Duke Cunningham and the Bribe Menu
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
Alexandra Addison-Wrage of TRACE International
4.9 • 582 Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2018
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Marcus Stern, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter who broke the story, describes the bribery scheme that landed then Congressman "Duke" Cunningham in jail for seven years.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the podcast, bribes, windle, or steel. I'm Alexandra Ragi, and today we're |
| 0:11.2 | talking about a corrupt congressman who ended up spending seven years in jail. It's a fascinating |
| 0:16.4 | story in part because of the brazen corruption, but also because of how the bribes were hidden |
| 0:21.9 | and then ultimately uncovered. My guest is the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who broke |
| 0:26.9 | the story, Marcus Stern. Thank you for joining me, Mark. It's a pleasure. Thank you, |
| 0:31.0 | Alexander. What do you take us through this story? It's been some time now. You broke this story in |
| 0:36.7 | 2005, but I think it's well known at a high level. It's been some time now. You broke this story in 2005, but I think it's well known |
| 0:40.0 | at a high level in the public, but not a lot of the detail. Yeah, sure. Well, Duke Cunningham |
| 0:46.5 | had been in the Vietnam War. He'd been a pilot, and he was a decorated pilot. He shot down |
| 0:51.9 | five jets. And so in 1972, the war was over for him. He came back. He had parades. He was a decorated pilot. He shot down five jets. And so in 1972, the war was over for him. |
| 0:56.2 | He came back. He had parades. He was interviewed on morning television shows, became a personality, |
| 1:02.5 | taught at Top Gun, which is a military training and flying institute out in San Diego. |
| 1:08.2 | And then ended up being recruited at Rand for Congress in the late 80s, |
| 1:12.2 | I believe. And as a member of Congress, he was sort of a backbencher. Not a lot of people knew him, |
| 1:17.8 | but what they did know of him was that he was very, he was sort of like a Republican enforcer |
| 1:23.7 | in the House. And this was during a time when Republicans controlled the House and the |
| 1:28.0 | Senate. At one point was suggested that Democratic House leaders should be lined up and shot. |
| 1:33.7 | He referred to gay soldiers as homoes on the floor of the House of Representatives. He just |
| 1:39.0 | was capable of some really, I guess today we would call a kind of Trumpian behavior, but he was not one to |
| 1:46.2 | make a hearing come to a halt by saying something crass. A little course and not very likable, |
| 1:52.0 | at least if you're across the aisle from him. But he does have this military record, which is |
| 1:58.4 | very positive and was clearly a boost to him politically. So I think he |
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