While Republican senators worked to protect Kash Patel from answering some ver-wee hard questions at his confirmation hearing, not one of them had the audacity to suggest that he is the best person to lead the FBI. Meanwhile, the new administration is clearing out some of the most seasoned and effective veterans at the bureau who will be needed during a crisis. Plus, Elon is trying to get our private financial records at the Treasury Department, and Paramount is so worried that mean Mr. Trump would block a merger deal that it's ready to settle his frivolous, written-in-crayon lawsuit against "60 Minutes." Also, Tim makes an earnest plea to Sen. Bill Cassidy from the heart of New Orleans. Andrew Weissmann joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod. show notes Weissmann's and Mary McCord's podcast, "Main Justice" Weissmann's Substack page Tim's playlist
Full Episode
Hello and welcome to the Bullwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. We've got my friend Andrew Weissman up here in a minute to talk about Kash Patel and the various legal issues swirling around the second Trump administration. But I want to talk first about my senator here in Louisiana, Bill Cassidy. I've frequently... been talking about avoiding the temptation to slip into nihilism.
This is, as many of you have probably figured out, as much about you as it is about giving myself a pep talk, as the siren song of nihilism is quite appealing to me. But when there appears to be an opening for anyone to but particularly an elected Republican, to do the right thing, we should encourage it.
We should not despair and be without all hope that somebody might do the right thing in these moments. I'm not saying we should be gullible or taken advantage of or be loosey with the football here, but... In strategic moments and moments of conscience and crisis, sometimes people do the right thing. We saw it with Mike Pence. We've seen it before.
And I think that there's a chance that my Senator Bill Cassidy might do the right thing. So I want to send a message to him and to you guys. But first, let's listen to a little bit of his closing statement from the RFK Jr.
We're about the same age. Does a 70-year-old man, 71-year-old man who spent decades criticizing vaccines and who's financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States? Will you continue what you have been or will you overturn a new leaf at age 70?
I recognize, man, if you come out unequivocally, vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism, that would have an incredible impact. That's your power. So what's it going to be? Will it be using the credibility to support lots of articles, or will it be using credibility to undermine it? And I got to figure that out for my vote.
But if there's someone that is not vaccinated because of policies or attitudes you bring to the department, and there's another 18 year old who dies of a vaccine preventable disease, helicoptered away, God forbid dies. It'll be blown up in the press.
The greatest tragedy will be her death, but I can also tell you an associated tragedy, well, that will cast a shadow over President Trump's legacy, which I want to be the absolute best legacy it can be. So that's my dilemma, man, and you may be hearing from me over the weekend. You may be hearing from me over the weekend. I once again thank you for your time.
So Cassidy's a doctor, as he said, and... He voted to convict Donald Trump in the second impeachment. Those are the two key facts here. And I think that it's pretty clear that he's weighing what to do. And so my message to Bill Cassidy is just go out with your head held high, man. You can do the right thing here. I think that opposing...
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