Transcription
THAN EVEN WE THOUGHT.
A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, WHICH IS QUITE INTERESTING. SO THAT'S I MEAN, PART OF THE STORY.
ANYWAY, NEVER A DULL MOMENT. CHRIS, I'LL TALK TO YOU TOMORROW. SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT.
OKAY.
SO ONE OF THE THINGS WITH ALL OF THIS NEWS AND ALL THE THINGS WE'VE BEEN COVERING ABOUT DONALD TRUMP FOR THE LAST DECADE PLUS, THAT I WOULD NOTE IS THAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD AT LYING. THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A THING HE IS GOOD AT. I MEAN, THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM IN MAGA LAND, AT LEAST, IS THAT IF TRUMP DOESN'T LIKE SOMETHING, WHETHER IT'S A STATISTIC OR AN IMMUTABLE LAW OF PHYSICS, HE CAN JUST SAY IT'S FAKE. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND EVENTUALLY THE THEORY IS IT WILL GO AWAY.
I WOULD NOT HAVE NECESSARILY PREDICTED THAT.
THE EPSTEIN FILES. I DIDN'T PREDICT AT ALL. I WOULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT THIS AT ALL.
THAT THE EPSTEIN FILES WOULD BE THE ISSUE THAT CAUGHT HIM UP IN HIS OWN BLATANT LIES, TO A POINT WHERE IT SEEMS TO BE ONE OF HIS BIGGEST PROBLEMS. BUT EIGHT MONTHS INTO HIS SECOND TERM, HE IS HAVING A VERY HARD TIME EXPLAINING HIMSELF.
I MEAN, YESTERDAY WE FINALLY GOT THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED EPSTEIN BIRTHDAY BOOK. I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT IT WITH CHRIS. THE ONE THAT WAS FIRST REPORTED ON BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BACK IN JULY. THAT WAS SAID TO INCLUDE, AT THE TIME, A BODY LETTER FROM TRUMP TO EPSTEIN, WHICH WE... AND TRUMP WAS SO FURIOUS, REMEMBER THAT A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO ABOUT THAT REPORTING THAT HE IMMEDIATELY SUED ITS PARENT COMPANY FOR DEFAMATION, DECLARING IN OPEN COURT THAT THAT BIRTHDAY LETTER DID NOT EXIST.
WELL, TURNS OUT, AS WE ALL BASICALLY ALL OF YOU WATCHING WOULD HAVE PREDICTED, WE KNEW THAT WOULD BE THE CASE. ALL ALONG. THE LETTER DEFINITELY DOES EXIST.
AS DO A WHOLE BUNCH OF OTHER CREEPY LETTERS TO EPSTEIN THAT WERE COMPILED IN THAT BIRTHDAY BOOK.
NOW, I SHOULD WARN YOU, MANY OF THE 200 PLUS PAGES, WHICH WERE CONTRIBUTED BY EPSTEIN'S FRIENDS, ALLUDE TO HIS LIFESTYLE WITH LEWD REFERENCES AND SUGGESTIVE IMAGES AND INCREDIBLY CRUDE AND DISGUSTING JOKES.
I MEAN, FOR EXAMPLE, ONE CONTRIBUTOR EXPRESSES BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO DEGENERATE ONE, SAYING SO MANY GIRLS, SO LITTLE TIME. ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR WROTE A POEM NOTING THAT DESPITE BEING AN OUTRAGE TO PUBLIC DECENCY, EPSTEIN HAD AVOIDED THE PENITENTIARY. ONE PAGE SEEMS TO REFERENCE HIS LIFESTYLE THROUGH CLIP ART, DEPICTING HIS PLANE AND WOMEN IN SWIMWEAR. YOU CAN SEE THAT ON THE SCREEN. A LITTLE BIZARRE BIRTHDAY NOTE THERE.
THEN THERE IS THIS PARTICULARLY CREEPY ILLUSTRATION ON THE SCREEN RIGHT NOW, APPEARING TO SHOW EPSTEIN GIVING CANDY AND BALLOONS TO FEMALE CHILDREN IN 1983, AND THEN RECEIVING MASSAGES AND OTHER THINGS APPARENTLY FROM THOSE SAME GIRLS 20 YEARS LATER. DISGUSTING.
NOW, TAKEN TOGETHER, THEY SUGGEST, OF COURSE, ALL OF THIS STUFF. THESE WERE ALL BIRTHDAY NOTES TO THE SAME GUY, SUGGESTS THAT HIS BEHAVIOR WAS A VERY OPEN SECRET. I THINK WE ALL KNOW THAT BY NOW.
AND IT WAS AMONG THOSE HORRIFYING PAGES THAT WE SAW THIS BIRTHDAY MESSAGE APPEARING, EXACTLY AS IT WAS FIRST DESCRIBED BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BEARING TRUMP'S VERY DISTINCTIVE SIGNATURE.
AND SO TRUMP, WHO CONFIDENTLY TOLD THE WORLD THAT THIS DRAWING DID NOT EXIST, OF COURSE, CHANGED HIS TUNE. I MEAN, IMMEDIATELY THE WHITE HOUSE AND ITS ALLIES STARTED PUSHING A NEW CLAIM. NOW THEY SAY THAT IT'S NOT THE LETTER THAT IS FAKE, BUT TRUMP'S SIGNATURE ON THE LETTER THAT IS FAKE.
MAYBE THEY SAT IN A MEETING AND DISCUSSED THAT WAS THE THING THEY SHOULD SAY. WHO KNOWS?
NEVER MIND THE FACT THAT THERE ARE MULTIPLE, NEARLY IDENTICAL EXAMPLES OF TRUMP'S SIGNATURE ON LETTERS HE ASSIGNED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. SO YOU CAN SEE THEM ALL ON THE SCREEN, INCLUDING ONES HE HIMSELF PUBLISHED IN A BOOK CALLED "LETTERS TO TRUMP." WHO KNEW WHEN HE HAD THAT BOOK PUT OUT, IT WOULD BE SO APT TODAY.
NOW, TRUMP'S CLAIM THAT THIS SIGNATURE WAS FAKE WAS SO OBVIOUSLY FARFETCHED THAT BY THIS MORNING, EVEN TRUMP HIMSELF APPEARED TO HAVE GIVEN UP SELLING THAT PARTICULAR STORYLINE. WHEN REACHED BY NBC NEWS, TRUMP DID SOMETHING HE ALMOST NEVER DOES, RARELY CAN BARELY COUNT HOW MANY TIMES HE'S DONE IT. HE GAVE A RARE NO COMMENT. BASICALLY, HE SAID, QUOTE, "I DON'T COMMENT ON SOMETHING THAT'S A DEAD ISSUE." AS IF SAYING IT'S A DEAD ISSUE MEANS IT'S A DEAD ISSUE. BUT CLEARLY THE ISSUE IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE, BECAUSE BY THIS EVENING, TRUMP WAS BACK TO DENYING THAT HE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT.
"GOT MY SIGNATURE. AND IT'S NOT THE WAY I SPEAK, AND ANYBODY THAT'S COVERED ME FOR A LONG TIME KNOW THAT'S NOT MY LANGUAGE. IT'S NONSENSE. AND FRANKLY, YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME."
I MEAN, LOOK AT J.D. VANCE IN THAT WHOLE VIDEO THERE ANYWAY.
AND NOW, AS IMPLAUSIBLE AS IT MAY BE, THAT FAKED SIGNATURE THEORY HAS BECOME KIND OF THE OFFICIAL PARTY LINE. AND WHAT I SEE IS NOT A SIGNATURE. I'VE SEEN DONALD TRUMP SIGN A MILLION THINGS. THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE HIS SIGNATURE TO YOU?
NOPE.
WELL, I DON'T KNOW. I MEAN, ANYBODY CAN DO A SIGNATURE. SO YOU THINK SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE JUST FORGED THIS SOMEHOW?
YEAH. I MEAN, SOMEHOW IT'S SO EASY TO DO. I THINK THE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A DISPUTE ABOUT WHETHER THAT'S REALLY A SIGNATURE. SO, I MEAN, RIGHT NOW IT'S JUST GOING TO BE THAT'S GOING TO BE ARGUED BACK AND FORTH.
SO YOU'RE JUST GOING TO TAKE THE PRESIDENT AT HIS WORD THAT HE... THIS... WHAT IS IT? WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING THE PRESIDENT SAYS? IT'S NOT I TAKE THE PRESIDENT'S WORD.
WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?
YES. WELL, IT HAS TO DO WITH A LOT OF THINGS. I MEAN, LET'S JUST GAIN THIS OUT HERE FOR A SECOND. THE THEORY JAMES COMER'S REFERENCING IS THAT 22 YEARS AGO, WHEN DONALD TRUMP WAS STILL A DEMOCRAT, SENDING TEXT TO HILLARY CLINTON, OF ALL PEOPLE, BY THE WAY, WHEN TRUMP AND EPSTEIN WERE STILL FRIENDS WHO PARTIED OPENLY TOGETHER AT MAR-A-LAGO, AND BEFORE JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S CRIMES BECAME KNOWN TO THE PUBLIC, SOMEONE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE HAD THE FORESIGHT TO FAKE TRUMP'S SIGNATURE AND THEN INCLUDE IT IN A BOOK TO HIS CLOSE FRIEND IN THE HOPES THAT IT WOULD DAMAGE HIS REPUTATION WHEN HE WAS MIRACULOUSLY SITTING IN THE OVAL OFFICE 22 YEARS LATER.
WHICH NOBODY ON THE PLANET PREDICTED. WHY WOULD ANYONE BELIEVE THAT THEY WOULDN'T? I MEAN, TRUMP'S CLAIM THAT THIS IS ALL FAKE AS WELL IS PRETTY LAUGHABLE. BUT FRANKLY, THAT'S TO BE EXPECTED WITH THIS GUY. WE KNOW BECAUSE ANYTIME HE ENCOUNTERS A STORY HE DOESN'T LIKE, HE REFLEXIVELY CALLS IT FAKE. AND THOSE CLAIMS ARE FAKE. AND THOSE CLAIMS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY LUDICROUS.
I MEAN, IN AUGUST, TRUMP FIRED THE HEAD OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. REMEMBER THAT? A NERDY CAREER DATA EXPERT CLAIMING THAT SHE HAD SOMEHOW FAKED THAT NUMBERS JOBS, THAT MONTH'S JOBS NUMBERS TO MAKE HIM LOOK BAD? OF COURSE, HE PROVIDED ZERO EVIDENCE OF THAT, AND THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF. AND THEN GUESS WHAT? AFTER SHE WAS FIRED, THE JOBS NUMBERS CONTINUED TO SHOW THE SAME DOWNWARD TREND.
SO IF YOU FOLLOW THIS TRUMP CONSPIRACY, THE BLS COMMISSIONER MANIPULATED DATA TO MAKE HIM LOOK BAD. AND THEN EVEN AFTER HE FIRED HER, THE NEW DATA THAT ALSO MAKES HIM LOOK BAD IS SOMEHOW STILL HER FAULT. TRUMP'S THEORY IS THAT THE BLS COMMISSIONER MANIPULATED DATA TO MAKE HIM LOOK BAD, AND THEN AFTER HE FIRED HER. YEAH, AGAIN, THIS IS A CRAZY THEORY. SURELY TOTALLY SOUNDS LOGICAL. NO. IT'S THE SAME THING WITH CRIME DATA.
THIS IS WHAT HE DOES OVER AND OVER AGAIN. TRUMP WANTS EVERYONE TO BELIEVE THAT CRIME IS ON THE RISE, SO THAT HE CAN JUSTIFY SENDING TROOPS INTO AMERICAN CITIES LIKE HERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., LIKE CHICAGO, LIKE BALTIMORE. BUT CRIME IS ACTUALLY FALLING IN THOSE CITIES. AND SO TRUMP NOW CLAIMS THAT THE POLICE ARE MANIPULATING THE CRIME RATE, ACCUSING THEM OF GIVING OUT PHONY CRIME STATS, IS WHAT HE CALLS IT. HE EVEN ORDERED THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER POLICE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. ARE FALSIFYING THOSE CRIME STATISTICS IN AN ATTEMPT TO CLAIM THAT HIS D.C. TAKEOVER HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL. TRUMP NOW APPEARS TO BE MAKING THE SAME DISGUSTING CLAIM THAT D.C. POLICE ARE EXAGGERATING CASES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO MAKE HIM LOOK BAD.
"THEY SAID CRIME IS DOWN 87%. I SAID NO, NO, NO, IT'S MORE THAN 87%. VIRTUALLY NOTHING. AND MUCH LESSER THINGS, THINGS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THE HOME THEY CALL CRIME, YOU KNOW, THEY'LL DO ANYTHING THEY CAN TO FIND SOMETHING. IF A MAN HAS A LITTLE FIGHT WITH THE WIFE, THEY SAY THIS WAS A CRIME. SEE? SO NOW I CAN'T CLAIM 100%. BUT WE ARE WE ARE A SAFE CITY."
WITH ALL THE THINGS THAT MAN DOES, HAS DONE, HE SAYS THAT OUT LOUD. I MEAN, WHEN IT COMES TO HIS LIES, THOUGH, NO CLAIM IS TOO OUTLANDISH. WE KNOW THAT THE SIGNATURE IN THAT EPSTEIN BOOK IS FAKE. THE CRIME DATA IS PHONY. THE ECONOMIC DATA IS BOGUS. HE WILL CONTORT REALITY IN ANY WAY HE CAN TO TRY TO MAKE HIMSELF LOOK BETTER. WE KNOW THAT, AND IT'S BLATANT AND OBVIOUS.
LIES AREN'T JUST ABOUT PROTECTING HIS FRAGILE EGO. THAT'S PART OF IT. HE ALSO USES THEM TO TARGET HIS ENEMIES. I MEAN, FOR MONTHS NOW, TRUMP HAS BEEN ATTACKING POLITICIANS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HE DOES NOT LIKE WITH FARFETCHED ACCUSATIONS OF MORTGAGE FRAUD. IT'S ONE OF HIS FAVORITE THINGS HE LIKES TO DO TO JUSTIFY THOSE CLAIMS. TRUMP HAS BEEN RELYING ON HIS HAND-PICKED DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY, A GUY NAMED BILL PULTE. IN JUST THE LAST FEW MONTHS, PULTE HAS ACCUSED NEW YORK'S DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MORTGAGE FRAUD. HE'S ACCUSED DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ADAM SCHIFF OF MORTGAGE FRAUD, AND HE'S ACCUSED FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD CHAIR LISA COOK OF MORTGAGE FRAUD, WHICH TRUMP USED AS JUSTIFICATION IN HIS ATTEMPT TO FIRE HER.
NOW, THROUGHOUT ALL OF THAT, PULTE HAS CLAIMED HE IS JUST A MORTGAGE FRAUD AVENGER AND THAT HE WILL INVESTIGATE ANYONE, NO MATTER THEIR POLITICAL PARTY. HE JUST WANTS TO CRACK DOWN ON MORTGAGE FRAUD. BUT REPORTERS HAVE TURNED UP SEVERAL INSTANCES OF EERILY SIMILAR, WITH SOME SOUNDING, AT LEAST ON THE SURFACE, WORSE, EXAMPLES OF MORTGAGE FILING ERRORS FROM REPUBLICANS, NONE OF WHOM ARE BEING INVESTIGATED.
FIRST, IT WAS TEXAS'S TRUMP-SUPPORTING ATTORNEY GENERAL, KEN PAXTON, WHO CLAIMS THREE RESIDENCES AS HIS PRIMARY RESIDENCE. THEN IT WAS THREE DIFFERENT MEMBERS, THREE DIFFERENT ONES OF TRUMP'S OWN CABINET, WHO ALL HAVE CONCURRENT PRIMARY RESIDENCE MORTGAGES ON MULTIPLE HOMES. OVER THE WEEKEND, REUTERS EVEN MANAGED TO OBTAIN MORTGAGE RECORDS FOR BILL PULTE'S OWN FATHER AND STEPMOTHER, WHO AND I LOVE THIS DETAIL, APPEARED TO HAVE DECLARED PRIMARY RESIDENCES IN TWO DIFFERENT HOMES, WHICH SOUNDS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE WHAT HE IS CALLING MORTGAGE FRAUD WHEN IT COMES TO DEMOCRATS.
BUT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS NOT ANNOUNCED INVESTIGATIONS INTO ANY OF THOSE OFFICIALS, AND CERTAINLY NOT, OF COURSE, PULTE'S OWN FAMILY AT ALL.
TODAY, THE LAWYER REPRESENTING ADAM SCHIFF IN HIS MORTGAGE FRAUD CASE PUSHED BACK FORCEFULLY, TELLING THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THAT, WELL, THERE IS NO FACTUAL BASIS FOR INVESTIGATING ADAM SCHIFF. THERE IS AMPLE BASIS TO LAUNCH AN INVESTIGATION INTO BILL PULTE FOR WEAPONIZING CLAIMS OF MORTGAGE FRAUD. AND WHILE I DOUBT WE SHOULD ALL DOUBT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS ABOUT TO LAUNCH AN INVESTIGATION OF TRUMP'S OWN APPOINTEES, THAT KIND OF PUSHBACK STILL MATTERS, BECAUSE TRUMP'S ATTEMPTS TO WARP REALITY ISN'T JUST ABOUT REPEATING LIES. IT'S ALSO ABOUT INTIMIDATING ANYBODY WHO MIGHT EXPOSE THOSE LIES AND HOLD TRUMP ACCOUNTABLE TO THE FACT-BASED REALITY THE REST OF US LIVE IN. PEOPLE LIKE ADAM SCHIFF, WHO HOLD TRUMP ACCOUNTABLE DURING HIS FIRST IMPEACHMENT AND WHO DID IT AGAIN AS A MEMBER OF THE JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE AND WHO IS NOW A UNITED STATES SENATOR.