getting briefed as other pro-Trump type witnesses who want to protect Trump. They've got to be getting briefed by White House counsel. Well, they are. And here's something I've never seen before, which is actually pretty smart. I don't know who briefed him on that. But when Solomon's saying, well, first off, if I had my notes and my, you know, I don't take notes, but if I had some records from the White House, which the White House won't give me, my memory would be a lot better. But he knows that's not coming. So he can place his lapse of memory on papers he can't get out of the White House. But what he said was very interesting. He goes, I don't recall. But if so-and-so testified, that's how it went, then I'll go with that. So he said that several times during his testimony is that I don't recall. I don't remember at all. But if Morrison said that's how it happened, then I guess I won't dispute that. So it's a very interesting way of getting around the testimony. And then when it comes to bringing out Morrison's testimony, he goes, well, I don't quite remember it that way. Okay, you said earlier, you don't recall. You don't remember. But you'll go with the testimony of Morrison or all the other witnesses. This is a weasel. Well, he's doing a very good job of it. Yeah. Well, the question is whether he's persuading anybody. You know, what comes out of this in sort of a larger sense is that Trump has been obstructing justice all along. You know, refusing to respond to subpoena, telling all the people around him not to appear. That's obstruction, all of it. And I hope they nail him on one of those articles with obstruction because the whole thing reeks of obstruction. As you said, conspiracy for obstruction. He's working 24 hours to obstruct this thing and everything he says and does. And in his own mind, you know, those comments he made about what, Venman and Yovanovich, that was intimidation and it was an attempt to affect the witness. Yeah, tampering. Tampering. In real time. Which is also obstruction, you know. I don't, I don't hope the people, you know, in the red states will see that for what it is. It comes down to this. It's like a lot of things that we experience in our society, whether it's mass shootings, blatant lying from the president, horrible policies that are being pulled off, you know, incarcerating kids at the border and the whole bit. Are we as a society becoming so desensitized that none of this really matters anymore? And that's my real concern. I'm glad you brought that up. Because Trump has done us the huge the service of desensitizing us. And there are white supremacists out there that are getting stronger. The country is being more divisive. We are losing our moral, our moral suasion overseas. The United States is on a huge and visible decline thanks to this man. You can say, well, some of these flaws are already, you know, coming evident before he got in office. And maybe that's what led him to get in office. But no, he has exacerbated it. He is the, he is what's making it happen. And we ought to recognize that. And maybe that's why it was a breath of fresh air to see Vinman testify. Particularly, you had meant you picked up a quarter to from Vinman about how he came to this country with his father, you know, escaping Russia as being persecuted as a family, being Jewish, and how they all dedicate on themselves to the service of the United States. The entire family members are all in the military serving their country. Yeah. Can I read his quote right now? I love this quote. Because it was really powerful. And one of the things that really struck me too is that it's a very silent audience that's there. Yet when he finished this, they all applauded. And I thought that just like erupted in the spontaneous applause. So he says, dad, my sitting here today in the US Capitol, talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union. Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth. And I thought, you know. And then it was another piece about, you know, if you were back in Russia and you did this, you know, talking about the government this way, you'd be, yeah, and he said that. Yeah. But this is, he said, this is America. This is America and it's the right thing. Right matters. It's the right and right matters. Right matters, I love that. So there was this injection again of what we stand for as Americans. And it was refreshing to see that, you know, amidst all this horrible lying and, you know, trying to obfuscate the truth from the other, you know, from the Republicans. And it was nice and refreshing to see what really matters and why are we there in the first place? Does the rule of law matter anymore? Does the Constitution continue to matter anymore to those in red states, blue states, or, you know, around the world who support him? Right. I thought Williams was a very powerful witness. I thought she was very, very eloquent, very succinct. She really, and then they don't even know where she works. It was like, what? She works for Mike Pence. Hello. You know, the Russian advisor for Mike Pence. And so she basically blew out of the water that Mike Pence didn't know anything about this. No one knows anybody. I know. I mean, she really blew that one right out of the water. They can't say that anymore. Well, you know, because he's been trying to claim, well, I didn't know any of that. Well, can I just jump on that for a minute? Yeah, go. You know, in October, early October, Donald Trump talks about Sondland as a very good man and a great American. 30 days later, I don't know him very well. Come on. Don't know the man. His famous last words, that's how it is with anybody that says anything bad about him or tries to come out with some sort of evidence against him. He's Ottoman. I don't know him. Never met him. I don't know where this is going. As you said, the polls. The polls will tell us, but they haven't told us yet. No. And we're involved, we know we're involved in a stark process that is high in the list of notable historical moments in the history of this country and becoming higher all the time. And really, this is a test for us, including a test for the people who voted for him. I don't know if there's an easy answer here. We may wind up in the creek over this, but these may be talking points for an election. And I think we've all said a long time ago that it's unlikely the Senate is going to remove him from office. However, if the salient points of this impeachment inquiry and impeachment vote, if these points can somehow survive the next 12 months and be on the minds of some Americans, at least the ones that vote, maybe that will have an impact on the election. Yeah, from your lips to God's ears. As long as we can keep him from cheating and manipulating the numbers, so it doesn't matter what we say. Well, you're gonna lie. That's a part, and you know he's gonna lie. I think people are, you know, I talked to one Trumper this week, and he said, yeah, I know that he is an a-hole. I know that, we all know that. Everybody agrees he's an a-hole, but he's still doing a good job, and I agree with what he's doing and all this kind of substance of, but notice how he backed off when he said that. And I think that's part of a movement maybe, a movement among the Trumpers to back off. Okay, so at what point in our history with presidents did we make that quantum shift of not association, the qualities of the individual to the office? When did that break happen? Was it Nixon? Was it Obama? Obama was a very ethical individual. So when did society make that break? In the last three years. Yeah, now. Really, to tolerate all these lies is unbelievable. And the press to their credit, you know, they go after them on the lies the best they can. But it's the people ultimately that have got at the side. And that's who we're playing to. And so it doesn't matter what happens in the Senate. It's where the people are listening, and I hope everybody gets up at four in the morning and listens. Yeah, I'm gonna be grumpy for the rest of the day though, so I can't help it. Me too. I woke up at four or two. I'm not gonna be grumpy. Come on, guys. So what's the time frame going forward on this? Is this gonna finish? Oh, well, of course it'll finish. But I mean, eventually it's going to finish. The thing that I've been, that what you were just saying a minute ago, what is the public think? What do they say? You know, I watch, I record all of them so I can watch all the different networks. And so I can really see the different reactions to the substance of it. And when I'm watching Fox, I'm absolutely floored that I see these people, they watch the same thing I watched, they just showed it. And then they come out and they say, the exact opposite of what we just watched. And I think how can people, I mean, how can the Republican Party or Fox News survive this whole thing? I can answer that. Our politics is becoming like religion. So we filter everything from our preconceived ideas about this new religion called politics. And as remember back in the 70s when you were in, you were shown the picture, was it a French lady with a hat or was it an old lady with a shah? And half the room said it's, I see only an old lady with a shah. And the other half said, oh, I see a young French lady with a hat on. So how we filter things is how we come to our final conclusions. Well, yeah, but you know, Fox News has management and stockholders. Fox News knows that it's fomenting lies. Fox News knows that it's not, accurately reporting anything. And they are trying to play to those people who need to hear this, you know, as a statement of support for their own perceptions. And it was a movie about the guy who created this process in Fox News. Quadrails, yeah. And it still continues. And there's still a whole bunch of commentators and newscasters on Fox News that lie on a regular base. And that's for money. That's for money because the management of that company believes that they'll make more, or they are making more money by lying. I find that extraordinary that anybody in the quote journalism world could be so irresponsible to the country. They know the effect this is having on the country and yet think, I can't watch Fox News. You know how when you go to channels and everything, I gotta go real quick. I can't stand watching because I know they're lying to me. Yeah, I know. I can't watch for long. I try to make myself. You have to watch. And standing up, screaming at the television, then I finally turn it to another channel. You have to watch. We have to watch all of this. Because we have to know. Oh yes, we do. So let's talk about some of the things that happened this week. We want to reduce the amount of Trump fatigue we have, or at least impeachment fatigue we have. I think one thing that struck me interesting was a guy named Silverman. He was a talk show host. He was actually making his living on what do you call it a conservative radio show in the Midwest. And he decided he was gonna hit on Trump in the middle of a show. He claimed he was an independent and that's good. He let him on a show anyway. But he went after Trump on one show. And the manager of the radio station walked in and fired him on the spot, mid-show, and played something, some filler. And the guy of course reported that to other media. But you can see the attack on the press. The guy goes, and he was respected as an independent. But he could not be independent. And what happened is he got fired summarily this way. It's not the first time. No. The cartoonist from Canada. I'll go back to the Bush administration with the Dixie Chicks. How dare they say something adverse to the president of the United States? They were persona non grata almost instantly. So any criticism at all is going to be met with isolation. Yeah, so this is permeating our society. The manager of that radio station didn't call the White House for instructions. But he was affected by what the White House does and says, and he felt emboldened so he could go and fire this guy on the spot, risking a lawsuit, which I think he will probably have for his effort. The other one that's interesting, I like your comments on it, is this, I think I sent it to both of you, this extraordinary pardon. I sent a pardon. The Trump made to people in the Seals who have been convicted or charged with war crimes. War crimes. And you know, in the thought that the military charged them and they were tried after evidence by their own tomb mates and Trump decided he was going to intervene and pardon them on the spot. One of them got clemency. They didn't actually have the trial yet, which is really unheard of, they're saying, for someone to get that kind of clemency before they even get the trials. We don't even know the evidence. Well, it's unheard of for the president to get down to that level of detail, to offer the pardons. Somebody is talking in his ear. Probably not from the military, from the right wing, the Stephen Miller crowd. We can talk about that too. Well, and the military has come out very specifically and against it. Admiral Green. Admiral Green is the same hero, you saw that. Yes, he is. Admiral Green is going to take away, and I don't know the Sea, Air, Land special force as well enough to understand in the Navy what a trident means. I don't know what that means, but I understand it as a badge of honor. And when you have- To be in the seal. It's a seal badge. It's your seal badge, and it's a badge of honor, and that is going to be removed from them. And so, Admiral Green right now is standing tall and in defiance of what Donald Trump's pardon has just recently done. They're probably also gonna get the guy out of the Navy administratively. You can't have a war criminal, a convicted war criminal, convicted on the testimony of his own mates still in the Navy. It's bad for morale. It's bad for image. It's bad for the United States. It's bad for recruiting. Yeah, it is. Oh, yeah. You know, this is not a television show where you're somehow liberated to kill people. This is the United States doing this officially with taxpayer money for hopefully good and proper geopolitical reasons and for Trump to intercede that way is completely responsible with all kinds of negative effects. Now this guy, Green, the Admiral, his career's finished. He's done. He's done, but I think he knows that. He's a huge hero. And I think what we have, and this is probably a thread we ought to talk about, we have heroes emerging. Emerging in Congress as witnesses, emerging in the military, emerging all over town, emerging in the automobile issue in California. We have attorneys general all over the country emerging to fight with him about this and to say he's wrong. They may or may not prevail on their particular issue, but they are speaking up. Well, each pendulum before it swings the other way takes heroes like that to stand up, lose his career, maybe his reputation in the neighborhood. Let's face it, you all have to go home at the end of the day, and depending on where you live, you may be isolated in that direction. Well, you know, the commitment to go back to him for a minute is under protection now. I felt proud for the first time in a long time listening to him. I did. And Yovanovich also, I just thought, you know, there's hope. It really gave me a little bit of hope because I've just been very distressed about all of this that's going on. So to see somebody be that brave and to be that bold and to stand up and have courage like that, because that's what America and Americans really are, in my mind anyway, that's what we are. And so to see somebody do that was really nice. Yeah, heroes are emerging, and I think we feel the same way. If we can do anything, we should. Two judges. The judge who faced down Roger Stone, and he's been convicted of lots of things that are going to get him in jail for decades, the paper said. I was surprised that they didn't send him straight to jail. The fact that they let him go in between sentencing, I thought. That's a white collar, yeah. I gave her things in order. I don't know. They're going to sock him in jail. They're going to sock him for the long sentence, I think. I hope so. And if it's that judge who, you know, she indicated early on, she was not crazy about him. And then there was another judge, you know, the story, I think it was in Massachusetts who is being prosecuted for offending Trump on an immigration issue. She let some immigrants escape his rules about immigration and for her trouble, the United States Attorney went after her and indicted her. And she was really trying to protect the rule of law as she saw it. But the Department of Justice under William Barr does have the power to activate United States attorneys around the country to prosecute people they don't like. So they figured this was a sort of sanctuary judge who was going to go against the Trump movement and they're going to prosecute him. Yet in a second breath, we have Steve Meninchi. Menashe. Menashe. Yeah, the judge that has no trial experience is basically taking over the Court of Appeals. And his testimony before Congress was appalling. Even the Republicans were, you know, dumbstruck as to his responses. The American Bar Association advised against his confirmation but it was a week ago or so, but the Senate confirmed him. Lickety split, thanks to Moscow Mitch. This is very tragic because he's young relatively and he'll be on the bench for a long time. 40 years is his age right now. Except for impeachment. Right. Isn't he actually a known white nationalist? Yes, that's right, thank you. I mean he's, yeah, he's not just like a regular inexperienced lawyer guy, he's actually, yeah, bad news. Menashe marks the 162nd Trump Judicial Nominee confirmed by the Senate. And that means 162 right-wing ideologues who are not qualified. He has now appointed a total of 112 district judges, 46 circuit judges and two Supreme Court justices and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is getting old. So we have a situation where the whole judiciary is being remade in his image now. That's scary beyond any election in 2020. Well this one is the most blatant I've ever seen. Certainly blatant. No trial experience and yet he's in the highest, one of the highest courts in the country is in the Court of Appeals. No trial experience. And he hasn't even attended a trial. Hadn't participated in writing briefs or research for a trial. Never even took a deposition. Yeah, and he's a racist on top of that. Yeah, and he's a racist. This is like how to be the worst president imaginable. When I go back to our statement, at what point would something like this normally occur and there'd be so much pushback not only from the Democrats but also from the Republicans. There'd be pushback. Not a whisper. Not a whisper. Okay, so what's gonna happen next week is to prepare ourselves. More silence from the Republicans. More silence from Republicans. That's not gonna change. More combative nonsense conspiracy theories that they're going to try to put forward and shove down the America's throat. And hopefully we can just pray that people will see through that. You know, and that somehow Stefanik and Nunes and Jordan and all those guys are just gonna Radcliffe and all those guys are just gonna kind of, I don't know, silence. They're gonna kind of conspiracy too, aren't they? Yeah. I think you're gonna get more rants and raids from Donald Trump. No quid pro quo. I did, I wanted nothing. I wanted nothing. I did nothing. And to the point that maybe I'll have to check back into Walter Reed Hospital again. Yeah, we didn't talk about that part. No, no, we're not high. We're out of time. We'll see what happens. It's not gonna go away. The blood pressure's gonna go too high. But you know, I think he's gonna come up with the new defense kinds of things. He's gonna attack the Democrats. He's working 24 hours to do that. And the other thing is we have a very unstable world right now. We have riots in Hong Kong, which he hasn't helped at all. We have no deal going in China. We have no deal going in North Korea. We have the Iranians making bombs again and they're blowing off the Europeans. I want to slow them down on that. The world is really bubbling these days. And I predict next week he's gonna do something for distraction. These days, because of the huge public attention on the impeachment hearings, you got to do bigger distraction than before. So my prediction is we have a big distraction. It'll be something. Okay, well, let's look for it. Yeah, let's look for it. Cynthia, so nice to see you. Thanks for coming down. Thank you, Jay. Enjoy your comments and your thought. Keep on getting up early in the morning. I'm done. That's it. Give me a little nap this afternoon. Okay. Aloha. Aloha. Thanks.