Anthony Scaramucci on Trump's White House shakeup
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci weighs in on 'Justice with Judge Jeanine.'
This is a rush transcript from "Justice with Judge Jeanine," December 15, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JEANINE PIRRO, HOST: Hello and welcome to "Justice." I'm Jeanine Pirro. Thanks for being with us tonight and thanks to all of you for once again making "Justice" number one in primetime last weekend. We've got a big show on deck with Professor Alan Dershowitz, former Governor Mike Huckabee, Anthony Scaramucci and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to name a few. But first, my open.
We are in a dark and dangerous place in America tonight where politics is driving our system of justice, instead of Lady Justice being blind to politics. The story of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn is at that intersection of justice and politics, but in the end is so much bigger than politics.
Whether you're left, right, agnostic or indifferent - at its core, this is a story of injustice. It involves the usual players -- protagonist, antagonist -- big players and bit players. We pretty much know the who, what, where, when and how. The fundamental question. On January 24, 2017 was Michael Flynn treated as per the rules like any other FBI target? The answer a resounding "no."
He was treated differently which brings us to the question why? The answer to why brings us to an unsettling place, foreign to all of us who have spent our careers revering the American system of justice. It is that system of justice that distinguishes us from other countries. We are fair. We strive to achieve justice for all. No one is above our law and no one is beneath it.
It's why people clamor to come here legally and illegally, as strong as the Statue of Liberty is in the harbor in New York, so also is a symbol of blind Lady Justice in courtrooms across this great nation. The facts of this story are simple.
Flynn was in the crosshairs of the FBI targeted by the same players who we already know from publicized text messages and e-mails, tried to prevent a certain candidate from becoming President and promote another. They were dirty. They were liars - some under oath, they were leakers and they were corrupt.
Now, there's one important fact that you need to remember. The conversation Flynn had with the Russian ambassador during the transition was legal - perfectly legal. Take that one to the bank, it is what is done in every new administration. The setup, Michael Flynn was called by Deputy FBI Director, Andrew McCabe and told that the FBI wanted to talk to Flynn about the Russians and the quickest way to do it was to keep the lawyers out. A clear violation of protocol, White House rules, and ultimately, Flynn's constitutional rights.
And we know this because U.S. District Court Judge, Emmett Sullivan ordered prosecutors to hand over FBI files of the Flynn interrogation instead of sentencing him as scheduled. Forty eight hours later, the files are handed over or as per the judge's directive, although incomplete and redacted, they confirm what Director Comey himself admitted and what the judge apparently suspected that the DOJ and FBI hatched the plan to deliberately and intentionally avoid protocol, standard operating procedure in an effort to entrap Michael Flynn.
Now, Comey even admits this when he pulls off the mask of Cardinal Comey to reveal the face of a hardened political operative who deliberately trapped Flynn. He not only admitted it with unfiltered hubris, he prided himself on what any other decent man of honor would have been horrified to admit , that the rules, the law and the Constitution matter naught when politics is at stake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: Something I probably wouldn't have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized investigation, a more organized administration in the George W. Bush administration for example or the Obama administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: Something you wouldn't have gotten away with in any other administration, so to be clear, the FBI went to great lengths to disavow Flynn of any concerns telling him no lawyers need to be there, a plan that Comey, McCabe and Strzrok strategized going to great lengths to keep even the Department of Justice out.
And we now know that there were many arguments about whether or not they could and should do this. So you may be sitting there saying, "Hey, Flynn was a general. He should have known not to lie." You're right. You are right. But what is a lie? Is it a mistake? A misremembrance? A memory that simply doesn't remember everything or an untruth? And if an untruth doesn't require an intent to deceive to be a lie.
Now, Flynn already knew that any conversation he had with the Russians was recorded and that the FBI would certainly have a transcript of his conversation with the Russian ambassador, so there would be no point in lying. Even more compelling, Agent Strzok and the other FBI agent who interview Flynn say he did not lie, quote, "Both had the impression at the time that Flynn was not lying and did not think he was lying."
They even said he was unguarded and friendly. The notes further described that Flynn did not give any indication of deception. Curious however, is the failure of the FBI and the Special Counsel to provide the FBI's 302 of Flynn to Judge Sullivan.
So how does the FBI file a false statement charge when the FBI thought it was no lie, and you're probably asking yourself why would Flynn even plead guilty to lying when he wasn't lying? The answer, Flynn based on his record of 33 years as a decorated military man is honorable man who may have realized when he saw the transcript that what he said was not consistent with the transcript or maybe he pled guilty because he ran out of money to defend himself, even having to sell his house to survive or maybe to save his son also in the crosshairs of these people.
And for those of you who think the FBI was just trying to get to the truth, you're wrong. If they wanted information, if they wanted the truth, they could have shown Flynn his transcript of his conversation to refresh his recollection to get at the truth. But no, they didn't want the truth. They wanted to take down a bit player to get to the big player.
On Tuesdays, the parties will appear again before Judge Emmet Sullivan, a jurist unafraid of the swamp, a judge who has a track record of calling out prosecutorial misconduct, a man who does not tolerate injustice or abuse of power.
Judge Sullivan can throw out this guilty plea if he concludes the FBI intentionally interfered with their target Flynn's constitutional right to counsel.
The story of Michael Flynn continues on Tuesday.
And that's my open. If you like my opening statement, you'll love my book, New York Times number one bestseller, "Liars Leakers and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy."
And here with reaction to my open and much more, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus, Alan Dershowitz who joins me now by phone. Professor Dershowitz, thanks for being with us this evening.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: Thank you so much. I mean, the obvious point that everybody should understand is that, the FBI didn't ask him these questions to learn the truth because they knew the truth. They knew the truth. They weren't trying to obtain more information, they were simply giving him an opportunity to lie. Now, he could have told the truth, obviously, if he remembered, but he didn't.
But the idea is that I don't think in America, we want to empower the FBI or grand juries or prosecutors to impose morality tests, criminal morality tests to non-citizens, give them opportunities to lie, opportunities to tell the truth, test them and as Judge Sullivan implies and as Judge Ellis said very clearly, the goal here was not to get Flynn, obviously, he's just a means to the end.
Their goal was to find the low-hanging fruit, figure out a way of getting him to lie to the FBI so that they could squeeze him then, heat up the singer to compose. The obvious target here was Donald Trump, not Flynn and the question is whether or not we want to live in a society as a civil libertarian I don't, in which the FBI, the grand jury or prosecutors are empowered to conduct morality tests.
I think the function of prosecutors, the function of the grand juries ...
PIRRO: But Professor, with all due respect --
DERSHOWITZ: ... the function of FBI agent is to get to the truth and so they should never ask anybody a question to which they already know the answer. The question, did you have conversations with this diplomat? The FBI knew the answer, therefore it was not an appropriate question.
PIRRO: But Professor - Professor, can you hear me? Professor, can you hear me?
DERSHOWITZ: The only reason for asking that question is to give him an opportunity to lie and that's an inappropriate use of prosecution. That's why from day one, I said Flynn was not guilty. He could win this case. He should never have pleaded guilty, but because they threatened his family, they threatened his fortune, they threatened his integrity, I think he felt he had no choice.
Also, if he pleaded not guilty and went to trial, he would get five or ten times the sentence he would get if he pleaded guilty and that's the way prosecutors often operate.
PIRRO: Professor, with all due respect, it isn't even the issue of living in a country where they can do a truth test on us. It's living in a country where the rules are followed and so, he was a target, he was being interrogated. He was not just not advised that he was a target, not advised of Miranda, not advised he was in their crosshairs. He was told specifically "you don't need lawyers." And Comey laughs about it and says, "In any other administration, we wouldn't have done this." That's even worse than where you know, than someone who was just, you know, forgetting about the truth and not the truth.
DERSHOWITZ: Look, I agree, there's no question that they should have gone through the White House counsel's office. They should have arranged a formal meeting. They should have told him that they're interested in investigating him. They should have told him that they had evidence that he had lied to Pence and that he had lied to media and now they wanted to show him the transcript and ask him whether or not this had happened and can he explain why it happened?
As you said the beginning of your monologue, nothing illegal, nothing even improper about him talking to the diplomat. That happens all the time. And the question is, should they be rewarded for breaking the rule or should Judge Sullivan impose a consequence on them?
PIRRO: But Professor, we both --
DERSHOWITZ: Judges often use good language like Judge Ellis did and criticized prosecutors but they rarely throw out cases, so I'm anxious to see what happens in this case because I thought that the disclosures made by the Special Counsel's office did not strengthen their case, they actually weakened their case and I'd love to see the redacted material to find out if there's more information that either strengthens or weakens the case, but the judge has a good reputation. Let's see what he does and this is beyond - this goes beyond Flynn. This goes beyond Trump.
It goes to what the appropriate role of prosecutors, grand juries, FBI agents are in a democracy that is bound by the rule of law and this was a very disappointing experience and the fact that Comey engineered it, laughed about it and talks about how he could get away with it because of this administration certainly doesn't put the rule of law and the rule of the FBI in a very positive light.
PIRRO: All right, Alan Dershowitz, thanks so much for being with us tonight. I think we had some problem there with the, Professor hearing me. The Mooch is waiting in the wings, Anthony Scaramucci still had tonight, but first, one of your favorites and mine, Governor Mike Huckabee pays a holiday visit to "Justice." I'll talk live with the governor in a moment about Michael Flynn and all the things going on in Washington, don't go away.
Robert Mueller fighting back against Michael Flynn's legal team for suggesting the FBI manipulated Flynn into lying. You just heard my open and you also heard Alan Dershowitz right here on "Justice" say that he believes the FBI acted improperly. I believe they acted unconstitutionally.
Let's get reaction from my next guest, former Arkansas governor and Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee joins me now. Governor, good to have you back on "Justice." Now, the return that was ordered by the judge in this case was - he said to Mueller, "I'll give you 48 hours. I want the 302 or the FBI's report of what Flynn said to them," and the judge never got it, but what's curious is that when the FBI interviewed Hillary Clinton, that 302 was written on the same day, July 2nd of 2016 and when Hillary Clinton went to speak to the FBI, she was told to bring a lawyer. She was advised of what she was going to be speaking about. Do you think there's a difference between the way the FBI treated Hillary Clinton and the way they treated Michael Flynn?
MIKE HUKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: Oh no, not at all. Justice is blind. My gosh, Judge, this is just ridiculous. I mean, you've been on the bench. If you order someone to provide evidence to you, the judge, in a case and they don't do it, that's contempt of court.
PIRRO: Oh, yes.
HUCKABEE: I don't know how this continues to go on. You know, people like Donald Trump talk about this being a witch-hunt. It is a witch-hunt, but they're going after the wrong witch. They're going after Donald Trump, they need to be going after some of these people including Hillary Clinton, as well as James Comey who's 251 times "can't remember" a doggone thing before Congress when he's under oath, but he can go and sit there in his open jacket and be the toast to town and brag about how that he got away with going in there and sucker punching a wonderful, fine public servant and military hero like General Flynn. It's disgusting.
PIRRO: Well, you know, so here's the question. We had this great jurist and it's Sullivan. Now, he suspected something was wrong which is why he wanted those 302s. He gave them 48 hours. Now, he didn't get the original 302. What he got for all our viewers is the report of the FBI written seven months later where the FBI says the guy didn't lie. He didn't think he was lying. We didn't think he was lying.
So the issue is, will this judge make a decision sua sponte, on his own, to vacate the plea which Flynn has not asked for and you know the amazing part of it is, if he does then the house of cards of Robert Mueller falls.
HUCKABEE: It would be a tremendous act of justice on the part of the judge, Judge Sullivan if he would do that because it would expose that there has been a stonewalling on the part of the government and this ought to scare the daylights out of every American citizen.
If our own government can use its power to come after us and maliciously prosecute us for political purposes, then we don't have a justice system. We've got a third world dictatorship and that scares the pants off of me.
PIRRO: You know, Governor, I want you to think about the fact that Michael Cohen pled guilty and within the same week, he was sentenced. This Lieutenant General Michael Flynn pled guilty, I believe it was in December of 2017, and a year later, he has not yet been sentenced. So some people could think, "Well, he's cooperating." But here's the thing, he wasn't charged with conspiracy, which would have implied that there was conspiracy going on with the President or with the Russians.
And secondly, he didn't testify against anyone which they could have used as a reason to delay the sentencing. There's something going on which is delaying this sentencing. What do you think it is? Do you have any idea?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think it's largely that they know they don't have a case. They sucker-punched him, got him to plead to something because they scared him into realizing he was going to lose his house.
PIRRO: And he did.
HUCKABEE: They might go after members of his family and right, and he did lose his house, but that they would indict members of his family, that they would go and make his life even worse than hell and they've already made it and destroyed this good man's career and reputation.
And I think he just felt like he had no other choice. He made sacrifices of himself for his family. What a shame to have to do that.
PIRRO: Quickly, before we end this segment, a Texas judge has ruled Obamacare unconstitutional saying that the individual mandate which was pretty much repealed by the tax law requires the whole law to go down. Now, we saw immigration judges overturning some of the rules, some of the laws, some of the orders and they affected the nation nationally. Now, this judge, does his ruling affect Obamacare across the nation?
HUCKABEE: Well, here's the thing. I think it ultimately will. I hope that it bubbles all the way to the Supreme Court. I don't think he could have ruled it any other way for the simple reason that once Congress took away the individual mandate, there was no tax, therefore there was no way for this to continue to go. I think that it will go to the court - the Supreme Court - and they'll uphold the judge and Obamacare will be over, it'll collapse.
PIRRO: Well, it'll be very interesting to see what happens in the next few months. Anyway, Governor Mike Huckabee, Merry Christmas. Good to have you on the show.
HUCKABEE: Merry Christmas to you. Thank you, Judge.
PIRRO: All right, the war over the wall. Trump-Pelosi-Schumer in the battle over immigration. How is it all going to play out? Next, the panel is primed for a spirited debate on one of the biggest issues facing America. Will it shut down the government? Dan Bongino, Chris Hahn are next.
ANITA VOGEL, CORRESPONDENT: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I'm Anita Vogel. Another round of protests in Paris today, the fifth weekend in a row with demonstrations in the French capital. Police saying at least 115 people were taken into custody and at least seven people were injured.
The demonstrators are angry at French President Emmanuel Macron and his policies and the protests are now spreading to other European cities including London and Brussels. The Coast Guard is searching for a 26-year-old Carnival Cruise passenger who went overboard yesterday about 35 miles south of the Florida Keys. The cruise line saying today it believes this was not an accident. Thomas McElhaney went overboard at some point during the ship's voyage back to Miami after a four-night cruise. Carnival says it is providing support to his family. I'm Anita Vogel, now back to "Justice with Judge Jeanine."
PIRRO: President Trump and the Dems are at a standoff on the border wall funding as a partial government shutdown looms. My panel is here to break it down, battle it, host of "The Dan Bongino Podcast," author of the new book "Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump.," Dan Bongino. Former Chuck Schumer aide, syndicated radio show host, Chris Hahn joining me now.
All right guys, right now we've got the President saying that he's ready to shut down the government for border security. Is it the right thing to do, Chris?
CHRIS HAHN, SYNDICATED RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Absolutely not. I mean, we have millions of Federal workers and millions more who serve as Federal workers who will have to worry about their Christmas. You're talking about the war on Christmas. This is a war on Christmas by the President to threaten these people with their livelihood over a border wall which by the way he was given a year and a half ago in exchange for DACA, but he'd rather have the issue of the border wall than the wall itself.
PIRRO: Wow, go ahead, Chris - I mean, Dan.
DAN BONGINO, HOST, DAN BONGINO PODCAST: Yes, Chris saying - you notice how he did the pivot there, Judge. He immediately goes to like --
PIRRO: Yes, that was a good pivot.
BONGINO: -- that was, yes, that was impressive even for Chris. He's like, "Yes, this is about a war on Christmas right now." Are you seriously making the case right that Donald Trump wants to shut down the government?
HAHN: Yes.
BONGINO: He ran on building the border wall. People voted for him in the Electoral College overwhelmingly on building the border wall. The border wall is going to be $5 billion, all of a sudden, Chris and his liberal buddies who will spend money on shrimps on treadmill studies, all of a sudden he's worried about a $5 billion dollar wall.
Listen, hard pass on the nonsense, be focused on the topic. Don't get lost on the Christmas thing.
HAHN: Now, Dan. I only - I only went to one Trump rally. I know you went to many. I remember him saying, "We're going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it." So when the President gets his negotiation with Mexico done, then he could have his wall. We don't need a wall, but we'll take free wall.
PIRRO: Chris, stop. Chris stop. All right, now I want to say something, you were totally wrong. He offered DACA to 1.8 million people in exchange for the wall and he did not get the wall, you got that backwards, but Chris...
HAHN: He did.
PIRRO: The fundamental issue that I want to ask you is, is it fair to have a wall or is it unfair? Should we have a wall? Forget about the shutdown. Should we have a wall?
HAHN: No, we should have border security that does the job of border security, but we don't need a wall. It's a complete waste of money and 80% of Americans voted for Democrats for Congress.
PIRRO: I just wanted to ask a question, it was a yes or no question. Yes or no question, hit it, guy, in the control room. I wanted to hear this.
BONGINO: Chris has never done --
PIRRO: No, Chris, stop. Dan, I want to hit this.
BONGINO: Go ahead.
PIRRO: Go ahead, guys. Hit the sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I voted numerous times when I was a Senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: All right, this is about hating Donald Trump, to hell with the American citizens. Your party said this over and over and now because Donald Trump is in office, they don't want it. Go ahead, Dan Bongino.
BONGINO: Judge, the reason Chris doesn't want a wall built is precisely because the wall works. I have a very simple question for anybody listening tonight; Chris, included. You are - you're looking to cross the border illegally into the country, not legally. Do you want to cross where there's a 20-foot reinforced wall? Or do you just want to walk across the border? Chris will never answer that question honestly because he'll dance around it because he knows the answer. The answer is you want to cross where there's no wall. Why? Because we are reasonable people and it's easier that way.
HAHN: Dan, I know you've been busy with the book tour, so let me just spell it out ...
BONGINO: No, no book tour.
PIRRO: Smooth.
HAHN: Ninety percent of people that come here illegally overstay their visas and a wall is not going to stop that. They come on boats, they come here legally.
PIRRO: So we should let the other ones in. Let them in.
HAHN: That's what it is. What we are saying though --
BONGINO: Notice he didn't answer the question.
PIRRO: He never answers the question.
HAHN: It's not inconsistent.
BONGINO: He never does. He never does. Chris, look - Chris, I'll answer any question you want, I promise you, if you can answer me a simple question and don't humiliate yourself in front of the whole Fox audience. Do you want to cross the border where there's a 20-foot reinforced wall or where there's no wall at all?
HAHN: If I have a 25-foot ladder, I'll cross where there's a 20-foot wall, Dan.
BONGINO: You can't answer my question.
HAHN: Let me ask you a question and is Mexico supposed to pay for the wall or not? Because – you know what, get Mexico to pay for the wall.
PIRRO: Let me ask the question. That's enough, guys. Chris Hahn, be quiet. Chris, stop. Chris, I'm not going have you - come on, Chris. I want to ask a simple question now. In the end, if the President has
already identified and Border Patrol has identified six hundred gang members and I believe that there were also ten individuals, I'm not sure what it is who have been charged with felony crimes, 76% of the Americans agree with the President, why is this such a problem for you guys when you philosophically agree. It is Donald Trump that you hate and you don't care about the American citizens?
HAHN: No, I do not hate Donald Trump and if Donald Trump could get Mexico to pay for the wall, he could have it. But I think they should be stopping felons from coming into this country. I think they should be stopping people from coming in this country who mean to do us harm, but that said, a wall is a tremendous waste of American dollars, that's why the President said Mexico should pay for it and I agree with that part of it.
PIRRO: Go ahead, Dan. Enough of the Mexico stuff. Dan, last word.
BONGINO: Tremendous. You notice how he didn't - he's still hasn't answered the question. The question, Judge, was simple - do you want a wall, do you want to cross where there's a wall or not? When you look, Judge, by the way at the sectors of our border where walls have been built, illegal immigration crossing is down dramatically. Chris is allergic to facts. He was vaccinated against himwhen he was a child. It's tough for him, you know facts and data.
PIRRO: Dan Bongino and Chris Hahn, thanks so much. A "Justice" exclusive, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joins me next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I believe we're going to get really good healthcare, exciting things happened over the last 24 hours and if everybody is smart, because we have a lot of Democrats here tonight and I'm very happy about that, people don't realize it, I have a lot of friends who are Democrats and we have Democrats here and if the Republicans and the Democrats get together, we are going to end up with incredible healthcare, which is the way it should have been from day one and it's going to happen. It now has a chance to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: That's the President a short time ago praising the Texas Federal judge's decision declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. Now, I sat down this week with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar to discuss Medicare, the opioid crisis and more. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
PIRRO: Secretary Azar, thanks so much for being with us tonight. I appreciate it. This is your first trip on "Justice." I want to talk to you about healthcare. You know, it's not something we cover a lot on "Justice," but you know, during the midterms, it was a lot of talk about healthcare and that all of a sudden popped up and now, there's a lot of talk about Medicare for all. What does that mean?
ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Well, first Judge Jeanine, great to be on your show.
PIRRO: Thank you.
AZAR: Glad you're talking healthcare. It's very important, so Medicare for all would be basically taking everybody else in the country and putting them into the Medicare program. Now, the Medicare program is a great program for our senior citizens. It's a promise we made to our seniors. But you start expanding that out to everybody else, what's going to happen is you're going to undermine the employer insurance market, 140 million Americans get their insurance from their employers.
Well, you get Medicare competing there as an option paying Medicare rates which are much lower to hospitals and doctors than what private insurance pays. They won't be able to compete. It'll run them out of the marketplace. It'll be a single-payer system, one size fits all for every American and it will undermine seniors' access to healthcare.
PIRRO: And it would undermine them in what way?
AZAR: Well, what will happen is doctors and hospitals are going to leave the program because they'll say, "I can't make a living," I'm willing to take less money for Medicare reimbursement because I'm taking care of seniors, but I have all these regular private-sector patients that I can make money on.
You give those Medicare lower rates to everybody else, they're going to say "I can't make money, I'm going to pull out of the system." And the better doctors just like you see in Europe, the better doctors and hospitals will pull out of the system, seniors' access to care will be hurt and bottom line, we're already - our system is already going to go bankrupt. We need solutions for fixing Medicare's solvency over the long run and they want to add $32 trillion of expense.
PIRRO: Let me let me ask you this, while we're on the issue of seniors, you know my mom is a senior and like many of her generation, I mean, they've gone through depressions and they're on fixed income, I mean, they're not working. My mom is 89, you know, she'll go to a pharmacy and she'll call me up and she's like, "You know, Jeanine, I've got a prescription for $500.00."
What is Donald Trump - what is the President, what is the administration doing about seniors who because of the way they are, they start making choices. They prioritize, "Oh I have to get my medicine this week. I have to be careful about everything else."
AZAR: So as you know, the President cares deeply about the struggles that seniors are having in terms of access to their drugs, that's why he has made the reducing drug costs so central to everything he's doing in healthcare.
So what has he done? He's approved more generic drugs during his term than ever in history that brought $226 billion of savings from that competition of low-cost generics. He passed the Gag Clause provisions that say that pharmacists can no longer be gagged from telling seniors that they can buy their drugs cheaper if they just paid out of pocket than using their insurance. He's changed how we reimburse drugs --
PIRRO: That's very interesting because my mother has mentioned that, too. She's mentioned that her pharmacy has said, you know, if you paid cash and not submit it, isn't that amazing.
AZAR: Now, you have a right to ask your pharmacist thanks to Donald Trump.
PIRRO: Okay, all right and let's talk about the fact that Europeans are getting the same medicine at a different lower price?
AZAR: At lower prices, so we did a study and we found that Europeans, Japan and Canada are paying much less than we are for drugs. We're paying 1.8 times what they are for certain drugs in our Medicare program. So President Trump said America first, no more. What we're going to do is require that if the drug companies voluntarily give these deals to other big powerful economic countries, they have to give us a cut of that same bargain in our program, then give us a 30% discount that gets down to the rates they would so it puts Americans first, stops foreign free-riding on American investment in R&D; but it preserves seniors access to the same medicine.
PIRRO: Okay, let's talk about the opioid crisis. The opioid crisis involves people who go to their doctors, get medication and then become addicted to it. How is the President going to sign - and you through your agency?
AZAR: So the President has really led a historic effort to tackle this devastating drug addiction crisis and the key thing is people - the majority of people who get addicted to opioids start as you said with a legal opioid prescription. They get the wisdom teeth taken out, they have surgery and they get pain medicine and they become addicted.
So what he said is, we're going to cut legal opioid prescriptions by 33% during my term. Guess what? Already he's cut it by 28%. He's well on track and as a result, we're seeing deaths from opioid overdose plateauing. We're seeing utilization of opioids reducing. We're seeing initiate first-time use of heroin coming down, so all the trends are in the right direction. Long way to go, but everything's going in the right direction.
PIRRO: Well, we appreciate your being with us, Secretary. We appreciate the work you're doing for all Americans. Thanks for being with us.
AZAR: Thank you, Judge Jeanine.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
PIRRO: And more shakeups in the White House. I'll get the lowdown from The Mooch - is the end of the turnover? Anthony Scaramucci is next. Don't go away.
The Trump administration will look a little different come 2019. One key position now off the table, the President announcing Mick Mulvaney will replace General John Kelly as his new acting White House Chief of Staff. Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci joins me now
with reaction to this and so much more. Good evening, Anthony. How are you?
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Great to be here, Judge.
PIRRO: It's great to be in New York City around Christmas time, huh?
SCARAMUCCI: Merry Christmas.
PIRRO: Same to you. All right, Mick Mulvaney. What do you think of him?
SCARAMUCCI: I like him a great deal. I mean, I don't know him as well as I knew some of the other people during the campaign, but I've met him a few times at the 21 Club, I think Casey McTigue's family, maybe John --
PIRRO: Yes, John ...
SCARAMUCCI: You see these roundtable discussions. He's wickedly smart.
PIRRO: He is wickedly smart.
SCARAMUCCI: Very, very capable. He has a really good understanding of what we need to do for deficit reduction, super responsible guy and he'll help the President get things done like the border wall. He'll help the President on immigration and he'll help the President I think as it relates to framing out the 2020 reelection - all of these things are great.
PIRRO: When you say he's wickedly smart, he is, but the job of White House Chief of Staff is more than being wickedly smart. It requires that you be able to understand the man in charge that you be able to keep up with him. We all know the man works around the clock. He doesn't sleep. How do you think Mick will do in that?
SCARAMUCCI: I think - you know, I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, I don't know anybody who can keep up with him. I'm just telling you, okay, so if that was the qualifications and maybe Mick will be mad at me for saying that, but I don't -- he's a hard guy to keep up with because it's the level of energy and the stamina. But I think there's more to it than that.
I think what you're really saying is that there shouldn't be any daylight between him and the President. I think Mick has that. I think he has won the President's trust. Again, when you think about some of the budget issues that have come up and people don't give the President a lot of credit for this, but it's worth saying on your show - almost the complete and full restoration of the military.
If you think about that spending bill, the President was in the Roosevelt Room saying, "Hey, I don't want to spend this sort of money, but I had to allow for some of these Democratic shenanigans to get in there to fix and clean the military," and so you've got to give Mick Mulvaney a lot of credit for that because he was like a surgeon in that process.
PIRRO: And you know, when you talk about the military, I mean, I can't help but ask about Lieutenant General Michael Flynn who is coming up for sentencing on Tuesday, but whose sentencing judge required the special counsel to provide 302as and other records, which the Special Counsel did not provide in full and it appears that this judge Emmett Sullivan who is very much a jurist who abhors abuse of power is going to be sentencing Flynn on Tuesday.
Now, the Special Counsel is asking for no time. When a Special Counsel asks for no time, it tells me that they don't want an appeal because they don't want the rotten onion being pulled back. What do you think?
SCARAMUCCI: Well, I mean St. Patrick is pretty close by. I'm going to light a candle for Michael and his family and hope for the best for him next week because if you look at the facts of the case and you think about your opening statement, there is a chance that he could have this whole thing thrown out and/or overturned and hopefully, no jail sentence or anything like that.
General Flynn is an American patriot. He sacrificed enough for his country. I think it's a very warbled case. It's very hard to understand the facts, Judge and so for me, and as people have recommended that he gets limited jail time, I hope it's no jail time for him. I think that'll send a very good message.
PIRRO: But the interesting thing is with the Special Counsel recommending no jail time and ready to go to sentencing, the judge pulls back and says I want to see what your basis is for this plea. It tells me, the judge could have gone along with the no sentence. The judge is looking for something deeper. Anyway--
SCARAMUCCI: Well, you think he could overturn it?
PIRRO: I do. I do. I think this judge has the capacity.
SCARAMUCCI: I would hope for that.
PIRRO: And finally, going into 2019, what do you think is in store for the President?
SCARAMUCCI: Well, I think he's going to get a trade deal done with the Chinese. He'll fix the trade problem that we have with the Europeans and I think that will be very good for the stock market and it'll keep the economy in acceleration mode.
PIRRO: Oh good stuff and all stuff that you know a lot about.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes, I'm very happy to be back running my money, Judge.
PIRRO: Anthony Scaramucci back with his money. Thanks so much and folks. we'll be right back.
Before we leave you tonight, two very special goodbyes. Ethel Kara Jean (ph), my oldest fan and the most loyal "Justice: viewer there was, passed away this week at the age of 106. Ethel, Saturday nights just won't be the same without knowing that you're watching. My condolences to Ethel's daughter, Marion and her granddaughter, Linda. As you can see, she actually came to one of my speeches in October.
We're also sending condolences to the family of an American Hero, Army Sergeant First Class Eric Emond was killed in Afghanistan recently. Sergeant Emond served seven tours there and was one of the Founders of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, a nonprofit helping gold star families. The sergeant was 39 and leaves behind his wife, Allie, his three children and a grateful nation. Go to massfallenheroes.org to see how you can help the Sergeant's family and so many more like them.
I'm Jeanine Pirro advocating for truth, justice and the American Way. Good night. Thank you all for watching. Thank you all for being loyal fans of this show. Good night and God bless you all.
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