Countdown with Keith Olbermann

TRUMP IS REALLY, REALLY, SCREWED

A BLOCK (1:50) SPECIAL COMMENT: A Justice Department photo shows at least five bright yellow TOP SECRET/SCI files strewn on a gaudy carpet. Some pictures are worth a thousand words - this mind-blowing one looks like it's worth 10 to 20 in a Supermax for Trump. The DOJ answer to Trump's ill-conceived "Special Master" suit is released early Wednesday morning and in it, Trump destroys his own defense that he "declassified" all the documents, as government agents swear Trump did NOT assert Executive Privilege over any of the documents he turned over in June, nor did he claim any of them had been declassified. There are countless lesser Trump self-destructions in the DOJ filing that add up to Obstruction of Justice, Concealing Classified Documents, and Falsely Sworn Documents - and all this is BEFORE WE EVEN KNOW FOR SURE WHAT'S IN THE DOCUMENTS. (7:20) And this may not even be the worst news of the day for Trump. President Biden is clearly on offense, slamming Lindsey Graham for his "riots in the streets" promise. (8:06) Graham actually makes it worse: he goes back on Fox and flatly lies, and denies he said what he said on Fox two nights earlier (10:33) Biden's willingness to call out Republicans normalizes the terms he uses like "semi-fascism" and builds momentum for others to use them on a daily basis (14:20) To paraphrase "The Manchurian Candidate": "Are they saying ARE there any fascists in the Republican Party? Of course not! They're saying HOW MANY fascists are there in the Republican Party!" (14:20) Trump meanwhile goes full QAnon, posting direct messages from the imaginary figure and all but calling for another coup to be led by people who believe prophesy tells them to participate (17:15) But overarching all of it is that one photo: glowing TOP SECRET/SCI files on a carpet like so many baseball cards.

B BLOCK (19:42) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Hadley (20:57) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Gorbachev dies just before Putin finishes undoing all his work. How will your town look under 10 inches of melted glacial water? How come the dirty words on the GOP headquarters were carefully sprayed AROUND the Republican logo? (23:32) IN SPORTS: Sweden warns its players: don't go to Russia. Why are we letting Russians play in the NHL? And sports blogger Clay Travis actually compares vaccine-refuseniks Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie Irving and Novak Djokovic to Muhammad Ali's refusal to be inducted into the military: "Covid is our modern era Vietnam," says the dumbest man on the planet (29:47) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ted Cruz, Joe Rogan, and Herschel Walker - proudly insisting "My bike is not bent" compete for the honors.

C BLOCK (34:43) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's the birthday of the late Daniel Schorr, the last man hired by Ed Murrow at CBS News, a proud member of Richard Nixon's enemies list, and my colleague at CNN 40 years ago. The best story? The day I had to delay his interview with the CIA chief for breaking... College Football Rankings News!

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GRAHAM: "I REJECT VIOLENCE, BUT..."

A BLOCK (1:49) SPECIAL COMMENT: Lindsey Graham is a Stochastic Terrorist, now trying to escape accountability. After insisting Sunday "there will be riots in the streets" when Trump is prosecuted, he now says "I reject violence. I'm not calling for violence. But..." The same man who said the night of January 6th "count me out, enough is enough" is now back in, laying the groundwork for another January 6th (5:49) Or maybe another Oklahoma City bombing. Trump has now posted an article comparing the FBI at Ruby Ridge to the Gestapo (7:00) And made another demand that he be made president immediately, directed to idiots Graham is encouraging to riot in the streets. (9:00) But, Special Master suit may backfire on Trump as DOJ plans 40-page refutation of Trump's lies in his filing (10:40) And Trump plant Tony Ornato has quit the Secret Service (12:00) Plus a microscopic answer to the question: Why did Trump steal all this? The report that Trump boasted of knowing details of the French President's sex life.

B BLOCK (16:16) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Givenchy (17:49) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Biden's next "Freedom Speech," his approval ratings rise again, Chuck Todd may be fired from NBC's Meet The Press, and they recall Dinesh D'Souza's "book." (20:55) IN SPORTS: Serena starts her farewell well, and Aaron Rodgers admits he deliberately misled everyone about his 'vaccination.' And I'm proud of Aaron and Joe Rogan for confessing they're afraid of vaccine needles (27:46) WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mike Lindell, Nikki Haley, and I vie for the honors.

C BLOCK (32:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A quarter century ago, the news broke from Paris that Diana, Princess of Wales, was dead. Beyond the tragedy, there is another story. That was the day American TV News eliminated any remaining dignity or sense of responsibility from its equations.

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GRAHAM THREATENS RIOTS IF TRUMP IS PROSECUTED

A BLOCK: SPECIAL COMMENT (1:47) Senator Lindsay Graham (R-NC) has actually gone on television and threatened the peace and security of this nation with "riots in the streets" if Trump is prosecuted for mishandling classified documents (3:03) He must resign, be expelled, or censured (4:10) If you get your "riots in the streets, Senator, who has the law on their side, and the National Guard? These insurrectionists never stop to think their acts of violence would not be crushed (5:35) It's being done to try to blackmail the Department of Justice into letting Trump escape though he has compromised the "Human Intelligence Control System" and risked the lives of countless American agents and sources around the world (6:20) and must be prosecuted under 18 USC Code 794, the Espionage Act. (7:20) CIA notified all its stations last September of high number of agents and sources being "captured or killed" (8:26) This is not the first timeline suggestive of Trump jeopardizing American lives. 2019 Trump/Putin/List of Spies timeline detailed. (9:26) Trump/Putin/Helsinki 2018 timeline, plus the nearly simultaneous FBI tweet about the Rosenbergs, detailed. (10:50) 2017 MBS/Jared Kushner/Saudi round-up timeline detailed. (11:26) History of US traitor/Russian Spy Robert Hanssen and his 15 consecutive life sentences (12:10) History of US traitor/Russian Spy Aldrich Ames and his life sentence without the possibility of parole (12:30) DOD employee who without malice mishandled classified documents got three months (13:07) DNI Haynes warns Congress of damage to National Security and analysis she is referring to saving lives of agents/sources whose identities have been compromised (13:57) Mar-a-Lago affidavit by itself virtually convicts Trump of Obstruction and Attempt to Conceal Classified Documents (14:30) "Anna de Rothschild" cons her way into Mar-a-Lago to play golf with Trump - and Lindsay Graham (14:24) "Special Master" filing may backfire on Trump (17:37) If you get the riots you want, Senator, make sure you're near the front where we can all see you.

B BLOCK: EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY (20:26) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS (21:51) Biden approval, new "Covid Shot," Doug Mastriano in Confederate Uniform, Marsha Blackburn and "The Taiwans," anti-abortion leader charged with soliciting sex from minors, Ron Johnson says people in Wisconsin thinks he's a "tool of Putin." (25:03) IN SPORTS: No I didn't buy it; Adidas doesn't believe Fernando Tatis Jr; new MLB 2023 schedule underscores how baseball killed The World Series by killing the independence of the two Leagues. (33:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Junior Trump, Kim Crockett, Marco Rubio vie for honors.

C BLOCK: THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL (38:00) How James Gandolfini influenced the conception and the writing of the first "Special Comment" 16 years ago, and the horrible night I knew of Gandolfini's passing before it was announced. And I apologize: I discovered too late I misidentified Lorraine Bracco as "Elaine." 

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FOX GUEST SAYS TRUMP MAY HAVE TAKEN NUCLEAR RETALIATION PLANS

A BLOCK: (1:50) We know Trump took nuclear weapons documents, information "among the most sensitive secrets we hold," documents marked "Special Access Programs" (2:19) What if it's even worse? What if it's worse than the worst we could imagine? (3:37) What if every crazy rumor about nuclear codes and invoking of The Rosenbergs is not only apt, but an understatement? (4:23) Biography of former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Ronald Kessler (5:12) Kessler, a past Trump apologist, appears on Fox News Channel Thursday night (6:30) Kessler says what Trump took "could very well include the plans for counterstriking against Russia in the event of a nuclear attack" (8:50) Or, "penetrations by the CIA of foreign embassies, of foreign leaders like Putin, as well as recruitments of spies overseas." And that the Russians would've been trying to get a spy into Mar-a-Lago, and may have succeeded (11:00) Reinhart poised to release search warrant affidavit with all redactions the government requested (12:08) CNN reports Trump has been getting legal advice from non-lawyer Tom Fitton (12:56) Fox Business reports his web host may sue Trump for non-payment for Truth Social (13:40) We should assume that what's in Trump's Pandora's Box could be worse than we can possibly imagine.

B BLOCK: (17:30) Every Dog Has Its Day: Duo-Duo has been saved! And I'm plugging the Schwarzman Animal Center's "AMC To The Rescue" fund to treat shelter and pound pets who need medical help (18:59) Postscripts To The News: White House burns Republicans complaining about Student Loan Forgiveness program who themselves got PPP Loan Forgiveness - like Marjorie Trailer Park Greene (21:27) Who says she was swatted - again (22:01) Bill Barr turns on Trump (22:48) Couple confesses to stealing President's daughter's diary for Project Veritas (23:14) Tim Scott thinks "fruitful" and "fruit-filled" are the same word (25:04) Sports: Bryce Harper returns to the Phillies and that might be BAD news (25:40) Bengals-Rams scrimmage fight recalls Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel from The Simpsons (26:19) Anniversary of the ESPN2 show - and song, and the back story of how we launched it to mess with Fox (32:00) Jared Kushner, Doug Mastriano, and Ron DeSantis compete for Worst Persons dishonors.

C BLOCK: (37:13) Time for James Thurber and a short story that invokes Red Barber and Vin Scully (37:50) And might've become a film directed by Burt Lancaster (38:00) Regardless, it's one of his best: The Catbird Seat.

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ANYBODY NOTICE TRUMP CONFESSED?

A BLOCK: (1:55) First, the memo William Barr had his lackeys write, with which he buried The Mueller Report, has now been released by a Federal Court. (4:25) It's exactly the kind of whitewash you'd expect, possibly pre-written by one of the attorneys who defended Sarah Palin during the McCain Campaign and another who signed off on the Bush Torture memos (5:46) Ryan Goodman says it's a "Get Out Of Jail Free Card" that starts with the sophistry that if Trump felt the investigation was undertaken just to undermine him politically, he couldn't have committed any crimes (7:20) Simply: the House of Representatives needs to start an investigation into possible Obstruction of Justice by Barr and his deputies Ed O'Callaghan and Steven Engel. (9:15) Oh by the way: the Trump Classified Documents Theft case is so enormous that nearly everybody missed the Trump confession contained in the court filing. If Trump wants "Executive Privilege" documents to be returned to him at Mar-A-Lago, he is necessarily confessing he TOOK THOSE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TO MAR-A-LAGO.

B BLOCK: (15:45) Every Dog Has Its Day: Duo-Duo in New York (17:16) You know how you KNOW Biden's Loan Forgiveness Program is good? Republicans are making fools of themselves trying to attack it. One complained without noting that his own firm had government loans worth $3,291,773 and they were... yup... forgiven. (20:10) A House Committee looking at Covid-19 turned up a familiar name among the charlatans: Mehmet Oz (20:46) The political data specialist of The Economist has preliminary good Mid-Terms news for Democrats, and better news for codifying Roe state-by-state.(22:15) Sports: Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson is dead (25:25) Eric Trump, Herschel Walker, and Marjorie Trailer Park Greene compete for Worst Person Honors.

C BLOCK: (31:09) Things I Promised Not To Tell: Peter Jackson admits he considered asking a hypnotherapist to erase all his memories of making "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (32:30) which flashes me back to the day I first stepped into my college radio station - 47 years ago today! - and was warned to do something immediately if I ever wanted to enjoy radio or music again!

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"AMONG THE MOST SENSITIVE SECRETS WE HOLD"

A BLOCK (2:20) Washington Post reports some of the material Trump took recovered 8/8 is "among the most sensitive secrets we hold" (2:29) which could reveal American intelligence-gathering methods. This makes Trump a SPY (4:35) Reality Winner got 63 months for stealing one classified document so the math is: for 300 documents Trump would deserve 1,575 years (6:08) There once was the chance this was a mistake but it is now clear Trump went through all the documents and chose which to keep in defiance of the demand to return them (6:40) and reportedly supervised packing them at Mar-a-Lago. ALL OF THIS WAS A CRIME (7:45) Trump's lawyers humiliate themselves in front of Trump-appointed judge who says she can't tell from their filing what they want her to DO (9:48) Jared Kushner makes it worse (11:40) Rolling Stone reports Trump wants all "his" documents back (12:34) but as that song he always plays at his rallies reminds us: You Can't Always Get What You Want.

B BLOCK (15:40) Every Dog Has Its Day: Sonny Boy (17:10) Primary Results (17:57) DeSantis closes his 3rd speech in a month with "put on the full armor of God" (18:17) Mehmet Oz reignites the "Crudite" saga (19:23) Sanders floats bill not to recognize Brazil government if Bolsonaro tries to ignore election. Can we get this bill for the US too? (19:51) Michigan residents warned not to walk their dogs: a new virus, or a Parvo variant, is abroad (20:54) Sports: Fernando Tatis Jr says he's sorry he used steroids but is sticking to his claim he only took them for Ringworm (22:00) Angels for sale (22:48) Oakland fans engage willy-nilly in hanky-panky, others celebrate with signs, security gets tetchy (24:44) Tucker Carlson, Senator Rick Scott and Florida's Lieutenant Governor compete for Worst Persons honors.

C BLOCK (29:48) Things I Promised Not To Tell: It is 42 years to the day since I learned why Mom said "Never run for a train, there'll always be another one." I ran for - and HEAD-ON INTO - a New York City Subway train. The story winds through the U.S. Tennis Open, Dr. Renee Richards, a lesson in how to report sports, and ends with two new ventilators for Elmhurst Hospital during the pandemic.

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NOW, TRUMP MUST BE PROSECUTED FOR ESPIONAGE

A BLOCK (1:30) The New York Times' blockbuster and a stunning Trump leak of a letter from the National Archives makes it inevitable (2:15) There is no prosecutorial discretion here: if you've stolen MORE THAN 300 CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS THEY HAVE TO PROSECUTE YOU (2:43) And if some are the highest level of classification, you must be prosecuted FOR ESPIONAGE (3:00) The Times also implied there's video of people actually mishandling these documents (3:41) DOJ also isn't sure Trump isn't hiding MORE classified docs at Mar-a-Lago (5:08) None of the crimes mentioned on the search warrant are affected even if Trump somehow DID declassify the papers he stole (5:27) You also don't want to be Christina Bobb right now (6:47) Trump's motion to have a 'Special Master' review everything seized is described as 'Alice In Wonderland' (7:22) and incredibly it contains Trump boasting of how he got a threat relayed to Attorney General Garland (8:37) Judge Reinhart also seems to be leaning against unsealing the search warrant affidavit - in part for Trump's physical safety (9:55) Trump flunky Kash Patel is blaming the Government Services Administration because they haven't gotten around to blaming the moving company yet (10:05) Early Tuesday somebody connected to Trump LEAKED A NATIONAL ARCHIVES LETTER TO TRUMP'S LAWYER and ex-journalist John Solomon posted it (10:30) Archivist Debra Wall has detailed all of Trump's efforts to keep the stolen documents through the first five months of this year (11:07) Wall says Trump tried to claim executive privilege over them! The Biden White House finally agreed to waive any executive privilege (11:49) But Solomon (and presumably Trump) think the mere mention of Biden in the letter will let them paint this as Biden politically attacking Trump (12:09) without realizing that the letter confirms Trump DELIBERATELY held on to the documents and cannot claim some kind of mistake (12:39) And Wall even notes some documents were "Special Access Program materials" - bureaucratic speak of ultra-secret Black Ops programs. Trump is in twice as much trouble as he was before Solomon posted (15:20) They won't listen, but this would be a good time for his supporters to bail out on Trump because it's all indictments from here on in.

B BLOCK (19:05) Every Dog Has Its Day: Roxy (20:33) Postscripts To The News: there's a Trump Electoral Fraud scandal too. The Your-Kraken-Is-Showing crowd seems to have illegally disseminated election data to people like friends of Sean Hannity (21:59) Why did The New York Times run a Trump Op-Ed by Rich Lowry when (23:13) it could've just reprinted his self-gratifying assessment of Sarah Palin's wink from 2008? (24:47) Sports: Tom Brady's back. The Masked Singer? Refilled his consecrated ground? (25:17) Bryce Harper's minor league rehab is...SPONSORED? (27:40) Trump, Tim Michels and Russia Ron Johnson compete for Worst Persons honors, with Ron insisting he was only involved in the coup for just "seconds."

C BLOCK (32:00) My career stories - Things I Promised Not To Tell - focuses in this episode on the most talented (and most self-destructive) person I've ever worked with. He was a New York and Los Angeles radio news anchor and TV news reporter named Will Spens. He was a genius, but his ability to do what others would not try, eventually destroyed him.

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"THREATS TO DEMOCRACY" VOTERS' NEW TOP ISSUE

A BLOCK (1:51) 21% of voters polled by NBC say "threats to democracy" is their most important issue (2:08) Fascism Carries the Bible: Ron DeSantis again tells voters "put on the full armor of God" in speech for Doug Mastriano (2:42) whose security chiefs are an Evangelical minister and a former Oath Keeper (4:08) The NBC poll does not differentiate: there could be Republicans IN FAVOR of "threats to democracy" (5:45) Hatred, violence, and antisemitism now mainstreaming among GOP candidates after Pennsylvania Republican calls for "execution of Marxist/Communist Jews" (8:57) 24 hours after Oklahoma Republican says "I ain't owned by the Jews" and Arizona's Kari Lake hesitates to rescind her retraction of him (10:50) Secular stochastic terrorism on rise over weekend as Florida GOP House candidate says he'd have killed FBI agents (11:18) 24 hours after Florida State House GOP candidate says "his plan" would allow Floridians to shoot FBI, DOJ, IRS and ATF. Both men are still on the ballot Tuesday (13:40) All of this ties together in the "New Apostolic Reformation" whose members insist they "have been given legal power from heaven" to destroy all political enemies (16:14) What can we do? Take a page from Germany. You incite violence against public figures? You get arrested. Sadly, it's time.

B BLOCK (21:19) Every Dog Has Its Day, including updates on three dogs (22:30) Postscripts To The News: Sen. Graham gets his delay, FBI STILL sifting through recovered documents Trump stole; Republican Senatorial campaign seems to have spent all the money (25:06) Sports: Former Red Sox star Bill "Spaceman" Lee has a cardiac episode on what amounts to EMT Night at the ballpark; Yankees Manager Aaron Boone news permitting me to tell you how I met Boone when he was 13; Sue Bird sets a record; Yadier Molina bails out on pennant race (30:27) The New York Daily News, CNN President Chris Licht and writers of the LOL-worthy "World Climate Declaration" vie for Worst Person Honors.

C BLOCK (35:20) Things I Promised Not To Tell: 29 years to the day since Yankees Manager Buck Showalter locked his ENTIRE TEAM in the trainers' room to try to teach me some kind of lesson. And somehow we're friends anyway.

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DID TRUMP STEAL THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION DOCUMENTS TOO?

A BLOCK (0:00) We know the FBI suspects Trump purloined documents relating to nuclear weapons (0:35) but now it looks like he may have also taken stuff from boxes figuratively marked "MUELLER" (0:49) because his lackey Kash Patel has left a trail of interviews in which he has promised to go into the National Archives, take all the "Russia-Gate" and impeachment documents, and publicly release them (1:55) Judge Reinhart promises partial release of the search warrant affidavit (2:55) and Ryan Goodman and Laura Rozen of "Just Security" saw the connection (3:07) the infamous John Solomon is named one of Trump's reps to the Archives (3:37) and Patel is named the other one (6:24) Patel began telling interviewers, on the record, of his plan in MAY (7:40) ABC News made the linkage too (8:58) If Trump and/or the documents at Mar-A-Lago are at all connected to the Patel scheme, it may trigger espionage charges against Trump (9:55) Goodman notes one document released Thursday reveals DOJ got the search warrant on the premise that the Mar-A-Lago stash included EVIDENCE OF A CRIME (10:57) meanwhile Trump world is looking for the rat who talked to DOJ and even suspecting family members, when DOJ could easily have figured all this because Kash Patel has been opening his big kazoo for four months!

B BLOCK (16:00) Every Dog Has Its Day (17:44) Postscripts To The News: the Congressman who insists the FBI director appointed by Trump was actually appointed by Biden (18:27) The candidate who looks like all five members of Kids In The Hall playing the same character has already lied about Liz Cheney after defeating her (20:23) and Mike Lindell means it this time: THIS election conference will prove to everybody who's ever lived that there's fraud! (21:14) Sports: DeShaun Watson suspended, fined $5,000,000, apologizes - and then insists he's innocent and the settlement means nothing (22:30) We've put out a Silver Alert for Tom Brady (23:36) An Alabama County Republican group apologizes for using a logo with hooded Klansmen in it - they vie with the Prime Minister of Norway and a Minnesota violence-threatening GOP candidate for Worst Person honors.

C BLOCK (28:48) Things I Promised Not To Tell: CNN cancels the only TV show that regularly criticized Fox News, and fires host Brian Stelter (30:23) The Daily Beast quotes a source who insists new CNN President Chris Licht "didn't want to do this" (33:11) I call BS because at MSNBC, Licht was Joe Scarborough's Henchman and after Scarborough attacked me on twitter in a violation of MSNBC policy that was supposed to resort in automatic suspension, Licht warned management that if they suspended Scarborough, Scarborough would go to right wing media and say he was being persecuted by me because he was a conservative. (37:48) In May 2010 Licht also helped Scarborough get Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos suspended from MY show and ultimately banned from MSNBC because Scarborough didn't like something Moulitsas had tweeted (40:29) Licht demanding that Maddow, Matthews and I stop criticizing "Joe's friends" was a staple at MSNBC (41:25) and Licht was hired to run CNN to enable the new Trump-Friendly owners to move out the liberals like Stelter. (42:42) Less Thurber than usual for a weekend edition, but his impeccable fable "The Peacelike Mongoose" and the story behind it involving my father, and James Thurber's daughter!

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SECRET SERVICE DELAYED WARNING PELOSI OF 1/6 THREATS AGAINST HER.

A BLOCK: (1:07) The simple question is: has The Secret Service become politically corrupted, a threat to the nation, a CELL loyal to Trump? (1:24) Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has emails proving Secret Service waited until after the coup attempt to warn Speaker Pelosi of tangible threats against her (2:10) and sat on "Biden will die" message from same Parler account (3:56) It's either extraordinary incompetence by elements in Secret Service, or collaboration in the coup by those elements (4:18) Secret Service was also warned of plans involving guns and the occupation of the Capitol "to change election results" and did nothing (6:30) The story of Tony Ornato, who went from Secret Service agent to Trump's hand-picked choice as Special Assistant and Deputy Chief of Staff protecting the White House, and impossibly, is now BACK AT SECRET SERVICE running training of agents and other employees (8:49) and no one is acting to protect the president or the democracy because while one side continues to plot and scheme and undermine, the side in power refuses to use it and remains convinced the system will heal itself.

B BLOCK: (12:00) Every Dog Has Its Day: Bluestone (13:17) Postscripts To The News: How can Trump release the surveillance video from the Mar-a-Lago search if he told Fox News on Monday that the FBI told them to turn off the surveillance camera? (13:56) Eric "Brains" Trump wants to re-name the Republican Party (14:49) Tremendous poll numbers for Democrats in California, Wisconsin, and nationally (15:45) Trump "assumes" Liz Cheney's defeat means dissolution of the January 6th Commission - and you know what they say about ASSuming (16:50) Sports: oh good LeBron gets a raise (17:16) Tiger Woods leads PGA players' solidarity meeting. Bob Slurm reports (18:02) Chuck Howley leads NFL HOF nominees (18:02) Elvis cut on the anniversary of the week Elvis died (18:42) In 1st MLB game, (18:48) Mets rookie Brett Baty masters his domain. (19:23) Mehmet Oz, Nikki Haley, and Jared Kushner compete for Worst Persons In The World honors.

C BLOCK: (23:28) Things I Promised Not To Tell: Friday is the 14th anniversary of the day that a year of badgering paid off and I finally bullied my MSNBC bosses into giving Rachel Maddow her own show. This intertwines neatly with the Alex Wagner opening night teleprompter disaster (TOLD YOU SO) and the unlikely story of Paul Harvey's deepest fear: that somebody would figure out he only got to start his 58-year run on ABC Radio because they fired the guy he was filling in for. It's quite a story and it underscores that you have to control your origin story.

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FIRE THE INSPECTOR GENERAL AT DHS TODAY!

A BLOCK (0:00) President Biden and all of us are at risk as long as Joseph Cuffari is in government (1:00) Trump is not trying to "bring down the temperature" - he's raising it through proxies like Cuffari (1:33) Cuffari has again refused to provide documents about the DHS/Social Security text purges from 1/6/21 (2:10) and now claims he cannot be removed from his job (3:17) Removing a Trump loyalist from Homeland Security is not political vengeance when Trump is the biggest threat TO Homeland Security (4:00) Trump lawyer Alina Habba insisted names from the Mar-A-Lago affidavit must be released because they'll leak anyway (4:22) Hours later Maggie Haberman of the New York Times leaked the names of two Trump lawyers the FBI interviewed about the documents Trump stole (5:17) The Trump premise is: his crap don't stink (5:40) This part of the Trump coup poisoned DHS, Secret Service, and the Pentagon (8:10) President Biden must stop walking on eggshells about this scandal: it's a massive cover-up and prosecuting it will probably reveal widespread obstruction of justice (9:13) No temperatures are being lowered; to the contrary we are the frogs staying in the pot as Trump turns the temperature up.

B BLOCK (11:19) Good news about Sweetheart in Every Dog Has Its Day (12:47) Postscripts To The News: Liz Cheney loses, hints at presidential run (14:55) Trump reportedly seeks big-name attorneys but none will work for him. But Alina Habba is still there and she literally can't tell the difference between Judge Reinhold and Judge Reinhart (17:19) Florida poll: Demings leads Marco Rubio (18:11) After 70 games they give him 72 million (18:36) Rodolfo "Flying Phone" Castro gets his punishment (19:02) and it's way more than the 2017 Astros got for their unauthorized electronic devices (19:21) Which league had higher regular season TV ratings: women's pro basketball or men's soccer? (21:06) Senator John Kennedy and Mehmet Oz vie for Worst Persons honors as John Fetterman writes the book for Democratic candidates everywhere.

C BLOCK (25:02) Things I Promised Not To Tell: When I nearly hired Monica Lewinsky's lawyer to get me out having to do the Monica Lewinsky show (31:18) The story Bill Ginsburg thought explained the whole scandal (33:38) and the story he made me promise not to tell for 20 years: what she first thought when she saw...the dress.

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WHY HASN'T TRUMP BEEN ON CAMERA?

A BLOCK: (0:00) Where IS Trump? (1:30) His disappearance left a void so large a six-year old clip of him promising to "enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information" (LOL) went viral (2:09) Confess: when you heard Trump say agents had "stolen his passports" you had a brief moment of hope that turned into the realization Trump had just played the self-martyrdom card again, this time inside a passport he didn't even know was missing (4:41) He did do an off-camera, completely nuts, Organized-Crime-Demands-Protection-Money interview with Fox Nudes (6:55) in which he even contradicted one of his attorneys (8:07) The Guardian inaccurately suggested he can avoid indictment if he announces his candidacy quickly (8:55) The Wall Street Journal described weeks of debate by Merrick Garland about signing off on the warrant (10:47) Georgia prosecutors tell Rudy he's a target. Is he running scared? Is his mascara running scared? (12:22) Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts confirms the GOP could defund the FBI (12:52) and hard as it is to believe, Laura Ingraham says maybe America wants to turn the page from Trump.

B BLOCK: (15:23) Larry David does his Bob Sheppard impression (16:06) Every Dog Has Its Day (17:29) Iran blames the attack on Salman Rushdie...on Salman Rushdie. And remember Republicans think like Iran (18:17) Primary Day may be the end of Liz Cheney in Wyoming, and the chance for Sarah Palin to lose twice in Alaska (19:27) and if Palin is in the news, I am REQUIRED to re-read the Rich Lowry 2008 'Palin Starbursts' heavy-breathing article. (21:17) Sports, and why I don't trust the college polls (they once made me vote in them) (22:17) Pete Carril is dead (22:52) Billy Bob Thornton is no longer manager of the Texas Rangers (23:40) Marjorie Trailer Park Greene, Mehmet Oz, and Kari Lake fight it out for Worst Persons In The World.

C BLOCK: (29:12) It may not sound like it, but as Alex Wagner premieres in the MSNBC Maddow time slot tonight, I hope she does really, really well. And I'll tell you the story of when we wanted to make her the guest host for Countdown after Maddow and O'Donnell were spun off onto their own shows. FINIS

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MONTHS MORE OF TRUMP'S NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS

A BLOCK: (0:00) Of Roy Cohn, The Rosenberg Executions, and Donald Trump (2:45) Officials predict "many months" before the Trump Theft story "plays out" (5:30) Every possible angle of "Classification/Declassification" is hyped, except Charlie Savage's note that none of the laws Trump may have broken "turn on whether information was deemed to be unclassified" (6:01) In one week Trump's Cover-Up Team produced 31 DIFFERENT excuses why Trump did nothing wrong, and I review them (11:10) This obscures the only real debate: do you pursue Trump for a 10-year sentence per count, or a 20-year sentence, because we can't do to him what Cohn did to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

B BLOCK (13:12) Every Dog Has Its Day: Cheer Bear (14:49) Postscripts To The News: The IRS coming to kill you nonsense; The Boeberts (Again).(16:50) When I met Salman Rushdie and wondered if he had enough security (19:25) How come nobody's talking about baseball's new steroid scandal? If the man the game attempted to market as the new face of the sport, who was "here to change the game" is suspended until next year, it's more than Fernando Tatis who is in trouble (23:55) The Norwegian Government, Ted Cruz and Kevin McCarthy vie for honors as The Worst Persons In The World.

C BLOCK (29:31) Things I Promised Not To Tell: 45 years ago Tuesday, Elvis Presley died. It is little remembered, but the day he shuffled off, he was due to start a concert tour in the Northeast. For his scheduled appearance in Syracuse, Elvis's promoters bought commercial time on every radio station within an hour of the arena. That included the Cornell radio station I was running at the time, and I did the commercial! (35:33) The actual Elvis concert commercial I did, from WVBR-FM, Ithaca, New York, from August 1977 - when I was 18 years old (37:17) What happened on our station's main newscast the moment Elvis died (39:20) ELVIS OWES ME MONEY. Fin.

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TRUMP IS SUSPECTED OF STEALING NUCLEAR WEAPON DOCUMENTS.

A BLOCK (00:00) Stealing nuclear documents has previously been prosecuted in this country as a Capital crime (2:10) Washington Post's scoop on FBI seeking "classified documents relating to nuclear weapons" at Mar-A-Lago (2:42) Another report: FBI found dozens of Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented documents (3:52) Attorney General wants to unseal warrant; in late announcement Trump says he acquiesces (4:14) The Assistant Attorney General for National Security attended Garland's announcement (4:25) What changed in June that made authorities act? (8:38) Republicans respond. Have you no sense of decency, at long last?

B BLOCK (13:57) Every Dog Has Its Day (15:50) Postscripts To The News: Attack on Cincinnati FBI, more Herschel Walker nonsense, USPS screw-ups, first glimmer of hope for the return of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan (19:08) Sports: Bill Russell's number retired by NBA (19:54) I was the first TV reporter to do a story on the book that became the movie "Field of Dreams" and the Field of Dreams Game is everything the book and movie criticized (24:00) The Worst Persons In The World: Scott Adams, The Lincoln Project, Charlie Kirk.

C BLOCK (26:54) The weekly reading from the immortal humorist James Thurber. In this episode, from his book "My Life And Hard Times," his most famous short story: The Night The Bed Fell.

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A BLOCK: (00:00) Donald Trump has his own Deep Throat! (3:05) There's a Trump Flipped Snitch Mole Rat Informant who tipped off the FBI and it has Trump asking if somebody's wearing a WIRE (5:08) Lordy there are TAPES: the FBI has Mar-A-Lago Surveillance video - but how much? (6:35) Like we need more: somebody snitched on the snitch! (7:41) I suspect all this is why Trump is so quiet, and why he hasn't even cherry-picked the self-serving parts of the Search Warrant and released them, as he has every right to do (8:40) Shamelessly he invokes the 5th Amendment more than 400 times in a 'Question And Non-Answer Session' with the NY AG breaking his record of 97 in the Ivana Divorce deposition AND WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HER.

B BLOCK: (14:26) Postscripts To The News: Historians tell Biden it's like 1860 or 1940 and Democracy is imperiled (I could've told him that. YOU could've told him that (15:33) They're going to give Herschel Walker WHAT before his Senate debate? (18:15) Seen the video of the baseball player sliding into 3rd Base and his phone flying out of his pocket? Baseball has a long history of pockets full of stuff that didn't belong there: a lit cigar, a vial of cocaine, and sandpaper and emery boards! (22:17) The Worst Persons In The World! Competing: Senator Tim Scott, The Trump Non-Campaign Campaign, and The Washington Post.

C BLOCK: (25:44) Things I Promised Not To Tell is about the day of my final showdown with Chuck Todd (27:40) We were original participants in a DC-based Fantasy Football League founded in 2008 (28:54) I was the victim when Chuck violated a key rule of the secret league and the league actually took away one of his draft choices! (30:30) He tries to get me to tell my ex, Katy Tur, some bad NBC news so he didn't have to (32:21) Chuck claims on-air that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referred to "Nazi Concentration Camps" even though she never referenced Nazis, Hitler, or Germany. I protest to him and he doesn't know the British started Concentration Camps (35:15) On the eve of the 12th Fantasy Football season I decide I just can't stand another year dealing with him and I leave the league (36:00) Chuck finds out I've quit and barrages me with emails ending with "Don't make me care about you." (39:45) I'll talk to you Friday!

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Why did Trump's immediately allege the FBI planted evidence IF NOBODY HAS YET SEEN THE EVIDENCE?

(00:00) THE A BLOCK: It's obvious: you don't say "anything damning they find was planted" unless you know they're going to find stuff that's damning! (02:12) Why hasn't anybody just said "Trump's innocent"? (03:51) Sean Hannity with an unexpected update on the pee tape (05:12) Trump is suspiciously quiet! (7:15) Democrats have a chance to campaign on the GOP wanting to "Defund The Police" (8:11) And what's this about the FBI grabbing Rep. Scott Perry's phone?

(10:54) THE B BLOCK: Every Dog Has Its Day: Please meet Ox (12:45) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Primary results, Facebook helps prosecute a 17-year old for having an abortion, Rudy loses again. (16:31) WORLD OF WIDE SPORTS: Serena! and (18:28) Marshawn Lynch reaches the Mugshot Hall of Fame. (19:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Alex Jones, Me, and Mrs. Jones and Dave Barstool Portnoy and Andrew Cuomo vie for the title.

(23:14) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL (26:45) 10 years since Aaron Sorkin put a quote of my Dad's into the mouth of Jeff Daniels' character on "Newsroom" and every woman I ever dated contacted me (28:44) I meet Josh Charles, who played me in Sorkin's "Sports Night" and we swap tales of woe (30:25) At Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central finale I meet Jeff Daniels and we swap the truth - and take a selfie!

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Cheese it! It's the Feds! When Trump is quoted as asking why "his" generals aren't more like Hitler's generals were and that calls up his 32 years of publicly praising the Nazis, and that's NOT the TOP Trump story that day, it's been a big day! The full implications of the raid at Mar-A-Lago, the possibility the DOJ is going for an 18 USC Code 2071(b) case against Trump, the chances of getting him disqualified from again holding federal office, the dismissal of the charge that the investigation is unprecedented, and the hilarious reaction from the right threatening "war." We'll also review The New Yorker story about Trump and Hitler, and why reporters keep burying important stories to save them for books years later. Plus Sports, Worst Persons In The World, and in Things I Promised Not To Tell: The day I did absolutely no work and broke the greatest story of my career - the trade of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky.

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While you were (completely justifiably) celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the racists of CPAC were telling us who they are - literally announcing "We are all domestic terrorists." And Trump was simply promising a personal takeover of the National Guard, detention camps, and a military dictatorship. We also saw three retiring Republican Senators who could've capped the price of Insulin fail to muster the 1% courage required to do so. Also in this episode: Pete Rose reappears and tips off three separate baseball controversies in one day, the L.A. Times butchers the details of the career of the late Vin Scully, Marco Rubio uses the most modern obvious Antisemitic dog whistle, and I celebrate the 17th anniversary of the day I nearly had to call the police because yet another soon-to-be-ex-president of MSNBC chased me around the studios, threatening to kill me. On that happy note: enjoy our second week on Countdown!

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TOLD YOU SO! "The Jones Phone" goes to the 1/6 Committee. Alex Jones' attorney was unable to convince the judge in the Sandy Hook trial to walk back the legal team's dramatic dunderheadedness in sending a copy of all of Jones' texts since 2019 to the opposing counsel. Thus, he said, he would turn over that copy to the House January 6th Committee "Immediately." We know there are "intimate messages" between Jones and Roger Stone, but how else will Jones incriminate himself after having taken the 5th nearly 100 times during his testimony before it? But the man who may be covering up missing texts from Secret Service and Homeland Security is being inexplicably protected by President Biden. And more inexplicable still, Dick Cheney, who once called me out by name at a Washington Correspondents' Dinner, issued a two-minute video blasting Trump - and he and I are now completely synched. Meantime my ex-date Kyrsten Sinema has finally consented to the Climate/Inflation bill, and the Cretins of CPAC have roared at the antisemitic dog whistles from their keynote speaker, the strongman of Hungary - and Tucker Carlson just echoed them. There's an extraordinary story from Washington as a city says goodbye to its "Good Morning Man," and another DC question from sports: if the Russians are going to hold Brittney Greiner hostage, why are we letting Putin's buddy and propagandist Alex Ovechkin play for hockey's Washington Capitals? The oddest of couples, Sarah Palin and I, reappear in Worst Persons. And resurrecting a Friday tradition from TV as part of the Friday/Weekend edition of the podcast, I'll read you some of the timeless works of America's greatest humorist, James Thurber. And I'll let the brilliance of musical directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Shenale shine without me talking over it, all on this edition of the Countdown podcast.

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"The Jones Phone" could become as famous in the language of American Presidential Scandal as "Watergate" or "Teapot Dome." His lawyer's gaffe in the Alex Jones Sandy Hook Defamation obviously impacts that lawsuit. But wait: you're saying ALL of Alex Jones' texts since 2019 are now legally in the hands of a lawyer suing him? So, ALL of any texts Alex Jones sent Trump or Roger Stone or The Oath Keepers or the rest of Trump's January 6th mob are AVAILABLE? If you didn't notice, the House January 6th Committee sure did and reportedly reached out to the Sandy Hook parents' attorney with a simple request: SEND US THE JONES PHONE! Also in this episode: the post-Kansas Vote outlook for Choice and for November, the latest  paper trail of John Eastman's hallucinatory legal advice, 'So what if I finished fourth, I'm not conceding,' and the only moron in America who would defend Alex Jones after the day he had - Joe Rogan - competes for Worst Persons Dishonors. More on the passing of the legendary Vin Scully, and I'll look back on the amazing day in 2005 when MSNBC fired Rachel Maddow. And that's not a typo.

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My friend of 34 years, the voice of baseball, Vin Scully, has died at the age of 94. He has often been depicted as a saint, but he was better than that: warm, funny, sometimes profane and uncertain and even almost another team's announcer. I'll tell you what I can of a man who didn't know he was a legend, and was always happy to see YOU. In news, we have the Kansas Abortion Vote, the Alex Jones "Guilty By Reason Of Insanity" trial, a "whoops" in the Arizona Fake Electors Scheme, Bill O'Reilly trying to make a TV comeback and Alan Dershowitz getting "cancelled" for the fourth time in four years. Plus, Postscripts to the News, Worst Persons in the World, Every Dog Has Its Day, other sports news, and Things I Promised Not To Tell: My TV career started 42 years ago Wednesday because...Lou Dobbs was rumored to be stepping out on his wife!

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Even 10 years ago, Republicans ran on a simple platform: Vote For Us Or Al-Qaeda Will Kill You; Discount Terrorism And Your Career Is Over! Yet when we learned Monday night that under President Biden's direction, the architect of 9/11 and successor to Bin Laden had been killed, some Republicans MOCKED IT. The Democrats need to crush the Republicans on this and a dozen other controversies: look what Jon Stewart's public shaming did: the GOP just reversed itself and will support Health Insurance for Veterans exposed to Burn Pits. That's today's commentary. There's also news and sports and why if teams consider dealing stars like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto, the Baseball Trade Deadline may be damaging the game itself. Worst Persons features Herschel Walker and Kim Guilfoyle, and in Things I Promised Not To Tell, it's the 43rd anniversary of one of the most shocking tragedies in sports history and I'll tell you what it was like to have to cover it on a 1000-station radio network on your 7th day on the job!

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IT'S ALIVE! The premiere episode of Countdown With Keith Olbermann steals from a) all his other programs b) Beethoven and Bach and c) Peter Finch as Howard Beale in the film "Network" - only with Olber-Beale screaming "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take Trump any more! Searing political commentary in Segment One, the news of the day and the Worst Persons In The World in Segment Two including the passing of basketball immortal Bill Russell AND the story of the man who spent years impersonating him. Then in "Things I Promised Not To Tell" in the final segment, the whole history of the Countdown franchise and what really happened at MSNBC all those years ago. Welcome and enjoy: we're starting off with a super-sized premiere edition! Good night and good luck!

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