Monday on the RealClearPolitics radio show, Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon break down President Trump’s press conference this morning, where he announced a plan to federalize the Washington, D.C. police and previewed his meeting Friday with Putin. They also consider the FBI’s decision to fire some senior agents, the DOJ’s investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and an article in the New Yorker laying out the case that Trump is cashing in on the presidency. Later, author Daniel Yager joins Andrew Walworth to talk about his new novel, “The Saundra Gray Affair,” a story set at the intersection of media and politics in the world of 1990s congressional scandal. You can listen to the show weeknights at 6:00 p.m. on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124 and then on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and here on our website. *** First, President Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital this morning. Trump is sending in the National Guard and has seized control of the Washington, D.C. police department. “If you believe Trump’s critics, they will say this is not about crime or safety,” Tom Bevan said. “It’s about his authoritarian impulse showing through, about power, control, militarization, and taking control of law enforcement in Washington-so that, theoretically, he could stay in power and never leave the White House.” “It’s a matter of fact that carjackings have just exploded as a crime in Washington,” Carl Cannon said. “But Washington’s a much safer city than Baltimore… This will sound like faint praise, but Washington’s not that bad.” “The question arises: Why now?” *** Next, around minute 10:30, President Trump also previewed his meeting Friday with Vladimir Putin during his press conference this morning. He’s been floating the idea of a “land swap” to bring the war to an end. Is that something Ukraine would ever agree to? “Yeah, you give us territory and we’ll stop shooting you,” Carl Cannon said. “It reminds me of Hamas. They invade Israel, slaughter 1,200 innocents… and then countries like Norway say they should have their own country. What’s the reward incentive here in the world?” “At least he’s saying this is the beginning of a conversation, not the end,” Andrew Walworth commented. “It doesn’t sound like he thinks he’s going to come out and dictate terms to Zelensky.” *** In the next segment, starting at minute 17, a group of former FBI officials calling themselves the “steady state” are objecting to Director Kash Patel firing two senior agents in what they’re calling a “political purge.” “I guess they never heard of J. Edgar Hoover,” Carl Cannon joked. “A discerning, neutral person would say the FBI brought this on itself because of the way it treated Donald Trump. The idea that they think there should be no repercussions?” “The steady state? Really? You’re trying to rebrand the deep state?” Tom Bevan quipped. “The place should be completely turned over and reinvented… The upper echelons of this agency have proven themselves to be schemers and partisans, willing to cut corners and bend rules to get outcomes they want, leaking to the media to get narratives and frames. So, off with all their heads, is what I would say — metaphorically speaking.” *** After that, at minute 21, Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed Ed Martin to lead investigations into California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, two people who spent the most time targeting Donald Trump for potential mortgage fraud and other financial crimes. “Do I like the weaponization? Should they go to jail for 30 years? No. But if that’s what the law is, and that’s what would happen to any one of us, then those are the rules-we’ve got to play by the rules,” Bevan said. “If Letitia James did exactly the kind of minor technical financial chicanery that she wants to take $ 400 million from Donald Trump for, and bar him from doing business in New York, it certainly seems irresistible to go after her,” Cannon added. *** And then, staring at minute 27:30, David Kirkpatrick’s latest article in The New Yorker claims the Trump family has earned $ 3.4 billion dollars during his time in the White House, including real estate and licensing deals with Saudi Arabia, private equity deals in the Middle East, and crypto ventures at home and abroad. “When he first came into office, we hadn’t had a president so overtly feel he could convert fame into fortune before,” Cannon said. “This happens in a million ways. Joe Biden, who can’t put an English sentence together, is given $ 10 million for a book he didn’t write and no one will read. The money flowing into presidents and ex-presidents now is so grotesque and obscene that it undermines the whole idea of public service. But Trump is a whole other level.” *** Finally, at minute 32, Andrew Walworth talks to novelist Daniel Yager, author of “The Saundra Gray Affair,” a new political thriller from RealClear Publishing set largely in the world of 1990s congressional scandals. “My whole career was in public policy in Washington, and it always bothered me how policy and people’s reputations could be impacted positively or negatively by a little bit of truth,” he explained. “One of the things that grabbed me was the Gary Condit affair. The book is not a historical fiction about that, but it takes the basic facts-missing intern, reputable congressman (in my case, a moderate Democrat), rumors of an affair, and then a media explosion.” “It’s not a typical political thriller about worldwide conspiracies-I wanted something closer to the truth of political life and the people who work for them. It’s a combination of a political saga and a whodunit that becomes a whydunit.” “Most of the book is based on my work in a congressional office. I started in a member’s office-a moderate Republican, though my book’s character is a moderate Democrat like Condit-and then moved to the House Education and Labor Committee staff,” he said. “One theme is: how do we judge someone? Do we take some ethical or moral mistakes and judge the whole person by them? Increasingly, that’s what happens,” he said. “In my book, the congressman isn’t out looking for mistresses-in fact, he tries to avoid that, and that’s how he gets in trouble.” *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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