YouSaid · the spoken record

Jeffrey Toobin

lines on the record: 82
first: 2018-05-10
most recent: 2018-05-10
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And, you know, as I'm thinking a lot about impeachment now, because of the story that The division in the Democratic Party between the people who want to set a good example and the people who want to screw them just like they screwed us. Yes. I mean, that's a real fight that's going on now. And I don't think the answer is resolved which side wins.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, no, you do see more Zen these days. Being at a university campus, I know it's like, yeah, you know, on 100 years, we'll just look back. No, but I”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, but that's politically significant. And one of the reasons why so many Democrats, especially Democratic elected officials, don't want to go down the road of impeachment is that there is the argument, what's the point? It's like why spend all this time and energy trying to impeach someone in the House of Representatives when there's absolutely no chance that that president Trump will be convicted in the Senate, which is that's a good argument. It's not the whole argument, but it's a good argument.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm writing an article for The New Yorker about this even now. And I had a great interview with Ted Cruz, who I've written about a lot over the years. And Cruz just can't wait to talk about impeachment. He loves to talk about impeachment because he thinks this will drive his base out. It's like he says to me, you know, the day after the election, Nancy Pelosi is going to call for impeachment hearings. And, you know, the left is crazed to get, and the only way to stop him is to elect me and other Republicans. So it is a motivating tool for both sides, the impeachment issue.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The only reason impeachment will be taken up, and it's by no means clear that it will be, but the only possibility of impeachment is if the Democrats retake the House in November.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In 1974, Republican president Democratic Congress 1998, Democratic President Republican Congress. Both circumstances, I think, unlikely that a party of, if the party of the president had been in control of the House of Representatives, whether impeachment would have come up at all. Those were less partisan times”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Unlikely, how about never in a million years? How about like never? I mean, you know, and one of the things that's worth remembering about the two impeachment experiences of our lifetime.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the city of Chicago, but I think there's a lot more we're going to find out. And I think I remain... Of the belief that I have since a year ago there is a real obstruction of justice case to be made against Trump for the firing of Comey and related matters. I think ultimately that will be something Congress will have to deal with or not deal with on an impeachment basis, not a criminal case because I think Mueller will honor the Justice Department tradition, though it's not a law that a sitting president can't be indicted. So I think”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. And I think he's the first possible link that Mueller might draw between Russia and the Trump campaign. But, you know, as we are learning day by day with the Cohn investigation,”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, yeah, out of the question that it would be. I think we are approximately in the middle. I think the Mueller office is iceberg-like in that three-quarters of it is below the surface. When they indicted 13 Russians for social media conspiracy, most people didn't even know they were investigating the subject, much less that these people were about to be indicted. I think there will be an indictment in the not too distant future of people in connection with the hacking. Julian Assange, the Gianpodesta, the DNC emails, I think. And one of the interesting things there will be, will Roger Stone be indicted too? Because that might be the first time Roger Stone being the sometime political aide to Priscilla.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Time it airs, which could be. Well, you know, I'm going to say the three words that you're never allowed to say on cable news, which are, I don't know. I mean, you know I am writing this book about the Mueller investigation, but I'm not writing it anytime soon because I don't have a lot of insight and access to that office. I mean, that has been one of the leak-free operations. It's been remarkable. That's why when the”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And McConnell is, and also McConnell is looking at a circumstance now where his chances of passing major legislation are slipping to vanishing, even certainly for the rest of it. So all he can do is get judges confirmed. And that's what he's going to do. And he's going to do it until the day Donald Trump leaves office.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, one date to keep in mind is February 13th because February 13th, 2016 was the day that Justice Scalia died. And certainly if any justice leaves after February 13, 2020, Democrats will have a strong argument. But Mitch McConnell is all about power. And if Mitch McConnell is still the majority leader, he's going to push through a nomination. Indelibly inscribed in my mind is that Republicans care more about judges than Democrats do. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it is just a fact that Republicans are more motivated by the issues of getting control of the courts.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, not just actuarial, but certainly as far as Kennedy is concerned, we'll find out in a couple weeks whether at the end of the term is when they usually leave, although there's no requirement that they announce it then. But I think Kennedy would. I don't think Kennedy is going to leave this year, but I think next year is quite likely, actually. Well, if he leaves,”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Anthony Kennedy, who seemingly very healthy, but he's talked about. Stephen Breyer, 79. Ruth Ginsburg is 85. And 85 is not the new anything. 85 is old. Yeah.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I think if they do, the base of the Democratic Party will go berserk and they will not. They will move to recall Chuck Schumer. I mean, I think if the Democrats retake the Senate ultimately the Democrats will not consider the nomination of anyone other than in the event, other than if President Trump decides to nominate Merrick Garland. Yeah, well, but...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know where it ends. And let me put me label this controversy with a specific controversy. Now, it is unlikely, but not out of the question, that the Democrats will retake the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections. Let's say they do. And Chuck Schumer becomes majority leader.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Trump appointment that the Democrats had tried to stop with a blue slip, but Charles Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the hell with blue slips. So it's the Democrats played by the old rules and the Republicans are played by new rules. And the Republicans are tougher and more ruthless. And I think just getting back to your original question about the recount in Florida, that was a big difference between the Democrats and Republicans. And I think that has recurred.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely And I was thinking about it this very week. It's a little bit of an inside baseball story, but something that's quite relevant to what I tend to cover is the blue slip rule in the United States Senate, which is something that in effect says home state senators, even of the opposition party, get to veto a president's judicial appointments, federal judicial appointments in that. And when Barack Obama was president and Pat Leahy was the chairman of the judiciary committee, Democrat from Vermont, he honored Republicans' blue slips. And there was a seat on the Seventh Circuit, which is the Federal Appeals Court that includes here in Chicago that was kept open for six years because the Republicans wouldn't give a blue slip. Well, that seat has just been filled this week with Obama.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. And Warren Christopher was this very proper reticent, quiet, serious intellectual and James Baker. Equally intelligent, but much tougher and much more willing to use the levers of public opinion.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think it looms large, and I've been thinking about it recently, in the sense that the difference between Warren Christopher, the former Secretary of State who worked for Gore initially and James Baker, the former Secretary of State who mastered them.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Struggling with it is when I'm telling you I'm struggling with it. And I'm struggling. I mean, I also think, you know, it is very much worthwhile to think about the Monica Lewinsky story in the context of the Me Too moment we are living in. It wasn't just an extramarital affair. It was a relationship with not just a subordinate, but someone who was about 17 levels down. And so the notion of a couple of generations. Right. I mean, the notion of consent in that circumstance, even though she, by the way, ran.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, but I mean, in fairness to Clinton, I mean, before Monica Lewinsky, you know, he had admitted that he'd cause pain in his marriage. You know, there was the Jennifer Flower story. He had one or more extramarital affairs. That's what we knew when he was elected in 1992 and 1996. I mean, that's really the extent of what we knew. I mean, is...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The butt is when you wrote a whole book about. You're not famous for your admiration for the Clinton plan. No, no, that's not true.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Correct. And I think every time we think that, well, Donald Trump would never do X. No president would do X. Trump does X. Trump says X. Trump has redefined, and I think not in a positive way, the range of ways that presidents can express themselves or act. So, you know, yes, I think that he will not fire Mueller, but I still think it's not out of the question that he'll fire Muller. I mean, you know, he is not constrained by the norms that other presidents have been. And I think that we need to keep that in mind every time we think about anything Trump might do.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, I think at this point, the chances of Well, of Trump firing Mueller are remote. I think even Trump understands that that is perhaps the only thing that could turn Republicans against him. Rosenstein, I think, is still hanging by a thread. And I think he very much...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very different is that there is the real possibility that Trump may fire either Mueller or Rob Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, who's supervising Mueller, which gives the story a somewhat different cast.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And in fact, you know, to a certain extent, I don't blame them. I mean, one of the things that they keep talking about is that, you know, a lot of the people who work for Mueller gave money to Clinton or Democratic candidates. I wrote several pieces in the New Yorker, one in particular about the people who worked for STAR, many of whom were conservative and politically active. Hickman Ewing from Tennessee, a name that was familiar at the time now largely forgotten, who was very conservative. And, you know, my thought is that's fair game. I mean, I think that is a legitimate point for Trump to make. Now, what was different is that Clinton did not have the option under the Independent Council law of firing Star. Just there was no legal mechanism for him to do that. I think what makes this situation...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it was. I mean, you know, much of the story was bizarre and hilarious, you know, Linda Tripp, Lucyne Goldberg, the whole bizarre cast of characters. But again, it turned into something that tells us a lot about what kind of country we are.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The book is a vast conspiracy, so I learned to, you always say the title of your book, you were on book tour, you know this. Yeah, but you've written so many. I don't know how many I can shill four in one. I know. Yeah, well, you know, it was, again, it was a great high and low story because, you know, it was about, you know, this middle-aged man who had an affair with this young woman at the office, not exactly a shocking or unfamiliar story, yet it wound up in the garb of a constitutional crisis, so to speak. Yeah, the garb, yes, I know, in the dress, in the blue dress. You can't talk about these things without double. I learned never to say this was a seminal case. You can't say that. Going back to my Lewinsky vocabulary, it was...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For the African American community, starting with the fact that he had every advantage that most offendants, certainly African American defendants, don't have, but race was such an enormous factor that people were able to look past that. Now, just to jump ahead 20 plus years, I was lucky enough to have FX make this wonderful miniseries based on my book, which people thought, oh, well, it seemed topical. Well, it came out just in the aftermath of Ferguson. And the endless conversation in our country about race in general and law enforcement and race in particular, which just reminded everyone how Rich and important, the subject remains.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And it was a tremendous education, I think, for a lot of white people to see just how alienated African Americans were from the legal system. Now, what makes this the sort of perfect dramatically is that O.J. Simpson was perhaps the single least deserving beneficiary of that, not starting with the fact that he actually killed those two people, starting with the fact that he never done...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As big a story as the OJ case was, what you're describing, the response to the verdict, sort of sent it even more into the stratosphere because we all remember these videos or we remember our own experiences watching white people look crestfallen and black people celebrating. Now, my experience is being in the courtroom. And we all had to be quiet and the camera panned, the famous video of the camera, you know, Johnny Cochrane puts his shoulder, his head on OJ's shoulder, then the camera pans to the Goldman family and I am seated directly behind them and as many times as I see the video. Now what I think is God, you look so young. You know, it's like, which is, of course, depressing and self-centered, but hey. Yeah, what can I tell you? Not the most empathetic. I know. It's like, God, you were 33. You were a kid.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That you had this celebrity story and Hollywood and sports, but it was also about race in Los Angeles. It was also about Rodney King and the legacy of the LAPD. And that story mingled the two of them.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The answer to that question is I have absolutely no doubt that he was and is guilty. At the time I wrote that story, it was soon after. The case that I was less sure than I am now, it was quite clear to me, even then, they didn't pick his name out of the phone book as someone to arrest. I mean, there was already a lot of evidence, but that wasn't the point of the story. The point of the story was, and what was so great about covering the OJ case was that, and to use a phrase that Tina Brown taught me, it was this perfect combination of high and low.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that really sort of put me on the map as a journalist. I got a book contract. I started appearing on television. But the OJ case was unquestionably the story that put me on the map as a journalist.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was trial of the trial. It wasn't yet the trial. It was the murder. It was 1994. I started working in the New Yorker basically in June of, in January of 1993. And June of 1994, the murder happens, and Tina Brown said to me, just go out there and find a story. And I was lucky enough to find the Mark Furman story. Well, I wasn't lucky enough. I was good. An investigator on the scene who had this racist history and led to the whole issue of the race card. And it was like a really big scoop for the New Yorker.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh my gosh. Your worst day can also be your best. You know, the U.S. Attorney's Office was in Brooklyn Heights. It's beautiful. And the day that this woman called me and said, in effect, you're fired, I remember walking across the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan where I was living, and I was thinking, what the hell am I going to, how can I, you know, like, why am I getting fired? And it was just like one of these, it was a horrible, horrible day. And, you know, it turned out in retrospect to be practically the best day of my life.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I said, well, I'll try to be a journalist. And, you know, of course, it turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. But again, this was not a completely voluntary or even at all voluntary departure from the U.S. Attorney's Office. But, you know,”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I figured, what the hell, I'll do this. You know, it was New Yorkers a prestigious place. I was making a decent living as a salary.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Meeting well, I had gotten to know a youngish writer named David Remnek who was then just a writer and he had just been hired at the New Yorker. And by Tina Brown. And I was telling him my tale of woe. And I had already started talking to some lawyers about going to work. And he said, well, you know, Tina Brand's just been hired. You know, you've written this book, you've written pieces. Maybe you could get hired as a, you know, she'll hire you. Anyway, things were so chaotic at the New Yorker. I faxed in my clips and we could have subtitles to explain what a fax is to a younger audience. This is a really instructive podcast for our younger listeners here. That's right. And long story short, I was hired at the New Yorker in three days as a staff writer on Talk of the Town.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Casey Stangle's story where Casey describes when he left one of his jobs as manager and he said, we call it discharged because there was no question I had to leave. And that basically was my, I mean, I was essentially fired as an AUSA, not because of anything I had done. I was a good assistant. I mean, I wasn't the greatest prosecutor of all time. Would you have stayed if that happened? I certainly wouldn't have left then. I mean, I was going to stay another year, perhaps. But, you know, my wife was pregnant with our first child and I was like, what the hell am I going to do?”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Completely, what's the opposite of thin ice? I had received blessing to write the book, but this woman at the Justice Department said, you know, I know you went to court, but we feel it was inconsistent. And I said, what are you talking about? I've been an assistant for three years. That controversy is forgotten now. And I was at that point, you know, getting to be a fairly assistant senior assistant. I had tried a bunch of cases. I had more and more responsibility. Anyway, long story short, Mary Joite, who was the deputy U.S. attorney at the time. She later became U.S. attorney in the southern district. I was in the eastern district in Brooklyn. She went to Washington on my behalf. She said, come on, like this guy's a good assistant. And they said, no. And so I was, I think, you know, there's a famous...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, not classified files. But grand jury material. It wasn't classified. That's an important decision. Yes, no, it is. It is actually. There was a court case. There was a court case. My publisher and I sued Walsh and we got permission to write the book. So legally I was on”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And in December of 1993, almost on my third anniversary, I got a call from the Justice Department, Office of Professional, the U.S. Attorney, or something, and I'll never forget this, this woman who I didn't know called me and said, a lawyer in the Justice Department. And the first thing she said to me was, you might want to close your door. I was like, what? So I had an office and I had a door and I closed the door. And the woman said, you know, we have been conducting an investigation of your book. And we feel that you cannot... Continue to be an assistant U.S. attorney anymore”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did, although, you know, I've never really told the full story of why I changed careers. Well, you know, it is the perfect time. And I wanted to write this at some point. But I was an assistant U.S. attorney starting in January of 1990.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I mean, he, as a factual matter, is not making Mueller's life easier. I mean, I think that there's no doubt about that. But I think the response of someone like Mueller is not to stew about that, but rather how do I deal with it?”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How am I if I am ever going to need Comey as a witness? How am I going to deal with the fact that he has compromised himself in that way? I doubt he is sitting around saying, I wish Comey were a better person. It's just like, this is the way. Well, no, but I'm wondering if you're...”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think one of the facts that's worth knowing about Bob Muller is that he wears a white shirt and only a white shirt every day because he doesn't want anyone to think that he's sending any sort of signal about what kind of day it is. I mean, that's the level of intensity that he brings. He has brought a cot to his office where he work in the special counsel's office where he sleeps many nights now. I mean, this is the kind of intensity that he brings to his work. And I think knowing him somewhat and knowing sort of how prosecutors think, it's not so much that I think Comey is a bad guy or a good guy. It's like, how do I deal with this problem?”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's right. Well, to get the book out at a time when it was going to sell the most copies, which is certainly what the publishers are all about. And they succeeded. And they have succeeded to a degree that I think even surprised them. But Jim Comey, Who was the whole book is about how high minded he is, I think he let commercial considerations get ahead of the law enforcement needs of witnesses keeping their mouths shut and certainly not demonstrating their own political bias in advance of any testimony.”
2018-05-10 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 241 - Jeffrey Toobin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source