Overtime – Episode #721: Sen. Adam Schiff, Don Lemon, Annabelle Gurwitch

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late-night series Real Time with Bill Maugh. All right, here we are with an actress actress and author. He's forthcoming memoirist called The End of My Life is Killing Me, Annabelle Girwood. He's a Democratic senator from California, Adam Schiff. And he's a journalist who hosts a Don Lemon Show podcast, Don Lemon. All right. Here are the questions from the people. Uh, what do you make of the latest batch of Epstein files released by the other batch? Yeah. This is like the McRib. Yeah. It's always a new batch. It's actually the reconstituted, right? Because these were files that were in there and then they took them out. And then they put them back in after they were caught. Oh, well, what's in them? I haven't seen the new batch. Really? I saw what came out like a week or two ago that there was, I thought it was millions and millions of pages. I thought that was it. Well, there were a lot of files that were put back in, but the most concerning one is that there are, there's a woman. She was 13 at the time and she's older now, but she accused Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump of being untoward, specifically accusing Donald Trump of raping her. And then in the file, it says, according to her, something to the effect of, I'm going to show you how to be a good little girl because she bit his penis during oral sex. No, it's in there. It's in there. I mean, it's unsubstantiated, but it's really shocking. Bill. I wanted those people who thought that there was really nothing to this and that we really shouldn't pay attention to. But I've really changed my mind about it. And I've just come around 360 to the idea that these are really important and it's really important. I apologize to QAnon. I did. I said that you and Democrats don't eat babies, but you guys were right or about this than I was. And when we were mocking you and saying, oh, these crazy conspiracies, they think there's some sort of pedophile ring of the elites around the world. And there was a pedophile ring of the elites around the world. Now I'm thinking there really was like a child trafficking in Pizzagate. Like, let's go look in that pizza parlour. No. No, no. That's not a pizza parlour. Hillary's not part of it. Okay. I don't know whether this is part of any recent batch. This is what I'm really looking at. There were 40,000 documents that were held by the Justice Department, which include the FBI interviews with that 13-year-old victim. Why did they withhold those in the first bright? And are we ever going to see these things? They're letting members of Congress go to the Justice Department to see three million files that have not been released. But the catch is you can only bring a pen and pad. So I've got to sit there and go through three million documents. I can't download anything. I can only take notes. It's obviously designed not to be an effective way to do oversight and find what's in there. Why are they continually hiding this evidence? That's the kind of question. Shifty shift would ask. Well, I'm going to have to sharpen that pencil back. That is so fucked up. That is so amazing that they would even try to pull that up. What is the rationale behind that? I can't even imagine. Well, I don't know that they've given one except it gets worse because when members go and you do a search, like if I were searching for those missing 302s, the missing FBI interviews, they keep a record of my searches. So you have to use their computer. They keep a record of what I'm looking for. And I mean, I haven't gone down there because it's designed for me not to be able to effectively look at the documents. But the fact that they're essentially spying on members who do go down there and what their searches are, shows you exactly what they're all about and it's all about hiding the evidence. It's about hiding the evidence and then retribution for people like you to find something on you. What is he looking for? If you get anywhere near what they don't want you to see, then they're going to come out. But what about all of the women who stood up behind Kristina and haven't had their testimony taken? We're talking about what's in the Epstein files, what about what's not in the files? I was really moved by that when these women stood up. It takes a lot of courage to come forward, stand up like that. I agree with you. But what's concerning to me is that no one has been brought in for questioning. Hillary Clinton, who doesn't really know Jeffrey Epstein has been drawing. He was questioned about pizza gate. It was so stupid. Heads of state and foreign countries have lost their positions and people are suffering consequences, except for the people who are closest to it. And the one person who has mentioned in the Epstein files, you know, second to Jeffrey Epstein and Galen Maxwell is Donald Trump. And no one is questioning him about this. Especially an allegation from a 13-year-old child. That's serious shit. So, what is what's going on here? Yeah, especially what she said. And that was part of what she said. She went on to say other things that were just equally as deplorable. Let's get to the next question. My penis is hurting now. Annabelle, what's your take on Trump Rx? Trump's proposal to reduce prescription drug costs. And then maybe you can answer and then you can tell us if there was anything actually good in that, because there was something that was buried in the news because there was so much scandalous stuff. Have you followed this? Yes, I have an official term for this. This is a crocker shit. (Laughter) This is a total bullshit non-fix to real issues that we have. And one of the things that happened after I was diagnosed, you know, I got involved in the global community in science. And I have also seen how differently, for instance, the EU administrates drugs, pharmaceuticals, and medical care versus United States. We have left all the decisions to the states. And this has to do with pharmaceutical prices. There are different insurance policies state by state that affect your survival in the EU. They are borderless. You can't get treatment in one EU state. You go to the next state, and your home country covers the cost of that. They are caring about everyone's health. This little nitpicky thing, which, first of all, it's hard to understand what actually you do with this Trump Rx thing, because is it part of your insurance? Is it not part of your insurance? It's just making it harder for the consumer. They keep telling us that we have to be informed consumers with health care. This is not trying to pick between Cocoa Puffs and Captain Crunch. We can't understand this stuff. It's too complicated. We need one fix. Not this. Well, what was in this bill? Well, as I understand it, this Trump Rx program basically tries to give the facade the impression that it's reducing drug costs. These are medications which you can already buy at a reduced cost, and in fact you're not really saving anything. The manufacturers and the drugs haven't lowered prices for this website, so it looks like kind of a marketing scam. But it does bring me back to the one meeting I had with Trump during Trump 1, when he invited me into the Oval Office, and I was trying to steer the subject matter to things we might actually agree on. And first I brought up infrastructure because it was infrastructure week every week without infrastructure. And his first comment was, "Yeah, you Democrats really like your infrastructure." Which was kind of odd considering he was the infrastructure president. But then I brought up prescription drugs because he had expressed interest in working with Elijah Cummings on bringing down the cost of drugs. And I said, "You know, we should work together on that." And he says, "I like Elijah Cummings. He has a lot of nice things to say about me." And I remember thinking to myself, "I know Elijah very well. I have never heard him say anything nice about you." But we went through those four years really without his making any serious effort. So I think this is a kind of a marketing idea designed to give the impression he's trying to bring the cost of at least one thing down. It's all a show, you know that. I do know that, it's all a show. I'm just wondering, "But why doesn't it work?" You know, I mean, it's amazing the way we have these elections. And it seems like, when I look before the election boy, the ammunition that the Democrats have to fire is just, "God, they're just loaded." And then it doesn't work. Why doesn't this message land? You know, it landed in November of this last year in the special elections. We were disciplined. We focused on the late. Well, yes. I mean, it was, you know, it certainly wasn't 2024 when it would have mattered a big time. But in every election, since his election, Democrats have really crushed it. And I think Bill, you're right. It is probably 90% voting against Trump and 10% voting for Democrats. But the fact that we have been united on a message that centers around people's everyday cost of living. They're inability to afford medication and groceries and everything else. That is a big enough umbrella for a very diverse democratic party to stick together behind. so far, it's been very successful. And I think if we continue between now and this November, with a laser-like focus on trying to improve the quality of people's lives and helping them, make sure the economy works for them, then we can have a resounding November. If we get-- Are you going to kill? They're going to kill it in November. There's no doubt about it. Do you think the Democrats are going to kill it? Absolutely. But there's a long time between now and the next. There's a long time. But it's-- I mean, it's the words that I ended that my editor-il's night with. Was it John Ausef who said that? Yeah. They are the elites. They pretend to hate. But as you saw, what I said after that is, if the Democrats can weaponize that message, if it doesn't seem like it should be that hard, because, again, the stuff is right there laying on the table. All right, do you support Bernie Sanders' new legislation that calls for an annual-- this is for you, Senator-- an annual 5% wealth tax on America's billionaires? Yeah, so I haven't looked at Bernie's proposal, but I am supporting a widened proposal, Ron Wyden, which would basically put a tax on unrealized capital gains. So a lot of very, very wealthy people never have to sell all the assets they own. They pass them to their heirs. They live off of what they borrow from these appreciating assets. And so they don't have to pay tax on any of this. And you could raise trillions of dollars-- In terms of the state taxes? What's that? In terms of the estate tax? I'm talking about taxing unrealized capital gains. So if you have something that keeps appreciating in value, and you're making over 100 million in income every year, which is a small group of people, we should tax that. We should have a much more progressive tax code. I'm going to look at what Bernie's proposed. But I think at the end of the day, we have to address this extraordinary income gap, this degree to which a handful of families own more collectively-- half a dozen families-- than 40% of the whole country. And so whether it's a wealth tax like Bernie's or it's a proposal like Ron Wyden's, I'm for it if it's going to help address this income inequality and use those resources to make the economy work for average Americans again. But Gavin Zagam? Right. It's interesting that there is a split in the Democrat-- I mean, Gavin Newsom is a pretty liberal guy. He's against this. I mean, billionaires, I mean, I'm a million miles from being once-- I don't give a shit what happened to them. If you look at this in the most simplistic way, let's just be honest. If you have the opportunity to live in America, where you have the privilege of becoming a billionaire-- Right. What is 5% going to do? I couldn't agree more. Matter. So, yeah, I don't know the specifics of that. But it makes a problem is, here's the algorithm against it. This is why Gavin Newsom is against this. It makes billionaires leave the state, and many already have. And then the tax base actually goes down. Where are they going to go? They're going to step center. OK, so just in Texas. OK, but if it's in the entire America, if it's 5% of all billionaires, where are they going to go? They're going to go to know. If you make it a federal law, well, that ain't going to happen. You know, I look at this, and I don't want to be just like mono-focus, but through a health care lens. If you're not a billionaire in this country with the wealth gap now, there's a reason why one-third of GoFundMe's are medical crisis-related and bankruptcies. And bankruptcies. OK, I do a lot of mentorship now, and I recently had a couple staying at my house who had lost their home because of the medical costs incurred through their cancer treatment. You're such a saint. You have cancer, but you're giving your house to somebody else. You're such a. I'm not a saint. We kind of are. I am kind of saint, but I have an extra bedroom. And it's one small action I can do. But because this is just terrible that this is happening in America. GoFundMe is not a medical insurance plan. Yeah. [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] OK, do you think Mark Wayne Mullin? Mark Wayne. What was Trump's thing? Get me some of those sounds like a serial killer. [LAUGHTER] I always think people with three of these things. Those sounds like a serial killer. I'm not Wayne, Casey. Mark Wayne. We only have three names. It's really scary. No, this is one name. Mark Wayne is one name. That's what Trump makes it even stupider. His name is Mark Wayne. It's not three names. He's not the sharpest name for all either. His middle name is also Mark Wayne. It's Mark Wayne, Mark Wayne Mullin. Mark Wayne is probably Mark Wayne Mullin. [LAUGHTER] Yeah. Don't tell me not to be laughing about this. You know, we-- OK, will he be an improvement over Christy Noem as DHS Secretary? I mean, how could he be so? I know, this is a guy who wants to start fights. Did you see that? Total election. Total election. Election denier. MMA. Yeah. And these are the ones who said it was a war. He said, we're in a war right now, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then 10 seconds later, a reporter asks him about war. And he goes, we're not in a war. The president hasn't declared a war. And they said, you just said 10 seconds ago. And he said, that was a misspoke. [LAUGHTER] All right. OK. Will he be better than Christy Noem? I think you'd want to ask his dog that question. I'm guessing the dog would say yes. He's got to be an improvement. I mean, I don't know if we're going to see much or any change in how that agency has led, because it's really led by Stephen Miller in the White House. So I suspect it won't be different, although it's hard to say that anyone could be worse than Christy Noem's. Yeah. I am not a saint, but I do volunteer with an arts programming project. [LAUGHTER] No? We-- what we do is-- I'm just going to come, but I was reading to blind children in that. Well, what we do is we provide arts programming and mental health services for young migrants seeking asylum in the United States. One of my students was the first student, high school student, arrested by ICE, Dylan Lopez Contreras in the Bronx. And what I was his teacher is I was so impressed by this young man because he happens to be from Venezuela, which is a problem right now. For Trump, everything went well. This fantastic young person who I taught him, I thought, this is what America is going to be. He was the first student arrested, and it really broke my heart. And I just feel-- so I'm having trouble not feeling hopeless about this situation, about who is going to be-- who are going to be the next Americans, you know? Well, let me tell you why you should feel hope. Because there's always the first domino of the first shoe. And I think Christy Noem is the first. And I think once his base in the American people get used to him firing people, you start seeing him fire other people to take the blame for whatever atrocities that have been committed in this country or misdeeds. And then-- because he's going to try to improve his poll numbers before the November election. And so I think you're going to see maybe a complete change of house. And Venezuela, Venezuela, even the New York Times and NPR. I've read-- But there's a lot more. --the restaurants are open again, and people are partying. And it's like, hey, but our democracy is-- Yeah, the shitter. OK. Well, let's us go to Venezuela. Final question. Jesse Jackson's funeral today was attended by Foreign President Biden, Obama, and Clinton. What are your reflections on Jackson's contribution to American politics? I was invited. I did not go because I'm here, but I-- So rest in power. Jesse Jackson. [APPLAUSE] Who was very instrumental in my success him and his family. I was in a local anchor in Chicago. Yeah. I was a local anchor in Chicago, and he's very supportive of me and the journalist there, especially the black journalist, to make sure that we got a fair shot. We got to interview the people of import I.E. Barack Obama when he was State Center running for US Center and then running for President of the United States. And I know all of his children, and they are-- he did a great job with his kids. If it were not for Jesse Jackson, there may not be a Barack Obama. That's true. Yeah, there may not be a bond marriage, too, I'm sorry. Respect to him. Yeah, I always loved having him on. He was always a-- It's a character, a happy warrior. But what I loved about him is that he wasn't perfect, and he-- but he said, we all have sinned and come short. Of course. But he was very transparent about it, and I always liked that about him. Yeah. It was a politician. I mean, politicians have-- he was a man of the people, but he was a man. There you go. I cannot improve on anything done so. OK. All right. Thank you very much. Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Marr every Friday night at 10. Or watch him anytime on HBO on demand. For more information, log on to HBO.com.