February 20, 2025 • 34 mins
In this hour of today's edition of The Dan Caplis Show, Dan looks at the democrats' nonsensical plan to fix Downtown Denver with a simple rebrand.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Dan Caplis and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download, and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform. Se Yeah, we
want a whole lot of that justice. I don't think
Mayor Mike Johnston does three O.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Three seven one three eight two five five the number
text d A N five seven seven three nine And
no matter where you live in America, let alone Colorado,
this story about Mayor Mike Johnston is extraordinarily important and
revealing because what just happened is the mayor of Denver
who voluntarily accepted an invitation to appear before a House
(00:44):
committee and talk about, you know, Denver's sanctuary city status.
And I believe clearly Denver my opinion is the sanctuary city.
He denies it. But that's what the hearings all about.
Now it's been revealed, I'll play the story for you.
Part of the story that Johnston now is going to
spend two million dollars at least of Denver taxpayer money
(01:07):
on a high powered Washington d C. Lawyer to counsel
him before this hearing. Well, let's listen to the story.
And by the way, as you listen to the story,
keep this in mind. According to the Denver Right, the
city is to be represented by Dana Remas. Now, Dana remis,
according to what I've read since his story, Broke is
(01:28):
former White House counsel to Joe Biden. She's Michelle Obama's
former attorney. So when Diamond Mike, when Diamond Mike wants
a lawyer, he goes first class, right, I mean, with
your money thousand bucks an hour.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Fire up that story, please, Ryan.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
The city of Denver is bracing for a fight in Washington,
and to prepare, the mayor City council approved a two
million dollar contract with an elite law firm, Colvington and Burling, LLP.
Says they will perform services for the city at a
discounted rate of one thousand dollars per hour, including preparation
in advance of the hearing and initial work related to
(02:06):
document and review. March fifth, Mayor Mike Johnston is being
asked to go to DC to defend Denver's immigration policies
by the US House Committee on Government Reform. City policies
that were adopted back in twenty sixteen under then Mayor
Michael Hancock. Council members approved the funding in a block
vote along with other bills last night. The only council
(02:26):
member to comment was Sarah Parity. She spoke about the
possible need to expand support of the Denver Immigrant Legal
Services Fund really.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
For reasons that are at their heart similar to why
we're approving this legal bill for this DC law firm today,
which is that we're going to continue to defend our
entirely legal local policies, not to do the dirty work
of deportation for the federal government, and not to ignore
the overarching international human rights law that says that when
people are fleeing really of bysmal circumstances, they have a
(02:56):
right to claim asylum.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Part of the contract between the law firm and the
city states quote, the parties mutually agree that investigative activity
is likely to continue following this hearing, and that City
Council may be asked to approve war funding beyond the
two million dollars already.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Approvedad question, there wait a second, So they're trying to
peddle this.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
The City's trying to pedal.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
This to us as two million dollars of DC attorney
time to prepare Mike Johnston for this hearing.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
When's this hearing in two years?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I thought it was March fifth. I mean, let me
look at my calendar and do a little math here.
So they think people are stupid enough to accept that
it's two million dollars, which is what two thousand hours
of attorney time between in the next.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Give me a break, right, I mean here, I'll give
Mike Johnston the best advice he can get, and I'll
give it for free right now. Rather than spend two
million dollars of precious Denver taxpayer money, two million dollars
that could go to nine to one one so that
when people call they don't get a recording, save that
(04:09):
two million dollars. Here's the advice. Don't go to the hearing.
You're not under subpoena. The hearing's optional. Why is Mike
Johnston even going to this hearing?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So, you're gonna spend two million dollars at Denver taxpayer
money so that he can go to a hearing he
doesn't have to go to. Now, Don't get me wrong,
I'm really looking forward to it. I had Congressman gave
Evans on he's on the committee or no, he's he's
being allowed to drop into the committee. Congressman Bobert's on
the committee. I can't wait for this questioning. But don't
(04:44):
fall for a second for this idea that they're spending
two million dollars of Denver taxpayer money to prepare him
for this hearing. No, they're spending two million dollars as
a starter because he must believe he is in crimin
old jeopardy. That's why they're spending the money. In my opinion,
I don't know if he committed a crime or not.
(05:07):
I don't know if he's in the course of committing crimes.
And when I talk about that, I'm narrowing this obviously
to immigration law related crimes. I don't have any reason
to believe he's committed any other crimes, and I don't
know whether he's committed these crimes. All I'm saying is
he must be concerned that he may have to be
taking this step spending millions in Denver taxpayer money to
(05:31):
bring in Joe Biden's former attorney to prepare him for
this hearing. And I put that in quotes because I
believe he's really bringing them in to help protect him
against criminal exposure.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So wow, And I know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
What you may be thinking, which would be right, which is, Hey,
you think Mike Johnston cares about two million or five
or ten million of Denver taxpayer money. No, I don't
think he does. But I do think he cares about
these kind of headlines. And I think he cares about
the political fallout of this, because, as I've been saying
for a long time, I absolutely believe he's been running
(06:05):
for governor since before he was running for mayor, while
he was running for mayor, while he's serving for mayor,
So he knows stories like this are not good for him.
So I don't think he goes there. I don't think
he takes two million dollars of Denver taxpayer money to
hire Joe Biden's lawyer to advise him, unless he thinks
(06:26):
he has some real exposure, And we'll find out together
whether he does or not. But Ryan, I think this
is an extraordinarily important story. Yes, and they talk about
I mean in the agreement right that there's more likely
to come, which I think just confirms this money has
very little to do with the hearing and it has
(06:46):
to do with the bigger issue of is he criminally exposed?
Speaker 6 (06:51):
It has to be that, Dan, because you look, you
try to unpack this right as to why would he
need two million dollars of this level of legal preparation
for testimony before Congress? As the story points out, that's voluntary,
it's optional. He was not subpoena to testify a m
I get to that step, but it hasn't yet. So
you have to connect those dots like you just did, Dan, Like, Okay,
(07:14):
what explains this? Why did they have to go to
defcon one here with the legal representation?
Speaker 7 (07:19):
Your explanation is the only one that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, and think about it.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I mean, we talk about the two million bucks because
that's sexy, but we should be talking about the two
thousand hours because lawyers this good, and this is a
very good law firm, and a lawyer this good, you know,
Joe Biden's former White House counsel, Michelle Obama's former lawyer.
Lawyers this good don't need two thousand hours to figure
out whether Mike Johnston has violated the law or not.
(07:46):
They probably already know that. So when you're talking about
two thousand hours, I think it has.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Very little to do with this hearing.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I'm sure they'll do some prep for the hearing, but
prep along the lines of, hey, if you have criminal exposure,
here's what you need to be real careful about in
this hearing.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
But no, I think this is all about all about.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
A concern that he has criminal exposure and expecting expecting
this administration to take action.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
That That's what this signals to me.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Three or three someone three eight two five five text
d An five seven seven three nine. Again, I don't
know if he's committed a crime or not. All I
can say is he must be worried that he has. Yeah,
let's go to Adam and Severance. Here on the Dan
Kaplis show.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Welcome.
Speaker 8 (08:35):
Hey Dan, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I am living the dream, my friend. How about you?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (08:40):
Just the same. I got to say, though, I'm glad
I live in Severance, but still just hearing about this
Mike Johnson thing is just insane. I was looking at
your numbers, and that's eighty three days of straight working
around the clock for that lawyer, and then on top
of that break that down to an eight hour day.
(09:02):
That's two hundred and fifty days worth of work, and
then to the whole safety of Benburg. That place is
a is a absolute death trapping mark. The average salary
for a starting officer is eighty thousand dollars a year.
That pays for twenty five new officers on the streets
(09:23):
making sure people will get their next cut on sixteenth
Street the mall.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, you know, very interesting and thank you for making
the important point about the number of hours for this attorney.
I think the way a great firm quote.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
It seems like we lost Dan there just a moment.
He is remote today and we're warned about this. Ryan
shiling with you. We'll take a quick time out, we'll
come back with Dan. It's a good time for a
break here in the Dan Campus Show.
Speaker 7 (10:05):
And now back to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
The city of Denver is bracing for a fight in Washington,
and to prepare, the mayor City Council approved a two
million dollar contract with an elite law firm, Colvington and Burling, LLP.
Says they will perform services for the city at a
discounted rate of one thousand dollars per hour, including preparation
and advance of the hearing.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Thank you, ran I think this is one of the
most important and revealing stories in a long time in Colorado,
and it is important to people all over the country,
but certainly in our state because what this tells me,
my constitutionally protected opinion, is that this two thousand hours of.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
High powered attorney time.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
According to the Denver Right, the lawyer Mike Johnson hired
with your money if you live in Denver.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
The lawyer they hired is Joe.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Biden's former White House counsel, Dana Remus, who was also
Michelle Obama's lawyer. Now, we got a lot of great lawyers,
a lot of great criminal lawyers, a lot of great
government lawyers in Denver, but he has to go to
Joe Biden's former White House council. What kind of trouble
do you think he's in. I mean, I'm not saying
he's violated any laws. I don't know if he has
(11:14):
or not. But when you go beyond Denver, with all
the political fallout of story like this causes, and you
hire a high powered lawyer like that, you know the
message to people is going to be you think you're
in big trouble. And anybody thinks these two thousand hours
are for this hearing, please think again. I'm sure there
will be hearing prep. But I think this is about
(11:36):
a much bigger concern that Lawless Mike, as I branded
him a long time ago, has, And that's based on
not a conclusion he's committed crimes, but him coming out
and saying that, oh yeah, use Denver police to stop
federal law enforcement at the county line and wanting people
in the streets like Tieneman Square against our own brothers
(11:57):
and sisters, our own federal law enforcement. That's why I
label him lawless Mike. But now that he's spending two
million to start of taxpayer money on a high powered
lawyer for him, maybe he thinks there are other lawlessness
issues out there now. Adam had called just before the breaking,
sorry for that technical glitch, Ryan, Is it snowing down
there yet? Yeah, I just started pretty much because I'm
(12:21):
in my trial prep cabin up the mountains and it's
snowing like a bear up here right now, and so
we had a little technical glitch there. We may have
another one or two before the end of the show,
hopefully not. But Adam, thank you for staying and you
had this good point you were making before the break
you were saying, Hey, this former White House Council, that
would be X number of days of her time.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
My belief, Adam, is.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That there will likely be a very big team of
high powered attorneys working on this, led by that one attorney.
So yeah, you you may have three five lawyers all
working round the clock between now and the hearing try
to prepare Diamond Mike. But then the question is sure why.
(13:04):
I mean, it's a hearing that's optional. He's not subpointed.
A friend of mine, Steve, texted and said, yeah, you know,
he wants the National Spade Stage, National spotlight, and Denver
taxpayers can put the bill to get him prepared. And
I have no doubt he wants that, and he knows
he can manipulate that forum because there's no real chance
to pin him down in that kind of forum.
Speaker 8 (13:26):
Well, and I think you hit the nail on the head.
He thinks there's something else going on there, and the
fact that he's going to go for that kind of
money that says everything I need to know about it
in my personal, humble opinion. But more so, I just
want to point out that he's going and wasting that
kind of the Denver people's money when the streets.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Are so dangerous.
Speaker 8 (13:50):
There there's yeah, rampant homelessness, there's people being murdered on
sixties Street Mall. I won't bring my children down there,
let alone my wife. And here he is dumping millions
of dollars into something that seems frankly frivolous.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Well, Adam, thank you for your call and for your points.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
As I've talked about in many different context on this show,
I think the evidence is overwhelming that Mike Johnston just
doesn't care that much about most people in Denver. He
cares about Mike Johnston. And so I think we've seen
that on display. I mean, one of the most recent examples,
after the horrific spree stabbings on the mall, including the
(14:33):
flight attendant having her throat slit and dying in our street,
he goes down to almost the very spot where those
bodies dropped to essentially declare victory the next night and
talk about how much safer Denver is.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So Mike Johnston, I think, is concerned about Mike Johnston,
and he'll spend as much of your money as he
has to on the very best lawyer he can find,
Joe Biden's former lawyer, to make sure that if he
has criminal exposure, he's protect eight five five. Where's your
five d A two five five text d An five
seven seven three nine.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Hey, let's go to Brian and Arvada. You're on the
Dane Kaplis Show.
Speaker 8 (15:11):
Hey, Dan, how's it going tonight?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I'm living the dream, my friend. How about you?
Speaker 8 (15:16):
Well, I'm gonna come at a different angle. This is
just a last attempt for their You know, we know
there's been laundering money. Okay, everybody in government. Mike Johnson's
doing it. Come on, two million dollars for lawyers. Come on,
he's getting a kickback. It's you know, they're all sucking
at the Trump because they know they know what's going
to dry up pretty soon. It has nothing to do
(15:38):
with he needs protection, this, that, and the other. It's
him taking care of his buddies, and that's what we're
all sick of.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Let me understand the accusation you're making, because I don't
agree with it. Your accusation is that he is paying
this money to the law firm so he can personally
get a kickback of some of that money.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Because I don't believe that.
Speaker 8 (15:58):
There's two million dollar dollars to go. Dan, We got
to think about this logically.
Speaker 9 (16:03):
Okay, we know.
Speaker 8 (16:04):
What they've been doing. I mean we see doeys, you know,
And this is the best argument you could ever have
for having nothing but a consumer tax. We're all getting scammed.
They got a book that's like the Harry Potter series,
that's your tax code, and they expect you to comply
to them. But yet they're supposed to represent us, that
(16:27):
we're supposed to be their boss. A scam just keeps
going and going. Brian's got interrupt as much money as
they can.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Don't mean to be rude.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Got interrupt for one second because you're just one hundred
percent wrong when you say that the play here is
for Johnston to get some of this two million back.
Zero chance of that that there's no corruption here. The
law firm is not funneling money back.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
To Johns Democrat.
Speaker 8 (16:51):
They're Democrat lawyers. They're looking for cash. They know that
he's going to draw up my brother wandering scheme.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Briant, you're so full of crap. No, I put him
on pause for a second. Okay, he is so full
of crap on this, and I enjoy his calls. He
doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. These lawyers.
This law firm has people lined up across the globe
to hire them.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
They don't need Mike Johnston's money.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Mike Johnston needs them, so that's just garbage. Listen, this
is a big story. This really matters. I think it
means Mike Johnston believes he has criminal exposure, whether he
committed a crime or not. Don't go down some stupid
ass rabbit hole like that. What is he thinking? See
(17:35):
this for what it is. Mike Johnston is willing to
spend an awful lot of taxpayer money to protect Mike
Johnston and he thinks he has criminal exposure. Right now,
that's mike constitutionally protected opinion. But what is that nonsense?
We just heard Ryan.
Speaker 6 (17:53):
Well, I mean you pretty much nipped it in the
bud right there. This is not a law firm that's
like better call.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Saul or something. No, no, no, no, no, this.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I I'm sorry, but calls like that infuriate me because listen,
Mike Johnston, he hurts Denver in lots of ways, and
we call him out on lots of bands stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
He does, But don't make up crazy garbage like that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Hey, John Kellner, former DA in a repo and my
love partner, I'm proud to say after the break and
a very important piece, he wrote, you're on the Dan
Kapla Show.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast. I think
I know where I'm gonna go real turning, but nobody knows.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yes, Chris Berman says, we're all day to day they
sort the vote of.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Confidence, saying no Bert Ryan and I were talking during
the break. I have this cabin that I go up
to and hide away in for long stretches.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
When I'm preparing for trial. And I'm up here now
and in one of.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Those phases, so going to come out maybe with a
beard like down to my wat or something.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
But yeah, we're in a driving.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Snowstorm up here, so I don't know how much the
front range is going to get out of this. But hey,
and I hope I wasn't too rough on that last caller,
because you know, it's not like me, and it's not
like me to use bad language. But one of the
great gifts my mom gave me. Anything good about me
comes to my mom and dad. Anything bad, that's all
(19:23):
on me. But man, She gave me this strong sense
of justice and right and wrong. And you know, yeah,
I think Mayor Johnston is a terrible mayor for Denver,
and I think he's done a lot of terrible things.
But when the last caller starts accusing him of financial
corruption total bs allegation just ticks me off. Even if
(19:43):
I don't like the guy he's falsely accusing, it ticks
me off.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
But we'll get back to that whole story. It's a
big one too.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Mike Johnston now spending a couple of million bucks a
taxpayer money for starters on Joe Biden's former lawyer to
prepare him for the upcoming hearing.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
No, I think it's about much more than that. Hey.
In the meantime, really.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Important piece don and published in the gazette over the
weekend by John Kellner, the former DA in the eighteenth
and now very happy to say, John and I practice
law together. He's the managing partner of our firm. But
the piece is really important, I think to you, and
it's something you're not hearing much about, and so I
(20:24):
wanted to see if John had join us and.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Kick that around a little bit. Hey, John, welcome back
to the show.
Speaker 9 (20:31):
Thanks Dan, always a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, everybody back there, Glad. I'm up at the cabin
growing a beard.
Speaker 9 (20:38):
Well, you know how it is when you're away and
everything kind of goes a little crazy. But I'm trying
to hold down the foard for you.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I'm sure. I'm sure you are.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
But I had no idea that what you wrote about
was going on, and it's infuriating. So if you would
tell folks about it and then tell them where they
can find the.
Speaker 9 (20:57):
Piece, Yeah, Well, thanks again for having me on. And
you know, I ended my term as District Attorney a
little over a month ago and then joined your firm
as a managing partner and kind of thought I'd be
blissfully unaware of what was happening at the Capitol because
as the DA, you know, I was hyper focused on
what sort of nonsense might be coming down from under
(21:18):
the Gold Dome. What is the governor going to sign
that's going to make our jobs as prosecutors more difficult,
what's going to make our communities less safe? And I
thought maybe i'd put that behind me, but I just
couldn't resist. So I kind of looked in at the
quarter pole Mark here. You know, we're a quarter of
the way into the legislative session, and I was curious
where do things stand from a public safety perspective, because
(21:41):
as your listeners, I'm sure know they're smart, they're well informed.
You know, we're ranked number three in the country as
the least safe, most dangerous, you know state out there
by the US News and World Report, which is a
crazy thing to have. You know, we've got national gangs
like trender Agua trying to put down roots in our state.
(22:05):
You know, we've got people of stabbing folks on Sixteenth
Street Mall. There's just a lot that's going wrong. So
I figure with Polis always saying that, hey, we want
to be a tuck ten state to state that public
safety has got to be at the forefront of any
sort of legislative agenda. So I look on the the
website starts seeing, you know, one of the many hundreds
(22:25):
of bills that have been introduced so far the Sledge
Safe session, and I got to tell you it's it's
almost worse than you would expect when it comes to
public safety. We've got a bill that was recently introduced.
It's House built twenty five to twelve over six I
wrote about it my piece. This is a bill that
would make it a classified felony for one of these
(22:47):
would be mass murderers. Think Club Q shooting, King Supers massacre,
the Aroar Theater shooting which happened in my judicial district
in the eighteenth Every person that that would be killer,
you know, shot at but missed. We charge them right
now with attempted extreme indifference, first degree murder, and that
(23:11):
adds a significant penalty when they get sentenced, up to
forty eight years for each instance of that. This is
a bill which again makes no sense whatsoever, but reduces
that penalty by about eighty three percent and makes it
something around two to a maximum of eight years.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, it'll be the warning at John, And why would
they do it?
Speaker 9 (23:34):
It makes no sense whatsoever. It literally rewards the worst
of the worst in our society for being bad shots.
And you know, thankfully right that they don't kill all
these people they intend to, but for the sake of deterrence,
and any sane society is going to say we throw
the book at people like that. We lock them up
(23:56):
for pretty much forever, if not for the rest of
their natural lives. Since we don't have a death penalty
in the state of Colorado anymore. But that's just one.
I mean, that's cruising through right now, Dan, We've got
some other things going on where you've got rampant retail
theft in our state. And I'm sure all of your
listeners have seen these videos of people on social media
(24:18):
just loading up something at King Sooper is a cart
going into a store just walking out. I mean, there's
almost no intervention, right, and nobody wants to go viral
for the wrong reasons of trying to apprehend these folks,
and a lot of corporate entities are saying, we don't
want you to intervene, but that's causing the cost of
(24:38):
goods to go up for all of us law abiding citizens. Right.
We flipped the bill for people who do this sort
of rampant shop lifting. So a couple of years ago,
Government Polis signed a law that made it a petty offense,
so basically maximum jail sentence of ten days and most
(24:59):
likely fine as the outcome if you steal three hundred
dollars or under and it's still misdemeanor minds you for
stealing up to two thousand dollars, But we see it
in municipalities like Aurora, dan saying, hey, we've had enough
of this. We think we can do better to protect
our citizens and protect our businesses. So they passed city
(25:21):
ordinances that say, look, if you steal in the city
of Aurora, that's going to be a mandatory minimum jail
sense of three days. If you do it a second time,
you're looking at a mandatory minimum of forty five days.
So we got a new bill out there, brought by
some Democrats in the legislature House built twenty five eleven
forty seven that says, you know what, municipal courts, like
(25:47):
in Aurora and other places across the state cannot have
tougher sentences then they have legislated under the state capital
cannot have situations where they have mandatory penalties, but the
state does not. So Aurora's efforts to deter, you know,
retail theft, to make sure that they don't lose box
(26:10):
stores that hold communities together, groceries, pharmacists like Walgreens, forget
about that. That's going out the window. If this thing passes.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
They're not even trying to hide the pro criminal thing anymore.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
It doesn't make any sense to me because I think
every legislature, legislator gets five bills to sort of buy
right to put forward. And for the life of me,
I just don't understand who is clamoring for some of
these things, because I don't think it's a big group.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Yeah, and it's probably not a Colorado group.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
My guess is it's uber big money on the left
that just wants all this crazy far left stuff. But John,
your piece, I know breaks down. I've read it, breaks
it down in great detail. That's in the gazette. But
folks can find it on our website as well. John
and I practicing law together now, Johnson managing partner of
our firm, and you can find that Dan Capitalist Law,
(27:09):
and it's in the blog post under the about us section.
So Dan Caplis Law about us, go to the blog post.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
John.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I'm glad you wrote the piece because I didn't know
any of that garbage was going on, and people need
to know it if we're going to be able to
stop it.
Speaker 9 (27:24):
Yeah, there's so much going on in the capital that
gets a lot of attention. I know, there's a big fight,
you know, when it comes to some automatic weapons and
gun grabbing bills and things like that, and that's getting
so much of the press. But while that's happening, a
lot of other things that are going to make us
less safe and farther from our actual goal of being
(27:45):
a top ten save the state. That's a flyine of
the radar right now.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well, and let's get you on a bunch to talk
about that. I know that mattered a lot to you.
His da and you were all over that. But let's
keep people up on this and maybe if there's some
hope they can pressure poll listen to some vetos though.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
We'll find out together so that piece you can see it.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Dan caplis Law in the blog post section and also
Denver Gazette. Hey appreciate the time. Stay safe and warm
down there, you ks. Thanks man Cia. That is John Kellner,
and I've been saying for years, long before he obviously
just came to work for us with me. He's not
working for anybody except our clients. John is our managing
(28:28):
partner and he is the future. I look forward to
trying cases with him for the next ten or twenty years.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
But he is the future.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
He is an elite talent and a great guy, and
it's just awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
To be able to go try cases with him.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
When we come back, big story out of Denver Mayor
Mike Johnston spending to start with two million dollars of
taxpayer money on Joe Biden's former attorney. How much trouble
do you think Johnston believes he's in and is he
You're on the Dan Caplis Show.
Speaker 7 (29:03):
And now back to the Dan Kapla Show podcast.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Wow what a day.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
First, we started the show with a courageous woman, Heather McCormick,
who is telling the story on behalf of the family
of this horrific circumstance has described at Columbine where according
to the story, you had a top administrator and others
get together to help declare a student homeless who actually
(29:30):
had a home, and then that student ends up getting
estrange from her parents and from everything I can see,
no fault to the parents, and then moving away with
a teacher who had texted her twenty thousand times according
to the story. So very important story. We'll continue to
follow it. George Brockler joined us on that as well.
(29:52):
And then one of the most important stories in years
I think on the political scene this coming out of
Denver that Denversity Council has approved two million dollars to
hire a DC law firm to advise Mayor Mike Johnston
prior to his appearance before Congress in a few weeks,
two thousand hours of attorney time from top attorneys at
(30:14):
one thousand bucks an hour, and raising the very real
question what kind of trouble does Mayor Johnston think he's in?
Because really, does anybody buy that he's getting two million
dollars worth of advice just on how to testify at
a hearing where any idiot and he's no idiot. He
does a lot of crazy things in my opinion, but
(30:35):
he's no idiot. Any idiot could get through that hearing
unscathed just by filibustering because there's no judge. There's no
judge to order you to answer a question or hold
you in contempt. So he's just going to preen before
the national cameras. And so, so, yeah, what is this
two million dollars and more really for? Because these are
(30:57):
big time lawyers. This is Michelle Obama's formal lawyer, this
is Joe Biden's former White House counsel. So does Mike
Johnston think he's in big trouble? Potentially criminally on this
immigration business.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Well, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
He's taking the downsides of this kind of story unless
he thinks he needs an awful lot of protection. So
I don't know if he's committed any crimes or not
presumed innocent, But this is a lot of taxpayer money
to be spending on DC lawyers. And by the way,
there are a lot of great criminal lawyers in Denver,
a lot of great government lawyers in Denver. So to
(31:35):
go right to Joe Biden's former White House counsel tells me.
The way I take it is he thinks he's potentially
in big trouble.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
New bills go light on criminals and heart on law
abiding citizens. Restricting gun rights SB twenty four three, we
are going the opposite way of safety.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Boy, that is so true. My law partner, John Kellner.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Just joined us, a former DA in the twenty thirty
has a great new piece that details bill's going through
the legislature that will make you less safe and profound ways.
So check that out. You can read his piece either
on the gazette or through our website. Dan Kaplis's Law
at the blog post Dan. When you're called to d
C by the House or Senate. As with the FBI,
(32:18):
it's best to have a DC lawyer as a Colorado resident.
I don't appreciate his use of city funds to cover
his you know what they're Wait a second, when you're
called a DC by the House or Senate.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
No, he was invited. It's optional. He doesn't even have
to go.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
He's going because he knows this will be easy for him.
He will get a lot of national attention. That's what
he craves as he runs for higher office. So he's
going for his own reasons. If he was walking into
a courtroom to be cross examined by me or any
good attorney, yeah, he'd need lawyers, and he'd have to
be very worried because there there's a judge to order
(33:00):
and answer questions, etc. Truly, any idiot could skate through
one of these DC hearings, and that's no reflection on
the good people who'll be questioning him. Gabe Evans will
do a great job within the limits of the process.
You know, so will everybody else who questions him, including
Congressoman Bobert. But it's a very limited process. So no,
(33:24):
my own personal belief is that all of these millions
to advise Mayor Johnston have very little to do with
that hearing. I think it has to do with his
concerns that prosecution may be coming, and his concerns about
whether what he's done in the past and what he's
doing right now may violate federal law. Again, I'm not
(33:46):
saying he's violating federal law or committing any crimes, but
I think he has concerns about criminal exposure. That's what
I personally believe is going on here.
Speaker 8 (33:56):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
It's not Mike Johnston's money, it's taxpayer's money. Johnston and
the city Council are not good stewards of taxpayer money.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't think that's any breaking news.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
There, my friend, Dan, if my calculations are corrects, as
a Texter, two million for testimony prep over the next
eight days would require ten lawyers working twenty four to seven.
I'm with you on that, Texter. I think this money.
I think this money has far more to do with this.
What Johnston is concerned is a coming battle with the
(34:28):
administration over again. The administration has made it clear if
they think somebody is breaking federal law, interfering with efforts
to enforce the immigration laws of this country, they're going
to seek prosecution.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
I don't know whether he has broken federal law. I
just know he's spending a.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Lot of taxpayer money right now to get a lot
of good legal advice. Thank you, Ryan Kelly join us tomorrow, please,
This is Dan Caplis and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download, and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform. Se Yeah, we
want a whole lot of that justice. I don't think
Mayor Mike Johnston does three O.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Three seven one three eight two five five the number
text d A N five seven seven three nine And
no matter where you live in America, let alone Colorado,
this story about Mayor Mike Johnston is extraordinarily important and
revealing because what just happened is the mayor of Denver
who voluntarily accepted an invitation to appear before a House
(00:44):
committee and talk about, you know, Denver's sanctuary city status.
And I believe clearly Denver my opinion is the sanctuary city.
He denies it. But that's what the hearings all about.
Now it's been revealed, I'll play the story for you.
Part of the story that Johnston now is going to
spend two million dollars at least of Denver taxpayer money
(01:07):
on a high powered Washington d C. Lawyer to counsel
him before this hearing. Well, let's listen to the story.
And by the way, as you listen to the story,
keep this in mind. According to the Denver Right, the
city is to be represented by Dana Remas. Now, Dana remis,
according to what I've read since his story, Broke is
(01:28):
former White House counsel to Joe Biden. She's Michelle Obama's
former attorney. So when Diamond Mike, when Diamond Mike wants
a lawyer, he goes first class, right, I mean, with
your money thousand bucks an hour.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Fire up that story, please, Ryan.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
The city of Denver is bracing for a fight in Washington,
and to prepare, the mayor City council approved a two
million dollar contract with an elite law firm, Colvington and Burling, LLP.
Says they will perform services for the city at a
discounted rate of one thousand dollars per hour, including preparation
in advance of the hearing and initial work related to
(02:06):
document and review. March fifth, Mayor Mike Johnston is being
asked to go to DC to defend Denver's immigration policies
by the US House Committee on Government Reform. City policies
that were adopted back in twenty sixteen under then Mayor
Michael Hancock. Council members approved the funding in a block
vote along with other bills last night. The only council
(02:26):
member to comment was Sarah Parity. She spoke about the
possible need to expand support of the Denver Immigrant Legal
Services Fund really.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
For reasons that are at their heart similar to why
we're approving this legal bill for this DC law firm today,
which is that we're going to continue to defend our
entirely legal local policies, not to do the dirty work
of deportation for the federal government, and not to ignore
the overarching international human rights law that says that when
people are fleeing really of bysmal circumstances, they have a
(02:56):
right to claim asylum.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Part of the contract between the law firm and the
city states quote, the parties mutually agree that investigative activity
is likely to continue following this hearing, and that City
Council may be asked to approve war funding beyond the
two million dollars already.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Approvedad question, there wait a second, So they're trying to
peddle this.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
The City's trying to pedal.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
This to us as two million dollars of DC attorney
time to prepare Mike Johnston for this hearing.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
When's this hearing in two years?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I thought it was March fifth. I mean, let me
look at my calendar and do a little math here.
So they think people are stupid enough to accept that
it's two million dollars, which is what two thousand hours
of attorney time between in the next.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Give me a break, right, I mean here, I'll give
Mike Johnston the best advice he can get, and I'll
give it for free right now. Rather than spend two
million dollars of precious Denver taxpayer money, two million dollars
that could go to nine to one one so that
when people call they don't get a recording, save that
(04:09):
two million dollars. Here's the advice. Don't go to the hearing.
You're not under subpoena. The hearing's optional. Why is Mike
Johnston even going to this hearing?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So, you're gonna spend two million dollars at Denver taxpayer
money so that he can go to a hearing he
doesn't have to go to. Now, Don't get me wrong,
I'm really looking forward to it. I had Congressman gave
Evans on he's on the committee or no, he's he's
being allowed to drop into the committee. Congressman Bobert's on
the committee. I can't wait for this questioning. But don't
(04:44):
fall for a second for this idea that they're spending
two million dollars of Denver taxpayer money to prepare him
for this hearing. No, they're spending two million dollars as
a starter because he must believe he is in crimin
old jeopardy. That's why they're spending the money. In my opinion,
I don't know if he committed a crime or not.
(05:07):
I don't know if he's in the course of committing crimes.
And when I talk about that, I'm narrowing this obviously
to immigration law related crimes. I don't have any reason
to believe he's committed any other crimes, and I don't
know whether he's committed these crimes. All I'm saying is
he must be concerned that he may have to be
taking this step spending millions in Denver taxpayer money to
(05:31):
bring in Joe Biden's former attorney to prepare him for
this hearing. And I put that in quotes because I
believe he's really bringing them in to help protect him
against criminal exposure.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So wow, And I know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
What you may be thinking, which would be right, which is, Hey,
you think Mike Johnston cares about two million or five
or ten million of Denver taxpayer money. No, I don't
think he does. But I do think he cares about
these kind of headlines. And I think he cares about
the political fallout of this, because, as I've been saying
for a long time, I absolutely believe he's been running
(06:05):
for governor since before he was running for mayor, while
he was running for mayor, while he's serving for mayor,
So he knows stories like this are not good for him.
So I don't think he goes there. I don't think
he takes two million dollars of Denver taxpayer money to
hire Joe Biden's lawyer to advise him, unless he thinks
(06:26):
he has some real exposure, And we'll find out together
whether he does or not. But Ryan, I think this
is an extraordinarily important story. Yes, and they talk about
I mean in the agreement right that there's more likely
to come, which I think just confirms this money has
very little to do with the hearing and it has
(06:46):
to do with the bigger issue of is he criminally exposed?
Speaker 6 (06:51):
It has to be that, Dan, because you look, you
try to unpack this right as to why would he
need two million dollars of this level of legal preparation
for testimony before Congress? As the story points out, that's voluntary,
it's optional. He was not subpoena to testify a m
I get to that step, but it hasn't yet. So
you have to connect those dots like you just did, Dan, Like, Okay,
(07:14):
what explains this? Why did they have to go to
defcon one here with the legal representation?
Speaker 7 (07:19):
Your explanation is the only one that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, and think about it.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I mean, we talk about the two million bucks because
that's sexy, but we should be talking about the two
thousand hours because lawyers this good, and this is a
very good law firm, and a lawyer this good, you know,
Joe Biden's former White House counsel, Michelle Obama's former lawyer.
Lawyers this good don't need two thousand hours to figure
out whether Mike Johnston has violated the law or not.
(07:46):
They probably already know that. So when you're talking about
two thousand hours, I think it has.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Very little to do with this hearing.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I'm sure they'll do some prep for the hearing, but
prep along the lines of, hey, if you have criminal exposure,
here's what you need to be real careful about in
this hearing.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
But no, I think this is all about all about.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
A concern that he has criminal exposure and expecting expecting
this administration to take action.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
That That's what this signals to me.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Three or three someone three eight two five five text
d An five seven seven three nine. Again, I don't
know if he's committed a crime or not. All I
can say is he must be worried that he has. Yeah,
let's go to Adam and Severance. Here on the Dan
Kaplis show.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Welcome.
Speaker 8 (08:35):
Hey Dan, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I am living the dream, my friend. How about you?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (08:40):
Just the same. I got to say, though, I'm glad
I live in Severance, but still just hearing about this
Mike Johnson thing is just insane. I was looking at
your numbers, and that's eighty three days of straight working
around the clock for that lawyer, and then on top
of that break that down to an eight hour day.
(09:02):
That's two hundred and fifty days worth of work, and
then to the whole safety of Benburg. That place is
a is a absolute death trapping mark. The average salary
for a starting officer is eighty thousand dollars a year.
That pays for twenty five new officers on the streets
(09:23):
making sure people will get their next cut on sixteenth
Street the mall.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, you know, very interesting and thank you for making
the important point about the number of hours for this attorney.
I think the way a great firm quote.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
It seems like we lost Dan there just a moment.
He is remote today and we're warned about this. Ryan
shiling with you. We'll take a quick time out, we'll
come back with Dan. It's a good time for a
break here in the Dan Campus Show.
Speaker 7 (10:05):
And now back to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
The city of Denver is bracing for a fight in Washington,
and to prepare, the mayor City Council approved a two
million dollar contract with an elite law firm, Colvington and Burling, LLP.
Says they will perform services for the city at a
discounted rate of one thousand dollars per hour, including preparation
and advance of the hearing.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Thank you, ran I think this is one of the
most important and revealing stories in a long time in Colorado,
and it is important to people all over the country,
but certainly in our state because what this tells me,
my constitutionally protected opinion, is that this two thousand hours of.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
High powered attorney time.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
According to the Denver Right, the lawyer Mike Johnson hired
with your money if you live in Denver.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
The lawyer they hired is Joe.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Biden's former White House counsel, Dana Remus, who was also
Michelle Obama's lawyer. Now, we got a lot of great lawyers,
a lot of great criminal lawyers, a lot of great
government lawyers in Denver, but he has to go to
Joe Biden's former White House council. What kind of trouble
do you think he's in. I mean, I'm not saying
he's violated any laws. I don't know if he has
(11:14):
or not. But when you go beyond Denver, with all
the political fallout of story like this causes, and you
hire a high powered lawyer like that, you know the
message to people is going to be you think you're
in big trouble. And anybody thinks these two thousand hours
are for this hearing, please think again. I'm sure there
will be hearing prep. But I think this is about
(11:36):
a much bigger concern that Lawless Mike, as I branded
him a long time ago, has, And that's based on
not a conclusion he's committed crimes, but him coming out
and saying that, oh yeah, use Denver police to stop
federal law enforcement at the county line and wanting people
in the streets like Tieneman Square against our own brothers
(11:57):
and sisters, our own federal law enforcement. That's why I
label him lawless Mike. But now that he's spending two
million to start of taxpayer money on a high powered
lawyer for him, maybe he thinks there are other lawlessness
issues out there now. Adam had called just before the breaking,
sorry for that technical glitch, Ryan, Is it snowing down
there yet? Yeah, I just started pretty much because I'm
(12:21):
in my trial prep cabin up the mountains and it's
snowing like a bear up here right now, and so
we had a little technical glitch there. We may have
another one or two before the end of the show,
hopefully not. But Adam, thank you for staying and you
had this good point you were making before the break
you were saying, Hey, this former White House Council, that
would be X number of days of her time.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
My belief, Adam, is.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That there will likely be a very big team of
high powered attorneys working on this, led by that one attorney.
So yeah, you you may have three five lawyers all
working round the clock between now and the hearing try
to prepare Diamond Mike. But then the question is sure why.
(13:04):
I mean, it's a hearing that's optional. He's not subpointed.
A friend of mine, Steve, texted and said, yeah, you know,
he wants the National Spade Stage, National spotlight, and Denver
taxpayers can put the bill to get him prepared. And
I have no doubt he wants that, and he knows
he can manipulate that forum because there's no real chance
to pin him down in that kind of forum.
Speaker 8 (13:26):
Well, and I think you hit the nail on the head.
He thinks there's something else going on there, and the
fact that he's going to go for that kind of
money that says everything I need to know about it
in my personal, humble opinion. But more so, I just
want to point out that he's going and wasting that
kind of the Denver people's money when the streets.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Are so dangerous.
Speaker 8 (13:50):
There there's yeah, rampant homelessness, there's people being murdered on
sixties Street Mall. I won't bring my children down there,
let alone my wife. And here he is dumping millions
of dollars into something that seems frankly frivolous.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Well, Adam, thank you for your call and for your points.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
As I've talked about in many different context on this show,
I think the evidence is overwhelming that Mike Johnston just
doesn't care that much about most people in Denver. He
cares about Mike Johnston. And so I think we've seen
that on display. I mean, one of the most recent examples,
after the horrific spree stabbings on the mall, including the
(14:33):
flight attendant having her throat slit and dying in our street,
he goes down to almost the very spot where those
bodies dropped to essentially declare victory the next night and
talk about how much safer Denver is.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So Mike Johnston, I think, is concerned about Mike Johnston,
and he'll spend as much of your money as he
has to on the very best lawyer he can find,
Joe Biden's former lawyer, to make sure that if he
has criminal exposure, he's protect eight five five. Where's your
five d A two five five text d An five
seven seven three nine.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Hey, let's go to Brian and Arvada. You're on the
Dane Kaplis Show.
Speaker 8 (15:11):
Hey, Dan, how's it going tonight?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I'm living the dream, my friend. How about you?
Speaker 8 (15:16):
Well, I'm gonna come at a different angle. This is
just a last attempt for their You know, we know
there's been laundering money. Okay, everybody in government. Mike Johnson's
doing it. Come on, two million dollars for lawyers. Come on,
he's getting a kickback. It's you know, they're all sucking
at the Trump because they know they know what's going
to dry up pretty soon. It has nothing to do
(15:38):
with he needs protection, this, that, and the other. It's
him taking care of his buddies, and that's what we're
all sick of.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Let me understand the accusation you're making, because I don't
agree with it. Your accusation is that he is paying
this money to the law firm so he can personally
get a kickback of some of that money.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Because I don't believe that.
Speaker 8 (15:58):
There's two million dollar dollars to go. Dan, We got
to think about this logically.
Speaker 9 (16:03):
Okay, we know.
Speaker 8 (16:04):
What they've been doing. I mean we see doeys, you know,
And this is the best argument you could ever have
for having nothing but a consumer tax. We're all getting scammed.
They got a book that's like the Harry Potter series,
that's your tax code, and they expect you to comply
to them. But yet they're supposed to represent us, that
(16:27):
we're supposed to be their boss. A scam just keeps
going and going. Brian's got interrupt as much money as
they can.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Don't mean to be rude.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Got interrupt for one second because you're just one hundred
percent wrong when you say that the play here is
for Johnston to get some of this two million back.
Zero chance of that that there's no corruption here. The
law firm is not funneling money back.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
To Johns Democrat.
Speaker 8 (16:51):
They're Democrat lawyers. They're looking for cash. They know that
he's going to draw up my brother wandering scheme.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Briant, you're so full of crap. No, I put him
on pause for a second. Okay, he is so full
of crap on this, and I enjoy his calls. He
doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. These lawyers.
This law firm has people lined up across the globe
to hire them.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
They don't need Mike Johnston's money.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Mike Johnston needs them, so that's just garbage. Listen, this
is a big story. This really matters. I think it
means Mike Johnston believes he has criminal exposure, whether he
committed a crime or not. Don't go down some stupid
ass rabbit hole like that. What is he thinking? See
(17:35):
this for what it is. Mike Johnston is willing to
spend an awful lot of taxpayer money to protect Mike
Johnston and he thinks he has criminal exposure. Right now,
that's mike constitutionally protected opinion. But what is that nonsense?
We just heard Ryan.
Speaker 6 (17:53):
Well, I mean you pretty much nipped it in the
bud right there. This is not a law firm that's
like better call.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Saul or something. No, no, no, no, no, this.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I I'm sorry, but calls like that infuriate me because listen,
Mike Johnston, he hurts Denver in lots of ways, and
we call him out on lots of bands stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
He does, But don't make up crazy garbage like that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Hey, John Kellner, former DA in a repo and my
love partner, I'm proud to say after the break and
a very important piece, he wrote, you're on the Dan
Kapla Show.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast. I think
I know where I'm gonna go real turning, but nobody knows.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yes, Chris Berman says, we're all day to day they
sort the vote of.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Confidence, saying no Bert Ryan and I were talking during
the break. I have this cabin that I go up
to and hide away in for long stretches.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
When I'm preparing for trial. And I'm up here now
and in one of.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Those phases, so going to come out maybe with a
beard like down to my wat or something.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
But yeah, we're in a driving.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Snowstorm up here, so I don't know how much the
front range is going to get out of this. But hey,
and I hope I wasn't too rough on that last caller,
because you know, it's not like me, and it's not
like me to use bad language. But one of the
great gifts my mom gave me. Anything good about me
comes to my mom and dad. Anything bad, that's all
(19:23):
on me. But man, She gave me this strong sense
of justice and right and wrong. And you know, yeah,
I think Mayor Johnston is a terrible mayor for Denver,
and I think he's done a lot of terrible things.
But when the last caller starts accusing him of financial
corruption total bs allegation just ticks me off. Even if
(19:43):
I don't like the guy he's falsely accusing, it ticks
me off.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
But we'll get back to that whole story. It's a
big one too.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Mike Johnston now spending a couple of million bucks a
taxpayer money for starters on Joe Biden's former lawyer to
prepare him for the upcoming hearing.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
No, I think it's about much more than that. Hey.
In the meantime, really.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Important piece don and published in the gazette over the
weekend by John Kellner, the former DA in the eighteenth
and now very happy to say, John and I practice
law together. He's the managing partner of our firm. But
the piece is really important, I think to you, and
it's something you're not hearing much about, and so I
(20:24):
wanted to see if John had join us and.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Kick that around a little bit. Hey, John, welcome back
to the show.
Speaker 9 (20:31):
Thanks Dan, always a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, everybody back there, Glad. I'm up at the cabin
growing a beard.
Speaker 9 (20:38):
Well, you know how it is when you're away and
everything kind of goes a little crazy. But I'm trying
to hold down the foard for you.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I'm sure. I'm sure you are.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
But I had no idea that what you wrote about
was going on, and it's infuriating. So if you would
tell folks about it and then tell them where they
can find the.
Speaker 9 (20:57):
Piece, Yeah, Well, thanks again for having me on. And
you know, I ended my term as District Attorney a
little over a month ago and then joined your firm
as a managing partner and kind of thought I'd be
blissfully unaware of what was happening at the Capitol because
as the DA, you know, I was hyper focused on
what sort of nonsense might be coming down from under
(21:18):
the Gold Dome. What is the governor going to sign
that's going to make our jobs as prosecutors more difficult,
what's going to make our communities less safe? And I
thought maybe i'd put that behind me, but I just
couldn't resist. So I kind of looked in at the
quarter pole Mark here. You know, we're a quarter of
the way into the legislative session, and I was curious
where do things stand from a public safety perspective, because
(21:41):
as your listeners, I'm sure know they're smart, they're well informed.
You know, we're ranked number three in the country as
the least safe, most dangerous, you know state out there
by the US News and World Report, which is a
crazy thing to have. You know, we've got national gangs
like trender Agua trying to put down roots in our state.
(22:05):
You know, we've got people of stabbing folks on Sixteenth
Street Mall. There's just a lot that's going wrong. So
I figure with Polis always saying that, hey, we want
to be a tuck ten state to state that public
safety has got to be at the forefront of any
sort of legislative agenda. So I look on the the
website starts seeing, you know, one of the many hundreds
(22:25):
of bills that have been introduced so far the Sledge
Safe session, and I got to tell you it's it's
almost worse than you would expect when it comes to
public safety. We've got a bill that was recently introduced.
It's House built twenty five to twelve over six I
wrote about it my piece. This is a bill that
would make it a classified felony for one of these
(22:47):
would be mass murderers. Think Club Q shooting, King Supers massacre,
the Aroar Theater shooting which happened in my judicial district
in the eighteenth Every person that that would be killer,
you know, shot at but missed. We charge them right
now with attempted extreme indifference, first degree murder, and that
(23:11):
adds a significant penalty when they get sentenced, up to
forty eight years for each instance of that. This is
a bill which again makes no sense whatsoever, but reduces
that penalty by about eighty three percent and makes it
something around two to a maximum of eight years.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, it'll be the warning at John, And why would
they do it?
Speaker 9 (23:34):
It makes no sense whatsoever. It literally rewards the worst
of the worst in our society for being bad shots.
And you know, thankfully right that they don't kill all
these people they intend to, but for the sake of deterrence,
and any sane society is going to say we throw
the book at people like that. We lock them up
(23:56):
for pretty much forever, if not for the rest of
their natural lives. Since we don't have a death penalty
in the state of Colorado anymore. But that's just one.
I mean, that's cruising through right now, Dan, We've got
some other things going on where you've got rampant retail
theft in our state. And I'm sure all of your
listeners have seen these videos of people on social media
(24:18):
just loading up something at King Sooper is a cart
going into a store just walking out. I mean, there's
almost no intervention, right, and nobody wants to go viral
for the wrong reasons of trying to apprehend these folks,
and a lot of corporate entities are saying, we don't
want you to intervene, but that's causing the cost of
(24:38):
goods to go up for all of us law abiding citizens. Right.
We flipped the bill for people who do this sort
of rampant shop lifting. So a couple of years ago,
Government Polis signed a law that made it a petty offense,
so basically maximum jail sentence of ten days and most
(24:59):
likely fine as the outcome if you steal three hundred
dollars or under and it's still misdemeanor minds you for
stealing up to two thousand dollars, But we see it
in municipalities like Aurora, dan saying, hey, we've had enough
of this. We think we can do better to protect
our citizens and protect our businesses. So they passed city
(25:21):
ordinances that say, look, if you steal in the city
of Aurora, that's going to be a mandatory minimum jail
sense of three days. If you do it a second time,
you're looking at a mandatory minimum of forty five days.
So we got a new bill out there, brought by
some Democrats in the legislature House built twenty five eleven
forty seven that says, you know what, municipal courts, like
(25:47):
in Aurora and other places across the state cannot have
tougher sentences then they have legislated under the state capital
cannot have situations where they have mandatory penalties, but the
state does not. So Aurora's efforts to deter, you know,
retail theft, to make sure that they don't lose box
(26:10):
stores that hold communities together, groceries, pharmacists like Walgreens, forget
about that. That's going out the window. If this thing passes.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
They're not even trying to hide the pro criminal thing anymore.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
It doesn't make any sense to me because I think
every legislature, legislator gets five bills to sort of buy
right to put forward. And for the life of me,
I just don't understand who is clamoring for some of
these things, because I don't think it's a big group.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Yeah, and it's probably not a Colorado group.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
My guess is it's uber big money on the left
that just wants all this crazy far left stuff. But John,
your piece, I know breaks down. I've read it, breaks
it down in great detail. That's in the gazette. But
folks can find it on our website as well. John
and I practicing law together now, Johnson managing partner of
our firm, and you can find that Dan Capitalist Law,
(27:09):
and it's in the blog post under the about us section.
So Dan Caplis Law about us, go to the blog post.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
John.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I'm glad you wrote the piece because I didn't know
any of that garbage was going on, and people need
to know it if we're going to be able to
stop it.
Speaker 9 (27:24):
Yeah, there's so much going on in the capital that
gets a lot of attention. I know, there's a big fight,
you know, when it comes to some automatic weapons and
gun grabbing bills and things like that, and that's getting
so much of the press. But while that's happening, a
lot of other things that are going to make us
less safe and farther from our actual goal of being
(27:45):
a top ten save the state. That's a flyine of
the radar right now.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well, and let's get you on a bunch to talk
about that. I know that mattered a lot to you.
His da and you were all over that. But let's
keep people up on this and maybe if there's some
hope they can pressure poll listen to some vetos though.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
We'll find out together so that piece you can see it.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Dan caplis Law in the blog post section and also
Denver Gazette. Hey appreciate the time. Stay safe and warm
down there, you ks. Thanks man Cia. That is John Kellner,
and I've been saying for years, long before he obviously
just came to work for us with me. He's not
working for anybody except our clients. John is our managing
(28:28):
partner and he is the future. I look forward to
trying cases with him for the next ten or twenty years.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
But he is the future.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
He is an elite talent and a great guy, and
it's just awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
To be able to go try cases with him.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
When we come back, big story out of Denver Mayor
Mike Johnston spending to start with two million dollars of
taxpayer money on Joe Biden's former attorney. How much trouble
do you think Johnston believes he's in and is he
You're on the Dan Caplis Show.
Speaker 7 (29:03):
And now back to the Dan Kapla Show podcast.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Wow what a day.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
First, we started the show with a courageous woman, Heather McCormick,
who is telling the story on behalf of the family
of this horrific circumstance has described at Columbine where according
to the story, you had a top administrator and others
get together to help declare a student homeless who actually
(29:30):
had a home, and then that student ends up getting
estrange from her parents and from everything I can see,
no fault to the parents, and then moving away with
a teacher who had texted her twenty thousand times according
to the story. So very important story. We'll continue to
follow it. George Brockler joined us on that as well.
(29:52):
And then one of the most important stories in years
I think on the political scene this coming out of
Denver that Denversity Council has approved two million dollars to
hire a DC law firm to advise Mayor Mike Johnston
prior to his appearance before Congress in a few weeks,
two thousand hours of attorney time from top attorneys at
(30:14):
one thousand bucks an hour, and raising the very real
question what kind of trouble does Mayor Johnston think he's in?
Because really, does anybody buy that he's getting two million
dollars worth of advice just on how to testify at
a hearing where any idiot and he's no idiot. He
does a lot of crazy things in my opinion, but
(30:35):
he's no idiot. Any idiot could get through that hearing
unscathed just by filibustering because there's no judge. There's no
judge to order you to answer a question or hold
you in contempt. So he's just going to preen before
the national cameras. And so, so, yeah, what is this
two million dollars and more really for? Because these are
(30:57):
big time lawyers. This is Michelle Obama's formal lawyer, this
is Joe Biden's former White House counsel. So does Mike
Johnston think he's in big trouble? Potentially criminally on this
immigration business.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Well, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
He's taking the downsides of this kind of story unless
he thinks he needs an awful lot of protection. So
I don't know if he's committed any crimes or not
presumed innocent, But this is a lot of taxpayer money
to be spending on DC lawyers. And by the way,
there are a lot of great criminal lawyers in Denver,
a lot of great government lawyers in Denver. So to
(31:35):
go right to Joe Biden's former White House counsel tells me.
The way I take it is he thinks he's potentially
in big trouble.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
New bills go light on criminals and heart on law
abiding citizens. Restricting gun rights SB twenty four three, we
are going the opposite way of safety.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Boy, that is so true. My law partner, John Kellner.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Just joined us, a former DA in the twenty thirty
has a great new piece that details bill's going through
the legislature that will make you less safe and profound ways.
So check that out. You can read his piece either
on the gazette or through our website. Dan Kaplis's Law
at the blog post Dan. When you're called to d
C by the House or Senate. As with the FBI,
(32:18):
it's best to have a DC lawyer as a Colorado resident.
I don't appreciate his use of city funds to cover
his you know what they're Wait a second, when you're
called a DC by the House or Senate.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
No, he was invited. It's optional. He doesn't even have
to go.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
He's going because he knows this will be easy for him.
He will get a lot of national attention. That's what
he craves as he runs for higher office. So he's
going for his own reasons. If he was walking into
a courtroom to be cross examined by me or any
good attorney, yeah, he'd need lawyers, and he'd have to
be very worried because there there's a judge to order
(33:00):
and answer questions, etc. Truly, any idiot could skate through
one of these DC hearings, and that's no reflection on
the good people who'll be questioning him. Gabe Evans will
do a great job within the limits of the process.
You know, so will everybody else who questions him, including
Congressoman Bobert. But it's a very limited process. So no,
(33:24):
my own personal belief is that all of these millions
to advise Mayor Johnston have very little to do with
that hearing. I think it has to do with his
concerns that prosecution may be coming, and his concerns about
whether what he's done in the past and what he's
doing right now may violate federal law. Again, I'm not
(33:46):
saying he's violating federal law or committing any crimes, but
I think he has concerns about criminal exposure. That's what
I personally believe is going on here.
Speaker 8 (33:56):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
It's not Mike Johnston's money, it's taxpayer's money. Johnston and
the city Council are not good stewards of taxpayer money.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't think that's any breaking news.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
There, my friend, Dan, if my calculations are corrects, as
a Texter, two million for testimony prep over the next
eight days would require ten lawyers working twenty four to seven.
I'm with you on that, Texter. I think this money.
I think this money has far more to do with this.
What Johnston is concerned is a coming battle with the
(34:28):
administration over again. The administration has made it clear if
they think somebody is breaking federal law, interfering with efforts
to enforce the immigration laws of this country, they're going
to seek prosecution.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
I don't know whether he has broken federal law. I
just know he's spending a.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Lot of taxpayer money right now to get a lot
of good legal advice. Thank you, Ryan Kelly join us tomorrow, please,
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