MUST-SEE: Jamie Raskin drops BOMB on Jim Jordan

We now have an escalation between. Republicans and one of Donald Trump's. biggest enemies, that is Jack Smith, at. the hands of one of his acolytes, Jim. Jordan, in the Judiciary Committee. I'm. joined now by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Congressman, can you explain what's. happening at the hands of Jim Jordan. against Jack Smith in deference to. Trump? >> Well, we know Trump hates Jack Smith. because he followed the law, and he. followed the facts, and he did his job. So, he's always looking for a way to get. at him. This is what is comical, Brian, because the House Republicans.

have referred Jack Smith to the. Department of Justice for perjury. because they asked him questions, he. answered the questions perfectly. truthfully, but then they wish they'd. asked him other questions, which they. didn't ask him, and he, of course, didn't answer questions they didn't ask. him. And so, the whole thing is. absolutely ludicrous. They will be. laughed out of court. They They claim. that when they asked Jack Smith whether. he had subpoenaed.

the not just the toll records for. telephone calls, which are the records. that all of us have for the numbers we. called, but also the actual content of. the conversations, he said, "No." Because he did not. subpoena them. Um. they did not ask whether he received. them not through a subpoena, but just. directly from the archives because the. president's records are given to the.

archives, and they they are routinely. then turned over for this purpose. So, they were turned over not through a. subpoena, um and, you know, not from the. subpoenas that were issued to any of the. telephone companies, but they were. turned over to. uh Jack Smith by the archives, and the. Republicans just forgot I assume they. forgot or they didn't know or I mean, who knows what happened, but they. did they failed to register the fact.

that. a president's records are turned over to. the archives including emails. And so if. there were emails that went from. Republicans to President Trump were back. and forth, they would be turned over. Now certainly the White House and the. Trump people knew all about it because. they turned them over to the archives. and they were also given to them in the. course of this process. So essentially. the House Republicans are upset that. Jack Smith didn't answer a question they.

never posed to him, which is did you. receive those from the archives or did. you receive them from any other source? He certainly did not lie when they asked. him whether he subpoenaed the actual. conversations. or email conversations or text. conversations that took place between. Republican members and the president. It's not perjury for him to correctly. answer the question that is posed to. him. And so he may be telegenic, but.

he's not telepathic. He can't read the. minds of the questioners in the future. as to what they're going to wish they. had once asked him. >> Well, look, this DOJ is so often just. operating under the principle of they. have a conclusion in search of evidence. And if the House Republicans are going. to give a criminal referral, is there any concern that that's going. to be enough for this DOJ that's looking. for even the thinnest pretense of being. able to say, you know,

he's done something wrong. Let's move. ahead with prosecution. Certainly. they've prosecuted people for less. And. so do you have any concern that this is. all that they'll need, thin though it. may be, to move forward with some. prosecution against Jack Smith? >> Well, remember they got to go to a grand. jury. The grand juries are now routinely. repudiating and rebuffing the. administration. Hundreds of judges. around the country are lambasting. uh the Department of Justice under Todd. Blanche because they're lying in court. routinely. They are disobeying court.

orders and so on. So, this happens all. the time. Just you know, just this week. um. it was uh. the the Department of Justice was forced. to uh withdraw the subpoenas they'd. rendered against New York Times. reporters. uh who had gone out to report about the. illegal $400 million Qatari jet, the. foreign emolument that Donald Trump had. taken. But, you know, Trump doesn't. care. He doesn't mind if they just start.

these indictments or processes and. they'll take it as long as they can go. It could be against James Comey. It. could be against Letitia James. It could. be against. my colleague Jason Crow or Maggie. Goodlander. They don't care. They'll go. as far as they can go, harass people, and then move on. And the federal courts. have now said there is no longer a. so-called presumption of regularity in. the statements of the government. They. don't believe them anymore. It used to. be that government statements were. presumed to be true unless you could.

prove that they were not in some way. Now, they don't presume them to be true. And good for the federal judiciary. because they're far more likely to be. based on a tissue of lies and. misrepresentations. >> Is there no irony in the fact that Jim. Jordan once chaired the subcommittee on. the weaponization of government and is. now directly responsible for. perpetuating this idea of vindictive. prosecutions against the political. opponents of this government? >> Yeah, there there is no little bit of.

irony, but there's also a lot of um. strategic self-exposure, by which I mean. they knew they were going to do this, that they were going to use the. government not just constantly, but. almost exclusively for the purposes of. attacking the designated political foes. of the president. And so, um in, you know, classic authoritarian. uh posture, they laid out the the. critique against the other side um.

as to inoculate themselves for the. onslaught to come. Um and, you know, I. mean, the little think about things like. Hunter Biden was actually prosecuted and. convicted. Can you imagine uh any of the. Trump sons being prosecuted during the. Trump administration? >> No, not in a million. >> anything? And convicted for anything? It. just would never happen. I mean, the. Biden administration did not politicize. the Justice Department and weaponize it. And that is all that Donald Trump is.

doing with the Department of Justice. He's turned the entire thing into an. instrument of his uh vengeance or his. favor. And to prop up his schemes of. self-enrichment, like the $1.8 billion. slush slush fund uh for him to pass out. to his friends and allies and foot. soldiers in his private militia. Um or. to use the government to. uh attack his political opponents. So, yeah, that they injected that phrase. weaponization into the air as much as.

they could in anticipation of what they. were going to do. >> On that point of the $1.776 billion. slush fund, we have some new news on. that. Can you explain what that news is? >> Well, um. all 212. Democrats in the House of. Representatives, our entire caucus, has. signed on to the discharge petition that. would force this to the floor of the. House of Representatives for vote if we. can get six. Republicans to join us in defense of the.

rule of law. Remember, Trump wanted to. create this $1.776. billion political slush fund to hand out. to Proud Boys, oathkeepers, other. convicted January 6th felons who beat up. police officers and smashed them in the. face and destroyed federal property, chanted hang Mike Pence, had a rampage in the capital all for the. purposes of overturning an election or. what they described as stopping the.

steal. So, he would like to pay all these people. It's like who wants to be a mega. millionaire? Step right up, tell us your. story and we'll give you actually 1.25. million looks like it's the going rate. That's the money that they already gave. out of the judgement fund at the. Department of Justice to Michael Flynn, his disgraced former national security. advisor. after Flynn already lost on his charges. in court. So, he went to court to say it. was a malicious prosecution, he lost on.

it and then they settled with him to. give him 1.25 million dollars. They. settled with Carter Page to give him. 1.25 million dollars and it looks like. that's what their ambition is. So, we. got to shut it down because it's not. just the militarization fund, they will. use the judgement fund in the same way. if we don't stop it. We've got to make. sure that no money is to be used for. this purpose and if people. don't understand how sinister and. dangerous it is to allow him to pay off. his private militia army,

maybe people will be convinced by the. fact that it's unconstitutional. It's. right there in the 14th Amendment which. says that no state shall pay or. reimburse anyone for the costs of. insurrection against the union. >> Is there any indication that there's. going to be Republicans who sign on to. this discharge petition? >> Well, it's a tough one. I mean, what we. had going for us. in the Epstein files was that the Trump. administration campaign had been railing. about the Epstein files and they had. been talking about, you know, an.

international child sex. ring and pedophiles and so on. He was. hoisted on his own petard essentially. He did everything he could to stop it. and then when a number of Republican. women hung tough like Nancy Mason, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren. Boebert and they said, "No, we're going. to go through with this." At that point, the whole Republican Party signed up. and Donald Trump then, you know, ran out. to get in front of the parade and say, "Oh, I wasn't trying to stop this. I've. been for this from the beginning." Even.

though then they proceeded to try to. sweep everything under the rug and block. the release of all of the materials. But. any event, they they couldn't really. stop that one. Here, I've had a I had. conversations with four different. Republicans today and a couple of them. have said, "Well, if you can get some. other Republicans on it, then I would. seriously consider joining you. But. right now, there's nothing that Trump. takes more seriously than his control. over federal money and his slush funds.". And remember, it's not also just about.

the slush fund. This was also the. so-called agreement which one federal. judge has described as collusive and. essentially a fraud on the court and. therefore an anticipated fraud on the. country. But it's also about this. self-pardon. That is try neither Trump. nor his family nor his businesses can be. sued in any way civilly for tax fraud or. any other offenses nor can they be.

prosecuted for any offenses committed up. until this point. And this is probably. even more important to them, Brian, than. the political slush fund because after. all, most of that not all of it. They'll. probably keep a couple hundred million. for themselves, but. most of that money is going to be used. for other people. But this fraud. you know, protection against fraud prosecution, this self-immunity self-pardon is. something that goes right to their own. interest. And so a number of the. Republican members said, "This is going.

to be tough for us to sign." On the. other hand, a bunch of Republicans have. spoken out against it forcefully, and. Todd Blache himself said, remember Todd. Blache when questioned about it said, "It's not moving forward. It's moot.". And they said, "Will you put that in. writing?" And he said, "No, I won't.". And then the very next day, Donald Trump. said, "I love the idea. I want to move. forward with it." So, you can see where. they're where they're going with it, but. he did say under heavy questioning over. on the Senate side, he said, "Look, you.

guys could just go ahead and codify it, legislate it." And that's exactly what. we're saying. We're going to legislate. it. We're going to make this happen. So, I think that um there are a number of. Republicans who will be tempted by it. because they know it's the right thing. to do, but they're going to be terrified. of uh going up against Trump here, and. you know how they zero in on people. But, we've got one great thing in our. advantage right now, which is the. election that's coming up. And so, we. need people all over the country to be. demanding.

that their representative attach their. name to the discharge petition so we can. cement into law a block against either. the slush fund for nearly $1.8 billion. or the self-pardon applying not just to. Donald Trump, but all members of his. family and all businesses on any charges. that they have nothing to do with any of. this stuff. The you know, they are all being given. um a preemptive pardon against any. prosecutions that could relate to things. they've already done.

>> I presume if there's not already a. lawsuit, there's going to be a lawsuit. against both the self-pardon and the. $1.8 billion slush fund. So, is this. kind of a belt and suspenders approach. where, you know, you're attacking this. thing legislatively while also. expecting, anticipating there to be a. case against this in the courts? >> Well, there are two cases that are. presently uh against it. And uh Judge. Williams in Florida has said that she. rejects the so-called settlement and.

that the fact that they brought the case. in the first place appears to be a fraud. on the court because. >> that's when Todd Blanche himself was. referred to bar council. >> Yes, exactly. Uh, all the lawyers have been referred. to bar council under rule 11, which is. sanctions for dishonesty or other. um departures from the rules of. professional responsibility. But she. said, "Nobody ever had any intention of. bringing this case. The whole thing was. a setup in basically Trump versus. Trump." And you know who wins that?

Trump does, and the public loses. And. the idea was Trump sues the government. for $10 billion. The Department of Justice does not. defend the case. They defended the exact. same case against lots of other. plaintiffs who were saying they wanted. to get paid by the IRS, too. And the. Department of Justice brought a very. aggressive defense saying the statute of. limitations has run, which it certainly. has run in Donald Trump's case. And uh. they said, "You can't get liability.

because of the actions of a third-party. contractor." And that guy's already been. sent to jail for leaking thousands and. thousands of people's IRS information. But Trump says, "No, I'm going to sue. for $10 billion." Then Todd Blanche and. the DOJ don't defend it. They don't. write the exact same brief that they. filed in all these other cases. They sit. down and then they negotiate. uh $1.8 billion. uh to Donald Trump uh. without the showing of any damages at. all. Um after all, Trump said he was going to.

release all of his taxes, like all the. other presidents had done and so on. But. any event, he get $1.8 billion, and then they say, "We're going to give. it to, you know, to the January 6 people. and other people who've been the victims. of weaponization, and we're not going to. use the courts to do it. We're going to. set up uh five people appointed by. Blanche and Trump within the. administration who can be fired at any. time by them if Trump doesn't like what. they're doing and they will decide where. the money goes. That's what due process.

looks like in America now. That's what. justice looks like in America now. We've. got to shut that down, but it's remember. it's not just the weaponization fund cuz. they've already taken millions of. dollars out of the judgement fund to do. exactly what they want to do with all. these other people. They did it. with the Carter Page and they did it. with Michael Flynn. They just want to. use the taxpayers money to pay off their. friends. >> Yeah, well I'm I'm sure they're going to. be completely understanding if this is. the precedent they establish and the. next Democratic administration wants to.

pay off billions of dollars to their. political opponents. I'm sure that we'll. see not a single word of pushback from. Fox News and these Republicans who are. right now conspicuously silent in the. face of Trump doing it. With that said. >> Well, but look they they know that the. Democrats. have respect for the rule of law and the. Constitution. They understand that and that's what. authoritarians do. They abuse the good. faith and the trust that the rest of the. society operates on. They try to get. away with everything they can which is. why we've got to be out there every day.

fighting this corruption, this malice, this authoritarianism and I thank you. for what you're doing always to get the. word out about each of these schemes and. scams against the American people. >> Congressman, we'll leave it there. Thanks so much for taking the time. >> You bet. >> [music].