Blame game clown show: Trump looks for Iran fiasco scapegoats
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What is the opening overview of the Tennessee primary and its significance?
You better eat your Wheaties today because there's a lot of news to cover.
Money.
Time for the business. All eyes on the new Fed chair. The economic fallout from the war is a temporary power. The president is now a major crypto industry operator. Is this White House for sale?
Politics.
Is there an energy to respond to this aggressive gerrymandering? It has never been more important to be informed and engaged.
Money Power Politics with Stephanie Ruhle. Weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern on MSNOW. We are watching as primary results come in from the state of Tennessee. And while there are plenty of interesting races we're following, there is one in particular that feels like, well, it encapsulates nearly every political story we are seeing these days. It's a race that is almost a microcosm of the entire Trump era writ large. Folks, this is Republican Tennessee Congressman Andy Oles. He's fighting off a primary challenge for his seat in Tennessee's 5th Congressional District. Now, if you don't know who Congressman Ogles is, I don't blame you. I mean, former Congressman George Santos sort of stole his thunder. For a while, the two seemed to be competing for the title of most prolific liar in Congress.
If you believe Middle Tennessee's newest congressman, he's not only a businessman, he's also an economist, a trained law enforcement officer, even an expert in international sex crimes.
So I'm an economist. I'm an economist. You know, as an economist. His congressional bios is Ogles graduated from Middle Tennessee State University, where he studied policy and economics. Contrary to Ogles' claims... You know, as an economist... The transcript shows he enrolled in just one economics class, a community college principles of economics course, where he got a C. As a former member of law enforcement, worked in international sex crimes, specifically child trafficking.
Then there are Ogle's claims.
You know, my midlife crisis, I went into law enforcement, specifically, right? But I worked in human trafficking. to be an international sex crimes expert. A sheriff's spokesperson says there is nothing in Mr. Ogles' training or personnel file that indicates he had any involvement in international sex trafficking. While Ogles has tried to downplay the controversy, we also noticed on that resume that he claimed to have served four years on the board of directors for the city of Franklin, despite the fact that Franklin doesn't have a board of directors. Now, that local reporter whose voice you could hear from there is Phil Williams of Nashville's Tennessee's News Channel 5. And he has reported scoop after scoop after scoop about Congressman Ogles, discovering that the congressman lied about everything from his resume to a GoFundMe he set up.
Then we uncovered evidence about a GoFundMe where Ogles raised money for a children's burial garden that was never built, raking in almost $25,000. As we discovered, there is no children's burial garden, and the congressman had refused to tell us what he did with the money. Congressman, this doesn't have to be a story if you can just offer some evidence he went for a good cause. Was the money used the way you said it was? Congressman, are you not concerned about how this looks? Now, to give you a sense of just how many scandals Congressman Ogles has produced and just how many of those scandals Phil Williams has uncovered, consider how Ogles treated Williams today. Here's a clip of one of Ogles' staffs trying to, you know, keep Williams out of a press event by saying that the room was simply too full.
The media cutoff has passed, unfortunately. The U.S. Marshals basically said we can't have any more people inside the gaggle room. So, unfortunately, you guys are going to have to leave. I'm sorry. We were here on time. We just couldn't get back there.
How did Congressman Andy Ogles’ scandals become a focal point of the episode?
I'm just relaying what the teams have told me. I'm sorry.
Now, that sounds like baloney to you. It sounded like baloney to Phil Williams, too. So he did what he does best, and he investigated. I'm sorry, we can't have them come.
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