DA Alvin Bragg presses Trump.

0:00 Speaker 1 What is today is, Anthony Wiener, we need to get the opinion of the other side. What the heck is going on in our city, a state, a country in the world. Anthony Wiener, you were a congressman for how many years?

0:13 Speaker 2 About the thirteen years?

0:14 Speaker 1 Thirteen years, so you you got to know Washington a lot. And one of my opinions lately has been and maybe you could respond to that Washington has been become even broken broken or is that a word check Webtions Dictionary broken er in the last ten years or something for fifteen.

0:36 Speaker 3 It seems like it’s gotten worse. You know, people sometimes stay to me, do you miss Washington? I have to tell you I don’t, because it’s no longer a place you go to get stuff done, because the two sides are so etched in this permanent state of warfare. You know, we used to reward to some degree, this group of

0:51 members of Congress who would get together and work out deals on stuff. But increasingly more and more members of Congress are getting elected campaigning on the idea of blowing the whole place up, like this idea that they don’t come to Washington thinking that they want to get stuff done, They just want to stop anything from happening, and that’s problematic.

1:08 Speaker 2 I mean, ultimately, I.

1:09 Speaker 3 Think the voters are going to start rewarding people who take more of a practical approach to these things and the less ideological approach.

1:16 Speaker 2 At least that’s my hope.

1:19 Speaker 1 The other thing that bothers being Washington. In the old days when you were there, I think President Bill Clinton and now Kingridge, they didn’t like each other to keep telling you a story over and over, but they work together as Americans to get things done. Yeah, I mean, but it doesn’t happen anymore.

1:37 Speaker 3 You’re exactly right, because if you think about the imperatives, look at who you know, back in the day, Tip O’Neil, nut Gingrich, whatever. They had their firebrands on the on the left and the right, but they could they had enough strength and had enough base in the middle to be able to push them off. They say, listen, I

1:53 can’t you know, I’m going to make this deal with the president. And the president’s case, he ran kind of as a centrist. It’s very different now. But you know, to some degree, look at who Kevin McCarthy owes his speakership too, not the centrist guys. He owes it to the real fringe guy, so he can’t afford to make

2:09 a single move towards the middle. But it’s another thing that’s happened that’s different. And I think what you do on the station, you know, I have a show called the Middle on Saturdays. The idea of amplifying voices of people who say, I’m not going to fight with you, I’m going to try to.

2:22 Speaker 2 Work with you. That doesn’t happen anymore.

2:24 Speaker 3 Social media now drills people into their lane, keeps them there, and no one ever comes.

2:29 Speaker 2 Up to you and stays on the street.

2:30 Speaker 3 When you’re a politician, hey, I voted few because I want you to go and compromise. They say, I vote a few because I want you to go and fight. But you need to give the politicians the muscle that if they do compromise, they can go back to their constituents and explain why understood.

2:43 Speaker 1 And it just it seems like, and I hate to say it, there’s a forced sale sign in Washington. Whether it’s the senators or whether it’s the congress people, or whether it’s the executive Ugh, I mean it seems like money.

3:03 Speaker 3 Rules the Yeah, the rust, Well that’s true. Look, money is increasingly grown.

3:09 Speaker 2 Is an influence.

3:10 Speaker 3 You know. I one of the first times I met you is when I came as a congressman later on a Marrow candidate and ask for your.

3:15 Speaker 2 Support, and you are the rare conversation.

3:18 Speaker 3 You didn’t say I’ll do it, but here’s the three things that I’m super interested and I want you to go do. You said, go out and use your best judgment. We became friends over that.

3:26 Speaker 2 More often than besides. You’re a Brooklyn tech guy totally, That’s exactly.

3:29 Speaker 1 And Brooklyn tech guys always have an open door.

3:33 Speaker 2 That’s why we stick together.

3:34 Speaker 3 But nowadays politicians spent hours and hours and hours on the phone calling up I mean special interest sounds like a dirty word, but it’s people that have a very narrow.

3:43 Speaker 2 Interest and a lot of them are business interests.

3:45 Speaker 3 And to some degree, Supreme Court decisions have left this open. You know, I think that it’s completely reasonable to say we should have full transparency. Look, Republicans are upset about George Soros, Democrats are upset about the Koch brothers.

3:58 Speaker 2 I say, we both shake hands on the I did don’t let anyone.

4:01 Speaker 3 Make dark money contributions that we don’t know where it came from to influence politics.

4:04 Speaker 2 Get them both out of it, sorrows and co.

4:07 Speaker 1 Well, I agree, but you know what, I agree even more the foreign money on both sides. Now, there’s no fire that there is foreign money Anthony. That’s anthony. I know the fact. I know there’s foreign money coming in.

4:22 And do your own research, you know what. You know what I said to you, do your own research.

4:26 Speaker 3 Hey, but I’m I was a politician for decades. I was on the other side of those phone calls desperately for ten years. If you accept a contribution from a foreign entity, you go to prison.

4:39 Speaker 2 It doesn’t happen.

4:40 Speaker 1 Well, suppose a foreign entity is contributing to a pack.

4:44 Speaker 3 Foreign ery is contributed in a pack. Someone’s gonna go to prison for that.

4:46 Speaker 1 Well, that’s somebody. Has anybody Has anybody ever gone to PRIs.

4:51 Speaker 2 We we we have.

4:52 Speaker 3 We have investigations and indictments all the time about money. As a matter of fact, Donald Trump, you know, had a problem with one of his donors that was and people.

5:00 Speaker 2 Look, I’m not saying that people.

5:02 Speaker 3 Don’t sometimes accidentally make a contribution, not supposed to do, they’re not a citizen whatever.

5:06 Speaker 1 But not a system.

5:07 Speaker 2 It is not a system, because here’s here’s the altar, now the ultimate anything.

5:11 Speaker 1 I hope you’re right the ultimately, I pray you’re right.

5:14 Speaker 2 No, but I tell you here’s the thing.

5:15 Speaker 1 Are you Are you saying to me the Saudis are not.

5:17 Speaker 2 Making contributions the one way or another. Here’s what the Saldias are doing. The Saudi’s.

5:22 Speaker 3 Every former president, you’re a friend of mine, Bill Clinton, the Bushes, every former president knows if he wants a contribution to his museum, they’re gonna get.

5:30 Speaker 1 It from the Satus.

5:32 Speaker 2 The Saudis they’re the worst.

5:33 Speaker 3 But they’re buying golf tournaments too, They’re buying TV stations. I mean, they are a real so. But in terms of making a contribution, anyone who thinks that they’re going to get a twenty eight hundred dollars contribution and they’re gonna get it from a Chinese foreign national.

5:45 Speaker 1 Yeah, I’m gonna be printed up foot.

5:49 Speaker 2 You mean, like Clarence Thomas.

5:52 Speaker 1 Let me tell you. I think no matter who does anything wrong, it should be called out on it. And the fact did he accept it? Is he really a personal friend, you know? For his personal friends?

6:07 Speaker 2 And it’s a problem.

6:08 Speaker 1 It’s a really it’s a personal friend. It’s a personal friend. But here’s the thing, I don’t know enough about it.

6:14 Speaker 3 Here’s here’s what I believe. I believe in transparency to the m degree. I mean, we saw our mutual friend Bob Menendez also was accused of this. He was acquitted because the person making the donations was indeed his friends.

6:25 But the fact is, when you’re a judge, you have to be concerned not just about the law, but the appearance of impriety and the problem with Look, we have a judge here who’s handling the Trump case who donated fifteen dollars to Biden.

6:37 Speaker 2 He was an idiot. You shouldn’t have done it. I mean, he did it like whatever a couple of years ago.

6:42 Speaker 3 You have because the appearance is no good. The same is true when you’re taking literally millions of dollars worth of gifts from a big donor and you don’t disclose it, which is what went on in the Clarence Thomas case.

6:52 It’s the appearance. I’m not seeing people are corrupt. I’m saying we have there’s so much cynicism right now. We have to make sure it doesn’t look bad.

6:58 Speaker 1 Too understood, And I agree what hundred percent? Now you’re are you an attorney?

7:04 Speaker 3 I am not.

7:04 Speaker 2 I was on the House Judiciary Committee for years.

7:06 Speaker 1 But okay, I’m me. I’m an honorary attorney because I’ve paid so many legal fees in my life. They they’re gonna give me an honorarium. But I am concerned ethics. And I said this to Alan Dershowitz last week. I said, what happened? Where’s the ethics courses in UH in our universities?

7:30 I mean, I always thought that that UH lawyers were guided by the Bar Association, guided by ethics, and it looks like that whole system is falling apart.

7:42 Speaker 3 Well, look, we do have a problem now that ideology seeps its way into the judciary more than ever before we have. You know, we have this indictment of Donald Trump. I’ve said on my show, I have some real concerns about the indictment. I want to see what the case is.

7:54 I’ve been through, as you know, through the legal system. I have respect for the idea of jurors being able to figure out what’s right and wrong. You have a case in Texas where a federal district court in Amarillo, Texas decides for the entire country that are That’s that a medicine that was available to to to end to

8:12 to two women for abush for abortions was going to be banned twenty three years after it was approved because one judge, who is an ideologue, I mean, I think even he would say he is, decides it. I think that a lot of it has to do we have to restore confidence that the judiciary is on the level.

8:28 Speaker 1 We have to restore confidence in our system. I agree, and we’re losing it. And the other thing, the other problem I have is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have always said this, ninety nine point nine percent of them, ninety nine point eight percent of them are honest, loving patriot Americans that wanted to do the right job. But

8:51 it seems like when if you have a politicized Department of Justice, they tell them what to do.

8:58 Speaker 2 Well, you know, here’s the thing.

8:59 Speaker 3 I think that whenever we give someone a badge in the authority to investigate, to listen to our phones, to arrest us, we should be very skeptical.

9:07 Speaker 2 Left and right should both be very skeptical. But that’s true, Anthony.

9:12 Speaker 1 You know me, I’m the guy in the middle, right, extreme left or extreme right. I don’t like you, no.

9:19 Speaker 3 I I was always attacked in my primaries because I was supported by by the unions for the police officers. But I will say this, if you’re skeptical about the FBI, as you should be, you’ve got to be not.

9:30 Speaker 1 The individual regions. But it seems like the Department of Justice may have their own hit squad.

9:38 Speaker 2 Okay, but if we’re gonna say we.

9:40 Speaker 1 Well so did so did jay Ed Gohova?

9:43 Speaker 2 Well left and right?

9:44 Speaker 1 Jo had his own hits squad.

9:46 Speaker 3 Look at the number that the former head of the FBI did on Hillary Clinton.

9:49 Speaker 2 Now they’re doing it all, I’m saying.

9:50 Speaker 3 And I have inside experience of how the FBI fund. I am saying, we should all be very skeptical because fundamentally that the base of this country is suspicion of the central government’s power.

10:01 Speaker 2 We should push back.

10:02 Speaker 1 Anthony Wiener, former Congressman. I think we should continue our discussions in the future and try to make a difference in our country to make sure our country comes to that the American citizens have confidence in what’s going on.

10:18 Speaker 2 Amen.

10:18 Speaker 1 Amen, thank you so much. Thanks