Anti-Impeachment Democrat To Switch Party; Dispute Could Upend Democratic Debate
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2019
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Also, a labor dispute at Loyola Marymount University may mean Democrats refuse to take the stage at a debate scheduled to be held at the university Thursday night. Culinary workers there are striking over what they see as an inadequate contract with the school's dining provider. The seven Democratic candidates who have qualified for the debate all said they will not cross a picket line.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Nico and PJ. We're at home in Seattle decorating our live baby Christmas trees. |
| 0:06.0 | Just like kittens, we planned to buy one tree but ended up with two. They were just too cute. |
| 0:12.0 | We named one Fran and the other, Dominico Montrenaro. This podcast was recorded at |
| 0:21.3 | 2.35 pm on Monday the 16th of December. Things may have changed by the time you hear this. |
| 0:27.1 | Hopefully both of our trees are still alive. Okay, here's the show. |
| 0:34.1 | Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamer Keith. I cover the White House. |
| 0:38.6 | I'm Demack. I cover Congress. And I'm Dominico Montrenaro, not Treenaro, |
| 0:42.8 | Senior Political Editor, and correspondent though. I'm glad there's a tree out there named after me. |
| 0:47.2 | I hope it's not the first one that dies. Keep watering it, but don't water too much. We want |
| 0:51.5 | to Minico's tree to make it through Christmas. And that one can stay up all year. All right, so |
| 0:57.0 | later this week, the House of Representatives is going to vote on impeachment on two articles |
| 1:02.0 | of impeachment against President Trump. And it is almost certain that they are going to vote to |
| 1:07.2 | impeach the president of the United States. But there is still some drama. There are still some |
| 1:12.5 | questions about how many Democrats will vote for it, how many Republicans will vote for it. |
| 1:17.7 | And just today, there is news of a Democrat who is no longer a Democrat who was going to vote against |
| 1:25.2 | it. Still will vote against it, but now says he's a Republican, right, Tam? |
| 1:28.1 | Well, there's a congressman named Jeff Fentru. And he is, or was a Democrat from New Jersey. He |
| 1:34.8 | is one of those moderate Dems. He didn't vote to start the impeachment inquiry. He's one of |
| 1:39.3 | just two Democrats who declined to join other members of his party to do that. And now it's coming |
| 1:45.1 | out that he's considering or will switch parties and become a Republican. Now he comes from a district |
| 1:50.0 | that supported Trump by a significant amount in 2016. And that's not something that he could just |
| 1:55.0 | look the other way on. And he made the decision that he's going to become a Republican, rather than |
... |
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