Joining us now is John Cougar, presidential candidate
for the Democratic Party in a primary that the Democratic National Committee
is not really allowing to happen.
Jane. How are you?
I'm good. I'm hanging in there.
We have a super important hearing on Wednesday, so I'm a little excited.
- Okay. - Tell me more about the hearing.
So it's in South Carolina federal district court.
This is where the rubber hits the road.
And, we are going to adjudicate two different things.
There's many different parts of the case, as there usually is in a legal case,
but number one is the core constitutional issue.
Am I allowed to serve for president of the United States?
Right.
And we make a great case, 14th amendment, First Amendment,
title six of the Civil Rights Act, etc..
Okay.
The second part of it is, is a state allowed to make any,
decision on a constitutional issue to keep you off the ballot?
Now, this one affects both me and Donald Trump because South Carolina has and
this is really interesting because both red states and blue states have done this.
Both California and South Carolina said, hey, when it comes to Trump,
I cannot make a constitutional decision. So I'm going to put him on the ballot.
And both states said, well, I in the case of Genk,
I can make a constitutional decision. I'm the greatest judge in the world.
I'm going to keep them off the ballot.
But wait a minute, none of you are judges and you just said
you literally can't do it when it comes to the other candidate in this race.
So it's going to be really interesting to see how South Carolina rules.
Are they going to say, yeah, no, neither one of you can be on the ballot,
or both of you can be on the ballot, or are they going to invent
a reason why he can, but I can't.
And so there's a lot of very interesting and very important issues
for the court to resolve.
And it's all on Wednesday.
So just so I'm understanding this correctly, through this process,
the courts will determine whether state.
Election officials and politicians can make those constitutional decisions.
Yes, there's two layers to it. That's exactly right.
Layer one is, should we even comment or consider in putting on the ballot
or not putting on the ballot based on constitutional issues?
Because a lot of the states have said when it comes to Trump.
So I don't know, the Constitution, I'm not going to make that decision.
Right. So I'm going.
Hence my default is put them on the ballot.
And and those same states have said, oh, when it comes to Jake,
I'm a constitutional law expert and I can make a constitutional decision.
And I have made it so they are in
direct contradiction of, of of themselves.
And by the way, we're going to ask South Carolina in court.
We're suing the attorney general, the governor, the Board of Elections,
the state and the Democratic Party in South Carolina.
But in places like California, I'm asking the reporters to ask.
The secretary of state says she's not a constitutional expert and can't judge
Trump's case, but she is a constitutional expert and can judge my case.
And the default is to keep Trump on.
But the default is to take me off, which makes no sense at all.
Yeah, there is a contradiction in states like California in that they are allowing
for Trump to be on the ballot, but think that you should be left off the ballot.
And my understanding of just basic government rules is that it's the courts
that decide the constitutionality of of various issues that come up.
In this case, the issue is whether or not you can run for president
as a naturalized citizen.
And so your argument is you should be allowed on the ballots
until the courts adjudicate whether or not you should be allowed on the ballots 100%.
And now let me explain why this hearing is so interesting and
important for the second reason, right?
The core constitutional reason because and how everyone is treated it
so far, both in the Democratic Party, let alone the Republican Party
and and mainstream media is a jinx.
Crazy.
Oh, there's no way it's in the Constitution.
Somebody today in South Carolina wrote that he's saying
that the Constitution is unconstitutional.
Yeah, that's what every amendment says.
The 14th amendment changed giant chunks of the Constitution.
And you could say, oh, there's 3/5 clause mean that that part of the Constitution
is unconstitutional.
Yeah, that's what amendments are for. Right.
And so in this case for because everybody learned in eighth grade in civics class,
they just shut off their minds.
They don't want to hear it.
Now all of a sudden two things have happened.
Number one, Larry Lessig, one of the top constitutional law experts, just published
an article saying it's not crazy at all.
Here's a perfectly valid case which way it comes out.
He's not sure either, but let me give you a sense of why Professor Lessig is saying
that he's at Harvard Law again, one of the most respected
law professors in the whole country.
He's saying, look, in 1868, when the 14th amendment was passed,
women did not have rights.
They did.
They were not equal and they did not get equal protection.
Okay.
But our American jurisprudence, the court system later said,
oh, no, equal protection does mean women have equal rights.
They they basically it updated what equal means to actually equal.
So he's saying, well, now Jenk is saying on national origin, which is another place
where you cannot discriminate.
Why is it not updated in the same exact way?
And that is a perfectly legitimate question.
So finally, a constitutional law expert is like, yeah, it's a great case, right?
And now but more importantly, the federal district court,
the way that it works, the way to get to the Supreme Court is district court.
Circuit court is where it gets appealed to and then Supreme Court.
So you have to start in district court.
And in this case, we got a senior judge in South Carolina and he has moved.
This is really interesting.
He has moved a case from the courtroom to a law school where he teaches.
And now we're hearing from local counsel that some of the top lawyers
in South Carolina and even other federal judges might show up to hear,
to listen and watch the case.
What does that mean?
That means they're taking it super seriously.
This is a real issue to which I want to scream.
I told you, I told you guys for the audience, for the audience,
there's something for my purposes as a campaign, in order to adjudicate
the civil rights issue, we need money.
We have giant legal bills. Right, Jake?
For America.com and for so long, people wouldn't give
because they read from everyone else.
Oh, it's not real.
There's no way nothing in the original constitution could ever be amended.
No. If it's discriminatory, it must stay discriminatory.
And now, finally, law professors and judges are going.
That's not at all true.
Jesus Christ, give this guy his day in court.
- And that's what's happening on Wednesday. - All right.
One other question for you.
Last time we talked, you you mentioned a few of the states
that did allow you on the ballot, but there's a bit of an update to that.
In fact, after the interview, there were other states
that decided to put you on the ballot.
Can you talk a.
A little bit about that. Yeah.
So that's another thing where people were like, I just I want
everyone to understand, no matter who I'm talking to, which outlet, etc..
Right.
And I tell this to the audience of other shows as well,
which is don't believe them when they tell you that things are not possible.
They they're trying to get you to not try. Right.
So I was told that I couldn't get on any ballots in any states.
Well, I'm on six now.
On that day that you interviewed me last, I got off the air
and I got a notice from North Dakota.
Then I went to go check my mailbox and got a letter from Louisiana,
and they both accepted me.
So now I'm on the ballot in six states Minnesota, North Dakota, Louisiana, North.
I'm sorry, Vermont, Texas and Oklahoma. That is a lot of states.
And we've gotten out in about half the states.
And the other half the states are like South Carolina.
No problem. Because again, we need to sue somewhere.
South Carolina has been particularly egregious, especially because they're
saying that what I explained earlier for Trump, no constitutional test
for a constitutional test.
And that is contradictory, hypocritical.
I can't wait to see what the judge says. Like, look, nothing is at all guaranteed.
But and another reason why we really, really need money is because if we win,
we need to be able to appeal it.
Right?
Or they or be able to respond to their appeal.
Every round costs a significant amount of money.
But do we think that civil rights happen without any legal bills and any fights?
And they said, no, that's what we needed for Jake for america.com.
And I'm going to do a town hall.
No one is more connected to their voters than I am.
I'm going to do a town hall after the hearing later in the day.
You can go to jail for america.com and hit events and you'll see it.
Or you could follow me on Facebook, Instagram where I put these,
and I'm going to do a town hall where I explain what happened.
They're going to hear it first.
Nice. Okay.
And you also have an event coming up on Friday of this week where News Nation
is going to have you and other primary challengers to Biden on including
- Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips. - Yeah, 100%.
I mean, Anna, it's really interesting. Everything is happening all at once.
Right at the beginning of the year, Piers Morgan had me on for an interview
earlier today, talking at length about my presidential campaign before the media was
like, we're we'll talk to you about Gaza.
We'll talk to you about different things, but not about your presidential year.
And all of a sudden they're like, whoa, this thing is real, right?
So it's a really nice development.
And News Nation on Friday of this week Dan Abrams show 9:00 eastern.
Me, Marianne and Dean for the first actual debate of the on the Democratic side
and the presidential race.
And we're obviously happy to have Joe Biden come join us.
Right.
But if he, you know, he's probably taking a nap and, and probably won't be able
to make it, but it'll be it's the isn't it amazing that it's the first opportunity
other than the one forum that we did on TYT that any media has said?
Yeah, we'd like to hear the other candidates in the Democratic race.
And remember, especially as Joe Biden gave that speech the other day about
how democracy is on the line and Trump's going to end democracy, you know that.
I believe that, too, and I'm certainly worried about it.
Now they're up to four states where they've canceled the election
completely in the primaries.
Right. The Joe Biden, famous for wanting
to protect democracy while dismantling it in areas that are beneficial for himself,
like, I mean, come on 100%.
And look, it's such bad optics for the Democratic Party to say
that democracy is on the line with Trump.
Plus, we'd like to keep Marianne Williamson
and Dean Phillips off the ballots.
Plus, we'd like to keep Trump off the ballots.
We'd like to keep everyone who's opposed to Joe Biden off the ballots,
because he's at 33% approval rating and has no chance of winning this election.
So we just like to end any election here and just install Joe Biden as president.
But remember, everybody, democracy is on the line now.
Remember that is not the only choice you have.
You can choose me or many other candidates and have a Democratic candidate
who's actually fights for you, who actually believes democracy
is on the line and acts like it and isn't sitting at 33% approval rating.
I'll give you last fact on that, Anna.
No person running for federal office has ever come back from that far down
in an election year, ever.
So the people in Washington and running the Democratic Party
are making the argument that Joe Biden is going to make the most miraculous comeback
in American political history.
Of course.
I mean, all he needs to do is fearmonger about Trump a little more
and it'll work, right?
So, I mean, look, this is the first two campaign events he's ever done,
whereas Trump has already done like 200.
Put me in, coach, put me in jail for America.com.
We need every piece of help we can get right now, as this is now an
absolutely critical time and the campaign could be on the verge of taking off,
and we certainly need it for the legal issues and the civil rights issues.
And I appreciate everyone who donated.
And it's been a super exciting week, and I hope you guys
watch the debate on News Nation.
I hope you come join us for the town hall to find out what happened
in the Wednesday hearing.
And, And I'm feeling incredibly optimistic right now.
Thanks for watching.
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