BONDI: Joe, I don’t know how in the world it can be considered politically motivated. Rush Limbaugh —
(MSNBC loses satellite feed of Bondi.)
SCARBOROUGH: Okay, Joe, why don’t you —
TACOPINA: I knew I would shut her up.
SCARBOROUGH: You did. You’ve won this debate. I’m going to let you go ahead and explain why you think it’s politically motivated while our technicians scramble to get the feed.
TACOPINA: I’ll tell you why, Joe, because this prosecutor is not letting the facts get in the way — or lack of facts thereof. There is not a shred of evidence that they catch Rush Limbaugh doing anything illegally — either being in possession of illegally prescribed pills or buying illegally prescribed pills. They’re going on a case where a witness, his former housekeeper — who, by the way, unsuccessfully tried to blackmail him for $4 million — is the only witness in the case against him for self-medicating, something that prosecutors do not prosecute. It’s unheard of.
SCARBOROUGH: So, yeah, it’s unheard of. They’re actually holding him to a higher standard, and if this case ever gets into court, will that information that you just said — you just said that there was an unsuccessful attempt to blackmail him for $4 million — will that information go before a jury?
TACOPINA: Oh, absolutely. I mean, the only witness in this case, don’t forget, is his ex-housekeeper and her cocaine-trafficking husband, you know, who are the only witnesses who are going to testify against Rush Limbaugh. If this ever were to become a jury trial — which it will not, by the way — and, yes, their credibility and the fact that they try to blackmail him is absolutely fair game. And don’t forget, this prosecutor did things that were so underhanded, like leaking the fact that his attorney, Rush’s attorney, was seeking a plea bargain to avoid embarrassment. That’s not supposed to be leaked. The fact that this attorney, this state attorney, tried to use letters from the Florida State attorney general that the Florida State attorney general said were taken utterly out of context; that this attorney, prosecuting attorney, tried to get the medical records of Rush Limbaugh behind his back, which is absolutely procedurally incorrect. So many things have been done here that are just below the belt and I think evidence nothing more than a partisan witch hunt, Joe.
SCARBOROUGH: Now, you accused Rush’s accuser’s husband of being a cocaine-trafficking husband. Clear that up, just to make sure that you’re not just slinging around accusations. Has he been charged with that?
TACOPINA: Yeah, apparently has he not only been charged, Joe, he’s been, according to my records, previously convicted. How’s that? So I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying — you know, I don’t mean to cast aspersions, but someone who’s been previously convicted of cocaine trafficking, okay? I’m pretty comfortable calling him a cocaine-trafficking husband.
SCARBOROUGH: Joe, here’s the next thing. Okay, if the state attorney of Palm Beach County knows —
TACOPINA: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: — that it’s going to be Rush Limbaugh against his former maid, and they know that they have this information, that the former maid you say tried to blackmail him for $4 million —
TACOPINA: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: — that her husband is a cocaine trafficker in the past; he’s been convicted of those charges, the Palm Beach attorney, state attorney knows that he can’t win this case, doesn’t he? Is he just doing this to beat Rush Limbaugh about the head, because she’s not going to rule the day in front of a jury in any county in Florida?
TACOPINA: You’re right, Joe. I mean, I think… Look, before this was leaked to the tabloids, before this housekeeper decided she wanted to sell her story. By the way, there’s another fact that’s fair game for the defense in this case: she sold this story. She didn’t just tell this because she had some moral compunction to come out and tell the truth. She sold this story to a tabloid, okay? So, aside from everything else, she has that. The fact that she sold the “truth,” as a credibility issue. But before that happened, this prosecutor made it clear to Rush’s attorney, he (Rush) was not a target of this investigation at all. It was the doctors who were writing phony scripts, not some individual who was self-medicating because he was under such severe pain that he, you know, was taking painkillers to help him get through whatever crisis he was going through. You do not prosecute, prosecutors do not prosecute simply addicts, not people who are distributing drugs or doing anything else. I mean, this was someone who was not doing cocaine or ecstasy. This is someone who was self-medicating to deal with some pain.
SCARBOROUGH: It is all a political witch hunt. You’re exactly right, Joe. Thanks for being with us. I want to read our viewers what Rush gave us. He gave Scarborough Country this exclusive statement about this story. He said: “Journalism is supposed to be objective and fair and balanced, but I have to buy my way into this paper in order to get some modicum of fairness.” That’s Rush Limbaugh. Joe, thanks for being with us. Pam Bondi, thanks for being with us. Sorry we only got a couple words from you. We’ll invite you back.