0:00

On the StoryCorps podcast, we believe a lot of

0:02

the most interesting stories are right there in front

0:04

of us, waiting to be told. So

0:07

every week we share a candid,

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unscripted conversation between two people around

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the themes of love, los, family

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and friendship. These. Are experts?

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Are celebrities? Just everyday? People like

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you in me. With. The

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Now to the Story Corps Podcast from Npr. Hi,

0:22

this is Elizabeth from Dayton, Ohio. I'm about

0:25

to start driving three hours to get to

0:27

my book club in Akron, where I used

0:29

to live because a really good book club

0:31

just can't be left behind. This

0:33

podcast was recorded at 1253 PM on Friday, January 26th.

0:38

Things may have changed by the time you hear it. Okay,

0:41

here's the show. Oh,

0:46

I love my book club. 27

0:48

years in county. No way. That's amazing. I

0:50

would like to know what book she's reading now for

0:52

a book club that's so good. I want to know

0:54

the book. Write in and tell us, please. Please. Hey,

0:57

it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis.

0:59

I cover politics. I'm Stephen Fowler. I

1:01

cover the election. And I'm Kerry

1:03

Johnson. I cover the Justice Department. And Stephen,

1:06

thanks for being here. It's pretty obvious you

1:08

are in a busy place that is actually

1:10

LaGuardia Airport, and we are grateful that you're

1:12

making time for the podcast today, because today

1:15

on the podcast, we're talking about some of

1:17

the developments or lack thereof in the criminal

1:19

cases against former President Donald Trump. Stephen,

1:22

can you just do a quick refresher on

1:24

what the charges are against Donald Trump

1:26

in the Georgia case? Absolutely. Donald Trump

1:29

and 18 others were

1:31

charged with violating Georgia's Racketeering Act,

1:33

typically used to go after the

1:35

mob or gangs. But

1:37

in this case, going after Trump

1:39

for trying to overturn Georgia's 2020

1:42

election results, violating a

1:44

number of state laws about influencing

1:46

witnesses, making false statements, so on

1:48

and so forth, that there was

1:50

this pressure campaign in public and

1:52

private to undo the election results

1:54

that ultimately the prosecutors say broke the

1:57

law. And Kerry, there is now a

1:59

side legal fight. playing out involving one

2:01

of those defendants, Republican operative Michael Roman

2:03

and Fulton County District Attorney Fawny Willis,

2:05

as well as the case's lead prosecutor,

2:08

Nathan Wade. Can you explain what's happening

2:10

there? This is a big

2:12

mess, Sue, and a huge distraction. Michael

2:14

Roman, one of the defendants in this

2:17

case, has filed court papers accusing the

2:19

District Attorney Willis of having an improper

2:21

personal relationship with a special prosecutor she

2:24

hired, Nathan Wade. We know Wade has

2:26

received something like $650,000 so far. And

2:28

while there's been no concrete proof of this

2:31

improper personal

2:35

relationship, there has been some evidence produced

2:37

that they may have traveled together on

2:39

at least a couple of occasions. And

2:43

Roman is trying to use these

2:45

allegations to disqualify Wade, Willis, and

2:47

her entire office from the case

2:49

and try to get these charges

2:52

dismissed altogether. Now, against him or

2:54

against the whole case entirely? Against

2:57

him. But the news of this

2:59

week is that Trump's lawyer in Georgia

3:01

has now joined this motion to disqualify

3:03

Wade and the District Attorney's

3:05

office. He says not only does he

3:08

think there may have been an improper

3:10

personal relationship between these two, but

3:12

also that the District Attorney in

3:14

an address at a church in

3:16

Georgia over Martin Luther King weekend

3:18

may have improperly injected race into

3:21

this case and racial bias in

3:23

a way that could prejudice the

3:25

jury. So this is a brewing

3:27

issue. It's gotten bigger, not smaller

3:30

over time. And there's going to be a hearing

3:32

on this matter with the judge in the case.

3:34

Yeah, in the next couple of weeks there's supposed

3:36

to be a hearing in Georgia. We think that

3:38

will be televised. And Willis is due to respond

3:40

in court papers by next week. Let

3:42

me ask a legal 101 question because

3:44

I could understand prosecutorial misconduct or something

3:47

that might throw out a case if

3:49

it was, say, the judge and the

3:51

prosecutor or the defense and the judge.

3:53

But these are two attorneys who are

3:55

on the same side of a legal

3:57

argument. So what is the

3:59

misconduct? Yeah, let's untangle this.

4:01

There's allegations of legal impropriety here.

4:04

There's an issue of public opinion,

4:06

and then there may be an

4:08

ethics issue too, right? With

4:11

respect to whether Willis would need

4:13

to disqualify herself from this case,

4:15

lawyers seem to disagree about that.

4:17

But the allegation from one of

4:20

the defendants, Michael Roman, is that

4:22

Willis and Wade have an interest

4:24

in prolonging this case because he's

4:27

making money off of it and she's

4:29

getting trips with taxpayer dollars. Taxpayer

4:31

dollars. And so that is why,

4:33

and Stephen can jump in

4:35

here because he knows these parties, that

4:38

is why some state officials in Georgia,

4:40

some Republican state officials in Georgia are

4:42

now launching investigations of Willis with respect

4:44

to the use of public funds. Stephen,

4:47

how is this all playing out in Georgia? In

4:49

Georgia, Republicans for a long time

4:51

have been trying to disqualify Willis,

4:53

discredit the case, say that there

4:55

was nothing wrong here. And

4:57

this is just kind of the latest example

4:59

of what's being used. Earlier

5:02

today, the state Senate approved

5:04

a new committee on investigations

5:07

that will investigate Bonnie Willis. It

5:09

has subpoena power. It's the latest

5:11

thing they can do, but it

5:14

can't really do anything other than

5:16

hold hearings, subpoena people and write

5:19

reports and ultimately kind of muddy the

5:21

waters and embarrass Bonnie Willis. Now

5:23

in court, one thing

5:25

we haven't heard from is Bonnie

5:27

Willis and Nathan Wade, both the

5:30

people involved in this party. There's

5:32

a deadline to respond by February

5:34

2nd, but that silence has made

5:36

this huge space that has been

5:38

filled by innuendo speculation and arguments

5:40

from people across the entire

5:42

spectrum that there's chaos in this case. They

5:45

need to step down or be removed from

5:47

the case and that things should go

5:49

in a different direction. Let me

5:51

ask another legal question. Can a judge in

5:53

a case like this order new prosecutors? Is

5:56

that even an option? Like, can you order

5:58

a recusal? Yes. happened.

6:00

It's happened with respect to this pool

6:02

of potential defendants. Willis has now been

6:04

disqualified from investigating the state's now lieutenant

6:06

governor because she participated in a political

6:08

event for his opponent, his political opponent.

6:10

And a judge already ruled that was

6:12

really a bad look and a conflict

6:14

and she could not be allowed to

6:16

participate in any prosecution. Stephen, it makes

6:18

sense to me that Donald Trump and

6:20

his allies would be calling for Fannie

6:22

Willis to be removed from the case

6:24

or the case thrown out, but is

6:27

there any criticism coming from inside the

6:29

house from her political allies or people

6:31

in the legal community that are otherwise aligned

6:33

with her to say like, hey, this doesn't

6:35

look good. And this is a case that

6:37

has tremendous political and

6:40

legal consequences, not just for Donald Trump, but for

6:42

this country. This is much bigger than Fannie Willis.

6:45

Yeah, absolutely. I think what I mentioned earlier about

6:47

there being a lot of silence and things filling

6:49

the void is you've had a lot of people

6:51

that are frustrated that there hasn't been a response

6:53

from Willis to either say this

6:56

isn't true or these allegations are true,

6:58

but it doesn't matter the case. There's

7:00

just been not a squat, zip, nothing.

7:02

And a lot of people in the

7:04

legal community and a lot of people

7:07

that are considering themselves Fannie Willis allies

7:09

are saying, why did you hire

7:11

this guy? Like what are you doing? Because there've been resume

7:14

items that Nathan Wade has touted

7:16

that maybe haven't been up to

7:18

snuff. He's never prosecuted a Rico

7:20

case. He's never done things that

7:22

merit kind of this high profile

7:24

level. And that's also because why

7:27

he was hired, the things that he's

7:29

done so far, Sue, is that he

7:31

managed this special purpose grand jury process

7:33

where you had this grand jury meeting

7:35

in secret to hear all of the

7:38

evidence and ultimately decide who they recommend

7:40

face charges. He was kind of a

7:42

behind the scenes manager of information

7:44

of people of allegations and cases.

7:46

He's not the guy in front

7:48

of the court every day saying,

7:51

this is why insert person here

7:53

should be found guilty. He's a

7:55

behind the scenes player, but with

7:57

that type of money involved and

8:00

that type of uh... scrutiny

8:02

on every aspect of the case even some

8:04

people that are you know supportive of the

8:06

charges in support of the funny willis is

8:09

saying why is this the guy we're going

8:11

with enough of the obvious point

8:13

this is provided a tremendous amount of

8:15

political ammunition for donald trump to shape

8:17

public opinion around the case absolutely

8:19

i mean trump even before trump lawyer

8:22

joined in on this motion to try

8:24

to get funny will qualify he spoke

8:26

about it a rally in iowa he

8:28

posted about it on true social from

8:31

before the charges were even filed trump

8:34

has gone after funny willis calling it

8:36

a political witch hunt uh... calling it

8:38

you know unfair prosecution he did nothing

8:40

wrong there are a lot of people

8:42

that this case

8:44

of an obstacle to trump and

8:47

his reelection chances so anything and

8:49

everything that pops up is being used as

8:51

an example to say why these charges should

8:53

be thrown out even

8:56

if these allegations are true and

8:58

even if the judge says there's

9:00

no misconduct here the case can

9:02

go on the optical and political

9:04

headache is kind of the point

9:06

not just that funny willis has said she

9:09

wanted to take donald trump to trial in

9:11

august twenty twenty four i

9:13

have a really hard time believing that is going

9:15

to happen with this mess in front of the

9:17

judge and carry it in unrelated case were still

9:19

waiting for a ruling from the u.s. court of

9:21

appeals for the district of columbia circuit can you

9:23

just catch up to you and remind us on

9:25

what is the legal question are going to decide

9:27

in this case sure a couple of weeks ago

9:29

donald trump appeared at the federal courthouse in

9:31

washington i just a block or two away

9:33

from the u.s. capital this is the

9:35

case that accuses trump of defrauding the

9:37

united states conspiring to obstruct the certification

9:39

at the capitol on january sixth it's

9:41

a really big one right along with

9:44

the georgia election interference case we just

9:46

talked about these are probably the two

9:48

most important in terms of the seriousness

9:50

of the allegations here and trump

9:53

has argued that he should enjoy

9:55

absolute immunity from criminal prosecution because

9:58

he took the exact while he was in the wild White

10:00

House. So this appeals court is going

10:02

to have to decide first whether Trump

10:04

has the right to appeal now before the trial.

10:07

If he does have that right,

10:09

do presidents enjoy an absolute shield

10:11

from criminal prosecution for actions they took

10:13

in the White House? We've never had to ask or

10:16

answer that question in the history of the country before,

10:18

so it's kind of a big issue. And

10:20

if there are limits on a president's immunity,

10:22

has Donald Trump crossed those lines? And so

10:25

we're all waiting. And the reason why this

10:27

is so important is that

10:30

this trial was supposed to start on March

10:32

4th, like just in a couple of months,

10:34

and everything is on pause while we wait

10:36

for this opinion. And even once

10:38

we get this opinion from the appeals

10:40

court, Trump may ask the entire appeals

10:42

court to hear this case, not just

10:45

the three judges who heard it. And

10:47

he may go to the Supreme Court,

10:49

which would inject additional delay and potentially

10:51

mean that no jury in the United

10:53

States would consider these January 6th-related allegations

10:55

before voters go to the polls. I

10:57

think that's a really important thing to remind

10:59

listeners of, and we were talking about this this

11:01

week, is I think there was an expectation at

11:03

the onset of all of these criminal indictments that

11:05

there would be an answer to these questions before

11:07

an election so voters could make up their mind. And

11:10

there is a very reasonable chance that we

11:12

will not know the outcomes of these trials

11:14

before election day. Not just the outcomes, Sue.

11:17

There are things we still don't know. There

11:19

are witnesses that jurors and the American public

11:22

might want to hear from, including people who

11:24

served alongside Donald Trump in the White House,

11:26

like his vice president, Mike Pence, and many

11:28

of his cabinet members. Those people are on

11:30

a potential witness list for one or both

11:33

of these cases in DC and Georgia. And

11:35

the question is whether we're going to hear

11:37

from all of them and any new information

11:39

they have to share before the election. And

11:41

a reminder to listeners that our friend of

11:43

the pod, Scott Detrow, is now hosting a

11:45

podcast called Trump's Trials for NPR. It's a

11:47

weekly wrap up of all the developments in

11:49

the legal cases. So if you want deeper

11:51

dives, you can check it out and hear

11:53

from our friends Domenico Montanaro and Kerry Johnson

11:56

on the regular. Okay, Steven, don't go

11:58

anywhere, but Kerry, we're going to let you go. before

12:00

we take a quick break. And when we get

12:02

back, we're going to talk about why border negotiations are in

12:04

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we're back and we are joined by national

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security correspondent Greg Myry. Hey, Greg. Hi, Sue.

13:43

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the

13:45

quiet part out loud this week, at

13:48

least behind closed doors. He told Senate

13:50

Republicans that the political calculations have changed

13:52

around ongoing bipartisan talks to reach a

13:54

deal on a border security bill that's

13:57

tied to an international aid package. changed

14:00

is Donald Trump won the New Hampshire

14:02

primary and is now the party's presumptive

14:04

nominee. McConnell told Republicans, quote, we don't

14:07

want to do anything to undermine him,

14:09

him being Donald Trump. Steven,

14:11

this caused a scramble on the Hill because

14:14

negotiators have been working for weeks to reach

14:16

a bipartisan deal. And even if

14:18

the Senate can reach a deal, it faces a difficult time in

14:20

the House. But it's

14:22

hard to overstate how much the

14:24

issues of border security and immigration

14:26

issues have defined Donald Trump and

14:29

his case for the presidency. Absolutely.

14:31

I mean, part of the message that he

14:33

brought when he first stepped onto the scene

14:35

in 2016 and honed

14:37

over the last eight years is

14:39

this populist message of open borders

14:41

and immigration coming in and, you

14:43

know, hurting the American worker, hurting

14:46

the American economy and making it

14:48

hard for people like you to

14:50

live the American dream. And so

14:52

this is probably one of,

14:54

if not the biggest areas that Donald Trump

14:56

is going to focus on this year, other

14:58

than in a re litigating the 2020 election

15:01

for the fifth year. But

15:03

this is kind of the

15:05

key defining cornerstone of Trump's

15:07

new view of the Republican

15:09

Party. And we're seeing that with

15:11

what's playing out on the Hill. It's also been

15:14

one of his key attacks against Joe Biden

15:16

in the 2024 presidential race.

15:18

Absolutely. I mean, it's one

15:20

of those things where, you know, no matter

15:22

where you live, if you live in Texas

15:24

or if you live further in the country,

15:26

you hear people talk about the border and

15:29

what to do about the border and what

15:31

to do about immigration. You have governors of

15:34

states that don't touch the Mexico border talking

15:36

about doing things to protect the border because

15:38

it's a thing that Republicans believe is a

15:40

winning message against Democrats, especially with the way

15:42

Joe Biden has or has not done things

15:44

so far. It's pretty cynical. But

15:47

doesn't Mitch McConnell have a point? You know,

15:49

if congressional Republicans want to see Donald Trump

15:52

beat Joe Biden in November, then

15:54

delivering big policy victories to Joe

15:56

Biden on an issue like border

15:58

security where he has had a weakness, at

16:00

least according to public polling, could

16:03

be politically risky for Republicans. They want to be

16:05

able to campaign on this issue. So it's the

16:07

old choice of do you want to solve the problem

16:09

or do you want to have the fight? Yeah. I

16:11

mean, that's how a lot of our politics works these

16:14

days, but this is really one of the starker examples.

16:16

You do finally have a deal

16:19

or the workings of a deal coming to the

16:21

table saying, okay, it's important to you.

16:23

It's important to us. We're going to come

16:25

together and try to find a way to

16:27

work it. But now this is like Lucy

16:29

with a proverbial football and Charlie Brown where

16:31

because Donald Trump says, no, you know, I

16:33

don't want it because it won't help me

16:36

politically. Now we're seeing that pulled back, but

16:38

it is risky because especially if

16:40

you've primed so many Republican voters

16:42

to say that there's an invasion

16:44

at the border, that there is

16:46

a problem with immigration and a

16:48

problem with border security and

16:50

then say, but we're not

16:52

going to fix it yet, then

16:56

you run the risk of having some of those people be like,

16:58

well, wait a minute, were you ever going to fix this or

17:00

are you just using it to rile us up? And

17:03

it gives Joe Biden and Democrats the opportunity

17:05

to go out and campaign and say, look,

17:07

we wanted to fix the border. We wanted

17:09

to do this and Republicans walked away, which

17:11

is a lot better

17:13

optically than what you've seen over

17:15

the past couple of years. Greg,

17:17

Republicans took the issue of border security and

17:19

they said the only way to get this international

17:21

aid package for money for Ukraine mainly and as

17:23

well as for Israel is you have to give

17:26

us a border deal. If the

17:28

border deal falls apart, it could

17:30

well take Ukraine money with it. James

17:32

Langford is a Republican from Oklahoma. He's

17:34

been the Republican negotiator on the bipartisan

17:36

border talks, basically said as much

17:38

yesterday. He was asked if the border fails, does

17:40

it take Ukraine money with it? And he suggested

17:42

it likely could. This

17:45

is something that President Biden and frankly,

17:47

top Republicans and Democrats in Congress do

17:50

still support. They probably has majority support

17:52

in Congress. What is the

17:54

ultimate effect is if the US cannot pass

17:56

this money for Ukraine and it never materializes?

17:59

Yes. We're talking about a lot of money.

18:01

In the case of Ukraine, President Biden wants more

18:04

than $60 billion in military

18:06

assistance, and for Israel, more than

18:08

$14 billion. This

18:10

is particularly critical for

18:12

Ukraine in two areas

18:14

specifically. The Russians fire a lot of

18:16

crews and ballistic missiles trying to take

18:19

down Ukraine's electrical system in the winter.

18:21

They tried to do this last winter.

18:23

Ukraine was able to sort of hold

18:25

them off, but now they're going through

18:27

the same thing again. This is an

18:30

area that Ukraine needs resupplies

18:32

to shoot down those incoming

18:35

Russian missiles, or

18:37

parts of the country could be at real

18:39

risk in terms of their electricity system. The

18:41

other part is artillery. This has been very

18:43

much an artillery war on the front lines

18:46

in eastern Ukraine. The Russians

18:48

simply have more manpower and more

18:50

firepower throughout the war, but the

18:52

US and Europe have given the

18:54

Ukrainians enough to fight back. But

18:57

Ukraine seems to be running short,

19:00

both in terms of missiles

19:02

and artillery. The US

19:04

has been the leading supplier. Europe has

19:06

stepped up much more than many people

19:08

thought. Still, if the US backs out,

19:11

that's a huge chunk of

19:13

Ukrainian support going away. The US has

19:16

organized this through the contact group, more

19:18

than 50 countries that are

19:20

assisting Ukraine. So if the US is not

19:22

providing it, then a lot of other countries

19:25

might say, what are we

19:27

doing? Why are we supplying this if the US

19:29

is not willing to support Ukraine?

19:32

I think it's hard for people that when

19:34

you look at the Pentagon, that has an

19:36

annual budget of hundreds and hundreds of billions

19:39

and billions of dollars, is there really no

19:41

money in the banana stand for Ukraine? Do

19:43

they have to have this 60 billion, or

19:45

is it 60 billion or nothing? Is there

19:47

no alternatives for the Pentagon to help Ukraine

19:49

if Congress doesn't act? Yeah, the

19:51

Pentagon has had some pretty creative accounting

19:53

over the years, you know, a certain

19:56

amount of money is authorized. Well, then

19:58

if the US is supplying weapons

20:00

that are already on the shelf. How much are

20:02

those weapons worth? Are they worth what the US

20:04

paid for them five years ago or what it

20:06

would cost to replace them today? So

20:09

there's a little wiggle room for

20:11

some creative accounting, but we're at

20:13

the point now where the US

20:15

can't provide any sizable resupply

20:18

to Ukraine. And in fact, there

20:20

was this meeting of the contact

20:22

group, the 50 countries this week,

20:24

but this time the US didn't

20:27

announce a new package of aid

20:29

for Ukraine. And this meeting has been

20:31

taking place monthly for about two years. And

20:33

we believe this is the first time the

20:35

US hasn't announced that. So it really is

20:38

hitting the bottom of the barrel. There

20:40

may be some little assistance here or

20:42

there, but nothing major is going to

20:45

go to Ukraine if Congress doesn't act.

20:47

Although that's important to remind people too,

20:49

that this isn't actually money to Ukraine.

20:51

This is money that mainly goes to

20:54

US defense manufacturers. Absolutely. These

20:56

are weapons that the US either

20:59

has on the shelf or US

21:01

defense contractors are making and sending

21:03

to Ukraine. So these tens of

21:06

billion dollars have overwhelmingly gone to

21:08

US companies who make

21:10

weapons for the US military or

21:12

make weapons which are going on

21:14

to Ukraine. It's not money in

21:16

the main. It's not like

21:19

the US is writing a check to Ukraine,

21:21

which they cash and then they distribute the

21:23

money. These are weapons and big weapons,

21:25

missiles, artillery,

21:29

stuff like this that is

21:31

being sent over there after it's

21:33

been purchased in the United States.

21:35

Stephen, politically, again, there's an old guard

21:37

on Capitol Hill that I think is

21:39

represented by Mitch McConnell who has been

21:42

loudly fighting in support of passing this

21:44

Ukraine money for months, but he hasn't

21:46

been able to move the needle. The

21:48

new guard of the Republican Party is

21:51

deeply skeptical of US intervention in Ukraine

21:54

or frankly anywhere else and don't see

21:56

much of a political loss if the

21:58

US walks away from supporting... Ukraine and

22:00

certainly would also support Donald Trump's agenda more.

22:02

Right. And I mean, you've seen this in

22:05

the past few years that there is this

22:07

changing of the guard where the elected members

22:09

of Congress, especially in the Republican Party,

22:11

are a little bit more reflective of their

22:14

base voters on issues like this. And

22:16

I mean, there's a multi-pronged front of

22:18

foreign policy that a lot of this

22:21

new guard is pursuing and

22:23

pursuing more in the sense of, you

22:26

know, protecting things at home rather than

22:28

abroad because it's an easier sell to

22:30

their base voters to say, look, there's

22:32

a lot of things happening in our

22:34

backyard, like the border and immigration, that

22:36

are more important uses of time and

22:38

money than what's going on in Ukraine

22:40

or Israel or things like that. And

22:43

so it's, you know, it's

22:45

definitely a shift. And as we see

22:47

more and more of the old guard,

22:49

like you mentioned, age out of Congress

22:51

or retire or get defeated in primaries,

22:53

that is going to be something to

22:56

watch as the complicated geopolitical future of

22:59

the world continues. Greg, I have to

23:01

imagine people in the national security orbit are

23:03

pulling their hair out at the idea of

23:06

the US making a foreign policy decision that

23:08

could de facto help Russian President

23:10

Vladimir Putin. Oh, absolutely. I mean,

23:12

there's a very strong consensus in

23:14

the US security community that Putin

23:17

poses a great threat, obviously, to

23:19

Ukraine, but also to Europe and

23:21

ultimately to the United States and

23:23

larger issues. And the real

23:25

irony here is for so many years during

23:27

the Cold War and even after, Republicans

23:30

were staunchly opposed to

23:34

Russian activity and on security

23:36

ground. I'm a child of the 80s.

23:38

I remember the movies. The Russians were always the

23:40

bad guys. Absolutely, absolutely.

23:42

And so here you've seen something we

23:44

hadn't seen really in decades. We didn't

23:46

even see during the Cold War Moscow,

23:49

Soviet Union, now Russia going across

23:51

a border to invade a country.

23:53

I mean, there was initially two

23:55

years ago, strong support for this,

23:57

but the Republicans are the ones.

24:00

ones who have become wobbly

24:02

on whether or not the US should

24:04

continue support to Ukraine. All right, let's

24:06

take a quick break, and when we get back, it's time for Can't Let It Go.

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And we're back, and it's time for Can't Let

25:41

It Go. The part of the show where we

25:43

talk about the things from the week we just

25:46

can't stop thinking about, politics or otherwise. I have

25:48

to note at the top of this that both

25:50

Greg and Steven are newbies to Can't Let It

25:52

Go. It's my understanding neither of

25:54

you have ever taken part, so I'll try to

25:57

make this one gentle on you. But, you know,

25:59

you're setting the bar. For yourself from

26:01

here on out So no pressure of

26:03

physically can't let go of his politics

26:05

related and it just made me laugh.

26:07

It was ah from a tweet from

26:10

a Colorado reporter name Pile Clark who

26:12

was covering a debate for Colorado's fourth

26:14

congressional District. This is a district that's

26:16

ah, Republican Congress woman learned bowl Berth

26:19

is running for reelection and obe or

26:21

received national attention for shall we say,

26:24

Unacceptable behavior in a theater and

26:26

it became a national news story.

26:29

But he tweeted this that the

26:31

loudest cheers of the Republican Primary

26:33

debate and Colorado's Fourth Congressional District

26:35

game when six of the nine

26:37

candidates raise their hands to say

26:39

that they to have been arrested.

26:42

Six out of the nine. And then what

26:44

made me laugh even more was his follow

26:46

up. I should note a tenth republican congressional

26:48

candidate was not present for the show of

26:51

hands on arrest records. Just and Schreiber is

26:53

currently facing felony charges including stalking. And harassment.

26:55

So seven of the ten republican

26:57

candidates in his congressional district has

26:59

been arrested in their past. Ah,

27:01

and I just think it's a

27:03

good reminder that truly any one.

27:06

Conserving. Congress and didn't the all

27:08

high five after that to yes. It

27:10

was not a moment of embarrassment, it was a

27:12

moment of celebration. I would think. Greg, what about

27:14

you? What can you let. Go of will.

27:17

A major controversy is brewing between

27:19

Britain and the United States. A

27:21

A professor at Bryn Mawr College

27:23

in the Us. a chemistry professor

27:25

I should note has published a

27:27

p saying that's the best way

27:29

to make a cup of tea

27:31

is with a pinch of salt.

27:33

Why yes barely. This takes a

27:35

little bit of the bitterness the

27:38

out of the T. Now as

27:40

you can imagine the Brits are

27:42

are not really buying this. could

27:44

be the biggest The class. Since

27:46

the Boston Tea Party I'm however

27:48

the Us Embassy has even know

27:50

weighed in on this. It added

27:52

issue an official statement saying this

27:55

is not official U S policy

27:57

than going on to add that

27:59

it will. continue to make tea the proper

28:01

way by microwaving it. Now,

28:04

I will admit, this does make me want to put a

28:06

little salt in tea because you don't know until you try

28:08

it. Maybe it does taste better. I

28:10

don't know about that. Are you a tea

28:12

drinker? I'm more a coffee drinker. Me too. I

28:15

also would think it matters what kind of tea because

28:17

a chai tea is a completely different animal

28:19

than a black tea. Exactly. No, I've

28:21

been many places, in fact, parts of the former British

28:24

Empire where they put lots of milk in it and

28:26

you get that sort of skin of milk on the

28:28

top of the tea. So lots of different ways to

28:30

do your tea. I don't know about salt

28:32

though. Don't yuck another person's yum, I say.

28:34

You know, who knows? I'm going to try it

28:36

though. Stephen, what about you? What can't you

28:39

lick off? Okay, so as you might have been

28:41

able to hear, I am not in the studio

28:43

with you. I'm actually based in Atlanta, but for

28:45

now I'm based on the floor of an airport

28:47

because I've been traveling, doing some stories, and travel

28:50

is fun for me. And one of

28:52

my obsessions is Bucky's,

28:54

the gas station, convenience store,

28:56

slight cult following entity. And

28:59

so my can't let it

29:01

go is that somehow in

29:03

my less than three weeks of being at NPR and

29:06

not being on any email list for any candidates

29:08

and anything, having a threadbare inbox,

29:11

earlier this week I received an

29:13

email about Bucky's opening

29:15

a third one in Georgia, inviting

29:17

me to cover the groundbreaking of

29:19

the Brunswick, Georgia Bucky's. So

29:22

nobody else has my email, but Bucky's

29:24

knows that I love them so much

29:26

that they somehow find my email and

29:28

invite me to cover the groundbreaking that

29:30

I'm kind of tempted to go to

29:33

because I'm a big beaver believer. There

29:35

should be perks to this job. So if you want to

29:37

be the Bucky's reporter, you should get to be the Bucky's

29:39

reporter. I want to know though, what makes

29:41

a Bucky so special? I have to admit, I don't think

29:44

I've ever, have you ever been in a Bucky's, Greg? Don't

29:46

think so. I'm in a Bucky's. Well, unfortunately

29:48

we do not have another hour on this

29:50

podcast to talk about it next time, but

29:52

imagine if you will, a Hundred

29:55

plus gas pumps where gas is cheaper.

29:57

Then Imagine that place is where you

29:59

can go and get a Bucky's. Russian

30:01

helped Brisket Twenty Four Seven, some of

30:03

the best you'll ever eat. Then imagine

30:05

that place is also where you can

30:08

get a fashionable march with a beaver

30:10

face on it, which is their mascot.

30:12

Then imagine if you're younger that you

30:14

can go get some home goods like

30:16

a giant Texas sized cattle skull and

30:18

then imagine all of that and then

30:20

some. And then you begin to scratch

30:22

the surface of the bikinis. I spend

30:24

a lot of time on the road.

30:27

my old job in Georgia Public Broadcasting.

30:29

There's two of them. Now that to

30:31

be three, and there's no better site

30:33

than after crisscrossing the state covering political

30:35

events than pulling in getting a giant

30:37

Double Xl brisket sandwich, a couple of

30:39

sweetie no sugar, and are paying thirty

30:41

cents less for gas. That

30:44

actually does all sound really nice and

30:46

truly American. Amp and I'm Jessie. Take

30:48

it any of that of the Laguardia Airport?

30:51

No, you cannot. I did get a fifteen

30:53

dollar trouble voucher for my fight been delayed.

30:55

but that means I can tell my anecdote

30:57

about Bucky so you know something you can

31:00

Lego I called actually Daddy's money to spend

31:02

when you finally get back to Georgia isn't

31:04

exactly as I thought is it for us

31:07

this week are executive producer is my. Son

31:09

him a toy are editor and Erica More

31:11

or producers are Casey Morale and Kelly Wessing.

31:13

Earth special thanks to Christen of Caliber and

31:15

Johnny Hon. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics.

31:18

I'm Susan Fowler. I also have evolved and

31:20

I'm Greg. My reason I cover National Security

31:22

And thanks for listening To Be careful. Thanks

31:35

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