Trump & FIFA face new LEGAL CONSEQUENCES

I'm joined now by Congressman Jamie. Raskin. Congressman, you have some. interesting news here as it relates to. something that the entire world watched. and got pretty pissed off about, which. is Donald Trump's decision to interfere. in this latest FIFA World Cup match. So, can you explain what this news is? >> Well, the problem goes a lot deeper than. that, Brian. Um the Department of. Justice itself uncovered a sprawling, decades-long. pattern of corruption at FIFA where they. identified.

uh at least 30 people from 20 different. countries involved in soccer who spread. around $200 million worth of bribes and. payoffs and kickbacks in order to get. extremely valuable and lucrative uh TV. rights in their own countries. Um but. all of it was a payola system. These. people were convicted uh in criminal. court and DOJ uh had uh secured.

convictions of several of them. And then. after like a. very cozy relationship developed between. FIFA and President Trump and the Trump. administration, those charges were. dropped. Those prosecutions were dropped. even though the criminal convictions had. already been obtained in Federal. District Court and upheld in the Second. Circuit Court of Appeals. And these are. convictions for uh racketeering, wire. fraud, and all of these, you know, related corruption offenses. But you'll.

recall that they they fabricated a new. FIFA Peace Prize, which uh they gave to. Donald Trump. And then they uh rented. space at the Trump Tower for the you. know, 40. 45-day period around the World Cup, but. they paid for um apparently the suite. for an entire year. And they haven't. revealed how much, but um it's been. estimated by.

uh various reporters that that could. have been as much as $600,000. So, there's just a whole series of. relationships like that, and it's like. everything else we're seeing with the. Trump administration. It's just a series. of quid pro quos adding up to. a huge unprecedented swamp in. Washington. >> You know, I feel like we are in a. position where all of this stuff has. been so normalized by virtue of just how. prevalent it is in this administration.

Can you talk about if we were back on. Earth 1, what what this would look like in terms. of in terms of DOJ enforcement? >> Well, DOJ had brought these prosecutions. and obviously saw this as very serious. corruption when you've got. people from all over the world bribing. FIFA in order to obtain these lucrative. TV contracts and rights for. for their country, but instead,

you know, the prosecutions are dropped. after the convictions are obtained, and everything's extremely cozy between. FIFA and its president and uh our. president, uh Donald Trump. And you're. right, it's been normalized, and so it's. going to be a contest between them. working to normalize quid pro quo. corruption, and then each American. citizen's sense of what is normal for. us, what really is morality, what is the.

rule of law. And that's the struggle. right now because, you know, there's. such a barrage of corruption and. scandals that a lot of people are. getting worn down by it, but we've only. got 99 days to go before the November. elections, and we think it's important. to be blowing the whistle on every one. of these episodes of corruption, bribery, and so on. >> So, obviously, FIFA has a vested. interest in doing whatever it can do to. curry favor with the DOJ so that they.

can do exactly what they did do, which. is to abandon. these these prosecutions. What does it. say that it is this easy for an entity. like FIFA to figure out how to game. Donald Trump? I mean, the FIFA Peace. Prize? I mean, it's it's it's a joke on. one hand, but on the other hand, this is. an actual tool where the consequences. were in part that a lot of criminals. were able to walk free because that's. all it took for FIFA to curry favor with.

a guy who was just so desperate to to. have, you know, his his his ego stroked. >> You know, it's not just about the past, it's also about the future and the. present because um the you know, anybody. who tried to get tickets or paid for. tickets to go to the World Cup found out. what a racket it was. I mean, that the. tickets were supposed to top out at. something like $1,500 or $1,600, and a lot of them were going for up to. $30,000, $33,000.

some of them, and so. the Department of Justice should be. looking out for antitrust violations and. uh consumer rip-offs and predatory. pricing, but is instead uh just the best. buds with this private entity. And, you. know, everybody well, not everybody, but. most people who love soccer, it is the. beautiful game. It really is a. remarkable, beautiful game, and they've. just drenched it in all of the ugliness. and sortedness of this corruption.

>> Does it surprise you that an institution. as notorious for engaging in corruption. like FIFA would find a kindred spirit in. the Trump administration? >> No, I mean, look. The uh President Trump. called them up to get Follorunso's red. card overturned. The President of the. United States interfering in an internal. disciplinary process within the soccer. game. And you know, in in the same way. that the Knicks fans knew that they were. going to lose that game where Donald. Trump showed up, you know, all of the.

USA soccer fans knew it was over once. Donald Trump decided to put his. fingerprints on the enterprise. Nobody. needs the President of the United States. interfering in American sports in, you. know, his ham-fisted way, like a. sledgehammer. We know he's good at one. thing, which is getting as much money. as possible out of the government, out. of the taxpayers, and you know, in. various rotten business deals from all. over the world, whether we're talking.

about Saudi Arabia or Qatar or China, you name it. >> I have to ask, on the heels of this line. of questioning, Congressman, is the Trump curse real? And I ask this in the aftermath of him. interfering with with Balogun's red. card, in the aftermath of going to. Madison Square Garden, snapping the. Knicks win streak. And there is a long. history of him going to other games. He. went in into a Josh Harris, who's the. Commanders owner, into his box on a day. that the Lions were were facing off.

against the Commanders. And the Lions. ended up beating the Commanders 44 to. 22. I mean, there are there is a lot of. instances of that. So So the question. posed to you is is the Trump curse real? >> Well, um. you you you pose a tough question. You. you challenge my rationalism here. because it certainly feels right, you. know. My favorite story about. superstition. is about the physicist Niels Bohr. And.

some people were over to his house for. dinner, and on the way out, a woman. spotted a horseshoe above the doorway, and she said, "Niels Bohr, here you are, the greatest physicist middle century, and you've got a horseshoe above your. door. I never took you to be the. superstitious type. And he said, "Well, no, I'm not superstitious. They say it. works whether or not you believe in it.". So, I I think there are enough people, enough sports fans and sports owners. around the country who don't want Donald. Trump coming anywhere near their teams.

or their games. to suggest there might be something. there. And you know, we we can see what's. happened to our country since he's been. president, and that's in the realm of. actual public policy. I mean, ruinous, illegal, unconstitutional wars like the. catastrophe in Iran with the closure of. the Strait of Hormuz, and. you know, so many lost servicemen and. women from the American armed forces. So. many people. have died in Iran. The ruinous, illegal,

unconstitutional tariffs he imposed to. launch a trade war against the rest of. the world. And you know, all of the. terrible effects these things have had. on our economy. Um you know, it really. is time for us to bring on some new. leadership in America. >> To that end, you know, it's it's. increasingly difficult for Trump and. Republicans to run any legitimate. campaign on any platform because their. platform is so aggressively unpopular. I. mean, this is what it looks like with.

full, unbridled, unapologetic Republican. governance. There are There are no. Democrats in control of the House, the. Senate, or the White House, and yet. we're in a situation where costs have. gone higher, not down. Where healthcare. is less accessible, not more. Where our. food assistance has been gutted. Where. gas prices are rising. Where inflation. is up since Joe Biden left office. Where. we're engaged in a brand new foreign war. in the Middle East. And the Epstein. files haven't been released. So, what do. you run on when that is your platform? Which raises the obvious point that. Republicans, and led by Trump, are.

trying to rig the rules of the game in. their favor by trying to pass the Save. America Act. So, in your estimation, is. there any realistic possibility that. the Save America Act can advance, um, and is there an appetite from. Republicans to do so? >> Well, first of all, the the elections. are not that far away. They're just over. 3 months away, and, um, you know, everybody at least used to. believe in Congress, in the states, and.

in the courts, you would never make. fundamental changes in an in election. system 3 months before the election. start. I mean, early voting is not far. away in some of the states, maybe, you. know, 2 months away, 7 or 8 weeks, something like that. Um, but, um, it does go to show your. original point, Brian, which is they've. got nothing else to run on. I mean, foreign policy is a complete debacle, economic policy is a debacle, inflation. [clears throat] is sky-high, um,

gasoline is going for more than $100 a. barrel. He's gotten us into this. escalation trap, uh, with the Iranian. government, which is playing him like a. fiddle, um, and they've got no program for the. country. Where's their plan to give. everybody healthcare that they promised. 10 years ago? Where's their plan to. bring down inflation? I mean, there's. literally nothing there. They're. spending, you know, their time on, uh, the reflecting pool, which we called the. Strait of Warm Ooze,

uh, and what color is it going to be. tomorrow? It's an algae farm, um, and they're they're spending their. time on, you know, billion-dollar golden. ballrooms. You know, we we've been out. campaigning on the Eastern Shore, which. is like probably the reddest part of. Maryland. Um, over the weekend, we had more than. 100 Democracy Summer Fellows with us out. there, and not only were people so. excited to see the Democracy Summer. Fellows, and and, you know, people who. are not registered to vote are getting. registered to vote, people who didn't. know that, uh, Andy Harris, the head of.

the Freedom Caucus from the first. district, has an opponent and he's got a. great opponent in Dan Schwartz, whose. campaign is surging now. But we didn't. see any Republicans anywhere. We saw no. red hats, no MAGA hats anywhere and I'm. getting the same reports from Democracy. Summer people all over America that. they're just not seeing Republicans. anywhere. Now, the good news is. you know, his support is collapsing. It's just melting away. On the other.

hand, they don't seem that upset about. it, which suggests he is going to be. trying to do things like move the Save. Act and who knows what other kinds of. ambushes against the electoral process. and so that's what we have to be. vigilant and steadfast in making sure. we're protecting the election easy even. [clears throat] as we're going out to. mobilize a landslide, but I don't think. the Save Act can get through the Senate. I don't think there's any way. >> Last question here on that. Is there a. world where. the parliamentarian would allow the Save. America Act to pass through.

reconciliation so that it only requires. a simple majority to pass? >> I mean it's clearly policy making, so. there's no way it should be added in the. budget process. at this point, but we never say never. and we're being as vigilant as possible. to try to stop these things. I mean, because I'm superstitious, I will never. say that could not happen, you know, people say, "Well, what if Donald Trump. takes over the elections?" And I say, "Well, look, there's no role for the. president to do that in the.

Constitution. The president simply has. no functional role in the administration. of elections at all and by design, he's. off to the side. He's got nothing to do. with it. It's up to the states and. Congress can vote to regulate it, but. I would never say, "No, he would never. try and do that." So, we're we're just. going to have to stay vigilant to every. one of their antics and ambushes against. the election process. >> Well, I appreciate as always you. speaking out on this stuff and uh for. taking the time tonight. >> Great to see you, Brian.

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