Red alarm bells should be ringing and sirens blaring ...

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Shock Supreme Court scandal SURGES into spotlight
by Brian Tyler Cohen
Jan 10, 2025



Transcript

this is democracy watch Mark we have a
brand new Scandal that just surged into
the spotlight as far as the US Supreme
Court is concerned can you explain what
just happened between a far-right member
of the US Supreme Court Samuel Alito and
Donald Trump that we just found out
about? yeah so it turns out that uh one
of Justice Sam Alito's uh law clerks
former law clerks applied for kind of a
mid-level position in the uh in the
Trump Administration and uh Donald Trump
being the diligent potential uh you know
employer he is picked up the phone
called Justice Alito and uh you know asked
about this person I'm sure it was all on
the up and up we we're assured and lo
and behold shortly after that he uh
Donald Trump's lawyers filed an
emergency petition in the US Supreme
Court uh to uh try to block the
sentencing in the New York criminal case
I mean give me a break if he they if
Donald Trump wants us to believe that he
just happened to be doing due diligence
and doing a reference check on this guy
and it just so happened that it was on
the eve of of his lawyers trying to
block uh the criminal case for
sentencing in New York and by the way
let's not forget the the Jack Smith uh
uh trying to block the Jack Smith report
which is not yet before The Supreme
Court but probably heading there I mean
this should be like red alarm Bells
should be ringing and siren should be
blaring all across the country what the
hell is a US Supreme Court Justice doing
taking a call from the incoming
president of the United States when when
sure maybe the petition had not yet been
filed but it was certainly foreseeable
that Donald Trump would be bringing
litigation before the States before the
US Supreme Court well I know this is
the most tired game in politics today
but what do you think Republicans would
say if Joe Biden called a US Supreme
Court Justice or Barack Obama had called
the US Supreme Court Justice back when
he had a majority on the court before
some litigation that he was involved
um was going to go before the court what
do you think Republicans would say in
the exact same scenario if the roles
were reversed they would be calling for
impeachment they would be like we need
to start impeachment of Barack Obama as
soon as he takes the oath of office
right they would Mitch McConnell would
have announced you know what we will we
will attend the swearing in we'll go to
the lunch in the capital afterwards and
then we'll convene for for for the
impeachment trial I mean like like there
Mitch McConnell would have been all over
this as would you know the republicans
in Congress the Republic Fox News would
be would be doing special special news
coverage of it you know uh Steve Bannon
would have a special war room addition
on it you know it would be wall to wall
among the conservative uh media outlets
and it would be and that's where the
Republicans would be well look I
don't want to give a pass to Donald
Trump because you know he he's it takes
two to tango and he is as big a part of
this as Samuel Alito so I want to make it
clear that like that just by virtue of
the corruption happening so frequently
doesn't doesn't serve as some pass for
him to keep doing it so that's his
corruption on full display with that
said we expect that from him shouldn't
mean that he has a pass but we expect
that from him why would Samuel Alito as a
sitting US Supreme Court Justice who by
the way should know better why would he
take the call that's a that's the right
question I think you put your finger
on it because you're right it is not to
give Donald Trump a pass but you know
what like Donald Trump is trying work
every angle and we expect that from him
and Sam Alito should know that that's what
Donald Trump is doing even if he doesn't
even if it was let's say Barack Obama I
think a Supreme Court Justice has to
like ask themselves is this a call I
should be taking you know I mean like I
I you know there are any number of
people as a the employer of a former law
clerk who he could be talking to in the
white house he could have said look uh
uh uh Mr President I'm not going to take
your call or you could have had someone
say Mr President I'm not going to take
your call but how did your Chief of
Staff call me and I'm happy to give a
reference or have the White House
council's office call me or have you
know someone in the Department of
Justice you know like have someone else
call me to provide a reference check you
know to provide a letter of recommend
you know to provide an oral
recommendation my law clerk is someone
you should hire why on Earth does a US
Supreme Court Justice need to convey
that to the to the president-elect there
any other number of ways that that could
have been communicated I mean obviously
if the if if someone clerked for uh very
conservative Justice on the Supreme
Court like justice Alito you know I think
the White House probably has the drill
that they see the world ideologically or
jurisprudentially the way that that that
Donald Trump sees the world as well like
why even have to have this but if they
felt there was a need there were any
another Avenues to have that
conversation you know what I think uh
first of all is the most ironic part of
this is we have seen Trump throw all of
these people who he was so closely
connected with under the bus the moment
they lose their political convenience he
claimed
you know that that he didn't know or
that they were just some low-level
volunteer about Gordon sonland and
George Papadopoulos and Michael Cohen and
like everybody who loses their political
convenience suddenly they were some
low-level coffee boy right but now we're
supposed to believe that he was doing
his due diligence and doing reference
checks on some random clerk who worked
for Samuel Alito that he had to call a US
Supreme Court justice during his
presidential transition to your earlier
Point give me a break look it is clear
it is clear that that Donald Trump
didn't call any references for his
secretary of defense it's clear he
didn't call any references for his first
attorney general nominee I mean can you
imagine who was it that he called for
Matt Gaetz like do you think he called
Kevin McCarthy do you think he called
you think like who who exactly do you
think he called for these other nominees
very very high stat the the least
qualified nominees who have more baggage
than LAX on Thanksgiving break and yet
we're supposed to believe that he's
calling into to make sure that there's
no extra that there's no skeletons in
the closet of some random of some random
law clerk for Samuel Alito wouldn't want
to have wouldn't want to have somebody
with baggage come into the
administration that also just nominated
Matt gates for attorney
general um okay so moving forward at
worst what could have been said between
Trump and Samuel Alito on this call why is
it so dangerous in the leadup to uh the
supreme court hearing this emergency
petition by Trump why is it so dangerous
to have this call take place
yeah so there's the narrow and the broad
in the narrow sense and I think this is
what most people are focused on right
now is he could have said um you know
I'm we're about to file a petition and I
really need you on this right I mean
like it could have been very connected
to just this New York thing and and and
that would be very bad but that's
actually the narrow thing but just
imagine what else he could have said he
could have said you know Justice I'm
going to need you on a range of things
in the coming days and you know you send
me this guy and I'm sure you'll want to
send me other people in the future and
you may want other you know you may want
you may want the Kennedy box you may
there may be other things you need uh my
doors always open but I really need you
to be with me on immigration policy and
these other things and that's just a you
know obviously would be an outrageous
thing to have happened I hope the
Justice if that happened would would
push back uh on on on him but you know
remember Donald Trump has described as
perfect phone calls phone calls in which
he he he asked the secretary of state of
Georgia to find votes that don't exist
he tried to uh he tried to intimidate
and undermine the uh the president of
Ukraine uh you know in that led to his
impeachment right so Donald Trump
doesn't have an excellent track record
on either knowing what an appropriate
phone call is or accurately describing
it afterwards as appropriate so so you
know the there there's really Limitless
possibility for how terrible Donald
Trump could be in what kind of
conversation he would initi
even if as was the case with the
secretary of state of Georgia or
president Zelinski they push back Donald
Trump the damage would still be done
well I know that we're looking at the
fact that he used the prospect of doing
a reference check for some former Alito
clerk as as kind of an excuse to get on
the call as kind of a distraction but in
fact you know the he could have used the
prospect of saying look if you want me
to elevate your clerks which presumably
you have a vested interest in doing
because that helps Alito attract um top
talent knowing that they can then Ascend
to the highest ranks of government once
they're out of his office we could
already have the excuse the the other
part of the quid pro quo right there um
in in that in that Trump was using this
person um the prospect of him getting
promoted within the administration like
that could very well be the other half
of the quid pro quo with the first half
of course being that he wanted the this
Supreme Court Justice to rule in his
favor on the emergency petition yeah
look you can go all the way back to 20
uh to 2017 and Donald Trump calling the
FBI director to have dinner remember
this you know he he asked Comey to have
dinner and basically loyalty pledge ask
a loyalty pledge yeah I mean you know
again another thing that Donald Trump
said was perfectly perfect so like like
the thing is like I'm not saying that
Justice Alito gave in to a quick pro call I'm
saying Jutice Alito should have been smart
enough to know not to get on the phone
call with Donald Trump because he has
this history for Donald Trump's sake I'm
not sure that Donald Trump would even
accurately know if he had done a quid
pro quo is like it's kind of like table
Stakes for a conversation with Donald
Trump that he says something
inappropriate or he offers something or
he connects things up that he shouldn't
be I mean Donald Trump gives a press
conference and basically says I'm going
to invade a NATO Aly Ally to steal part
of their land I I may I may engage in uh
you know uh some type of economic
terrorism against Canada to make them a
state oh and by the way I'm going to
ignore the treaty obligations we have
and just seize seize land in the mid of
uh of Central America like Donald Trump
just says this stuff as if it's totally
normal so just imagine what he would say
to a Supreme Court Justice where he
thinks his interest are at stake right
well look you you have been you have
been a leader in the space of holding uh
corrupt judges to account uh and you do
that with democracy docket which is the
newest Outlet you found it to focus on
everything voting in elections it's an
excellent resource that I use on a daily
basis um and and especially as Legacy
Media continues to fail to meet the
moment that we're in I'm looking more
and more to democracy docket to fill
that to to to fill that void that was
left by by a failing mainstream media
right now so for those who are watching
right now if you want to support Mark
and his team please make sure to sign up
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here on the screen and also in the post
description of this video I'm Brian
Taylor Cohen I'm Mark Elias this is
democracy watch
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