RADIOApril 05, 2023

Donald Trump's lawyer explains charges: ‘There IS NO CRIME!’

What EXACTLY are the charges being brought against Donald Trump in New York? Well, they’re hard to explain because for the most part…THEY MAKE NO SENSE! In this clip, Glenn is joined by Joe Tacopina, an attorney for the former president who will represent him in this case. Tacopina answers all of Glenn’s questions, and he explains why there IS NO CRIME to discuss. Plus, he explains why he took the case to begin with and why it shows that ‘rule of law is in danger in this country.’

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: He's just to save time, one of the most respected high stakes trial attorneys in America.

Joe Tacopina, and he joins us now. Joe, thank you so much for coming on.

JOE: Thanks, Glenn. I'll also tell you right off the bat, I don't think I can be able to help you. I heard you say, maybe I can help you figure out -- I can't help you at all. I really -- I can't figure it out for the life of me.

GLENN: Okay. So is this a -- when he was charged with, what? Thirty-four, 35 felonies, it's the same charge -- I said to the audience this morning, it's like if I said about my producer, that in an attempt to cover up a crime, Stu committed a crime. And saying that 35 times, and never defining what the crime was.

JOE: Boy, that's a pretty great assessment of this charge against him, I will tell you that..

Never say what the crime is. There's a legal requirement to do that.

They charged him -- this is a misdemeanor.

Falsifying business records. Which, Glenn, he didn't get close to that happening.

There's no falsified business records. If you want to go down that road, it's a misdemeanor.

The statute of limitations is long gone on that.

It would then have to cobble that together with another crime, which would also be another misdemeanor, to make it a felony.

So, in other words, to aid and abet or conceal another crime. And of course, who knows what the other crime was. Maybe it's drunk driving or something. Who knows.

But it's most likely violation of federal election laws. Because this was a federal campaign. And if you know anything about federal election laws, and apparently, he doesn't. It's very clear, that this is not something that falls under a violation of the Federal Election Commissions laws.

It's just not. And that's why they never berate charges against them.

That's why -- this is a personal expenditure. A personal civil suit that was settled. Like when Bill Clinton paid Paula Jones, $800,000 for alleged sexual assault. Not like a consensual relationship.

That was the same thing. Never was he charged with a crime.

Hillary Clinton apparently, you know, spent $100,000+ on the Steele dossier, right?

For her campaign. She used campaign money for that. Then used campaign money for that.

And you know what they classified that as? This is going to be ironic as everything. Legal expenses. Which obviously, you want.

So what does the FEC do?

She doesn't get indicted like Donald Trump does. She paid a fine of $100,000. You know, her campaign. So it's really -- the double standards are so -- so incredibly obvious to anyone, with a brain. And the fact that we hear -- is only because this man is running for president again. This happens to be a leading Republican contender. And the fact that Donald J. Trump --

GLENN: Okay. So let me just tick off a couple of quick questions. And see if you can help me answer.

With campaign finance. Is it the FEC turned -- passed this down. Said there was nothing there.

So is it possible that they're checking the Constitution. And Bragg is like, wait a minute. We're the ones that actually run the elections.

The state owns it. So he's coming up with some state campaign violation.

JOE: Yeah. It's not a state campaign. But even if he did identify it -- say we were talking about it.

And here's the bottom line: Regardless of whatever the -- the -- you know, twisted legal theory is: There is no crime.

GLENN: Okay.

JOE: Donald Trump actually did everything right here.

Here's someone who tried to extort money from him, okay?

For a consensual relationship, she claims. Although, later she said, she never had an affair with him, and Donald Trump adequately denies it.

But then said, I -- I need that money, or I go to the press. Okay. Extortion 101.

Then -- then he pays that money with personal funds, to resolve it. And, by the way, he only did that after his lawyer, the convicted fraudster and liar Michael Cohen resolved this without President Trump's (inaudible). He took down a loan. A home equity loan to finance this -- this civil settlement. And then -- and then later, billed Donald Trump for it.

He is the one who signed the settlement agreement. Donald Trump didn't even sign this agreement with Stormy Daniels.

And then later today -- and that's just to appease and get closer to Donald Trump.

He wanted to be in the White House in the worst way.

GLENN: Okay. So let me go to the crime then, that they say, the other thing they're throwing around is that this is a tax crime.

JOE: Tax crime.

GLENN: You haven't heard that one yet?

JOE: I've heard it. But let me hear what they --

GLENN: From what I understand, they're saying that Donald Trump I think overpaid his taxes, because he paid attorney's fees to Cohen, and that included the whatever it was. 130,000. Or whatever that payoff was.

STU: Paid him -- in a retainer, instead of paying him a reimbursement for the --

GLENN: Right. So he actually paid payroll taxes. Or paid the -- you know, paid the taxes that you would pay, you know, if you're paying an employee.

JOE: So, Glenn, I know how smart you are. And I'm a big fan of yours. Do you understand how much you stuttered during that --

GLENN: No. No. There's no way to make sense of it. I'm just trying to understand what they're saying.

JOE: Right. Exactly.

I know. I know. It's so hard to even articulate it. It's like, what?

Here's. Let me just say this. He never made a tax filing with those documents that they claimed were false because he never took a tax deduction. So, again, we live -- seriously, when you talk about selective prosecution. He -- he actually overpaid taxes for someone else. Therefore, it's a tax crime.

GLENN: No.

JOE: A lot of this people in the country are charged with crimes for overpaying their taxes. I mean, that's another legal theory.

That's very novel. I mean, it just gets better and better and better. It's really -- you know, it's a joke.

GLENN: Okay. So this would be a joke, if I thought we could get fair trials.

But I'm not sure you can get a fair trial in New York.

He has been -- Donald Trump is the worst -- he went from the king of New York, to the worst -- you know, worst than Hitler and Mengele combined, to New Yorkers. In New York City.

Plus, you have a judge, that should have recused himself. I mean, the actual information on the judge and his daughter, is staggering.

Can he be -- can you get a change of venue, or at least a new judge?

JOE: Look, here is the thing. We are going to be making ferocious motions in this case. They're going to cover every angle, to get this ridiculous case to be thrown out of court. It doesn't belong in court.

We are going to obviously consider whatever legal motions, including a recusal, change of venue, if they're appropriate.

GLENN: Is it appropriate, don't you think the recusal of the judge? I mean, that's a conflict of interest like crazy.

JOE: You would think. And these facts came out, you know, yesterday. Apparently, his daughter works for the vice president.

GLENN: Oh. And -- yeah.

JOE: Again, again, we have to be very methodical in our attacks here. We don't want to do anything with a knee-jerk reaction. We don't want to make emotional decisions. And we'll do all the research and everything we need to do. We have obviously several months to make these -- these motions.

And we're going to take our time and do them right. Because you have one bite at this apple.

And there is no scenario, where we're going to miss anything.

And any angle that we can take that -- that legitimizes our legal attacks on this case, have known to be successful. I don't just this case is ever going to see a jury, Glenn. I really don't.

They shouldn't see a jury -- but that would -- you know, but we would need to have intellectually honest judges to make sure that that happens. And hopeful, that we'll have one here.

GLENN: I talked to Andy McCarthy here, former prosecutor.

And he said, I always know it's a weak case. When you start to repeat the same charges.

And you just keep stacking him on.

He said, that's the first thing you're state in law school. Don't do that.

That's crazy. Have you ever seen the same charge, 34, 35 times?

Is this unprecedented or not?

JOE: No. It's not really unprecedented.

But I agree with Andy. It's a sign of weakness.

There have been several indictments, that they stack up charges. It's one act.

It's one scenario.

It's one factual scenario, that they're alleging as a crime, that's not a crime.

Understand, if Donald Trump, if this were truly a campaign expenditure, okay?

Donald Trump would have the right to pay with campaign funds. Because it would be a campaign expenditure, right?

It's not.

He wouldn't be able to pay with campaign funds.

But if you, Glenn, for a second understand, the amount of people that will be paying from Donald Trump's scalp, had he paid this personal settlement with campaign funds -- I mean, they would be losing their mind. They would be saying, that's a fraud. It's not a campaign. It's personal. So he was damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

GLENN: Yes. Correct.

They pushed the next -- I guess the next trial date is -- is January 24th, right smack in the middle of the Iowa Caucus. Is that unprecedented to wait that long?

GLENN: That was a coincidence. I'm sure. Sure of it. Sure of it.

Well, no. It's not.

It actually should be longer.

When they have a case of this complexity, and, you know, this -- it's a case of pressure in many ways.

You know, what I will say is this: We have a situation, where we have to do motion.

We're not packing courts of the federal court. This should not be a trial in January. We want the trial to be pushed off further. Because we have to make sure we're touching every base here. And fighting on every legal point, that we could bring forth to challenge the suspicious indictment.

So there's no Russia to get the trial here. Again, I'm hopeful, we don't even get to that point. I really am.

A trial doesn't really happen within a couple of months.

This is a case where we don't even go back to court, until the next status conference. And this isn't a motion until December.

GLENN: I have to ask you this question: Because I've had a very good legal firm for quite some time. And they were the best on freedom of speech issues.

And they've dropped me. Because, you know, they have Google and everybody else.

And while they didn't say that, they just said, you know, we've got some other clients. And we just have to really -- I've been with them for 15 years. I know exactly what was going on.

You -- in reading, you know, your history, you're an amazing attorney. But this is -- let me ask this question: Humanitarian of the year, Reverend Al Sharpton's national action network. Man of the year award from New York State commission for social justice.

You are positioned in a place, where a New York attorney probably should be. You're taking on the enemy, Donald Trump, as your client. Are you not concerned?

I mean, thank you for being John Adams.

But are you not concerned about flushing your career down the toilet, in New York?

JOE: No. No, no, no.

Now, listen, I follow my own Constitution.

My knees don't buckle, Glenn. I do what I think is right.

When I took this case, it's because I realized how outrageous it was. And the rule of law is a danger in this country.

And for me, if I didn't have the courage to take this case, then I'm good for nothing.

If you can't be willing to fight something like this. And for that exact reason, I'm not one of those billing corporate law firms, where I know a lot of firms were in Texas. Because they were worried about the pull with other clients.

What I did was, look, I represented a lot of people who are politically opposite to Donald Trump. Right?

That being said, I spoke to some of them. I let them know. This is -- you know, it's something I believe in. And, look, I'm a litigator. And that's what I do. I litigate. I'm not a campaign lawyer. I'm not out there doing things that would be against what I would do as a civil litigator. I do the same thing.

I litigate. I don't get involved in collateral issues. I fight the case. And make sure that justice prevails.

GLENN: Sure. I mean, we used to agree on the Bill of Rights. And I don't just we do anymore.

JOE: No, no, no. And it's amazing that the justice system is being weaponized the way it is. We have crossed a Rubicon, that is going to be forever, forever damaging to this country.

And that's what scares the hell out of me.

Now -- Donald Trump, today or tomorrow, if some Democrat in Texas who -- Republican prosecutor says, you know what, I used to live in New York. I'm going to use the power of my office, to prosecutorial discretion -- which is powerful.

I'll leave it to him.

GLENN: Joe, there's no -- I mean, there have been crimes committed, by Hunter Biden in three different states, that are -- that are red states.

Why wouldn't the district attorney take those on?

JOE: Exactly. And that's -- and that's the point.

It's a political play here. And that's what really, really troubles me.

It's -- it's -- you know, I watched him try yesterday, that this was just something he would do against, any -- any person.

GLENN: Yes.

JOE: You charge people with falsifying business records. Which is a misdemeanor.

You know, 70 years later, which the statute of limitations would be gone on.

And tying it to a federal election campaign violation when you're a state prosecutor.

Federal authorities that said, there's no violation for him.

Yeah, well, timing has to do that absolutely.

I mean, I hear this disingenuous things. Is that false business charges all the time? Yeah, false business racketeering charges based on what?

I mean, it's so disingenuous, it's not even funny.

GLENN: Joe, I hope you're right, that this will never see a courtroom or a jury. We wish you the best. Pass on our best to Donald Trump.

Thank you, Joe Tacopina. He's the attorney for Donald Trump. And a good, a really good attorney.

I feel good having this guy represent Donald Trump.

EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Explains His FIERY Rejection of Spending Bill

According to the media, there’s a big fight going on between Republicans over the House’s new slimmed-down continuing resolution spending bill. Some, including President-elect Donald Trump, wanted the bill to pass. But others, like Texas Representative Chip Roy, argued that it still wasn’t ready. However, is the Republican “unity coalition” really crumbling, like the media claims? Rep. Chip Roy joins Glenn to explain what’s really going on. He argues that he IS trying to give Trump and DOGE a 100-day “runway” to fix the country. But he makes the case that, by increasing the debt ceiling by $5 trillion without agreeing on other cuts, this bill gives bad actors the ability to be an “obstacle” to Trump’s agenda further down the line. Plus, he reveals to Glenn that he believes some of these bad actors LEAKED false information about his stance to Mar-a-Lago.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN:

I think we have a great opportunity today. To show you how to have a -- tough conversation, with friends, friends. Where you deeply disagree on something.

But you know that their intent is good. They know my intent is good. Or our intent is good.

And we actually have the same end goal, but we disagree on the path. And we're going to walk away friends.

Chip Roy is joining us today. And, Chip, I love you. And I always will. And I agree with your, we've got to cut spending. We have to. But Liz Wheeler is with me. And we've been talking about it all morning. It's the -- the -- the -- the system of DOGE and Trump, the call-out to the world, in saying, you've got to surrender the Capitol. You know, the bad guys are in and about to take all the money.

Surround, and tell them, come out with your hands up. And that happened. And we scored a massive win, in an entirely new way.

Ask then you stood on principle, one we both agree with.

And it failed!

And so here's -- here's what Liz and I were talking about. Here's what we want to say to you.

And then get your response.

LIZ: Hi, Congressman Roy, this is the way I see it. I want your take on it. I love you. I think you're one of the best members of Congress. I disagree with you on the process that's happening. And I think that is the difference. The process. We elected Donald Trump to be a disruptor. Because Republican members of Congress for decades have been telling they're fiscal conservatives. They want to decrease the debt SEAL. It hasn't happened.

It hasn't -- it hasn't been done. And so Donald Trump comes in with Elon Musk, and uses this DOGE process to first identify these pieces of garbage in the first 1500-page bill. And take those things to the people. We took them to members of Congress. Congress said, okay. We'll listen to you.

So that new process was very effective.

And my question to you is: Once that process was proved to be effective. Which I think is exciting and wonderful.

How do we bridge this divide, with you, to say, okay.

Let's put some faith in this new process. And trust Elon Musk and Donald Trump and the Dow Jones process, to eventually address the debt ceiling, but get this done right now?

GLENN: And not blind trust. Chip.

CHIP: So appreciate you guys. Appreciate being on the show. Particular order. I have to go through a couple of things.

GLENN: Yep.

CHIP: Number one, it's important to remember that my job and my duty is to the Constitution, to God, and the people I represent. I told them, when I came to Washington, I would not -- I would not let the credit card and the debt ceiling and the borrowing of the United States without the spending restraints necessary to offset it.

GLENN: Okay.

CHIP: Right now, all we have are promises and ideas and notions. What I know, that neither of you respectfully no, and that none of your listeners respectfully no are the people that are in the room, that I was in with yesterday. And the day before, who are recalcitrant.

And do not want to do the spending cuts that we need to do.

That I believe the president and the DOGE guys. And everybody want to do.

My job, is to force that through the meat grinder. To demand that we do our damn job. Okay?

GLENN: Okay. So hang on. Okay. So wait. Wait. You're right. You're right. You're right. Go ahead.

CHIP: Number thee, when we were going through the bill, I'm glad the bill dropped from 1,550 pages to 116 pages. Three-quarters of Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it, have been out there spreading false facts that we supported a bad bill and didn't like the better bill.

That's not true. But let's be Lear. The 1400 pages that were cut out. It's a panacea.

There were some good stuff in there. There were some bad stuff in there. There was a lot of disinformation.

There wasn't a $70,000 pay raise. There was a 3,000-dollar pay raise.

I didn't support any pay raise. I didn't support a lot of the stuff in there.

But there's a lot of misinformation. And here's the thing: The 116 pages that were left, and I opposed violently the first bill. I was leading the charge on fighting and killing the first bill.

GLENN: And I love you.

LIZ: The second bill for 116 pages. Turned off -- turned off the pay go requirement. That we slash 1.7 trillion automatically.

And added a 5 trillion that are increase.

My view was, I could not support that, without a clear understanding of what cuts we would get, in mandatory spending next year. And undo any of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The undoing of the student loans. The undoing of the crap with the food stamps.

And everything else. I yield back.

GLENN: Okay. I yield back.

Chip, you're not in a hostile room. We love you. And we agree with your end goals. It's our end goal too. We didn't make that promise that you made to the people that voted for you. So we have more wiggle room here.

But you say -- I think our big difference is, you say, I know the guys in the room.

You're right. You do. And we -- we ceded that earlier today on the show.

You are -- one of us is wrong on trust.

I don't trust any of the weasels in Washington.

But I think Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have earned enough trust, to get a grace period, here for the first -- maybe the first year.

Or at least six months.

To turn the economy around, and also reduce the size of the government.

And totally flip this thing.

And I know, as somebody who is -- you know, run a company, mainly into a ground. But run a company, and have to switch it, in the middle, and totally reshuffle. That -- that actually costs money, while you're doing it, to bridge the gap.

Because you have to fill up holes while you're filling in the gap.

You don't trust the people in the room. Neither do we.

But we do trust the system that worked on Wednesday with DOGE and Donald Trump.

Where do we disagree?

Can you give them --

CHIP: We don't disagree. And yesterday morning, I was making that precise argument in a room full of conservatives and then a follow-up room with people who will call it, less conservatives.

GLENN: Republican. Yes.

CHIP: And so we were making this argument. And then someone infamously. Something leaked out of the room, somehow out to Mar-a-Lago. That I was being resistant. Because I was negotiating trying to get the agreement to achieve the objective that you just said. I was trying to get, okay. In fact, yesterday morning, I made the argument to a group of conservatives. We need to give the president runway. We need to give him his first 100 days. We need to appreciate JD, and Vivek, and all the people -- and everybody involved. For the president to achieve the objective.

But to get there. We have to make sure that the guys in the room, that are an obstacle to that, don't have the ability to block it.

Because information flow matters. And when those guys tell the president, they can't achieve X.

Then the president will not achieve X. Our job was to force and demand, guys, we need actual understanding of what the cuts will be.

And because otherwise, we're asking us to accept a 5 trillion-dollar limit in our credit card increase. In exchange for nothing!

Literally, in exchange for nothing, but -- but hope.

So our job was to force that change.

Unfortunately, while I was trying to make the argument that we needed something in order to get the votes, someone leaked that down to Mar-a-Lago, and the president reacted.

But now I have to now manage that.

GLENN: Right. I know. I know.

CHIP: They're trying to enforce change in town.

GLENN: So hang on.

We have to leave this. Because I'm going to run against the clock.

I could talk to you all day about this. You were in a meeting this morning about J.D. Vance. Can you tell us anything about that meeting?

CHIP: That meeting happened, because despite what happened yesterday, I'm trying to get this done. Last night, talking to JD, we worked to get this meeting done. We had some good progress this morning.

But there still remains people concerned about spending. That we can work out, what agreement we can reach. On what spending cuts. We can actually get next year, in exchange for giving the vote on a debt ceiling increase.

So it remains fluid. Progress was made. But we have to keep working on it.

And I left that meeting to talk to you. Soil get an update in a minute.

GLENN: Thank you for that, by the way.

I hear there is a new bill that may be coming today.

Is that the one you're talking about?

Or is this another bill that could be another nightmare?

CHIP: Despite other people leaking crap, I refused. I can't say, because it's not been decided by the speaker.

And it's not right to talk about things they're talking about in private meetings.

GLENN: Yeah, but it's -- it's this speaker. I mean, is he really the speaker anymore, Chip, really?

CHIP: We need to hear what bill we need to get forward. And I can't talk about the private meetings. But, look, I'm going to keep fighting for what I promised people that I represent.

I'm going to fight to cut spending. I am going to represent article one.

I'm going to support the president's agenda, but we've got to do that together.

GLENN: Okay.

Chip, thank you.

I think we can -- I think we agree, but I await to see what that means to you. Because we may just have to agree to disagree on this.

But I love you. And I still want you to replace Cornyn.

CHIP: The short version is, for inflation's sake, we cannot increase the debt ceiling $5 trillion without knowing what we're getting for it.

And I don't think anybody should disagree with that.

GLENN: But you don't disagree that Elon Musk and Trump and Vivek are serious about gutting the system.

CHIP: I believe that is their objective. I believe there are obstacles to that objective. And I need to know the sincerity of how we deal with those obstacles, both structural, and human. And we have to figure that out. And that's my job.

America's Favorite Villain Is Ready for Nuclear Fallout. Are You? | Glenn TV | Ep 401

In this episode of Glenn TV — a theatrical how-to guide to survive the breakdown of society after a nuclear attack, according to the new movie “Homestead” from Angel Studios. Glenn Beck interviews the movie’s star and executive producer, Neal McDonough, who plays the head of a family trying to survive as society is breaking down in a postapocalyptic world. You’ve probably seen Neal in everything from the hit TV shows “Yellowstone,” “Suits,” and “Justified” to movies like “Captain America,” “Minority Report,” and the groundbreaking mini-series “Band of Brothers.” Glenn asks Neal what it’s like to play a villain so often, how TV and movies are changing, and how he survived Hollywood as a devoted Christian and husband who refuses to do onscreen kissing scenes with any of his female co-stars. They also discuss his battle with alcoholism, what it’s like working the legends like Sylvester Stallone and Kevin Costner, and the cultural craving for Western cinema. Note: Angel Studios is a sponsor of “The Glenn Beck Program.” Get your tickets for “Homestead” at https://Angel.com/Beck.