February 10, 2023 • 36 mins
EPISODE 131: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The latest on Trump Special Counsel Smith subpoenaing Mike Pence. And the Republicans extended their collective self-own to 48 hours as "The Weaponization Subcommittee" meets and points the weapon at itself. The star FBI whistleblower witness turns out to have retired from the bureau in 1999 and gets decimated by Rep. Dan Goldman; the star "Twitter Legal" expert turns out to be Jonathan Turley and he gets destroyed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. As Tulsi Gabbard testifies, a Republican literally falls asleep; as Chuck Grassley testifies he insists Hillary Clinton colluded with the Russians in 2016 to make sure she...lost?
It's worse than a farce; it's a farce that even Fox News won't televise. And it hides the reality that there SHOULD be a weaponization investigation and it should be pointed at the Barr-Durham Investigation, and that the ever-unfolding story of the arrested ex-FBI agent Charles McGonigal. New reporting on McGonigal suggests he could have been a blackmail victim, and that those two separate criminal indictments(working for Trump-friendly Russian Oleg Deripaska, and meddling in Albanian politics) may actually be part of only one giant conspiracy.
B-Block (19:12) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: George Santos's new dog scandal comes to you live from the town of Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania; Nancy Faust pays tribute to the late Burt Bacharach (23:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk thinks Twitter is suppressing his tweets and reportedly fires those who disagree with him; Ron Johnson defends himself against the charge that he wanted to privatize Social Security by confirming he wanted to privatize Social Security; and Rick Scott TRIES to defend himself against the same charge by invoking one name eight times in four minutes. The name is - inexplicably - Jake Tapper.
C-Block (29:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Snuggle, looking to be adopted in Miami (29:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Rudy Giuliani gets his "preserve all documents" lawyer letter from Hunter Biden's attorney. You may think Rudy went bad in 2020, or 2007, or some time after his peak in 9/11. Actually - trust me - even I knew he was a hallucinating jerk, as long ago as 1995.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. Firstly, briefly,
what we actually know about the breaking news such as
(00:26):
it is the everybody is reporting report that special counsel
Jack Smith has subpoena Mike Pence for documents and testimony.
Here is what we know. It's about January six. Everything
else you have heard is about filling time on cable.
This is about January six. Only two bits of speculation
(00:48):
or context are either relevant or true. Obviously, the negotiations
for a voluntary interview of Pence have collapsed. And Secondly,
Mike Pence is remembered almost exclusively when he is remembered
at all, for not enacting Trump's plan to throw out
the legitimate slates of presidential electors in favor of fake ones,
thus overthrowing the election and the government. And while this
(01:12):
is something he refused to do for Trump, it is
imperative to remember that it is basically the only thing
he refused to do for Trump, and all evidence then
and now confirms he only refused to do it for
Trump because he was not convinced he and Trump could
get away with it. He is the farthest thing from
a hero Meanwhile today, right now, Chairman Jim Jordan knows
(01:36):
better than anybody else in the world that the first
rule of holding a political sham show on the alleged
weaponization of the federal government is to make sure that
whatever you claim the weapon is, you do not point
it at yourself. His star witness former FBI agent Thomas Baker,
(01:57):
the insider who could tell a breathless America about how
the Bureau had been locked, loaded and aimed at conservatives.
He turned now to have left the FBI in a
previous century. Congressman Dan Goldman, a former impeachment prosecutor, neatly
folded agent Baker FBI Class of nineteen sixty six, fit
(02:19):
him into an eight by ten envelope like the seal,
and mailed him home to mommy. You never worked in
conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security when you worked
for the FBI. Right, I was working as a consultant
during when you were for the FBI, when you were
paid by the FBI as a as a special agent.
Did you work with Homeland Security? No, it didn't exist.
(02:43):
And you never investigated for an interference in our elections?
Did you? No? I personally did not. And you have
no experience investigating Russia's efforts to interfere in our elections
through cyber attacks and social media. Do you other than
what I've studied and researched. Okay, and when you left,
did smartphones exist of a suet? Yes? Well, we had
(03:07):
we had phones. We had smartphones, smartphone had Well do
you ever do any search warrants for emails? Search warrants
for emails? No, I did not wad phones, Sunny. He
picked it up, and you, Gertie, it's central to get
your plaza eight eight six so you could talk to
(03:28):
President McKinley his own self in a way. It is
too bad that the record breaking thirty six hours of
self humiliation by the Republicans that I mentioned yesterday was
extended to forty eight hours at that amazing Weaponization Subcommittee
hearing that was so bad, so bad that Fox News
(03:48):
did not even carry any of it live. It is
too bad because there are new developments now in the
Charlie McGonagall case. The man at the heart of the
FBI New York office, which actually did weaponize against Hillary
Clinton in two thousand sixteen and actually did throw the
ALLI action to Trump or at least towards him, and
who is now under arrest for going from investigating a
(04:10):
Trump linked Russian oligarch to working for that Trump linked
Russian oligarch and any weaponization subcommittee should be investigating mcdonagall
and the FBI New York Office. Those new details in
a moment, But first I want you to savor what
happened to Chairman Jim Jordan yesterday. God knows I want
(04:31):
to savor it some more. It is one thing to be,
as Shakespeare wrote, hoist with your own petard. It is
quite another to get hoisted, then rehoisted, and then re rehoisted.
If ex agent Thomas I knew that pncouver personally Baker
was mailed home by Dan Goldman, then Jonathan Turley wants
(04:54):
a thoughtful and reliable contributor countdown on TV went home
in a saucer into which he had been ladled by
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schult. First, Turley, he has gone so
radically right wing in the last couple of years and
so radically dumb about the law that if you told
(05:15):
me somebody has been blackmailing him, I would not disbelieve you.
He was positioned yesterday to testify as an expert on
Twitter and what Twitter did to the laptop story, and
to understand what Wasserman Schultz then did to him, you
have to first hear Turley and the soul selling congresswoman
(05:36):
at least Stephonic doing their kabuki theater bit. Isn't it
true that leading up to the election, Twitter had weekly
meetings with not just the FBI, with d o J,
with DHS, with d n I to conduct this unconstitutional
censorship by surrogate. We know that because the Twitter files? Correct? Correct? Okay,
(05:56):
got it? Turley is the Twitter legal expert here. Oh no,
he's not turning to you. Have you ever worked for Twitter? No?
Do you have any formal relationship with the company. No,
I just have an account. Do you have any specific
or special or unique knowledge about the inner workings of Twitter?
(06:20):
Nothing beyond the Twitter files and what I read in
the media. So essentially, your responses to the questions here
today were your own opinion and pure conjecture. No, I
wouldn't say that. I mean they're based. I try to
base them on what we know from the Twitter files.
But you said that you don't have any specific or
unique knowledge of Twitter, but you spoke as if you did.
You were asked very specific questions about Twitter's, the way
(06:44):
Twitter functions, and the decision making that they that they make.
But yet you don't have any unique or special knowledge
about Twitter and have never worked for them, and so
this is only just your opinion. Would you say, as
a Twitter account user, No, I I've come to give
legal analysis based on facts are in the public domain,
and I was really referring to what the I was
(07:04):
asked about time. Legal analysis is another word for opinion.
I would I would think there's some distinction, but yeah,
it's all ultimately is an opinion. But I believe the
question to me was based on what the Twitter file show,
and that that was my reading of the Twitter fils, right,
And again that's another way of describing your opinion being offered,
(07:26):
which was represented as unique and special facts which you
don't possess. Can we get some paper towels to clean
up the parts of John Turley that that Debbie Wasserman
Schultz spilled while she was liquefying him. Anybody got some
bounty the quicker pick her upper. We should never discount
(07:47):
the fascist rights willingness to believe anything they see on
television that agrees with what they already believe, or which
they must convince themselves of. But still some of them,
at least ten or twelve had to have heard witnessed
Chuck Grassley, that Chuck A. Slee's senator from Iowa. You
know how old he is. He's tattered in six to hear.
(08:09):
Grassly explained to the committee that in the real collusion
with Russia was committed by Hillary Clinton, who Grassly says,
connived with Putin to get herself defeated. We all know
now that it was a Democratic National Committee along with
the Clinton campaign, who concluded with the Rasians. They used
(08:33):
a former Racan spy, Fusion GPS and law firm to
create a fake dossier and then tried to cover it up. Oh, Senator,
if only we could find that Russian spy. You mentioned
that Mr Fusion GPS felt, I bet he could reveal
the whole saga. At least there was somebody in there
(08:55):
older than the agent Baker. One other moment that does
not translate to audio TULSEI Gabbard, having wiped out as
a Democrat and now trying to become a Republican, was
called in as an expert on skunk stripes in your
hair and the deep state. I don't know. As she talked,
(09:18):
Republican Congressman Chris Stewart was shown dozing off literally and
just one more please before we get to McGonagall and
Derrick Posca and Albania. Leave it to Jamie Raskin to
note that they actually could be investigating the weaponization of
the government against democracy if the Republicans had not created
(09:41):
a subcommittee to actually pretend there was weaponization of the
government against just Republicans. Consider the John Durham Investigation if
they're urging the Republicans, including the good chairman. The John
Durham Special Council Investigation was set up in two thousand
nineteen by bar to try to find wrongdoing by intelligence
(10:01):
or law enforcement agencies in the origins of the Mueller
Investor stigation. And we've heard some of the murmurings about
this today. After four years and millions of dollars spent,
the Durham Investigation closed as a total flop without on
earthing anything like the deep state conspiracy that Republicans have
been denouncing around here for years. It couldn't find anything
(10:23):
of substance to it. Yet Bar and Durham kept pressing
in clearly abusive ways. I hope your subcommittee will investigate
Durham and Bar at an investigation of the real crime,
what the FBI did in two thousand sixteen, and then
what Bar did to cover that up in two thousand nineteen,
and finally we come back to Champagne Charlie McGonagall. Neither
(10:46):
of these new mcdonagall stories are Bulletin's exactly, but each
is new, and each underscores that background noise about mcdonagall's arrest,
that a there are still McGonagall details out there. To
find maybe a lot of them and be there is
merit to the extrapolation that he was in retire him
working for Oleg Deri Posca in two and in retirement
(11:08):
working for Oleg Deri Posca in and while still in
the FBI trying to get an internship for the daughter
of an employee of Oldleg Deri Posca in two thousand
and eighteen. There is every reason to ask if he
was already working with or four Oldleg Derrick Posca in
two thousand sixteen. Two thousand sixteen, when Paul Manafort was
Trump's Gratis campaign manager and Manafort owed Oleg Deri Posca money,
(11:34):
and Manafort was briefing Oleg Derri Posca on the Trump campaign,
and mcdonaghall was supposed to be investigating Derrick Posca for
the FBI. Business Insiders new headline is the FBI's mcdonnagle
Labyrinth and its stories starts with mcgonagall's girlfriend in New
York while he was still married in Maryland, explaining that
one day he told her the FBI had ordered everybody
(11:56):
to delete What's App from their phones, so he bought
a second phone on which to use What's App. Well,
it doesn't sound like my but she also reveals she
saw McGonagall take sealed envelopes from Sergey Shastakov, former Russian
diplomat and Derrick Posca agent, usually at dinner, sometimes maybe
at a hockey game. The article also quotes a lot
(12:17):
of x FBI rs who are most amazed in all
of this that McGonagall is accused of traveling internationally to
meet Derrick Posca in London and in Vienna, when McGonagall
was in essence a desk man in charge of everything
from what they were finding to the schedules of one
hundred and fifty FBI agents back in New York. There's
(12:39):
also a lot of hinting around the edges that, besides
the possibility of bribery or espionage by McGonagall, the lady
on the side might be really important because a lot
of the international spy game revolves around blackmailing agents because
you have trapped them with women or they have trapped themselves.
And maybe most interesting of all is the increasing fuzziness
(13:01):
of the timeline when did McGonagall start working for Derrick Posca.
Business Insider notes that the indictment refers to mcgonagall's traveled
to meet Derrick Posca, London and Vienna, but does not
say when. To that end, the websites Mattathias Schwartz quotes
the girlfriend Alison Guerrero as saying she wrote an angry
(13:22):
email to mcgonagall's boss in two thousand nineteen, Schwartz adding
quote Three sources familiar with the investigation told Insider that
the Bureau had already been looking into McGonagall by November
two thousand nineteen. Meantime, the ever underrated David Corn of
Mother Jones produced some extraordinarily valuable context. The McGonagall arrest
(13:43):
is complicated and confusing because the FBI and the d
o J presented it as two different separate crimes. A
his relationship with Deri Posca the Russian crime, and be
taking money while he was still at the FBI from
Albanians trying to get American support for the opposition party
in Albania's internal politics the Albanian crime. Taken as separate stories,
(14:08):
these might tend to portray McGonagall, maybe just subconsciously, as
just a crook who did whatever he could for whomever
he could find for money. David Corn notes that, in fact,
the story about an FBI executive meddling in Albanian politics
is actually the story of an FBI executive meddling in
(14:29):
Russian meddling in Albanian politics. At the time, the Russians
were trying to unseat the pro western, anti Putent Albanian
prime minister and trying to replace him with a guy
whose campaign slogan was make Albania great Again. Why don't
(15:06):
I get the feeling there's more to that story still ahead.
Rick Scott and Ron Johnson go on defense against the
you know fact that each of them loudly proposed cutting
and gutting and privatizing social Security. They evidently do not
know how to play defense. Senator Johnson merely went on
radio and repeated his dream of privatizing social Security, and
(15:28):
Senator Scott went on CNN and said he was innocent
of these charges because Jake Tapper, Jake Tapper, Jake Tapper,
Jake Tapper. I'm not kidding that basically was his answer.
Another George Santos dog scandal, another Elon Musk Twitter scandal,
and Hunter Biden's lawyer has now sent out a dozen
letters to a dozen Conservatives telling them to preserve all documents.
(15:49):
It is the proverbial warning, we may sue you. One
of the recipients is Rudy Giuliani. I will tell you
the all new story of the day I realized Rudy
Giuliani was, in fact nothing more than a functioning idiot.
The story dates to the year nineteen. That's next. This
is countdown. This is countdown with Keith Olberman postscripts to
(16:22):
the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks, some prediction,
state line Washington. Hunter Biden's attorney sends out more lawyer
letters the presidential son and attorney Abby Lowell continuing with
the best defense is a good offense approach. They have
demanded the recipients preserve and retain all records and documents
pertaining to Hunter Biden. This is the so called litigation
(16:43):
hold letter. It went to Steve Bannon and Roger Stone
and other Trump aids, and among others, Rudy Giuliani that
stay with me for an all new things I've promised
not to tell about how I knew Giuliani was like
this in n also receiving this letter, John Paul mac Isaac,
the computer to repair airman who just happened to keep
(17:05):
Biden's laptop and just happened to make a copy of
its hard drive, and just happened to give a copy
of that hard drive to Giuliani. This goober mac Isaac
promptly tweeted, if anything happens to me in the next
few weeks, the Bidens are responsible if anything happens to him.
Have you seen this guy? No eyebrows and his eyes
(17:26):
have been gradually migrating to opposite signs of his head.
What else is going to happen to him? Dateline Bird
in Hand, Pennsylvania. Politico reporting another George Santos dog scandal
that in two thousand seventeen, he was charged with theft.
Fifteen thousand, one five dollars in checks were made out
(17:46):
on his account to dog breeders in Pennsylvania. Then, contemporaneously,
Santos held a dog adoption event in Staten Island, New York,
charging fees of up to four hundred dollars in adoption
per dog. Three years later, NYPD officers woke Santos at
his home in the middle of the night with an
extradition warrant to Pennsylvania. The checks at all bounced. He
(18:08):
was being charged with theft. He and that attorney managed
to convince Pennsylvania authorities that as soon as Santos had
opened the account on which the checks to the dog
breeders had been written, somebody stole his check book, somebody
he thought he might have known, so he quote canceled
the checkbook. Santos then went to Pennsylvania, and, according to
(18:28):
his lawyer, Santos talked authorities into dropping the charges. She
also says Santos told them he worked for the Securities
and Exchange Commission. I'm waiting for one of these Santos
stories to end up with him explaining himself away by
claiming he is actually a talking dog. By the way,
bird in Hand Pennsylvania, where one of these dog breeding
(18:50):
people is actually located, is a real place. Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania.
It's near Lancaster. Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania is actually four
miles five minutes away from Intercourse, Pennsylvania. And lastly, if
you're from the sixties or seventies, or you know somebody
who is, If you or they seem a little sad today,
(19:12):
maybe inexplicably sad, it's because Bert Backrack has died. Any
era has multiple soundtracks, but the music for the lingering
post war optimism. Let's build more freeways, Let's go to
the moon, It's all getting better. That was written by
Bert Backrack and people he influenced. His music was not
in every movie in those decades. It only seems that way.
(19:34):
He did not work with every popular singer, but he
did with everybody from Dion Warwick to Tom Jones to
the Carpenters to Patti LaBelle, to Rod Stewart to Elvis Costello.
He won two Oscars for Best Song, Arthur's Theme with
Christopher Cross and rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head
with B. J. Thomas from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid ms faust out of the daily roundup of the miscreants,
(20:39):
morons and done in Kruger effects specimens who constitute today's
worst persons in the world, the Bronze good Old Elon
Musk platformer reporting and on Tuesday, Musk summoned an emergency
meeting of engineers and advisers to address the burning problem
on the Twitter website. This is ridiculous, Musk said, per
(21:04):
platformers sources, I have more than one million followers and
I'm only getting tens of thousands of impressions. His employees
showed the internal data indicating that last April Musk's popularity
in search rankings topped out peaked at the score of
one hundred. His current score is nine. The engineers said
(21:25):
they had already investigated to see if something technical or
in the algorithms had been artificially suppressing his tweets. The
answer was no, It was just that, you know, Twitter
users were kind of tired of his act. His response,
you'll fired and you'll filed. By the way, it is
now fifty three days since the pole Musk posted closed
(21:45):
and users voted fifty seven and a half percent to
forty two and a half percent that yes, he should
step down as CEO. Go in God's name go the
runner up, Senator Ron Johnson. After three days of arguing
whether or not he advocates or has advocated cutting or
gutting Social Security, Johnson has settled it. Joe Biden was right.
(22:09):
Johnson went on the radio to say that social Security
is a quote legal Ponzi scheme which should have been
privatized in two thousand ten. By the way, you know how,
I they're wrong when they call Ron Johnson or Russian asset,
because who in the world would think he's an asset
but the winners. Senator Rick Scott same story. Last night
(22:30):
on a Kentucky radio show, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
referred to Scott's twelve point plan to Rescue America, which
calls for the sunsetting of all federal legislation every five years,
including sunsetting social Security every five years. Quoting McConnell, this
is a bad idea. I think it will be a
challenge for him Rick Scott to deal with this in
(22:51):
his own re election in Florida, a state with more
elderly people than any other state in America. Well, never
mind re election Voldemort. Scott couldn't deal with an interview
on CNN on this topic to edit it down to
the highlights over a four minute span. Quote. Okay, he said,
let me just read you something Jake Tapper said. Jake
(23:12):
Tapper said, what about what Jake Tapper said? What Jake
Tapper said? And Jake Tapper said, have you talked to
Jake Tapper? Did the same fact checkers? Look at what
Jake Tapper said? Then why did Jake Tapper say it? Unquote?
I don't know if if I'm Jake Tapper and Rick
Scott used my name eight times to defend himself. I
(23:35):
am quitting the news business and moving to a Tibetan
monastery and hoping the universe forgives me, Senator Rick, when
I grow up, I want to be Jake Tapper. Does
Jake Tapper think I'm cool? Who wou might pretend life?
I'm Jake Tapper Scott two days worst first send and
(23:56):
the world still ahead on countdown. The only person who
may end up in legal trouble after two and a
half years of the Hunter Biden laptop could very well
(24:16):
be Rudy Giuliani. It continues his epic descent, which began
not in two thousand sixteen, not in two thousand seven,
not even after nine eleven. I first met the real, clueless,
useless Rudy nearly thirty years ago, coming up next first.
In each edition of Countdown, we feature a dog in
need you can help. Every dog has its day to
(24:37):
Miami and Snaggle. He is fifteen pounds. He's a handsome
sheet sue mix, gray and white and black and curly,
and he lived in the woods by himself for four
of his five years. They found him in December. He
had to be at the vet for weeks before he
was healthy enough to go to a foster home. Teeth pulled,
infections cured. He's now fine. Paw Patrol, Animal Rescue and
(24:59):
Sanctuary could use some help with his bills, but right
now their focus is finding him a home because as
he lived as a feral dog, there are all kinds
of restrictions on fences and other dogs. But if you're
near Miami, you might be right for him. You can
find Snaggle on the Cuddly website or on my Twitter feed. Donate, retweet,
or apply to adopt. I thank you and Snaggles thank
(25:20):
you through the number one story on the countdown in
my favorite topic, me and things I've promised not to tell.
I hear this question about Rudy Giuliani a lot. When
(25:41):
did his life go so horribly horribly wrong? Here was
America's mayor the rock in the hours of crisis after
nine eleven. What is he now? After literally years of
trying to sell the Hunter Biden laptop story? Who does
the Hunter Biden laptop story bite him? Four seasons gardening,
(26:04):
the mascara running down his face, gasseous emissions at phony
election hearings, the Sasha Baron Cohen film. I mean, even
back then, I thought it was nuts that people actually
thought Rudy Giuliani was the front runner for the two
thousand and eight Republican presidential nomination. What he was widely
held to be just that in two thousand six and
(26:27):
two thousand seven, And by the time it happened, he
was already on his way to spending millions of dollars
to finish last. But it was the final nail in
the coffin in which he still lives. At a Democratic
debate in two thousand seven October before the Field shook
out everybody but Obama and Hillary. One of the other
(26:49):
candidates was excoriating the Republicans and their exploitation of terrorism
and the al Qaeda attacks, and that other candidates said
of Giuliani, quote, there's only three things he mentions in
a sentence, A noun, a verb, and nine eleven. The
candidate was Joe Biden. The phrase a noun, a verb
(27:10):
and nine eleven ended Rudy Giuliani's career, and Giuliani's dislike
of Joe Biden, many decades old, turned to hatred at
that exact moment, which is why we got to where
we got to in two thousand and twenty. That was
also the exact moment at which any hopes Julie Hanny
and of being elected anything anywhere ever again vanished. But
(27:34):
it was clear to me as far back as September
two thousand and one. That's sadly, what we saw at
that time was a bad man having a few good
days before that month was out. Giuliani's response to the
attack on democracy was to himself attack democracy, to propose
that the November election to choose his successor to be
Mayor of New York should be postponed, or that at
(27:57):
least he should stay on for a few months as
co mayor because he was irreplaceable. There had always been
more subtle hints that Giuliani was never a good man,
just a slightly smarter one, a more devious one. The
venomous Ruddy, the scheming Rudy, the a moral Rudy, the
(28:17):
Rudy with a bad song in his heart, leaked out
from time to time, and often inside the world of sports,
which is where I met him. You will remember, Rudy
Giuliani was a professional New York Yankees fan. He always
went to the games for free, mind you, dugout seats
for himself, his wife, his other wife, his next wife,
(28:40):
the kids, the friends. When I still had friends at
Yankee Stadium, they estimated Rudy used to cost them thousands
of dollars every time he showed up. He always left
via the clubhouse. He always wore a Yankees cap. He
billed himself as quote the number one Yankee fan. And
then when the Boston Red Sox were playing in the
(29:01):
two thousand seven World Series, when he was campaigning for
president in New Have Sure, Rudy Giuliani suddenly announced he
was rooting for the Red Sox. This is like being
a Trump fan and announcing you are rooting for democracy.
But I went back with Rudy Giuliani even longer than that.
In or ninety six, I was asked by the Deputy
(29:25):
Mayor of New York City, Fran Writer, and the staff
of the Baseball Hall of Fame to travel from ESPN
in Connecticut, literally to the SNePS of New York City
Hall to MC an event for what must have been
thirty five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, maybe
the largest group of them ever assembled in one place,
(29:45):
in one moment in time. The Deputy Mayor approached me
and the Mayor a few steps behind her on that
gorgeous spring day. As she began to introduce us, she
realized he had begun to wander off. Rudy Ruddy. She bellowed,
he wandered back, Rudie, this is Keith Alderman for me,
asked Fan, he's going to be the m C. You
(30:06):
will have to introduce him after you speak. The mayor
seemed to be having trouble focusing on me or anything else.
I thought of the old joke, just just keep your
eyes on the Alderman in the middle. He extended a hand,
missed mine, then recalibrated. As we shook hands, he grunted.
(30:27):
The Deputy mayor now roared at him, Rudy, you have
to introduce him. His name is Keith Alberman from ESPN.
He's the m C. Giuliani turned and looked at her
like he'd never seen her before. He grunted again. Deputy
Mayor Writer now screamed at Rudy Giuliani, repeat it to me.
(30:49):
He looked at me, then he looked back at her,
and he said, his name is Keith Alderman from ESPN.
He's the m C. With annoyance. Writer said thank you,
and Giuliani smiled and wandered off again. And I have
seriously thought, did I just meet a body double? Is
(31:10):
he a replicant? You see a well built robot. This
can't be the actual mayor. Well it was. I took
my seat in the front row of the stage that
had been built atop the City Hall steps. As the
crowd gathered, and it was a good one, maybe three
or four hundred people. The President of the Hall of
Fame spoke first. The mayor sat next to me. Giuliani
(31:32):
leaned in at one point and whispered to me, your
name is Keith Alverman from ESPN. You're the m C
I talk, I introduce you. I said something encouraging, and
he smiled broadly, like a child who was about to
get some candy. The president of the Baseball Hall frame
(31:53):
wrapped up, introduced Giulianti, who bounced up to the stage
and thanked him and got his name wrong. He then
launched into a speech taking credit for the great weather
and the terrific early season performance of New York Yankees,
and the New York Mets and the Brooklyn Dodgers and
the New York Giants who had moved out of New
York in nine seven. But if he had been mayor,
then they wouldn't have moved out in New York, would
(32:15):
have the four teams that deserves and look at all
these great players on. Let me now turn it over
to a good friend of mine and a great baseball man.
And he looked at me and he forgot everything. Silence,
titters of laughter from the crowd, and finally he looked
the other way behind him, where the Deputy Mayor had
(32:35):
her head in her hands. Rudy Giuliani into a microphone
that picked up everything he said, said loudly, what's his name?
Who is he? And now the titters of laughter in
the crowd turned to a little bit louder laughter, and
some of the Hall of Fame players seated behind me
gave me pats of consolation on my shoulder. Fran Ryders screamed,
(32:59):
Keith Oliverman from ESPN, the m C you repeated it
to me. Juliani turned back to the crowd as if
there had been no way they could have heard or
seen any of this, and he said, so let me
turn it over to a good friend of mine and
a great baseball man, Keith Obalman our n C from ESPM.
(33:26):
I just sat there, more laughs, more consolations from the
players behind me. I can still hear the laugh of
the late Detroit Tiger's great alkane line rising above the others.
Al later came over to commiserate. As I thought, should
I get there and say thank you Mayor Dinkins, or
better yet, thank you Mayor LaGuardia. I then concluded, no,
(33:50):
I can't do that. I'm representing ESPN, I'm representing the
Baseball Hall of Fame. As I thought that he said
it again. So now I got up and I told
the crowd sorry, I wasn't sure he meant me. So
if you are saying to yourself, what on earth happened
to Rudy Giuliani with that brown sch fitz pouring down
(34:12):
his face, I am saying to you he has been
this crazy for at least thirty years. You were just
lucky enough to have not previously noticed. It is all true.
Or my name ain't Keith Obleman our n c from EESPM.
(34:44):
I mean, my name is one thing, but to spell
ESPN wrong. Countdown has come to you from the studios
of Olberman Broadcasting, Empire World headquarters in the Sports Capsule
Building in New York. Thank you for listening. Here are
our credits. Most of the music, including the theme from
Beethoven's Ninth, was arranged Are You Stand performed by Brian
(35:06):
Ray and John Philip Chanelle. They are the Countdown musical directors.
Guitarist Bassed and drums by Brian Ray, all orchestration and
keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, produced by t k O Brothers.
Other Beethoven selections have it arranged and performed by No
horns allowed The sports music is the Olderman theme from
ESPN two and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis
and it appears courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by
(35:29):
Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer
today was Stevie Band's aunt. Everything else was pretty much
my fault. So let's countdown for this, the seven hundred
and sixty six day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup
against the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest
him now while we still can. The next schedule countdown
(35:50):
is Monday. Until then, I'm Keith Alderman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,
and good luck Yeah. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a
production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
(36:13):
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. Firstly, briefly,
what we actually know about the breaking news such as
(00:26):
it is the everybody is reporting report that special counsel
Jack Smith has subpoena Mike Pence for documents and testimony.
Here is what we know. It's about January six. Everything
else you have heard is about filling time on cable.
This is about January six. Only two bits of speculation
(00:48):
or context are either relevant or true. Obviously, the negotiations
for a voluntary interview of Pence have collapsed. And Secondly,
Mike Pence is remembered almost exclusively when he is remembered
at all, for not enacting Trump's plan to throw out
the legitimate slates of presidential electors in favor of fake ones,
thus overthrowing the election and the government. And while this
(01:12):
is something he refused to do for Trump, it is
imperative to remember that it is basically the only thing
he refused to do for Trump, and all evidence then
and now confirms he only refused to do it for
Trump because he was not convinced he and Trump could
get away with it. He is the farthest thing from
a hero Meanwhile today, right now, Chairman Jim Jordan knows
(01:36):
better than anybody else in the world that the first
rule of holding a political sham show on the alleged
weaponization of the federal government is to make sure that
whatever you claim the weapon is, you do not point
it at yourself. His star witness former FBI agent Thomas Baker,
(01:57):
the insider who could tell a breathless America about how
the Bureau had been locked, loaded and aimed at conservatives.
He turned now to have left the FBI in a
previous century. Congressman Dan Goldman, a former impeachment prosecutor, neatly
folded agent Baker FBI Class of nineteen sixty six, fit
(02:19):
him into an eight by ten envelope like the seal,
and mailed him home to mommy. You never worked in
conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security when you worked
for the FBI. Right, I was working as a consultant
during when you were for the FBI, when you were
paid by the FBI as a as a special agent.
Did you work with Homeland Security? No, it didn't exist.
(02:43):
And you never investigated for an interference in our elections?
Did you? No? I personally did not. And you have
no experience investigating Russia's efforts to interfere in our elections
through cyber attacks and social media. Do you other than
what I've studied and researched. Okay, and when you left,
did smartphones exist of a suet? Yes? Well, we had
(03:07):
we had phones. We had smartphones, smartphone had Well do
you ever do any search warrants for emails? Search warrants
for emails? No, I did not wad phones, Sunny. He
picked it up, and you, Gertie, it's central to get
your plaza eight eight six so you could talk to
(03:28):
President McKinley his own self in a way. It is
too bad that the record breaking thirty six hours of
self humiliation by the Republicans that I mentioned yesterday was
extended to forty eight hours at that amazing Weaponization Subcommittee
hearing that was so bad, so bad that Fox News
(03:48):
did not even carry any of it live. It is
too bad because there are new developments now in the
Charlie McGonagall case. The man at the heart of the
FBI New York office, which actually did weaponize against Hillary
Clinton in two thousand sixteen and actually did throw the
ALLI action to Trump or at least towards him, and
who is now under arrest for going from investigating a
(04:10):
Trump linked Russian oligarch to working for that Trump linked
Russian oligarch and any weaponization subcommittee should be investigating mcdonagall
and the FBI New York Office. Those new details in
a moment, But first I want you to savor what
happened to Chairman Jim Jordan yesterday. God knows I want
(04:31):
to savor it some more. It is one thing to be,
as Shakespeare wrote, hoist with your own petard. It is
quite another to get hoisted, then rehoisted, and then re rehoisted.
If ex agent Thomas I knew that pncouver personally Baker
was mailed home by Dan Goldman, then Jonathan Turley wants
(04:54):
a thoughtful and reliable contributor countdown on TV went home
in a saucer into which he had been ladled by
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schult. First, Turley, he has gone so
radically right wing in the last couple of years and
so radically dumb about the law that if you told
(05:15):
me somebody has been blackmailing him, I would not disbelieve you.
He was positioned yesterday to testify as an expert on
Twitter and what Twitter did to the laptop story, and
to understand what Wasserman Schultz then did to him, you
have to first hear Turley and the soul selling congresswoman
(05:36):
at least Stephonic doing their kabuki theater bit. Isn't it
true that leading up to the election, Twitter had weekly
meetings with not just the FBI, with d o J,
with DHS, with d n I to conduct this unconstitutional
censorship by surrogate. We know that because the Twitter files? Correct? Correct? Okay,
(05:56):
got it? Turley is the Twitter legal expert here. Oh no,
he's not turning to you. Have you ever worked for Twitter? No?
Do you have any formal relationship with the company. No,
I just have an account. Do you have any specific
or special or unique knowledge about the inner workings of Twitter?
(06:20):
Nothing beyond the Twitter files and what I read in
the media. So essentially, your responses to the questions here
today were your own opinion and pure conjecture. No, I
wouldn't say that. I mean they're based. I try to
base them on what we know from the Twitter files.
But you said that you don't have any specific or
unique knowledge of Twitter, but you spoke as if you did.
You were asked very specific questions about Twitter's, the way
(06:44):
Twitter functions, and the decision making that they that they make.
But yet you don't have any unique or special knowledge
about Twitter and have never worked for them, and so
this is only just your opinion. Would you say, as
a Twitter account user, No, I I've come to give
legal analysis based on facts are in the public domain,
and I was really referring to what the I was
(07:04):
asked about time. Legal analysis is another word for opinion.
I would I would think there's some distinction, but yeah,
it's all ultimately is an opinion. But I believe the
question to me was based on what the Twitter file show,
and that that was my reading of the Twitter fils, right,
And again that's another way of describing your opinion being offered,
(07:26):
which was represented as unique and special facts which you
don't possess. Can we get some paper towels to clean
up the parts of John Turley that that Debbie Wasserman
Schultz spilled while she was liquefying him. Anybody got some
bounty the quicker pick her upper. We should never discount
(07:47):
the fascist rights willingness to believe anything they see on
television that agrees with what they already believe, or which
they must convince themselves of. But still some of them,
at least ten or twelve had to have heard witnessed
Chuck Grassley, that Chuck A. Slee's senator from Iowa. You
know how old he is. He's tattered in six to hear.
(08:09):
Grassly explained to the committee that in the real collusion
with Russia was committed by Hillary Clinton, who Grassly says,
connived with Putin to get herself defeated. We all know
now that it was a Democratic National Committee along with
the Clinton campaign, who concluded with the Rasians. They used
(08:33):
a former Racan spy, Fusion GPS and law firm to
create a fake dossier and then tried to cover it up. Oh, Senator,
if only we could find that Russian spy. You mentioned
that Mr Fusion GPS felt, I bet he could reveal
the whole saga. At least there was somebody in there
(08:55):
older than the agent Baker. One other moment that does
not translate to audio TULSEI Gabbard, having wiped out as
a Democrat and now trying to become a Republican, was
called in as an expert on skunk stripes in your
hair and the deep state. I don't know. As she talked,
(09:18):
Republican Congressman Chris Stewart was shown dozing off literally and
just one more please before we get to McGonagall and
Derrick Posca and Albania. Leave it to Jamie Raskin to
note that they actually could be investigating the weaponization of
the government against democracy if the Republicans had not created
(09:41):
a subcommittee to actually pretend there was weaponization of the
government against just Republicans. Consider the John Durham Investigation if
they're urging the Republicans, including the good chairman. The John
Durham Special Council Investigation was set up in two thousand
nineteen by bar to try to find wrongdoing by intelligence
(10:01):
or law enforcement agencies in the origins of the Mueller
Investor stigation. And we've heard some of the murmurings about
this today. After four years and millions of dollars spent,
the Durham Investigation closed as a total flop without on
earthing anything like the deep state conspiracy that Republicans have
been denouncing around here for years. It couldn't find anything
(10:23):
of substance to it. Yet Bar and Durham kept pressing
in clearly abusive ways. I hope your subcommittee will investigate
Durham and Bar at an investigation of the real crime,
what the FBI did in two thousand sixteen, and then
what Bar did to cover that up in two thousand nineteen,
and finally we come back to Champagne Charlie McGonagall. Neither
(10:46):
of these new mcdonagall stories are Bulletin's exactly, but each
is new, and each underscores that background noise about mcdonagall's arrest,
that a there are still McGonagall details out there. To
find maybe a lot of them and be there is
merit to the extrapolation that he was in retire him
working for Oleg Deri Posca in two and in retirement
(11:08):
working for Oleg Deri Posca in and while still in
the FBI trying to get an internship for the daughter
of an employee of Oldleg Deri Posca in two thousand
and eighteen. There is every reason to ask if he
was already working with or four Oldleg Derrick Posca in
two thousand sixteen. Two thousand sixteen, when Paul Manafort was
Trump's Gratis campaign manager and Manafort owed Oleg Deri Posca money,
(11:34):
and Manafort was briefing Oleg Derri Posca on the Trump campaign,
and mcdonaghall was supposed to be investigating Derrick Posca for
the FBI. Business Insiders new headline is the FBI's mcdonnagle
Labyrinth and its stories starts with mcgonagall's girlfriend in New
York while he was still married in Maryland, explaining that
one day he told her the FBI had ordered everybody
(11:56):
to delete What's App from their phones, so he bought
a second phone on which to use What's App. Well,
it doesn't sound like my but she also reveals she
saw McGonagall take sealed envelopes from Sergey Shastakov, former Russian
diplomat and Derrick Posca agent, usually at dinner, sometimes maybe
at a hockey game. The article also quotes a lot
(12:17):
of x FBI rs who are most amazed in all
of this that McGonagall is accused of traveling internationally to
meet Derrick Posca in London and in Vienna, when McGonagall
was in essence a desk man in charge of everything
from what they were finding to the schedules of one
hundred and fifty FBI agents back in New York. There's
(12:39):
also a lot of hinting around the edges that, besides
the possibility of bribery or espionage by McGonagall, the lady
on the side might be really important because a lot
of the international spy game revolves around blackmailing agents because
you have trapped them with women or they have trapped themselves.
And maybe most interesting of all is the increasing fuzziness
(13:01):
of the timeline when did McGonagall start working for Derrick Posca.
Business Insider notes that the indictment refers to mcgonagall's traveled
to meet Derrick Posca, London and Vienna, but does not
say when. To that end, the websites Mattathias Schwartz quotes
the girlfriend Alison Guerrero as saying she wrote an angry
(13:22):
email to mcgonagall's boss in two thousand nineteen, Schwartz adding
quote Three sources familiar with the investigation told Insider that
the Bureau had already been looking into McGonagall by November
two thousand nineteen. Meantime, the ever underrated David Corn of
Mother Jones produced some extraordinarily valuable context. The McGonagall arrest
(13:43):
is complicated and confusing because the FBI and the d
o J presented it as two different separate crimes. A
his relationship with Deri Posca the Russian crime, and be
taking money while he was still at the FBI from
Albanians trying to get American support for the opposition party
in Albania's internal politics the Albanian crime. Taken as separate stories,
(14:08):
these might tend to portray McGonagall, maybe just subconsciously, as
just a crook who did whatever he could for whomever
he could find for money. David Corn notes that, in fact,
the story about an FBI executive meddling in Albanian politics
is actually the story of an FBI executive meddling in
(14:29):
Russian meddling in Albanian politics. At the time, the Russians
were trying to unseat the pro western, anti Putent Albanian
prime minister and trying to replace him with a guy
whose campaign slogan was make Albania great Again. Why don't
(15:06):
I get the feeling there's more to that story still ahead.
Rick Scott and Ron Johnson go on defense against the
you know fact that each of them loudly proposed cutting
and gutting and privatizing social Security. They evidently do not
know how to play defense. Senator Johnson merely went on
radio and repeated his dream of privatizing social Security, and
(15:28):
Senator Scott went on CNN and said he was innocent
of these charges because Jake Tapper, Jake Tapper, Jake Tapper,
Jake Tapper. I'm not kidding that basically was his answer.
Another George Santos dog scandal, another Elon Musk Twitter scandal,
and Hunter Biden's lawyer has now sent out a dozen
letters to a dozen Conservatives telling them to preserve all documents.
(15:49):
It is the proverbial warning, we may sue you. One
of the recipients is Rudy Giuliani. I will tell you
the all new story of the day I realized Rudy
Giuliani was, in fact nothing more than a functioning idiot.
The story dates to the year nineteen. That's next. This
is countdown. This is countdown with Keith Olberman postscripts to
(16:22):
the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks, some prediction,
state line Washington. Hunter Biden's attorney sends out more lawyer
letters the presidential son and attorney Abby Lowell continuing with
the best defense is a good offense approach. They have
demanded the recipients preserve and retain all records and documents
pertaining to Hunter Biden. This is the so called litigation
(16:43):
hold letter. It went to Steve Bannon and Roger Stone
and other Trump aids, and among others, Rudy Giuliani that
stay with me for an all new things I've promised
not to tell about how I knew Giuliani was like
this in n also receiving this letter, John Paul mac Isaac,
the computer to repair airman who just happened to keep
(17:05):
Biden's laptop and just happened to make a copy of
its hard drive, and just happened to give a copy
of that hard drive to Giuliani. This goober mac Isaac
promptly tweeted, if anything happens to me in the next
few weeks, the Bidens are responsible if anything happens to him.
Have you seen this guy? No eyebrows and his eyes
(17:26):
have been gradually migrating to opposite signs of his head.
What else is going to happen to him? Dateline Bird
in Hand, Pennsylvania. Politico reporting another George Santos dog scandal
that in two thousand seventeen, he was charged with theft.
Fifteen thousand, one five dollars in checks were made out
(17:46):
on his account to dog breeders in Pennsylvania. Then, contemporaneously,
Santos held a dog adoption event in Staten Island, New York,
charging fees of up to four hundred dollars in adoption
per dog. Three years later, NYPD officers woke Santos at
his home in the middle of the night with an
extradition warrant to Pennsylvania. The checks at all bounced. He
(18:08):
was being charged with theft. He and that attorney managed
to convince Pennsylvania authorities that as soon as Santos had
opened the account on which the checks to the dog
breeders had been written, somebody stole his check book, somebody
he thought he might have known, so he quote canceled
the checkbook. Santos then went to Pennsylvania, and, according to
(18:28):
his lawyer, Santos talked authorities into dropping the charges. She
also says Santos told them he worked for the Securities
and Exchange Commission. I'm waiting for one of these Santos
stories to end up with him explaining himself away by
claiming he is actually a talking dog. By the way,
bird in Hand Pennsylvania, where one of these dog breeding
(18:50):
people is actually located, is a real place. Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania.
It's near Lancaster. Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania is actually four
miles five minutes away from Intercourse, Pennsylvania. And lastly, if
you're from the sixties or seventies, or you know somebody
who is, If you or they seem a little sad today,
(19:12):
maybe inexplicably sad, it's because Bert Backrack has died. Any
era has multiple soundtracks, but the music for the lingering
post war optimism. Let's build more freeways, Let's go to
the moon, It's all getting better. That was written by
Bert Backrack and people he influenced. His music was not
in every movie in those decades. It only seems that way.
(19:34):
He did not work with every popular singer, but he
did with everybody from Dion Warwick to Tom Jones to
the Carpenters to Patti LaBelle, to Rod Stewart to Elvis Costello.
He won two Oscars for Best Song, Arthur's Theme with
Christopher Cross and rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head
with B. J. Thomas from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid ms faust out of the daily roundup of the miscreants,
(20:39):
morons and done in Kruger effects specimens who constitute today's
worst persons in the world, the Bronze good Old Elon
Musk platformer reporting and on Tuesday, Musk summoned an emergency
meeting of engineers and advisers to address the burning problem
on the Twitter website. This is ridiculous, Musk said, per
(21:04):
platformers sources, I have more than one million followers and
I'm only getting tens of thousands of impressions. His employees
showed the internal data indicating that last April Musk's popularity
in search rankings topped out peaked at the score of
one hundred. His current score is nine. The engineers said
(21:25):
they had already investigated to see if something technical or
in the algorithms had been artificially suppressing his tweets. The
answer was no, It was just that, you know, Twitter
users were kind of tired of his act. His response,
you'll fired and you'll filed. By the way, it is
now fifty three days since the pole Musk posted closed
(21:45):
and users voted fifty seven and a half percent to
forty two and a half percent that yes, he should
step down as CEO. Go in God's name go the
runner up, Senator Ron Johnson. After three days of arguing
whether or not he advocates or has advocated cutting or
gutting Social Security, Johnson has settled it. Joe Biden was right.
(22:09):
Johnson went on the radio to say that social Security
is a quote legal Ponzi scheme which should have been
privatized in two thousand ten. By the way, you know how,
I they're wrong when they call Ron Johnson or Russian asset,
because who in the world would think he's an asset
but the winners. Senator Rick Scott same story. Last night
(22:30):
on a Kentucky radio show, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
referred to Scott's twelve point plan to Rescue America, which
calls for the sunsetting of all federal legislation every five years,
including sunsetting social Security every five years. Quoting McConnell, this
is a bad idea. I think it will be a
challenge for him Rick Scott to deal with this in
(22:51):
his own re election in Florida, a state with more
elderly people than any other state in America. Well, never
mind re election Voldemort. Scott couldn't deal with an interview
on CNN on this topic to edit it down to
the highlights over a four minute span. Quote. Okay, he said,
let me just read you something Jake Tapper said. Jake
(23:12):
Tapper said, what about what Jake Tapper said? What Jake
Tapper said? And Jake Tapper said, have you talked to
Jake Tapper? Did the same fact checkers? Look at what
Jake Tapper said? Then why did Jake Tapper say it? Unquote?
I don't know if if I'm Jake Tapper and Rick
Scott used my name eight times to defend himself. I
(23:35):
am quitting the news business and moving to a Tibetan
monastery and hoping the universe forgives me, Senator Rick, when
I grow up, I want to be Jake Tapper. Does
Jake Tapper think I'm cool? Who wou might pretend life?
I'm Jake Tapper Scott two days worst first send and
(23:56):
the world still ahead on countdown. The only person who
may end up in legal trouble after two and a
half years of the Hunter Biden laptop could very well
(24:16):
be Rudy Giuliani. It continues his epic descent, which began
not in two thousand sixteen, not in two thousand seven,
not even after nine eleven. I first met the real, clueless,
useless Rudy nearly thirty years ago, coming up next first.
In each edition of Countdown, we feature a dog in
need you can help. Every dog has its day to
(24:37):
Miami and Snaggle. He is fifteen pounds. He's a handsome
sheet sue mix, gray and white and black and curly,
and he lived in the woods by himself for four
of his five years. They found him in December. He
had to be at the vet for weeks before he
was healthy enough to go to a foster home. Teeth pulled,
infections cured. He's now fine. Paw Patrol, Animal Rescue and
(24:59):
Sanctuary could use some help with his bills, but right
now their focus is finding him a home because as
he lived as a feral dog, there are all kinds
of restrictions on fences and other dogs. But if you're
near Miami, you might be right for him. You can
find Snaggle on the Cuddly website or on my Twitter feed. Donate, retweet,
or apply to adopt. I thank you and Snaggles thank
(25:20):
you through the number one story on the countdown in
my favorite topic, me and things I've promised not to tell.
I hear this question about Rudy Giuliani a lot. When
(25:41):
did his life go so horribly horribly wrong? Here was
America's mayor the rock in the hours of crisis after
nine eleven. What is he now? After literally years of
trying to sell the Hunter Biden laptop story? Who does
the Hunter Biden laptop story bite him? Four seasons gardening,
(26:04):
the mascara running down his face, gasseous emissions at phony
election hearings, the Sasha Baron Cohen film. I mean, even
back then, I thought it was nuts that people actually
thought Rudy Giuliani was the front runner for the two
thousand and eight Republican presidential nomination. What he was widely
held to be just that in two thousand six and
(26:27):
two thousand seven, And by the time it happened, he
was already on his way to spending millions of dollars
to finish last. But it was the final nail in
the coffin in which he still lives. At a Democratic
debate in two thousand seven October before the Field shook
out everybody but Obama and Hillary. One of the other
(26:49):
candidates was excoriating the Republicans and their exploitation of terrorism
and the al Qaeda attacks, and that other candidates said
of Giuliani, quote, there's only three things he mentions in
a sentence, A noun, a verb, and nine eleven. The
candidate was Joe Biden. The phrase a noun, a verb
(27:10):
and nine eleven ended Rudy Giuliani's career, and Giuliani's dislike
of Joe Biden, many decades old, turned to hatred at
that exact moment, which is why we got to where
we got to in two thousand and twenty. That was
also the exact moment at which any hopes Julie Hanny
and of being elected anything anywhere ever again vanished. But
(27:34):
it was clear to me as far back as September
two thousand and one. That's sadly, what we saw at
that time was a bad man having a few good
days before that month was out. Giuliani's response to the
attack on democracy was to himself attack democracy, to propose
that the November election to choose his successor to be
Mayor of New York should be postponed, or that at
(27:57):
least he should stay on for a few months as
co mayor because he was irreplaceable. There had always been
more subtle hints that Giuliani was never a good man,
just a slightly smarter one, a more devious one. The
venomous Ruddy, the scheming Rudy, the a moral Rudy, the
(28:17):
Rudy with a bad song in his heart, leaked out
from time to time, and often inside the world of sports,
which is where I met him. You will remember, Rudy
Giuliani was a professional New York Yankees fan. He always
went to the games for free, mind you, dugout seats
for himself, his wife, his other wife, his next wife,
(28:40):
the kids, the friends. When I still had friends at
Yankee Stadium, they estimated Rudy used to cost them thousands
of dollars every time he showed up. He always left
via the clubhouse. He always wore a Yankees cap. He
billed himself as quote the number one Yankee fan. And
then when the Boston Red Sox were playing in the
(29:01):
two thousand seven World Series, when he was campaigning for
president in New Have Sure, Rudy Giuliani suddenly announced he
was rooting for the Red Sox. This is like being
a Trump fan and announcing you are rooting for democracy.
But I went back with Rudy Giuliani even longer than that.
In or ninety six, I was asked by the Deputy
(29:25):
Mayor of New York City, Fran Writer, and the staff
of the Baseball Hall of Fame to travel from ESPN
in Connecticut, literally to the SNePS of New York City
Hall to MC an event for what must have been
thirty five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, maybe
the largest group of them ever assembled in one place,
(29:45):
in one moment in time. The Deputy Mayor approached me
and the Mayor a few steps behind her on that
gorgeous spring day. As she began to introduce us, she
realized he had begun to wander off. Rudy Ruddy. She bellowed,
he wandered back, Rudie, this is Keith Alderman for me,
asked Fan, he's going to be the m C. You
(30:06):
will have to introduce him after you speak. The mayor
seemed to be having trouble focusing on me or anything else.
I thought of the old joke, just just keep your
eyes on the Alderman in the middle. He extended a hand,
missed mine, then recalibrated. As we shook hands, he grunted.
(30:27):
The Deputy mayor now roared at him, Rudy, you have
to introduce him. His name is Keith Alberman from ESPN.
He's the m C. Giuliani turned and looked at her
like he'd never seen her before. He grunted again. Deputy
Mayor Writer now screamed at Rudy Giuliani, repeat it to me.
(30:49):
He looked at me, then he looked back at her,
and he said, his name is Keith Alderman from ESPN.
He's the m C. With annoyance. Writer said thank you,
and Giuliani smiled and wandered off again. And I have
seriously thought, did I just meet a body double? Is
(31:10):
he a replicant? You see a well built robot. This
can't be the actual mayor. Well it was. I took
my seat in the front row of the stage that
had been built atop the City Hall steps. As the
crowd gathered, and it was a good one, maybe three
or four hundred people. The President of the Hall of
Fame spoke first. The mayor sat next to me. Giuliani
(31:32):
leaned in at one point and whispered to me, your
name is Keith Alverman from ESPN. You're the m C
I talk, I introduce you. I said something encouraging, and
he smiled broadly, like a child who was about to
get some candy. The president of the Baseball Hall frame
(31:53):
wrapped up, introduced Giulianti, who bounced up to the stage
and thanked him and got his name wrong. He then
launched into a speech taking credit for the great weather
and the terrific early season performance of New York Yankees,
and the New York Mets and the Brooklyn Dodgers and
the New York Giants who had moved out of New
York in nine seven. But if he had been mayor,
then they wouldn't have moved out in New York, would
(32:15):
have the four teams that deserves and look at all
these great players on. Let me now turn it over
to a good friend of mine and a great baseball man.
And he looked at me and he forgot everything. Silence,
titters of laughter from the crowd, and finally he looked
the other way behind him, where the Deputy Mayor had
(32:35):
her head in her hands. Rudy Giuliani into a microphone
that picked up everything he said, said loudly, what's his name?
Who is he? And now the titters of laughter in
the crowd turned to a little bit louder laughter, and
some of the Hall of Fame players seated behind me
gave me pats of consolation on my shoulder. Fran Ryders screamed,
(32:59):
Keith Oliverman from ESPN, the m C you repeated it
to me. Juliani turned back to the crowd as if
there had been no way they could have heard or
seen any of this, and he said, so let me
turn it over to a good friend of mine and
a great baseball man, Keith Obalman our n C from ESPM.
(33:26):
I just sat there, more laughs, more consolations from the
players behind me. I can still hear the laugh of
the late Detroit Tiger's great alkane line rising above the others.
Al later came over to commiserate. As I thought, should
I get there and say thank you Mayor Dinkins, or
better yet, thank you Mayor LaGuardia. I then concluded, no,
(33:50):
I can't do that. I'm representing ESPN, I'm representing the
Baseball Hall of Fame. As I thought that he said
it again. So now I got up and I told
the crowd sorry, I wasn't sure he meant me. So
if you are saying to yourself, what on earth happened
to Rudy Giuliani with that brown sch fitz pouring down
(34:12):
his face, I am saying to you he has been
this crazy for at least thirty years. You were just
lucky enough to have not previously noticed. It is all true.
Or my name ain't Keith Obleman our n c from EESPM.
(34:44):
I mean, my name is one thing, but to spell
ESPN wrong. Countdown has come to you from the studios
of Olberman Broadcasting, Empire World headquarters in the Sports Capsule
Building in New York. Thank you for listening. Here are
our credits. Most of the music, including the theme from
Beethoven's Ninth, was arranged Are You Stand performed by Brian
(35:06):
Ray and John Philip Chanelle. They are the Countdown musical directors.
Guitarist Bassed and drums by Brian Ray, all orchestration and
keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, produced by t k O Brothers.
Other Beethoven selections have it arranged and performed by No
horns allowed The sports music is the Olderman theme from
ESPN two and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis
and it appears courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by
(35:29):
Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer
today was Stevie Band's aunt. Everything else was pretty much
my fault. So let's countdown for this, the seven hundred
and sixty six day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup
against the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest
him now while we still can. The next schedule countdown
(35:50):
is Monday. Until then, I'm Keith Alderman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,
and good luck Yeah. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a
production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
(36:13):
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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