kurt bardella, former spokesperson for the house oversight committee. oh, kurt. >> here we are again. >> they want to defund the police. >> how about that? >> what's up with that? >> you have to understand that when a republican is in the line of fire, then law enforcement needs to back off. you're going after the wrong people here. when a democrat is under scrutiny and investigation, that's okay. they want that. it's a complete overpartisanship of justice that the legislative branch is trying to dictate to the judicial branch how they should conduct their investigations, who they should target. if they don't do it that way, they're going to defund them. that kind of sounds like extortion. >> obviously, donald trump is on the road to becoming the nominee. he's beating the pants off all his other opponents. so their assumption is he's going to be the nominee. if he's president, is the point of this to get pardons? because some of these people i have named, they were kind of involved in the insurrection. >> i seem to remember during the january 6th select committee's work, the committee issuing subpoenas to members of congress like judiciary committee jim jordan, like paul gosar, because remember, there were reports that members of congress helped some of these insurrectionists case the joint. there is a lot of information that we still don't know because these members of congress, these people who love their subpoenas and investigations and depositions, that they never cooperated. so it makes sense that they're going to do everything they can to protect donald trump because if trump goes down, maybe they could go down. >> kevin mccarthy is saying he's getting all his ducks in a row for impeachment. it's ridiculous. they're going to impeach biden for being old, i don't know what. >> for existing. >> but it seems like he has to do these things. he has to let them go through these exercises of we're going to defund, you know, jack smith's office and pretend like we can defund state prosecutors. he has to let them go through the exercise in order to stay in power. is that the way to read it? >> again, after the marathon round that was kevin mccarthy limping into the speaker's office. >> 15 votes. >> and like you called it i think de facto speaker, marjorie taylor greene. these are the people who are actually running the show. mccarthy is just there as a figurehead. someone who wields no power, no influence. he's being held hostage by the crazy maga right extremists who are now part of the insurrectionist llc, the judiciary committee that masquerades around and tries to use the guice of power to justify their witch hunts and mccarthy is going to rubber stamp it. >> you should be a staffer on oversight when you were with the other party. i wonder if there's any real politic at all in -- i mean, none of this would pass the senate. you can do whatever you want, you're just going to muck up the bill, the overall spending bill that's got to go between the house and senate. none of this is actually going to become law. they're not going to defund jack smith. they cannot force fani willis or alvin bragg to concede to them or turn over their investigation to them. so i don't know if you talk to still any republicans or if there are any normies left in there. does anyone understand there is a waste of time and they're setting up maga voters for further disappointment when joe biden is not carted off to guantanamo bay. >> if you talk to any staffer that works at any of these committees and a lot who work there now worked with me back in the day at the oversight committee. when we actually did real oversight. no one thinks this is going to end in an actual victory for hem. no one thinks the american people are going to wake up and rally around their cause thinking, you know what, despite the fact we always talk ubd health care, women's rights, the economy, jobs, trying to make the world a better place, not getting killed at school with guns, we're going to think impeaching joe biden with no evidence and no evidence of any wrongdoing is a good idea. >> then why do it? >> they don't have an answer for the other stuff. we watched in election after election, these guys get waxed on the ballot on the issue of women's rights alone. their answer so far is, you know, we should go for a 15-week abortion. they keep going more extreme. they know those policies are alienating them from every voter to win the election. the only thing left to do is some smoke and mirror show of the specter of the oversight hearings, the specter of an impeachment proceeding to distract everybody away tromtheir policies which are completely out of step with the majority of this country. >> the problem with that, though, is when -- the voters that are maga believe this is real. >> right. >> they believe donald trump is their friend. they believe that he would reach through the tv and help them if he could, and he doesn't care. when they don't get what they are being promised, they have already shown how violent they can get. that's what i think people in the national security world are worried about. when they get real disappointed when this doesn't come to fruition -- >> we see every day on social media these maga people mouthing off and threatening to bear arms, threatening to foment civil war. and we know that after january 6th, it's not just talk. it's real. >> indeed. kurtbardella, thank you. >>> up next, the mayor of jacksonville, florida. on how her state is becoming a haven for white nationalists under ron desantis' leadership and how her city is preparing for the impending arrival of hurricane idalia. stay with us. when i first learned about my dupuytren's contracture, my physician referred me to a hand specialist. and i'm glad he did, because when i took the tabletop test, i couldn't lay my hand flat anymore. the first hand specialist i saw only offered surgery. so, i went to a second hand specialist who also offered nonsurgical options - which felt more right for me. so, what i'd say to other people with dupuytren's contracture is this: don't wait —find a hand specialist trained in nonsurgical options, today. i found mine at findahandspecialist.com. love you. have a good day, behave yourself. like she goes to work at three in the afternoon and sometimes gets off at midnight. she works a lot, a whole lot. we don't get to eat in the early morning. w