A Conversation With Joe Manchin’s Former Right Hand, Scott Sears

Deconstructed

The Intercept

News

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., says he’s leaving his options open when asked about a presidential run. No Labels, a centrist political organization, is looking to run a split ticket between one Republican and one Democrat. Manchin is considered the likeliest candidate and has dropped increasing hints that he is considering it. This week on Deconstructed, Daniel Boguslaw, politics reporter at The Intercept, interviews Manchin's former political operative and right-hand man, Scott Sears, about the senator’s career and political ambitions. Sears helped Manchin secure political wins across the state before switching parties and throwing it all in for Donald Trump.

If you’d like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give, where your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. And please go and leave us a rating or a review — it helps people find the show. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Deconstructed. I'm Daniel Bogoslaw sitting in for Ryan Grim this week.
0:10.0	Two years ago, I began reporting on one of the most powerful politicians in American history,
0:15.0	West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.
0:19.0	We need pipelines. We need fossil fuel. You have to have energy independence, to be energy secured,
0:25.0	to be the power of the world. Right now, the administration has always been pushing further left than I could ever get.
0:33.0	When I started that project, I was still a freelancer. I was shocked at how much power Joe Manchin had amassed as Democrats' critical 51st vote in the Senate,
0:41.0	and how little reporting there was about who this guy is, where he came from, and what sustained his political career, and what is now a deep red state.
0:51.0	My reporting began with a month's long investigation into the private coal companies that made Manchin a fortune,
0:56.0	while simultaneously poisoning the air and water of West Virginia.
1:01.0	During my reporting in West Virginia, from Morden town in the north, down to Charleston and back to DC,
1:07.0	one man has provided invaluable insight into Manchin's life story.
1:11.0	I first met him at a Jimmy Buffett-styled restaurant, sandwiched between a golf course and a West Virginia freeway.
1:17.0	For years, Scott Sears served as one of Manchin's top lieutenants, overseeing campaigns, fundraising, and helping to mastermind his political strategy across the state.
1:27.0	After becoming disaffected with the West Virginia Democratic Party he once worked for, throwing all in for Trump,
1:34.0	and having a falling out with Manchin over coal dealings, Sears picked up the phone when I called him two years ago.
1:40.0	We've continued to talk since then.
1:43.0	Hello!
1:45.0	Scott, what's going on? It's Dan.
1:47.0	Hey, what's up, buddy?
1:49.0	Now much, I just wanted to see if you're ready to try to do this 2.0.
1:54.0	2.0, let's do it.
2:01.0	Manchin did not respond to the intercepts request for comment.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Intercept, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Intercept and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.