The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (02/08/2024):

3:05pm- On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Trump v. Anderson—a case which will determine whether Colorado has the authority to deem Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump constitutionally ineligible to appear on the state’s presidential ballot. In one notable exchange, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned Jason Murray, the attorney representing a group of Colorado voters attempting to remove Trump from the ballot. Referencing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, Justice Jackson stated of the amendment’s authors: “They were listing people who were barred [from office under the 14th Amendment] and president is not there.” According to most analysis, based upon questioning, it appears as though liberal justices Jackson and Elena Kagan will side with conservative justices for a lopsided decision rejecting claims that Trump is disqualified from holding elected office under the U.S. Constitution.

3:20pm- The Department of Justice’s Special Counsel will not seek criminal charges against President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents. Glenn Thrush of The New York Times writes: “The special counsel investigating President Biden said in a report released on Thursday that he had decided not to seek prosecution of Mr. Biden over his handling of classified material after leaving the vice presidency in early 2017, but had found evidence that Mr. Biden willfully retained and disclosed some sensitive material. The report said that Mr. Biden had left the White House after his vice presidency with classified documents about Afghanistan and notebooks with handwritten entries ‘implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods’ taken from internal White House briefings. Robert K. Hur, the special counsel, said in his report that Mr. Biden had shared the notebooks with a ghostwriter who helped him on his 2017 memoir, ‘Promise Me, Dad.’” You can read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/us/biden-documents-special-counsel.html

3:40pm- During oral argument in Trump v. Anderson, Justice Brett Kavanaugh was skeptical of attorney Jason Murray’s claim that individual states have the constitutional authority to deem a presidential candidate ineligible to hold elected office after citing an involvement in an insurrection against the U.S. government. Kavanaugh adroitly noted President Trump has not been charged with, or been found guilty, of insurrection.

4:05pm- In his report to the Department of Justice, Special Counsel Robert K. Hur writes of his decision not recommend not prosecuting President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents: “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

4:10pm- Zack Smith—Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral argument in Trump v. Anderson. You can find Smith’s work here: https://www.heritage.org/staff/zack-smith

4:20pm- Speaking at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Leesburg, Virginia, President Joe Biden reacted to Special Counsel Robert K. Hur deciding not to seek criminal charges against him for mishandling classified documents.

4:30pm- During oral argument in Trump v. Anderson, Justice Neil Gorsuch grilled attorney Jason Murray after he was unable to directly answer questions explaining why Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump should be disqualified from holding elected office. “Please don’t change the hypothetical, ok? Please don’t change the hypothetical…I’m not going to say it again, so just try and answer the question.”

4:50pm- Listeners react to Special Counsel Robert K. Hur’s recommendation that the Department of Justice not charge President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents. Is there a legal double standard considering former President Donald Trump faces 20+ years in prison for similar offenses?

5:05pm- Philip Klein from National Review writes: “President Biden couldn’t even remember when he was vice president or when his son Beau had died, leading special counsel Robert Hur to conclude that he could not bring charges for mishandling of classified documents, because a jury would see the president ‘as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’ In a report, Robert Hur concluded that Biden ‘willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.’ But he declined to issue any charges, in part because Biden’s poor recollection would make him hard to convict.” At one point in the report, Hur explains: “In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’). He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him.” You can read the full article here: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/special-counsel-account-of-bidens-mental-decline-is-frightening/

5:30pm- Listeners react to Special Counsel Robert K. Hur’s recommendation that the Department of Justice not charge President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents. Is there a legal double standard considering former President Donald Trump faces 20+ years in prison for similar offenses?

6:05pm- The Department of Justice’s Special Counsel will not seek criminal charges against President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents. Glenn Thrush of The New York Times writes: “The special counsel investigating President Biden said in a report released on Thursday that he had decided not to seek prosecution of Mr. Biden over his handling of classified material after leaving the vice presidency in early 2017, but had found evidence that Mr. Biden willfully retained and disclosed some sensitive material. The report said that Mr. Biden had left the White House after his vice presidency with classified documents about Afghanistan and notebooks with handwritten entries ‘implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods’ taken from internal White House briefings. Robert K. Hur, the special counsel, said in his report that Mr. Biden had shared the notebooks with a ghostwriter who helped him on his 2017 memoir, ‘Promise Me, Dad.’” You can read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/us/biden-documents-special-counsel.html

6:10pm- On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Trump v. Anderson—a case which will determine whether Colorado has the authority to deem Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump constitutionally ineligible to appear on the state’s presidential ballot. In one notable exchange, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned Jason Murray, the attorney representing a group of Colorado voters attempting to remove Trump from the ballot. Referencing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, Justice Jackson stated of the amendment’s authors: “They were listing people who were barred [from office under the 14th Amendment] and president is not there.” According to most analysis, based upon questioning, it appears as though liberal justices Jackson and Elena Kagan will side with conservative justices for a lopsided decision rejecting claims that Trump is disqualified from holding elected office under the U.S. Constitution.

6:25pm- An abbreviated hour of The Rich Zeoli Show due to college basketball— the Temple Owls take on the Memphis Tigers.