The Stephen A. Smith ShowFull Show: I'm considering 2028 presidential Run | Cassie will not testify anonymously in Diddy trial.
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
All right, folks, I need you all to stop what you're doing and listen up.
You know I love this time of year, right, The NBA season is in full swing and with all this action going on the Stephen A. Smith Show, what's to make sure you take advantage of it all? That's why we've partnered with Prize Picks, the best place to win cash while watching sports.
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First.
Up, well, Steph Scurry score more or less than twenty five points of Steph Curry's baby Face Assassin is the greatest shoot of God ever created, and it's going up against a horrid Phoenix Suns team that I don't know what the hell they are. The only thing that's inexplicable right now is the fact that Kevin Durant is out hurt.
Okay, the fact of the matter.
Is they've been the biggest disappointment in the NBA. You can make the argument that the seventy Sixers are it, but it's really the Phoenix Suns because the seventy six Ers were injured. The Phoenix Huns were healthy for the most part, and they still suck. That's problematic Steph Curry Moore because they're going up against Phoenix Suns. Next up, will Devin Booker scored more or less than twenty nine and a half points.
I'm gonna go with more because he's the only one that's gonna be able to make a shot.
That's how I view it. What else does Phoenix have? Devin Booker will do what he does. It will not be enough. Golden State will beat them, but Devin Booker will get his I'm going to go with more on this particular question as well. Next up, Will Draymond Green scored more less than ten and a half points. I'm gonna say less because Draymond Green doesn't need to score points to be effective, to be elite. He's my defensive player of the Year. I have a vote, and I think I'm gonna give it to him. I can't imagine that I'm not going to give it to him, especially the way that he has looked, the way that he has played, the way that the Golden State Warriors have looked since acquiring Jimmy Butler, his guarantee that they were gonna win the championship, and now how bosiosition they are to potentially compete for it. If the players were to begin the day, in all likelihood they've played the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Steph Curry or Lebron James. Who are you going with? But Draymond Green may have something to say about that, because he can find a way to beat you. It ain't with points, though. That's why I'm gonna go with less on this particular question. And finally, will Bradley Bill scored more or less than seventeen and a half points, I'm gonna go less with him as well. Have you seen the way Golden Statesmen playing defense? Have you seen how they've been like Piranha's going after folks. Have you see how quick they are in getting out the shooters and getting to the basketball and defending the way that they have. Bradley Bill might have trouble with that. Could he score more than seventeen and a half points? Sure he could, I just don't think it'll happen in this game. So the recap, let's go back to the four selections that I've just picked.
More with Steph Curry.
Okay, more with Devin Booker, less with Draymond Green, less with Bradley Bill. That's even Stephen like how ron right it works, because everything does when it comes to prospects.
I have no desire to be a politician.
My life is pretty well, but I've decided I'm no longer gonna close that door.
I'm gonna keep my options open.
I'm gonna entertain the possibility and if it comes in twenty twenty late, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, where I look at this country and I think it's an absolute mess and there's legitimate reason to believe, whether it's via exploratory committees or anything else that I indeed would have a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States. I am not gonna rule it out, and I'm not playing what's up? Everybody.
Welcome to this latest edition of The Stephen AI.
Smith Show, coming at you as I love to do over the digital airwaves or YouTube and of course iHeartRadio at the very least three times a week. As always, I like to take a moment to thank and show gratitude to my listener and my subscribers. Over the iHeartRadio platform. We've received millions of downloads over the last several months, and of course, courtesy of YouTube, our subscribers have eclipsed more than one point one seven million in two years time. I can't thank you all for the love and support enough for supporting this show, keep it coming, and I'm gonna keep on coming. To continue to like and follow the show, just click the bell to get notified five newest content and YouTube shall be considered the latest member of the Stephen A.
Smith Show family.
And while you're doing that, make sure to pick up a copy of my New York Times best selling book, Straight Shooter, A Memoir of Second Chances and first takes now in paperback. Just go straight shoot book dot com to get yourself a copy. Once getting that straightsheet book dot com to get yourself a copy. I'm gonna be very very calm today because I don't want the excuses coming my way about I'm enraged, I'm angry, and all of this other stuff.
I'm a human being.
I get discussed by certain things that I see sometimes and sometimes I don't. But I think today is an important day because I think today that I'm going to be Dare I say a bit more revealing than I ever have been about where I stand on a few things in life.
It's clearly necessary in light of the.
Headlines that have been scurrying all over the place over the last twenty four hours. That's where we're going to get started, headlines made by yours truly. Specifically, yesterday, at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, I was sitting down for a conversation fireside chat with Mike McVeigh, president of McVeigh Media, somebody who's been a mentor and a friend to me for years. Helped me resurrect my career in this business after I was going in two thousand and nine, he asked me about my future as a potential presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. For those of you who didn't see it, here's more of my response, piggybacking off of that cold open you just saw to those very questions.
Listen up right here. I just think that it's a mess right now. Now. I'm not scared. There's a lot that I have to learn.
I am no official, and I don't make no mistake about it, but damn it.
Let me hunker down for two or three months. I'll know the issues.
And once that happens, then imagining me on a debate stage with these people, these politicians, this is what I do for a living, and if for no other reason, then the stand on of the debate stage with tens of millions of people watching, where I get to sit back and talk about what you've been doing as politicians to literally dissipate and disintegrate the quality of America before our very eyes because of your own selfishness, me having an opportunity to do that, that is what I mean when I say I will eat them alive. I am not a politician. I don't have a political record for them to lean on. They all do, which means I get to look at your record and what you've done and challenge whether you can legitimately say, not just with the cameras rolling, but in front.
Of my face, that you actually operated.
On behalf of what was in the best interest of all of America.
Who's gonna pull that off in front of my face? Good luck with that. I wish they would, ladies and gentlemen.
I'd love to sit up here and tell you that I didn't mean what I said, but I do, and I think the time has arrived to let you all know this is not something that I plan. Contrary to people bloviating out there on their podcasts and stuff like that, I'm no political efficient model. There's so much that I have to learn about the intricacies of politics and all that it entails, particularly as it pertains to dealing with people on Capitol Hill. My god, I wouldn't even know how to put a staff together as of yet.
We understand that part.
But what I've tried to say to many people, on many, many occasions is that I'm an American citizen, I'm a voter, and what has transpired throughout the years as far as I'm concerned, has been reprehensible. I'm a believer that the American people have been played as suckers for decades, that we've allowed politicians to become career politicians, to sit up there and pad their own wallets and look out for their own self interest, and it's been at the expense of the American people. My proof is the fact that we have a thirty seven trillion dollar deficit.
How is that possible?
How could you possibly be doing your job and be thirty seven trillion dollars in debt? How could you do that? It's really certain. Things are just very very simplistic to me. Of course, that's not the only problem that we have, but something needs to be said. And when I said what I said, people can dismiss it all they want to. Because I have no desire to be a politician. I'm sincere with that. I just signed a multi year contract extension with ESPN that will pay me exponentially more than being a politician would ever pay me. I don't need politics. But the fact is is that our country is in a very very bad spot. And when I'm perceived as somebody that is excoriating the left, and favoring the right. Those people don't know what they're talking about, but I understand where their animist towards me comes from. It comes from a place of me constantly pointing the finger at the Democratic Party, because the Republican Party, the GOP, as far as I was concerned, until the latest election, they had given up on the black community years ago. Let me reiterate, or remind you rather, what has transpired since nineteen sixty four when civil rights legislation came into effect. There was a president by the name of Lyndon B. Johnson who had succeeded President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated in nineteen sixty three. And even though you have both Republicans and Democrats in both Houses of Congress pushing for civil rights legislation, there were adversaries to that.
And Lyndon B.
Johnson said, if we pushed this through, we will have the negroes voting for us for the next two hundred years. I'm paraphrasing, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty close to that quote. Well, lower and behold what has happened since then. The Democratic Party has spent the last fifty five plus years.
Receiving the black vote. So what did we do.
We were transparent in our support for one party, giving them a license to take us for granted, and we alienated the other party, who naturally assumed they'd have no shot at getting our votes. And as a result, as a community, for the most part, we were disenfranchised, which speaks to some of the problems that we have had. I only bring that up to say it is legitimate when I look at the Democratic Party and I have an attitude dude, because I'm looking at you and I'm saying, how the.
Hell did you forget about us?
The Black community makes up nearly fourteen percent of the population. The Hispanic community makes up nearly twenty percent of the population. The Cosensus Bureau reports shows that by the year twenty thirty, this Hispanic populace in this country would exceed over thirty percent of the population. But we were talking about Wok culture and Cancel culture. We were talking about problems that really really didn't address what really existed in our communities. We had a president of Barack Obama, who quietly, adroitly, skillfully went about the business of patrolling our borders and making sure that immigration issues were addressed absent comprehensive immigration reform.
What does Joe Biden do?
He goes into office and he says, open the damn borders, and over twelve million undocumented immigrants across the borders, all contributing.
To our problems. Why shouldn't I have an attitude?
Why should not look at that and say it's a problem you forgot about us? Why shouldn't I look at you and I heard you talk about think about the sound bites we saw. And I'm gonna get to the Republicans in the second, because we all know Trump and his tariffs is a problem right now. But I'll get to that in a second. What do we see? We saw a body in an office. We saw him clearly debilitated. Every eighty plus year old is not as debilitated as he appeared, but he did appear that way. Yet we saw a democratic politicians standing on Capitol Hill chanting four more years we now learned how we was religiously lied to about his state of mind and his capabilities. We saw Chuck schumelatta us. We shaw a plethora of politicians on the left trying to defend and support him, only to throw him by the wayside. After the debate on June twenty seventh, and the very person in Kamala Harris, who I respect as our former vice president, became the Democratic nominee all of a sudden, the same woman that couldn't make it to the Iowa CAUCUSUS in twenty twenty was a rock star.
And if we didn't all.
Buy in, we were misogynists, we were anti women, we were racist, we were all anything you could come up with. You heard it over and over and over again. That is where my disgust comes from when it comes to the left, when I say they forgot about us, They forgot about it's the economy stupid. They forgot about if people have money in their pockets and they're living fruitful lives, that they have something to lose, and as a result society, from a societyal perspective.
People will act better.
Because if you have something to lose, guess what, you ain't trying to lose it. You're not trying to lose it. Why do I bring up laws? Why is it appropriate that this particular moment in time, because we've got these tariffs, these tariff wars going on, and there are some people, particularly on the side of Trump. They are all in supportive tariffs. Let me be the first to say this about Donald Trump. I support tarriffs. I have no problem with it. I do believe that the United States has been paying too much money.
We've been giving up give too much money out.
You go to foreign countries, you see people they talk about how you don't see American vehicles, you don't see American products nearly as much as you see other products from other nations. This is what they say. If that is true, then Trump is right. We are getting hosed and something needs to be done about it. I am not averse to Donald Trump with tariffs. What I'm averse to is how he's handling it. I'm averse to the fact that you're gonna go after everybody. I'm averse to the fact that you didn't anticipate that China would come back with thirty four percent terriffs of their own, and in the process of doing so, would set up meetings with allies of the United States that are now threatening not to be allies because they had Trump's dad tariffs imposed on them by Trump, and now because of that, they're turning against the United States into China.
Now only time will tell whether Trump's right.
Only time will tell whether or not we're gonna find ourselves in a disastrous situation, whether recession is in place right now, whether inflation is gonna boom. Only time will tell. But it's a short time. I don't wanna hear a year. I don't want to hear two years. We can't afford that. Why do I bring all of this up, Because all of this is the kind of stuff that made me say what I said yesterday at the National Association for Broadcasters convention. Because enough to enoughs I don't want to do this. My hope is that politicians who are centrists, who think about the economy, who think about being humane, who think about small businesses, who think about education, who think about our borders, who think about our national security, can call us with one another, engage in common sense thinking and come to conclusions.
So somebody like me isn't necessary. You want to talk about.
Donald Trump and a potential third term when you want to circumvent the twenty second Amendment of the US Constitution and Donald Trump and ends up running for a third term.
Stephen A.
Smith will happily invite Barack Obama back into the mix. I think he'll beat Donald Trump. Yes, I said it because I think at his core, regardless of what people want to say about how he governed, I think he's a centrist individual. It's just that both sides will polar opposites against one another. I am not oblivious to the fact that since Obama was in office, there was a white backlash that took place. I am not oblivious to the fact that that made folks hunker down and be even more divided than ever before. I get it. I understand it that black man in office spewing liberal policies, telling folks they got to get to the back because they lost the election, that.
This is our time fall back.
We running the show now, and the boldness and how embolden he felt because he was the president of the United States, how much that turned folks off and made them more resolute and going against him, and as a result, we were even more.
Divided as a nation than ever before. I get that.
I remember the joke that Kat Williams once told that thatffing up the country is what it's done. Goddamn titaments Go watch Kat Williams talking about how folks were feeling about Obama doing as a president doing his presidency who weren't black.
The flip side to it, however, is that it's not about black or white anymore. It's apout America. Just like a rising tide lifts all votes.
As a nation, we're only as strongest as our weakest link. And if you have the weaken, the desolate amongst us, and you're doing nothing for them, and you're leaving them out.
To pasture, where does that leave us? See?
When I think about the Republicans, I think the Republicans are asking us, particularly Trump, trust me. And by the way, he's in a position to do it because he won the popular vote, he won the electoral College vote, he won every swing state, he won both houses of Congress, He's got a majority sixty three in the Supreme Court.
I mean, damn.
Americans didn't just give it to him. He took it because he recognized what the left wasn't doing. They were preoccupied with nonsense. You want to ask why Steven Asmith felt the need to speak up at the NAB conference.
Let me ask you all this question.
Were supposed to leave it to Bernie Sanders and AOC Alexandria Cassio Cotest We're supposed to leave it with individuals that will tell you that it's perfectly okay to tack seventy percent of your money.
Not that they gave out that number.
I'm just speculating, because of how socialistic they are in their thinking.
We're supposed to say that that's okay, y'all? Okay with that? You okay? We're going to work and making one hundred dollars and walking home with thirty You sure about that? Are you cool with it?
Just tell me, because these are the kind of questions that we have to ask ourselves. That is why I spoke up. I am an independent, That's who I am. I'm not on either side. I'm not on both sides, ladies and gentlemen. I'm creating my own lane. I have no desire to be on either side. Donald Trump has his alcolytes, he has his surrogance, He has people in the bullpen. It could be a Mare Ubio, it could be a Jdvans, It could be somebody that we don't even know coming from a Republican party. I sincerely doubt as Marjorie Tailor gree and I can tell you that much. But it got people on the right. That's why everybody talks about me on the left. It's not just because I voted Democrat and I voted for Kamala Harris. It's because that's the side I see myself on. But you're conda wrong about that too, because I don't. When I think about me and I think about me running for president of the United States, let me re emphasize that I am woefully unqualified. But a lot of people say, so is he, and you put him in a lot of people look at his cabinet members and the positions he has them in.
They're there. Let me tell you something about Steven A. Smith.
Let me get this out of the way again.
I would create a new lane.
I'd be a centrist, not quite like Clinton having to be dragged by Newt Gingrich to work with the right so you can ultimately leave office with a surplus. I would have done so voluntarily. I want to work with both sides of the aisle. I'd have Democrats and Republicans in my cabinet. They would be the ones button heads and fighting, but their mandate would be to come to me with an idea that works for America. No one can have everything. In other words, I'm building a coalition. That's what I would want to do, not just the stance that wouldn't be me. One of my friends wrote notes for me and stuff like that because he was.
Iron and out. Man.
If you were running for president, man, this is what you should be. Some things he said that were right, some things he said that were wrong. Because it's amazing, no matter how much I'm on television, no matter how much I'm in a public eye, people still don't know who the hell I am. So let me give you an idea who that person is. It's about problem solving. It's about fixing the issues that really really matter. It's about caring about all of America, not just a segment of our population. It's about all of those things. You know who I am, just like you know who Donald Trump is. That's the problem with the Democratic Party. You don't know who the hell a are and you don't know who their leader, who.
Can lead them.
You don't have any clue. I think a guy like west Wore out of Maryland can do it. I think a guy like Joshapier out of Pennsylvania can do it. But we all know they'll have their critics from a national perspective. You talk about West Moore's a governor of Maryland. Joshapaiir is governor of Pennsylvania. Okay, those are localized individuals. Andrew Como trying to come back as mayor of New York. He was about to be a fourth a fourth term governor in New York before his troubles invaded the proceedings that he was booted out of all. He had to resign from office, and now he's trying to make a comeback. Of course, there are individuals as professional politics who are far more qualified than me. But haven't y'all been paying attention? The American people don't clear clearly don't want politicians. They don't mind having a populist in the White House. They don't mind having somebody that they can lean towards and they can say, at least we know him, at least we trust that he's gonna be who he is. You might not like Donald Trump with the tariffs. He told you he was gonna do it. Some people might not like what Donald Trump is doing with the borders, but from a ninety five percent toil success rate, they say he's doing his job with the borders. Inflation is still an issue. A recession is in play, if not on its way. So certainly there are things that he hasn't done, but he's asking you to give him time because he's got to fight with these people. The war in Ukraine with Russia. We don't like the fact that it seems like he's sided with Russia. But what his people are saying is, wait a minute, do you want World War three? Bottom line? We trying to stop all of this stuff. I look at Russia. I think they're trying to take control of Europe. I look at China, they're making footprints, they're gaining footprints in Africa and other places in the world. Why because they look they're looking for minerals, they want to make sure they take care of their own people, amongst other things that they want to do. These people are not pro America. They're anti America. We understand that the enemy, but what are we gonna do about it? At some point in time, you got to ask yourself these questions. I don't want to come across as somebody who's trying to engage.
In some kind of war over identity politics.
Maybe I have to monitor my tone, and that's fair, But when I think about me and what I want to do. I want you to know that I'm somebody who rejects party extremes. I'm not interested in that. I am a lord or to do. Make no mistake about that. You can be a crowd of your ass gonna be in jail. If I was in or if I was if I was in control, I will throw your ass in jail in the heartbeat.
I don't like criminals.
I don't like people who scare the public from living their normal lives. National security is a big deal with me. Trade as opposed to trade, wars are a big deal to me. Immigration, I tell you this right now. See it crazy as it sounds outside of the criminals, because we don't need lawless First of all, lawless Americans should be in jail, and lawless people who ain't Americans should be out of the country. Outside of them, Guess what I'm doing, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not I'm not throwing anybody out of the country. I'm not deporting anybody.
You know what I'm doing.
Outside of those criminals, I'm leaving others alone. But the border is shut down. Nobody comes in, nobody until we get our house in order for at least the first year.
Shutting it down.
Got a year, got to get our house in order. That's how I look at it. I'm saying all of this to say, while I'm no officionado, I'm not completely lost and oblivious to the problems that are pervasive in our country.
It matters to me.
I want to make sure that it matters to you, and I want to make sure that you understand that in the process of us.
Doing these things, we gotta do better. We just have to.
I'm thinking about some stuff that I wrote down. Four tenth flat tax with the top one percent make it two hundred thousand dollars or so. I'm looking at it from the standpoint that why do I support a flat tax? I'm tired of you coming to me in one day? Is thirty three another whey, there's thirty five. Another way, it's thirty nine percent of my money that you could take as the federal government. Now, why can't you take twenty seven percent? Let's just throw that out. Workers fifty five years and younger can diversify a percentage of their income from Social Security.
One of my boys gave me that idea. I kind of like that kind of like that.
How about Congress only being allowed to spend thirty percent of tax revenue? How about them being forced to sit in the nation's capital and actually work for the American.
People instead of themselves.
I'm still baffled as to how you can be a congressional figure or a Senate figure and you may have entered the nation's capital with debt, but now when you look at your financial portfolio it might be worth millions. What's going on there? I don't understand that. And then I look at a thirty seven trillion dollar debt. Am I supposed to believe that we're just spending willy nilly on all of these things and no money is coming into.
Your pockets as politicians?
What's the number one reason I tell you, outside of being private and not wanting stressed in my life as to why I'm not interested in politics. I'm getting paid, and what I'm getting paid politics ain't gonna pay me.
That's my position.
And then I look at some of these reports of what politicians are worth.
I'm not gonna mention any names.
But we got politicians that were in debt, that were paying student loans. We got politicians that didn't have but so much money. Then net worth was in the thousands and now it's millions.
How how.
I'm just saying, By the way, one of my boys gave me this idea Congress and Senate only in DC two weeks per quarter of the vote reduced to course, what the hell you living in DC for?
For what you ain't doing? No work, just a suggestion.
All I'm saying is that as you look at these things and you look at me, I am very sincere when I tell you I have no desire to be a politician.
I have no interest. But I have been asked by.
Folks in the business world, folks in corporate America, folks on Capitol Hill, plus folks who are friends of mine, to strongly reconsider and to at least leave the door open to the possibilities, because you never know what state our country could be in in the next three years or so. Stephen A, just don't shut the door. Just don't shut the door. Please, just don't shut the door. That's all I was saying yesterday. But what I want y'all to understand is that I had every right to say it. It was necessary because of everything going on, not just in our nation's capital with this tariff's war, but also how helpless the Democratic side is to do anything about it. All they can do is complain for the moment, nothing else. They don't have the seats. And we want to rave about Corey Booker, who we respect, speaking on the floor in the US House for twenty five hours plus, But what are we really power?
What are we really empowered to do?
The party isn't empowered, So it comes down to the people, and one of the people spoke up.
That's all.
Just want to let y'all know where I'm at. Not interested in running. Hope it doesn't come to that. But I was told I owe it to all of us to at least leave the door open.
That's what I did, by the way, this week.
This Sunday, I'm scheduled to be on this Week with George Stephanopolis on ABC and practically every other network is called. They're apparently taking it very seriously, so I have no choice but to do so.
It stiff comes down to that. It just comes down to that. Coming up.
The NCAA could be shelling out billions to settle lawsuits from athletes who accuse them of limiting their ability to capitalize off their name, image and likeness. I'll get into that straight ahead, but first, did y'all see the end of the NCAA Men's Championship game between Houston and Florida. Congrats to the Gators who prevented Houston from even getting a shot off. I'll get into that sloppy ending in a minute. It's the stephen A.
Smith Show.
I'll let your boy back for morning minute light. Everybody listen up with all the big time sports action that's happening each and every.
Day, The stephen A.
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Welcome back to the stephen A. Smith Show.
By the way, before I get to my next subject, let me just say one last thing about the top ten that I was discussing in.
The a blot.
Rather than thinking about me being a politician, don't think for one second I wouldn't mind staying over these airways and engaging in even more political commentary day after day after day. A lot of Joe Rogan's the Megan Kellys of the world and beyond. That's more my lane. I'd love to continue doing that now. That is something that I intend.
To be doing for years and years and years to come, as I elevate my level.
Of knowledge about this particular genre, this subject matter. Make no mistake about that. That's more suitable for me than the presidency.
Just letting you know.
Anyway, moving on, I want to get into that crazy finish we saw last night with the NCAA Men's Championship game Houston.
To check this out, y'all.
Houston had the ball with eleven seconds left in the game and couldn't get a shot off.
As a result, the Florida.
Gators are now National Championship champions, coming all the way back from being down twelve points in the second half.
It was a disastrous final few minutes. Do y'all know that the.
Houston Googers turned the ball over in their final four offensive possessions.
You can't do that. You can't do that.
And that kid Sharp, I feel so bad for me, committed a privotal turnover trying to drive into the lane, got stripped, ball, got bounced off his knee about twenty six and a half seconds left, and then he jumped up in the air and Clayton Junior cleared out on him and had a hand in his face. Great defense on his part, and instead of pump faking and pulling up for the three or pump faking and going to the lane because two would have been enough, he couldn't even get a shot off. And that's sad. Houston is an elite defensive team. They had Florida on the ropes, had him down by twelve in the second half.
They should not have lost this game.
But major, major props to Florida for staying the course and that kid, Walter Clayton Junr Is going.
He's special.
He didn't have the biggest game last night, only eleven points of three to ten shooting, but he came live in the second half. That's when he made some noise when it really really counted. Giving me props where props is due, and I think that he might be, you know, the first or second we are taking in the draft in.
The NBA Draft. He's that special.
He reminds me a lot of Wade cutting hand for the Detroit Pistons person. I don't know what y'all think about that, but that's what I think.
Anyway.
Let me move on and get to this subject that I have. I cannot negate getting into this. I want to give props to the one and only Gino Oriema and the Yukon women's team who beat South Carolina Sunday to win their twelfth national championship. The Lady Huskies were led by Sarah Strong, Osie Fudd, and Paige Beckers, of course, who played her final game as a Husky she'll like to be the first pick in the w NBA draft next month. Meanwhile, many people are wondering if Yukon's twelfth title makes Gino Oriema the greatest coach in American history. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna say it does very simple. The man's been coaching there for forty years. He's been a twenty four final fours. He's won twelve national championships. Think about that, he's been the twenty four final fours and half the time he's won the national title. Okay, think about that, all time winners this coach. Not only that, he's won in four different decades. So not only does he coach exceptionally well, he recruits exceptionally well, he motivates exceptionally well. Now, page is something special. She hadn't torn her ACL. Remember she was the National player of the Year as a freshman. She went to four straight she went to four final fours. She got injured one year with the torn ACL, and that's why they couldn't close the deal.
But this young lady is sensational.
My only my only dissenting opinion is that she didn't get a chance to go against Juju Watkins. Because that usc Star National Player of the Year by the way, got hurt in the NCAA tournament, and when Yukon could have met them in an Elite eight again for the second consecutive year, Juju wasn't there. She couldn't play. So I was very very sad about that. But Becker's a special she is something special. But there's always a special player coming out of Yukon, the Maya Moors of the Ward, Diana Tarassi's of the world, Breonna Stewart, four time champion in all four years at Yukon, fo Time's most outstanding player in the process. You're looking at Fudd and you're looking at strong. Look at them ladies, strong at coming, strongest special and Fudd can ball too.
That young lady can ball. She's gonna be special as well.
They showed up in the national title game and they beat the brakes off of South Carolina.
South Carolina, Dawn Stelley.
She didn't have the horses, she didn't have the personnel, and we're not accustomed to seeing that, but that has happened, and so we have to look at it for what it is. Gino Ariema has withstood the test of time and You can talk about Nick Saban, you can talk about Bill Belichick, you can talk about all of these guys.
I think Nick Saban is the closest.
Bill Belichick had Tom Brady for twenty years, Okay, one with them didn't win without him. Nick Saban won at LSU, he won at Alabama, So I think that's close. John Wooden, you got to think about him and his eleven titles, no doubt, But when you look at Geno Orima and the span over which he's won over four different separate decades, I don't think there's any question that he is the greatest coach in American history. His resume says so, the test of time says so, his recruiting ability says so, his.
Basketball acumen says so.
And the fact that his players never leave his program, and I all exists. You know, just saw Olivia Miles decide to depart from Notre Dame. Let me tell you something. Anybody think about leaving Yukon. This is Stor's Connecticut. Anybody think about leaving because Gino Orim is there. That's why it's just that simple congratulations to the goat of basketball coaching.
That is Geno Oriema. He truly is. There's nothing to say about it. Coming up.
Seawan Diddy cohmb's federal sex trafficking trial is less than a month away, and Cassie's apparently preparing to testify gets them.
We've got to get into that.
My Mayor Ryan Smith is in the house to discuss that with me, and a little something extra about the NCAA as well.
So don't go away. It's the stephen A.
Smith Show coming right at you, back with more in a minute.
Welcome back to stephen A. Smithshew.
Now let's get to the latest on Sean Diddy Combs, whose federal trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges is set to begin next month.
Sources tell People Magazine.
That Cassandra Cassie Venturer is prepared to testify against her ex partner Diddy at the upcoming trial using her name.
Last Friday, prosecutors follow the motion.
Stating that quote Victim number one would not be testifying anonymously during Comb's upcoming trial, where he faces charges of racketeering and conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. People Magazine exclusively confirmed with sources that Ventura is victim number one or Victim one, and that she will be testified in the trial. Meanwhile, three other victims are preparing to testify anonymously against the disgraced musician. Listen, in recent news, we've seen a lot of things come to the fold. We've seen charges being dropped by other folks, things going away, but this hasn't.
And to me, this is why this is.
So incredibly damaging for Diddy because the one person that visually incriminates him more than anything else, it's Cassie Ventura.
His ex girlfriend.
She is the person he was seen in that video that he ran down the hallway half naked, grabbed or yanked.
Her, throw her to the floor, kicked her, you know, threw a vase.
That are.
The behavior was despicable and it's incredibly incriminating to me. If you're the prosecution and you can use that video to smear p Diddy, that's bad. That's very, very bad.
Now.
I understand that some people will set up there, say racketeering and all of this other stuff that you know, the charges that have been leveled against them. This may how much this may have to do with that remains to be seen. But these are twelve jurors. We're talking about jurors of your peers, and if you have an opportunity to visualize a heinous act on the part of the defendant, then that's not going to garner sympathy.
It's not going to garner neutrality.
It's not going to garner the kind of emotion that one would surmise you would need from a jury in order for you to win your case and ultimately get off with a not guilty verdicant able to go home.
I don't know.
If that's possible once you see that video of him putting his hands on Cassie Ventura, and for her to be the one to testify, and for her to be the one testifying on behalf of the prosecution, considering the fact that she was his lady, in the fact that purportedly reportedly she engaged in activities she otherwise would not have wanted to at the behest of him. When you consider some of the things that they're saying about him, and the fact that your ex girl, with all the evidence in the world to come at you, one would smise is willing to do so for the prosecution. Ladies, gentlemen, that's not good. That's very very bad. That's very bad. I mean, I just don't know what to say about it. I really really don't, because again, I'm not trying to convict the brother in the court of public opinion, nor am I trying to let him off.
I'm trying to let the facts bear themselves out.
But with the litany of charges and allegations that the throne in his direction, I can't imagine anything more incriminating than her. She's the last person that I would have expected to testify on behalf of the prosecution. I thought, somehow, some way Ditty and his defense team would have prevented that part from happening. That's not going to happen. And whatever, think about it, whatever they ask, you're just ladies and gentlemen, just paused for a second. Just close your eyes for a second and just imagine that when your eyes were opened just a few seconds earlier, you saw that video.
And it's Continental Hotel. I believe that's where it was.
In la where he's running down the hallway half naked. He grabs it, he yankes it to the floor, she lays helpless on the ground.
He kicks and he shoves, and he throws.
A vase at her, he drags her down the hall where he does all of this stuff.
The hotel clearly had the video.
They held on for it for quite some time because it happened years ago, and yet somehow, someway it didn't come to light until this, And then you're showing that the jurors.
Jurors see this.
After that, every question they ask her, they're gonna to believe her before they believe him. They could even play the video on him on social media looking disheveled and contrite and saying that he was real messed up.
He was in a messed up place, He had a lot going on.
You see it right there there there it is. That's him on social media, of his own volition, putting that post out. He's in no position to refute what she says, especially if they can find their questions to her personal experiences, like if they ask her dates and times and stuff like that, and they could try to get a caught up and all of that, and she gives the wrong answers.
Yeah, that could be incriminating.
But if they're asking her about what she felt like, how terrorized she felt, what the fear factor was like, These are things that you can't police, and it all impacts the jury. This is why I say he's in trouble. It's not just because of the litany of charges. It's not just because it's being brought by the Southern State of the Southern District of New York.
It's not just because of those things. It's because.
The person or people who are incriminating him, especially as it pertains to Hus specifically, It's not going to be hard for her to be very convincing.
It just isn't.
Those are my thoughts, as minimal as they may be in significance. But my next guest, that's not a problem. He has joining me to discuss. This is ESPN and ABC News legal analyst, one of the best in the business, I might add, he's also Sports Center anchor as well, the one and only Ryan Smith, my colleague.
What's going on, buddy? How you doing, man? How's everything?
Everything's good?
Man? How you doing?
I'm doing alright, man, Let's get right to it. Ari heard me talking about Diddy a little bit early as child dates thoughts on May fifth, what's the significance of Cassandra Cassie Ventura testifying under her real name instead of anonymously like three other people named in the indictment.
Yeah, this could be huge in a couple different ways. And let's break it down between symbolically and legally. Symbolically, For me, this is huge because it lends credibility to her testimony. So you think about it like this, Cassie gets up on the stand, she's naming herself and for jurors and even in the court of public opinion, there's this sense that she's standing behind her allegations full throttle, using her name. Now, that's nothing against other accusers who might not be willing to use their names. It's just that how we tend to look at things, especially how juris might tend to look at things. They might say, well, this person standing behind what they're saying, so we're going to back her a little bit more. We might believe her a little bit more, and it lends credibility to her allegations. The other thing is putting her name out there, and I know it's been out there in some connections in many ways so far. It also helps others possible come forward. Prosecutors always talked about how this case might not be done. There might be other factors, and that could still be a possibility Legally, I think it's twofold number one. It's showing of strength for the prosecution. We are here, we are naming ourselves. We are out there, come at us. The other thing I think that's critical here is it puts the defense on the defensive. Here's why she gets up on the stand. She names herself. She's got the credibility. Jurors are connecting with her. It might make it harder for them to try to discredit her, or intimidate her, or come at her really hard on cross examination. So those are some factors that play into all this. And I think for the prosecution it's a win to have her naming herself.
Let's look at the specificity of the actual charges against Diddy. When you talk about her name instead of being anonymous, her name being put out there specifically, what can she speak to I'm talking about the actual specifications of the charges against them. How can she specifically speak against that? We heard the words racketeering the crowd ou lap, what would she have to do with that?
Explain that to my viewers.
My biggest thing is she's going to try to explain what happened at these free costs, and that's going to be huge. I think people tend to look at legal trials and they say, well, this person's going to give us the smoking gun, this person's going to tell us the one thing that's connect everything. But racketeering cases are a vast thing that you have to build. So you have to show through the different witnesses, through the different evidence, all the different things you have, that there was a criminal enterprise going on in furtherance of these activities, in further once, in furtherance in this case, of these assaults, of these different things, in terms of prostitution, the allegations they're making. So you have to build that case. And I think what Cassie can do is we've all seen the video and there's been a lot of connections to her in that video, but this goes beyond that. This is her being able to frame what the situation was like for Diddy, what some of these events were like, so they can use her testimony along with the evidence they have to prove the racketeering.
But ro when we talk about that and just just playing Devil's advocate for a seven, did he in all likelihood one would surmise would say she was consensual in these actions.
Okay, she wasn't forced, et cetera.
His proof could be the fact that they were in a relationship for years. So if he was so reprehensible, such a such a such an insidious figure, why was she involved with him for so long? What defense do you anticipate he'll be able to make that he has a snowballs chance and you know what of making against her, particularly when she's the one we saw him hit and kick.
On a video.
That's the defense. He's gonna say she was consensual. He's gonna say all the people involved, everybody the prosecutor was bringing in, was all consensual. That people did this because they liked that, they wanted to be there. But prosecutors, you got to look at it in terms of the way prosecutors are trying to build their case. They're building it in the same way or in a similar way that the Weinstein case was built. This is a person in power, a gatekeeper to certain things in this industry. If you wanted to get into this industry in certain ways, you had to do the things he said, and this was how he did it. And these are the things these people had to do. I think you make a great point that they were in a relationship, that that might be part of what they might use. But my sense is that, and we don't all the prosecution's case, My sense is that they're going to build this and say she was in that relationship. But just because you're in a relationship doesn't mean that person gets to control you and make you do certain things. And perhaps there was a point where he was doing this and doing things that she felt like she had to do in order to not only further her career, but in order to be a part of this world. And I think that's a one way in which prosecutors are going to try to build this case. We're going to try to build similarities among Cassie and other people that might testify and other people that are contributing to this case, to say this was a pattern, these are the things he did in order to continue this criminal enterprise.
If she's willing to put her name on Front Street instead of being anonymous, and others refrained from doing so, won't that diminish potentially their argument against Diddy the anonymous ones.
I love that you answer that question, because that's a common thing that people ask when you talk about one person revealing their name and others not, And you make a great point because in some ways it looks like, well, they're not willing to stand behind their claims, so how can we believe their claims? What the judge and what others are going to have to decide in this case and what probably will play out a little bit is the reason why people are trying to remain anonymous here. Cassie is a well known public figure. She was also connected in that initial videotape. We know that she is a part of this anybody who knows anything about this case. So in many ways, it's amazing that she's still coming forward and offering herself out there like this, with all the public scrutiny that she might face, with the harassment she might face. But Stephen A look at it from the other people's perspective. Are they are they supposed to be in a place where they're supposed to deal with the harassment and the public scrutiny. I think it becomes hard for people sometimes to realize that people who are accusers in cases like this, they come forward with their story, and as painful as that is, there becomes the aftermath of sharing the story they're harassed online, people get their address, they try to find them. That the complaints dog, the accutations dog them for most of their lives. How does that affect their ability to get a job, How does that affect their ability to live in society? So I think it's incredibly brave that Cassie's able to come forward and use her name. But she's also a public figure and she's been accustomed to that scrutiny a little bit. I think what will help the other accusers is they might not be as famous, maybe not as a custom, and maybe it'll be easier for the prostituting and stated yours. Hey, look, they don't have the public profile that she does. Let's try to hear their words and respect their privacy.
The word anonymous, and I'm gonna go off the subject in the second, but the word anonymous, A lot of people don't realize what that means. They just says, okay, you're not You don't know the meaning the public, but those who will testify against Diddy anonymously, does Diddy and his defense team know specifically who they are? Do they know their names?
Et cetera? Can you explain it to an audience.
Yeah, they'll know their names. Discoveries should have all come out. A lot of that information should come out, unless there's some sort of play by the prosecutor to try to restrict that access because there's some concern about harassment or that they can be threatened. But in deary, the way this should work is they should have a right to confront their accusers. They should have a right to know their names, background on them, and that's part of what they're going to try to use to just credit their story. So, but the naming anonymous ends up being significant in a case like this because you mentioned it once, you put Cassie's name out on Front Street, everybody's gonna hear about it. We're going to be waiting for the testimony, We're going to be trying to figure out what she said. She's gonna probably have to do press conferences possibly at some point. Speak are the other people signing up for that in order to share what happened to them? And I think that's the critical part of their names anonymous in that courtroom. That stuff is supposed to be confidential and allows them to go ahead and live their lives while also sharing their truth as the prosecution needs them to to build their tastes.
The video that did he put out on social media where he appeared contrite and dishovel. Those are the words that I used, basically saying he was fed up. He was in a very very bad place when he did what he did to Cassie Ventur.
You see the video right there.
How incriminating could that end up being against him? Now that Cassie has been willing to attach her name to the lawsuit and she's gonna come out on Front Street and say whatever it is that.
She has to say, it could be a very big problem for him because prosecutor's gonna pull up that videotape, they're gonna put it out there in court, and they're gonna say, look at what this man said. He is sorry for what he did. Folks. Let's outline for you now what he did. Cassie. Let's get on the stand and outline for us what he did and coupled with our evidence, that's going to prove our case. So typically when you have a situation like that, your lawyers will tell you, if you're representing Diddy, hey don't say anything. I know there's a temptation to do that. Don't say anything because it could be used against you. I think a Diddy's mind, it's a way to get public sympathy. It's a way to get and I think in some ways his defense team can say about this, Hey, he's apologizing for the relationship. He is not a perfect person, but he is not a criminal. That's going to be their messaging. But still, you don't want to have to have a videotape out there from your client saying I'm sorry for what I did, giving the prosecution the ability to explore that and with their evidence with Cassie and with other witnesses, to be able to prove, yeah, you're sorry for what you did because it was criminal. That's what prosecutors are going to want to do.
Knowing the law, knowing criminal cases the way that you do. What does this case, Eily remind you of, as it pertains to other cases that may have existed out there in the past. When you think about what p Diddy is going through right now, what's the comparison you draw it to.
My biggest comparison is the Weinstein case, also the Art Kelly case. Both of those cases involve the situation where prosecutors were able to build it as you have a gatekeeper, and it's impossible to really make inroads in this area without the gatekeeper. Now, I know people are going to hear that and say, well, all of these people, they could have Diddy is doing this, they could have gone to Dre or somebody else, and there's a million other rap artists and production companies out there. But I think what they're trying to build in the same way that was built in the Weinstein case was he wasn't the only studio in town. Meror Max wasn't the only place to make films, but in a particular way, once you got into this world, there was a way to build your career, to foster development. And I think what this case draws a similarity to, and what prosecutors have been trying to do with these cases is show no one is above the law. You can't go out, in prosecutor's mind, create a business and then make people do your bidding, even if it's illegal, in order to move up in that business. If it's a legitimate business, we can't do that. And so in the same way that the Weinstein case was prosecuted and the R. Kelly case was prosecuted. It feels like prosecuted or following the similar playbook here trying to make that point not only publicly but also in the courtroom. These are criminal enterprises that in many ways were set up in furtherance of Ditty and the people with him, and at the expense of these in their minds, accusers and victims.
We use words last question on this matter. We use words like criminal enterprise, We use words like racketeering and what have you. Is it wrong for us to get the impression that it's not Didty that they're they're after him.
Of course, please don't get me wrong, But it's not just him.
They're after a whole string of individuals that he's connected to, as opposed to it just be.
It was about r.
Kelly, it was about Harvey Weinstein. It doesn't appear to be thereafter just Didty. It's like he's the guy to get, so all the dominoes will fall and we'll get everybody associated with it. That's the oppression that I'm getting to that. You say, what, Ryan Smith.
Yeah, I say I completely agree, and I say I will go beyond that. The first thing is you're absolutely right, they're trying to get him and the enterprise and everything that backed him and everything that created this enterprise, because that's what they try to do when they prosecute criminal cases. I know that people out there say, hey, theft about Ditty. It's not just about Didty. It's about trying to uphold the law. It's not what prosecutor. That's how prosecutors see it. But the way I go beyond it is this. With each one of these cases, they are trying to send a message not just to the Ditties of the world or to the Harvey Weinstein or R Kelly's. They're trying to send a message to the people who have other things going on, or people who might come up later who might have ideas of doing something that they are saying Diddy did. They're saying, we will find you, we will come after you. The fact that Diddy is there in the courtroom, perhaps he is telling us things about you, about people you know. So if you're doing something on the wrong side of the law, and you think your power and your money and influence is going to protect you, it will not. And that's the message they're trying to send. We obviously, stephen A, we talk about this case. We have to see how it's litigated and how everything comes out. But for prosecutors, this is every success they have in this area is another ability for them to be able to say to everybody else out there in all of these businesses, you are not above the law, no matter how much money or power you have.
I want to transition back to the world of sports and off this p Diddy topic, and thank you so much for coming on Ryan and talking about this, But I want to talk about this potential multi billion dollar settlement between NCAA and student and athletes past and present. By the way, this deal could reshape the business of college sports.
Correct, Yeah, absolutely, And this deal is like it's labeled as a two point eight billion dollar settlement, but really it's a deal that looks backwards then forwards. So the backwards part is it's spending billions of dollars to payback athletes who didn't who weren't able to make deals before nil, who are part of these anti trust lawsuits that were all combined. So for example, that could mean that athletes who made a lot of money for their schools, like Power five conference football players, basketball players who'd make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Small sport athletes a mid majors could end up making only hundreds of dollars, but in ways it kind of compensates them. The looking forward part ends up being interesting too, because what it does is it sets up sort of a salary cap, just like we say in pro sports, twenty million bucks or so for each school to spend on athletes. The idea is to try to rein in some of the nil spending by boosters and all that. And it also sets out something that I think is going to actually be a legal issue beyond this settlement, which is like a clearing house for nil deals. So if somebody's making a deal over six hundred bucks, they have a clearing house. It's going to look at that and maybe say, hey, is this circumventing the salary cap. If not, you can't do it. I think that one's going to face court challenges even after this settlement. At least it has a likelihood too.
What I think the big part that turns me off Frond is that they're talking about cap and you know, revenue at twenty million percent school or what have you, something along those lines. The two point eight million dollar billion dollar settlement that they've been talking about is retroactive from what happened between twenty sixteen and twenty twenty four the athletes that would denied money at that particular moment in time and sort of reimbursing them for missed wages and things of that nature. I understand that part, even though I think it should be more. My issue is why does it need to be capped? Why does it be capped at twenty million dollars as opposed to a percentage of revenue generated by the universities. Just like you have in basketball or football, where there's a percentage of football or basketball related income or a revenue that comes to the players, why can't the same be with NCUBA athletes. That's I'm suspicious, is what I'm trying to say about that cap trying to derail the kind of money guys are able to get in nil, guys and lads able to get in nil and beyond and stuff like that.
I'm kind of.
Suspicious anytime I see a capped number associated with student athletes playing in the nc DOUBLEA under the NCUBLEA umbrella, because I don't trust them one bit to that.
You say what I say the pushback to you is gonna be, well, it's going to go up next year, it might be more, and then it's gonna be more. But the problem is it doesn't answer your claim, which is there's still a cap. And I think you make a great point. I also think what becomes interesting in what you're saying is the clearinghouse aspect of this. Think about this, stephen A. In the advent of NIL, and even before that, athletes became in many ways, these college athletes became business people. They built up huge followings online, millions of people. Some of their income might be coming from boosters, some of them might be coming from their own deals. Are we now going to look at those deals that they in many ways created on their own and say, well, you're going to circumvent the salary caps, so you can't do that. Now we're back in the same bag that we were in before NIL, which is not only your cap argument, which means people might be limited from getting their real market value, but then also even if you could go out and have millions of followers and do all these other things on your own, well, now we might try to cap that. We might try to limit that because we feel like it's circumventing cap we already have. I am in agreement with you. I think when you have a situation like nil, it's almost like letting the cat out of the bag. Once they open that bag up, you can't close it off and now say, okay, let's pull everybody back in and cut the number and try to keep everybody down a little bit lower. That ship has already sailed. I think if people I think at this point the booster system, the fact that I agree with the idea of paying players directly from colleges, but I think to try to cap it and to try to rein it in is always going to be a problem, and it's always going to face legal challenges, and it's always going to have critics because people are going to say, just when you open the floodgates so we could make money and create businesses and earn more, you're trying to close them back up again to the benefit of schools, which is the same reason why we ended up in many ways in the nil spot in the first place.
And by the way, you know it's bad when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by Donald Trump, was the one that made the argument in twenty twenty one when he called them out and he said, known, there's no business in America that could get away with doing this all the day, you guys.
And sure enough, I think they'll find out. They're fine trying to.
Find an end around to get around this stuff to do the same thing they've always been doing.
So we'll see what happens with all of that.
Ryan Smith, Man, I really really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule.
Thanks for coming on, my brother. I appreciate it.
Thanks so much anytime. Man, good to talk to you.
All right.
One of only Ryan Smith legal analysts ABC and ESPN, also anchor for Sports under the Brothers. Outstanding one of the best in the business, make no mistake about that. That's it for this edition of The Steven A. Smith Show. I hope y'all enjoyed it. I'll be back in.
A few days.
I'm on vacation, but I still make sure to give y'all some shows. And keep in mind the next time you see me, I got bad news for you. Nephew Josh will be with me. Nephew Tism, that's what they call it, not nepotism. Nephewtism. You understand, That's what he tells everybody. Okay, So it was important to him not just to be on the show, but to be the show. So this Friday, Josh is gonna be on with me. I'll never give him the show by his damn self. I'm too scared, too scared of what he'll say. I'm too scared of what he'll do. He just doesn't know any but I just don't know. I don't trust them, I don't trust me like that. I got to sea. But we will be on together nevertheless. Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed this edition of The Stephen A. Smith Show. And before I go, I just want to say this. Your supporting me on this show is very appreciative. In other words, I approved this message. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. Until next time, everybody signing off.
Dec enough
