SERIES 2 EPISODE 34: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Judge Aileen Cannon! You have unsuspected depth! Trump’s novice judicial appointee has shocked Trump World by issuing a gag order not only limiting what he can say and when he can say it during his prosecution and trial for stealing top secret documents, but also limiting when he and his lawyers can see the war plans and other classified information he stole. Cannon’s ruling is almost everything Smith asked for. Any evidence marked classified? Trump can’t discuss it publicly. The evidence marked classified that Trump has lied about and said he DE-classified? Trump can’t discuss THAT publicly. The evidence marked classified that has become public knowledge without being officially de-classified? Trump can’t discuss THAT publicly. If he wants to listen to any of the classified audio it has to be on a hardline headset on a computer that has no internet or network connection! And she also has ruled co-defendant Walt Nauta cannot have access to any of the material, so that's one less chance of a pro-Trump leak. It's stunning.

Also, the Illegal Impeachment Inquiry Trump is stage-managing from behind the scenes is going shockingly badly. It's morphed into the GOP-In-Crisis; in fact, into the GOP in Open Revolt. McCarthy accused Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida of conspiring with Democrat Eric Swalwell of California to get Swalwell placed back on the Intelligence Committee. McCarthy even posits that THAT is a front for something else, saying of Gaetz quote “this is really about an ethics complaint.” Gaetz came back last night and said “This is an abject lie from a sad and pathetic man who lies to hold on to power,” and Congressman you’ll have to be more SPECIFIC than that and USE McCarthy’s name in that statement because otherwise it could be about anybody in your party.

Also: the McCarthy FBI whistleblower about Hunter Biden? A DIFFERENT FBI whistleblower has implied that the other one is lying. And Hunter Biden just sued a former Trump aide for illegally accessing the laptop.

And then there's the other media shoe dropping. A month ago Kristen Welker was one of a dozen reporters who took a meal with three Trump goons. Today, Welker will pre-destroy her career as host of "Meet The Press" to get a sit-down with Trump. The Executive Producer of her show - who didn't make the cut to join the Countdown staff 20 years ago - actually says of this garish soulless nonjournalistic stunt “We are in the business of covering politics. It’s not our job to pick and choose the leaders. The American people get to do that. And so our job is to make sure that the American people understand who the people in power are, what they stand for, and what they plan to do.”

It's not our job to STOP the arsonists, it's just our job to give equal coverage to the firefighters AND the arsonists.

B-Block (26:54) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mitt Romney's going to retire at the end of his Senate term. I wonder if anyone will notice. My GOD they're treating this like Daniel Webster leaving the Senate in 1850. In fact, Mitt Romney is one of the dumbest, least perceptive people ever in public service - a man so dim that it wasn't until after January 6th that he realized smart colleagues like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley might not actually think Trump had won but were just LYING FOR PERSONAL GAIN AT AMERICA'S COST. And for me, nothing will erase from my memory the day I awoke to find that Mitt had tweeted about me, complained about me, and as Tommy Vietor replied "It’s long past time to break ground on a Both Sides museum in Washington, DC. This comparison of the President of the United States to Keith Olbermann MUST be preserved for future generations." But it what Mitt was complaining ABOUT that will always resonate: that I had despoiled American politics by calling Trump a terrorist.

Three months later Mitt was a virtual hostage inside the Capitol, pinned there by... Trump's terrorists. 

C-Block (38:43) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.