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ActBlue CEO Refuses to Answer Questions on Foreign Funds · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Terrific to what's happening right in our own country because
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  Speaker 1: of four years of a blind eye that allowed unvetted
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  Speaker 2: If you're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with
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  Speaker 3: Good Friday morning, nice to have you with us in
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  Speaker 3: the forty seven Morning Update, and we've got two big
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  Speaker 3: stories for you, massive corruption and the Democratic Party with
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  Speaker 3: Act Blue being exposed for what they are, as well
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  Speaker 3: as a Southern poverty law center and the money that
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  Speaker 3: is just coming in. I have it all for you,
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  Speaker 3: forty seven Morning Update and it starts right.
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  Speaker 2: Now, story number one.
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  Speaker 3: All right, so let's get back into this act Blue.
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  Speaker 3: So there are many people that they've heard the name.
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  Speaker 3: You describe this perfectly center. This is the the arm
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  Speaker 3: and the power, the muscle of the Democratic Party pushing agenda,
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  Speaker 3: ideology campaigns, ad campaigns, advocacy campaigns for radical left things.
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  Speaker 3: But when they were asked about their funding, and this
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  Speaker 3: is why it matters, they wouldn't answer the question of hey,
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  Speaker 3: is this money coming in that you guys are raising
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  Speaker 3: from outside of the United States of America. That would
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  Speaker 3: be a huge deal because if I remember correctly, Democrats
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  Speaker 3: were obsessed with foreign interference in our elections. They were
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  Speaker 3: obsessed with if Russia was involved in Donald Trump's campaign.
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  Speaker 3: Remember that that was like say, they wanted to impeach
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  Speaker 3: him over and now like you asked him a question like, hey,
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  Speaker 3: where's your guys funding coming from, they're literally not saying
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  Speaker 3: a word.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not just that they want to do impeach
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  Speaker 4: them over it. They did impeach him. Oh yep, they
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  Speaker 4: impeached him. That the House voted doing peach him when
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  Speaker 4: the Democrats had control, and then the Senate acquitted President Trump.
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  Speaker 4: But look, the facts here are really concerning on their face.
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  Speaker 4: Here's what the New York Post reported. Act Blue ceo
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  Speaker 4: pleads the Fifth as House probes illegal foreign donations to Dems.
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  Speaker 4: The CEO of the largest Democratic fundraising platform pleaded the
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  Speaker 4: Fifth Amendment Wednesday rather than testify before Congress about allegations
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  Speaker 4: that her firm illegally funneled foreign donations to federal campaigns. Quote,
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  Speaker 4: on the advice of Council, I respectfully declined to answer
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  Speaker 4: this question pursue it to my Fifth Amendment rights under
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  Speaker 4: the Constitution. Act Blue boss, Regina Wallace Jones said, in
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  Speaker 4: response to the first question posed during the House hearing.
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  Speaker 4: House Administration Committee Chairman brian's Style from Wisconsin said in
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  Speaker 4: his opening's remarks that there was quote significant concern that
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  Speaker 4: Act Blue may have allowed foreign donations on their platform,
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  Speaker 4: lied to Congress and withheld responsive documents from a congressional subpoena.
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  Speaker 4: All three of those actions are illegal. The panel issue
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  Speaker 4: to subpoena compelling Wallace's Jones testimony after Act Blue lawyer's
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  Speaker 4: indicat she wouldn't answer questions on a voluntary basis. Style
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  Speaker 4: and other Republican Committee chairman looking into ActBlue have claimed
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  Speaker 4: that Wallace Jones also misled Congress about the strength of
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  Speaker 4: fraud safeguards on its platform. Representative Joe Morrell, the top
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  Speaker 4: Democrat on the Administration Committee, dismissed the hearing as a
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  Speaker 4: partisan exercise and accused as GOP colleagues of refusing to
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  Speaker 4: investigate possible illegal foreign donations on their party's biggest platform.
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  Speaker 4: Win read with the differences when Red does not have
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  Speaker 4: multiple serious, credible allegations of foreign donors and particular Chinese
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  Speaker 4: donors funneling vast amounts of cash into campaigns. And I
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  Speaker 4: want you to listen to this exchange. This is an
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  Speaker 4: exchange with the Act Blue CEO and the House Committee.
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  Speaker 5: Give a listen.
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  Speaker 6: I'm the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to
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  Speaker 6: answer this question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under
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  Speaker 6: the Constitution. On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline
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  Speaker 6: to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights
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  Speaker 6: under the Constitution. I respectfully decline to answer the question
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  Speaker 6: pursuant to the attorney client privilege and my Fifth Amendment
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  Speaker 6: rights under the Constitution. On the advice of Council, I
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  Speaker 6: respectfully decline to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth
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  Speaker 6: Amendment rights under the Constitution. On the adviceive Council, I
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  Speaker 6: respectfully decline to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth
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  Speaker 6: Amendment rights under the Constitution. On the advice of Council,
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  Speaker 6: I respectfully decline to answer the question pursue into my
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  Speaker 6: Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
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  Speaker 3: Senator, that goes on for another like two minutes. You
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  Speaker 3: get the point. She practiced and rehearsed and did it
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  Speaker 3: perfectly right. I'm not going to answer any questions. I'm
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  Speaker 3: not going to do anything that can incriminate myself. I'm
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  Speaker 3: not going to answer if in fact there's countless dollars
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  Speaker 3: we're talking about millions and million coming in from foreign
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  Speaker 3: avis series that might be influencing the Democratic Party.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, the one word you said that was inaccurate. There
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  Speaker 4: was millions just in twenty twenty four Act Blue raised
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  Speaker 4: over two billion with a B. Yeah, we're talking a
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  Speaker 4: massive amount of money coming in online, typically in smaller donations,
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  Speaker 4: but lots and lots and lots of them. And there
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  Speaker 4: are literally three minutes of nothing but her pleading the
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  Speaker 4: fifth over and over and over again. We only played
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  Speaker 4: the first minute of that for you, but it just
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  Speaker 4: goes on and on and on. She wouldn't answer anything.
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  Speaker 4: And here I want you to listen now to Jim Jordan.
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  Speaker 4: Jim Jordan questioning her, Give a listen, your board chairman said,
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  Speaker 4: Act Blue accepted up to thirty eight million contributions in
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  Speaker 4: twenty twenty four that had the signs of foreign origin.
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  Speaker 6: How much fraud is too much fraud? On the advice
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  Speaker 6: of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the question, pursuant
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  Speaker 6: to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
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  Speaker 4: How many foreign contributions did that Blue accept?
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  Speaker 6: On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline to answer
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  Speaker 6: the question, pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
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  Speaker 4: How much money did that Blue accept from Russia?
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  Speaker 6: On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline to answer
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  Speaker 6: the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
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  Speaker 4: Why did your entire legal team quit in house legal team?
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  Speaker 6: On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline to answer
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  Speaker 6: the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
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  Speaker 3: Center wasn't just by the way at Blue that was
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  Speaker 3: having a bad week on Capitol Hill. The Southern Poverty
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  Speaker 3: Law Center, well, things weren't going well for them either,
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  Speaker 3: and we should definitely talk about that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. So, the Southern Poverty Law Center also testified in
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  Speaker 4: the House of Repid Senatives this week, and their testimony
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  Speaker 4: went abysmally bad. The Act Blue CEO sounded like a mafioso,
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  Speaker 4: just pleading the fifth over and over and over again.
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  Speaker 4: That's the same thing typically mafia bosses have done when
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  Speaker 4: they've been in congressional testimony, and that apparently is what
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  Speaker 4: Democrat fundraisers do as well.
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  Speaker 5: Well.
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  Speaker 4: Southern Poverty Law Center didn't plead the fifth, but here's
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  Speaker 4: here's how the New York Post covered it. Southern Poverty
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  Speaker 4: Law Center CEO grilled at testy hearing about DOJ charges
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  Speaker 4: for secretly funding the KKK. The embattled Southern Poverty Law
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  Speaker 4: Center CEO Brian Fair appeared Tuesday before the House Judiciary
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  Speaker 4: Committee for a grilling over Justice Department allegations that the
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  Speaker 4: ostensibly anti Racism Grew secretly funded the extremism it claims
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  Speaker 4: to oppose. Fair broadly defended the Center while declining to
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  Speaker 4: answer for specific alleged wrongdoing. After the DOJ in April
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  Speaker 4: filed fraud and conspiracy charges alleging millions of dollars in
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  Speaker 4: donor funds flowed to hate groups including the Ku Klux
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  Speaker 4: Klan Arian Nations and National Socialist Party of America otherwise
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  Speaker 4: known as the Nazis. All of the allegations in the
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  Speaker 4: indictment will be addressed in the Middle District of Alabama,
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  Speaker 4: Fair said repeatedly through nearly four hours of testimony. So
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  Speaker 4: rather than say I plead the fifth he just said, well,
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  Speaker 4: that's going to be addressed in court. Representative Wesley Hunt,
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  Speaker 4: a Republican from Texas and a good friend. He asked
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  Speaker 4: were donors informed that contributions were actually funding members of
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  Speaker 4: the KKK. Fair gave the same deflection, saying that'll be
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  Speaker 4: addressed in court. Hunt, one of four Black House Republicans,
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  Speaker 4: recounted allegations that legacy civil rights group paid a KKK
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  Speaker 4: leader a salary and even approved an expense report for
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  Speaker 4: a crossburning Let me repeat that.
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  Speaker 5: Wow.
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  Speaker 4: The Southern Poverty Law Center, according to the US Department
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  Speaker 4: of Justice, paid a KKK leader a salary and approved
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  Speaker 4: an expense report for a crossburning quote. According to a
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  Speaker 4: superseding indictment, the SPLC paid more than four point one
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  Speaker 4: million dollars to informants tied to extremist groups, including the KKK,
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  Speaker 4: from twenty ten to twenty twenty three, Hunt said. In
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  Speaker 4: two cases, informants who were active members of the local
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  Speaker 4: KKK chapter reportedly told the SPLC that they wanted out
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  Speaker 4: because they feared for their safety. Instead of supporting their exit,
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  Speaker 4: the SPLC employee allegedly encouraged them to remain involved and
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  Speaker 4: offered them a monthly salary of one thousand, two hundred
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  Speaker 4: dollars to do so. As a result, one informant rose
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  Speaker 4: into a leadership role within the KKK, recruited other new memors,
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  Speaker 4: purchase KKK materials, and we're even reimbursed for expenses related
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  Speaker 4: to cross burning events. Hunt added, quote, I can't make
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  Speaker 4: this up. This is not just ironic, sir, it's quite outrageous.
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  Speaker 4: Fair gave a big picture of denial during another member's grilling, saying, quote,
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  Speaker 4: we don't fund the KKK and we don't fund hate groups,
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  Speaker 4: while deferring to the outcome of litigation on the specifics now.
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  Speaker 4: I want you to listen to this exchange, in particular
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  Speaker 4: with Congressman Brandon Gill when he's questioning the CEO of
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  Speaker 4: the SPLC here give a listen.
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  Speaker 5: Do you have an opinion on this tattoo?
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  Speaker 7: I'm not an expert on tattoos. No, I don't.
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  Speaker 5: Okay, I can give you a little bit of background.
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  Speaker 8: This is a tattoo on Maine Democrat Cynic candidate Grand
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  Speaker 8: Platner's chest. That's the Nazi SS death had death head tattoo.
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  Speaker 5: Do you have any opinions on that?
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  Speaker 9: If it's what you say, If it's not, it is
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  Speaker 9: we oppose Nazis.
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  Speaker 5: We opposed, and I agree we do oppose Nazis.
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  Speaker 8: Do you think if somebody got a Nazi tattoo on
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  Speaker 8: their chest that's indicative that they might be a Nazi.
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  Speaker 7: You'd have to ask mister Plattner why he has that symbol.
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  Speaker 9: I've likely said that if it is a symbol of Nazism,
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  Speaker 9: we oppose Nazis.
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  Speaker 8: You don't think that that's indicative that perhaps he holds
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  Speaker 8: Nazi sentiments.
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  Speaker 7: It may well be.
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  Speaker 5: It may well be.
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  Speaker 8: I think do people who aren't Nazis normally get Nazi
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  Speaker 8: tattoos on their chest? Again, I assume they don't. You
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  Speaker 8: assume they don't. I would assume so too. I don't
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  Speaker 8: know anybody who's not a Nazi. I don't know anybody
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  Speaker 8: who has a Nazi tattoo on their chest, but it
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  Speaker 8: is not a Nazi. Do you do you think that
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  Speaker 8: somebody who has a Nazi tattoo on their chest should
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  Speaker 8: serve in the United States Senate.
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  Speaker 7: I wouldn't vote through that person.
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  Speaker 5: I certainly wouldn't either.
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  Speaker 8: Do you think that this should disqualify him politically from
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  Speaker 8: serving in the Senate?
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  Speaker 7: Again, I'm not sure where the line of questions it's going.
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  Speaker 7: The SPLC.
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  Speaker 5: If you're asking me, I'm sorry, go ahead.
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  Speaker 9: If you're asking me if the SPLC opposes Nazis and
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  Speaker 9: Nazis symbols, the answer is yes.
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  Speaker 8: The SPLC is referred to this same tattoo as a
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  Speaker 8: racist skinhead symbolant tattoo. You can see the resemblance there.
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  Speaker 8: You wouldn't want somebody with a tattoo like that in
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  Speaker 8: the Senate. No, No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't either. I
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  Speaker 8: appreciate your candor there.
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  Speaker 5: I love that.
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  Speaker 3: That's how hard it is to get the Southern Poverty
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  Speaker 3: Law Center to denounce a guy with a Nazi tattoo.
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  Speaker 3: That you have to spoon feed it to them center.
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  Speaker 3: And then these are the same people that were actually
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  Speaker 3: fun and approving expense reports for crossburning of people they
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  Speaker 3: were paying a salary to in the KKK. That is
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  Speaker 3: the part that can't pick up and Nazis.
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  Speaker 4: To be clear, it wasn't just the Klan. They were
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  Speaker 4: also funding Nazis. But look, the head of the Southern
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  Speaker 4: Poverty Law Center is a hardcore left wing Democrat partisan.
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  Speaker 4: The SPLC is entirely in the tank for the Democrat Party.
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  Speaker 4: They hate Republicans. It is fairly striking that the CEO
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  Speaker 4: of the Southern Poverty Law Center was forced to say
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  Speaker 4: about Graham Plattner, the commi Nazi oyster farmer in Maine, quote,
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  Speaker 4: I wouldn't vote for him. And to follow up, should
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  Speaker 4: the guy with the Nazi tattoo be in the Senate? No,
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  Speaker 4: that tells you just how indefensible it is when even
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  Speaker 4: their most extreme partisans are forced to say, of course,
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  Speaker 4: not if you got a freaking Nazi tattoo on you, You're
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  Speaker 4: a Nazi and we should be not be electing Nazis
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  Speaker 4: to the Senate. This shouldn't be hard, and yet every
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  Speaker 4: single Democrat Senator except John Fetterman, is unwilling to say
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  Speaker 4: what the CEO just said.
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  Speaker 6: There.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
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