August 29, 2023 • 41 mins
SEASON 2 EPISODE 24: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT:
Trump STILL has to go to trial in 189 days and apparently STILL does not know there is no legal mechanism to APPEAL the judge’s schedule nor STILL does half the Republican Party and STILL at least half of all media including the BBC, and thus Trump is STILL ROYALLY EFFED.
And after Mark Meadows inexplicably testified for more than four hours yesterday trying to get a glorified change of venue in the Atlanta Election Subversion Conspiracy trial by using the singular strategy of confessing to everything… the Judge says he’ll have a ruling “as soon as possible”whether it stays in local court in Atlanta or in a federal court presumably elsewhere in Georgia with a jury pool more favorable to Meadows and Trump and when they say favorable of course they mean more WHITE.
She wasn’t going to JAIL Trump, no matter how much I wished for it on my lucky beads. She was going to do something far worse. She was going to assume he was doing it to try to poison the jury pool (like he could think THAT rationally or THAT far ahead) and she would just speed up the trial. The prosecution wanted the trial to open 127 days from now. Trump countered with 947 days. Two and a half years. Chutkan’s compromise REEKS of “this is punishment, please enjoy being EFFED” – 189 days.
It's glorious.
There is one thing here Trump truly fears – the OTHER essential ingredient (besides a guilty verdict) that can put him behind bars: a speedy trial – and his nitwitted co-defendants, his supposed minions Ken Cheesbro and Mark Meadows and Sidney Powell all INVOKED the Georgia Speedy Trial Law so THAT one is already on track to start two months earlier than originally planned BY THE D-A… and now Trump is being beaten up by the judge who KNOWS it’s the one thing Trump truly fears – and we’ll see you on March 4th.
Now about Meadows: why did he feel he had to testify – for four hours – that he was Trump’s gatekeeper and HE was at every meeting and HE was on every phone call and HE was the guy others went to, to get Trump to listen to them – and HE went to Georgia and HE arranged the Raffensberger phone call and HE was in the meeting with the Michigan politicos and wait wait – that meeting and the Raffensberger call were about… overturning the election results in Georgia and Michigan? THAT’S what Trump meant about the 11-thousand-790 votes? I’ll be damned!
Trump is SO effed.
B-Block (21:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Big news everyone! Today is the day the Bidens are sentenced by the military and the "Citizens Tribunal" according to the founder of Judicial Watch. Tucker Carlson insists getting fired makes you a man: so he's FOUR men I guess. And Joe The Plumber dies. (26:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Melanie Zanona of CNN both-sides a Biden impeachment story but leaves out the fact that the GOP has no evidence until PARAGRAPH NINE. The NRA exaggerates the number of Americans using an AR-15 for defense by roughly 1,999,996. And Congressman Byron Donalds "blames" the 2020 lockdown and the vaccine rollout on Biden. While Trump was still president.
C-Block (31:47) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With The Daily Beast reporting Matt Lauer has abandoned his comeback, time to recount what we really knew about him at NBC and the time he tried to get me fired because I helped him get a "big get" interview.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
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. The headlines. First,
Trump still has to go to trial in just one
(00:26):
hundred and eighty nine days from now, and he still
apparently does not know that there is no legal mechanism
for him to appeal. You cannot appeal the judge's court schedule.
Nor still does at least half the Republican Party understand this,
Nor still does at least half of all media news
(00:47):
understand this, including the BBC, And thus in some Trump
is still royallyft. And after Mark Meadows inexplicably testified for
more than four hours yesterday trying to get a glorified
chain venue in the Atlanta election subversion conspiracy trial by
(01:08):
using a singular strategy of confessing to everything, the judge
there says he'll have a ruling as soon as possible
as to whether it stays in local court in Atlanta
or in a federal court presumably elsewhere in Georgia, with
a jury pool more favorable to Meadows and Trump. And
when they say more favorable, of course, they actually mean
(01:30):
more white. I said here twenty four hours ago that
if Judge Chuckkin selected a trial date in the federal
election subversion case, and the date was in January or February.
It was a sure sign that Trump was ft. And
I'm given myself this one because March fourth is close
(01:50):
enough to February. The point of that prediction was that
such an opening day choice would indicate that Chutkin really
is going to deploy her plan for disciplining Trump. On
that fateful Friday when twenty four hours after he said
he understood that he had to be circumspect in public
and on social media and could not threaten or harass
(02:11):
or try to intimidate the witnesses, the prosecutors, the judge,
and he began a weekend of doing nothing but threatening
and harassing and intimidating them. Judge Chutkin came back with
what seemed like a wishy washy response. She wasn't going
to jail Trump, no matter how much I wished for
it on my lucky beads. She was going to do
(02:34):
something far, far worse to him. She was going to
assume that he was doing all this to try to
poison the jury pool, like he could think that rationally
or that far ahead, and so she would just in response,
speed up the trial to protect the jury pool. The
(02:54):
prosecution wanted the trial to open one hundred and twenty
seven days from now. Trump countered with nine hundred and
forty seven days two and a half years. Chutkin's compromise
re of, Hey, Trump, this is punishment. Please enjoy being
ft one and eighty nine days. It's glorious, and it
(03:15):
was accompanied when his lawyers read a short version of
that schedule for the months ahead for Trump with one
gigantic so what She compared his upcoming schedule, which I
will review in full in a moment, and his complaints
about having to change his dear beloved schedule to a
theoretical pro athlete, which must have pleased Trump, who really
(03:38):
does think he would have been Mickey Mantle or Jack Nicklaus,
complaining that the court dates would conflict with the athlete's
schedule of games and practices. Judge Chutkins said, in legalies,
who gives a there is one thing here Trump truly
fears the other essential ingredient besides a guilty verdict that
(03:59):
can put him behind bars, and that is a speedy trial.
And his knit co defendants, his supposed minions Ken cheesebro
and Mark Meadows and Sidney Powell all invoked the Georgia's
speedy trial law, so that one is already on track
to start nearly two months earlier than originally planned by
the DA. And now on the federal level, Trump is
(04:22):
being beaten up by the judge who knows it is
the one thing Trump truly fears. And we will see
you on March fourth. Now, as to what Meadows did yesterday,
I do not get this. I do not get this.
I do not get this. Mark Meadows went down to
(04:42):
Georgia and spoke at his own motions hearing and let
himself be cross examined, and the courtroom was filled with
lawyers for other defendants looking into this same idea. Get
this transferred to federal court. And Trump had to listen,
at least by extension, as Meadows just started talking and talking,
(05:06):
talking and talking and incriminating self and confessing and contradicting
and admitting and revealing. And I do not get this.
I do not get the reward. Here is what happens.
If the Meadows part gets transferred from Fulton County to
federal court, or if all of the trials get transferred
(05:31):
to federal court, you get a trial in a court
in northern Georgia, so more white people in the jury pool.
That's it. Here's what you do not get. You do
not get a different prosecutor. Fani Willis can continue to
try this case or direct her office's attorneys as they
try it. You do not get a federal sentencing guideline.
(05:53):
You do not get a venue in which, if you
get convicted you can be pardoned by a president. The
state pardon rules continue to apply, and they deny anybody,
but the Pardons and Parole Board from pardon anybody, and
even they can't do it until five years after you've
served your whole sentence, and only then if you show remorse.
Ha Trump remorse.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Now, look, I get it. If you're on trial, especially
if you happen to be guilty, you need to maximize
your chances of a racist jury letting you off the hook,
because it still has not adjusted to appomattox. I get that,
(06:33):
But why did that mean that Mark Meadows had to
testify for four hours that Yeah, he was Trump's gatekeeper,
and he was at every meeting, and he was on
every phone call, and he was the guy others went
to to get Trump to listen to them, and he
went to Georgia and he arranged the Raffensburger phone call,
and he was in the meeting with the Michigan politicos.
And wait, wait, wait, wait, that Michigan meeting and the
(06:56):
Raffensburger call were about overturning the election results in Georgia
and Michigan. Really, that's what Up meant about those eleven
seven and ninety votes. I'll be damned. When Meadows was
not incriminating himself under oath, mind, you easily read back
(07:17):
as evidence at trial and always admissible, since he was
under oath at his own request. When Meadows was not
incriminating himself, Meadows was shoveling so fast he really lost
the plot. At one point, he said that all he
knew about the Raffinsburg phone call was that it was
an attempt by Trump to find a quote less litigious
(07:40):
resolution to the Georgia presidential vote. I can see in
my mind's eye the prosecution lawyers in a neat orderly
row doing a simultaneous triple spit take. If that's what
Trump was doing, calling Raffinsburger, hoping to make it all
less litigious, that means it was to some degree litigious,
(08:03):
and that means it was a campaign litigation phone call.
And what the hell is the chief of staff at
the White House doing on a campaign litigation phone call?
Because that violates the Hatch Act, And they're not going
to grant you a federal trial here if the only
way you can get there is by proving you were
violating the laws that say what federal administration officials can
(08:26):
and cannot do. We already know Meadows flipped to Jack
Smith the whole or in part way of flipping. He
obviously was the guy who told Smith about the ghostwriter
publisher Liz Harrington, Mark Milly Iran War Plan revelation meeting,
(08:47):
and that there was a recording of it. We'll see
eventually just how badly he actually did flip. But what
he did in Georgia yesterday just brings us back to
my theme for the day. Trump is royally f So, now,
(09:10):
with all that out of the way, here is your
revised Trump schedule for the rest of twenty twenty three
and early twenty twenty four. And I think it will
not take you the whole of this list to begin
to appreciate what has happened to Trump. Almost inadvertently. He
is now being chased by every judge and every political
(09:33):
deadline imaginable, and they are beginning to collide with each other.
Here we go. September sixth. Arraignments for the Trump nineteen Trump, Giuliani, Powell, Eastman,
the Whole Gang in Fulton County September seventh, the next day,
Classified discovery productions for the documents trial in Florida September fourteenth.
The week after that, Section ten notice due to Judge Cannon.
(09:57):
September twenty seventh, the second Goped debate, which he will
skip because he really is a coward. October second, the
start of the Tish James, New York State Trump Organization
trial that will be three of them in progress at
the same time. October ninth, All motions due to Judge Chutkin.
(10:18):
October tenth, Defense Section four challenge forms due to Judge Cannon.
October seventeenth, Section four hearing before Judge Cannon. October twentieth.
Live golf match play at the Trump Course in Durral, Florida.
October twenty one. More golf October twenty two. More golf
because you can't get enough golf. October twenty three motion
(10:40):
response is due to Judge Chucken and October twenty three
is the most recent proposed. First day of the Fulton
County Trial in Atlanta, November third, pre trial motions due
to Judge Cannon. November six, Motion replies due to Judge Chutcken.
November eight. Rule sixteen disclosures due to Judge Cannon. November fifteenth,
Defense Rule sixteen disclosures due to Judge Cannon, November seventeenth.
(11:02):
Defense Section five notices due to Judge Cannon. November twenty eighth.
Status conference with Judge Cannon, December fourth. Evidence submissions due
to Judge Chutcken. December eleventh. Expert witness lists due to
Judge Chutcken and free trial motions hearing before Judge Cannon,
December fifteenth. Section six A motions due to Judge Canon
(11:24):
December eighteenth. Exhibits list due to Judge Chutcken. December twenty seventh,
Hope you enjoyed Christmas. Motions to suppress evidence due to
Judge Chutcken, January fourth, Section six A response motions due
to Judge Canon. January ninth, No no motions on evidence
suppression due to Judge Chutcken January fifteenth, Jury instructions due
(11:46):
to Judge Chucken and Iowa caucuses and opening day of
the second Egen Carroll lawsuit trial next day, January sixteenth,
Section six A hearing before Judge Cannon January TBD. The
Hampshire primary January twenty ninth, start after six years of
(12:06):
that pyramid scheme class action lawsuit against Trump February eighth.
The Nevada caucuses February twelfth. Joint discovery report to Judge
Cannon February twenty fourth, Witness lists due to Judge Chutkin
and South Carolina primary February twenty sixth. Remaining motions Hearing
before Judge Cannon February twenty seventh. Michigan Primary March two,
(12:28):
Idaho Caucus March three. District of Columbia primary March fourth,
opening day of the federal election subversion case. Remember to
bring Judge Chutkin an Apple March fifth, super Tuesday fourteen.
Republican primaries March twelfth. Three more primaries, including Georgia, while
the Georgia trial is certainly underway. March twentieth. Evidence motions
(12:54):
to Judge Cannon. March twenty fifth, started the Stormy Daniel's
trial in New York. May twentieth, started the stolen Documents
trial in Florida. May twenty sixth. Good Golf, Live Golf
at the Trump Golf Course in Washington. July fifteenth, Republican
National Convention, and as a side note, that is the
political wing of the Republican Party holding its national Convention,
(13:17):
not the paramilitary wing of the Republican Party, and all
other days should be assumed to be booked for Trump
to bitch and moan about everything as usual. Two updates.
(13:38):
All hell has broken loose in Hampshire over fourteen three,
the disqualification clause Article three of the fourteenth Amendment. The
balloon headed kid the fascists hired because he can spew
their drivel for dozens of hours a week. Charlie Kirk
read the news about Trump's own former New Hampshire Senate candidate,
Corky Messner, saying he was meeting with the Secretary of
(14:00):
State there to discuss invoking fourteenth three because although he
remains a Trump supporter and would vote for Trump, somebody
has to stand up for the Constitution. And Kirk turned
it into dumbed it down into something his audience could
understand Trump betrayed New Hampshire trying ban Trump attacked New Hampshire.
(14:22):
Send flying monkeys now it's war. The chairman of the
State Republican Party has attacked Corky Messner. That group I
mentioned yesterday free Speech for People, with its letters to
all fifty state Secretaries of State, well, its letter to
the one in New Hampshire has gotten there. David Scanlan,
Secretary of State. Now he's going to the Attorney General
(14:42):
to find out what the Attorney General thinks. And Scanlan
is also still answering all the calls from the Flying
Monkeys because Charlie Kirk's listeners busted the switchboard. And the
second update, we have a clarification from Jacksonville's tenth district
and councilwoman Jacoby Pittman, who and big props to her,
(15:06):
gets it. She understands when the crowd at the Jacksonville
shooting vigil booed and heckled Ron de Santis on Sunday night,
and she took the mic back from DeSantis and told
them that this was not about parties today and that
a bullet doesn't know a party. She was, by her
own admission embracing the lesser of two evils. MS. Pittman says, firstly,
(15:29):
Governor DeSantis was never supposed to speak at the vigil.
He was supposed to just show up and to be
introduced by the moderator and just be there. A reasonable thing,
no matter how much this man is a fascist, A
reasonable thing for governor to do, to just be there. Then,
to the councilwoman's shock, the moderator called DeSantis up to
(15:52):
give remarks. Instead of saying something smart like I grieve
with you, I'll do everything my office is capable of
doing for you, and out of respect, I will now
sit my ass down, Dysantis instead went into a speech
about how he was going to cover the security costs
at the original target of the murderer, Edward Waters University
(16:14):
and HBCU, and he this, and he that. The councilwoman
said at that point she knew trouble loomed, The crowd
knew DeSantis's racist complicity. It was not about to forget it.
So she reclaimed the floor in a manner of speaking
and gave her brief speech about not being political, and
(16:35):
everybody went home in one piece. DeSantis and his grinning
idiot of a wife with him. I do not support
his policies, Pittman explained. I appreciate the difficulty of her
position in the moment, and I appreciate how easy it
is to second guess that moment from the safety of
thousands of miles away. The problem is the second half
(16:58):
of her statement will now achieve immortality. The first part
would have been sufficient today is not about political parties. Great,
But the second part, the part about a bullet not
knowing a party, that will be played forever every time
there is a shooting in fascist media. Fox may start
(17:23):
its own channel with just that SoundBite forever, because mass
shootings happen because of the Republican Party, and therefore the
Republican Party will use anything said by any Democrat that
can seemingly reduce its guilt, responsibility, and culpability by one
(17:45):
one millionth of one percent. Also of interest here, Tucker
Carlson says it's good for a man to get fired.
Well heard him on this. This is four times he's
(18:08):
been fired. Now that's next. This is countdown.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
This is countdown with Keith Olberman.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Alberman postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snart,
some prediction, State Line, Washington, d C. If you think
the current chief of the ludicrous Judicial Watch, Tom Fitten
is a moron, the guy who isn't a lawyer but
(18:41):
tells Trump want to do legally, well, you never met
the previous chief, Larry Kleiman, ousted by the outfit years
ago and now running a knockoff called Freedom Watch. He
has popped back into the news by claiming that a
citizen grand jury has indicted President Biden and members of
his family, and then, after a quote citizens trial, a
quote citizen's judge has handed down felony conviction. Claiman has
(19:06):
emailed his followers phony videos and evidence and says the
sentencing will be today. Quote. We will then commission established
law enforcement and the military to take Biden and his
son and his brother into custody if they don't turn
themselves in and frankly put them in the slammer. Claiman
also denounced the Marxian Jewish left and called for a
(19:28):
counter revolution. And if this sounds like QAnon, yeah, but
Claiman's motive is even more cynical. He's doing all this
as part of a fundraiser for his Erzat's Judicial Watch.
He is fundraising off QAnon. He did this once. With Obama,
he held a rally he claimed would force people to
(19:48):
force him to resign. Did he resign? Did Obama resign
as president? Anybody remember Obama? Dateline, Maine, somewhere Bear in
the Woods main Tucker Carlson has revealed the great secret
of life. He has announced that getting fired by Fox
was a good thing because quote, the problem with men
(20:10):
who are successful is that they start to think they're Jesus.
Getting fired reminds you you are just a ridiculous person,
and in the end you'll die alone. Men need to
be humiliated fairly regularly to keep their souls pure. Well,
by that measure, I guess Zucker Carlson's soul is the
purest in the world. Fox makes it. Four different news
(20:35):
outlets that have now fired him CNN in two thousand
and five, PBS in two thousand and five, MSNBC in
two thousand and eight, and Fox in twenty twenty three.
And still, oddly enough, he thinks he's Jesus. Thank you,
(21:15):
Nancy Faust. Dateline, Toledo, Ohio. Joe Wurzelbacher is dead. He
was famous, then infamous, then a running joke during the
two thousand and eight presidential campaign as Joe the Plumber.
In fact, he was a former plumber who asked Barack
Obama a tax policy question reportedly supplied by GOP operatives
(21:36):
during an Obama walking tour of Ohio during the two
thousand and eight campaign. Turned out, most of Wurzelbacher's story
was made up or exaggerated, and it didn't help that
John McCain basically grabbed Joe the Plumber and made one
entire debate against Obama about Joe the Plumber. He said
Joe the Plumber twenty five times. Wurzelbacher himself later ran
(21:59):
for Marcie Captors seat in Congress, and then in a
campaign commercial he compared gun control to the Holocaust. He
got smoked. He said the Jewish victims had died because
of gun control that he said had been enacted by
the Nazis in nineteen thirty nine, when he ran for
the Ohio congressional seat as a Republican. Of course, this
(22:19):
was still the kind of thing you did not say,
as opposed to the kind of thing that you would
now say to get the home nomination. In a while,
Joe Wurzelbacher was forty nine years old, still ahead on countdown.
(22:46):
He used to be asked every day and millions actually
wondered where he was and if they had won the
contest on the Today Show. Where in the world is
Matt Lower? Yeah, The current answer is, well, we're hoping hell.
The Daily Beasts Confier reports that Lower, who began to
explore trying to restart his media career last February by
(23:08):
means of doing a podcast a podcast, who does a
podcast anyway? Daily Beast now says he's apparently given up
on it. Quote Lower hung up on Confider when reached
for comment. Lucky Confighter, it's a good reason to retell
the story of me and Matt Lauer and how all
of us at NBC in those days knew not that
(23:30):
he was violent, but that he was a manipulative bastard.
Coming up in things I promise not to tell. First
the daily roundup of the miscreants and morons and Dunnan
Kruger effects specimens who constitute Today's Where in the world
are the worst persons in the world The Bronze Melanie
zannave CNN more clueless Access journalism about the House selects
(23:54):
subcommittee to obstruct justice or whatever it's called. Quote, House
Speaker Kevin McCarthy and top Republicans have begun to strategize
about how to move forward with an impeach meant inquiry.
She begins her story. Not until the ninth paragraph does
Melanie Znona bother to mention that Republicans have only quote
(24:14):
unverified allegations, neither of which Republicans have been able to confirm.
Even some Republicans are still not convinced that they have
uncovered any evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. Ninth paragraph
to mention, No, by the way, the Republicans, this is
just another political stunt, because that's all they do. That
and coups. I mean, if you're going to both sides
(24:35):
a story about a phony impeachment, maybe you should put
both sides in the first, say two paragraphs. The runners up,
the National Rifle Association, they would have been embarrassed by
the article by Melanie Zonona. The NRA tweeted an image
of the President's quote that nobody needs an ar fifteen
(24:55):
period with the claim. And they make this claim the
day between the latest two mass shootings. Quote, millions of
law abiding citizens own and use a fifteens to defend
themselves and their families. Turns out research indicates maybe it's
not millions. According to the Gun Violence Archives, the number
(25:15):
of Americans who used AR fifteens to defend themselves last
year was four, not millions, four not four hundred, four,
not four thousand and four, not forty four. One stopping
a shooter, one stopping a robbery of a gun seller,
(25:36):
and two stopping home invasions. Four not millions, four AR fifteens.
But our winner, Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, who represents the
county of Trumpville. Apparently I've said this before and I'll
say it again. Democracy survives not because of the efforts
of those of us trying to preserve it, but because
of the stupidity of people trying to destroy it. Like
(25:59):
not so bright Byron over here from his tweet yesterday,
quote Joe and his party shuddered schools, forced masks on
their faces, and put vaccines in their arms, all while
holding our children back in ways that will have long
lasting impacts. Blah blah blah blah blah Byron Congresson Congressman
(26:22):
Donald's mister ask clown of Florida who was the who
was the president when the schools were shuttered for the pandemic?
What year did the masks go on faces? What year
was the pandemic when it started? Who rolled out the vaccines?
And boasted that we had to give him personal credit
for it? Again and again and again. The answers Byron
(26:45):
are Trump twenty twenty and Trump Congressman. Byron, you couldn't
be doing more for the Democratic Party if they paid you.
Donald's two days worse person. And to the number one
(27:17):
story on the countdown and my favorite topic, me and
things I promised not to tell. And somebody asked me
the other day, whatever happened to Matt Lower? And I said,
I don't know, but I hope it was unpleasant. If
the name Matt Lower is remembered at all today, it
is for two facts. One but he was the face
of NBC News until November twenty ninth, twenty seventeen, when
(27:38):
the network suddenly announced there were credible allegations against him
of sexual misconduct and that he had been fired effective immediately.
And two the lesser known fact that everybody at NBC
knew he was an evil figure who dominated all of
management at thirty Rock and in many cases coerced them
into looking the other way despite decades of abuse of
(28:00):
women employees and of bullying and retribution against male employees
and putting other people on TV. This was so well
known inside NBC News that even some of us who
had left and had been gone for years knew in
advance he was to be fired. I found out like
four days before it happened, and much of the bad conduct,
(28:21):
at least the bad conduct in the office involving the
mail employees, I saw happen in real time. When I
returned to NBC in February two thousand and three. I
was one of Lower's favorites. For some reason. My show
Countdown was the last program he watched before he went
to sleep, or maybe more correctly, before he went to bed.
(28:42):
He used to do these moronic where in the world
is Matt Lower segments in which it created video clues
as to his whereabouts that would run on the Today Show.
And one day one of his producers called and said
Lower was such a fan of Countdown he wanted to
do a special clue just for Countdown. Well, we had
like two hundred thousand viewers a night. We took whatever
(29:03):
we could get some free Matt Lower. Sure. By the way,
I was reminded recently that one MSNBC wag used to
answer that rhetorical question where in the world is Matt
Lower by answering in the bedroom of somebody else's wife
anyway lower. If you think the Republican's ability to turn
any tragedy into a political issue is something new, or
(29:26):
that television's ability to turn any tragedy into ratings is
something new, or that Matt Lower's ability to make anything
worse was something new, consider the case of Terry Schivo.
Terry Schivo was a woman in Florida, twenty six years old,
struck by cardiac arrest. It did not kill her, but
it left her in a living nightmare. She was in
(29:47):
a quote persistent vegetative state, not brain dead, but neither
was she conscious. And worse, her eyes were open and
her head moved constantly and involuntarily and in a regular pattern.
Her parents, I guess, undert standably, unwilling to accept this
terrible fate, quickly discovered that if you moved a balloon
(30:10):
through her hospital room, Terry Shibo's head and gaze would
seem to follow the balloon. Unfortunately, if you did not
move a balloon through her hospital room, Terry Shibo's head
and gaze would still follow the same exact path as
it did when there was a balloon. Her husband, Michael,
spent seven years in the courts trying to get his
(30:30):
wife's feeding tube removed and thus release her and him
and everybody in the family from this living hell. And
her parents fought him, and finally in two thousand and three,
the parents went public. They showed video of their daughter
her head following that balloon around the hospital room. They
contacted every politician who would take their call. The Republican
(30:53):
leader in the Senate, doctor Bill Frist of Tennessee, a
heart surgeon, said on the Senate floor that, of course
he could not diagnose a patient just from a videotape,
And then he proceeded to diagnose a patient just from
a videotape. He said on the Senate floor. She should
not be taken off life support. The Chibos eventually got
(31:15):
Republicans to pass a bill in the House and Senate
taking her case away from the Florida courts and putting
it into the federal courts, and President George W. Bush
actually flew back from vacation in Texas to Washington just
to sign that law on camera. Of course, this was
a topic for all of tabloid television, and for all
(31:37):
of tabloid television that pretends it is not tabloid television,
like the Today Show, and it went on for months.
Eventually there was a pack of guests willing to appear
on your show and imply cleverly that Michael Schaibo had
caused his wife's vegetative state and was now trying to
quote finish the job from my own network. Joe Scarborough,
(31:58):
who had been a lawyer, put on Terry Schibo's brother
and sister, and they both implied their quote foul play.
Joey scars put it this way, I am quoting him.
They can attack every last person who is trying to
save this young woman from starvation. But in the Americans
shocked by this macabre chapter in American politics, we'll see
(32:21):
the Democrats as the party on the side of death
and see George Bush as the defender of defenseless. Unquote
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC. Joe Scarborough is a jackass and a fraud.
If you watch his show, you are getting hustled. If
you go on his show. There's another word for that anyway.
(32:43):
Finally sanity prevailed. A court ordered the feeding tube removed.
In March two thousand and five. Two weeks later, Terry
Schaibo died. The autopsy showed her brain was half its
normal size. It had been irreversibly damaged fifteen years earlier.
There were no signs of physical trauma, not the slightest
indication of foul play. In January of two thousand and six,
(33:06):
I got a phone call. It was Michael Schaivo. He said,
rather matter of factly, that he had tried to avoid
watching as the tragedy he and his wife endured was
turned into a multi network soap opera. But he found
that there was one reporter who tried to balance the
hysteria and to treat him fairly, and that that was me.
And he wanted to know if I wanted to be
(33:27):
the first person to interview him. Nothing fancy, he said.
This guy, Matt Lower, he said, had been calling him
once a week and wanted to walk with him on
the beaches of Florida and do a three hour interview
for Today in Nightly News and Dateline and MSNBC. Michael
Chaibo didn't want to do any of that, and he
didn't like Matt Lauer at all, and he was thinking
if he had to sit down with one of the
(33:48):
celebrity interviewers, it would probably be Diane Sawyer, but he
hadn't made up his mind yet. What Michael Schaibo wondered
was if he could just go to a studio in
Tampa one morning before work and have me go to
a studio in New York and I could interview him remotely,
well naturally.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
And I said yes.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
So on February first, two thousand and six, I got
up way earlier than usual. I went into thirty Rock,
I got into a studio. I taped an interview with
Michael Schaibo. Bluntly, he was as dull an interviewee as
I could imagine, and my questions were deliberately not hysterical.
But it was a good, factual interview, and for a
network that struggled as much as MSNBC, it was a
(34:28):
big deal just for journalistic credibility, just to balance what
we had been playing on the Scarborough Show. Everybody at
NBC News knew we were doing it. We recorded it
at NBC News using NBC News control rooms and videotape.
Everybody knew, including the president of NBC News, Steve Cappus,
and the executive producers of Today, Nightly News Dateline, all
(34:51):
of whom were interested in using clips of the interview.
After I finished, I went and visited the executive in
charge of MSNBC in his office at thirty Rock. Then
I went home and I took a nap before I
went into MSNBC in the late afternoon to prepare my
eight pm show. When the phone rang there, it was
Steve CAPPIs, President of NBC News. Look, you've interfered with
(35:15):
the Today Show's long standing plans and commitments. We have
signed contracts with Michael Chaibo. Matt Lower is furious, but
I understand Hivo offered you this interview, so you couldn't
have known how you were violating the Today Show, and
Matt I pointed out that Chaibo had said specifically that
he had not signed anything with anybody. The president of
NBC News ignored this. Here's the offer, Matt and I
(35:36):
will make you. You don't run the interview tonight, we
will run a segment of it tomorrow on Today, giving
a full plug to countdown. Then tomorrow night. You can
run a four minute segment. The rest of your interview
can run. And I think, despite what you've done to us,
your interview should run after Matt Lowers does sometime next month.
I think this is a great idea, since Matt wants
(35:56):
me to fire you. I said, this was the dumbest
thing I had ever heard, which was saying a lot,
since I had spent nearly three years working at Fox.
There was nothing about our interview that risked Matt Lower's
prospects of getting his own interview. In fact, it probably
increased them. I could now pitch Michael Chaivo on Lower's behalf.
Michael Chabo did not like Lawer. On the other end
(36:19):
of the phone, Cappus gasped, doesn't like Lower. Don't say that,
But to bury our interview for a month was crapping
all over MSNBC and me and Michael Schaibo and journalistically.
It was indefensible and it made me feel like walking out.
Steve Cappus, whose later boss at NBC told me that
(36:42):
she fired him for telling her that he would never
take orders from a woman, began to scream, as I
noted at the time in my diary, like a twelve
year old. I offer you a way out and not
getting fired and not get Matt Lawer on your ass,
and you threatened to quit. I pointed out that I
had not threatened to quit. I told him that if
there really had been a contract with Michael Chaibo, even
(37:04):
if he had not mentioned it to me, any of
the one hundred NBC executives who had known about my
interview with Michael Schaibo for like a week, would have
I had even sent Brian Williams a note asking if
there were any specific questions. He wanted me to ask
Schaibo so he could use a clip on NBC Nightly News. Somehow,
Cappus began to scream again in an even higher pitched voice.
(37:28):
Matt Lawer advises me to simply kill your interview with
Michael Schaivo, and I'm trying to find a way out
for you. You start bringing up ancient history from a
week ago. He really said that ancient history from a
week ago. I said, why don't we do it this way?
We run a thirty second clip tonight, the Today Show
runs whatever it wants to tomorrow, then we run the
(37:50):
rest of the interview tomorrow night, and the night after Well,
Cappus resumed screaming, so let me see what I got
this straight. Matt Lwer is incensed over you stepping in
on his interview. I'm offering you publicity on the Today
Show and not getting fired, and your answer is we're
going to run seventeen minutes of it. I'm so impressed
with your professionalism, Keith. I will always remember how cooperative
(38:10):
you were.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Fine.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
You do whatever you want, mister professional. Run the whole
half hour tonight. Don't you understand television? Matt needs to
be able to say in his first interview since his
wife's death. For the fifty third time in my career
at NBC News, I thought somebody was secretly filming this
and making a segment on it for I don't know,
(38:34):
punked or did they still run candid camera. Well, getting
back to the interview here with Cappus, I said that
in a month, nobody was going to remember my interview
and Matt could still say in his first network interview
since his wife's death. Well Kappus ignored that too. I've
been advised to kill the countdown piece outright, but you
(38:54):
do whatever you want for your little countdown show. Go ahead,
and curry the enmity of Matt Lower. You think he'll
forget this. Over the next two years, Matt Lauer hired
away two of my producers, then made a supposed peace
offering by running a segment that was to be produced
by my show every Friday on The Today Show that
required two of my producers to stay up all night
(39:16):
editing and thus not work on my show on Friday.
By some strange coincidence, for four consecutive weeks, the countdown
piece never ran. It was just more petty revenge. The
Today Show also booked me as a guest four times,
canceled all four times, once the morning of my interview
(39:36):
as I was shaving to go in and do the interview.
The punchline, of course, my little interview back then with
Michael Schaibo ran over the next three nights. It did
not really affect our ratings. It did contribute some tiny
amount to the tiny amount of actual journalism MSNBC had
done on the Shibos story. It counterbalanced that schmuck Scarborough,
(40:00):
and on March twenty six, two thousand and six, the
Matt Lower Interview aired with Michael Schaibo and as NBC
publicity phrased it. Michael and his new wife sit down
for their first network interview with NBC News. Is Matt Lauer.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Just blank? I had suggested, I've done.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
All the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening.
Countdown has come to you from our studio is high
on top the Sports Capsule building in New York. Here
are the credits. Most of the music arranged, produced and
performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Shaneil. The Countdown
musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by John Phillip Shaneil. Guitars,
bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers.
(40:54):
Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the
group No Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Olberman
theme from ESPN two, which was written by Mitch Warren
Davis Heart See of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Fauss.
The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was
my friend Larry David doing his Bob Shepherd impression, and
(41:15):
everything else was pretty much my fault. So that's countdown
for this the nine and sixty fifth day since Donald
Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of
the United States, convict him while we still can. The
next scheduled countdown is tomorrow bulletins, as the news, warrants,
as happened yesterday till the next one. I'm Keith Oldrimman.
(41:35):
Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown
with Keith Olrimman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(41:57):
wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. The headlines. First,
Trump still has to go to trial in just one
(00:26):
hundred and eighty nine days from now, and he still
apparently does not know that there is no legal mechanism
for him to appeal. You cannot appeal the judge's court schedule.
Nor still does at least half the Republican Party understand this,
Nor still does at least half of all media news
(00:47):
understand this, including the BBC, And thus in some Trump
is still royallyft. And after Mark Meadows inexplicably testified for
more than four hours yesterday trying to get a glorified
chain venue in the Atlanta election subversion conspiracy trial by
(01:08):
using a singular strategy of confessing to everything, the judge
there says he'll have a ruling as soon as possible
as to whether it stays in local court in Atlanta
or in a federal court presumably elsewhere in Georgia, with
a jury pool more favorable to Meadows and Trump. And
when they say more favorable, of course, they actually mean
(01:30):
more white. I said here twenty four hours ago that
if Judge Chuckkin selected a trial date in the federal
election subversion case, and the date was in January or February.
It was a sure sign that Trump was ft. And
I'm given myself this one because March fourth is close
(01:50):
enough to February. The point of that prediction was that
such an opening day choice would indicate that Chutkin really
is going to deploy her plan for disciplining Trump. On
that fateful Friday when twenty four hours after he said
he understood that he had to be circumspect in public
and on social media and could not threaten or harass
(02:11):
or try to intimidate the witnesses, the prosecutors, the judge,
and he began a weekend of doing nothing but threatening
and harassing and intimidating them. Judge Chutkin came back with
what seemed like a wishy washy response. She wasn't going
to jail Trump, no matter how much I wished for
it on my lucky beads. She was going to do
(02:34):
something far, far worse to him. She was going to
assume that he was doing all this to try to
poison the jury pool, like he could think that rationally
or that far ahead, and so she would just in response,
speed up the trial to protect the jury pool. The
(02:54):
prosecution wanted the trial to open one hundred and twenty
seven days from now. Trump countered with nine hundred and
forty seven days two and a half years. Chutkin's compromise
re of, Hey, Trump, this is punishment. Please enjoy being
ft one and eighty nine days. It's glorious, and it
(03:15):
was accompanied when his lawyers read a short version of
that schedule for the months ahead for Trump with one
gigantic so what She compared his upcoming schedule, which I
will review in full in a moment, and his complaints
about having to change his dear beloved schedule to a
theoretical pro athlete, which must have pleased Trump, who really
(03:38):
does think he would have been Mickey Mantle or Jack Nicklaus,
complaining that the court dates would conflict with the athlete's
schedule of games and practices. Judge Chutkins said, in legalies,
who gives a there is one thing here Trump truly
fears the other essential ingredient besides a guilty verdict that
(03:59):
can put him behind bars, and that is a speedy trial.
And his knit co defendants, his supposed minions Ken cheesebro
and Mark Meadows and Sidney Powell all invoked the Georgia's
speedy trial law, so that one is already on track
to start nearly two months earlier than originally planned by
the DA. And now on the federal level, Trump is
(04:22):
being beaten up by the judge who knows it is
the one thing Trump truly fears. And we will see
you on March fourth. Now, as to what Meadows did yesterday,
I do not get this. I do not get this.
I do not get this. Mark Meadows went down to
(04:42):
Georgia and spoke at his own motions hearing and let
himself be cross examined, and the courtroom was filled with
lawyers for other defendants looking into this same idea. Get
this transferred to federal court. And Trump had to listen,
at least by extension, as Meadows just started talking and talking,
(05:06):
talking and talking and incriminating self and confessing and contradicting
and admitting and revealing. And I do not get this.
I do not get the reward. Here is what happens.
If the Meadows part gets transferred from Fulton County to
federal court, or if all of the trials get transferred
(05:31):
to federal court, you get a trial in a court
in northern Georgia, so more white people in the jury pool.
That's it. Here's what you do not get. You do
not get a different prosecutor. Fani Willis can continue to
try this case or direct her office's attorneys as they
try it. You do not get a federal sentencing guideline.
(05:53):
You do not get a venue in which, if you
get convicted you can be pardoned by a president. The
state pardon rules continue to apply, and they deny anybody,
but the Pardons and Parole Board from pardon anybody, and
even they can't do it until five years after you've
served your whole sentence, and only then if you show remorse.
Ha Trump remorse.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Now, look, I get it. If you're on trial, especially
if you happen to be guilty, you need to maximize
your chances of a racist jury letting you off the hook,
because it still has not adjusted to appomattox. I get that,
(06:33):
But why did that mean that Mark Meadows had to
testify for four hours that Yeah, he was Trump's gatekeeper,
and he was at every meeting, and he was on
every phone call, and he was the guy others went
to to get Trump to listen to them, and he
went to Georgia and he arranged the Raffensburger phone call,
and he was in the meeting with the Michigan politicos.
And wait, wait, wait, wait, that Michigan meeting and the
(06:56):
Raffensburger call were about overturning the election results in Georgia
and Michigan. Really, that's what Up meant about those eleven
seven and ninety votes. I'll be damned. When Meadows was
not incriminating himself under oath, mind, you easily read back
(07:17):
as evidence at trial and always admissible, since he was
under oath at his own request. When Meadows was not
incriminating himself, Meadows was shoveling so fast he really lost
the plot. At one point, he said that all he
knew about the Raffinsburg phone call was that it was
an attempt by Trump to find a quote less litigious
(07:40):
resolution to the Georgia presidential vote. I can see in
my mind's eye the prosecution lawyers in a neat orderly
row doing a simultaneous triple spit take. If that's what
Trump was doing, calling Raffinsburger, hoping to make it all
less litigious, that means it was to some degree litigious,
(08:03):
and that means it was a campaign litigation phone call.
And what the hell is the chief of staff at
the White House doing on a campaign litigation phone call?
Because that violates the Hatch Act, And they're not going
to grant you a federal trial here if the only
way you can get there is by proving you were
violating the laws that say what federal administration officials can
(08:26):
and cannot do. We already know Meadows flipped to Jack
Smith the whole or in part way of flipping. He
obviously was the guy who told Smith about the ghostwriter
publisher Liz Harrington, Mark Milly Iran War Plan revelation meeting,
(08:47):
and that there was a recording of it. We'll see
eventually just how badly he actually did flip. But what
he did in Georgia yesterday just brings us back to
my theme for the day. Trump is royally f So, now,
(09:10):
with all that out of the way, here is your
revised Trump schedule for the rest of twenty twenty three
and early twenty twenty four. And I think it will
not take you the whole of this list to begin
to appreciate what has happened to Trump. Almost inadvertently. He
is now being chased by every judge and every political
(09:33):
deadline imaginable, and they are beginning to collide with each other.
Here we go. September sixth. Arraignments for the Trump nineteen Trump, Giuliani, Powell, Eastman,
the Whole Gang in Fulton County September seventh, the next day,
Classified discovery productions for the documents trial in Florida September fourteenth.
The week after that, Section ten notice due to Judge Cannon.
(09:57):
September twenty seventh, the second Goped debate, which he will
skip because he really is a coward. October second, the
start of the Tish James, New York State Trump Organization
trial that will be three of them in progress at
the same time. October ninth, All motions due to Judge Chutkin.
(10:18):
October tenth, Defense Section four challenge forms due to Judge Cannon.
October seventeenth, Section four hearing before Judge Cannon. October twentieth.
Live golf match play at the Trump Course in Durral, Florida.
October twenty one. More golf October twenty two. More golf
because you can't get enough golf. October twenty three motion
(10:40):
response is due to Judge Chucken and October twenty three
is the most recent proposed. First day of the Fulton
County Trial in Atlanta, November third, pre trial motions due
to Judge Cannon. November six, Motion replies due to Judge Chutcken.
November eight. Rule sixteen disclosures due to Judge Cannon. November fifteenth,
Defense Rule sixteen disclosures due to Judge Cannon, November seventeenth.
(11:02):
Defense Section five notices due to Judge Cannon. November twenty eighth.
Status conference with Judge Cannon, December fourth. Evidence submissions due
to Judge Chutcken. December eleventh. Expert witness lists due to
Judge Chutcken and free trial motions hearing before Judge Cannon,
December fifteenth. Section six A motions due to Judge Canon
(11:24):
December eighteenth. Exhibits list due to Judge Chutcken. December twenty seventh,
Hope you enjoyed Christmas. Motions to suppress evidence due to
Judge Chutcken, January fourth, Section six A response motions due
to Judge Canon. January ninth, No no motions on evidence
suppression due to Judge Chutcken January fifteenth, Jury instructions due
(11:46):
to Judge Chucken and Iowa caucuses and opening day of
the second Egen Carroll lawsuit trial next day, January sixteenth,
Section six A hearing before Judge Cannon January TBD. The
Hampshire primary January twenty ninth, start after six years of
(12:06):
that pyramid scheme class action lawsuit against Trump February eighth.
The Nevada caucuses February twelfth. Joint discovery report to Judge
Cannon February twenty fourth, Witness lists due to Judge Chutkin
and South Carolina primary February twenty sixth. Remaining motions Hearing
before Judge Cannon February twenty seventh. Michigan Primary March two,
(12:28):
Idaho Caucus March three. District of Columbia primary March fourth,
opening day of the federal election subversion case. Remember to
bring Judge Chutkin an Apple March fifth, super Tuesday fourteen.
Republican primaries March twelfth. Three more primaries, including Georgia, while
the Georgia trial is certainly underway. March twentieth. Evidence motions
(12:54):
to Judge Cannon. March twenty fifth, started the Stormy Daniel's
trial in New York. May twentieth, started the stolen Documents
trial in Florida. May twenty sixth. Good Golf, Live Golf
at the Trump Golf Course in Washington. July fifteenth, Republican
National Convention, and as a side note, that is the
political wing of the Republican Party holding its national Convention,
(13:17):
not the paramilitary wing of the Republican Party, and all
other days should be assumed to be booked for Trump
to bitch and moan about everything as usual. Two updates.
(13:38):
All hell has broken loose in Hampshire over fourteen three,
the disqualification clause Article three of the fourteenth Amendment. The
balloon headed kid the fascists hired because he can spew
their drivel for dozens of hours a week. Charlie Kirk
read the news about Trump's own former New Hampshire Senate candidate,
Corky Messner, saying he was meeting with the Secretary of
(14:00):
State there to discuss invoking fourteenth three because although he
remains a Trump supporter and would vote for Trump, somebody
has to stand up for the Constitution. And Kirk turned
it into dumbed it down into something his audience could
understand Trump betrayed New Hampshire trying ban Trump attacked New Hampshire.
(14:22):
Send flying monkeys now it's war. The chairman of the
State Republican Party has attacked Corky Messner. That group I
mentioned yesterday free Speech for People, with its letters to
all fifty state Secretaries of State, well, its letter to
the one in New Hampshire has gotten there. David Scanlan,
Secretary of State. Now he's going to the Attorney General
(14:42):
to find out what the Attorney General thinks. And Scanlan
is also still answering all the calls from the Flying
Monkeys because Charlie Kirk's listeners busted the switchboard. And the
second update, we have a clarification from Jacksonville's tenth district
and councilwoman Jacoby Pittman, who and big props to her,
(15:06):
gets it. She understands when the crowd at the Jacksonville
shooting vigil booed and heckled Ron de Santis on Sunday night,
and she took the mic back from DeSantis and told
them that this was not about parties today and that
a bullet doesn't know a party. She was, by her
own admission embracing the lesser of two evils. MS. Pittman says, firstly,
(15:29):
Governor DeSantis was never supposed to speak at the vigil.
He was supposed to just show up and to be
introduced by the moderator and just be there. A reasonable thing,
no matter how much this man is a fascist, A
reasonable thing for governor to do, to just be there. Then,
to the councilwoman's shock, the moderator called DeSantis up to
(15:52):
give remarks. Instead of saying something smart like I grieve
with you, I'll do everything my office is capable of
doing for you, and out of respect, I will now
sit my ass down, Dysantis instead went into a speech
about how he was going to cover the security costs
at the original target of the murderer, Edward Waters University
(16:14):
and HBCU, and he this, and he that. The councilwoman
said at that point she knew trouble loomed, The crowd
knew DeSantis's racist complicity. It was not about to forget it.
So she reclaimed the floor in a manner of speaking
and gave her brief speech about not being political, and
(16:35):
everybody went home in one piece. DeSantis and his grinning
idiot of a wife with him. I do not support
his policies, Pittman explained. I appreciate the difficulty of her
position in the moment, and I appreciate how easy it
is to second guess that moment from the safety of
thousands of miles away. The problem is the second half
(16:58):
of her statement will now achieve immortality. The first part
would have been sufficient today is not about political parties. Great,
But the second part, the part about a bullet not
knowing a party, that will be played forever every time
there is a shooting in fascist media. Fox may start
(17:23):
its own channel with just that SoundBite forever, because mass
shootings happen because of the Republican Party, and therefore the
Republican Party will use anything said by any Democrat that
can seemingly reduce its guilt, responsibility, and culpability by one
(17:45):
one millionth of one percent. Also of interest here, Tucker
Carlson says it's good for a man to get fired.
Well heard him on this. This is four times he's
(18:08):
been fired. Now that's next. This is countdown.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
This is countdown with Keith Olberman.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Alberman postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snart,
some prediction, State Line, Washington, d C. If you think
the current chief of the ludicrous Judicial Watch, Tom Fitten
is a moron, the guy who isn't a lawyer but
(18:41):
tells Trump want to do legally, well, you never met
the previous chief, Larry Kleiman, ousted by the outfit years
ago and now running a knockoff called Freedom Watch. He
has popped back into the news by claiming that a
citizen grand jury has indicted President Biden and members of
his family, and then, after a quote citizens trial, a
quote citizen's judge has handed down felony conviction. Claiman has
(19:06):
emailed his followers phony videos and evidence and says the
sentencing will be today. Quote. We will then commission established
law enforcement and the military to take Biden and his
son and his brother into custody if they don't turn
themselves in and frankly put them in the slammer. Claiman
also denounced the Marxian Jewish left and called for a
(19:28):
counter revolution. And if this sounds like QAnon, yeah, but
Claiman's motive is even more cynical. He's doing all this
as part of a fundraiser for his Erzat's Judicial Watch.
He is fundraising off QAnon. He did this once. With Obama,
he held a rally he claimed would force people to
(19:48):
force him to resign. Did he resign? Did Obama resign
as president? Anybody remember Obama? Dateline, Maine, somewhere Bear in
the Woods main Tucker Carlson has revealed the great secret
of life. He has announced that getting fired by Fox
was a good thing because quote, the problem with men
(20:10):
who are successful is that they start to think they're Jesus.
Getting fired reminds you you are just a ridiculous person,
and in the end you'll die alone. Men need to
be humiliated fairly regularly to keep their souls pure. Well,
by that measure, I guess Zucker Carlson's soul is the
purest in the world. Fox makes it. Four different news
(20:35):
outlets that have now fired him CNN in two thousand
and five, PBS in two thousand and five, MSNBC in
two thousand and eight, and Fox in twenty twenty three.
And still, oddly enough, he thinks he's Jesus. Thank you,
(21:15):
Nancy Faust. Dateline, Toledo, Ohio. Joe Wurzelbacher is dead. He
was famous, then infamous, then a running joke during the
two thousand and eight presidential campaign as Joe the Plumber.
In fact, he was a former plumber who asked Barack
Obama a tax policy question reportedly supplied by GOP operatives
(21:36):
during an Obama walking tour of Ohio during the two
thousand and eight campaign. Turned out, most of Wurzelbacher's story
was made up or exaggerated, and it didn't help that
John McCain basically grabbed Joe the Plumber and made one
entire debate against Obama about Joe the Plumber. He said
Joe the Plumber twenty five times. Wurzelbacher himself later ran
(21:59):
for Marcie Captors seat in Congress, and then in a
campaign commercial he compared gun control to the Holocaust. He
got smoked. He said the Jewish victims had died because
of gun control that he said had been enacted by
the Nazis in nineteen thirty nine, when he ran for
the Ohio congressional seat as a Republican. Of course, this
(22:19):
was still the kind of thing you did not say,
as opposed to the kind of thing that you would
now say to get the home nomination. In a while,
Joe Wurzelbacher was forty nine years old, still ahead on countdown.
(22:46):
He used to be asked every day and millions actually
wondered where he was and if they had won the
contest on the Today Show. Where in the world is
Matt Lower? Yeah, The current answer is, well, we're hoping hell.
The Daily Beasts Confier reports that Lower, who began to
explore trying to restart his media career last February by
(23:08):
means of doing a podcast a podcast, who does a
podcast anyway? Daily Beast now says he's apparently given up
on it. Quote Lower hung up on Confider when reached
for comment. Lucky Confighter, it's a good reason to retell
the story of me and Matt Lauer and how all
of us at NBC in those days knew not that
(23:30):
he was violent, but that he was a manipulative bastard.
Coming up in things I promise not to tell. First
the daily roundup of the miscreants and morons and Dunnan
Kruger effects specimens who constitute Today's Where in the world
are the worst persons in the world The Bronze Melanie
zannave CNN more clueless Access journalism about the House selects
(23:54):
subcommittee to obstruct justice or whatever it's called. Quote, House
Speaker Kevin McCarthy and top Republicans have begun to strategize
about how to move forward with an impeach meant inquiry.
She begins her story. Not until the ninth paragraph does
Melanie Znona bother to mention that Republicans have only quote
(24:14):
unverified allegations, neither of which Republicans have been able to confirm.
Even some Republicans are still not convinced that they have
uncovered any evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. Ninth paragraph
to mention, No, by the way, the Republicans, this is
just another political stunt, because that's all they do. That
and coups. I mean, if you're going to both sides
(24:35):
a story about a phony impeachment, maybe you should put
both sides in the first, say two paragraphs. The runners up,
the National Rifle Association, they would have been embarrassed by
the article by Melanie Zonona. The NRA tweeted an image
of the President's quote that nobody needs an ar fifteen
(24:55):
period with the claim. And they make this claim the
day between the latest two mass shootings. Quote, millions of
law abiding citizens own and use a fifteens to defend
themselves and their families. Turns out research indicates maybe it's
not millions. According to the Gun Violence Archives, the number
(25:15):
of Americans who used AR fifteens to defend themselves last
year was four, not millions, four not four hundred, four,
not four thousand and four, not forty four. One stopping
a shooter, one stopping a robbery of a gun seller,
(25:36):
and two stopping home invasions. Four not millions, four AR fifteens.
But our winner, Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, who represents the
county of Trumpville. Apparently I've said this before and I'll
say it again. Democracy survives not because of the efforts
of those of us trying to preserve it, but because
of the stupidity of people trying to destroy it. Like
(25:59):
not so bright Byron over here from his tweet yesterday,
quote Joe and his party shuddered schools, forced masks on
their faces, and put vaccines in their arms, all while
holding our children back in ways that will have long
lasting impacts. Blah blah blah blah blah Byron Congresson Congressman
(26:22):
Donald's mister ask clown of Florida who was the who
was the president when the schools were shuttered for the pandemic?
What year did the masks go on faces? What year
was the pandemic when it started? Who rolled out the vaccines?
And boasted that we had to give him personal credit
for it? Again and again and again. The answers Byron
(26:45):
are Trump twenty twenty and Trump Congressman. Byron, you couldn't
be doing more for the Democratic Party if they paid you.
Donald's two days worse person. And to the number one
(27:17):
story on the countdown and my favorite topic, me and
things I promised not to tell. And somebody asked me
the other day, whatever happened to Matt Lower? And I said,
I don't know, but I hope it was unpleasant. If
the name Matt Lower is remembered at all today, it
is for two facts. One but he was the face
of NBC News until November twenty ninth, twenty seventeen, when
(27:38):
the network suddenly announced there were credible allegations against him
of sexual misconduct and that he had been fired effective immediately.
And two the lesser known fact that everybody at NBC
knew he was an evil figure who dominated all of
management at thirty Rock and in many cases coerced them
into looking the other way despite decades of abuse of
(28:00):
women employees and of bullying and retribution against male employees
and putting other people on TV. This was so well
known inside NBC News that even some of us who
had left and had been gone for years knew in
advance he was to be fired. I found out like
four days before it happened, and much of the bad conduct,
(28:21):
at least the bad conduct in the office involving the
mail employees, I saw happen in real time. When I
returned to NBC in February two thousand and three. I
was one of Lower's favorites. For some reason. My show
Countdown was the last program he watched before he went
to sleep, or maybe more correctly, before he went to bed.
(28:42):
He used to do these moronic where in the world
is Matt Lower segments in which it created video clues
as to his whereabouts that would run on the Today Show.
And one day one of his producers called and said
Lower was such a fan of Countdown he wanted to
do a special clue just for Countdown. Well, we had
like two hundred thousand viewers a night. We took whatever
(29:03):
we could get some free Matt Lower. Sure. By the way,
I was reminded recently that one MSNBC wag used to
answer that rhetorical question where in the world is Matt
Lower by answering in the bedroom of somebody else's wife
anyway lower. If you think the Republican's ability to turn
any tragedy into a political issue is something new, or
(29:26):
that television's ability to turn any tragedy into ratings is
something new, or that Matt Lower's ability to make anything
worse was something new, consider the case of Terry Schivo.
Terry Schivo was a woman in Florida, twenty six years old,
struck by cardiac arrest. It did not kill her, but
it left her in a living nightmare. She was in
(29:47):
a quote persistent vegetative state, not brain dead, but neither
was she conscious. And worse, her eyes were open and
her head moved constantly and involuntarily and in a regular pattern.
Her parents, I guess, undert standably, unwilling to accept this
terrible fate, quickly discovered that if you moved a balloon
(30:10):
through her hospital room, Terry Shibo's head and gaze would
seem to follow the balloon. Unfortunately, if you did not
move a balloon through her hospital room, Terry Shibo's head
and gaze would still follow the same exact path as
it did when there was a balloon. Her husband, Michael,
spent seven years in the courts trying to get his
(30:30):
wife's feeding tube removed and thus release her and him
and everybody in the family from this living hell. And
her parents fought him, and finally in two thousand and three,
the parents went public. They showed video of their daughter
her head following that balloon around the hospital room. They
contacted every politician who would take their call. The Republican
(30:53):
leader in the Senate, doctor Bill Frist of Tennessee, a
heart surgeon, said on the Senate floor that, of course
he could not diagnose a patient just from a videotape,
And then he proceeded to diagnose a patient just from
a videotape. He said on the Senate floor. She should
not be taken off life support. The Chibos eventually got
(31:15):
Republicans to pass a bill in the House and Senate
taking her case away from the Florida courts and putting
it into the federal courts, and President George W. Bush
actually flew back from vacation in Texas to Washington just
to sign that law on camera. Of course, this was
a topic for all of tabloid television, and for all
(31:37):
of tabloid television that pretends it is not tabloid television,
like the Today Show, and it went on for months.
Eventually there was a pack of guests willing to appear
on your show and imply cleverly that Michael Schaibo had
caused his wife's vegetative state and was now trying to
quote finish the job from my own network. Joe Scarborough,
(31:58):
who had been a lawyer, put on Terry Schibo's brother
and sister, and they both implied their quote foul play.
Joey scars put it this way, I am quoting him.
They can attack every last person who is trying to
save this young woman from starvation. But in the Americans
shocked by this macabre chapter in American politics, we'll see
(32:21):
the Democrats as the party on the side of death
and see George Bush as the defender of defenseless. Unquote
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC. Joe Scarborough is a jackass and a fraud.
If you watch his show, you are getting hustled. If
you go on his show. There's another word for that anyway.
(32:43):
Finally sanity prevailed. A court ordered the feeding tube removed.
In March two thousand and five. Two weeks later, Terry
Schaibo died. The autopsy showed her brain was half its
normal size. It had been irreversibly damaged fifteen years earlier.
There were no signs of physical trauma, not the slightest
indication of foul play. In January of two thousand and six,
(33:06):
I got a phone call. It was Michael Schaivo. He said,
rather matter of factly, that he had tried to avoid
watching as the tragedy he and his wife endured was
turned into a multi network soap opera. But he found
that there was one reporter who tried to balance the
hysteria and to treat him fairly, and that that was me.
And he wanted to know if I wanted to be
(33:27):
the first person to interview him. Nothing fancy, he said.
This guy, Matt Lower, he said, had been calling him
once a week and wanted to walk with him on
the beaches of Florida and do a three hour interview
for Today in Nightly News and Dateline and MSNBC. Michael
Chaibo didn't want to do any of that, and he
didn't like Matt Lauer at all, and he was thinking
if he had to sit down with one of the
(33:48):
celebrity interviewers, it would probably be Diane Sawyer, but he
hadn't made up his mind yet. What Michael Schaibo wondered
was if he could just go to a studio in
Tampa one morning before work and have me go to
a studio in New York and I could interview him remotely,
well naturally.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
And I said yes.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
So on February first, two thousand and six, I got
up way earlier than usual. I went into thirty Rock,
I got into a studio. I taped an interview with
Michael Schaibo. Bluntly, he was as dull an interviewee as
I could imagine, and my questions were deliberately not hysterical.
But it was a good, factual interview, and for a
network that struggled as much as MSNBC, it was a
(34:28):
big deal just for journalistic credibility, just to balance what
we had been playing on the Scarborough Show. Everybody at
NBC News knew we were doing it. We recorded it
at NBC News using NBC News control rooms and videotape.
Everybody knew, including the president of NBC News, Steve Cappus,
and the executive producers of Today, Nightly News Dateline, all
(34:51):
of whom were interested in using clips of the interview.
After I finished, I went and visited the executive in
charge of MSNBC in his office at thirty Rock. Then
I went home and I took a nap before I
went into MSNBC in the late afternoon to prepare my
eight pm show. When the phone rang there, it was
Steve CAPPIs, President of NBC News. Look, you've interfered with
(35:15):
the Today Show's long standing plans and commitments. We have
signed contracts with Michael Chaibo. Matt Lower is furious, but
I understand Hivo offered you this interview, so you couldn't
have known how you were violating the Today Show, and
Matt I pointed out that Chaibo had said specifically that
he had not signed anything with anybody. The president of
NBC News ignored this. Here's the offer, Matt and I
(35:36):
will make you. You don't run the interview tonight, we
will run a segment of it tomorrow on Today, giving
a full plug to countdown. Then tomorrow night. You can
run a four minute segment. The rest of your interview
can run. And I think, despite what you've done to us,
your interview should run after Matt Lowers does sometime next month.
I think this is a great idea, since Matt wants
(35:56):
me to fire you. I said, this was the dumbest
thing I had ever heard, which was saying a lot,
since I had spent nearly three years working at Fox.
There was nothing about our interview that risked Matt Lower's
prospects of getting his own interview. In fact, it probably
increased them. I could now pitch Michael Chaivo on Lower's behalf.
Michael Chabo did not like Lawer. On the other end
(36:19):
of the phone, Cappus gasped, doesn't like Lower. Don't say that,
But to bury our interview for a month was crapping
all over MSNBC and me and Michael Schaibo and journalistically.
It was indefensible and it made me feel like walking out.
Steve Cappus, whose later boss at NBC told me that
(36:42):
she fired him for telling her that he would never
take orders from a woman, began to scream, as I
noted at the time in my diary, like a twelve
year old. I offer you a way out and not
getting fired and not get Matt Lawer on your ass,
and you threatened to quit. I pointed out that I
had not threatened to quit. I told him that if
there really had been a contract with Michael Chaibo, even
(37:04):
if he had not mentioned it to me, any of
the one hundred NBC executives who had known about my
interview with Michael Schaibo for like a week, would have
I had even sent Brian Williams a note asking if
there were any specific questions. He wanted me to ask
Schaibo so he could use a clip on NBC Nightly News. Somehow,
Cappus began to scream again in an even higher pitched voice.
(37:28):
Matt Lawer advises me to simply kill your interview with
Michael Schaivo, and I'm trying to find a way out
for you. You start bringing up ancient history from a
week ago. He really said that ancient history from a
week ago. I said, why don't we do it this way?
We run a thirty second clip tonight, the Today Show
runs whatever it wants to tomorrow, then we run the
(37:50):
rest of the interview tomorrow night, and the night after Well,
Cappus resumed screaming, so let me see what I got
this straight. Matt Lwer is incensed over you stepping in
on his interview. I'm offering you publicity on the Today
Show and not getting fired, and your answer is we're
going to run seventeen minutes of it. I'm so impressed
with your professionalism, Keith. I will always remember how cooperative
(38:10):
you were.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Fine.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
You do whatever you want, mister professional. Run the whole
half hour tonight. Don't you understand television? Matt needs to
be able to say in his first interview since his
wife's death. For the fifty third time in my career
at NBC News, I thought somebody was secretly filming this
and making a segment on it for I don't know,
(38:34):
punked or did they still run candid camera. Well, getting
back to the interview here with Cappus, I said that
in a month, nobody was going to remember my interview
and Matt could still say in his first network interview
since his wife's death. Well Kappus ignored that too. I've
been advised to kill the countdown piece outright, but you
(38:54):
do whatever you want for your little countdown show. Go ahead,
and curry the enmity of Matt Lower. You think he'll
forget this. Over the next two years, Matt Lauer hired
away two of my producers, then made a supposed peace
offering by running a segment that was to be produced
by my show every Friday on The Today Show that
required two of my producers to stay up all night
(39:16):
editing and thus not work on my show on Friday.
By some strange coincidence, for four consecutive weeks, the countdown
piece never ran. It was just more petty revenge. The
Today Show also booked me as a guest four times,
canceled all four times, once the morning of my interview
(39:36):
as I was shaving to go in and do the interview.
The punchline, of course, my little interview back then with
Michael Schaibo ran over the next three nights. It did
not really affect our ratings. It did contribute some tiny
amount to the tiny amount of actual journalism MSNBC had
done on the Shibos story. It counterbalanced that schmuck Scarborough,
(40:00):
and on March twenty six, two thousand and six, the
Matt Lower Interview aired with Michael Schaibo and as NBC
publicity phrased it. Michael and his new wife sit down
for their first network interview with NBC News. Is Matt Lauer.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Just blank? I had suggested, I've done.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
All the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening.
Countdown has come to you from our studio is high
on top the Sports Capsule building in New York. Here
are the credits. Most of the music arranged, produced and
performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Shaneil. The Countdown
musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by John Phillip Shaneil. Guitars,
bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers.
(40:54):
Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the
group No Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Olberman
theme from ESPN two, which was written by Mitch Warren
Davis Heart See of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Fauss.
The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was
my friend Larry David doing his Bob Shepherd impression, and
(41:15):
everything else was pretty much my fault. So that's countdown
for this the nine and sixty fifth day since Donald
Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of
the United States, convict him while we still can. The
next scheduled countdown is tomorrow bulletins, as the news, warrants,
as happened yesterday till the next one. I'm Keith Oldrimman.
(41:35):
Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown
with Keith Olrimman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(41:57):
wherever you get your podcasts.
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