SEASON 2 EPISODE 49: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has already violated Judge Arthur Engoron’s gag order and if Engoron actually WAS contemplating finding him in contempt and putting him in jail for 30 days he should damn well do it and do it NOW – and if he WASN’T, he ought to expand the gag order and specify that if Trump breaks it again, he WILL spend a month behind bars. Yesterday, he posted quote “the judge fraudulently reduced the value of Mar-a-Lago and other assets in order to make their fake case more viable.”During the lunch-break he said of Engoron “he’s a Democrat judge, he has no choice, he’s run by the Democrats” thus accusing the judge both of fraud and of political corruption. The gag order precludes Trump from public comments about “any members of my staff” and it is not twisting logic nor semantics too strongly to note that the judge COUNTS as a member of his own staff.

So step five is the judge imposing the serious sanctions. By statute it would be contempt of court and under New York State Law article 19 section 751 contempt of court is punishable by – I regret to tell you CAPITAL PUNISHMENT does NOT apply under article 19 section 751 – it’s punishable by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both. At the discretion of the judge. And if Judge Engoron really wants to make the argument that he is not a member of his own staff he needs to broaden the gag order immediately. Because you, or I, or Hunter Biden, or Joe Biden, or Jesus Christ fresh off the court would have already amassed a thousand 30-day sentences for the kind of stuff Donald Trump has gotten away with, abusing and degrading and insulting and harassing and threatening and undermining and sabotaging and lying about the judicial system.

Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani's Georgia lawyers have bailed out on him. On the other hand he got the kind of publicity he craves. The New York Times has published 3,109 devastating words OVER Maggie Haberman’s byline and UNDER the headline “Giuliani’s Drinking, Long A Fraught Subject, Has Trump Prosecutors’ Attention.” The Times writes they quote “have shown an interest in the drinking habits of Mr. Giuliani… (they’ve) questioned witnesses about Mr. Giuliani’s alcohol consumption as he was advising Mr. Trump, including on election night… Mr. Smith’s investigators have also asked about Mr. Trump’s level of awareness of his lawyer’s drinking as they worked to overturn the election… The answers to those prompts could complicate any efforts by Mr. Trump’s team to lean on a so-called advice-of-counsel defense… if such guidance came from someone whom Mr. Trump knew to be compromised by alcohol, especially when many others told Mr. Trump definitively that he had lost, his argument could weaken… several people at the White House on election night (the evening when Mr. Giuliani urged Mr. Trump to declare victory despite the results) have said that the former mayor appeared to be drunk, slurring and carrying an odor of alcohol. ‘The Mayor was definitely intoxicated’ Jason Miller”… said.

The Trump/Smith angle is fascinating. Because apparently you can’t use an advice-of-counsel defense if your counsel is so drunk he could be considered at risk for spontaneous combustion.

B-Block (19:21) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Institute of Economic Affairs has figured out "the future of journalism." It's four Matthews and no women, according to them. Jonathan Turley isn't just flubbing the big stuff; he got Steve Martin's name wrong. And the Trojan horse "news" site "The Messenger" has partnered with an AI company to rank the most reliable news organizations. And you're right: Glenn Beck's "The Blaze" can be trusted. "The New York Times" cannot.

C-Block (25:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Saturday will be the 48th anniversary of the first broadcast I ever did that had both sponsors and an audience. It was preceded by the elders of the Cornell University radio station sports department playing a trick on me that would be repeated four years later when I made my network debut. I can laugh now. Then? I had two out-of-body experiences. Happily the 1975 WVBR-FM broadcast still exists, so I've tacked it on to the end of this segment. And yes: I mispronounced my own name.

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