September 13, 2023 • 36 mins
SEASON 2 EPISODE 33: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT:
The impeachment inquiry Kevin McCarthy has now unilaterally and personally declared against President Joe Biden is, in fact, illegal.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel – The TRUMP Administration Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel – ruled, on January 19th, 2020, that there can be no impeachment and no impeachment inquiry without… a vote. And that ruling is still on the books. Today. And Kevin McCarthy has violated it. Kevin McCarthy has broken the law. It’s Kevin McCarthy’s ILLEGAL IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY.
Steven A. Engel, Assistant Attorney General Office of Legal Counsel. Same guy who wrote Bill Barr’s Muller summary for him, wrote: “The house of representatives must expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and to use compulsory process IN that investigation before the committee may compel the production of documents of testimony in support of the House’s power of impeachment…the House itself must authorize an impeachment inquiry… no committee may undertake the momentous move from legislative oversight to impeachment without a delegation BY THE FULL HOUSE of such authority."
Kevin McCarthy also wrote in 2019 that an impeachment inquiry without a vote is invalid. And he said it again TWELVE DAYS AGO. So any Democrat responding to this latest Republican urination on the constitution on behalf of Dementia J. Trump by NOT calling this a quote “ILLEGAL IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY” should be expelled. From the party, from office, from the country. McCarthy didn’t just break the rules, he just broke Trump rules and that fact should be hung around his neck every morning like one of those floral leis you get when you arrive in Hawaii. “Hello Mr. Speaker? And how’s your illegal impeachment inquiry TODAY?”
And then there's the history lesson McCarthy needs to know about the last Speaker to try to make an impeachment out of nothing. Newt Gingrich impeached Bill Clinton - and lost HIS job while Clinton kept his. And then Gingrich's successor lost his job before even officially starting it. And then HIS successor wound up in prison for child rape.
As an aside: Rudy Giuliani is complaining about betrayals of the real meaning of 9/11 this year: who gets to speak first at the memorial.
B-Block (26:29) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: All this Rudy and Clinton and Gingrich talk got me nostalgic for a quarter century ago, when in my third month in the news business I went - in one week - from “why haven’t I seen you on SportsCenter lately" to “Good Evening, I’m anchoring live coverage of the State of the Union Address.” How to succeed in political broadcasting without really trying!
C-Block (39:20) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: An Aaron Rodgers postscript
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
impeachment inquiry Kevin McCarthy has now unilaterally and personally declared
(00:26):
against President Joe Biden is in fact illegal. The Justice
Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the Trump administration Justice Department's
Office of Legal Counsel ruled on January nineteenth, twenty twenty,
that there can be no impeachment and no impeachment inquiry
(00:49):
without a vote by the House of Representatives. And that
ruling is still on the books today and Kevin McCarthy
has violated it. Kevin McCarthy has broken the law. This
is Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry. Repeat after me Kevin
(01:12):
McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry quote. The House of Representatives must
expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and
to use compulsory process in that investigation. Before the committee
may compel the production of documents of testimony in support
(01:35):
of the House's power of impeachment. The House itself must
authorize an impeachment inquiry. No committee may undertake the momentous
move from legislative oversight to impeachment without a delegation by
the full House of such authority unquote. Stephen A. Engel,
(01:58):
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, the same guy
who wrote Bill Barr's Mueller Summary for him. He's a
lawyer and everything went to Harvard. He works in Philadelphia.
Don't ask him if you don't believe me. Kevin McCarthy,
the guy who looks like the bird who is still
stunned from having just flown full force into your window,
(02:22):
broke the law yesterday. If there is no vote, there
is no impeachment inquiry. And you know who else said
that besides Trump's assistant Attorney general. The guy who wrote
that the speaker quote can't decide on impeachment unilaterally. It
requires a full vote of the House of Representatives unquote
(02:42):
wrote that on September twenty fourth, twenty nineteen. Who wrote that,
Kevin McCarthy. He tweeted it. It's still up on his feed.
The Speaker can't decide on impeachment unilaterally. It requires a
full vote of the House of Representative. Is that too
remote for you? Is that too far in the past?
What about But this guy said on September first of
(03:03):
this year, which is do they carry the three not
even two weeks ago quote. If we move forward with
an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on
the floor of the People's House, and not through a
declaration by one person. I'm quoting a bright Bart News
interview from way back twelve days ago with Kevin F. McCarthy,
(03:31):
and we all know what the F stands for. I
don't know. Maybe Kevin McCarthy really is still stunned from
having just flown full force into your window, or maybe
he's just a prostitute. Contradicts himself from September first, contradicts
himself from September twenty nineteen, contradicts Trump's assistant Attorney General,
(03:53):
contradicts the law. In my research, I do not find
any opinion from Trump's man Engle, who three years and
eight months ago preemptively declared Kevin McCarthy did yesterday invalid
and illegal about whether the Department of Justice for which
Angel worked can now go and charge Kevin McCarthy. It
(04:14):
does not seem as if McCarthy committed that kind of
crime here, but any Democrat responding to this latest Republican
urination on the Constitution on behalf of dementia. J Trump
by not calling this quote Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry,
should be expelled from the party, from office, from the country.
(04:41):
McCarthy didn't just break the rules. He just broke Trump's rules,
and that fact should be hung around his neck fresh
every morning like one of those floral lays you get
when you arrive in Hawaii. Aloha, mister speaker, And how's
your illegal impeachment inquiry today? Now? Besides the legal lesson
(05:06):
that Kevin Owen McCarthy so desperately needed before he made
an even bigger dick out of himself yesterday than usual,
and for all the tomorrows to come, there is the
history lesson that he just as certainly needed and did
not get, and will live to regret not getting. And
I must say I am utterly surprised he did not
know this already, given that as it unfolded, he was
(05:29):
already on the staff of a congressman and already chairman
of the California Young Republicans and then chairman of the
Young Republican National Foundation, even though he was thirty seven,
which is pretty goddamned old to have the nerve to
call yourself a young Republican. It's like being a thirty
seven year old bat boy in baseball. But the last
(05:50):
Speaker of the House who prostituted himself and perverted the
Constitution to try to impeach president for cheap, meaningless and
only political reasons did not meet with a happy end.
Newt Gingrich, you know the stupid looking guy who does
the title insurance infomercials on TV. Did you know he
(06:13):
used to have a job with the government. He was
actually Speaker of the House too, just like Kevin. Oh,
look out there's a window. There beag boy oh slam McCarthy.
But Newt dreamt of much more than mere speakership, as
(06:33):
one must I assume if one is stuck with that
name Newt. By January nineteen ninety eight, Newt Gingrich's dreams
were about Monica s Lewinsky, particularly about using her as
the centerpiece to investigating President Bill Clinton and timing it
so that the investigation would stretch out all spring and
(06:54):
all summer, and all the media would fall forward and
into the autumn, and it would allow the Republicans, who
already control the House and the Senate, the chance to
build veto proof majority in the midterms and not actually
impeach him was the plan until after the midterms, So
in the midterms the Democrats wouldn't even get any sympathy votes,
(07:17):
while e coyotes super genius, but Newt wanted even more.
On Sunday, April twenty sixth, nineteen ninety eight, the former
Washington bureau chief of the New Yorker magazine, Elizabeth Drew,
went on Meet the Press on NBC with Tim Russert
and said that Gingrich had been talking for months to
(07:41):
his close associates that his real plan was the investigation
of Clinton was so bad that Clinton would have to
be impeached and would be removed by the Senate, or
more likely, he would resign in shame, whereupon Speaker Gingrich
was certain that the new president Al Gore would pardon
Bill Clinton, whereupon Senate Republicans would refuse to confirm whoever
(08:05):
Gore had nominated to be his new vice president, whereupon
Nut Gingrich would impeach al Gore for pardoning Bill Clinton.
Do you see what the plan was? The nation would
be without an elected president, without a replacement president, without
(08:26):
an elected or an appointed vice president, and so naturally
the presidency would have to devolve to the next in
the line of succession. The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Let's see who was that? Newton Leroy Jingrid Gingrich? Is
it Gingrich? Yes? Nuton Gingrich in nineteen ninety eight was
(08:49):
not planning to impeach Bill Clinton. He was planning to
succeed Bill Clinton. Remind me that that didn't happen. That
did that didn't happen? That did it happen? No? No,
why not? Well? On October were eighth, nineteen ninety eight,
Speaker KNUWT Gingrich got his House of Representatives to vote,
(09:09):
and a side note to Kevin McCarthy that word vote
the thing you didn't do that spelled vote, ask for
mister Engel in Philadelphia. Gingrich got a vote of two
hundred and fifty eight to one hundred and seventy six,
with thirty one Democrats voting yes, to establish an impeachment
inquiry against Bill Clinton. The mid terms were less than
(09:32):
a month away, and Gingrich met with Republican leadership in secret,
and like the serpent he was and is, he was
coiled and ready to get his supermajority in the House.
And he told his colleagues they would pick up between
six and thirty congressional seats and some in the Senate,
and enough to remove Clinton. And on the morning of Tuesday,
November third, Gingrich dragged his blubber to the polls and
(09:53):
predicted victory. And on the morning of Wednesday, November fourth,
it turned out the Republicans had lost five seats in
the House. And then on the morning of in November six,
Nut Gingrich announced he would resign as Speaker of the
House after the new year, mostly because the dozens of
Republicans who had just sneaked through to reelection realized he
(10:17):
was an idiot, He was a charlatan, and he was
a liability. Gingrich impeached Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton kept
his job and Newt Gingrich lost his and oh, by
the way, al Gore kept his job too. And guess what.
Al Gore would have been president despite the Supreme Court
(10:39):
if he had not been so stupid that he listened
to advisors like the boneheaded billionaire Joel Hyatt, who told him,
when how are you doing two thousand? Don't campaign with
Bill Clinton. You can't be seen standing next to the
most popular politician in America. You got all that Kevin McCarthy.
Because wait, there's more. Because if Kevin, you turn impeachment
(11:04):
into a tool of attempted political assassination when the strongest
accusation you have against the president is conclusive evidence that
he is his son's biological father. If that's what you're
going to do, the god of politics will not only
get you, but he will get everybody around you. As
(11:25):
soon as Gingrich announced he was going to quote resign
as Speaker, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, a
man named Bob Livingston of Louisiana stood up in front
of the Capitol and as his smiling wife held a
sign saying Bob for Speaker, and his one smiling kid
held a sign saying vote for Bob, and as his
(11:47):
other smiling kid held a sign saying my dad for Speaker,
Representative Livingston announced he had already rounded up enough support
from his House colleagues, and though he would be happy
to go through the actual vote, yes, he was already
Speaker elect, and the other would be candidates for Speaker
dropped out, and sure enough, there he was Speaker elect. Livingston.
(12:08):
Everything Gingrich was not bland solemn reassuring with big mid
nineties fish bowl eyeglasses and a happy family. And a
month later, during the final House debates on the impeachment
of that evil President Slimeball Clinton, the publisher of Hustler magazine,
Larry Flint revealed he was investigating four separate affairs that
(12:31):
Speaker elect Livingston had reportedly had, and already he had
one of the women on record. And on December nineteenth,
nineteen ninety eight, Speaker elect Livingston said, guess what, I'm
no longer a candidate for Speaker, and in fact, I'm
resigning from the House. And the next thing anybody heard
from Bob Livingston he was lobbying on behalf of a
free trade agreement between the United States and Morocco. So
(12:58):
at that point the scoreboard read Bill Clinton, two Speaker
of the House who impeached him. Nothing now, Kevin, if
you have not fled for Guatemala or somewhere by now,
let me note that wait, this little history lesson still
isn't over yet. Because with Gingrich gone and Livingston gone,
(13:22):
the only congressman who actually knew the House rules and
how to organize committees and do anything besides impeach people,
he became the new new Speaker, the chief Deputy whip,
the gentleman from Illinois, Dennis Hastert, child rapist, wrestling coach,
(13:46):
child rapist, and Republican Speaker of the House, the Right
Honorable rapist Dennist Hastart, and three Speakers of the House
after him. While he was in jail. They took down
Hastart's portrait from the gallery of paintings of the speakers,
and I believe they burned it. And they renamed the
(14:08):
Denny Haskert Yorkville, Illinois Wrestling Invitational. And last I heard,
he's eighty one years old and living in Aurora. But
Jack his room speaker McCarthy, maybe he went to Hell overnight.
And that's what you get when you Kevin McCarthy. This
(14:32):
Kevin McCarthy. Some other notes on this, and what are
we calling it again, Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry. Some
other notes on this. Jim Jordan, Hey, look, wrestling coaches,
that's a coincidence, Jim Jordan said, quote when you actually
(14:53):
have a resolution that the House votes on the courts,
understand the House is engaged in a fundamental constitutional activity,
the impeachment power. And if McCarthy's comments about needing an
impeachment vote seem old because they were from September first.
Jim Jordan made his comments Sunday night. Also the supposed
point of Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry to get the
(15:16):
quote bank records. Republicans subpoenaed the bank records on March
sixteenth and got them and released them, and they showed
nothing about Joe Biden. Nothing. And then they subpoened more
bank records on May tenth, and they showed nothing, and
more bank records on August ninth, and they showed nothing.
But go on, Kevin, keep digging, and go on. Media
(15:36):
keep reporting this as if it's something new. We have
the Google now in most newsrooms. You could just hit
search once in a while. And while McCarthy has disturbed
the spirits of ex speaker Gingrich and never speaker Livingstone
and child rapist speaker Hastard, this still is not enough
for the real power in his party, Matt Gates. Gates
(16:00):
seems intent on removing McCarthy, while McCarthy is tenth unimpeaching
Biden illegally, and the whole party is ready to shut
down the government in seventeen days. And if you're wondering
where's all the Republican Senate support for all this crap?
There isn't any. John Thune was blunt and unimpressed, quote,
(16:21):
I don't think it'd be advantageous if this thing went
further with all the other things we have to do.
Even Lindsey Graham said you have to have a vote
and a reminder, so did Trump's assistant attorney general? Did
I mention that the part about this being illegal? According
to Trump's assistant attorney, did I mention it? One GOP senator,
(16:42):
whom the newsletter The Hill Let's Speak anonymously went all in,
called it quote a waste of time, a fool's errand
fortunately it'll be dispensed with fairly quickly if they ever
send articles of impeachment over to us. Maybe this is
just Kevin giving people their binkie to get through the shutdown.
(17:03):
And there is one Republican congressman who says this is
also such cretinous nonsense. He is an unlikely candidate for
such insight, Ken Buck, the wild Man of Colorado, so
naturally the magas are planning to primary him. What all
this seriously adds up to illegal impeachment inquiry McCarthy contradicting
(17:25):
himself in a span of thirteen days, Republican senators referring
to Republican congressmen in their binkies, Trump's legal mastermind, the
one without a legal degree, Tom Fitten, pulling the strings
behind the scenes. Thank God for that. That's why this
is just a distraction. What this all adds up to
is a the acronym magamaga. Both of the a's stand
(17:50):
for assholes. Republican assholes, trumpest assholes as. I don't think
any Democrats should ever mention Kevin McCarthy again without referring
to McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry. I think all Democrats should
pull out the stops now. This is our democracy at
stake here, and I think every Democrat should call every
(18:11):
Republican every time assholes as the Republican asshole Party noted,
or Trumpest asshole as the head of the Republican asshole Party,
the asshole Trump noted because the Republican Party, I'm sorry,
the Republican asshole Party as the Republican asshole Party has
(18:32):
devolved into an organized crime family, maybe not that organized.
It deserves no more respect than any other crowd of
chiselers and insurrectionists and con men and felons would and
it would be nice, it would be responsible, It would
be patriotic if the news media would follow suit. And
(18:54):
you know, do what reporting is supposed to consist of,
see thing, determine what thing you are seeing is right?
Or broadcast description of thing. Let chips fall where they may.
They're assholes. I'm not holding my breath. Wall Street Journal
(19:18):
Sadie German Justice Department correspondent, pimping an article by one
of her colleagues. She pulled this quote. We've all declined, obviously,
but you can still be pretty sharp, said Earl Evans,
who already knew he was born the same day as
the president. When the reporter called what was the Wall
Street Journal article? The headline was quote, is Biden too
(19:42):
old to run again? We asked people born on his
exact birthday? How clever did you also do this? Other
one titled is Trump too mentally ill to realize that
if he started a nuclear war? He would die too?
We asked people who have his exact degree of dementia?
I don't think so. The comforting part about the media's
(20:06):
rosy colored nostalgia about but her emails and the hope
that it can squeeze either but his age or but
McCarthy impeached him into that same cubby hole this time around.
Is that when the fascists therefore, can seize power and
send the rest of us to prison camps because the
news reporters were too busy looking for false equivalencies with
(20:28):
which to both sides the world and get good guests
for meet the press. At least when we are all
behind that barbed wire, those surprised reporters and the rest
of us, there'll be enough journalists there to put out
a good camp newsletter which can have headlines like who
(20:49):
is the nicer prison guard, Bob Livingston or Newt Gingrich.
Two more stories here we have another fourteenth Amendment suit.
Voters in Minnesota going to the court. They're saying he
must be banned from the ballot. Quote. None of this
(21:09):
conduct was undertaken in performance of Trump's official duties, in
his official capacity or under color of his office. Rather,
Trump engaged in insurrections solely in his personal or campaign capacity.
Unquote two down, forty eight to go, Miss Kilgallon a
nine to eleven follow up, I didn't see this during
(21:29):
the day but Monday on nine to eleven. Marjorie Taylor
Green wrote on nine to eleven, if the Biden administration
refuses to stop the invasion of cartel led human and
drug trafficking into our country, states should consider seceding from
the Union unquote, on nine to eleven, a note to
(21:49):
miss Green, who is, as you know, a lawn ornament
that came to life and doused itself in tannings. Pray,
Miss Green, if you will see seed, I will carry
you anywhere in the world you want to go. I
will carry you on my back. And yesterday who had
to whine about nine to eleven, about the nine to
(22:11):
eleven ceremony, and the importance of nine to eleven, the
real meaning of nine to eleven, which is, of course
who gets to speak first? Who had to whine about it?
The man whose presidential aspirations were ended the day Joe
Biden reduced him from America's mayor to his rightful place
(22:32):
in our history. As Joe described, every sentence this idiot
has uttered since that day a noun, a verb. And
nine to eleven, Tom von Essen, Bernie and I almost
lost our lives. We never made much of that because
we're not that kind of people. But I have a
big claim. On September eleven, I almost died there, Governor attack.
(22:52):
He thought I was dead. He has a document to
that effect. He thought Bernie was dead. Rudy, you kept
that secret all that time for some reason, I doubt
that you almost died. Well, thanks for trying. Well, you know,
all this talk of Rudy and Newt and impeachment, Kevin
(23:16):
McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry, that is, this has got me
all nostalgic for nineteen ninety eight and the week I
went from Hey you, why haven't I seen you on
SportsCenter lately? To Good Evening, I'm anchoring the State of
the Union address coverage. How to succeed in political broadcasting
without really trying. That's next. This is Countdown. This is
(23:41):
Countdown with Keith Oberman. Now to the number one story
on the Countdown and things I promised not to tell
and the State of the Union nineteen ninety eight. When
I left ESPN and signed with MSNBC the first time
in nineteen ninety seven, it was not to become a
(24:01):
political commentator nor even anchor. I went there to do
with the President of NBC News America needed most a live,
hour long news magazine show from Secaucus, New Jersey, so
unfocused that on consecutive nights we led with the threat
of a terrorist group called al Qaeda, and then the
(24:21):
next night we led with the publication of the Farmers Almanac.
I mean, this was the news at eight pm, the
lead story that published the Farmers Almanac. Again, here's our
live guest, the publisher. Here's a going to rain next year.
I had regrets. Anyway, the good part of the job
(24:45):
was sports. I hosted baseball in the World Series and
even did some Super Bowl stuff for NBC, And in
mid January of nineteen ninety eight, I flew to the
West Coast to work on that and do this magazine show,
the Big Show on MSNBC from entertainment venues in La,
most of them associated with NBC. On the afternoon of Tuesday,
(25:06):
January twentieth, nineteen ninety eight, we were on the set
of Third Rock from the Sun preparing to interview at
Star John Lithgow when my producer Phil Griffins sidled over, you,
my little friend, are about to become a political host.
The President got caught with some chippy in the White House, Chippy,
Oh not sex. Sex looks like just you know. And
(25:30):
then he lied about it in the deposition Saturday. I
asked him how in the hell anybody knew about what
the deposition said when it was just four days after
he gave the deposition, and those things are supposed to
be you know, secret. Beat me. Drudge put it out
yesterday and I asked him if credible news organizations like
NBC were actually quoting an internet guy best known for
his hat about what was a potentially impeachable offense. A
(25:54):
lot of people were close on this story, Griffin said,
we were close. Lisa Myers almost had it Sunday night.
Newsweek finally put out a more detailed version about ninety
minutes ago. It was their scoop. Judge just stole it
from them. I think it was Isakov who wrote it.
You'll have to interview Tim Russer to lead the show.
The president may resign. We'll do it from right here.
(26:16):
Back that up. What was that you said, we'll do
it from right here, No part about the president resigning.
Oh yeah, the president might resign. Thus, half an hour later,
I was hooked up by satellite with Tim Russert from
the Washington Bureau. Listening to him outline the possibilities that
the president might resign before sunrise, I nodded with as
(26:36):
much gravitas as I could fake, despite the elements of
farce that were apparently obvious only to me in the
story and in where I was seated. In the background
of my close up stood the refrigerator from the kitchen
set of Lithgo's show Third Rock from the Sun, and
on the refrigerator complete with its decorative magnets speaking their
silent and suddenly completely hip gag. The magnets were a
(27:00):
banana surrounded on either side by a strawberry. Phil I
said to Phil as we tried to plan a smooth
transition from that taped Russert interview about the possible impeachment
and resignation of the president to a taped interview with
John Lithgow, and then back to the live speculations of
a couple of political writers for the rest of the hour.
We're not going to have to do this every day,
(27:22):
are we, Griffin laughed, of course not, what do you
think this is the end of the world. He was right.
We did not do it every day. We did it
for two hundred and eighteen consecutive shows. Starting that night
with the Banana and the Strawberry Magnets over my shoulder,
our ratings kept doubling. Following Tuesday, my thirty eighth birthday,
(27:45):
I was back in New York hosting a roundtable of
political heavyweights in the hour leading up to Bill Clinton
State of the Union address. That night, Andy Lack of
NBC News and Phil Griffin had decided that I should
host a second live report once the NBC Network guys Russert,
Tom Brokaw, couple of others had wrapped up their analysis,
which we were also carrying on MSNBC, so I would
(28:07):
come on at eleven o'clock after Brokaw and russered two hours.
My little friend, this is our nightline. I was doing
my best to keep a straight face when during a
commercial break at maybe eleven forty five, maybe midnight, halfway
through my wrap up show, Griffin materialized next to my
anchor desk. He had this stunned but not unhappy look,
(28:28):
like when he used to smoke a lot of dope
when we worked together in the eighties. We have the
preliminary ratings, My little friend, I hope you're sitting down.
I pointed at myself seated in the chair. The pregame
show that did a one point one. Our average rating
at MSNBC before this presidential stuff came up had been
an zero point three. This was now four times the
(28:51):
previous ratings. In the past week, it had surged to
an zero point six, and Griffin had insisted to me
that Andy Lack was so happy he had wet his pants.
But this is the kicker here, buddy. We had the
immediate since the President finally stopped talking, speech did an eight.
Broke on Russer, the wrap up did an six. Since
eleven o'clock, you've been doing a one point seven. You
(29:14):
have had three times the audience of Tom Brokaw, three
times the audience of the old man himself. This isn't
just people crossing over from NBC to watch more. This
is people watching the speech, turning off the old man,
then turning back at eleven to watch you. I tried
to assimilate what he was telling me. For the first
time in my life, my ego refused to cooperate. The
(29:38):
stage manager barked his queue of thirty seconds until the
end of the commercial break. Phil Griffin shook my hand.
Oh and by the way, that thing you said at
the start of the hour about it, it was as
if the Intern had opened the door to the chamber
and said, mister speaker, the President of the United States.
That's already included in the Associated Press story one point seven,
my little friend, don't f it up. Actually, you can't
(30:01):
f it up. We're in for the long haul. Now
revel in it me quoted about the Clinton Lewinsky story
in the main coverage of the State of the Union
address on the Associated Press wire. Eight months after I
stopped giving the scores of the Greater Stuttgart Invitational tennis
tournament on ESPN, I had this sudden, horrible feeling that
(30:25):
the usually slow to decide American viewing public had instantly
concluded that, for some reason elusive even to me, they
really like to hear me talk about the whereabouts of
the president's penis. If I could have figured out how
to f up the rest of the hour, I would
have done it right then. I didn't. The next day
(30:49):
it got worse. The ratings were so great last night, buddy,
they want us to go live every night at eight
and eleven only about the President. The eleven is going
to be called crisis in Washington. Finally we get what
we want. Phil Griffin was dancing around, it'll be our nightline.
Since joining MSNBC, I had not taken any time off,
and I actually had a vacation booked in Hawaii the
(31:11):
next week with a young lady. Uh yeah, about that.
Phil finally announced, well, that's what we have to talk about, Keith.
They want you to commit to this for at least
six weeks, so it's this or Hawaii. I explained Hawaii
to Phil. Lack said he'd probably pay for you to
go do that whenever this is over. I said, in
(31:32):
my opinion, that probably would not be good enough, and
Griffin said neither did he, but that it was just
for openers, and Lack told him that I could have
three wishes and I could anchor NBC Nightly News at
least on the weekends and a couple of times during
the week. Just personally, I'd recommend you do it. I
got the impression that the show's going to happen whether
(31:53):
we agree to it or not, Griffin said. He mentioned
something about Brian Williams or maybe John Gibson being poor
second choices, but viable ones. He said, viable ones. I
told Phil I had calls to make. Griffin suggested Lack
needed a decision within the hour, that he wanted white
House and Crisis on the air that night. Wait, that
(32:14):
didn't sound like what he'd called it before, Phil, Is
it white House in crisis or crisis in Washington? Phil
Griffin seemed introspective for a moment then and got in
touch with the news executive within what's the difference, It's
going to be our nightline? I almost suggested to him
that that should be the title MSNBC presents, It's going
(32:36):
to be our nightline. On and on. This went for
weeks four months. I mocked the story. The ratings went up.
I tried to quit the show. The ratings went up.
I gave a speech insulting the network for covering the story.
Twenty four to seven. The ratings went up. Fox Sports
approached me and offered me five times when NBC was
(32:59):
paying me to go out to LA to do their
sportscast LA, which was kind of near Hawaii, nowhere near
the Clinton Lewinski story. And the ratings went up, and
I was debating all this and the fact that I
had a contract, and I had agreed to do it.
And then one night in early spring, I got home
after another night of this crap, I put my feet up.
I was half watching something on NBC while really just
(33:21):
staring off into the distance, wondering what I had done
to deserve this, mulling my own future, when the snare
drum and the violent string section of an NBC news
promo interrupted me. Wednesday, on a very special edition of Nightline,
Jane Paully and the former Miss America there she was
for a second, had tilted her look grave, journalistic, even scholarly.
(33:43):
Jane Paully, the ten year host of NBC's landmark Today Show,
the one who had then switched to primetime because the
journalism had slowly ebbed out of morning television and she
couldn't do it anymore. She was sitting there in a
two shot with a Miss America from too many Miss
Americas ago, the former brunette, former redhead, now former blonde
(34:03):
who's jet black made her look a little frightening. Why
the hell was Jane Pauli interviewing her on the signature,
albeit superficial NBC thrice weekly magazine show Nightline. No less
well in a split second, the promo gave me my answer, Jane,
did you have sex with the President of the United States?
Ex Miss America, Yes, Yes, I did. Announcer that's Wednesday
(34:26):
on a very special edition to Nightline only on NBC
America's news source. With genuine terror, I screamed, I shouted
aloud to no one check please, and I called my
agent to talk about Fox. I've done all the damage
(35:04):
I can do here. Thank you for listening. Countdown has
come to you from our studios high on top the
Sports Capsule Building in New York. The credits most of
the music arranged, produced and performed by Brian Ray and
John Phillip Shanel. The Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and
keyboards by John Phillip Shanelle. Guitars, bass and drums by
Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have
(35:26):
been arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed.
Sports music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two How's
Aaron Rodgers By the Way. It was written by Mitch
Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Fauss.
The best Baseball Stadium organist. Ever, our announcer today was
by friend Stevie van Zant. Everything else was pretty much
(35:48):
my fault. Very sad another sudden Achilles injury caused by
lack of vaccination. That's countdown for this the nine hundred
and eighty first day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup
against the democratically elected government of the United States. Convict
him now well, we still can. The next scheduled countdown
(36:09):
is tomorrow. Bulletins, as the news warrants, and as my
throat permits till then, I'm Keith olroon See I can't
even say my own name now, so then I'm loving
am Urca, Good morning, afternoon, CALLI Hello Aileen. Countdown with
(36:39):
Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. The
impeachment inquiry Kevin McCarthy has now unilaterally and personally declared
(00:26):
against President Joe Biden is in fact illegal. The Justice
Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the Trump administration Justice Department's
Office of Legal Counsel ruled on January nineteenth, twenty twenty,
that there can be no impeachment and no impeachment inquiry
(00:49):
without a vote by the House of Representatives. And that
ruling is still on the books today and Kevin McCarthy
has violated it. Kevin McCarthy has broken the law. This
is Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry. Repeat after me Kevin
(01:12):
McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry quote. The House of Representatives must
expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and
to use compulsory process in that investigation. Before the committee
may compel the production of documents of testimony in support
(01:35):
of the House's power of impeachment. The House itself must
authorize an impeachment inquiry. No committee may undertake the momentous
move from legislative oversight to impeachment without a delegation by
the full House of such authority unquote. Stephen A. Engel,
(01:58):
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, the same guy
who wrote Bill Barr's Mueller Summary for him. He's a
lawyer and everything went to Harvard. He works in Philadelphia.
Don't ask him if you don't believe me. Kevin McCarthy,
the guy who looks like the bird who is still
stunned from having just flown full force into your window,
(02:22):
broke the law yesterday. If there is no vote, there
is no impeachment inquiry. And you know who else said
that besides Trump's assistant Attorney general. The guy who wrote
that the speaker quote can't decide on impeachment unilaterally. It
requires a full vote of the House of Representatives unquote
(02:42):
wrote that on September twenty fourth, twenty nineteen. Who wrote that,
Kevin McCarthy. He tweeted it. It's still up on his feed.
The Speaker can't decide on impeachment unilaterally. It requires a
full vote of the House of Representative. Is that too
remote for you? Is that too far in the past?
What about But this guy said on September first of
(03:03):
this year, which is do they carry the three not
even two weeks ago quote. If we move forward with
an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on
the floor of the People's House, and not through a
declaration by one person. I'm quoting a bright Bart News
interview from way back twelve days ago with Kevin F. McCarthy,
(03:31):
and we all know what the F stands for. I
don't know. Maybe Kevin McCarthy really is still stunned from
having just flown full force into your window, or maybe
he's just a prostitute. Contradicts himself from September first, contradicts
himself from September twenty nineteen, contradicts Trump's assistant Attorney General,
(03:53):
contradicts the law. In my research, I do not find
any opinion from Trump's man Engle, who three years and
eight months ago preemptively declared Kevin McCarthy did yesterday invalid
and illegal about whether the Department of Justice for which
Angel worked can now go and charge Kevin McCarthy. It
(04:14):
does not seem as if McCarthy committed that kind of
crime here, but any Democrat responding to this latest Republican
urination on the Constitution on behalf of dementia. J Trump
by not calling this quote Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry,
should be expelled from the party, from office, from the country.
(04:41):
McCarthy didn't just break the rules. He just broke Trump's rules,
and that fact should be hung around his neck fresh
every morning like one of those floral lays you get
when you arrive in Hawaii. Aloha, mister speaker, And how's
your illegal impeachment inquiry today? Now? Besides the legal lesson
(05:06):
that Kevin Owen McCarthy so desperately needed before he made
an even bigger dick out of himself yesterday than usual,
and for all the tomorrows to come, there is the
history lesson that he just as certainly needed and did
not get, and will live to regret not getting. And
I must say I am utterly surprised he did not
know this already, given that as it unfolded, he was
(05:29):
already on the staff of a congressman and already chairman
of the California Young Republicans and then chairman of the
Young Republican National Foundation, even though he was thirty seven,
which is pretty goddamned old to have the nerve to
call yourself a young Republican. It's like being a thirty
seven year old bat boy in baseball. But the last
(05:50):
Speaker of the House who prostituted himself and perverted the
Constitution to try to impeach president for cheap, meaningless and
only political reasons did not meet with a happy end.
Newt Gingrich, you know the stupid looking guy who does
the title insurance infomercials on TV. Did you know he
(06:13):
used to have a job with the government. He was
actually Speaker of the House too, just like Kevin. Oh,
look out there's a window. There beag boy oh slam McCarthy.
But Newt dreamt of much more than mere speakership, as
(06:33):
one must I assume if one is stuck with that
name Newt. By January nineteen ninety eight, Newt Gingrich's dreams
were about Monica s Lewinsky, particularly about using her as
the centerpiece to investigating President Bill Clinton and timing it
so that the investigation would stretch out all spring and
(06:54):
all summer, and all the media would fall forward and
into the autumn, and it would allow the Republicans, who
already control the House and the Senate, the chance to
build veto proof majority in the midterms and not actually
impeach him was the plan until after the midterms, So
in the midterms the Democrats wouldn't even get any sympathy votes,
(07:17):
while e coyotes super genius, but Newt wanted even more.
On Sunday, April twenty sixth, nineteen ninety eight, the former
Washington bureau chief of the New Yorker magazine, Elizabeth Drew,
went on Meet the Press on NBC with Tim Russert
and said that Gingrich had been talking for months to
(07:41):
his close associates that his real plan was the investigation
of Clinton was so bad that Clinton would have to
be impeached and would be removed by the Senate, or
more likely, he would resign in shame, whereupon Speaker Gingrich
was certain that the new president Al Gore would pardon
Bill Clinton, whereupon Senate Republicans would refuse to confirm whoever
(08:05):
Gore had nominated to be his new vice president, whereupon
Nut Gingrich would impeach al Gore for pardoning Bill Clinton.
Do you see what the plan was? The nation would
be without an elected president, without a replacement president, without
(08:26):
an elected or an appointed vice president, and so naturally
the presidency would have to devolve to the next in
the line of succession. The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Let's see who was that? Newton Leroy Jingrid Gingrich? Is
it Gingrich? Yes? Nuton Gingrich in nineteen ninety eight was
(08:49):
not planning to impeach Bill Clinton. He was planning to
succeed Bill Clinton. Remind me that that didn't happen. That
did that didn't happen? That did it happen? No? No,
why not? Well? On October were eighth, nineteen ninety eight,
Speaker KNUWT Gingrich got his House of Representatives to vote,
(09:09):
and a side note to Kevin McCarthy that word vote
the thing you didn't do that spelled vote, ask for
mister Engel in Philadelphia. Gingrich got a vote of two
hundred and fifty eight to one hundred and seventy six,
with thirty one Democrats voting yes, to establish an impeachment
inquiry against Bill Clinton. The mid terms were less than
(09:32):
a month away, and Gingrich met with Republican leadership in secret,
and like the serpent he was and is, he was
coiled and ready to get his supermajority in the House.
And he told his colleagues they would pick up between
six and thirty congressional seats and some in the Senate,
and enough to remove Clinton. And on the morning of Tuesday,
November third, Gingrich dragged his blubber to the polls and
(09:53):
predicted victory. And on the morning of Wednesday, November fourth,
it turned out the Republicans had lost five seats in
the House. And then on the morning of in November six,
Nut Gingrich announced he would resign as Speaker of the
House after the new year, mostly because the dozens of
Republicans who had just sneaked through to reelection realized he
(10:17):
was an idiot, He was a charlatan, and he was
a liability. Gingrich impeached Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton kept
his job and Newt Gingrich lost his and oh, by
the way, al Gore kept his job too. And guess what.
Al Gore would have been president despite the Supreme Court
(10:39):
if he had not been so stupid that he listened
to advisors like the boneheaded billionaire Joel Hyatt, who told him,
when how are you doing two thousand? Don't campaign with
Bill Clinton. You can't be seen standing next to the
most popular politician in America. You got all that Kevin McCarthy.
Because wait, there's more. Because if Kevin, you turn impeachment
(11:04):
into a tool of attempted political assassination when the strongest
accusation you have against the president is conclusive evidence that
he is his son's biological father. If that's what you're
going to do, the god of politics will not only
get you, but he will get everybody around you. As
(11:25):
soon as Gingrich announced he was going to quote resign
as Speaker, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, a
man named Bob Livingston of Louisiana stood up in front
of the Capitol and as his smiling wife held a
sign saying Bob for Speaker, and his one smiling kid
held a sign saying vote for Bob, and as his
(11:47):
other smiling kid held a sign saying my dad for Speaker,
Representative Livingston announced he had already rounded up enough support
from his House colleagues, and though he would be happy
to go through the actual vote, yes, he was already
Speaker elect, and the other would be candidates for Speaker
dropped out, and sure enough, there he was Speaker elect. Livingston.
(12:08):
Everything Gingrich was not bland solemn reassuring with big mid
nineties fish bowl eyeglasses and a happy family. And a
month later, during the final House debates on the impeachment
of that evil President Slimeball Clinton, the publisher of Hustler magazine,
Larry Flint revealed he was investigating four separate affairs that
(12:31):
Speaker elect Livingston had reportedly had, and already he had
one of the women on record. And on December nineteenth,
nineteen ninety eight, Speaker elect Livingston said, guess what, I'm
no longer a candidate for Speaker, and in fact, I'm
resigning from the House. And the next thing anybody heard
from Bob Livingston he was lobbying on behalf of a
free trade agreement between the United States and Morocco. So
(12:58):
at that point the scoreboard read Bill Clinton, two Speaker
of the House who impeached him. Nothing now, Kevin, if
you have not fled for Guatemala or somewhere by now,
let me note that wait, this little history lesson still
isn't over yet. Because with Gingrich gone and Livingston gone,
(13:22):
the only congressman who actually knew the House rules and
how to organize committees and do anything besides impeach people,
he became the new new Speaker, the chief Deputy whip,
the gentleman from Illinois, Dennis Hastert, child rapist, wrestling coach,
(13:46):
child rapist, and Republican Speaker of the House, the Right
Honorable rapist Dennist Hastart, and three Speakers of the House
after him. While he was in jail. They took down
Hastart's portrait from the gallery of paintings of the speakers,
and I believe they burned it. And they renamed the
(14:08):
Denny Haskert Yorkville, Illinois Wrestling Invitational. And last I heard,
he's eighty one years old and living in Aurora. But
Jack his room speaker McCarthy, maybe he went to Hell overnight.
And that's what you get when you Kevin McCarthy. This
(14:32):
Kevin McCarthy. Some other notes on this, and what are
we calling it again, Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry. Some
other notes on this. Jim Jordan, Hey, look, wrestling coaches,
that's a coincidence, Jim Jordan said, quote when you actually
(14:53):
have a resolution that the House votes on the courts,
understand the House is engaged in a fundamental constitutional activity,
the impeachment power. And if McCarthy's comments about needing an
impeachment vote seem old because they were from September first.
Jim Jordan made his comments Sunday night. Also the supposed
point of Kevin McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry to get the
(15:16):
quote bank records. Republicans subpoenaed the bank records on March
sixteenth and got them and released them, and they showed
nothing about Joe Biden. Nothing. And then they subpoened more
bank records on May tenth, and they showed nothing, and
more bank records on August ninth, and they showed nothing.
But go on, Kevin, keep digging, and go on. Media
(15:36):
keep reporting this as if it's something new. We have
the Google now in most newsrooms. You could just hit
search once in a while. And while McCarthy has disturbed
the spirits of ex speaker Gingrich and never speaker Livingstone
and child rapist speaker Hastard, this still is not enough
for the real power in his party, Matt Gates. Gates
(16:00):
seems intent on removing McCarthy, while McCarthy is tenth unimpeaching
Biden illegally, and the whole party is ready to shut
down the government in seventeen days. And if you're wondering
where's all the Republican Senate support for all this crap?
There isn't any. John Thune was blunt and unimpressed, quote,
(16:21):
I don't think it'd be advantageous if this thing went
further with all the other things we have to do.
Even Lindsey Graham said you have to have a vote
and a reminder, so did Trump's assistant attorney general? Did
I mention that the part about this being illegal? According
to Trump's assistant attorney, did I mention it? One GOP senator,
(16:42):
whom the newsletter The Hill Let's Speak anonymously went all in,
called it quote a waste of time, a fool's errand
fortunately it'll be dispensed with fairly quickly if they ever
send articles of impeachment over to us. Maybe this is
just Kevin giving people their binkie to get through the shutdown.
(17:03):
And there is one Republican congressman who says this is
also such cretinous nonsense. He is an unlikely candidate for
such insight, Ken Buck, the wild Man of Colorado, so
naturally the magas are planning to primary him. What all
this seriously adds up to illegal impeachment inquiry McCarthy contradicting
(17:25):
himself in a span of thirteen days, Republican senators referring
to Republican congressmen in their binkies, Trump's legal mastermind, the
one without a legal degree, Tom Fitten, pulling the strings
behind the scenes. Thank God for that. That's why this
is just a distraction. What this all adds up to
is a the acronym magamaga. Both of the a's stand
(17:50):
for assholes. Republican assholes, trumpest assholes as. I don't think
any Democrats should ever mention Kevin McCarthy again without referring
to McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry. I think all Democrats should
pull out the stops now. This is our democracy at
stake here, and I think every Democrat should call every
(18:11):
Republican every time assholes as the Republican asshole Party noted,
or Trumpest asshole as the head of the Republican asshole Party,
the asshole Trump noted because the Republican Party, I'm sorry,
the Republican asshole Party as the Republican asshole Party has
(18:32):
devolved into an organized crime family, maybe not that organized.
It deserves no more respect than any other crowd of
chiselers and insurrectionists and con men and felons would and
it would be nice, it would be responsible, It would
be patriotic if the news media would follow suit. And
(18:54):
you know, do what reporting is supposed to consist of,
see thing, determine what thing you are seeing is right?
Or broadcast description of thing. Let chips fall where they may.
They're assholes. I'm not holding my breath. Wall Street Journal
(19:18):
Sadie German Justice Department correspondent, pimping an article by one
of her colleagues. She pulled this quote. We've all declined, obviously,
but you can still be pretty sharp, said Earl Evans,
who already knew he was born the same day as
the president. When the reporter called what was the Wall
Street Journal article? The headline was quote, is Biden too
(19:42):
old to run again? We asked people born on his
exact birthday? How clever did you also do this? Other
one titled is Trump too mentally ill to realize that
if he started a nuclear war? He would die too?
We asked people who have his exact degree of dementia?
I don't think so. The comforting part about the media's
(20:06):
rosy colored nostalgia about but her emails and the hope
that it can squeeze either but his age or but
McCarthy impeached him into that same cubby hole this time around.
Is that when the fascists therefore, can seize power and
send the rest of us to prison camps because the
news reporters were too busy looking for false equivalencies with
(20:28):
which to both sides the world and get good guests
for meet the press. At least when we are all
behind that barbed wire, those surprised reporters and the rest
of us, there'll be enough journalists there to put out
a good camp newsletter which can have headlines like who
(20:49):
is the nicer prison guard, Bob Livingston or Newt Gingrich.
Two more stories here we have another fourteenth Amendment suit.
Voters in Minnesota going to the court. They're saying he
must be banned from the ballot. Quote. None of this
(21:09):
conduct was undertaken in performance of Trump's official duties, in
his official capacity or under color of his office. Rather,
Trump engaged in insurrections solely in his personal or campaign capacity.
Unquote two down, forty eight to go, Miss Kilgallon a
nine to eleven follow up, I didn't see this during
(21:29):
the day but Monday on nine to eleven. Marjorie Taylor
Green wrote on nine to eleven, if the Biden administration
refuses to stop the invasion of cartel led human and
drug trafficking into our country, states should consider seceding from
the Union unquote, on nine to eleven, a note to
(21:49):
miss Green, who is, as you know, a lawn ornament
that came to life and doused itself in tannings. Pray,
Miss Green, if you will see seed, I will carry
you anywhere in the world you want to go. I
will carry you on my back. And yesterday who had
to whine about nine to eleven, about the nine to
(22:11):
eleven ceremony, and the importance of nine to eleven, the
real meaning of nine to eleven, which is, of course
who gets to speak first? Who had to whine about it?
The man whose presidential aspirations were ended the day Joe
Biden reduced him from America's mayor to his rightful place
(22:32):
in our history. As Joe described, every sentence this idiot
has uttered since that day a noun, a verb. And
nine to eleven, Tom von Essen, Bernie and I almost
lost our lives. We never made much of that because
we're not that kind of people. But I have a
big claim. On September eleven, I almost died there, Governor attack.
(22:52):
He thought I was dead. He has a document to
that effect. He thought Bernie was dead. Rudy, you kept
that secret all that time for some reason, I doubt
that you almost died. Well, thanks for trying. Well, you know,
all this talk of Rudy and Newt and impeachment, Kevin
(23:16):
McCarthy's illegal impeachment inquiry, that is, this has got me
all nostalgic for nineteen ninety eight and the week I
went from Hey you, why haven't I seen you on
SportsCenter lately? To Good Evening, I'm anchoring the State of
the Union address coverage. How to succeed in political broadcasting
without really trying. That's next. This is Countdown. This is
(23:41):
Countdown with Keith Oberman. Now to the number one story
on the Countdown and things I promised not to tell
and the State of the Union nineteen ninety eight. When
I left ESPN and signed with MSNBC the first time
in nineteen ninety seven, it was not to become a
(24:01):
political commentator nor even anchor. I went there to do
with the President of NBC News America needed most a live,
hour long news magazine show from Secaucus, New Jersey, so
unfocused that on consecutive nights we led with the threat
of a terrorist group called al Qaeda, and then the
(24:21):
next night we led with the publication of the Farmers Almanac.
I mean, this was the news at eight pm, the
lead story that published the Farmers Almanac. Again, here's our
live guest, the publisher. Here's a going to rain next year.
I had regrets. Anyway, the good part of the job
(24:45):
was sports. I hosted baseball in the World Series and
even did some Super Bowl stuff for NBC, And in
mid January of nineteen ninety eight, I flew to the
West Coast to work on that and do this magazine show,
the Big Show on MSNBC from entertainment venues in La,
most of them associated with NBC. On the afternoon of Tuesday,
(25:06):
January twentieth, nineteen ninety eight, we were on the set
of Third Rock from the Sun preparing to interview at
Star John Lithgow when my producer Phil Griffins sidled over, you,
my little friend, are about to become a political host.
The President got caught with some chippy in the White House, Chippy,
Oh not sex. Sex looks like just you know. And
(25:30):
then he lied about it in the deposition Saturday. I
asked him how in the hell anybody knew about what
the deposition said when it was just four days after
he gave the deposition, and those things are supposed to
be you know, secret. Beat me. Drudge put it out
yesterday and I asked him if credible news organizations like
NBC were actually quoting an internet guy best known for
his hat about what was a potentially impeachable offense. A
(25:54):
lot of people were close on this story, Griffin said,
we were close. Lisa Myers almost had it Sunday night.
Newsweek finally put out a more detailed version about ninety
minutes ago. It was their scoop. Judge just stole it
from them. I think it was Isakov who wrote it.
You'll have to interview Tim Russer to lead the show.
The president may resign. We'll do it from right here.
(26:16):
Back that up. What was that you said, we'll do
it from right here, No part about the president resigning.
Oh yeah, the president might resign. Thus, half an hour later,
I was hooked up by satellite with Tim Russert from
the Washington Bureau. Listening to him outline the possibilities that
the president might resign before sunrise, I nodded with as
(26:36):
much gravitas as I could fake, despite the elements of
farce that were apparently obvious only to me in the
story and in where I was seated. In the background
of my close up stood the refrigerator from the kitchen
set of Lithgo's show Third Rock from the Sun, and
on the refrigerator complete with its decorative magnets speaking their
silent and suddenly completely hip gag. The magnets were a
(27:00):
banana surrounded on either side by a strawberry. Phil I
said to Phil as we tried to plan a smooth
transition from that taped Russert interview about the possible impeachment
and resignation of the president to a taped interview with
John Lithgow, and then back to the live speculations of
a couple of political writers for the rest of the hour.
We're not going to have to do this every day,
(27:22):
are we, Griffin laughed, of course not, what do you
think this is the end of the world. He was right.
We did not do it every day. We did it
for two hundred and eighteen consecutive shows. Starting that night
with the Banana and the Strawberry Magnets over my shoulder,
our ratings kept doubling. Following Tuesday, my thirty eighth birthday,
(27:45):
I was back in New York hosting a roundtable of
political heavyweights in the hour leading up to Bill Clinton
State of the Union address. That night, Andy Lack of
NBC News and Phil Griffin had decided that I should
host a second live report once the NBC Network guys Russert,
Tom Brokaw, couple of others had wrapped up their analysis,
which we were also carrying on MSNBC, so I would
(28:07):
come on at eleven o'clock after Brokaw and russered two hours.
My little friend, this is our nightline. I was doing
my best to keep a straight face when during a
commercial break at maybe eleven forty five, maybe midnight, halfway
through my wrap up show, Griffin materialized next to my
anchor desk. He had this stunned but not unhappy look,
(28:28):
like when he used to smoke a lot of dope
when we worked together in the eighties. We have the
preliminary ratings, My little friend, I hope you're sitting down.
I pointed at myself seated in the chair. The pregame
show that did a one point one. Our average rating
at MSNBC before this presidential stuff came up had been
an zero point three. This was now four times the
(28:51):
previous ratings. In the past week, it had surged to
an zero point six, and Griffin had insisted to me
that Andy Lack was so happy he had wet his pants.
But this is the kicker here, buddy. We had the
immediate since the President finally stopped talking, speech did an eight.
Broke on Russer, the wrap up did an six. Since
eleven o'clock, you've been doing a one point seven. You
(29:14):
have had three times the audience of Tom Brokaw, three
times the audience of the old man himself. This isn't
just people crossing over from NBC to watch more. This
is people watching the speech, turning off the old man,
then turning back at eleven to watch you. I tried
to assimilate what he was telling me. For the first
time in my life, my ego refused to cooperate. The
(29:38):
stage manager barked his queue of thirty seconds until the
end of the commercial break. Phil Griffin shook my hand.
Oh and by the way, that thing you said at
the start of the hour about it, it was as
if the Intern had opened the door to the chamber
and said, mister speaker, the President of the United States.
That's already included in the Associated Press story one point seven,
my little friend, don't f it up. Actually, you can't
(30:01):
f it up. We're in for the long haul. Now
revel in it me quoted about the Clinton Lewinsky story
in the main coverage of the State of the Union
address on the Associated Press wire. Eight months after I
stopped giving the scores of the Greater Stuttgart Invitational tennis
tournament on ESPN, I had this sudden, horrible feeling that
(30:25):
the usually slow to decide American viewing public had instantly
concluded that, for some reason elusive even to me, they
really like to hear me talk about the whereabouts of
the president's penis. If I could have figured out how
to f up the rest of the hour, I would
have done it right then. I didn't. The next day
(30:49):
it got worse. The ratings were so great last night, buddy,
they want us to go live every night at eight
and eleven only about the President. The eleven is going
to be called crisis in Washington. Finally we get what
we want. Phil Griffin was dancing around, it'll be our nightline.
Since joining MSNBC, I had not taken any time off,
and I actually had a vacation booked in Hawaii the
(31:11):
next week with a young lady. Uh yeah, about that.
Phil finally announced, well, that's what we have to talk about, Keith.
They want you to commit to this for at least
six weeks, so it's this or Hawaii. I explained Hawaii
to Phil. Lack said he'd probably pay for you to
go do that whenever this is over. I said, in
(31:32):
my opinion, that probably would not be good enough, and
Griffin said neither did he, but that it was just
for openers, and Lack told him that I could have
three wishes and I could anchor NBC Nightly News at
least on the weekends and a couple of times during
the week. Just personally, I'd recommend you do it. I
got the impression that the show's going to happen whether
(31:53):
we agree to it or not, Griffin said. He mentioned
something about Brian Williams or maybe John Gibson being poor
second choices, but viable ones. He said, viable ones. I
told Phil I had calls to make. Griffin suggested Lack
needed a decision within the hour, that he wanted white
House and Crisis on the air that night. Wait, that
(32:14):
didn't sound like what he'd called it before, Phil, Is
it white House in crisis or crisis in Washington? Phil
Griffin seemed introspective for a moment then and got in
touch with the news executive within what's the difference, It's
going to be our nightline? I almost suggested to him
that that should be the title MSNBC presents, It's going
(32:36):
to be our nightline. On and on. This went for
weeks four months. I mocked the story. The ratings went up.
I tried to quit the show. The ratings went up.
I gave a speech insulting the network for covering the story.
Twenty four to seven. The ratings went up. Fox Sports
approached me and offered me five times when NBC was
(32:59):
paying me to go out to LA to do their
sportscast LA, which was kind of near Hawaii, nowhere near
the Clinton Lewinski story. And the ratings went up, and
I was debating all this and the fact that I
had a contract, and I had agreed to do it.
And then one night in early spring, I got home
after another night of this crap, I put my feet up.
I was half watching something on NBC while really just
(33:21):
staring off into the distance, wondering what I had done
to deserve this, mulling my own future, when the snare
drum and the violent string section of an NBC news
promo interrupted me. Wednesday, on a very special edition of Nightline,
Jane Paully and the former Miss America there she was
for a second, had tilted her look grave, journalistic, even scholarly.
(33:43):
Jane Paully, the ten year host of NBC's landmark Today Show,
the one who had then switched to primetime because the
journalism had slowly ebbed out of morning television and she
couldn't do it anymore. She was sitting there in a
two shot with a Miss America from too many Miss
Americas ago, the former brunette, former redhead, now former blonde
(34:03):
who's jet black made her look a little frightening. Why
the hell was Jane Pauli interviewing her on the signature,
albeit superficial NBC thrice weekly magazine show Nightline. No less
well in a split second, the promo gave me my answer, Jane,
did you have sex with the President of the United States?
Ex Miss America, Yes, Yes, I did. Announcer that's Wednesday
(34:26):
on a very special edition to Nightline only on NBC
America's news source. With genuine terror, I screamed, I shouted
aloud to no one check please, and I called my
agent to talk about Fox. I've done all the damage
(35:04):
I can do here. Thank you for listening. Countdown has
come to you from our studios high on top the
Sports Capsule Building in New York. The credits most of
the music arranged, produced and performed by Brian Ray and
John Phillip Shanel. The Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and
keyboards by John Phillip Shanelle. Guitars, bass and drums by
Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have
(35:26):
been arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed.
Sports music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two How's
Aaron Rodgers By the Way. It was written by Mitch
Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Fauss.
The best Baseball Stadium organist. Ever, our announcer today was
by friend Stevie van Zant. Everything else was pretty much
(35:48):
my fault. Very sad another sudden Achilles injury caused by
lack of vaccination. That's countdown for this the nine hundred
and eighty first day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup
against the democratically elected government of the United States. Convict
him now well, we still can. The next scheduled countdown
(36:09):
is tomorrow. Bulletins, as the news warrants, and as my
throat permits till then, I'm Keith olroon See I can't
even say my own name now, so then I'm loving
am Urca, Good morning, afternoon, CALLI Hello Aileen. Countdown with
(36:39):
Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.