Why is it that there are so many ancient politicians in Congress — Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer? Do they just love power, or is there another reason they take forever to retire? Glenn speaks with James Poulos, the host of the newest Blaze Originals documentary, “Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich.” In the documentary, James reveals what he believes is keeping the geezers in the Swamp: loads of money. Somehow, these lawmakers have become expert stock traders, and although they claim there’s no insider trading going on, the numbers look just a LITTLE suspicious. James reveals the most shocking thing the documentary exposed and also why he believes almost no one in Congress is interested in stopping these shady practices.
ICYMI: There's still time to watch the limited public release of "Bought & Paid For": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXuzS...
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: James, how are you, sir?
JAMES: Hey, Glenn. How are you?
GLENN: Good. That was a great documentary that you were a part of, last night.
JAMES: Well, I appreciate that.
GLENN: What was the -- what is the -- if you had to tell somebody in one fact, what do you think the fact is that makes people go, whoa!
What?
JAMES: Well, you know, there's so many to choose from. I guess, you know, if -- for most Americans, wars. Pandemics.
These things are not business opportunities.
They're not opportunities to make some quick cash.
But the reality is that in Congress, if you're -- you're sitting up there on the hill, you can take advantage of those opportunities, and people do.
GLENN: You know, Nancy Pelosi always says, insular -- I have nothing to do with the -- you know, the investments in my life.
It's my husband.
He's just a great investor.
He's like a world class, never seen before, kind of investor, to do what they do. What they do with their money, right?
JAMES: Well, yeah. It seems pretty clear what's going on. It's tough, though. Because the evidentiary standards for proving something like, quote, unquote, insider trading is very difficult to me.
GLENN: For them.
JAMES: Yeah. For them. Yeah. The reality is, if you have that kind of information, and you have a sense of what's going to happen before it does, and what stocks will pop before anyone else does, you know, it's fairly clear that you shouldn't start making trades. But you can say a kind word to a family member, to a staff member. To relatives. To the staff member.
And there's really legally to stop them from taking action on them. So it's a system that is ripe for abuse.
GLENN: There's a couple of things here. Let me play cut seven here.
This is George Santos, exposing how the congressional leaders silence opposition. And what would happen to Congress, if people started to actually look into their stock trading. Listen.
VOICE: I'm thinking, I want to sign on to Abigail Spanberger's bill on individual stock trading.
I was told that if I signed a cosponsor to the bill, and made too much voluminous flare over it, I wouldn't be seated.
So I shut up.
VOICE: Who told you that?
VOICE: I had staff from the majority. From -- telling me that. To my face, on the House floor.
Like, the threats that fly around, are just absolutely insane.
VOICE: My very first classified briefing, which I unfortunately can't tell you guys for obvious reasons. Unless you guys want me tried.
Or I would be tried for treason.
So --
VOICE: Maybe both.
VOICE: Both, right?
But it -- it becomes a -- a real issue, because you hear this information.
And instantly, you're like, oh, wow.
I know this better before the country.
VOICE: It's that level of scrutiny that I received in Congress. Was applied to anyone else in that building.
Or the people at the top of both parties. What do you think would have happened to them?
VOICE: You would be running 535 special elections today if they were real.
If they applied the same level of scrutiny to me, you would think the whole building.
GLENN: Why -- why was George Santos selected to be the one who talked to you?
VOICE: Well, Glenn, it's pretty simple really.
We reached out to just about everyone, who is involved or might be involved. Whether in a good way or a bad way, with these kinds of trading practices, and we were stonewalled.
Ro Khanna -- Rep Ro Khanna seems like he might be interested. He plays for us. Ghosted us.
A bunch of other people, including the sponsor. The cosponsor of that bill.
That George Santos mentioned there. Cosponsor with Chip Roy. Who we did talk to.
We got him on the dock.
Everybody else, just a big nope.
It was fascinating.
Maverick Matt Gaetz. George Santos, thee these guys are considered mavericks or worse, by a lot of Republicans.
When those are the only guys willing to speak to you.
It's because there is a code of silence. It's very tough to penetrate. So, you know, we were very grateful to be able to get the inside scoop from those guys. Because they have been through fire. And they are willing to say what others are.
GLENN: Here is Matt Gaetz from the special last night.
VOICE: Congressman gates offered to take us on the tour.
VOICE: So one of the committees that people have a lot of information. Is the appropriations committee. Because they can view almost any vector of government funding.
And so, you know, this is Mr. Rutherford's office. He's on the Ethics Committee and Appropriations Committee. One hundred fifty-two stock trades. Stocks go through the roof.
And, you know, actually brought Raytheon stock, the day that Russia invaded Ukraine.
VOICE: Yeah. That's a big one.
VOICE: Yeah. Imagine if every American can make money off of war.
VOICE: Yeah.
VOICE: Setting aside the whole shame and ethics questions. How many more on our hit list here?
VOICE: There are a few more. I wish there were fewer on the hit list. I wish we could only stop at one or two offices. But as it turns out, so energy is a sector that sees a lot of congressional stock trading. And we have members who are on the energy subcommittee of appropriations, like Michael Guest, chairmen of the Ethics Committee. And he's traded between somewhere between tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy stocks. He's been buying online gaming stocks. And just making a killing on them. You would think that the people on the ethics committee would be your best allies in this fight. But indeed, they are the most prolific traders. And not only trading, but trading in an area, where he has access to energy information. More so than any other American.
VOICE: No indication that he wants to slow down, pump the brakes. There might be some appearance of impropriety here.
VOICE: It seems as though, the pace is only accelerating.
GLENN: So -- so -- so let me -- let me go back to a bigger point, James.
What does this say about why these people are hanging out so long in Congress? Why they just never seem to retire?
JAMES: Well, look, I asked George Santos when he first got an inkling of how much patronage. How much of an insider's club and how much potential for corruption there was when he was in Congress.
And he said, basically, day one. First briefing. You sit down.
They give you information.
You know, he said, it was eye popping.
He realized, suddenly, the intensity of what he was dealing with. I mean, look, you heard Congressman Gaetz pointing out, that you have guys on the Ethics Committee. Chair of the Ethics Committee in Congress. And they're setting standards. You know, it's a domino effect.
You spend a few minutes on the hill, as an elected rep. You come to understand, very quickly.
There is -- there is a choice. Are on the team, or are you off the team? And this goes beyond Republicans and Democrats.
This goes to the heart of, what is it that we really are doing here?
And how do we protect our ability as public officials to avail ourselves of the -- the advantages of being insiders in that system.
It is a system that, you know, really works as designed, in that sense. And it is designed to keep people hanging around, taking advantage of what they can in whatever way they can, for as long as they can.
GLENN: One of my very good friends is Mike Lee. And Mike tells me all the time, what the hell am I doing here?
I am impoverishing myself. I could be out making a good living.
And his times of frustration. He will call me up.
What am I doing?
Why am I here? This is not even good for my family, blah, blah, blah.
When you have that kind of atmosphere. When you're not making money. You're -- it's almost costing you money to work there.
That tends to have people come in. Do it for a reason. And then get out.
We have these people who are hanging out for decades.
Well, why wouldn't you?
If I could get an 80 percent return on my investments, year after year after year?
Why wouldn't I?
You know, other than, it's wrong!
But wait a minute.
I could double my money, if I win two more elections?
I could start with $150,000 in a bank account. And I could be worth $30 million? If I just work here for the next 30 years?
Why wouldn't you?
GLENN: Yeah. And, you know what, Glenn. What you're alluding to here, this is really just the tip of the iceberg. Like, there's a symbiotic relationship, between public officials and major corporations. In some cases, multi-national corporations.
And this is one facet of that relationship. And the longer that people stay around. The longer those networks develop, and reinforce each other. And police themselves.
The more that both sides of the, you know, public sector. Private sector divide. The more that divide melts away.
And it enriches people. And it corrupts people. And it creates very sick patronage networks, that are just very tough to talk people out of participating in. If you do get reelected, then you're back for a second term.
And the pressure on you to play ball, and to be a part of the team. Is just mainstream. And I bet that some of Mike Lee's colleagues look at him. And they go, oh, this guy is -- this guy is a pansy. You know, he thinks he's better than us.
You know, he -- for some strange reason, he doesn't want to enrich himself. There's peer pressure, you know. It is sort of like a weaponized high school in Illinois.
GLENN: Jeez. What a great term.
Weaponized high school.
That is exactly what it is. James, thank you so much.
I appreciate it. God bless.
JAMES: Absolutely, Glenn. God bless.
GLENN: James is TheBlaze media editor-at-large.
He's also the host of Zero Hour. And he is also the host of this original from BlazeTV. If you haven't seen it, I so highly recommend it to you. It premiered last night. Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich. It is available to the public for a limited time now.
YouTube.com/BlazeTV.com.
Before the premiere, I laid out, I think one of the most disgusting chalkboards that I've ever done. And it is the dirty trick that Congress, you know, becomes rich on. And you would go to jail if you did the same thing. This is -- this is what the elites really are. When I say the elites, why would they do that? Why would they -- why would they do that? Well, if you know war is coming and you can openly just buy stocks of Raytheon and Boeing and Lockheed Martin, you know exactly the numbers of what we have left, what companies make those things that we're short on.
I showed you last night, it's in this doc. It's amazing! The people who got out of airlines, Carnival Cruise Line, all of these things, before you knew all of the -- what was coming with COVID.
Before you knew, they had already taken their gains, and got out before things went down south.
Because they had already been briefed. They're not representing you. The only way this stops, is if you spread the word.
You really have to get the word out on this.
If you're not a member of TheBlaze. Please, join us.
Use the promo code Glenn originals. And you'll get $30 off at your annual subscription.
That's Glenn originals. Get $30 off the annual subscription of BlazeTV.com/Beck.
Do it now.