Jim: Trump's going to prison! At least that's what
people were led to believe. He still hasn't been arrested. No one
wants to talk about this but I caught C.I. talking about it on the phone
to a friend so I roped her in for this conversation that everyone else
avoided. Why? They don't think Donald Trump needs the publicity. They
think the constant attention he got in 2016 is how he ended up
president. C.I., if you could more or less repeat what you said on the
phone call.
C.I.: I was in
the kitchen getting some water and Jim and Ava were eating lunch. A
friend called. She wanted to know what was going on -- this was
Saturday -- and I started talking about my life and she said no, the
news. So I started talking about Iraq. No, Donald Trump. Jim knows I
immediately said I was not following it and didn't care. She then said
that she wants to see him behind bars but it's not fair if he's
prosecuted for the classified information he had at his residence if Joe
Biden and others aren't prosecuted as well. I said that the Manhattan
District Attorney's office does not handle national security. This is
probably about Stormy Daniels -- the porn actress he paid off to keep
quiet about their affair.
Jim: You pulled up the news on your phone at that point and said, "Yep, that's what it is." You don't think it's a strong case.
C.I.:
I cautioned then and I'm cautioning now that I wasn't following the
story and had not read any of the filings but, no, it's pretty obvious
it's not a strong case. You don't leak that Donald's being arrested on
Monday if you have a strong case. And when he's not arrested that day
or the next or the whole week, you clearly don't have a strong case.
Jim: But you don't think it's strong to begin with.
C.I.:
I don't. I'm not going to waste my time on this nonsense -- I think
it's nonsense. Who's the injured party? That would be my first
question if you're tying up time and money to dig into this. Is it a
case of a foreign government? Nope. Is Stormy the injured party? If
so, when do we consider blackmailers to be the injured party? She was
paid "hush money." That's the term provided by the press. Hush money
means silence is being bought. That's blackmail. I'm not a Donald fan
and I don't want to see him back in the White House. If you can arrest
him for something he's done, go for it. But this always seemed a
reach. Are you following it?
Jim: I am. Alvin Bragg is the d.a. and he's taking testimony again this week before a grand jury.
C.I.:
Which means there's on indictment at present. If there were, they'd be
moving to arrest Donald. This is nonsense and it needs to be ignored.
There are real stories and this isn't one. That's reason one. Reason
two, this just inflates Donald's image: So powerful that the government
is always trying to take him down! Reason three, they have cried 'wolf'
for so many years now and all this does is make Donald immune to any
charges -- they weren't true before, why would they be now? I would
also point out that this was a gift for him and he knew it which is why
he used his social media to constantly raise the issue.
Jim: You don't think he's going to be arrested for this?
C.I.:
No one knows at this point. Those insisting it was going to happen
need to explain why they were so sure. But, again, I'm focused on real
issues. This has turned into Jason Leopold's whole "Scotter Libby is
about to be arrested!" coverage.
Jim: So why I agree to participate?
C.I.: Because it got you off my back and because it was easier to do this feature and move on then keep saying "no."
Jim: Should Congress be seeking the records from the Manhattan DA.
C.I.:
I don't see the reason for the interest. There's no prosecution. They
certainly have other issues to focus on. But Congress can do more than
one thing at a time -- a detail Congress members frequently forget --
so if they think they need to go prying into the workings of a city
government, that's fine. Just don't be surprised when citizens start
noting areas you're not addressing. It's not a good look for them.
Regardless, they can't get anything during an active investigation.