‘Quon Chops It Up with Nathan Wade | George Conway Discusses Trump’s Legal Woes
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familiar with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor on the Trump election interference case. He had to step down when it was revealed that he had a secret relationship with the district attorney, Fannie Willis. Lots of people have been wondering how they could have been so reckless with such an important trial. So we had our friend Marlon Wayans and his friend Kwan to sit down with Nathan Wade and figure out just what the hell he was thinking. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Chopping It Up with Kwan. This is me, you know what I'm saying? I'm a real...

giving the real questions that the real people want to know. Here today, I got my man, Nathan Wade. Looking smooth. What was your first thought when you had the affair with Fonny come public between you and her? I don't label it an affair. D.A. Willis is a respectable man.

mother, a brilliant legal mind. We spent countless hours preparing this case, investigating this case. I see all happen, countless hours and I need a foot rub and you know what I mean? Rub your foot and be like, here let me give you a massage and all of a sudden, we up on this desk. Man.

No. Not even close. Not even close. Not even close. Great question. She liked it in you or you liked it in her? Well, that's a great question, right? So during the course of the investigation, we would meet early mornings, weekends, spend full days...

How can you not hit that? How can you not? We spending that much time together. We doing everything. We might as well. Well, in terms of workplace romances, how many places have you worked? I probably worked like three or four places and everywhere I went, it was a mess. Well...

So she your boss? You on that indecent proposal shit? You on that Demi, what's that white girl named that married to the dude from Die Hard? So that's a common misconception. Disclosure. You on that disclosure shit? No, that's a common misconception. She's not my boss. She's never been my boss. You wasn't he too'd. Right.

Right. She ain't here to you. No. I was a contract attorney. She was more analogous to a client to me. So you're saying she was a client? Yes. So you served her well. I did. I did my job. Let's talk about some of the successes I did while I was on the job. I think we're talking about the successes. No, we didn't. We're talking about securing an indictment, talking about getting people to inter-please. Right. Inter-please. Uh...

In a police. You gotta end a police. We're talking about other jurisdictions even following suit. So let me ask you, when old girl was like, hey, babe, you want to be in charge of this prosecution of the president of the United States who did this insurrection? Did you think, like, this could get messy? Or you was like...

I'll be all right. We did not have that type of relationship at the outset. And we were interviewing other people for the position. What position was it? It was only the position of special prosecutor. Did that position look like this? Or did that position look like this? So, no.

After Wade resigned as special prosecutor, Trump's law dogs still tried to use their relationship to get the case thrown out. They compelled his ass to testify and grilled this hard. Did you go to a cabin with Miss Willis ever? But the homie had answers. Ever? Ever. No.

You're not booking a cabin. I book lots of cabins. My question is, when you booking all these cabins, so how many district attorneys you be smashing in cabins? Zero. Is it Airbnb or Vrbo? Where you be getting all these cabins from? That's what my people want to know. Where do I get them?

All right. All right, so some people saying this ordeal might have ruined the best chance to hold Trump accountable for trying to end democracy. Now, what would you say to all the haters out there who can't get laid?

Well, I don't know what the haters are thinking, but what I will say is under my leadership, we successfully secured a valid legal indictment, the charging document. All right, young black men need a role model. What's your advice to kids in the hood that's out there that want to grow up and have their dick potentially in democracies?

That's some lethal shit you asked me. We're talking about... Cut. I don't know that I have advice for any young black men to have workplace romances. What I do have advice for young black men is simply this.

You can do whatever you put your mind to. I am a black father, was a black husband. I took care of my family. I took care of my children. My children are young adults now. Black fathers are positive. I take pride in being a black man. That's a t-shirt. I'm going to put that shit on a t-shirt selling on the corner of Harlem. You know what money you make? You seem like a free-spirited man. You know what I'm saying? How many diddy parties you went to?

- No, none. How many did you go to? - I went to several, but I left early. This ain't about me. I want to thank you for sitting down with me and answering the real questions for me and my people, all the hundreds or possibly billions of choir fans out there. It's been a pleasure. I appreciate you, my man, for real. He hit it. He hit it. He did it.

Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a conservative attorney who may be Donald Trump's biggest critic. Please welcome Mr. George Conway. Standing ovation. Standing ovation. You are their hero. In many ways, you are their Trump.

Many people say that. Yeah, man, look, you're bona fides impeccable. Harvard, Yale, you argued in the Supreme Court. Okay, let's stop. That's enough. No, more importantly, half Asian. This guy, yeah, yeah, there you go. There we go, all right. So I don't want to waste anyone's time talking,

I really want to pick your brains with this. Based on your expert legal opinion, this current Trump case with this guilty verdict, what does this mean going forward? Is this going to hold up? He's a criminal. He's a criminal, for sure. Times 34. But isn't this up for appeal? Yeah, it's going to be up for appeal. It's not going to be appealed this year. I mean, the appeal will start this year. It can't start until after he's sentenced on July 11th. Mark your calendar. Yeah.

And, um... What are the chances of, uh, you know, the appeal? I don't think they really have much on appeal. I-I don't... I mean, I sat through a good chunk of the trial. I followed the issues. I don't think...

I mean, the main counterargument against this conviction is that-- correct me if I'm wrong, please-- is that the New York state does not have jurisdiction over a federal matter. No, that's a bogus argument. Because what happens is that there are two levels of falsifying

classified documents that you can be convicted for. One is a misdemeanor, which is second degree, and one is felony, which is first degree. And to kick from second degree up to first degree, you have to commit some -- you have to have the intent to conceal or commit some other offense. And that offense was actually a state law offense. The state law offense is conspiring to influence an election by unlawful means, and the unlawful means can be violations of federal law or violations of state law, and there's really no question about that.

And the jury, you know, I mean, the jury was really fast. I mean, it wasn't really it wasn't a hard case at the end of the day. Oh, so you don't feel that you feel it's pretty open and shut? Yeah. No, I thought it was open and shut before the verdict came in. And I thought, you know, frankly, I thought a lot of the television coverage was misleading. You know, I think there's a tendency to make everything a horse race and make everything exciting. But the fact of the matter is, I mean, the case was strong from the beginning and the prosecution didn't.

actually executed perfectly. And the defense kind of was a little messed up because they have a problem. And pray tell, what might that be? The problem is they have some lunatic telling them what to do. And not all... Wait, who are you referring to?

There's this guy who was sitting there every day, kind of orangey. And every so often, he'd wake up and make a suggestion. It was not... These were not good suggestions. And...

He doesn't really know what he's doing. He thinks he does, but he doesn't know what he's doing. Well, the reason I like talking to you about the legal case is because you have a conservative background. And not just that, but I always feel like you seem, from what I've heard and read from you, you always seem to have a pretty balanced, reasonable view on this. And that's why when you discuss these cases, you always discuss it from a very legal and legal point of view. I try. So when you say that he...

this is really open and shut. I kind of trust your opinion more than most people, because I feel like you not only understand the law, but you come from that world. Also, the jury agreed. Oh, yeah, right. Right. So there's that. OK, well, so that's one of the cases. And there's a few other cases happening. Yeah, there are a few other cases. I mean, those other cases, I know most of them

probably not going to... We're not even going to hear about them before the election? Probably not, although there's an outside shot that the January 6th case that's brought... that has been brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the District of Columbia, there's an outside chance that...

trial could start in September or October. I wouldn't necessarily put a lot of money on it, but it's possible. It really depends on what the Supreme Court does in the next couple weeks. Well, for that case, what's your analysis on that one? Is that open and shut, or is that... I think it's pretty strong. I mean, you just... The charges that are in that case involve obstruction of an official proceeding and...

And he obviously tried to obstruct the official proceeding by corrupt means by, among other things, you know, intimidating the vice president and also by, you know, submitting these fake electoral certificates that said that he, you know, was entitled to electoral votes in states where he lost the election. OK, sure. So what's the other what's he going to argue? What's the what's the counter argument to all this?

Oh, I was just validly contesting an election. It was my right to do that. I don't see I don't really see what the what the what the substantive defense is there either. He doesn't really have one. And the one in the case where he's really, really dead to rights is the one in Florida.

Which is the-- just for those of us who are incapable of following this many legal cases-- This is the one-- Which one is this one? This is the one where he stole the classified documents, like many, many boxes. He took them to Florida. The government nicely asked for them back. He said, "No, these are my-- these are my things." He's like a five-year-old. And then they subpoenaed him for the documents.

And he said, oh, here are some of the documents back. And then he had his lawyers lie about the fact that he hadn't given all the documents back. And then he moved the documents around to hide them from the FBI. And finally, the FBI had to execute a search warrant and take all the documents away from him. And that's basically it's like it's like a drug bust case. I mean, it's like somebody is running a meth factory and they come in and there's all the meth.

But in other words, that should be open and shut too. That case should have been tried already, and the charges in that case, a lot of the charges got 10 years in jail. The Espionage Act. He should be in jail for that already. But that's probably not going to... Yeah, they have a problem. He got lucky. He drew this judge who...

I mean, to put it charitably, doesn't really know what she's doing and seems to be favoring him. And she's made a mess of the proceedings and is continuing to make a mess of the proceedings. And I think that what's going to happen at some point is if she does one more thing that's insane, and she's been reversed by the Court of Appeals in Atlanta twice on very harsh grounds, frankly,

If she makes one more big mistake, I think there's a chance that they can get her thrown off the case. But there's no way this case is going to get tried this year. I mean, look, the bottom line is, and this is always going to be true, the way that Donald Trump is going to get beaten is at the ballot box. And I'm pretty confident he will be. And...

You're confident he will be? Yeah. Well, I mean, that, you know, I thank you for your optimism. I'm a little... But, you know, speaking of breaking at the ballot box, I mean, the other thing that's fascinating, I think, about your political journey is that you come

come from that world. You're bona fides. Sorry, you don't come from that world, but you're... The world's got a little messy right now, but you're a bona fide conservative Republican. I think you worked on the case against Bill Clinton and

you've been a Republican most of your adult life. That's fair to say. In fact... Yeah, from the time I first voted in college until 2018. In fact, you celebrated when he won the first election. There's documentation of you celebrating it. Yes, and that's being held against me by Donald Trump himself for some reason. For some reason, he knows how to hurt a guy. I mean, I don't know. Right, but to me, that gives even more credibility to what you're saying in a way because you're from there and you've seen it and so...

I guess the question is, when we go back to the ballot box, what would you say to other conservative people to convince them that, hey, maybe there's conservatives there who are like, look, I don't care what he says. He's good for my tax reasons. He's good for business. He's tough. What is your argument against that? Look, I mean, I think there is a large swath of Republican Trump supporters who are beyond gullible.

And I think we kind of have to accept that. I do think there are a number of -- there's a large percentage of people who are uncomfortable with Trump and especially uncomfortable with his attempt to overthrow the government of the United States and the Constitution of the United States. -But why? -Why would they -- Yeah, why would they -- I mean, you know, we once believed in law and order, and now we have this party that's devoted to lying for a criminal.

And, you know, I think there are a lot of Republicans who have, you know, deep concerns about that, as they should. And I think those concerns are going to come to the fore more as we focus on Donald Trump more, as people are reminded of the things that he has done, the fact that he is now a convicted felon, that he is an adjudicated rapist, that he attempted to overthrow the Constitution of the United States, and that he's just downright nuts.

And I think that and I think one of the odd things about this trial is there's a lot of suggestion by Republicans that, oh, this trial helps him because it just binds him closer to his base because of the convictions and how he's being persecuted. And there is some truth to that. But the thing is, he he he was advantaged by the trial in the sense that it took him off the radar screen.

He has been advantaged over the last three years since January 6th because we've seen less of him. But we're going to see more of him, like he was a couple of weeks ago. I don't know how many of you people saw this, but he was in Wildwood, New Jersey, talking about what a great guy Hannibal Lecter was. So you're saying that... You're saying the more we see him... Because remember during coronavirus, they were having these 4 o'clock meetings

press conferences every day and they got crazier and crazier and finally people in the White House said we got to take them off. And that's, you know, they're not going to be able to do that. Sure. Well, you're giving, you're trying to give us reasons for optimism, which I appreciate because I need some reasons for optimism. Just call me anytime. You have my number. But, but,

I do want to know, like, what would you say to, what is the argument to, because we're kind of preaching to a choir here a little bit. You know, we all know, I think if we're watching this, we're pretty sure, you know, the algorithm has directed us to you because we all kind of think this guy is nuts, regardless of your actual political. You've got to actually say it. We have not had a full national conversation about this man's psychological condition.

Have we not? I feel like we've been talking about it every single day. No, we haven't. The mainstream, we say, oh, he's nuts, he's nuts. He's literally, if you look him up in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-5, he's a narcissistic sociopath. He has narcissistic personality disorder and he has... Sure, sure. And...

What needs to be done is that needs to be talked about openly. It needs to be pointed out when he is doing things that meet those criteria. And it's got to be pointed out. And it drives him nuts when people do that. And that's the other thing is what you can do is you can have this cycle where you drive him nuts by saying, he's crazy. He acts nuts. Then you have more video and say, look at how nuts he is. And that's what has to be done. The other thing that I would recommend to liberals is

Don't get mad. The people who support Trump like when liberals get mad. That's why they like Trump. They say, oh, he makes all these people, these snotty liberals mad. It's like, make fun of him. Don't, don't, don't. You can make fun of him and mock him, you know, the way, you know, I mean, this is what these shows do. Yeah, you're kind of addressing the whole premise of the show right now. Right, exactly. I don't know what we're trying to do here. I don't know. No, no, you guys.

You all play an important role. Kimmel at the Oscars plays an important role. Laugh at him.

that doesn't mean you don't appreciate the seriousness of what would happen to this country, which is the other message to the rich people who want their taxes cut. It's like, if this guy's elected president, we're going to have civil disorder like you've never seen. Because he's going to try to violate every law and people are going to start objecting. You're going to see people on the streets. And what that's going to do to

The economy is not great. We're going to see capital flow, both human and financial, like we've never seen from the United States before. And so all of these reasons, I think, I think we're going to be able to explore this between now and November. And I think that's the reason why ultimately...

I think common sense will prevail and this guy will win. But the problem will still be there will be 60, 70, 80 million people who will vote for the guy. And we still have to live with those people. And we're going to have to deprogram them at some point. OK. Well, as always, thank you for the analysis. Thank you for being an intelligent, reasonable person. I really appreciate it. Be sure to check out this podcast, John Conway Cleans It All.

to Sarah Longwell. Josh Conway, everybody.