May 16, 2023 • 41 mins
EPISODE 203: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:44) FOUR DIFFERENT LEAD STORIES:
FIRST LEAD STORY: Allegation from lurid sex abuse lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani: Rudy said Trump presidential pardons were available for purchase - as of February 16th, 2019 - $2,000,000 each, half to him, half to Rudy Giuliani. And on February 7th, 2019, Giuliani revealed that if Trump lost the following year’s election there was a plan in place to claim quote “voter fraud” and he repeatedly discussed the plan with his business associate Lev Parnas. Jack Smith needs to talk to this woman and get the tapes she claims she has. because if there is a CHANCE that ANY of this is true, Rudy Giuliani will flip like a cheeseburger.
Paragraph 109: “Throughout the employment and attorney-client relationship, Giuliani forced Ms. Dunphy to perform oral sex on him. He often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speaker phone from high-profile friends and clients, including then-President Trump. Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that he enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because it made him quote ‘feel like Bill Clinton’ unquote.”
SECOND LEAD STORY: Republicans appear to have lost or misplaced (or, hint hint, never had) the Biden "whistleblower" or "informant" they think will end a presidency. The problem is, Chairman James Comer apparently uses the terms interchangeably. He doesn't know his informing from his whistleblowing. He may need to ask Giuliani.
THIRD LEAD STORY: The Durham Report is out and it consists of… nothing. No indictments, no litigation, no calls for punishments. It concludes the FBI shouldn’t have investigated any of it. Just like that. The FBI Inspector General said some of the initial evidence that jump-started the investigation was dubious, but that the investigation was ENTIRELY justified. Durham’s report consists of him basically saying: no it wasn’t. I mean, remember what right wing media, especially Fox News, ESPECIALLY Sean Hannity – remember who they told their addicts were going to be exposed and indicted and revealed by Lord God Almighty John Durham. You ready? James Baker, John Brennan, James Clapper, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Lisa Page, Samantha Power, Rod Rosenstein, Peter Struck, Sally Yale and of course, evil mastermind Barack Obama. Or as it turns out… None of the Above. The Durham Investigation indicted… none of them. The Durham Investigation blamed… none of them.
B-Block (19:03) THE FOURTH LEAD STORY: What did Chris Licht get himself out of prostituting Trump for the Town Hall a week ago tomorrow? He got himself fourth place. On Friday night, Vichy CNN fell to FOURTH in a three-team league. An average of 335-thousand total viewers. That's 1.1 million behind behind Fox, three quarters of a million behind MSNBC, and 22,000 behind… NewsMax? Honest to God. NewsMax. And Anderson Cooper, after he condescendingly scolded his viewers and claimed they were living in silos? Most cable news shows drop Thursday to Friday. Cooper? He dropped 28 percent. And there is no indication that Licht and CNN have finished rock-bottom yet, neither in the ratings nor the public revulsion. The Daily Beast last night not only quoted a CNN source who called the event “our Chernobyl”but added that Licht is fawning over a reporter from the magazine The Atlantic who is writing a profile of Licht and that somehow CNN and Licht think it’s going to be “a glowing profile of the boss.” (29:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The unusual resume of the man who says you can't have a Congestion Pricing Scheme like London's in New York - because they drive on the other side in London. Plus Roger Ailes' widow attacks Murdoch. And his new book is out, but Josh Hawley's "Manhood" turns out to be a little short.
C-Block (34:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Duke and Simba, on the death list at Devore, CA (35:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well, why not? Since it's Rudy Giuliani Day, how about the story from nearly 30 years ago of when I emceed a baseball events on the steps of City Hall while he was Mayor and a) when it came time to introduce me he didn't know who the hell I was and b) more importantly all day he didn't know where the hell HE WAS.
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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 iHeartRadio. Trump
presidential pardons were available for purchase as of February sixteenth,
(00:27):
twenty nineteen, two million dollars each, half to him, half
to Rudy Giuliani, and on February seventh, twenty nineteen, Giuliani
revealed that if Trump lost the following year's election, there
was a plan already in place to claim quote voter fraud,
and he repeatedly discussed the plan with his business associate
(00:48):
Lev Parnis. That is what a woman suing Rudy Giuliani
for sexual abuse says Giuliani told her all in just
a nine day span in twenty nineteen, And she says
she has countless recordings of their encounters and I don't
know if she recorded any of this, and I don't
know if she's telling the truth. And I have even
less of an idea whether or not he was telling
(01:10):
the truth. But a representative of Special Counsel Jack Smith
needs to be at her figurative door today with a
subpoena for the tapes, than for her testimony about pardons
for sale and the concoction of the voter fraud conspiracy
twenty one months before the election, because if there is
a chance that any of this is true, Rudy Giuliani
(01:33):
will flip like a cheeseburger. The alleged victim's name is
Noel Dunfie. And not for a moment do I want
to seem insensitive to her or the two year ordeal
she has documented in her lurid and nauseating suit against him.
I mean, this thing reads like the script for a
Fellini film, somewhere between Casanova and Satyricon. It is, in
(01:57):
fact so disturbing, so lurid, that it is not until
the one hundred and twenty fourth numbered paragraph in her
seventy page filing that her attorney writes, quote Giuliani told
miss Dunfie about a plan that had been prepared for
if Trump lost the twenty twenty election. Specifically, Giuliani told
(02:18):
Miss Dunfie that Trump's team would claim that there was
quote voter fraud and that Trump had actually won the election.
This plan was discussed at several business meetings with Giuliani
and Lev Parness. It is eight paragraphs and nine days
later that Dunphee's attorney claims Giuliani quote also asked Miss
(02:38):
Dunfie if she knew anyone in need of a pardon,
telling her that he was selling pardons for two million dollars,
which he in President Trump would split, and he told
Miss dunfee that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him,
so long as they did not go through the normal
channels of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence
(03:01):
going to that office would be subject to disclosure under
the Freedom of Information Act. The purported price list for
pardons is obviously the most glaring possible criminal act that
the Special Council could pursue, but it is rather those
supposed meetings with Leb Parnis and the discussion of a
voter fraud scheme in February twenty nineteen that pertains most
(03:22):
immediately to Jack Smith's investigation because Smith is centering in
on the subsequent process by which Trump defrauded his own
cultists by soaking them for millions in monetary contributions to
an effort to repair a stolen election he already knew
full well wasn't stolen, and the idea that the operational
part of this conspiracy had begun, to say nothing of
(03:45):
the January sixth. Conspiracy that it all had begun at
least two years before January sixth adds an extra layer
of venality to Trump's criminal presidency. For MS Dunfie, wrightes
she was often ordered to work naked in Giuliani's presence.
This is understandably, utterly justifiably a case about how she claims,
(04:10):
and I think from reading it, the better word is
demonstrates how Juliani manipulated her into sex, bullied her, abused her,
committed battery on her. As she alleges. Her suit is
remarkably detailed, dates, places, names, hate filled. Giuliani rants about Blacks,
about Jews, about other groups, all of it reeking with
the kind of verisimilitude the artists call it verisimilitude that
(04:34):
anybody who has been around Rudy Giuliani for more than
thirty minutes out of the last thirty years would say, Yeah,
that sounds like him. I will leave most of the
conduct MSS Dunfie's attorneys describe in the gutter with Rudy,
where he and they belong, except for paragraph one nine,
which is as familiar to those of us who had
(04:54):
the misfortune to meet this sleees bag Juliani as any
of the abuses alleged or the women manipulated, or the
debts left unpaid sound familiar. His driving emotion for the
length of his public life has been envy, envy mixed
with usually futile fantasies of revenge. Here is paragraph one
(05:15):
nine quote. Throughout the employment and attorney client relationship, Giuliani
forced miss Dunfie to perform oral sex on him. He
often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on
speakerphone from high profile friends and clients, including then President Trump.
(05:38):
Giuliani told miss Dunfee that he enjoyed engaging in this
conduct while on the telephone because it made him quote
feel like Bill Clinton unquote just the sleaziest human alive
Rudy Giuliani. And in a final note from the Dunfee lawsuit,
fueled throughout their relationship, she says, by what she portrays
(06:02):
as almost NonStop consumption by Juliani of alcohol and viagra,
red pill or blue pill, Rudy, I don't want to
say this is a busy day, but honest to God,
there are four different lead stories. Five. If you want
to split hairs, I'll hold the Trump CNN scandal latest,
(06:25):
and instead go here. One of our Biden informants is missing.
No no, no, wait, two of our Biden informants are missing.
No no wait, we're not really sure how many of
our Biden informants are missing. And John Durham's indictments are missing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
For God's sake, somebody call the cops.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Thank you, Nancy Faust. First it was the hapless congressman
James Comers planning, matter of fact, lead to the gullible
Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that quote, we can't track down
the informant. We're hopeful that the informant is still there.
The whistleblower knows the informant, but that the informant was
in the spy business, so who knows. And even Bartiomo
(07:23):
noticed there was something wrong with that. Hold on a second, Congressman,
did you just say the whistleblower or the informant is
now missing? Spoiler alert, there is no informant. Now. It
is Marjorie Taylor Green fuzzing up whether the whistleblower is
the informant or now, just try to wrap your head
(07:44):
around this idea. Just perhaps, just perhaps the informant is
the whistleblower. Quote, we have not lost the submarine. That
whistleblower is very safe, but he does fear for his life,
and rightfully so. Uh huh fote Wait, Barney Rubbell has
(08:07):
more quote other whistleblowers. Yes, they are missing. They're either
in court, they're in jail, or we cannot talk with
them at this time because they can't be found. Green
then added with certainty, even though the information from her
is actually from Congressman Comber, which is in turn from
a rumor, which is in turn from an alleged document,
which was in turn reported by purported informant who we
(08:30):
know about only because of the supposed whistleblower, who knows
about an allegation in a document called an FBI Form
one zero two to three, and a form one zero
two to three is just for unsubstantiated rumors reported to
the FBI. So when Marge says this, it deserves the
exact weight of anything that you've heard. Seventh hand, she says, quote,
(08:51):
our investigation is so important that this will bring down
the president of the United States. Spoiler alert, there is
no investigation. It's so bad, so obvious that even Larry
Kudlow who was not only on Fox, but who was
in the last Trump administration, said on the Area yesterday
(09:13):
that the last link in this chain the Republicans claim
they have the one that actually ties any of this,
whatever it is to President Biden, you know, doesn't exist.
There is no last link, or, as Cudlow put it
during a live interview with Senator Ron Johnson, we haven't
fingered him. And Johnson, who is not a genius, explained
(09:35):
that the fact that there isn't that last link means
the last link is just out there, being hidden somewhere.
But it's even dumber than that. And when you say
something is dumber than Ron Johnson, that is astonishingly dumb.
The Republicans who are pretending there is an investigation can't
even keep their own stories straight individually. The headline over
(09:59):
the report by the impeccable Philip Bump of The Washington
Post is perfect quote Representative James Comber is looking for
anti Biden evidence, also his informant. Bump then writes that
Comer's office tells him that when Comber told Bartaromo about
the missing informant, Comber quote was not talking about the
(10:23):
whistleblower related to the FBI one zero two three form,
but rather quote someone who had provided information related to
the Biden family finances. Spoiler alert, there is no information.
If you want to have even more fun with this,
and it's not just a laugh, obviously, the conservatives are
(10:45):
eating this up. They expect Biden's resignation or impeachment before sunset.
They really think it will happen right now. I mean
some of them are hyperventilating so much that the QAnon
folks would be saying, jeez, you do know there's nothing there, right,
But if you do want to have more fun with this,
The CNN reporter Annie Grayer is voting a source who
(11:05):
says the quote missing informant is you ready? Are you seated?
You got the water out of your mouth. The missing
informant is quote an Israeli professor who is wanted by
the US for arms dealing. How could this possibly get dumber?
(11:26):
How could this possibly send up more warning signs, even
to Trumpists who will believe anything that reassures them that
the Emperor is too wearing clothes. Fox's Senior congressional correspondent.
Imagine having to do that job. Fox's Senior Congressional correspondent,
Chad Pergram, and you know him. He's the guy who
(11:48):
can make his mouth into a perfectly straight line like
a cartoon character to show you he's damned serious sort
of job. Chad Pergram writes. Quote. Comer's office says that
the Chairman was using the term whistleblower and informant interchangeably.
(12:09):
Spoiler alert, Jamie Comer can't tell his informant from his whistleblower.
You know, if he's having trouble with this whistle blowing thing,
he clearly needs to contact Rudy Giuliani. The problem with
stuff like Jamie Comber's invisible informant blower is that in
(12:32):
the wrong hands, it turns into a Special Council investigation. Yesterday,
John Durham turned in his report his investigation into the
Trump William Barr right wing claim that the FBI I
acting on behalf of the deep state, cooked up Russiagate,
made up a story to tarnish Trump, even though you know,
Russiagate produced thirty seven indictments, a bunch of convictions and
(12:54):
guilty pleas, and diplomatic sanctions, and the Trump family met
with the Russians who were willing to provide dirt on
Hillary Clinton, and everybody knows that, and it's documented al
and it was precipitated by Trump asking Russia to hack
American computer networks until somebody there could steal Hillary Clinton's emails,
which they then did. The Durham report consists of nothing,
(13:17):
no indictments, no litigation, no calls for punishment, just concludes
the FBI. Durham thinks shouldn't have investigated any of it,
just like that. That's it now. The FBI Inspector General
said some of the initial evidence that jump started the
investigation was dubious, but that the investigation itself was entirely justified.
(13:39):
Durham's report consists of him basically saying, no, it wasn't
Just like if I issued a report consisting of one
page reading, I think that beard that John Durham has
is actually a fake. I think it's a Mrkin. Only
my report didn't cost taxpayers at least six and a
half million dollars and wasn't used to cover up the
(14:01):
criminal presidency of Donald John Trump. And by the way,
that six and a half million dollars as of the
last time we were told how much it had cost,
which was at the end of last year. I mean,
remember what right wing media, especially Fox News, especially Sean Hannity,
Remember who they told their addicts, We're going to be
exposed and indicted and revealed by Lord God Almighty, John
(14:25):
Durham and the Durham Investigation. These are the people who
are going to go to jail for the rest of
their lives or be hanged. You ready. James Baker, John Brennan,
James Clapper, Hillary Clinton, James Comy, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McKay,
Bruce or Nelly or Lisa Page, Samantha Power, Rod Rosenstein,
Peter Struck, Sally Yale and of course the evil mastermind
(14:49):
Bruck who said Obama or as it turns out, none
of the above. The Durham investigation indicted none of them.
The Durham investigation blamed none of them. Spoiler alert, there
(15:10):
is no Durham investigation. Leads story number four, the Trump
CNN scandal. Firstly, there is a new Trump CNN scandal.
Jake Tapper went over to the dark side, I mean
completely went over at about the Durham report, no less.
But back to the first scandal, that town hall crowd
(15:32):
made up of nothing but four hundred Republican New Hampshire
primary voters supporting all kinds of candidates across section of
the New Hampshire Republican primary voting. Populace Well, one of
those New Hampshire voters. Sure looks like he was a
National Football League team owner and rabid Trump cultist. In fact,
he was Trump's ambassador to the United Kingdom, who's worth
(15:54):
five point seven billion dollars. And guess what he does
not vote in New Hampshire. He was a ringer. That's next.
This is countdown, this countdown with Keith Oberman. I've lost track.
This is what four lead stories? Speaking of that number four,
(16:19):
what did Chris lickt get himself out of prostituting for Trump?
With that town hall? We could go tomorrow? He got
himself fourth place. On Friday Night CNNFL to fourth in
a three team league, an average of three hundred and
thirty five thousand total viewers in primetime. That is a million,
(16:40):
one hundred thousand behind Fox, three quarters of a million
behind MSNBC, and twenty two thousand behind Newsmax, Honest to God,
Newsmax and Anderson Cooper after he condescendingly scolded his viewers
and claimed they were all living in silos. Most cable
(17:03):
news shows in primetime drop from Thursday to Friday. Cooper
he dropped twenty eight percent, And there is no indication
that LICKT and CNN have reached rock bottom yet, either
in the ratings or the public revulsion. The Daily Beast
last night not only quoted a CNN source who called
the Trump town hall our chernobyl, but added that LICKD
(17:26):
is fawning over a reporter from the magazine The Atlantic
who was writing a profile about LICKT. And somehow CNN
and LICKT have convinced themselves it's going to be a
glowing profile of the boss. Well, you do glow when
you are radioactive. On the other hand, one noted media
(17:47):
critic has now slammed CNN for not having made a
bigger deal of how high their ratings really were. I
was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what
took place. Trump told a new news site called The Messenger,
which despite the name, is not for religious nuts. They
should have said, we had a tremendous ratings night, one
of the best in years, many years, and spiked the football.
(18:11):
I would try to explain to Trump the nightmare. Reality
here that at nine to fifteen Wednesday night, as the
thing ended, CNN had three million, one hundred thousand viewers,
but by nine to fifteen Friday night, two million, eight
hundred and seven thousand of them had left. But by
that point Trump would have wandered off looking for a mirror.
Plus that football analogy he made brings up something curious.
(18:36):
One lit match in a forest fire, to be sure,
but important. Nonetheless, more of CNN's claims about the Trump
disaster their Chernobyl continue to fall apart principle. Among them
this continuing insistence that the audience was just four hundred
Republicans and independents who are planning to vote in the
(18:57):
New Hampshire Republican primary, and not say four hundred Trump supporters,
so rabid and so senior in the cult that Chris
Christy and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sinunu each said they
recognized most of them by face, and Christy said CNN
had made a deal with Trump to negotiate over who
was and who was not in that crowd. Now that
(19:20):
dispute is presented in microcosm. Was Woody Johnson in that crowd?
Who's Woody Johnson? Apart from being the most redundant name
in sports, Woody Johnson is co owner of the New
York Jets, and he was Trump's ambassador to the UK
and lost in the avalanche of reproach since the debacle,
a tweet from Tim Miller of The Bulwark saying that
(19:43):
as the thinly disguised rally ended, Trump said thank you Woody,
good luck Woody, and mimicked throwing a football. Other sources
said Woody Johnson was seen for a second or two
on a camera shot of the crowd. The news site
jay dot com had a long piece asking whether or
not Woody Johnson was actually in attendance at the Trump rally.
(20:07):
We reached out to the Jets. They wouldn't comment. They
wouldn't even make a no comment. The point is Trump
seems to have confirmed himself that Woody Johnson was in
the crowd. And guess what. Woody Johnson owns a lot
of homes, He's worth nearly six billion dollars, but he
don't live in Hampshire. So now it's not just a
question of how many Trump supporters were planted in that crowd,
(20:27):
but how many out of state Trump supporters were and
who put them there? And why did CNN let Trump
put them there? Ultimately, also, this is not just about
how much CNN damaged democracy and normalized Trump's fire hose
of lies approached to inconvenient reality. It's also about how
many different ways it did those two things. If it
(20:50):
looked to you that after the first commercial break, Trump
lied more, lied faster, was more abusive to the CNN
stooge Caitlin Collins than he had been, you were right.
Axios Now reports during that first commercial break, Trump advisor
Jason Miller, he is the one with the completely circular
pumpkin shaped head and the beard and no neck of
(21:12):
any kind. He took Trump backstage and showed him what
we must call, for want of a better term, mean tweets.
Axios reports Trump was shown tweets from Alexandria Acasio Cortes
and Andrew Yang and the Lincoln Project and others, and
he was apparently particularly fired up by AOC's reference to
(21:33):
a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. Axios wrote, quote, Trump,
who had been getting miffed at Collin's persistent questioning, went
out all pumped up for the second block. The website
now reports the snake handlers who managed Trump are talking
to several networks about high profile interviews and more town halls.
(21:57):
As you wonder about that, Yes, the people running NBC
News and MSNBC definitely would put on a town hall
or something similar with Trump, but I do not think
they will not on MSNBC. Would they do it on CNBC,
You bet your ass. As you wonder about what other
(22:18):
networks are willing to go through this again with Trump,
I will point out again that we are crossing the
one hundred and thirty two hour mark since this monstrosity ended,
and none of CNN's people, not one of the television anchors,
like Cooper, like Wolf Blitzer, like Jake Tapper, like John King,
Dana Bash, Aaron Burnett, not one has spoken out against
(22:41):
what happened against their Chernobyl, the people licked has turned
to to save CNN. Bill Maher, Charles Barkley, Gail King
have also all remained silent. Honestly, Chuck, you want any
part of this. You want to ruin your good name
(23:03):
and your good will for a network that in less
than one week lost its journalistic reputation and lost the
battle for a third place to newsbacks you want to
play in the CBA instead of the NBA. There is
one micro update about the one person at CNN with
(23:23):
the courage to even mildly criticize the fiasco, the media
reporter Oliver Darcy the Daily Beast again quote. Darcy had
previously told colleagues that he has contemplated resigning from CNN
over this incident, which a network spokesperson now tells Confider
the Daily Beasts column is not happening. In point of fact,
(23:46):
on this unfortunate front, the ranks of vs CNN seem
to be growing. We've already heard Cooper's credibility destroying silo remark,
from which he will never recover. There was Poppy Harlowe's
sycophantic congratulations to her co anchor Caitlyn Collins, and loudest
of all also congratulating Kitlin Collins was Kitwin Collins. But
(24:08):
yesterday something happened in a story that was only indirectly
tied to the Trump town hall that augurs poorly for
any of the network's bulwarks from even acknowledging that if
it is your chernobyl, you should flee and you should
probably tell all those townspeople out there to flee as well.
When that John Durham nothing berger hit on Monday afternoon
(24:31):
with its no evidence, no new information, and no indictments.
As I outlined earlier, Jake Tapper indicated he had welcomed
his new insect overlord. Chris licked to Tapper and thus
to Tapper's audience. The blank Durham pages were quote devastating
to the FBI and to a degree it does exonerate
(24:51):
Donald Trump. Neither of those things is true. On the
other hand, neither of those things matters. As of last Friday,
Jake Tapper's two hour early evening show was averaging one
hundred and nineteen thousand viewers in the demo rating viewers
aged twenty five to fifty four. That makes his the
twenty first or twenty second highest rated program on cable news. Now.
(25:14):
That number is called the demo rating because it is
the advertising demographic, the one the advertisers care about. The
advertisers who tomorrow will convene at the theater at Madison
Square Garden to hear the annual upfront sales pitch from
Warner Brothers Discovery. The people who now own CNN and
(25:35):
employ Jake Tapper Ohen also employ his new insect overlord.
(25:55):
Coming up, back to Rudy. If you think Giuliani's deterioration
from America's mayor to America's betrayer began in two thousand
three or so two thousand and six, no, sir, tried
a decade earlier, or two decades earlier. The story of
the day in the nineties when I am seed a
(26:16):
baseball event with Rudy Giuliani while he was mayor of
the City of New York, and he didn't have the
slightest idea where he was. But that was before the
invention of viagra. First, the daily round up of the misgrants,
morons and Dunning Kruger effect specimens who constitute today's worst
(26:36):
persons in the world. The bronze ron Siemensini, who spoke
out at a press event run by the New Jersey
Senator Bob Menendez opposing the so called congestion pricing system
scheduled to come into effect in New York City, which
is patterned after the one that has been used for
many years in London. You want to bring a car
into Midtown that'll cost to like sixteen bucks mister Simoncini
(27:01):
replied with the memorable line, you say this works in London,
London where they drive on the other side, this has
to work in Jersey for sheer sophistry. That has to
be one of the greatest dumb things ever said. But
there's more. In trying to figure out who mister Siemensini
was and why he was there, I googled him. I
(27:21):
discovered that at this event he was identified as the
executive director of the Fair Congestion Pricing Alliance. But I
also found it. I guess there's a chance there's more
than one Ron Siemensini in New Jersey who gets quoted
in all the big controversial stories. I also found Ron Siemensini,
executive director of the Jersey City Property Owners Association, and
(27:45):
Ron Siemensini, executive director of the Miles Square Taxpayers Association,
and Ron Siemensini, presenter of the Hudson County Property Rights Coalition,
and Ron Siemensini spokesperson for Hudson Regional Health and Ron
Siemensini spokesperson of the New Jersey Apartment Association, and Ron
Siemensini spokesperson for Sudler Companies and Ron's vice chairman of
(28:05):
Axiom Communications and Ron Seamen CD, chairman of the Meadowlands
Area y MCA. He's he's a professional press conference talker.
Runner up. Beth Ayles, widow of the late Roger Ales,
who married him in nineteen ninety eight, and thus she
sat silent as he harrised and attacked countless women at
(28:27):
Fox before he died. She tweeted yesterday, Happy heavenly birthday,
Roger Ales. It took you twenty years to build Fox
News into the powerhouse it was, and only six years
for the murdocks to reak havoc. Rupert thought he could
do your job. What a joke. He has the check
book but could never come close to your genius. Rip
(28:50):
Missus Ales. Roger's not in heaven but our winner, Missouri
Senator Josh Hawley. Today, finally, after years it seems of waiting,
they are publishing Josh Hawley's new book, Manhood, The masculine
virtues America needs, so starting today, Josh Hawley's Manhood is
(29:13):
available for twenty nine ninety nine. Josh, this is it.
This is your Manhood, two hundred and fifty six pages.
It's not very long, is it? Or thick Holly, Today's
worst Person.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And look God, I love podcasts. I can get away
with anything.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Word still ahead on Countdown. Just when you were able
to chase away that earlier image of Rudy Juliana on
(29:56):
the speakerphone to Trump during World sex. Here I am
about to tell you another Giuliani story. An I a stink. Happily,
everybody's pants stay on in this Giuliani story. First in
each edition of Countdown, we feature a dog in need
you can help. Every dog has its day. Good news. Free,
the seventy seven pound brindle puppy at the New York
(30:18):
Pound Free has been saved. Thank you. Now we have
two dogs at the Notorious Kills Shelter in DeVore, California.
These young shepherd mixes are about a year old each.
Simba is brown and black. Duke is light tan and black.
They have been there barely two weeks, yet they're already
marked for death. It is appalling. They need our pledges
(30:39):
to help defray the costs of a rescue to save
them and train them. Duke is buoyant and Simba is
your standard shepherd with the sad eyes as if he
knows where he is and what's going to happen? If
you can pledge to help financially. You can find them
both on my Twitter feeds and your pledge will encourage
a rescue to rescue them. Hi, thank you, and Simba
(30:59):
and Duke, thank you. And through the number one story
on the countdown and my favorite topic, me and things
I promised not to tell. I hear this question about
Rudy Giuliani a lot. When did his life go so
(31:23):
horribly horribly wrong? Here was America's mayor the rock in
the hours of crisis, after nine to eleven? What is
he now? After literally years of tried to sell the
Hunter Biden laptop story. Who does the Hunter Biden laptop
story bite him? Four seasons gardening, the mascara running down
(31:46):
his face, gashes, 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 whly held to be just
that in two thousand and six and two thousand and seven,
(32:09):
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 and seven, October thirtieth, before the field shook out
everybody but Obama and Hillary, one of the other candidates
(32:30):
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 to eleven. The candidate was Joe Biden.
The phrase a noun, a verb and nine to eleven
(32:52):
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 twenty and twenty. That was also the exact moment
at which any hopes Julianni had of being elected anything
anywhere ever again vanished. But it was clear to me
(33:16):
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,
(33:37):
or that at 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
debious one. The venomous Rudy, the scheming Rudy, the a
moral Rudy, the Rudy with a bad song in his heart,
(34:01):
leaked out from time to time, and often inside the
world of sorts, 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, the kids, the friends. When I still had
(34:24):
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 two thousand and seven World Series, when he was
campaigning for president in New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani suddenly announced
(34:47):
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 nineteen ninety five or nineteen ninety six, I was
asked by the Deputy Mayor of New York City, Fran Writer,
(35:08):
and the staff of the Baseball Hall of Fame to
travel from ESPN in Connecticut, literally to the steps 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 in one moment in time. The Deputy
(35:29):
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. Ruddy, Ruddy,
she bellowed, he wandered back, Rudy, This is Keith Olberman
from ESPN. He's going to be the MC. You will
have to introduce him after you speak. The mayor seemed
(35:50):
to be having trouble focusing on me or anything else.
I thought of the old joke, just keep your eyes
on the oberman in the middle. He extended a hand,
missed mine, then recalibrated. As we shook hands, he grunted.
The Deputy mayor now roared at him, Rody, you have
to introduce him. His name is Keith Alderman from ESPN.
(36:14):
He's the MC. Guliani 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.
He looked at me, then he looked back at her
and he said, his name is Keith Alderman from ESPN.
(36:37):
He's the MC. With annoyance. Writer said thank you, and
Juliani smiled and wandered off again, and I half seriously thought,
did I just meet a body double? Is he a replicant?
Is he a well built robot? This can't be the
actual mayor? Well it was. I took my seat in
(37:00):
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 leaned in at one
point and whispered to me, your name is Keith Alverman
from ESPN. You're the MC I talk, I introduce you.
(37:25):
I said something encouraging, and he smiled broadly like a
child who was about to get some candy. The President
of the Baseball Hall of Fame wrapped up introduced Giuliani,
who bounced up to the stage and thanked him and
got his name wrong. He then launched into his speech,
taking credit for the great weather in the terrific early
season performance of the New York Yankees and the New
(37:46):
York Mets and the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants,
who had moved out of New York in nineteen fifty seven.
But if he had been mayor then they wouldn't have
moved out in New York, would have the four teams
it deserves, and look at all these great players. Will
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
(38:11):
from the crowd, And finally he looked the other way
behind him, where the Deputy mayor had 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
(38:33):
Hall of Fame players seated behind me gave me pats
of consolation on my shoulder. Fran Ryder screamed, Keith Alderman
from ESPN, the MC 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
(38:54):
a good friend of mine and a great baseball man,
Keith Obelman, our NC from ESPM. I just sat there,
more laughs, more consolations from the players behind me. I
can still hear the laugh of the late Detroit Tigers
(39:15):
great alkyline 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, I can't do that.
I'm representing ESPN. I'm representing the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(39:36):
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 schitz pouring down his face, I am saying
to you, he has been this crazy for at least
(39:57):
thirty years. You were just lucky enough to have not
previously noticed. I've done all the damage I can do. Here.
(40:18):
Here are the credits. Most of the music was arranged, produced,
and performed by Brian Ray and John Phillips Chanel, who
are the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by
John Phillip Schanelle, guitarist, bass and drums by Brian Ray,
produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged
and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. The sports
music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two, and it
(40:40):
was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc.
Musical comments by Nancy Fauss the best baseball stadium organist ever.
Our announcer was my friend Larry David. Everything else is
pretty much my fault. So that's countdown for this, the
eight hundred and sixty first day since Donald Trump's first
attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the United States.
Don't forget to keep arresting him while we still can.
(41:03):
My next scheduled countdown is to tomorrow. Till then I'm
your NC from ESPN Keith Albelman, Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,
and Suffering Sucketash Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(41:28):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Trump
presidential pardons were available for purchase as of February sixteenth,
(00:27):
twenty nineteen, two million dollars each, half to him, half
to Rudy Giuliani, and on February seventh, twenty nineteen, Giuliani
revealed that if Trump lost the following year's election, there
was a plan already in place to claim quote voter fraud,
and he repeatedly discussed the plan with his business associate
(00:48):
Lev Parnis. That is what a woman suing Rudy Giuliani
for sexual abuse says Giuliani told her all in just
a nine day span in twenty nineteen, And she says
she has countless recordings of their encounters and I don't
know if she recorded any of this, and I don't
know if she's telling the truth. And I have even
less of an idea whether or not he was telling
(01:10):
the truth. But a representative of Special Counsel Jack Smith
needs to be at her figurative door today with a
subpoena for the tapes, than for her testimony about pardons
for sale and the concoction of the voter fraud conspiracy
twenty one months before the election, because if there is
a chance that any of this is true, Rudy Giuliani
(01:33):
will flip like a cheeseburger. The alleged victim's name is
Noel Dunfie. And not for a moment do I want
to seem insensitive to her or the two year ordeal
she has documented in her lurid and nauseating suit against him.
I mean, this thing reads like the script for a
Fellini film, somewhere between Casanova and Satyricon. It is, in
(01:57):
fact so disturbing, so lurid, that it is not until
the one hundred and twenty fourth numbered paragraph in her
seventy page filing that her attorney writes, quote Giuliani told
miss Dunfie about a plan that had been prepared for
if Trump lost the twenty twenty election. Specifically, Giuliani told
(02:18):
Miss Dunfie that Trump's team would claim that there was
quote voter fraud and that Trump had actually won the election.
This plan was discussed at several business meetings with Giuliani
and Lev Parness. It is eight paragraphs and nine days
later that Dunphee's attorney claims Giuliani quote also asked Miss
(02:38):
Dunfie if she knew anyone in need of a pardon,
telling her that he was selling pardons for two million dollars,
which he in President Trump would split, and he told
Miss dunfee that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him,
so long as they did not go through the normal
channels of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence
(03:01):
going to that office would be subject to disclosure under
the Freedom of Information Act. The purported price list for
pardons is obviously the most glaring possible criminal act that
the Special Council could pursue, but it is rather those
supposed meetings with Leb Parnis and the discussion of a
voter fraud scheme in February twenty nineteen that pertains most
(03:22):
immediately to Jack Smith's investigation because Smith is centering in
on the subsequent process by which Trump defrauded his own
cultists by soaking them for millions in monetary contributions to
an effort to repair a stolen election he already knew
full well wasn't stolen, and the idea that the operational
part of this conspiracy had begun, to say nothing of
(03:45):
the January sixth. Conspiracy that it all had begun at
least two years before January sixth adds an extra layer
of venality to Trump's criminal presidency. For MS Dunfie, wrightes
she was often ordered to work naked in Giuliani's presence.
This is understandably, utterly justifiably a case about how she claims,
(04:10):
and I think from reading it, the better word is
demonstrates how Juliani manipulated her into sex, bullied her, abused her,
committed battery on her. As she alleges. Her suit is
remarkably detailed, dates, places, names, hate filled. Giuliani rants about Blacks,
about Jews, about other groups, all of it reeking with
the kind of verisimilitude the artists call it verisimilitude that
(04:34):
anybody who has been around Rudy Giuliani for more than
thirty minutes out of the last thirty years would say, Yeah,
that sounds like him. I will leave most of the
conduct MSS Dunfie's attorneys describe in the gutter with Rudy,
where he and they belong, except for paragraph one nine,
which is as familiar to those of us who had
(04:54):
the misfortune to meet this sleees bag Juliani as any
of the abuses alleged or the women manipulated, or the
debts left unpaid sound familiar. His driving emotion for the
length of his public life has been envy, envy mixed
with usually futile fantasies of revenge. Here is paragraph one
(05:15):
nine quote. Throughout the employment and attorney client relationship, Giuliani
forced miss Dunfie to perform oral sex on him. He
often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on
speakerphone from high profile friends and clients, including then President Trump.
(05:38):
Giuliani told miss Dunfee that he enjoyed engaging in this
conduct while on the telephone because it made him quote
feel like Bill Clinton unquote just the sleaziest human alive
Rudy Giuliani. And in a final note from the Dunfee lawsuit,
fueled throughout their relationship, she says, by what she portrays
(06:02):
as almost NonStop consumption by Juliani of alcohol and viagra,
red pill or blue pill, Rudy, I don't want to
say this is a busy day, but honest to God,
there are four different lead stories. Five. If you want
to split hairs, I'll hold the Trump CNN scandal latest,
(06:25):
and instead go here. One of our Biden informants is missing.
No no, no, wait, two of our Biden informants are missing.
No no wait, we're not really sure how many of
our Biden informants are missing. And John Durham's indictments are missing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
For God's sake, somebody call the cops.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Thank you, Nancy Faust. First it was the hapless congressman
James Comers planning, matter of fact, lead to the gullible
Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that quote, we can't track down
the informant. We're hopeful that the informant is still there.
The whistleblower knows the informant, but that the informant was
in the spy business, so who knows. And even Bartiomo
(07:23):
noticed there was something wrong with that. Hold on a second, Congressman,
did you just say the whistleblower or the informant is
now missing? Spoiler alert, there is no informant. Now. It
is Marjorie Taylor Green fuzzing up whether the whistleblower is
the informant or now, just try to wrap your head
(07:44):
around this idea. Just perhaps, just perhaps the informant is
the whistleblower. Quote, we have not lost the submarine. That
whistleblower is very safe, but he does fear for his life,
and rightfully so. Uh huh fote Wait, Barney Rubbell has
(08:07):
more quote other whistleblowers. Yes, they are missing. They're either
in court, they're in jail, or we cannot talk with
them at this time because they can't be found. Green
then added with certainty, even though the information from her
is actually from Congressman Comber, which is in turn from
a rumor, which is in turn from an alleged document,
which was in turn reported by purported informant who we
(08:30):
know about only because of the supposed whistleblower, who knows
about an allegation in a document called an FBI Form
one zero two to three, and a form one zero
two to three is just for unsubstantiated rumors reported to
the FBI. So when Marge says this, it deserves the
exact weight of anything that you've heard. Seventh hand, she says, quote,
(08:51):
our investigation is so important that this will bring down
the president of the United States. Spoiler alert, there is
no investigation. It's so bad, so obvious that even Larry
Kudlow who was not only on Fox, but who was
in the last Trump administration, said on the Area yesterday
(09:13):
that the last link in this chain the Republicans claim
they have the one that actually ties any of this,
whatever it is to President Biden, you know, doesn't exist.
There is no last link, or, as Cudlow put it
during a live interview with Senator Ron Johnson, we haven't
fingered him. And Johnson, who is not a genius, explained
(09:35):
that the fact that there isn't that last link means
the last link is just out there, being hidden somewhere.
But it's even dumber than that. And when you say
something is dumber than Ron Johnson, that is astonishingly dumb.
The Republicans who are pretending there is an investigation can't
even keep their own stories straight individually. The headline over
(09:59):
the report by the impeccable Philip Bump of The Washington
Post is perfect quote Representative James Comber is looking for
anti Biden evidence, also his informant. Bump then writes that
Comer's office tells him that when Comber told Bartaromo about
the missing informant, Comber quote was not talking about the
(10:23):
whistleblower related to the FBI one zero two three form,
but rather quote someone who had provided information related to
the Biden family finances. Spoiler alert, there is no information.
If you want to have even more fun with this,
and it's not just a laugh, obviously, the conservatives are
(10:45):
eating this up. They expect Biden's resignation or impeachment before sunset.
They really think it will happen right now. I mean
some of them are hyperventilating so much that the QAnon
folks would be saying, jeez, you do know there's nothing there, right,
But if you do want to have more fun with this,
The CNN reporter Annie Grayer is voting a source who
(11:05):
says the quote missing informant is you ready? Are you seated?
You got the water out of your mouth. The missing
informant is quote an Israeli professor who is wanted by
the US for arms dealing. How could this possibly get dumber?
(11:26):
How could this possibly send up more warning signs, even
to Trumpists who will believe anything that reassures them that
the Emperor is too wearing clothes. Fox's Senior congressional correspondent.
Imagine having to do that job. Fox's Senior Congressional correspondent,
Chad Pergram, and you know him. He's the guy who
(11:48):
can make his mouth into a perfectly straight line like
a cartoon character to show you he's damned serious sort
of job. Chad Pergram writes. Quote. Comer's office says that
the Chairman was using the term whistleblower and informant interchangeably.
(12:09):
Spoiler alert, Jamie Comer can't tell his informant from his whistleblower.
You know, if he's having trouble with this whistle blowing thing,
he clearly needs to contact Rudy Giuliani. The problem with
stuff like Jamie Comber's invisible informant blower is that in
(12:32):
the wrong hands, it turns into a Special Council investigation. Yesterday,
John Durham turned in his report his investigation into the
Trump William Barr right wing claim that the FBI I
acting on behalf of the deep state, cooked up Russiagate,
made up a story to tarnish Trump, even though you know,
Russiagate produced thirty seven indictments, a bunch of convictions and
(12:54):
guilty pleas, and diplomatic sanctions, and the Trump family met
with the Russians who were willing to provide dirt on
Hillary Clinton, and everybody knows that, and it's documented al
and it was precipitated by Trump asking Russia to hack
American computer networks until somebody there could steal Hillary Clinton's emails,
which they then did. The Durham report consists of nothing,
(13:17):
no indictments, no litigation, no calls for punishment, just concludes
the FBI. Durham thinks shouldn't have investigated any of it,
just like that. That's it now. The FBI Inspector General
said some of the initial evidence that jump started the
investigation was dubious, but that the investigation itself was entirely justified.
(13:39):
Durham's report consists of him basically saying, no, it wasn't
Just like if I issued a report consisting of one
page reading, I think that beard that John Durham has
is actually a fake. I think it's a Mrkin. Only
my report didn't cost taxpayers at least six and a
half million dollars and wasn't used to cover up the
(14:01):
criminal presidency of Donald John Trump. And by the way,
that six and a half million dollars as of the
last time we were told how much it had cost,
which was at the end of last year. I mean,
remember what right wing media, especially Fox News, especially Sean Hannity,
Remember who they told their addicts, We're going to be
exposed and indicted and revealed by Lord God Almighty, John
(14:25):
Durham and the Durham Investigation. These are the people who
are going to go to jail for the rest of
their lives or be hanged. You ready. James Baker, John Brennan,
James Clapper, Hillary Clinton, James Comy, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McKay,
Bruce or Nelly or Lisa Page, Samantha Power, Rod Rosenstein,
Peter Struck, Sally Yale and of course the evil mastermind
(14:49):
Bruck who said Obama or as it turns out, none
of the above. The Durham investigation indicted none of them.
The Durham investigation blamed none of them. Spoiler alert, there
(15:10):
is no Durham investigation. Leads story number four, the Trump
CNN scandal. Firstly, there is a new Trump CNN scandal.
Jake Tapper went over to the dark side, I mean
completely went over at about the Durham report, no less.
But back to the first scandal, that town hall crowd
(15:32):
made up of nothing but four hundred Republican New Hampshire
primary voters supporting all kinds of candidates across section of
the New Hampshire Republican primary voting. Populace Well, one of
those New Hampshire voters. Sure looks like he was a
National Football League team owner and rabid Trump cultist. In fact,
he was Trump's ambassador to the United Kingdom, who's worth
(15:54):
five point seven billion dollars. And guess what he does
not vote in New Hampshire. He was a ringer. That's next.
This is countdown, this countdown with Keith Oberman. I've lost track.
This is what four lead stories? Speaking of that number four,
(16:19):
what did Chris lickt get himself out of prostituting for Trump?
With that town hall? We could go tomorrow? He got
himself fourth place. On Friday Night CNNFL to fourth in
a three team league, an average of three hundred and
thirty five thousand total viewers in primetime. That is a million,
(16:40):
one hundred thousand behind Fox, three quarters of a million
behind MSNBC, and twenty two thousand behind Newsmax, Honest to God,
Newsmax and Anderson Cooper after he condescendingly scolded his viewers
and claimed they were all living in silos. Most cable
(17:03):
news shows in primetime drop from Thursday to Friday. Cooper
he dropped twenty eight percent, And there is no indication
that LICKT and CNN have reached rock bottom yet, either
in the ratings or the public revulsion. The Daily Beast
last night not only quoted a CNN source who called
the Trump town hall our chernobyl, but added that LICKD
(17:26):
is fawning over a reporter from the magazine The Atlantic
who was writing a profile about LICKT. And somehow CNN
and LICKT have convinced themselves it's going to be a
glowing profile of the boss. Well, you do glow when
you are radioactive. On the other hand, one noted media
(17:47):
critic has now slammed CNN for not having made a
bigger deal of how high their ratings really were. I
was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what
took place. Trump told a new news site called The Messenger,
which despite the name, is not for religious nuts. They
should have said, we had a tremendous ratings night, one
of the best in years, many years, and spiked the football.
(18:11):
I would try to explain to Trump the nightmare. Reality
here that at nine to fifteen Wednesday night, as the
thing ended, CNN had three million, one hundred thousand viewers,
but by nine to fifteen Friday night, two million, eight
hundred and seven thousand of them had left. But by
that point Trump would have wandered off looking for a mirror.
Plus that football analogy he made brings up something curious.
(18:36):
One lit match in a forest fire, to be sure,
but important. Nonetheless, more of CNN's claims about the Trump
disaster their Chernobyl continue to fall apart principle. Among them
this continuing insistence that the audience was just four hundred
Republicans and independents who are planning to vote in the
(18:57):
New Hampshire Republican primary, and not say four hundred Trump supporters,
so rabid and so senior in the cult that Chris
Christy and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sinunu each said they
recognized most of them by face, and Christy said CNN
had made a deal with Trump to negotiate over who
was and who was not in that crowd. Now that
(19:20):
dispute is presented in microcosm. Was Woody Johnson in that crowd?
Who's Woody Johnson? Apart from being the most redundant name
in sports, Woody Johnson is co owner of the New
York Jets, and he was Trump's ambassador to the UK
and lost in the avalanche of reproach since the debacle,
a tweet from Tim Miller of The Bulwark saying that
(19:43):
as the thinly disguised rally ended, Trump said thank you Woody,
good luck Woody, and mimicked throwing a football. Other sources
said Woody Johnson was seen for a second or two
on a camera shot of the crowd. The news site
jay dot com had a long piece asking whether or
not Woody Johnson was actually in attendance at the Trump rally.
(20:07):
We reached out to the Jets. They wouldn't comment. They
wouldn't even make a no comment. The point is Trump
seems to have confirmed himself that Woody Johnson was in
the crowd. And guess what. Woody Johnson owns a lot
of homes, He's worth nearly six billion dollars, but he
don't live in Hampshire. So now it's not just a
question of how many Trump supporters were planted in that crowd,
(20:27):
but how many out of state Trump supporters were and
who put them there? And why did CNN let Trump
put them there? Ultimately, also, this is not just about
how much CNN damaged democracy and normalized Trump's fire hose
of lies approached to inconvenient reality. It's also about how
many different ways it did those two things. If it
(20:50):
looked to you that after the first commercial break, Trump
lied more, lied faster, was more abusive to the CNN
stooge Caitlin Collins than he had been, you were right.
Axios Now reports during that first commercial break, Trump advisor
Jason Miller, he is the one with the completely circular
pumpkin shaped head and the beard and no neck of
(21:12):
any kind. He took Trump backstage and showed him what
we must call, for want of a better term, mean tweets.
Axios reports Trump was shown tweets from Alexandria Acasio Cortes
and Andrew Yang and the Lincoln Project and others, and
he was apparently particularly fired up by AOC's reference to
(21:33):
a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. Axios wrote, quote, Trump,
who had been getting miffed at Collin's persistent questioning, went
out all pumped up for the second block. The website
now reports the snake handlers who managed Trump are talking
to several networks about high profile interviews and more town halls.
(21:57):
As you wonder about that, Yes, the people running NBC
News and MSNBC definitely would put on a town hall
or something similar with Trump, but I do not think
they will not on MSNBC. Would they do it on CNBC,
You bet your ass. As you wonder about what other
(22:18):
networks are willing to go through this again with Trump,
I will point out again that we are crossing the
one hundred and thirty two hour mark since this monstrosity ended,
and none of CNN's people, not one of the television anchors,
like Cooper, like Wolf Blitzer, like Jake Tapper, like John King,
Dana Bash, Aaron Burnett, not one has spoken out against
(22:41):
what happened against their Chernobyl, the people licked has turned
to to save CNN. Bill Maher, Charles Barkley, Gail King
have also all remained silent. Honestly, Chuck, you want any
part of this. You want to ruin your good name
(23:03):
and your good will for a network that in less
than one week lost its journalistic reputation and lost the
battle for a third place to newsbacks you want to
play in the CBA instead of the NBA. There is
one micro update about the one person at CNN with
(23:23):
the courage to even mildly criticize the fiasco, the media
reporter Oliver Darcy the Daily Beast again quote. Darcy had
previously told colleagues that he has contemplated resigning from CNN
over this incident, which a network spokesperson now tells Confider
the Daily Beasts column is not happening. In point of fact,
(23:46):
on this unfortunate front, the ranks of vs CNN seem
to be growing. We've already heard Cooper's credibility destroying silo remark,
from which he will never recover. There was Poppy Harlowe's
sycophantic congratulations to her co anchor Caitlyn Collins, and loudest
of all also congratulating Kitlin Collins was Kitwin Collins. But
(24:08):
yesterday something happened in a story that was only indirectly
tied to the Trump town hall that augurs poorly for
any of the network's bulwarks from even acknowledging that if
it is your chernobyl, you should flee and you should
probably tell all those townspeople out there to flee as well.
When that John Durham nothing berger hit on Monday afternoon
(24:31):
with its no evidence, no new information, and no indictments.
As I outlined earlier, Jake Tapper indicated he had welcomed
his new insect overlord. Chris licked to Tapper and thus
to Tapper's audience. The blank Durham pages were quote devastating
to the FBI and to a degree it does exonerate
(24:51):
Donald Trump. Neither of those things is true. On the
other hand, neither of those things matters. As of last Friday,
Jake Tapper's two hour early evening show was averaging one
hundred and nineteen thousand viewers in the demo rating viewers
aged twenty five to fifty four. That makes his the
twenty first or twenty second highest rated program on cable news. Now.
(25:14):
That number is called the demo rating because it is
the advertising demographic, the one the advertisers care about. The
advertisers who tomorrow will convene at the theater at Madison
Square Garden to hear the annual upfront sales pitch from
Warner Brothers Discovery. The people who now own CNN and
(25:35):
employ Jake Tapper Ohen also employ his new insect overlord.
(25:55):
Coming up, back to Rudy. If you think Giuliani's deterioration
from America's mayor to America's betrayer began in two thousand
three or so two thousand and six, no, sir, tried
a decade earlier, or two decades earlier. The story of
the day in the nineties when I am seed a
(26:16):
baseball event with Rudy Giuliani while he was mayor of
the City of New York, and he didn't have the
slightest idea where he was. But that was before the
invention of viagra. First, the daily round up of the misgrants,
morons and Dunning Kruger effect specimens who constitute today's worst
(26:36):
persons in the world. The bronze ron Siemensini, who spoke
out at a press event run by the New Jersey
Senator Bob Menendez opposing the so called congestion pricing system
scheduled to come into effect in New York City, which
is patterned after the one that has been used for
many years in London. You want to bring a car
into Midtown that'll cost to like sixteen bucks mister Simoncini
(27:01):
replied with the memorable line, you say this works in London,
London where they drive on the other side, this has
to work in Jersey for sheer sophistry. That has to
be one of the greatest dumb things ever said. But
there's more. In trying to figure out who mister Siemensini
was and why he was there, I googled him. I
(27:21):
discovered that at this event he was identified as the
executive director of the Fair Congestion Pricing Alliance. But I
also found it. I guess there's a chance there's more
than one Ron Siemensini in New Jersey who gets quoted
in all the big controversial stories. I also found Ron Siemensini,
executive director of the Jersey City Property Owners Association, and
(27:45):
Ron Siemensini, executive director of the Miles Square Taxpayers Association,
and Ron Siemensini, presenter of the Hudson County Property Rights Coalition,
and Ron Siemensini spokesperson for Hudson Regional Health and Ron
Siemensini spokesperson of the New Jersey Apartment Association, and Ron
Siemensini spokesperson for Sudler Companies and Ron's vice chairman of
(28:05):
Axiom Communications and Ron Seamen CD, chairman of the Meadowlands
Area y MCA. He's he's a professional press conference talker.
Runner up. Beth Ayles, widow of the late Roger Ales,
who married him in nineteen ninety eight, and thus she
sat silent as he harrised and attacked countless women at
(28:27):
Fox before he died. She tweeted yesterday, Happy heavenly birthday,
Roger Ales. It took you twenty years to build Fox
News into the powerhouse it was, and only six years
for the murdocks to reak havoc. Rupert thought he could
do your job. What a joke. He has the check
book but could never come close to your genius. Rip
(28:50):
Missus Ales. Roger's not in heaven but our winner, Missouri
Senator Josh Hawley. Today, finally, after years it seems of waiting,
they are publishing Josh Hawley's new book, Manhood, The masculine
virtues America needs, so starting today, Josh Hawley's Manhood is
(29:13):
available for twenty nine ninety nine. Josh, this is it.
This is your Manhood, two hundred and fifty six pages.
It's not very long, is it? Or thick Holly, Today's
worst Person.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And look God, I love podcasts. I can get away
with anything.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Word still ahead on Countdown. Just when you were able
to chase away that earlier image of Rudy Juliana on
(29:56):
the speakerphone to Trump during World sex. Here I am
about to tell you another Giuliani story. An I a stink. Happily,
everybody's pants stay on in this Giuliani story. First in
each edition of Countdown, we feature a dog in need
you can help. Every dog has its day. Good news. Free,
the seventy seven pound brindle puppy at the New York
(30:18):
Pound Free has been saved. Thank you. Now we have
two dogs at the Notorious Kills Shelter in DeVore, California.
These young shepherd mixes are about a year old each.
Simba is brown and black. Duke is light tan and black.
They have been there barely two weeks, yet they're already
marked for death. It is appalling. They need our pledges
(30:39):
to help defray the costs of a rescue to save
them and train them. Duke is buoyant and Simba is
your standard shepherd with the sad eyes as if he
knows where he is and what's going to happen? If
you can pledge to help financially. You can find them
both on my Twitter feeds and your pledge will encourage
a rescue to rescue them. Hi, thank you, and Simba
(30:59):
and Duke, thank you. And through the number one story
on the countdown and my favorite topic, me and things
I promised not to tell. I hear this question about
Rudy Giuliani a lot. When did his life go so
(31:23):
horribly horribly wrong? Here was America's mayor the rock in
the hours of crisis, after nine to eleven? What is
he now? After literally years of tried to sell the
Hunter Biden laptop story. Who does the Hunter Biden laptop
story bite him? Four seasons gardening, the mascara running down
(31:46):
his face, gashes, 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 whly held to be just
that in two thousand and six and two thousand and seven,
(32:09):
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 and seven, October thirtieth, before the field shook out
everybody but Obama and Hillary, one of the other candidates
(32:30):
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 to eleven. The candidate was Joe Biden.
The phrase a noun, a verb and nine to eleven
(32:52):
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 twenty and twenty. That was also the exact moment
at which any hopes Julianni had of being elected anything
anywhere ever again vanished. But it was clear to me
(33:16):
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,
(33:37):
or that at 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
debious one. The venomous Rudy, the scheming Rudy, the a
moral Rudy, the Rudy with a bad song in his heart,
(34:01):
leaked out from time to time, and often inside the
world of sorts, 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, the kids, the friends. When I still had
(34:24):
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 two thousand and seven World Series, when he was
campaigning for president in New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani suddenly announced
(34:47):
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 nineteen ninety five or nineteen ninety six, I was
asked by the Deputy Mayor of New York City, Fran Writer,
(35:08):
and the staff of the Baseball Hall of Fame to
travel from ESPN in Connecticut, literally to the steps 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 in one moment in time. The Deputy
(35:29):
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. Ruddy, Ruddy,
she bellowed, he wandered back, Rudy, This is Keith Olberman
from ESPN. He's going to be the MC. You will
have to introduce him after you speak. The mayor seemed
(35:50):
to be having trouble focusing on me or anything else.
I thought of the old joke, just keep your eyes
on the oberman in the middle. He extended a hand,
missed mine, then recalibrated. As we shook hands, he grunted.
The Deputy mayor now roared at him, Rody, you have
to introduce him. His name is Keith Alderman from ESPN.
(36:14):
He's the MC. Guliani 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.
He looked at me, then he looked back at her
and he said, his name is Keith Alderman from ESPN.
(36:37):
He's the MC. With annoyance. Writer said thank you, and
Juliani smiled and wandered off again, and I half seriously thought,
did I just meet a body double? Is he a replicant?
Is he a well built robot? This can't be the
actual mayor? Well it was. I took my seat in
(37:00):
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 leaned in at one
point and whispered to me, your name is Keith Alverman
from ESPN. You're the MC I talk, I introduce you.
(37:25):
I said something encouraging, and he smiled broadly like a
child who was about to get some candy. The President
of the Baseball Hall of Fame wrapped up introduced Giuliani,
who bounced up to the stage and thanked him and
got his name wrong. He then launched into his speech,
taking credit for the great weather in the terrific early
season performance of the New York Yankees and the New
(37:46):
York Mets and the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants,
who had moved out of New York in nineteen fifty seven.
But if he had been mayor then they wouldn't have
moved out in New York, would have the four teams
it deserves, and look at all these great players. Will
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
(38:11):
from the crowd, And finally he looked the other way
behind him, where the Deputy mayor had 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
(38:33):
Hall of Fame players seated behind me gave me pats
of consolation on my shoulder. Fran Ryder screamed, Keith Alderman
from ESPN, the MC 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
(38:54):
a good friend of mine and a great baseball man,
Keith Obelman, our NC from ESPM. I just sat there,
more laughs, more consolations from the players behind me. I
can still hear the laugh of the late Detroit Tigers
(39:15):
great alkyline 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, I can't do that.
I'm representing ESPN. I'm representing the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(39:36):
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 schitz pouring down his face, I am saying
to you, he has been this crazy for at least
(39:57):
thirty years. You were just lucky enough to have not
previously noticed. I've done all the damage I can do. Here.
(40:18):
Here are the credits. Most of the music was arranged, produced,
and performed by Brian Ray and John Phillips Chanel, who
are the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by
John Phillip Schanelle, guitarist, bass and drums by Brian Ray,
produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged
and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. The sports
music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two, and it
(40:40):
was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc.
Musical comments by Nancy Fauss the best baseball stadium organist ever.
Our announcer was my friend Larry David. Everything else is
pretty much my fault. So that's countdown for this, the
eight hundred and sixty first day since Donald Trump's first
attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the United States.
Don't forget to keep arresting him while we still can.
(41:03):
My next scheduled countdown is to tomorrow. Till then I'm
your NC from ESPN Keith Albelman, Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,
and Suffering Sucketash Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(41:28):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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