Transcripts For CNNW United 20240704 : vimarsana.com

Transcripts For CNNW United 20240704

Tapper for a country that bills itself as the worlds oldest democracy, we sure do love a strongman, and from Teddy Roosevelt all the way up to our Reality Tv President , nowhere produces more of them than the empire state. And i get it. In an age where Congress Approval rating hovers somewhere around sewer rats, we wanna vote for the politician who can finally just get things done. That was Eliot Spitzer to a t. But when new yorkers sent the sheriff of wall street to the governors mansion, we all learned the hard way that White Knights can have dark secrets. Spitzer was caught breaking his own sex work laws, a level of hypocrisy we could never forget. Eliot spitzer blazed a trail through new york that had him in Spitting Distance of the white house, right up until the moment he set himself on fire. This will sound like a setup for a bad joke, but bear with me. [cheering] the change you seek, the new york you dream of begins tonight. [cheering] so theres this honest politician named Eliot Spitzer, a white knight, new york official with a reputation so pristine, they called him mr. Clean. He rose up the ranks from Attorney General to governor by taking down the mafia as well as wall street banks. These are people who are stealing money. They may not do it with a gun, but the result is just as criminal. He won the hearts of minds of new yorkers as if he were derek jeter made out of thincrust pizza, more trusted than the times, more untouchable than the subway handrails. He was such a hopeful person for the people. Now is our time to build a government that exists not for those who hold an office but for those who pay the bill. He probably could have been a great governor. He could have been president. He tripped on his dick. Governor Eliot Spitzer is under investigation for allegedly meeting with a prostitute at a washington, d. C. , hotel. Cooper Eliot Spitzer, linked to an alleged Prostitution Ring. Reporter the affidavit alleges the Prostitution Ring operated under the name of Emperors Club vip. Reporter 2 one official says that spitzer is referred to as Client Number 9. I can remember the New York Times breaking the story and literally saying, holy shit. The tabs loved it, but all the serious papers loved it, too, because it was Eliot Spitzer, the sheriff of wall street, somebody who was doing good, doing right, and hes a hero. There was just this, like, can this possibly be true . It had so many of the elements of the classic Tabloid Scandal that it almost felt like it was poorly written. I am resigning from the office of governor. Eliot came out, and he made this face that we called the pucker. [camera shutter clicking] that image of him was used over and over and over. It was just the perfect encapsulation of, like, i used to be this, like, highflying king of shit, and now im just, like, eating shit. Thank you very much. Tapper far from being remembered as the man who cleaned up new york, though, spitzer will be forever known for nearly swallowing his own face, as he was outed as one of the biggest hypocrites in modern politics. That is what infuriates people more than anything i mean, the fact that this guy was talking about ethics and morality. Even those who say prostitution is not a big deal point to the hypocrisy in these allegations. The hypocrisy thats present here is going to be his his downfall. And when a politician obsessed with being a dogooder gets caught with his pants down, the Late Night Material is endless. Ive sat next to the guy three times, and i didnt pick up on any of this, and i usually have excellent whoredar. [audience laughter] but spitzers sex scandal is not quite like other sex scandals because with no history of inappropriate behavior with women, his selfrighteousness seemed genuine. Or so we believed. The eyes of new york are on us. New yorkers loved him. He was a crusader for the little guy brave, bold, a great leader who did not have time for distractions. And thats the kind of politician we want, right the guy who cuts through the usual red tape and gets things done . But by the time he got into power, spitzers Noble Crusade had been replaced with something darker. Why do we keep ending up here . Why do we keep placing our hopes in confident men who make big promises, then completely fail to deliver . Come on. I would ask spitzer himself about this, but he stopped returning my texts, so i turned to Eliot Spitzers mentor and friend, lloyd constantine, whos known him longer than almost anyone else in his life. So my thinking about this interview, i feel like your journey with eliot is the publics journey in the sense that people really thought he was gonna be the first jewish president. The muscular democrat. Yeah, and i want you to take us on the journey. Yeah. Youve talked about how you thought the presidency was Eliot Spitzers manifest destiny, that he was going to be a fighter for the people. At what point did you start to think that . Take us back to 1982. Youre working for the Attorney General of new york, bob abrams, and here comes your summer intern, a young guy named Eliot Spitzer. What was your impression . I was a little bit wary to begin with. You know, wealthy kid from wellknown parents. Kids like that usually wanna have a fun summer. But when eliot walks in, it was kind of love at first sight. There was an understanding that we both believed that the law was the most powerful instrument of Social Change and that law could be used to help people. Spitzers crusade for the people began in earnest a few years later, when he charged into the manhattan d. A. s office in 1986. One of eliots early Success Stories was when he was working as a junior prosecutor, and he was tasked with trying to get the mob out of the garment district. The Gambino Crime Family dominated manhattans garment district, where they forced clothing manufacturers to use their Trucking Company to transport goods to retailers. Most prosecutors went after the mob by following a paper trail from behind a desk, but spitzer had a novel idea to start his own factory, hiring 30 workers and an undercover State Trooper to run it and simply waiting for the mafia to come to them. It took several months, but eventually a salesman stopped by, threatening to break bones, literally. A very quick and swift message from the gambinos either use our trucker, or somebody will be injured. [click] [recording playing] [click] spitzer always seemed to go beyond just the rigor of an investigation. He didnt wanna just read transcriptions. He wanted to listen to the wiretaps and hear how the mob guys talked. There was a visceral enjoyment of the subterranean nature of this. I played soccer, and this is a little thats a tough, tough game. Well, were not getting into yeah. No, i was the enforcer. I mean, i was the kid who played left fullback, not because i had real talent, but i took people out. And so it wasnt that i was, you know. Somebody came through with the ball. I couldnt really do things other than just take care of em. And so it was, you play hard, you play rough, and hopefully, you dont get caught. [laughter] spitzer had learned that playing rough paid off, and riding high on his takedown of the mob, he ran for Attorney General a few years later. He lost, but spitzers crusade was not yet over. He was wildly ambitious, wanted desperately, i think, to be president of the united states. Eliot was probably the definition of hubris, like, i am doing the right thing. The world must lie down before me. Remember this point. While the public saw spitzer as fighting for them, he saw himself as an untouchable hero on a righteous quest. So this wont end well. Eliot spitzer lost his first shot at Attorney General of new york in 1994, but he went right back to work, becoming a partner at lloyd constantines firm. Eliot spitzer worked for your law firm, and your relationship continues, and your families become close. Yes. You met his wife silda. Yeah. What did you think of her . Very smart. You know, i knew that they had been at harvard law together. On some level, she was more impressive, but they were equals, you know . They were equals . Absolutely. Thats interesting, because most americans, if they even know of Eliot Spitzers wife silda, they think of her as just the wronged woman at that Press Conference. Yeah. And youre saying theres so much more to her. Yeah. She was really protective of their girls, and to a certain extent had to sacrifice what was a really successful legal career in order for him to sort of be the star. Its not what she had hoped for in her life. That sacrifice was nothing compared to what shed face 10 years later as the wife of a scandalplagued politician. But in 1998, with her full support, Eliot Ran For Ag again and won. Im honored to be here as i declare victory of what has been a long race. We will begin a process of creating in the Attorney Generals Office the preeminent Public Interest law firm in the country. What was different about eliot is that he expanded the jurisdiction of the Attorney Generals Office particularly with respect to issues on wall street. This was something very unique and very unprecedented. Spitzer watched as the internet turned the stock market into a gold mine, and Stock Analysts received kickbacks for overhyping weird internet companies. So while the average investor was convinced to pour his Retirement Funds into pets. Com, Stock Analysts were using their bonuses to recreate scenes from the movie boiler room. Were players now, boys lets celebrate salute [cheering] when the dotcom bubble finally burst, the federal commission that was supposed to be looking out for investors was not doing nearly enough to help. But luckily, new yorks crusader rode in on his white horse to save the day. Ordinary americans who have been asked to invest have been defrauded. Their trust has been violated. Spitzer realized that theres possibly an opportunity here. Theyre in new york, which is Financial Services central, so if bad behaviors happened anywhere in all this, they had jurisdiction. So spitzer set about looking for legal tools to make sure he could do exactly what he wanted. New york Attorneys General had in their arsenal a powerful 1921 law called the martin act, which prohibited selling fraudulent securities to hoodwinked investors, but they only used it against small targets Ponzi Schemes and the like. Spitzer unleashed its full power against wall street, determined to catch Stock Analysts in a lie. The quintessential small investor was paying the price for this, and i believe its my job to protect them. Masters so spitzer goes to Merrill Lynch first, and he brings a case against them, which particularly picks on a single analyst named henry blodget. We still believe in yahoo as a longterm platform thats really capable of competing with aol. Masters there were these instances where he would be on tv saying these stocks are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and then there would be him complaining internally in an email like. Um, which you can figure out what that means. So if youre telling the public one thing, and youre saying something else, that sounds like fraud. Eliot was the basis of real, systemic change. He had exercised more power than massive federal agencies like the sec. Did he have more power, or did he just use it . Well, you know, he exercised it, and the market responded. I represented morgan stanley, one of the targets of one of his investigations, and i talked to, you know, to the chairman and ceo. He wasnt worried about washington. He was worried about Eliot Spitzer. No one thought anybody could put their hands on those companies, and he was able to do that. So he was really the robin hood of that whole effort. By taking on the wild west of wall street, spitzer had earned himself a new nickname. Spitzer has deputized himself as the sheriff of wall street. So even though you were on the other side in at least a case or two of his aggressive regulation of various financial industries, you thought that he was doing exactly what that 23yearold, firstyear Harvard Law Student was meant to do. He is using power effectively to help the people. He was the most powerful, most successful, and i think most effective state Attorney General in the history of the united states. Thats pretty high praise. Yes, absolutely. This all might sound like hyperbole now that were on the other side of his shocking scandal and public downfall, but everyone thought this way at the time, and not just in new york. I myself believed that spitzer was on a path that could end up at the white house, but he had been learning some pretty undemocratic lessons on his way up, that he could push boundaries, seize power, and that the people would love him even more. You have declared. I have. Officially. Officially. That you are running for governor of the great state of new york the empire state. The empire state, absolutely. All right. Im gonna call it right now. [cheers and applause] in a telltale sign of his hubris, spitzer was so confident he would become governor, he started staffing his administration years before the election. One time spitzer said to me, theres someone id like to interview to be Lieutenant Governor, but i wouldnt wanna be rejected. Then i realized hes talking about me. And he was right. I didnt wanna be Lieutenant Governor. And at the time, Hillary Clinton was the Junior Senator from new york, so i said to spitzer, if Hillary Clinton becomes president , you pick the new senator. I would be your guy. And spitzer said something to me at that point. It was very prophetic. And all i could say to that was, physician, heal thyself. [laughs] you can make money the hard way as a bullfighter or a human cannonball. Or save money the easy way, with xfinity mobile. Existing customers can get a free line of our most popular unlimited plan for a year not only will you save hundreds but youll also be joining millions who have connected to americas most reliable 5g network. Sure is a lot safer than becoming a stuntman for money. Get a free line of unlimited intro for a year when you buy one unlimited line. Visit xfinitymobile. Com today to learn more. [cheers and applause] the change you seek, the reform you thirst for, the new york you dream of begins tonight. By the time Eliot Spitzers running for governor in 2006, everyone expected him to win. In 2006, new york had been stuck in a Holding Pattern for years, and Eliot Spitzer, that seemingly upright pillar of moral rectitude, was just the candidate for them. Polls close at 9 p. M. The election was called for spitzer as 9 01 p. M. Man the next governor of new york state Eliot Spitzer Eliot Spitzer was elected governor at what percentage of the vote . 6almost 70 . It was 69 1 2. Thats insane. Almost 70 of the vote . By far the greatest plurality in the history of new york, more than franklin roosevelt, more than Teddy Roosevelt, more than mario cuomo, more than anybody. But unlike his illustrious predecessors, Spitzer Would only last one year in office before selfdestructing in a way that absolutely no one had foreseen. So i have a theory of leadership. Oftentimes, people rise to positions of power where they are able to remove anyone from their inner circle who will tell them when theyre being an asshole, and that moment, when they choose to do that, often sets the course for their downfall. That may have been the case. In the fall of 2006, silda asked me not to work for eliot. Why . She said, youre the only sort of senior older man that he listens to, and he needs to have some advice. And if you go to work for him, he will stop listening to you. But lloyd became a Senior Advisor to spitzer anyway, because he still believed that his old friend was on his way up. Did you notice any change in him . I had noticed the change in him prior to the election a kind ofof arrogance which i, you know, had not seen before. He didnt sound like a modest guy to begin with. Well, no, no. This is a kind of, you know, irrationality that culminated on, uh, inauguration day. [applause] tapper how so . In the first 45 seconds, he gets up, he attacks pataki, and he attacks the Senate Majority leader joe bruno, not mentioning their names, but he said. [amplified voice] new york has slept through much of the past decade while the rest of the world has passed us by. [cheers and applause] you know, joe bruno turns to pataki and says, hes talking

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