SEASON 2 EPISODE 4: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The "it was just free speech, you're criminalizing the 1st Amendment" defense has been replaced. Trump's lawyers, Fox News puppets, and even opponents are all rolling out a new one:

John Eastman did it!

Of course they are phrasing it differently. They are blaming it on Trump relying on "the advice of counsel." It's an ingenious strategy - you were too stupid to know your lawyer was an idiot. But it really only damages Obstruction charges, and it would require Trump to testify. Still, it does indicate Trump will keep throwing different things at the wall to see what might stick.

Plus, the media line for spaces at today's arraignment of Trump in DC began to form before sunset last night. Trump is almost certain to be there, even though cameras won't be. Trump's January 6th Insurrection turns out to have helped destroy America's credit rating. The debate over the identity of Unidentified Co-Conspirator 6 continues to raise with Maggie Haberman and the Times insisting it's Boris Epshteyn - but there's an important flaw in the description that they have ignored.

And you don't want to be Unidentified Co-Conspirator 1. The Rudy Giuliani tape transcripts are out from the rape and sexual abuse lawsuit against him and they actually ARE filled with slurs against Jews and gays and constant gross misogyny. I will give a dramatic reading.

B-Block (22:15) IN SPORTS: 37 days ago he was throwing a perfect game. Today, he's in in-patient alcohol rehab. And is Max Scherzer lying about the Mets? Or are the Mets lying to their fan base? Or did the Mets lie to Scherzer? (26:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Moms For Liberty - still fighting mental health. Warner Bros apologizes after they suddenly realize that "Barbenheimer" and "Ken's Atomic Bomb Hairstyle" might be a little offensive - in Japan. In August. And Uncle Fester steps in it: Joe Rogan smears Ray Epps, who was not a provocateur on 1/6 but IS extremely litigious.

C-Block (33:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Theo, in Queens, needs a forever family! (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Off by a day, but 44 years and a day ago, as a 20-year old rookie sportscaster and editor on a 1,000-station national radio network, I was literally walking into the booth for my first sportscast of the night when the news suddenly broke: the captain of the New York Yankees had died in a plane crash. That day will always be with me.