Much. Much. Theres a lot going on tonight. Weve got another Immunity Claim from donald trump. A key witness in the maralago documents case is now speaking out on camera. All the while the general election is full steam ahead. Just another normal monday in 2024. Luckily for us, congressman adam schiff is standing by right here in the studio and dan goldman is going to join us later on. I want to start tonight with a bit of a riddle for all of you. A true social post about jimmy kimmel meeting with gary and autocrat Victor Ormonde in the last ditch effort to delay the start of his terminal child. Tell us about donald trump. These seem like examples of unhinged and strange behavior. It is. Its also the actions of someone attempting to project strength in order to cover up weakness. All the actions of a wannabe dictator. Lets start with the news from earlier today. Donald trump is trying to delay the start of his criminal trial in new york until after the Supreme Court rules on the scope of president ial immunity. Remember that this trial he is trying to delay about the Hush Money Payments made during the 2016 president ial campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels to interfere in the election is supposed to start just two weeks from today. It is around the corner. He is basically saying that just because he was once president , he has been immune from anything hes ever done in his life. And of course, he has tried this tactic in essentially every case against him. Its one of his favorites including a Defamation Suit that he recently lost to e. Jean carroll. With a loss under his belt, he is resorting to the same tactic that got him in trouble in the first place. He is attacking e. Jean carroll and trying to create a bit of an alternate reality to cast doubt on the jurys findings. Over the weekend and once again this morning, he insulted her and called her accusations falls. So he is perpetuating propaganda about his perceived enemies. Something, by the way, you dont do from a position of strength and you dont do if the facts are on your side. But given the people that he idolizes, none of this should come as a surprise. Remember on friday just three days ago, he hosted Hungarian Prime MinisterVictor Ormonde at maralago and gave this assessment of the authority and authoritarian leader. Week kept in touch. Nobody thats smarter or better than viktor orban. Hes a great guy. And on controversial figure because he says this is the way its going to be and thats the end of it, right . He can say this is how its going to be and people just do it. Isnt that great . Not our democracy works. But that aside, the guy trump is praising praising there is the same person who dismantled democracy in hungary which is not held a free and Fair Elections in 2010. A guy who created his own court system by ruining the independence of the judiciary. Crackdown on Freedom Of The Press openly admitting that reshaping the media helps him maintain his power. Left no space for dissent or challenge. Thats how dictators take control. So its easy to appear dominant when you break the system in your favor. He idolizes authoritarians who he perceives is all powerful because he creates the conditions necessary to maintain that power. Thats how it works. Here is the thing. They are not tough, they are desperate, they are paranoid and they are insecure. They are, in fact, we can so is donald trump. We see that with his claims of immunity, with his attacks on e. Jean carroll and with something as petty as an attack on jimmy kimmel during the oscars. Does anyone think attacking the latenight house while watching an awards show is a sign that someone is super secure . At the end of the day, the point of all this is not to psychoanalyze donald trump. There is too much to get to in the show. Its not really about his mental state. Its about understanding how his own weakness and desperation to hold onto power would impact how he would behave if he is sitting in the white house again a year from now. Fortunately, the perfect person to talk about all of that joins me now. Democratic congressman adam schiff. Last week he advanced to a november runoff in the race for u. S. Senate. Congratulations on your victory in the primary race. I know you still have a general election ahead but there is so much to get to. I wanted to start here with the Immunity Claim. Because we have seen this playbook before many times. Weve seen this movie before. But this trial is supposed to start in two weeks. Is it possible it could be delayed beyond that simply because of his Immunity Claim here . It is possible and this has been his thing from the beginning. Delay, delay, delay in the hopes that justice delayed can be justice denied. The whole argument that as president your immune somehow that even if you try to overcome the election, the ultimate check on president ial power, the election, that somehow you are immune which would be an open invitation to any president in the future to do the same. That claim is going to fall even with the Supreme Court. What he is hoping his for a delay. Its even more absurd in the case of this new york prosecution because one of the requirements of even making this claim is that the acts have to be official in nature. What kind of an office was he holding a freighting Hush Money Payments to a star was worth the job description. So absurd. But this is work for him. We got the Deutsche Bank records. He delayed that for years. Efforts to get the County Firm Records of his. He strung it out for years and he is hoping to bring this out past the president ial campaign. Is a lot of money that he owes and judgments that have already been made. In the opening, he continues to attack e. Jean carroll. Lets look at your response to that. A person that i never met. I have no idea who she is except one thing. I got sued. From that point on i said wow, thats crazy. I got charged. I was given a false accusation and had to post a 91 million bond on a false accusation. I mean, he had selfcontrol for like a second there. Do you hear that as meeting the bar of defaming and do you think if you are Robbie Kaplan you should act on that . Certainly could. A jury could certainly conclude he is at it again. And whats more, the fact that he keeps having these judgments against them is just further evidence that he knows what he is doing. He has defamed someone. It cumulatively adds to the proof against him but it also shows both that you know, youve got to be either stupid or crazy to keep doing the same thing. Millions, but it also shows no matter what instructed by his lawyers or anyone else, he just cant control himself. You dont want someone in the oval office was no impulse control, not when they have their finger on the button in addition to many other things. One of the things thats concerning to me and youve spoken a lot in the past about where the money is coming from and how we should be watching that is you know, you just made one payment upon payment. In one of these cases. He is the whole owes a whole lot more money in the civil fraud case. We dont know who cosigned. If anyone present. There are not a lot of let a lot of limitations on who can pay for this. How concerned are you about that with somebody having leverage over somebody who might be sitting in the oval office . Am very concerned about it. I think all americans should be concerned that someone could potentially have the leverage to the tune of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars over the president of the United States. Even more broadly, what we see donald trump, whether it was his efforts to build moscow trump tower, his lies to the American People about it or his soninlaw dealing with the gulf nations. This is someone who will use the oval office if he ever gets the chance is essentially a cash cow. If we think that the enrichments and the stays at trump hotel and all the rest of that were troubling and violative of the constitution and conflicts of interest, thats childs play considering what he may do if he is at risk of losing everything, which he is right now. He is at risk of losing everything. This is someone always motivated by greed. And the fact that whether it is russia or the goal for other nations, that he could be so desperate to recoup his money that he would be willing to do anything. Sell out the country. That should be of great concern to us. I understand that they could pay or help them pay for Bond Payments where he owes money and these judgments of already been made. They could pass the prologue to get the efforts to find out who may be signing these are guaranteeing these could take years. He spent a lot of time in the National Security space. Its worth restating how bizarre it is that the wiki essentially secure the nomination he decided to meet with Prime Minister or bond. Today, he said that trump will not give a penny to ukraine. Which is going further than trump has. What do you make of the fact that we are getting more from the leader of hungary them trump on what his plans are and does that confirm what you already thought or make you more concerned . You know, both. It confirms the worst fears that we have about trump. Here is someone who insecure or bond is kind of a proxy Enabler Stooge of vladimir putin. On the other hand, has dismantled his own democracy. These are birds of a feather. Exactly what trump wants to do and you are precisely right. This does not show his strength. He emulates these dictators. It shows his weakness. He wants to be them because he lacks power. He is a weak figure. And he emulates these strongmen. He aspires to be like them. He has disdain for his democratic allies. No wonder nato is terrified. Here is the good news in all of this. Nato is enlarging and growing and becoming stronger. Notwithstanding what trump is threatening. Nato is growing and thank god it is. President joe biden recognizes the value of nato and how it has kept our nation safe. Its going to be in many respects a very clear contrast between these two candidates for president. In no area more than National Security does joe biden shine in supporting this international rulesbased order which has kept our country safe and in no other way does donald trump so endanger us and when it comes to nato and National Security. At such an interesting place to Pay Attention to. We share a love of National Security issues. There was another report. A lot of reporting over the last 24 hours. Former Chief Of Staff john kelly said this to cnn. My theory on why he likes the dictators so much as that is who he is. Every incumbent president is shocked that they have so little power in congress which is a good thing. Its external one. But in this case, he was shocked that he did not have dictatorial powers. To send u. S. Forces places or move money around in the budget. He looked at putin and that nutcase in north korea as people who are like them in terms of being a tough guy which sort of confirms he was his Chief Of Staff, what we all think. What you make of those comments from john kelly . It kind of harkens back to trump saying that he can do whatever he wants. He has no interest in our institutions, our democracy. All he wants is power and the tragedy is that what made him possible the first term and what makes him still viable is that so many people i serve with on the republican side of the aisle also as it turns out, all they care about is power, too. And notwithstanding that they think he is a danger, unethical, moral. They will line up behind him. They lined up behind him before. Mitch mcconnell said basically there were other remedies. Like prosecution lined up again. All it is is about power. This is what has our democracy hanging by a thread. Its so sad to watch. I hope you will stick around for one more block. We have a 62nd break and we will be right back after that. S s side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract, or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. A rare, lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. Farxiga starting a business is never easy, but starting it eight months pregnant. Thats a different story. With the chase ink card, we got up and running in no time. Earn unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase with the chase ink business unlimited card. Make more of whats yours. We are back with democratic congressman adam schiff. Lots more to get to. Tons of things that were out in the news today. There is also reporting on the New York Times that a newly released transcript of an interview with the secret Service Agent who drove trumps vehicle on january 6th. The testimony makes trumps intentions clear, the driver says that trump never longed for the steering wheel. Ive read the parts of your report that you all put out. You make clear that there are lots of people who testified. What you are reporting on is what his intentions were. Some of your republican colleagues are suggesting that this disputes Cassidy Hutchinsons testimony. What you make of that . Here is the thing that i think that is undisputed. Trump wanted to go to the capital while this insurrection was going on. Well people marched, he wanted to go and be there with him them. And he was irate about not being able to go. There is some debate about how irate he was. Did he lunge for the wheel or did he just act a rate or Cassidy Hutchinsons testimony is what she was told by others. It was secondhand, she said. The question is if there is a conflict with what she was told, why was the person who told her this were they being truthful or untruthful . That is the question. It goes to the credibility of this other witness than it does cassidy hutchinson. The intention is the thing that should be alarming. The intention of the president of the United States. I wanted to ask about intel briefings. You know what is in these documents and how important it is. I know you said they should be dumbed down. I think they were when he was president if i remember correctly. But he did not get them in 2021. There was a decision not to give them to him if i am recalling correctly in the same capacity. Couldnt they do that now . Didnt they do that now . You know, weve never had a situation where the candidate for president is also under indictment for their negligent handling or worse, obstruction of an investigation and Classified Information. There is this tradition. My guess is what they will do is they will give him everything, but they will make sure that nothing in that briefing would be a problem in terms of sources and methods. They will have to assume anything they tell him, he will shoot off his mouth about and when they shoot it off, it might be to the russian ambassador, and anyone else walking down the street, may show photos on his phone or who knows what. They know his track record. They will be very careful. The problem is that our allies and other sources, if they think what they give us may be shared with him, then theyre not going to give us information. Of course. If you are our allies, you dont want to go to him at all. Wouldnt you want President Biden to just say im sorry, you cant get it. Your under. The administration will be careful and they will have to continue reassuring our allies. Theyre worried anyways because there is the risk that trump could be successful. Whatever theyre sure now whether its given during the briefing or not, he might have access to. That damage is already done. The only way our allies will have comfort is when he is finally defeated again and the Republican Party, not willing to part company with him because he is a liar, unethical, immoral and the rest of that. Not even willing to part company if he is a convicted felon. They keep losing with donald trump. They need to move on. Only when the Republican Party does move on, i think, will our allies finally have confidence that america is really back. I could talk about National Security or an hour but i want to ask you about politics. He won a primary against two formidable candidates. What did you learn or what do you think people should learn about that race or what message resonated. People think of california as a very loose state, but its also very diverse. A lot of different people and different viewpoints. You know, its also very pragmatic, like the country. Theyre looking for people that can get things done. They do want a senator who will take on big fights when its necessary to protect our democracy, our rights and our freedoms. Reproductive freedom among others. They also want someone who will get things done and deliver. I was fascinated by joe biden said that he released a week ago. He mentioned two points in the ad. He gets things done and he will protect our rights and freedoms. This is exactly what he ran on. Its a good message for democrats around the country. We will protect our rights and freedoms but we are also going to get things done. Absolutely, people care about that. Its on the mind of lots of americans. Things for coming to the studio. I really appreciate it. Congressman dan goldman joins me with his reaction to a key witness in the maralago documents case speaking out today on camera. Then i will talk to the journalist whose tiktok about senator katie brett went viral. Her response to the State Of The Union. We will be right back after the break.