EP. 18 REGGIE AUDIO ONLY

welcome to the bill kelly podcast critical discussions in critical times here's your host bill kelly welcome back to another edition of the bill kelly podcast critical discussions for critical times i'm your host bill kelly and uh... we had wanted to focus and we will focus on on washington dc and some of the political activities that have gone on in the last couple days but news of course is a very fluid uh... circumstances as it is in the united states these days and uh... we also want to talk about the mass shooting that occurred in maine last evening uh... and to do all that we're pleased to welcome back to our podcast reggie cicchini reggie is the global news washington correspondent in the u.s. capital uh... reggie thank you for joining us i understand that just moments ago uh... you got an update on on what's going on in maine and uh... where that investigation is what's what's the latest on that yeah uh... so so police at least by uh... thursday morning had said that the number of dead increased to eighteen uh... in the cities of lou in the city of lewiston maine uh... north of portland south of banger the city of about thirty six thousand people uh... and there were more than a dozen people injured into different uh... shooting locations one at a bar the other uh... at what is uh... was said to be a bowling alley or or a rec center uh... the governor says that uh... this is a a devastating moment for our state that is known to be one of the safest state in the country although the state has incredibly uh... week gun laws but at the end of the day are the suspect involved in this uh... is an army reservist he is a uh... he's trained in firearms uh... and as of thursday late morning still remained on the loose uh... and it's unclear if the suspect is in maine if the suspect had fled further south in towards massachusetts uh... but at the end of the day this is now the deadliest mass shooting in america this year uh... coming uh... now beating out uh... the mass shooting back in january in california at a lunar new year celebration and i know in the same lines that uh... what another mass shooting and uh... i know some people quickly said on social media what it's it's it's a headline if there is no mass shooting one day i mean it's it's it's becoming a habit unfortunately with what's going on these days but as as to the uh... i guess where uh... this perpetrator or alleged perpetrator is right now uh... as i understand it reggie where we are in maine near lewiston there it's about an hour and a half to two hours to boston if they go to the south but very not that far from the canadian border either i would imagine uh... canadian security and border security have been alerted about this sure yeah look this is this is a kind of all hands on deck situation we heard from the police chief we've heard from uh... maine police uh... as well that they have been in contact with partners in and around the region and that would likely uh... include border personnel uh... at the canada u.s. border uh... in towards quebec because uh... of the vicinity here and because you know at the end of the day maine is not a big state doesn't take all that long to get in and out especially when you're halfway through the state so again we have uh... you know state police uh... local police uh... and federal agencies all working in tandem here uh... because look this is a shooting that took place you know at the time that we're talking some twelve thirteen hours ago or more and the suspect is still on the loose that is a lot of time to get anywhere especially in a state like maine that is not densely populated at all just one point three million people in the entire state allowing for more you know space to remain in between where law enforcement is and where the suspect might be and uh... they developed a profile pretty quickly for the time the shooting occurred uh... you know watching some of the coverage into the early morning hours of today uh... they know who he is as you mentioned you know that he's an army reservist he's trained in in weaponry uh... but i would imagine that they have some sort of a profile on this guy you know where his family is where his friends are where he would possibly be a surprised at this stage reggie uh... that they they don't seem to know where he might be or are they just not telling us where he might be well i think that they're going to be uh... they're going to be cryptic in whatever messaging uh... messaging that they're putting out you know i i i've been down here for for nearly a decade and i've been through this uh... mass shooting uh... situation on a number of different uh... occasion several times in the last year and oftentimes there's either a delay in in law enforcement finding out who a suspect might be or in trying to piece together little bits of information but at the end of the day when you're talking about a small area in a small state it is going to be easier possibly for law enforcement to be able to at least tie certain pieces together from point a to point b to where somebody might be to who somebody might know i think what's also giving law enforcement a bit of extra boost here is that again they know who he is and this is somebody uh... who also struggled with mental health so there are there are medical records that may be able to give some assistance if they're able to get access to that as to where uh... where this person might be where he might frequent or who he might talk to you but again the fact that there is a medical out record here the fact that that mental health is uh... reportedly factoring into the situation here again speaks to the strength or lack thereof of the gun laws in maine given the fact that he was able to possess a firearm despite a mental health challenge in a state bill that allows for permitless carry concealed of any kind of loaded weapon being a handgun all the way up to a long gun or a rifle president biden was pretty quick to react to this i thought anyway uh... and not just with thoughts and prayers apparently he was on the phone with the governor of the state uh... late last night when the news broke about this and and the mayor's of the two communities around there uh... but we're kind of getting into a jurisdictional thing here is as long as they were under the impression that this perpetrator alleged perpetrator i guess is still in maine is this a state issue or is there is there a way for for the the government to offer some federal assistance in in the search and maybe the investigation well i mean look the the feds are are obviously involved in this already you have uh... fbi local offices from boston that have been brought into maine at the same time you're going to have the a t f uh... involved in this as well and and when you have the president calling uh... not just uh... the the governor and and the mayor's but then also calling the senators of the state uh... angus kang angus king an independent and and susan collins are republican it goes to show that there is going to be a full federal response and look uh... targeting uh... uh... the kind of ride in gun violence and trying to curb that it is something that this president has done uh... for the last three years that he's been in office but it has been a part of his political story for the last several decades i mean joe biden was within the senate uh... when when uh... when laws were put in place uh... banning the sale of assault rifles back in the nineties obviously a sunset clause uh... you know force that to end and we saw you know legislation enacted in the month after the uvaldi shooting uh... in texas mid last year uh... so this is something that that the president uh... is is passionate about he he feels the grief uh... that that so many families in so many states uh... have had to deal with when it comes to gun violence and he does what he can he he's often times you know stymied by a republican pushback that could factor into the new speaker that that's in the house but at the end of the day the president offering up uh... a federal resource after a mass shooting is not something that is and that is out of the ordinary in this country well i guess until you get more details about this and find out exactly uh... the the faded guess of uh... of the alleged perpetrator uh... then it's going to get political and then we we know how that ends too often let's talk about uh... what's going on in washington mentioned the new speaker uh... he is mike johnson uh... vice perused as you do every day so the headlines in some of the big newspapers uh... right across north america and the common headlines seem to be who is mike johnson uh... talk about an unknown reggie but he's got the gavel right now yeah i mean talk about uh... and unknown uh... you know he he he he came into congress when donald trump was elected uh... he he's four terms uh... in you know these these two-year terms come and go fairly quickly uh... he he he rose to the ranks uh... very quickly here not first and foremost though i mean he was the fourth person uh... to take the title of speaker-designate before the gavel was handed off to him i think what's important here is who he represents not only at the kind of constituent level but at the political level in this country mike johnson is very aligned with former president donald trump he is very aligned with the hard right hard conservative faction of the republican party uh... and he represents the values that many of these hard right members uh... of whether it's you know the mega wing or the or the freedom caucus wing have really been trying to do to up and what they believe is an establishment that's kind of taken control of the house you don't want to see what he's able to do what he's able to kind of uh... uh... command when it comes to keeping members in line here but for somebody so fresh in congress to be sitting at quite literally the highest level in the house and ultimately second in line now to the presidency after the vice president this is a very big deal not only for mike johnson but or the republican party and and the way things are happening is talking about the chronology here and where the power was and we'd haven't even people that are in the know don't know a lot about mike johnson as you mentioned uh... but i guess in in fairness to him i mean if you look at the last couple years especially reggie uh... you've got kevin mccarthy you've got jim jordan uh... and schoolies they suck up a lot of the oxygen in that room don't they so there's a lot of people that that probably are sitting there and not being heard a very much of an and johnson was certainly one of them we even got the impression with his acceptance speech was surrounded by a lot of people of his his party uh... that he is a hardliner and and as you mentioned that he was one of the people uh... that led the vote to try to get to disallow the of the election results of twenty twenty what kind of an impact is that going to have at the same time that people like a king jeffries the democratic leader of the house you're talking about time to come together and i know biden uh... sent uh... uh... mister johnson a congratulatory note by this was a phone call ball tonight too or he said the same thing the same message is about time that we stop all the the correct crappier and bring it together is mike johnson the sort of guy that's going to reach across the island does he care well i mean look at his acceptance speech uh... on wednesday when he accepted the gavel and he spoke after he came jeffries he didn't come across as as a firebrand republican he was very com in his in his demeanor and he was talking to both sides of the chamber making jokes about democrats making jokes about republicans putting on this this kind of show that what i'm going to be aware of a speaker of the house that's going to work for the american public and is going to bring together both sides of the aisle here uh... there are two different ways to look at this number one uh... the government in the united states is very quickly approaching shutdown territory on on november seventeenth and he's going to work need to get you know his party and possibly the democrats in line here in order to pass this the problem is he's he's voted against continuing resolutions in the past but republicans seem to be giving him a bit of leeway here uh... in order to ensure that that business can proceed as usual so he does want to try and come across like he's engaging in getting the house back in order but while the president make a phone call and and kind of put the public congratulations out there the president's reelection campaign immediately targeted mike johnson is saying look maga has now fully taken control of the house and we thought there were problems under kevin mccarthy who was seen as establishment uh... and and potentially more moderate than where they are right now this could be problematic mike johnson is somebody who vote against uh... gun safety measures mike johnson is somebody who was for a national abortion ban uh... and and mike johnson is anti sending more money into ukraine and these are all things that are incredibly important to not only democrats but also joe biden's reelection campaign so this is going to set up appear standoff between what mike johnson wants to do what his republican party wants to do and what the president and democrats want to do uh... what about the uh... i was going to say the extreme elements within the g the g o p right now uh... and although some people would consider mike johnson one of those extremists and now that he's got the spotlight on him we may see more of that but i know that some of the others like marjorie taylor green and others are saying look i'll support this guy i don't think she even voted for him uh... but on the proviso that they continue with impeachment hearings against joe biden uh... and those investigations jim jordan's got his own little witch hunt going on uh... with his committee which i guess he's going to go back to us and says he was a failed uh... candidate for this job as well are they going to continue that i guess you know with an election year just on the horizon here ramp up the the heat and and and uh... the negativity about biden or are they going to try to do the business of the country well i mean i think that they're going to look at the business of the country as being the mandate that they were elected to carry forward so sure i think you're going to see jim jordan remain at the head of the judiciary committee and continue these uh... investigations whether it's into hunter biden or whether it's into uh... you know pushing forward with impeachments of of joe biden because that is what they believe their voters sent them into congress to do regardless of whether there are you know matters to do with with uh... just security and defense funding when it comes to israel or defense and security funding when it comes to ukraine they believe that that they were voted in uh... because it is their job to take down more of the establishment being the uh... of joe biden uh... so i think that you know mike johnson is going to kind of carry the baton forward to what members of the far right wanted to do what i think is interesting to bill about the fact that he is now in this position he is an election denier like you mentioned he is carrying the torch that was kind of ablaze by donald trump in the you know minutes after his loss in twenty twenty when jim jordan was up for the speaker's position there were a number of of you know quasi moderates within the republican party who were really pushing back on the fact that jordan was an election denier and they weren't lining up behind him and they were throwing their votes to lee zeldin or to kevin mccarthy but then mike johnson comes in in line and the party stands behind him in the unity so it really is an open question here as to what republicans are actually looking for when it when it comes to this party moving forward now that the keys to the house have been unlocked and they put a resolution forward they're getting back to business but it's kind of unclear what what what the broad majority of these republicans are actually looking for well let's talk about the elephant in the room that elephant being donald trump uh... because of three or four days ago as you reported uh... at the time they thought they had a candidate uh... jordan had failed in his attempt i think after three votes uh... and they thought they had a uh... a person that was going to be compatible i guess and donald trump speaks up and says no he's not one of us he's he's he's a phony republican he's not mega and all of a sudden uh... even though he had won the nomination fair and square they hadn't voted in the house but within the republican caucus they dropped him like he was a bad habit just because donald trump said so i think it indicates just how much of a sway uh... trump still has within the republican party notwithstanding his own legal problems yeah i mean look it's it's it's a remarkable kind of split screen moment in u.s. politics here to see donald trump you know in new york in a civil trial against his business practices taking the witness stand and then being hit with a ten thousand dollar fine because he's violating gag orders while at the same time in georgia you're seeing members of his former legal team and turn against him uh... and and make his legal woes much more difficult not only in the state of atlanta of georgia but also how that trickles into the federal investigation in in washington and then when you push the split screen apart look dead down the center you have donald trump still maintaining this grip this this this influence over the republican party to say look ex-person is a rhino ex-person is not republican enough and i think that's why the divide the minister of rather than the biden re-election campaign team put out this note saying maggot is now in control this is essentially donald trump uh... in the speaker's chair via another person this time around being uh... mike johnson these are people who represent donald trump and who represent even if trump is not in political power even if you just kind of playing from the sidelines it argues the fact that trump is done israel and trump is done is thriving and this is going to be something that republicans are going to run with donald trump still carries you know the the the big pails of water at the front of this party and let everybody else trail behind him and he let them know that by nuking people who about the majority of the party were going to wind up behind is this a sense of deja vu reggie i mean you've been following i know you've been down the capital for ten years now but even following politics for a lot longer than that uh... this reminds me very much of the early nineteen nineties with the tea party movement within the republican party and again that seemed to be the in the early stages of them moving to the extreme right uh... politically anyway newt gingrich and and others of course with the leaders of that particular time and i guess the overwhelming question is now heading into the twenty twenty four elections uh... is america representative ready for that and and do they feel as if mega is representative of the small c conservative values or is it even too radical for them i mean that that that's a good question i mean look we we saw donald trump lose in twenty twenty we saw uh... republican pullbacks in twenty twenty uh... in twenty twenty two obviously they they made some gains in the house but given the fact that there's such a kind of a fracture within the republican party here to work amongst themselves it really is it kind of hard to see how this small element of the conservative party or the republican party is representative of the broader majority of america and it's because this is still a a smaller majority in the republican side particularly in the house uh... that is that is pushing agenda items that fall out of line with where the vast majority of people sit whether you know they're on one side of the aisle or or the other so when you see the republican party embracing election denial is a more embracing anti-lgbtq laws or embracing bans on on uh... reproductive rights there are republicans that don't fall in line with that so whether or not you know maggot is at its peak and it may start collapsing inwards or if at its peak in the just plateaus you know we have to wait to see what twenty twenty four is going to look like but i think you're going to see a drive here by democrats by joe biden uh... by by kind of that the super packs in the surrogates to say look if we let republicans move as they are right now the united states could be going down a dangerous course look at what they've done over the last ten months can you imagine if we do this for years longer so trump has has a grip of hard right has a small grip right now we have to see how much that group can actually hold on to whether there's any relief now it's early days on on the next topic here and i just i i know we don't have too many details we already know that that that joseph kennedy or robert kennedy junior has announced that he wants to run as a third party candidate uh... not for the nomination for the democrats as we once thought he's way way too radical for that but liz cheney in an interview she did earlier this week seemed to hint that she's seriously considering a run uh... i i suppose as a third party uh... there are too many moderate republicans that seem to have a voice in the states right now is she that voice right now that people might be able to rally around i mean look they might be able to rally around her but look at how republicans were quick to pounce on her when she offered her assistance to uh... the democratic-led january sixth committee uh... and sat on there with only one other republican adam kinsinger uh... and look at those two republicans right now they are no longer active uh... members of congress because they were primary they were targeted by not only the far right of the republican party but of donald trump and ultimately that trickled down to uh... the voting base you know look is liz cheney going to be a potential contender here sure it's possible would she face some significant stiff pushback absolutely she would and you can see that there would be people like trump like ronda santos like super pack that would just dump as much money as they can in to say look this person is a rhino this person is far too moderate for where uh... the republican party needs to be and it becomes problematic you know i think we were talking about kennedy i think that's going to be a problem here too republicans like the fact that he may be able to siphon votes away from joe biden will look here he is now independent all over the place when it comes to what is political viewpoints are there's a real risk here now that he starts to erode some of the votes from donald trump or from somebody else who's running who's who's you know gets the who kind of gets the nomination uh... and positions themselves possibly as trump light this could spell problems now uh... for the republicans with all that's going on of course with the the the shooting in maine and and with the new speaker it separates it's interesting to watch news cycles uh... and and all of a sudden that the what's going on in the middle east with the moscow seems to be pushed down in the newscast these days uh... which i i i i think it's probably going to switch very quickly because we know that what it sounds as if the the ground war is going to start moving into gaza right now uh... biden's got a lot of balls up in the air right now doesn't he? he does uh... and and look i think when we're talking about the ground invasion at least uh... you know starting quote-unquote imminently which is a word that's been you know used now for the last couple of weeks and we heard benjamin netanyahu on wednesday say that you know this is being planned we're just not telling you what the day is i think the question here is are they still not going forward with this because the united states has asked them to slow down because it puts the risk for hostages on the line here and if there is you know any form of americans that are killed that are hostages uh... that could be problematic for joe biden look i i i spoke to uh... former israeli ambassador to the united states last week from uh... the clinton administration who worked heavily with uh... the hostage situation uh... in syria and he made a point to me of saying look the united states has made a request joe biden has made a request of the israeli government here and the united states is the senior friend in this alliance and any request that's made by the u s is going to be a message well-received so whether or not this is not this invasion has happened yet because of the u s are because of other logistical planning uh... ongoing united states is watching very closely here because they have a vested interest not only in the region but also domestically as well because this is going to impact politics heading into twenty twenty four uh... that's uh... a word that i i found fascinating and when i watched uh... kirby and some of the other spokesperson for the what the white house of us to please uh... request in quote-unquote uh... that sounds like wordsmithing as you know that they tried to to that they take a look at the scene of that you gotta figure the reggie that uh... behind closed doors on these uh... these coded phone calls between the two of my biden is probably reminded that you know that we're not going to tell you what to do if your country but uh... you don't have too many friends right now and we're one of the ones you can still count on uh... don't do something that's going to embarrass us don't do something that's going to piss us off uh... and i'm i'm sure that whatever you if you don't know who is no fool and he understands that he he needs the u s right now so uh... it's probably a little more than a request but that's uh... that's the diplomatic way of putting it i would think sure and i think there's also a a reality check that the united states is trying to uh... have the israeli government pay attention to as well the u s is no stranger to getting involved in a war in the middle east and it going wrong or going on right uh... and becoming uh... a domestic problem that that lingers for years and years and years uh... and that's that you know that i can be set for any of the wars that the united states has found itself into whether it's a afghanistan uh... or whether it's a rock and they're trying to look at israel if they look do not make the mistakes that we made if you're going to go in uh... and undertake such an event ensure that you have a game plan to get out ensure you have a game plan for when this is over that something is going to be in place in order to not let uh... a vacuum exist that somebody else is just going to to take over the advice is being given whether or not it's being adhered to is one thing but at the end of the day the united states is standing strongly by it's alliance with israel and and it's it's so vastly obvious by simply looking at the military infrastructure that have been placed in the region not to assist with boots on the ground but just to ensure you know uh... adversarial nations in the area don't seek to take advantage of them turn this into a part of the proxy uh... busy day regis so that it's time to talk with us on the podcast they stay well and uh... hopefully we'll talk again soon they care reggie chikini that's it for this edition of the locally podcast thanks for listening and 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