1.15.2024 -- NLS -- Neal’s Birthday! Pam Bondi’s Confirmation Fireworks and Senatorial Showdowns

On this episode with Neal and Julie, the focus is on former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as she navigates her Senate confirmation hearing. They delve into her opening statement, highlighting her qualifications and personal touches, such as her mentions of her husband and daughters. Neal and Julie analyze the dynamics of the hearing, discussing the pointed questioning from senators like Dick Durbin and the strategies employed during these intense sessions.

Julie reflects on the theatrical nature of certain hearings, likening them to over-the-top events like extravagant gender reveals or first birthday parties. Neal shares a theory about how senators approach these hearings, noting that while some grilling might appear harsh, the outcome often feels predetermined for candidates as qualified as Bondi.

Throughout the episode, Neal and Julie offer their perspectives on key exchanges, including the nuanced challenges posed by senators like Lindsey Graham, Dick Blumenthal, and others. They explore the broader implications of these hearings, discussing topics such as the politicization of the Department of Justice and the legacy of previous attorneys general. Listeners are invited to weigh in via phone, making this a lively and engaging episode filled with insights and spirited discussion.

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Transcript

Good morning. It is 807 on Newstalk 1079 Neal Larson along with Julie Mason this morning. How are you, Julie? I'm doing well. Happy birthday, Neal Larson. Well thank you, thank you. I'm turning 39 today. He's turning 52. No, you have to lie on my birthday party. Part of your birthday present to me is that you'll join me in the in the line at 52.

How's it feel? It feels good, I feel fine. I feel as good as I've ever felt. And so I'm not too old. You accused me earlier of having early onset dementia. That going on? I don't I don't think there is. But, you know, it's all right. No, it's it's been it's been good. So I'll ready. This is one of the good things that I do like about Facebook is you do feel very loved on your birthday.

You do. And already it's a great thing. Dozens of messages. We've had a lot of texts from, from people too. So. Yeah. But we can't spend all day as much as I would love to. We can't spend talking about my birthday all day. Pam Bondi just got into the hot seat and is giving her opening statement.

We're probably not going to do wall to wall today because there's a lot that we want to get to. Some of it is the hearing yesterday with Pete Hegseth and there's Idaho legislate movement going up. We need to talk about. So we'll try to get to as much of it as possible. But let's listen to former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

His opening statement in, the her Senate confirmation hearing, my amazing husband John, and his two incredible girls, Collins and Finley Collins, is a senior at University of Florida. And I think all of you on this committee will be very happy to know Finley is in cybersecurity.

There's a third who is traveling abroad. I wish she could be here. My amazing father in law, David, my sister, death, my brother in law is home with my niece, my nephews. If you could just raise your hand. Evan, Jake and Sam to be me, Savannah. My brother Brad, a brilliant lawyer. My sister in law Tandy, and my nephews, Justin, who just got a 4.0 at UVA.

Rex. Great college tennis player. Brad, great tennis player, is really. And my niece, my beautiful niece, Ria. And the little guy is in school because he's ten, my friends Leslie, Kathy, Dina, Tiffany, Kim, Paula and so many of my former coworkers and ranking member Durbin. If you want to get dirt on me, these women have known me since I was a child.

Seriously, most of them. So thank you for indulging me in that. They've all made a very long trip to be here. And thank you for, for holding my hearing as well and not postponing it. I appreciate that. Thank you all. From the moment I interned at the State Attorney's office in Tampa, Florida, all I wanted to do was be a prosecutor.

The Supreme Court certified me and I had for jury trials while still in law school, lost most of them, but had fought jury trials and never wanted to do anything else. I continued my career there, trying everything from DUIs, domestic violence cases, capital murder cases, the whole gamut. I became a lead trial attorney in courtroom, and every day trying career criminals was deputy.

Chief of a division and then ultimately was felony bureau chief and eventually left to become Florida's 37th attorney general for the state of Florida. Nothing has impacted my career more than my experience as a state prosecutor, because I got to know and still keep in touch with many victims and their families from when I was a prosecutor.

Upon becoming attorney general in 2011, I proudly served for two terms. I was term limited. I would probably still be there right now had I not been kicked out of office by term limits. I loved being Attorney general. I did my best to keep Florida safe, to continue to stand up for victims of crime, and to fight the opioid crisis and the drug crisis that was not only facing Florida, but this entire country.

Out of the top 100. This is one of the things I'm the most proud of oxycodone dispensers in the entire country. I believe it was 98 of them, 90 or 98 of them lived in Florida. We fought for tough legislation. Kids were dropping dead every day. We fought for tough legislation. And after that legislation, none of those opioid dealers, doctors practiced in Florida.

We fought to eliminate human trafficking by raising awareness and prevention and talking to parents and talking to children. All right. Pam Bondi, former attorney general for Florida, giving her opening statements, kind of the introductory phase when the questioning begins, Julie, that's when that's when this that's when the real stuff happens. Right. So this is the part where she gets to show that she's a family woman and that she, has massive education and maybe a little self-deprecating.

Like she said when she was in law school, she lost the jury trials that she participated on. And, you know, that's called learning. Yeah, it's called cutting your teeth. And she's showing that humility there. And and now she's explaining how much she loved what she did in Florida. We're keeping an eye on it when we get into the back and forth questioning.

And I think it'll that part of it will probably be the same. But they have like pro and con witnesses and if we are first in the Hegseth hearing from yesterday and there's two days of it. So we'll just kind of keep watch. Yeah. Okay. Julie, you do you have a breaking news story? Yeah. It's all come out in about the last hour ish that the FDA has banned the use of red dye number three, this will be in food and drinks.

Both I. When I saw this while Pam Bondi was talking, I said to Neal, wow. The fact that Trump has when he is not even in office yet is just amazing. I would believe this is they say it's in response to a 2022 petition from health groups and activists. Why are you responding right before Trump takes office, five days before the inauguration?

Yeah okay. It's been around since 2022. But all of a sudden we felt like we needed to do it before RFK Jr gets placed into his position. So so it, it says that, it's more than 30 years after scientists discovered links to cancer in animals, a synthetic color additive made from petroleum and chemically known as erythromycin. Red dye number three is used to give foods and beverages a bright cherry red color.

The move sun. In November 2022 petitions, Julie said, the decision by the federal agency also follows in the footsteps of California. Their government banned the additive in October of 23. Manufacturers using red dye number three in food and ingested drugs have until January 1527 and January 18th of 28, respectively, to reformulate their products. According to the FDA.

Foods imported to the US must also comply with those requirements, so, it's interesting timing, obviously. Yeah, but I thought it was red dye 40. That was the the real culprit, the big enchilada. Yeah. It it might be it might be, you mentioned California. There's ten, other states that have already banned this. So we're talking 11 states are going to have, you know, Head Start in getting this taken care of before 27, which if there's ten states, that means manufacture of this is available.

It should. Yeah, it won't be bumptious, but it should be relatively smooth. Yeah. To remove this. Yeah I could yeah. You're right. It's already been done. They, they know how to do it. And yeah, if it just means your Skittles are a little less red, then so be it. It'll be okay. You're going to be like Starburst. Just close your eyes and eat your Skittles so they'll still taste the same.

Right? So. And you won't you won't get cancer. Yeah. There's an upside here. Yeah. Okay. So we had that. We also have, just we got some legislative stuff. Julie, there's a bill being put forward that would ban the display of pride flags, and I think maybe some other flags in Idaho's classrooms. Yes. What say you?

Okay, I think what they've listed is I think there's four flags or something like that. That will be that you can. It's obviously the American flag, the Idaho state flag, the, the, the prisoner of war flag. Yeah, yeah. So there there will still be the ability to put up things like that, but they're going to they're going to ban flags that that promote individual entities like LGBTQ.

And I'm okay with this. I don't want the classroom to be a place that's filled with this. I, I actually think the over decorating of classrooms by teachers has become a little obsessive. You know how I feel like gender reveals have become obsessive birthday parties for one year olds. Oh my goodness. Relax, people. The child's one. Like yeah, yeah, I, I think that sometimes we, we have extended this to our workplaces.

I'm not just limiting that to, classrooms but other places too. Maybe we can back off just a tad. I, I agree with you. You look at it when you look at a school, we already have dress codes. A lot of schools will not let you wear shirts that have inflammatory messages on them or hats or, they're not First Amendment zones.

You when you go there, you can apply rules and regulations. And maybe the best approach is to say, here are the flags you can fly beyond that. No. Because then it becomes really subjective, potentially political. But let me ask you this question, because some teachers, not all, they can be kind of sneaky. And so they may find creative ways to get around this.

Maybe they don't wave a flag, but I'm sure if you got on Teemu or Amazon, you could probably buy a little projector that would project a rainbow, rainbow pattern up on your wall. That's not a flag. So that, you know, you see what I'm saying? They try to find these creative workarounds, and when you have a law like that, then all of a sudden you have to start chasing down all the workarounds to.

And so do we. Do we open up? Yeah, yeah. And maybe they have to just change the language that it you can't display anything that that has a political message to it. Yeah. But then that's a problem I don't know. Yeah. What is that boundary. Yeah I don't know where that comes. Yeah. You know, so because some people think the American flag, is a political address, so I don't, I don't know it.

I think that's, but but I'm not opposed to the, to the bill. I'm just saying, looking over the horizon a little bit. Yeah. This is probably what we're going to be facing is sneaky teachers that are going to be like, well, they told me I can't do this, but they didn't say, I can't do that. Yeah, yeah.

So somebody said teachers need to be able to personalize the classroom, but not to the point that they forget whose classroom it really is. That's kind of the point I was making. I'm not saying it has to be sterile. You know, I'm not saying it's white walls with a, you know, a white board and only a black marker.

And I'm not saying that, but you see some of these classrooms and holy cow, they don't. You wouldn't think it was a classroom. Yeah. If it wasn't for the desks, you would think it was somebody's house. Yeah. That's true. Shouldn't be cluttered. Yeah. So I, I think the, above and beyond the LGBTQ flag, it just kind of cleans up the concept of what a classroom is supposed to be.

Yeah, I agreed, all right. 820 on Newstalk 1079. Let's take a quick break. We're keeping an eye and an ear on the Pam Bondi hearings that are underway on Capitol Hill this morning. And, we will open up the phone. I mean, it's my birthday. Of course. I'm going to open up the phone lines a little later so as you should.

Well, we'll be back minutes away. All right. It's 826. Trump deranged Dick Durbin is now questioning Pam Bondi, who? I have a theory about this, Julie, that I just I mentioned to you, but I believe these senators know that she's going to get confirmed. She's eminently qualified. She's the she's she's going to get through there now use their their time just to try and trash Trump.

And you know they're challenging her asking her hard questions. But most of the time when they're talking it's about Trump did this and Trump's terrible guy. Trump sacked Barr and he sacked sessions and it yeah. You know it's like go okay. All right. Yeah yeah. These people really know how to develop good working relationships So yeah I think she's going to be fine.

She seems really comfortable. That's what I would say. For those who can't see her, she's she doesn't look nervous in that seat at all. Very comfortable. He's coming up on 30 years being in the US Senate. Wow. He became a member of Congress Jubilee in 1983. We were ten. That was 42 years ago. I can do that math on my birthday.

That's crazy. All right. Maybe you don't have dementia. You just did math. Yeah. All right. Good job. Here's here's a little bit we're not going to carry a lot of this but here's a little bit of it 80 votes. Do you have the entire context of that call? I feel like it was long, much longer than that.

This was an hour long, Brian. You can certainly listen to it. I hope you will. I every American should. As a former prosecutors, are you not concerned that the president in the United States called a state election official and asked him to find the votes to change the results of the election? Senator, I have not listened to the hour long conversation, but it's my understanding that is not what he asked him to do.

You need to listen to it, okay? All this was adjudicated. They found not taking care of the courts have tossed that case. Some police officers should be pardoned. Senator, if confirmed as Attorney General of the United States, the pardons, of course, fall under the president. But if asked to look at those cases, I will look at each case and advise on a case by case basis, just as I did my entire career as a prosecutor.

You also advise the president on pardons as part of your responsibility as attorney general. And so I'm asking you, do you believe that those who have been convicted of the January 6th riot, violent assaults on our police officers should be pardoned? That's a simple question. How about your son who's a crack addicted convict? That's a bold, bold question.

When we just went through what we went through. Yes. Right. Is that you really want to bring up pardons, Dick? Come on, man, read the room, guys. These guys? Yeah. These are weak questions. Yeah, this is just weak. Yep. So weak. Not worth carrying. No. Yeah. Plus we got lots of good audio, so let's, We do. Should we dive into some of that?

Sure. We have, before we get to the headset stuff, here is speaker Mike Johnson celebrating passage in the House of Representatives. The Fairness in sports, protection of women and girls, fairness, something or other in sports, something or other. Yeah. Only two Democrats voted against it. Correct. Voted with it for it. For it. Only two voted for it.

What are they doing? Oh, no. Almost all the Democrats voted against it. They they want women to lose in sports. Goodness. They don't want your little girls to have a chance at the trophies and the championships. I actually thought it was the other way around. No, he was in the middle of it. You'll hear him that they picked off two Democrats.

So it makes it bipartisan. That's that's what oh goodness. But here's their sort of celebratory president. Welcome to the capital, everybody. Good afternoon. This is a great day for women in America. House. Yes. That's an applause like.

House Republicans have yet again stood up for women. This is a commitment that we have made because it comports with what is right and what is common sense. We know from Scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women, and men cannot become women. It's sad that we have to say that, it's a matter of biology.

It's how we're made. And if we try to ignore that or to undo it, we do so at our peril and to the detriment of our daughters. Across the country, female athletes like Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlon and Payton McNabb have had to compete. Head to head against biological men. It's just not right around the world. It's estimated that more than 700 female athletes have been displaced by males in their women's sporting events, and that has resulted in more than 1000 estimated medals, records and scholarships intended for women going to men.

My own daughters competed in sports as they were growing up, and I can only imagine the anger I would feel as a dad if they had their trophies stolen from them. But that's indeed what many women are facing today. And it's not just anger, it's it's fear. Biological men competing against women also poses a threat to the safety of our girls.

It's it's dangerous, it's unfair. It's a rejection of reality. And it is just plain wrong. But today, the House voted to uphold common sense again. We voted to require all schools receiving federal funds to uphold the original meaning of title nine and keep biological men out of women's sports. Last Congress, we voted on this legislation as well. We will note that not one single Democrat joined us.

Today was an improvement. It's bipartisan. We had two Democrats join us. Yes. But it's shameful. There should have been many, many more. In fact, I would argue that every member of this body should have voted for common sense and to protect women. And for some reason, for politics. I guess they chose not to. Okay, we'll end there. But that good moment yesterday.

Yeah. Good moment. Ma'am, you know what I feel like about not recognizing that it wasn't the other way? Yeah, it's I highly underestimate their ability to walk away from logic. Yeah, I you just think that this is just such a logical vote. I know, Julie, it's pouring in libraries. Yes it is so non to me. It's non. It's non-controversial if you're grounded in reality.

Yeah. So it's the party that's not. Yeah. Just keep going. Yeah it is. Okay let's take a break really quick. It's 833 on Newstalk 179. And we again we got to stay on schedule. But right now Lindsey Graham is interviewing Pam Bondi with his questions. We'll have some of that when we get back right here on Newstalk 1079.

That you do. And so it's critically important that to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and, unprecedented crisis, that you do. And so it's critically important. An over the whole for both the Palmer of hysterical quiet and World War one. Fox news internet tab gets us again.

Julie. It sneaks up on you. You don't even know it's playing. And then all of a sudden, it's. They're rascally Fox news.com. Welcome back. So while we were talking, I saw Lindsey Graham talking and there was some laughing and smiling. We went back and listen to it. It's nothing spectacular. Funny. It's not like one of his classic one liners, but now I will.

In fact, he's kind of aggravating me today. He's being a little irritating. Seemed a little aggressive. Yeah. Like, yeah, it was. Hey, Julie, guess what? Came across. It's going to be one. May be final. I mean, there's still, what, five days left? Yeah. A Kamala Harris word salad happening. She's got a she's got to get her licks in before she's done.

So she was talking to the wild fire victims in California. And these these truly are the comforting, comforting words that she shared with them. And so it's critically important that to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and, unprecedented crisis, that you do okay, to the extent that you can find it's critically important that to the extent that you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and unprecedented crisis that you do.

Yeah. Which all could have been said was it's a tough one. Find some patients. Yeah. Do you see how? You know, Jill, I don't I don't know if I have the clip, but I would in my mind, I'd love to do a side by side here of this. Kamala Harris word salad, which is very, very, very common for her.

And Donald Trump saying release the hostages before January 23rd. There will be hell to pay. Yeah, yeah, that's not a word. Salad. That's a that's a that's a word garlic bread stick. Yeah. They get they have no questions about what Trump is expecting. Yeah. With that. But with Kamala Harris it's just a bunch of bunch of phrases slammed together because her brain can't keep up with what she needs to say.

Yeah, she's thinking it's just sad. It's just sitting the the first words out of your mouth. When I played this was, man, we dodged a bullet. Wow. Every time I hear her now, I just think, oh, bad. It would be. Yeah. If we were coming to these microphones every day and talking about her getting inaugurated in five days.

Yeah, yeah, well. All right. Sure. Move on. Sure. Okay. Couple of clips here that, this is Senator Roger Wicker. He is the chair of the Armed Services Committee. And here's how he sized up on a later media appearance. Pete Hegseth appearance yesterday. You just say from the outset, though, that, this was a tour de force, a takedown, a triumph.

I think, Mr. Hegseth had, three audiences. The committee, the United States Senate and the American general public. I think it, was a magnificent, display of his, knowledge and his ability to communicate his leadership abilities. And I feel very good about this hearing today. I don't think he could have, gone anywhere, but.

Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. Yeah. And lest you think that this is just Republicans and conservatives living in a bubble and their take on Hegseth, this is a CNN reporter asked Senator John Thune, who's the Republican leader. The majority leader decides to schedule the United States Senate. I asked him about Texas nomination. Two does not send a ton about this nomination.

I said he does have any concerns about these allegations of sexual assault that Texas has denied, but came up in today's hearing about these allegations of misconduct and the like. And he indicated he does not. According to Thune, he said that that exit acquitted himself extremely well and that he plans to move very quickly on this nomination and is moving quickly.

We expect the Senate Armed Services Committee to have a vote as soon as Monday, Inauguration Day. That is according to the chairman of the committee, Roger Wicker, who told me that he believes that he'll get the support of all Republicans and be able to push this through. Okay, that CNN yeah, even Drudge Report, which has become an embarrassing, slobbering, Trump hating website, this headline appeared hedged.

Seth Weathers grilling to emerge largely unscathed. Yeah, I here's one of the problems that the Democrats did is that they played their hand far too early. Yeah. If you wanted these, these amazing talking points to come out of the hearing yesterday, you needed to not be who you were the two months prior. Yeah. You already you already put it all out there.

Yeah. And you put it out falsely. I mean, there was testimony about the tattoo on his chest and how how, lawmakers had falsely reported what that was. Yeah, yeah. Like you already did it all yesterday was he just had to sit there and not put his foot in his mouth. You. We knew what you were going to come with.

You came with exactly what we thought you were. And he was very prepared to answer all of their questions or to at least take on their questions. And I promise, most people who listen to the grilling by Senator McCain walked away going, wow, I said McCain. Senator Kaine. Yeah, they just walked away going, wow, that was classless.

Like, yeah, it didn't make Pete look any different than Pete looked before he sat down in the chair. Well, I think to most people when they watch a hearing like that and you see that back and forth, Kaine ends up looking worse than Seth did. It was more it told us more about who Tim Kaine is than it ever said about Pete Hegseth.

Yeah, he looked exactly like he did before he sat down. And I would say the same thing for the four women who really, you know, went after him in that meeting yesterday. He sat there. He took it. Yeah. He's still the same Pete Hegseth. You're the one that looked a little unhinged. Yeah, yeah, very much so. It was interesting to watch, because the way Pete Hegseth will respond to a female U.S. senator has to be.

I wouldn't say careful, but it's very different than the way you're going to answer a male senator, because their strategy was you mistreat females. You're you don't like females. You're you're denigrating to females in the military. And he you're right. He just, he, he sat there and he didn't fight back or insult them, but he didn't let them push him around either.

Like yeah. Yeah. It was, it was quiet strength. Yes. It's what it was. Yeah. And and it, it was good. He he's going to get through and I think I'm watching Pam Bondi even though the left is throwing some questions. Again they're not really about Pam Bondi because even the most qualified AG and she might be it the most qualified AG nominee.

If it's for Trump they're going to get the same questions. Their questions are how do you defend how bad your bosses? I mean, that's that's the question here. And you're there to defend yourself, right. Well, it's the isn't the job of the AG to, to use their expertise in the law to make sure the country is doing what the country's supposed to be doing.

Yes. Like, yeah, almost like a consulting firm. And then, and then there will be times that you're very active. We've seen Raul Labrador as the attorney general in Idaho, get active in everything, but the the crux of the job is to make sure Idaho is functioning appropriately. Yeah. And and are are doing things the legal way. That's her job.

Right. She's the the government still needs an attorney general. They do. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's interesting that they want her to pick a side against Trump or something. Yeah. That's not really what she's tasked with. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. So they're saying here that Biden is going to give his final address to the nation tonight. Tonight.

So 6 p.m. local. That'll be 8 p.m. eastern time. All right. Well, let's, let's take our final break here for this hour, and, we'll come back. We'll wrap up the hour here. We'll watch the the bond hearing, see what happens there. And we'll continue here on Newstalk 179.

Senator angry Klobuchar excuse me. Amy Klobuchar is grilling Pam Bondi right now. Let's let's listen in. There's entertainment potential here, too, with the, being Klobuchar reauthorization bill. Just will you commit to continue to support those programs? Senator, I will read everything about those programs because that is a top priority of mine. And I would love to meet with you on that.

And Senator Murkowski to support law enforcement and those programs. Thank you. Independent from political interference is vital, to the legitimacy and success of the Department of Justice. I was honestly troubled by some of the answers to Senator Durbin's questions. And we will continue that discussion, I'm sure, on the committee about the election. But I want to focus on, the investigation, charging decisions as a prosecutor.

I'm sure you had this experience. I would get calls from people. Hey, that's just a kid. Give him a break. And I remember one answer I gave was, he's 40 years old. He's not a kid. But that kind of, interference is attempted all the time. And Hunter Biden, one of my concerns here, whether it's a call from a friend, a corporate lobbyist, a white House, it is been very clear that the attorney generals of both parties have established clear policies to ensure the white House doesn't tamper with criminal investigations and prosecutions.

At Attorney General Mike Mukasey's hearing, he made clear that any attempt by the white House in these are the words to interfere with the case is not to be continence. Any call to a line assistant or to a you okay, I gotta stop there. How many times did the Georgia prosecutor go to the white House? How many times did Alvin Bragg go to the white House?

Yeah, I how many times was there communication between the Trump potential assassin and people that are in the DC orbit? Well, yeah, that's a great question. But wasn't there one of Merrick Garland's top guys right before they prosecuted Trump went over and worked with Alvin Bragg? Yeah. Isn't that left for a lower paying job, quote unquote. Yes. It was a demotion.

Yeah. And he took it to work on Trump's case. Yeah. Yeah yeah. No, no okay. These Democrats are amazing Julie in their mess. They're not amazing. Yeah. They're an amazing mess. And their ability to sit there and throw these kinds of questions at Pam Bondi and to do it with a straight face. That takes some something. Yeah.

It takes some skill of of it's a dark skill but it takes a skill to be able to do that. Yeah. It's fun. We didn't, we didn't play the audio or even hear the audio. But I've been watching the headlines underneath. And one of the lower third headlines was that Pam Bondi said there will be no enemies list at the DOJ.

And at that time Senator Whitehouse, Far-Left Democrat, was asking the questions and I I'm sure Pam Varney didn't answer this way because you have to have decorum and all of that. But I would have said, yeah, we aren't going to go after parents at school boards. Yeah. Meetings. We aren't going to jail our political opponents allies.

We aren't going to. Yeah. But that's how that would be, how I would answer it. But yeah, I like all of it. Hey, this is frustrating. It's a necessary evil. Yeah, it really is. Yeah. Got to jump through it. She's going to be fine. She's going to be fine. Elderly. It's 858 on Newstalk 107 nine hour two.

Coming up, we are going to open up the phone lines right now. You know what it's like drinking from a fire hose. We have Marco Rubio now who is in what appears to be the opening phases of his confirmation hearing as secretary of state, even though Marco Rubio's kind of a rock star, everybody likes him. I expect this is going to be very non-controversial.

So. So in fact, I think that might be the one that attracts some Democrat votes. So it's hard to oppose him for that hour. Our two just ahead on Newstalk 117, by the way. Thank you everyone so far for all of your birthday greetings. It's warm and my 52 year old heart today.

Well, in short, I think Pete have kicked our asses today. I mean, it wasn't even close. They didn't. And welcome back. It's our two Scott Jennings using a mild profanity to, size up Pete Headset's performance, which seems pretty accurate. Did. Well, I think Pam is doing fine, from what I can see so far. And, you know how I judge that, Julie?

Not from what I'm seeing or hearing, but from what? I'm not that if she stepped in it there, it'd be all over by now. The headlines would be blaring it. And so, in a sense, in a situation like this, no news is good news. So yeah, actually, I think it's been a little boring is what I wouldn't, say it's been.

Yes, I would too, which is great. Boring thing. I you're right. You had, Senator Lee asking a question of Pam Bondi and not that the Fourth Amendment is not important. Okay, don't get the wrong idea here. But he said it does have value. Tell us why when it comes to warrants, the fourth Amendment is so important.

And her answer was very sort of textbook lawyers protect the rights of the individual. And so, that can oh, this is, Mr. Coons, we got to listen to this. This guy's this guy is a kook. He's a male version of Mazie Hirono. Let's listen last week about our shared interest in fighting the opioid epidemic, countering human trafficking, criminal justice reform, and supporting law enforcement.

But I need to know that you share, a core value ensuring the Department of Justice remains free from partizan or political influence, in particular by the white House. So I look forward to our discussion about that today as Attorney general. If confirmed, who would be your client? My oath would be to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

The people of America would be my client now. It is also my job to advise the president. My client is the are the people of America. A simple question of constitutional interpretation. Is president elect Trump eligible to run for another term as president in 2028? No, Senator, not unless they change the Constitution. Thank you. One of the concerns I.

Why would he ask that? I know what he's talking about. This. What a wasted question. Nobody thinks that it's going to be different than this. Chris. Mazie Hirono Coons. Come on, man, is anybody other than the the far left kooky wing? Is anybody sitting there going, oh, Trump's going to try to run in 2028. Only the far left and I he really Senator Coons should have learned from these yesterday because that woman got drugged on social media last night.

I'm sure she did for just the way that she behaved, her inability to just calm down her like it was it was bad. Well, Julie, you had a Freudian earlier today. You called her Maisy Hormone. Oh, and I'm like, that is perfect. It is perfect. I feel like it's going to be that. That's going to be her last name every time I say it from here on out.

That's how I'm going to say her name from here on out. Maisy. Hormonal. A little more of this. Durbin's opening comments about, previous attorneys general, our former colleague, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, I don't think it's credible to say that it may never happen that the president elect would direct and unethical or illegal act.

I think both of those attorneys general have found themselves crosswise with the then president by doing things he didn't, welcome or approve of it. Just answer the question for me, if you would. I know you may not expect it. I know you wouldn't have accepted this nomination if you thought it possible, but let's imagine that once again, president elect Trump issues a director for order to you or to the FBI director that is outside the boundaries of ethics or law.

What will you do, Senator? I will never, speak on a hypothetical, especially one saying that the president would do something illegal. What I can tell you is my duty, if confirmed as the attorney general, will be to the Constitution and the United States of America. And the most important oath, part of that oath that I will take are the last four words.

So help me God. Given the importance of that oath, I hope you can understand the importance of repeated questions, from some of us about the importance of having independent in the Department of Justice. It has a long tradition of independent special prosecutors, especially to handle high profile or often political cases. If you got credible evidence of a criminal violation by a white House official, including even the president, would you bring in a special prosecutor?

Senator, that's a hypothetical I can tell you. What I do know is special prosecutors have been abused in the past on both sides. We have seen that for many, many years. They have cost the taxpayers countless dollars, countless. And I will look at each situation on a case by case basis and consult the appropriate career ethics officials within the department to make that decision.

Good answer, attorney General. Do you do you think special counsels need to be confirmed by the Senate? I think I will follow the law and I will consult with the. Okay, this is bizarre because you had Jack Smith. The whole reason that case got tossed is he didn't have authorization and the Democrats were all in on Jackson.

Yeah. What is going on here also what the guy that just coughed up a lung in the back I thought, I thought that's why she paused. I'm like, is that guy okay? I don't I don't know. His name is Senator John Jack a lot. He's from Hackensack. Yeah. His history raises some concerns for me. I think Chris Ray has done an outstanding job as FBI director at avoiding political pressure.

And although he was chosen by President Trump, he's being driven out so that he can be replaced. My perception I have not yet met with Mr. Patel. By a loyalist who has publicly said he will do what the president asks him, given that Attorney General Barr was asked to go find evidence of election interference and improprieties, went and looked for the evidence and said, I can't find any, and was then dismissed.

I'm just going to ask you one last time. Can you clarify for me that in following ethics in the law, you'd be willing to resign if ordered to do something improper? Senator, I wouldn't work at a law firm. I wouldn't be a prosecutor. I wouldn't be attorney general if anyone asked me to do something improper. And I felt I had to carry that out, of course, I would not do that.

That's one of the main things you learn when you're a young prosecutor is to do the right thing. And I believe that has continued with me throughout my very long career as we discussed protecting American invention and innovation, American intellectual property, is a real concern of mine and of several others on this committee. I look forward to talking with you about that pressing concern.

But the most important question I had for you today is whether you will be willing and able to stand up to politicization and interference in the Department of Justice. And I look forward to further clarification from you about the specifics of that. Thank you. Mr.. Okay. The abundance of projection that we have, it's kind of syrupy today.

Oh, it, it and when you look at Merrick Garland and his performance as attorney general under Joe Biden and all the garbage we've gone through with him, it's amazing that they sit there and they ask the questions that they do. Oh, John Kennedy asking questions. We got to hear this, is important to Americans, to America's criminal justice system.

Yes, Senator. Can we agree that legitimacy is important to the Department of Justice, which in part which in part administers our criminal justice system? Yes, Senator. And if, if Americans come to believe that our criminal justice system or our Department of Justice is acting illegitimately, that makes mere Americans less likely to accept the results of that system, does it not?

Yes, Senator. And that makes Americans less likely to follow the substantive watch that we passed that are administered by the Department of Justice. Isn't that true? Yes, Senator. And if that happens, we have chaos, don't we? Chaos. And the social contract is breached, isn't it? Yes. Do you remember a person by the name of Michael Avenatti? But yes.

Several years ago, he was a media star here. And in Washington. An attorney, correct? Yes. He was a media star. And many members of our media loved him because he persistently bashed Donald Trump. And he was on TV every day. He was on CNN more than Wolf Blitzer. Do you know where Mr. Avenatti is today?

I believe he's sitting in prison, Senator. He's in jail because he was a crook and the Department of Justice helped put in there. Yes, Senator.

Do you remember a gentleman by the name of, Sam Bankman-Fried? Yes, Senator Boygenius. So smart and so powerful that he thought he could, command the tides. So smart and so powerful and so rich that, he would go to meetings with serious people like Bill Clinton, like Tony Blair, looking like a slob, looking like, fourth runner up to a John Belushi lookalike contest.

And he thought it was cute. Where's Mr. Bankman-Fried today? I believe he is in prison. And I believe that's from the Netflix series I saw as well, because he's a crook. And who helped put him there? The Department of Justice. Senator Kim, we agreed that there's some really, really good men and women in the Department of Justice. Many, many great men and women in the Justice Department as well, Senator, as all the law enforcement agencies that fall within the Department of Justice.

They're out there risking their lives, especially the law enforcement officers, every single day. Can we agree, though, that there there have been and maybe today, some bad people at the Department of Justice? Yes, Senator, we don't know for sure, because for the last four years, the curtains there have been tightly drawn. But I think some a minority of people there had been legitimized.

America's criminal justice system the most destabilizing act that I saw in the past four years, maybe in the history of the department, is when Attorney General Garland decided on the basis of, dubious facts and untested legal theories to, criminally prosecuted former president of the United States. And and not only that, this is this is the special part.

He decided to do it after the former president of the United States had announced that he was going to run against Attorney General Garland's boss, didn't he? Senator, are you referring to going after a political opponent? I think so. Now, this is one person's opinion. That kind of stupid takes a plan. And and I say that because, number one, this is a miracle that it never happened before in America.

That's the sort of thing that happens in a country who's whose Powerball jackpot is 287 chickens and a goat. That doesn't happen here. And I call it stupid because it broke the seal. It broke the seal, it normalized it. There are a lot of ambitious prosecutors in America, Democrat and Republican. And I'll bet you right now there's some prosecutor and a particular state thinking about, well, maybe I ought to file criminal charges against President Biden's inner circle for conspiring to try to, to, conceal his mental decline.

And that's the road we're headed down, and you've got to fix it, counselor. You've got to fix it. And and here's who, in my judgment, what I would ask you to do find out who the bad guys are and the bad women and get rid of them. Find out who the good people are and lift them up. But do it on the basis of facts and evidence and fairness, because the temptation of some people is going to be they're going to tell you, look, two wrongs don't make a right, but they don't.

They do make it even. Don't resist or resist that temptation. Help us restore legitimacy to the Department of Justice. Thank you, Senator Sanders. That was masterful. So it's that that was such a great presentation by John Kennedy of what has been happening. And asking her to not let it keep happening. Yes, yes. So Blumenthal happens to be on this committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.

Yesterday, busy fella. So we get him two days in a row. Let's just check in. I don't know how much of this will carry, but responses and nonresponsive to the question that you've been asked today. You say the right things that you're going to be the people's lawyer. That's what you have to say to be here. But I believe being the people's lawyer means you have to be able to say no to the president.

United States, you have to speak truth to power. You have to be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. You dodged that question when you were asked directly by Senator Durbin. You have to be able to say that January 6th insurrectionists who committed violence shouldn't be pardoned. You have to be able. She didn't oversee either one of those investigations, so she doesn't have to speak to the truth that somebody else decided, right.

If she produces an independent investigation, and then that shows that there was absolutely no shenanigans that were going on in the 2020 election. If she actually gets all of the information instead of the theatrical version of January 6th, then she can speak truth to power. Yeah, but she's she's operating under the same thing that you and I are operating under, which is we believe those investigations were flawed.

Yeah, well, yes. Yeah. You're right. And I, I don't know what that has to do with her moving forward because those are in the past. That's not I don't understand how this is relevant to her ability to do the job moving forward. Okay. Look, let's let's localize this for a second. This would be like, when it was painfully obvious after several years that Christopher Tapp was not the person who had killed Angie Dodge.

Yeah. However, he had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for rape and murder. But you could have asked anyone in this area if he was guilty, most of them would have said no. Yeah, right. Okay. Now is the truth. The, the quote unquote truth was he had been convicted. It doesn't mean the investigation and that the trial had been done correctly.

That's right. That's a good point. And we're operating under the same thing here. Just because January 6th Committee put on a theatrical display and said that this is the truth. Well, I can say they absolutely put on a theatrical display and said, this is the truth. It doesn't mean I agree with it. Yeah, I believe it was a flawed investigation.

Yeah, yeah. Agreed. And someone just texted in and said, man, they're sure worried about the 2020 election and January 6th. And they really are. You look at this, they don't they want those to be closed cases. Clear cut narrative is now truth. And let's move forward. So they want her they want to corner her into defending some of their own shenanigans from their past.

So let's listen a little bit more. Is that a person who, appropriately should be the FBI director? Aren't those comments inappropriate? Shouldn't you disavow them and and ask him to recant them? Senator, I am not familiar with all those comments. I have not discussed his comments with Mr. Patel. What I do know. Well, I'm asking you. Excuse me.

What I do know is Mr. Patel was a career prosecutor. He was a career public defender defending people. And he also has great experience within the intelligence community. What I can sit here and tell you is, Mr. Patel, if he works with running the FBI, if he is confirmed and if I am confirmed, he will follow the law.

If I am the Attorney General of the United States of America, and I don't believe he would do anything otherwise. Well, let me just submit that the response that I would have hoped to hear from you is that those comments are inappropriate, and that you will ask him to disavow or recant them when he comes before this committee, because they are indeed chilling to their enforcement and the rule of law.

Let me ask you, that all you got? Yeah. Do you don't think it was chilling, chilling to parents who were told they will be put on domestic terrorist watch lists, lists if they go to school board meetings and and and give a, a recommendation that the school change the way they do something. Yeah. Well and and I find this interest they know they can't stop Pam Bondi.

She's qualified. She's going to get approved. But they're trying to extract sound bites that they can use in their future nomination hearings for for some of the other picks. Yes. So it's yeah, they're they're so they're trying to play a chess game, but they don't really understand the game all that well because they're up against an opponent that's better than them.

Right. Trying to play chess with checkers rules. Right. We know they're trying to play chess with a checker IQ. Yeah. There you go. We'll be back after this match on that front and I thank you I try I attempted to do that as well when I was attorney general, but I am committed to working with you on anything we can do to protect our children throughout this country.

When I was attorney general, we started something called from, instant message to Instant Nightmare and educating parents about online predators. And that also, Senator, is one of the core functions of the FBI, the cyber unit. They sit there, these these agents sit there all day long and investigate child predators. We tell parents constantly, you think you're talking to another child and you're and I'm going to interrupt you.

I welcome your positive response. I have one more question that I'm going to try to fit into this round. TikTok will be banned unless it is sold because it has become a tool for the Chinese to collect information and do surveillance and endanger our national security. Can you commit that you will enforce that law promptly and effectively?

And I ask this question because President Trump's pick for your solicitor general in the Department of Justice went to the United States Supreme Court arguing that the ban should be delayed. Will you commit to enforce that law on your first day when you work? And if you are, Senator, as I discussed with you during our meeting, that is pending litigation within the Department of Justice, well, it's pending litigation, but will you enforce that law?

I can't discuss pending litigation, but I will talk to all the career again, prosecutors who are handling the case. Absolutely. Senator Chuck, discuss with thank you. Thank you. Mr.. Senator Dallas, miss Bondi, thank you for being here. I think I told you when we met. Thank you for the time we met. I was born in Florida. Have a lot of friends and family and follow Florida politics pretty closely.

And you've had a very impressive, career there. Though I do also have to admit I'm a Gator hater. So for the Florida alum, I'm University of Tennessee. But anyway, I actually in some of these hearings, I created a bingo card to see what some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle we're going to head.

I want to go back to a few of them really quickly. One, was about you being a lobbyist paid for and on the payroll. You know, I would have answered Julie the question about 2020, I, I think I would have said something about having differing opinions about an election is part of your freedom as an American. We've created this arbitrary rule over the last four years that you can't question the 2020 election.

And if you do, you're you're somehow a felon adjacent. Like it, like it. That's the worst thing that you can do. And if questioning the outcome of an election is a crime, what's the statute of limitations? Because we've got a lot of previous elections to hash through and claims that other Democrats have made in the past? Yeah, it's happened on both sides.

Yeah, very much so. In fact, much more frequently. It's come from the Democrat Party questioning the outcome of a presidential election than, than, 2020. So, so also on the, the TikTok question. Yeah, I, I feel like there should have been some clarification by her there, which is that just because you passed a law, Senator, and you're demanding that this happens, doesn't mean that that law doesn't mean that that law meets up to legal pressures.

Yeah. So I can't answer your question until the Supreme Court rules, and then I will act accordingly, because my job is to uphold the law. My job is not to uphold what you voted on. Yes. Right. That's true. Or to uphold the Constitution. Your office to the Constitution. Yeah. So good point.

933 on Newstalk 1079 it's Neal Larsen along with Julie Mason, by the way. It has taken everything. I got to not grab this big birthday bag and dive into it. However, I'm going to wait until after the show and then we'll open up Julie's gift to me on Facebook. By the way, I've already gotten part of the the gift.

Julie bought me a breakfast burrito this morning, and a cookie and a big tall soda. So we go really early. If we go to get breakfast, it's really early. Yeah. And, we try to go somewhere local and different, and they still were not open. So we defaulted back to the gas station burrito. And it was it was fine.

It's actually a decent burrito. Yeah. With about the the ratio of halla pinos to burrito was about for every bite there was six jalapenos on the burrito. Okay, I have tried to tell Julie I don't want to be food shamed on my birthday. It was good, it was great. And I and I very much appreciate it and I look forward to opening it.

We'll see after the show. So again, we'll do that on on Facebook Live. But I hate to tell our, our listeners this, we've take another break real quick. Yeah. We went very long listening to, although I do want to say this point that I made to you during the break, Julie, because they asked the question, Blumenthal asked the question about 2020 and with the the yeah, the movie music behind it done to June 2020, questioning the outcome of an election is not insurrection.

Having questions about the legitimacy of an election is not insurrection. They're trying to equate the two and we all play armchair nominee in situations like this that if you had if you had Blumenthal thrown a question at you like that, how would you answer it? And I and I think Pam Bondi did fine. I it's not second guessing her, but if I put myself at that table in that moment, I think I would have said questioning the integrity of our election system is part of our American freedom.

We get to have different opinions, we get to see things different ways. And if we have concerns about elections, it's not our legal obligation to just shut up and stay silent. Look, we have this happening in Idaho. We have interviewed Secretary McGrane multiple times. Yeah, a couple of those interviews, not that awesome for him. He was pushed on Zucker Bucks.

He was. There was a lot of questioning. Even one of our most recent right before the election, we went over drop boxes again. Yeah. In Idaho, right. When you run a secure election, you're fine answering those questions. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. So why are you running Democrats? Wait, wait. You answer questions about the security of the election process?

Yeah. Let's have a full vetting and a full audit and a full a full, completely transparent view of 2020. Their expectations move on. I would also add to my comments, part two would be if questioning an election is akin to insurrection, the Democrats better hope there's a four year statute of limitations on it, because we could go back 30 plus years and they've been questioning elections and trying to stop the certification of electoral votes.

It's become a time honored tradition for the left. They actually didn't do it this last time around. And I think they they spoiled their opportunity to do it because they put so much rhetoric against Trump from the 2020 election that just politically, it wasn't feasible for them to oppose the electoral votes this time. Yeah, they'll go back to it.

They will be. Yeah, they will for sure. Okay. Let's let's break playing a little Duran Duran for my birthday, but we'll come back after the news break and continue on Newstalk 117. By the way, let's open up the phone lines if you'd like to join us on the program today. (208) 542-1079 it's the Stones Auto Group calling text line.

Okay, I haven't gotten the Crapo yet. We interviewed Crapo and he that this hearing was starting well during our interview and he's like, yeah, I've got to go right to this interview, but I haven't even seen him in any of the camera shots. There was a couple of empty seats. If you're looking at the TV, there was a couple of empty seats to the right of the, chairman of the committee, Senator Grassley.

I wondered if one of those was Crapo. There was probably three people and then two empty seats and then some more people. Hirono was on this one. Two. Oh, her monos here are mono unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature. No. Senator, have you ever face discipline or entered into a sermon relating to this kind of conduct?

No, Senator. Miss Fonda, I am focused on two things in my evaluation of President Trump's. She mixed up her notes somehow. She has headsets like this. She's never even been accused of anything sexual misconduct. Nature. Yeah. Loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to the president. Unfortunately, in my view, many of President Trump's president elect Trump's nominees are lacking in at least one of these two, requirements.

Miss Vanda, your experience as a prosecutor is the kind of thing we would expect to see in a nominee for attorney general, but I do have questions and concerns about potential conflicts of interest, about whether you will keep DOJ's law enforcement responsibilities independent of the president's political whims and about whether you will let facts and evidence guide your decisions.

So let's start with the importance of facts, which you say, is so important. Miss, why do we want an attorney general who bases decisions on facts? So I want to ask you a factual question. Who won the 2020 presidential election? Joe Biden is the president of the United States. Miss van, do you know that there is a difference between acknowledging it?

And, you know, I can say that Donald Trump won the 2024 election. I may not like it, but I can say it. You cannot say who won the 2020 presidential election in this disturbing the you can't.

Give voice to that fact. Moving on to, DOJ independence from politics. This body, if you are confirmed as attorney general, you will take an oath to the Constitution and not to any individual, including the president. To start, I'd like to know whether you agree with some of the statements president elect Trump made during the election and during the campaign.

First, are the felons convicted of breaking into the Capitol on January 6th? Hostages or patriots? Quoting the Trump as President elect, Trump has said repeatedly, do you agree with his characterization of the felons that I refer to? I am not familiar with that statement. You can't throw out a vague statement like that. Ask her if she agrees with it.

It's not even I didn't even quote it. She didn't even bother with it. Senator. No answer. He has also said illegal immigration or of chilis irritated by it and completely stand her. I'm entertained by her. She's funny. Like agree with that statement Senator. I am not an answer with that next question, not answer. What I can tell you is I went to the border a few months ago.

I went to Yuma, Arizona, and what I saw at that border was horrific. Senator. It was horrific. That's why I went to a rape crisis center. That is not my question. I went to a rape crisis center. Well, I'm not familiar with the statement, but I went to a rape crisis center. I met with the Border Patrol agents.

I'm sure you've been to the border. Well, I want to get to my next question. So, I believe that you responded to a question from Senator White House, and let me get your response again. You said that the white House, if I'm putting words in your mouth, correct me. Oh, you said that the white House will play no role in investigative or charging decisions in the DOJ.

Is that correct? Senator, what I said is that it is the Department of Justice's decision to determine what cases will be prosecuted. What role will the white House have in investigative or prosecutorial decisions of the DOJ? It is the Department of Justice's decision. Senator. So that sounds to me that you're saying that the white House will not have any kind of role.

Meanwhile. All right, it's 943 on Newstalk 179, Neal Larson and Julie Mason. And, we got to we got a lot to do in a short amount of time here. Julie. Grand peace, prime mates. That's the place you want to go. Just, you can go online. GP Prime means.com. And if you go to their, little shop where they do all the, all the work there themselves, it's just off for all in debt in Idaho Falls.

I forget the actual address, but I'll find it while you talk about how great they are. Okay, so it's really fun to stop by first off, because they're so good at customer service, they're going to totally take care of you. The second reason to stop by their little shop is because, you you you want to look at me with me saying things that you didn't think that they have.

What I mean by that is they've got a cooler set up there and you're you're going to see, like, orders waiting for people. Most coolers you you be like, oh, I didn't know I could order that. I didn't know that was a possibility. That's the beauty of going to a regional butcher shop, is that you get treated like you're important instead of one of the masses.

You know, you get to actually define what you're looking for, for your meals, for your for your menus that you're cultivating. And grand Peaks can help you with that. And Bob and Amy do such a great job there. 530 West 20th is their address, just kind of west of rolling at their. But what a block or so. And yeah, it is it's great.

And it's statements like that had some of the steak this week. Really good will continue to lose. Okay. Have you had anything bad. No I can say that I that is 100% accurate. Everything that we've gotten which we've tried lots of different lists. Yeah. So guys yeah GP primates.com okay. Oh well we lost our previous caller. Let's go to this caller.

Welcome to the show. How are you today. You said good morning. When we publicly at the white House. How are you the Department of Justice. The process. Good morning prosecutor. Good morning. The bad ones, the investigators. What's on your mind today, Miss Bondi? Is Jack Smith one of those? I'm not sure if you're getting ready to prosecute and.

Oh, hi, Senator. You hesitated when I said that a happy birthday to you. Well, thank you, holder. I appreciate all the Jack Smith Professional radio. We love the people you over the years. Cheney it's thriving. Yeah. Oh. Thank you. That's, very kind of you and I, I, I appreciate that you may have been trying to message us online where we get so many messages, and it's hard to respond to all of them while we're on this show.

So maybe that's why you've sent messages and haven't heard anything back. But, but thank you very much, Martin. And I know you've been a long, long time listener, and we really appreciate our loyal listeners like that. Well, I appreciate you, folks. Thank you. Thank you. (208) 542-1078 all. Happy birthday Neal. Well thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

It's 52. It's not hard. It's like, my ten year birthdays that I don't know what they had bothered me. I will say that 50 wasn't bad. I don't think that's weird. You're your calendar person. I am. I think that people are designed that way, that the they're they like, track their life according to the beginning of the month or the holiday season or the year that it is.

It's just it's just part of who you are. Kind of how I'm I'm. Yeah, I guess I, I'm actually trying to unwind that because age is sort of a weird thing when when you think about it, it it's only telling you how many times you've been around the sun. Right. But if you live in the present you're not really any age, you're just two, you are in this moment.

Yeah. I think there's always the capability to make what's coming up better than what's behind you. Yeah I think sometimes people treat birthdays like finality, like it's 52. It's only going downhill from here on. Don't, don't. Yeah, yeah. And when you live in the present, you have the ability to. Yeah. Make sure that every, every day is better than the day before.

Every moment can be magic. Let's go to the next call. Hi. Welcome to the show. How are you today? If you look at the pediment of the Supreme Court of the year. And it's good to have you on. Oh, go ahead, you're on. I'm here, I'm here. Your radio in the background. You need to turn down your radio.

You should be able. Are you hearing okay now? No, no. We're good, we're good, we're good. Now it's time to clean up. Yeah. First off, you know, I wanted to say happy birthday to you, Neal. And, I want to thank you guys for playing the portions of those hearings that you have so far today.

I gotta love Senator Kennedy. He is absolutely the gift that keeps on giving. So perfect guy to have on on your birthday. He is absolutely hilarious. Yes, I, I'm going to remember that the fourth runner up in a John Belushi lookalike contest that was the best. Oh, that he's he's just incredible. I would love to have seen the look on Pam Bond his face when he said that.

But I got to say, the Joker before Kennedy, whose name I can't remember and Durbin listening to their line of questioning, they could have simplified their questioning to Pam Bobby by just saying, do you promise not to run the Department of Justice the way it's been ran for the last four years because their their questions absolutely were incriminating to what has happened during the Biden administration when it comes to how injustice has been the focus of the Justice Department?

Yeah, it's just I don't know how she I would I wouldn't survive a hearing because if I was in her shoes, I would have put that right back to them the way I just said it to you guys. And I probably would have been less polite because I wouldn't have been on the radio. But I, I just I'm just amazed that we have states that keep sending those caliber of people back to Washington, DC to represent them.

I just I will never understand how folks let that happen in their states. Yeah, you guys are U.S. senators. It just it's just remarkable. Yeah, yeah, it really is. Thank you for the call. Like I appreciate it. It's gratifying to hear that someone also plays arm chair nominee. Yeah. And and deciding how they because I sit here and I and you you know she doesn't have the luxury of crafting and re crafting like we we do.

But but I think a lot of the questions I would have answered, yes, I will discontinue Attorney General Merrick's policy. That would be good. I and those those are my instinctive and reflexive responses. And that's why I would never get elected. Yeah, we're in the same boat. Yeah, yeah. You guys have a good day. Thanks again. Thank you for the call.

Or you could be a little more subtle about it and say, yes, I will discontinue that policy. Yeah. You you wouldn't have to throw his name in there. But he could have said I'll just discontinue what has been done in the past. Yes. Yeah. All right. 208542107. And you know they may stop asking those kinds of questions if that's contained in the answer.

Yeah. If that's what she's throwing at them. Yes. Again (208) 542-1079 we do have one more break to take here in a couple of minutes, but if you'd like to jump on, you can, right now we have Ted Cruz asking Pam Bondi some questions. President Trump's personal lawyer. Not now. I don't believe that is is an accurate characterization.

As I understand it, you represented President Trump as a white House special adviser during his first impeachment trial. Is that correct? Within office of White House counsel? Yes, Senator. And is is working within the white House counsel's office different than representing Donald J. Trump individually as his personal lawyer? Absolutely. How is it different? You're working for the government.

You're working for the Office of White House counsel. You're not representing him in his personal capacity. And so you have not represented him in his business affairs, in his personal life, or in any of the criminal trials he has faced. No, senator. And, you know, when it comes to weaponization, it's worth noting that in more than two centuries of our nation's history, no president had previously been indicted.

No president had previously been prosecuted until the Biden-Harris white House came along. And in the last four years, we've seen Donald Trump indicted and prosecuted not once, not twice, not three times, but four separate times and two assassination attempts. Senator, I had to say Javert from la miz would be chagrined at the efforts of Democrats to do anything possible to take him down.

And I believe the real target in this was not President Trump, but it was the American people that these prosecutions were brought because Partizan prosecutors were terrified that the American people would do exactly what they did in November of 2024 and vote to reelect Donald J. Trump by 77.3% million Americans, 77.3 million Americans.

All right. Oh, we got a cutaway there. We do it under time constraints. Just doing good. I actually think she's gotten a little bit more, Bold. Yeah, I think is that she's got just a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more bold as the hearings got on. Yeah, I think so, too. She seems more at ease than she was an hour ago.

We'll be back to this.

I like her, I think she's she's to. It's. This is going to be great. They're breaking right now, so you get to go potty. That's what they're saying? No, they said the Nielsen show's over, so we might as well just end the hearing. No response from Julie. I was just thinking, can you even imagine being attacked by those photographers like that?

Like. No. I can't, not at all. Yeah. I wonder how, Marco Rubio stunt. Is it over? Did it go that fast? It may, because there could have been some senators who said, I just don't have any questions for Senator Rubio. I don't I don't see anymore, you know. Picture in picture shots of him. So also I don't understand who designs what rules for what committee because some committees question for five minutes.

Yeah. Some committees question for seven minutes. You know there may be four non cabinet picks. It's different maybe. And cabinet picks gets seven minutes. Non cabinet picks get five I think. Yeah I don't know. And maybe it's just up to the chair. Yeah. Maybe the committee decides. Yeah I don't know. Yeah. Let's see what Turley saying about it.

Colleagues and said you know you seem to be ignoring what we just went through. But in this case, Vonda has made clear that she has no intention of doing that. They pressed her on this enemies list that nobody has seen. What is most interesting is they're sort of turning this, into a hearing for Patel. That is, they keep telling people you're right about to speak against.

Yeah, they keep on trying to get her to to do some work against Patel. I want to get to something. And and perhaps this is kind of touching on what you mean. The back and forth between Democrat Senator Dick Blumenthal and Pam Bondi. Watch this. I have to say, also really troubled, deeply disturbed by some of your responses and non responses to the question that you've been asked today, but you have to be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

You dodged that. Why do you have to be able to say that? You don't have to say that it's not part of her job, right. That's I don't understand why he's creating an arbitrary requirement that she has to say something. Yeah, say these things. No, I don't I sit up here and speak the truth. I'm not going to sit up here and say anything that I need to say to get confirmed by this body.

I don't have to say anything. I will answer the questions to the best of my ability. Good for her. Yeah. No flinching there Karen. Yeah I think Pam body is knocking it out of the park. And I think a large reason for that is not just because she's handled as she said, thousands of cases handled hundreds of jury trials.

It's because she was see dealing I can never be a nominee because I would have said so Senator. You're telling me what I have to say. Like you just said, you have to say are you telling me what I have to say. Yeah. Some of these senators act like they're actually God and they make the rules of everything.

Yeah. You pass legislation, you pass laws. You you balance budgets. Yeah. Well poorly. But you they don't. But yes that's your job. And yeah you don't get to decide certain levels if that's how this, this government worked. We just have senators. That's it. There wouldn't be these positions. We were talking about these positions. Yeah, yeah. No it's true.

That's true. Okay. Hold on. Here we go.

958 on cue, the hearing broke. They have not gotten through all of the senators because Senator Crapo sits on that committee. There's been no questioning from him yet. And I'm certain there other senators have who have not had a chance. So they're just going to take a break. It is lunchtime in Washington right now. So, is that right?

Yeah, yeah, it's noon there. So, anyway, I want to thank everyone the birthday wishes today have poured in on the text on Facebook. I've gotten some texts from people and, you make a guy, feel left who, you know, doesn't always deserve it. So I appreciate your, kind thoughts and words very much. And join us on Facebook Live here momentarily.

I'm going to open up Julie's gift to me. So there we go. All right. Julie and I will be back tomorrow right here on Newstalk 117 with plenty to talk about.