Trump’s Dirty Diesel Deal

Tommy Vietor (0:00)

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Ben Rhodes (1:18)

Welcome back to Pod Save the World.

Tommy Vietor (1:20)

I'm Tommy Vietor.

Ben Rhodes (1:20)

I'm Ben Rhodes.

Tommy Vietor (1:21)

Ben, did you treat yourself to the first press briefing by the new White House press secretary, Katie Zachariah, today?

Ben Rhodes (1:28)

I had some crudites. I had some clips that I sampled.

Tommy Vietor (1:32)

Well, I mean, honestly, that's about all there was. It was 14 minutes long, I think.

Ben Rhodes (1:35)

Why was it 14 minutes?

Tommy Vietor (1:36)

She took three questions. And like one was-

SPEAKER_3 (1:38)

I saw the first one from Breitbart. Breitbart.

Tommy Vietor (1:41)

The most substantive of which was from Peter Doocy over at Fox. He said, as the US stopped intelligence sharing with Ukraine, to which she responded, I'll have to get back to you on that.

Ben Rhodes (1:50)

Well, I'm sure Zelensky is wondering the same thing. Yeah.

Tommy Vietor (1:53)

Well, we'll get into that in a little bit. Really nailing it on day one there. But then later I saw there's a report from Judd Legum who writes for Popular Information, a great news site, independent media site. So, Zachariah says she's a lawyer. Trump has referred to her as a lawyer. But there's no evidence that she's passed the bar in any state. And technically to be a lawyer, you have to have passed the bar. You have to be approved by the Bar Association.

A reporter asked her where she passed the bar. She said, when I moved to China, which makes no sense.

Ben Rhodes (2:22)

Chinese bar, you know. I'm sure that a Democratic press secretary who was at Chinese Communist Party lawyer would not raise any eyebrows.

By the way, named shortly after Xi Jinping's visit. Not that I'm a conspiracy theorist or anything.

Tommy Vietor (2:36)

So the timeline is she went to law school at Pepperdine Law here in California. Beautiful campus, by the way.

Ben Rhodes (2:40)

Right wing, you know.

SPEAKER_3 (2:42)

Quite right wing. Cranks them out.

Tommy Vietor (2:43)

Gorgeous.

SPEAKER_3 (2:44)

But it is beautiful Malibu.

Tommy Vietor (2:45)

Yeah, very nice. Then she moved to China where she worked at Zhong Lun, which is like a blue chip Chinese law firm.

They do work for the Chinese Communist Party and ministries. And there's a, within the law firm, there is an official Chinese Communist Party unit. Apparently, that's the thing that all these firms have to have. Does that mean she's like a member of the CCP? Of course not, but.

Ben Rhodes (3:09)

Probably.

Tommy Vietor (3:10)

She could be. But it's like, to your point.

Ben Rhodes (3:11)

Just ask some questions.

Tommy Vietor (3:12)

Imagine, imagine if the next Democratic press secretary had worked at a Chinese law firm in Beijing and lied about being a lawyer.

Ben Rhodes (3:22)

I just think they like to rub the hypocrisy and mediocrity in her face. They could pick anybody to be in this job. Well, not anybody, but anybody from their Magiverse. And it's this person who nobody had heard of a couple days ago. I mean, this is not exactly the iconic role of the press secretary that we can imagine.

Tommy Vietor (3:41)

You know who she worked for here in California? Our guy, Rick Grinnell.

Ben Rhodes (3:45)

Oh, I did see that. I did see that. She was on Team Grinnell.

Tommy Vietor (3:48)

Yeah, she was a general council at his nonprofit, which again, it's a misdemeanor to practice law without passing the bar in the state of California.

Ben Rhodes (3:57)

I mean, if Grinnell was a tall, blonde woman with long hair, he'd probably be the press secretary. Maybe this is the best they can do. I mean, Trump clearly has a type. Caroline Lovett, Natalie Harp, I'm not suggesting anything there either, but clearly likes to be surrounded by people who have a certain look.