Return to Transcripts main page
Laura Coates Live
Blanche, Ballroom Fights Show Congress Ceding Power to Trump; Laura Coates Interviews Justin State Rep. Justin Pearson; Laura Coates Interviews Comedian Tommy Davidson; DC Gets TMZ'd. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired August 07, 2026 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
LIZA ZENESKI, SUPERVISING CULINARY PRODUCER, FOOD NETWORK: Winners a thousand percent.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, for sure. I mean, first of all, shrimp tacos are my favorite, but I've never had shrimp tacos with this much good stuff going on.
ZENESKI: Oh, good.
PHILLIP: So, it's like, it's pretty amazing. Table, how do you feel?
ASA HUTCHINSON, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: Wow.
LEIGH MCGOWAN, PODCAST HOST: Fantastic. It takes a little kick, but not too spicy. Not overwhelming.
PHILLIP: Not at all.
MCGOWAN: Just enough.
PHILLIP: Yes.
MCGOWAN: So fresh.
PHILLIP: All right, everyone. Thank you very much for watching "NewsNight." You can catch our Saturday show "Table for Five," it's tomorrow at 10 A.M. Eastern, and don't forget, stream my new show, "Confessions and Obsessions," anytime on the CNN app. "Laura Coates Live" picks it up right now.
LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Tonight, Todd Blanche is on the verge of becoming attorney general. President Trump's ballroom is headed for the Supreme Court. Two different fights raising the same question: Is Congress giving up what leverage it actually has? Also, you know Tommy Davidson for making people laugh, but you may not know the extraordinary story that shaped him, from being abandoned as a baby to apparently the moment he found out he was Black. Well, he is here to testify as my star witness tonight on "Laura Coates Live." My opening statement tonight, and it's time for a pop quiz on a Friday, who is supposed to tell the president no? His attorney general? The courts? Congress? Well, today, one of them did, but not the one you voted for, Congress. The Senate has now paved a clear path for Todd Blanche to become Trump's attorney general without the acting title as soon as tonight. It came down to Senator Bill Cassidy and his reason for voting yes. He says Trump's former A.G., Bill Barr, told him that Blanche is best positioned to tell Trump no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R), LOUISIANA: Barr specifically addressed the allegation that Mr. Blanche would be a yes man for the president. He said that any attorney to represent a client well has to have tough conversations and confront a client with difficult truths, that because of his previous attorney-client relationship with President Trump, Mr. Blanche would be precisely the person to push back on President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: That's interesting because a few hours earlier, Senator Lisa Murkowski was making the opposite assessment in bet. She said the country needs an attorney general who will check the president's worst impulses. But she didn't have confidence that Blanche is that person, so she's a no.
And she pointed to a different kind of check on Trump, the Senate itself. She said the anti-weaponization fund is only off the table, only off the table because Blanche's nomination is still pending and the Senate still has leverage. But once they vote, -- quote -- "there is no telling what the future holds."
Well, that leverage, it's like it's about to just disappear and the Senate is opening the door to this possible future, a fund the president may try to revive because there isn't much to stop him. And are they all just ignoring the fact that he was a party to that contract and neither him nor his eldest sons or the Trump Org, for that matter, signed off on the document intending to kill it?
You know, Blanche isn't the only place where the legislative branch has the power to say, not so fast, but still seems to be tongue-tied. Take the White House ballroom. It has now been blocked by an appeals court. Why? Well, a majority of the court ruled the construction of the ballroom is -- quote -- "for Congress to decide and is not a matter for executive self-help."
But here's the thing. Is Congress actually going to decide? Because it hasn't so far. There was a Senate push earlier this summer to block construction, but it fell short of the 60 votes needed. Republicans also floated up to a billion dollars in public funding for the ballroom and other White House upgrades, but they ultimately backed away from that. So, Congress has debated it, even tried to vote around it, but it still hasn't actually answered the question, yes or no to the ballroom. Now, that vacuum has allowed Trump to step in with his own answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We know that congressional approval is not necessary to put up a ballroom. Many things have been built in the White House that haven't gotten congressional approval, especially when the money is being not put up by the taxpayer. The taxpayer is not putting up a dime.
Look, it's like usual. Everything I do, they get sued, but I win the suits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: But he lost this one, at least for now.
[23:05:00]
The president is now appealing it to the Supreme Court. He is also off on something else, the cost to you. "The Washington Post" reports that the total cost is an estimated 600 million bucks, with half coming from taxpayers.
Let's begin with independent California congressman who caucuses with Republicans, Kevin Kiley. He also serves on the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman, welcome back.
Let's talk about Senator Cassidy because he believes that Blanche's history as a personal attorney of President Trump would actually give him more leverage to push back and be listened to when it comes to the president's impulses. Once you take the oath as attorney general, though, obviously, your client is the American people, not the president. Does the past loyalty and that relationship, does that stand up to the president? Does it make it harder to draw the line?
REP. KEVIN KILEY (R), CALIFORNIA: Well, you know, I'm in the House, and so I didn't have a vote in the matter here. I have a lot of respect for Senator Cassidy and respect his judgment. I also have a lot of respect for some senators who came out the other way.
But what I will say is that our role in the House as well is to provide for oversight and accountability. And so, if there are ever any questions about that going forward, then we will absolutely need to have the appropriate tools of accountability exercised.
To give you one example of this, the day after this so-called weaponization fund was announced, I actually voted in the Judiciary Committee to subpoena those who were responsible. And indeed, it was one of the things that came out of this nomination process that now that fund is going away.
COATES: And yet there would be many who would complain that accountability would be elusive if you don't really have any leverage over at this stage, right? I mean, this stage is so important, about who gets there, because once that person is there, they do have a level of autonomy and they can be brought back to Capitol Hill to talk to you. But that's about it.
And Senator Lisa Murkowski says that Congress will give up its last real leverage over that very fund when Blanche is confirmed. She is warning there is no telling what the future holds. Given your prior concerns, do you share her concerns or even expect that that fund is going to make a comeback?
KILEY: Well, there has apparently been an agreement in writing that the fund isn't making a comeback. If there is any sign that it was, I can assure you that myself and a number of others would push back on that using every tool that we have.
COATES: Are any of those tools going to -- are any of those stools stop it, though? I mean, push back and trying to, you know, use the different tools is this frustration for many people looking at Congress and saying, you know, when I have that sign, break glass in the case of emergency, nothing is behind it.
KILEY: Yes, yes. Well, I get your point and Senator Murkowski's, but I think that this mentality is only a product of the habit that Congress has gotten into of not providing for adequate oversight when the party that controls Congress also controls the White House. What you see happen is that when those two are aligned, you see very little oversight. When they're different and you see a lot of oversight, one party versus the other, it's an issue of checks and balances, the role of one branch versus the other.
And so, as the only independent in the House, that's something I take really seriously, is that Congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight regardless of who's in the White House.
COATES: All right, well, let's dance for a second, congressman, because the president is now pledging to take his ballroom fight to the Supreme Court. Why hasn't Congress done more to either stop or greenlight this massive renovation project? Because construction is obviously, obviously already well underway.
KILEY: Right. Yes. And so, we actually have done something. I know you mentioned it in your opening remarks, which is that there was a proposal to put $1 billion in one of these reconciliation bills for the ballroom. Myself and a number of others said, absolutely not, this is not something that we're going to do, and so the money fell out of that bill. And so, now, you have questions arising from both the courts and from Congress.
And so, you're seeing signs of separation of powers working the way that it should. Now, there have been statutes passed by Congress that give the president some authority over executive improvements. The question is whether, you know, that extends to something this large and permanent.
COATES: An important question, especially when taxpayer dollars are implicated. Congressman Kevin Kiley, thank you for joining.
KILEY: Yes. Thanks for having me.
COATES: You know, the ballroom is not the only pet project on President Trump's mind. Tonight, he's turning up the heat again on U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her decision to drop the reflecting pool vandalism case against the former Olympian, David Hearn. Now, the president is demanding that Pirro should -- quote -- "revisit her hastily made decision, his words. [23:10:01]
Let's talk about it. I got the host of "The Ben Ferguson Show," Ben Ferguson, and the creator of "Blow the Stack" on Substack, Charles Blow. Glad to have both of you gentlemen here this evening. Ben, I'll begin with you here because the president is putting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in a pretty tough spot. If she doesn't cave, is the writing on the wall for her?
BEN FERGUSON, RADIO HOST, PODCAST CO-HOST: I don't think the writing is on the wall. I think this is one of the reasons why a lot of people like working for the president. You know where you stand with him all the time. He's not a guy that hides his feelings, what he thinks, his emotions. He has made it clear that this is something he has a strong feeling about. She gets to decide ultimately what she wants to do in her position of power. But I don't see a problem with the president saying what he believes.
By the way, he was the only person that was elected by the American people. He owes it to the American people to say what he thinks on issues like this. It's transparency. They're talking about it out in public. So, this happens a lot with President Trump. And guess what? Almost 99 percent of the time, they move on from it as well.
COATES: Charles, what is your reaction to that? Because, obviously, these are political appointees serving at the pleasure of the president, but their ultimate audience and who they serve are the American people. She has made a call that she feels there was not enough to meet her burden of proof and decided to dismiss, and he wants her to revisit this.
CHARLES BLOW, LANGSTON HUGHES FELLOW, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Yes. I think that that answer that Ben just gave was absurd because there's an actual human being here who is being charged with something. And if the evidence does not support that that person did what the president says that he did, he cannot be charged.
You know, we are flaunting the whole idea of a presumption of innocence in the country. We're flaunting the whole idea that this person may not have done it. Jeanine Pirro has basically come to conclusion that he did not do what the president said that he did. And what the president is now saying is that I don't care what evidence you have, I want this done because it saves face for me, I want there to be -- have been vandalism and not -- there have be -- been reckless application of this kind of coding so that it saves my face.
So, are we really going to say this person has done nothing wrong and that the president gets to put his thumb on the scale and say, you will be prosecuted, anyway, because I want it to happen?
COATES: Ben?
FERGUSON: Charles, I wish you would have used that same logic when you were going after the president of the United States of America with lawfare year after year after year. When you guys were going after him, trying to put him in jail, trying to stop him from being able to run for re-election, where was this logic? This is --
BLOW: I would like to --
FERGUSON: I love this. Like, please apply it when you guys were weaponizing the government to go after Donald Trump.
BLOW: -- that I went after anybody about lawfare, please, you got to present evidence or you're not going to lie on me. So, let's start with evidence.
FERGUSON: Charles, Charles, you and I have debated the Mar-a-Lago raid. You and I have debated the attack on the president in Georgia and in New York.
BLOW: You and I have not.
FERGUSON: There is tape of it, my friend. There is tape of it.
BLOW: I want you to either don't lie -- either don't lie or present your evidence of where I have said going after somebody for the lawfare during the Biden years. Please -- FERGUSON: Charles, are you telling me that on T.V., there is a tape of you saying that the lawfare that was against Donald Trump was wrong? There's a tape of you saying that.
COATES: Ben, I'd like you to answer the point --
BLOW: No --
COATES: Hold on. I want you to answer the point that you raised because I think it's important in how you both presented the issue.
BLOW: Exactly.
COATES: Let me hear the response to this particular issue, which is, do you think that it is appropriate, it's what Charles raised, is it appropriate for President Trump to tell a U.S. attorney to revisit her decision not to prosecute somebody she has determined there was no evidence to pursue or meet her burden of proof? That's a very separate point in a discussion that looks backwards to so-called lawfare. What's your answer to that question?
FERGUSON: Yes, I think it's appropriate for the president of the United States of America to say what he believes publicly, transparently to the American people.
And if he believes that Judge Jeanine got this wrong, I love that there's transparency, I love it's not a backroom phone call, I love that it's not a phone call or an email or a text message the American people don't know about. He couldn't be more transparent than what he thinks about this situation and the reflecting pool. Now, ultimately, it's up to the judge to decide what she's going to do in this situation.
But I love that we have a president that says it to everyone in the country instead of maybe going behind the scenes or sending a text or an email or calling a prosecutor and trying to get something done quietly. This is as transparent as it gets. I love a president that does this.
COATES: Well, Charles, do you see this as a good thing? I mean, a feather in the cap?
BLOW: America, you just heard from a political commentator without a spine.
COATES: Well, Ben, do you want to respond to the fact that you've been called spineless?
FERGUSON: I'm used to Charles, when he gets himself in a bad situation, name-calling. It's what his career has been about.
[23:15:00]
I expect nothing less from Charles today.
BLOW: It is not name-calling. You are spineless. The fact that you are applauding someone --
FERGUSON: It's transparency. It's transparency. It's not spineless. Transparency is what the American people want.
COATES: I want to -- hold on. I want to hear Charles's response.
BLOW: Transparency going against the evidence, and you're applauding that. That is a spineless position.
FERGUSON: Have you seen all the evidence? I haven't seen all the evidence. You haven't seen all the evidence. The president has seen more than you've seen or I've seen. So, in other words, you're making a lot of crap up right now, saying that there's no evidence. You haven't seen the evidence.
BLOW: I'm not making things up.
FERGUSON: You haven't seen the evidence. You haven't seen what the president saw, Charles.
BLOW: No. She went to the president with her evidence and with her conclusion and with the conclusion of the people in the attorney's office that there was no case here. She put out her statement that said that there was no evidence of that. In fact, not only was there not evidence of him doing the damage, but that there was evidence that it was the fault of the people who installed it. So, she put that forward. That is the evidence that I'm saying, that she said that she saw it. That is important to remember.
FERGUSON: I go back --
BLOW: I'm so happy that it's not a backroom call. I'm so happy that he's doing it in public. I'm so happy that he's abusing the law out in public --
FERGUSON: Then you should support transparency.
BLOW: -- and not in the backroom, and that is somehow making you jump up and down with your pom-poms. That's not cute. That's not cute. What are you doing? You sound ridiculous.
FERGUSON: When I talk about transparency, when I talk about transparency, let me be clear, there's a difference when this president is transparent and what you guys do, for example, disclosing and hiding and protecting and lying about when Joe Biden had a massive cognitive decline. When you guys were telling everybody that Joe Biden was fine, not in a cognitive decline --
BLOW: You guys don't talk to me.
FERGUSON: That's what you guys do on the left. This president is transparent.
BLOW: OK, you guys don't talk to me. I don't know who you guys are.
FERGUSON: -- decisions of a former president --
COATES: Listen --
BLOW: I don't know who you guys are.
COATES: Well, listen, I'm going to give --
BLOW: You talk to me. You can say my name and say I did it.
COATES: I'm going to give this woman the final word and just say thank you both for joining. And I have to just say to the American public, having been a prosecutor, it is no feather in the cap to say that it's great that you're transparently doing something if what you're doing is wrong. All it says is you were thumbing your nose at those who want accountability.
BLOW: Exactly.
COATES: But, again, last word, gentlemen, happy Friday. You're not going to be friends today.
FERGUSON: Good to see you.
BLOW: Happy Friday, Laura.
COATES: Ahead, everyone, first came the easier part, winning his Democratic primary. Now comes the harder part, winning a newly-redrawn district Republicans made much tougher for Democrats. But that's what Justin Pearson is trying to do in Tennessee. He joins me, next. Plus, Tommy Davidson made a career out of impressions and impersonations. He is with me tonight to tell me where that gift came from and show off one former president still in his repertoire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY DAVIDSON, ACTOR, COMEDIAN: He can take something that isn't important, and it sounds presidentially important, like a Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, part of an essential breakfast, and they are great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: Black voters in Tennessee could soon feel the impact of the Supreme Court's decision from back in April that effectively gutted a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act. You'll recall that following the ruling, the Republican-controlled legislature in Tennessee quickly got rid of the state's only blue district that you see on the map, one that included the majority Black city of Memphis. The new map divided Memphis across three districts, giving Republicans a clear advantage.
But the move isn't stopping one candidate from putting up a fight. I'm talking about Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, who has just won his primary in Tennessee's 9th district. You might recognize him as a member of the so-called Tennessee Three, a group of lawmakers temporarily expelled from the state House over a gun control protest back in 2023. Pearson is now running in one of those newly-redrawn districts. But can he really pull off the upset? You know what? Let's ask him.
Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson joins me now. Representative, welcome back to the show. Look, the data, the data, you can take issue with it, but it suggests your newly-redrawn district would have voted for Trump by 21 points back in 2024. So, why do you believe you can still win this seat today?
STATE REP. JUSTIN PEARSON (D-TN), TENNESSEE HOUSE CANDIDATE: Yes, this is a different political moment that we are in. Donald Trump is not on the ballot. We have people who are dealing with high grocery prices, high gas prices, an endless war, data centers that are polluting our community, big money in politics, and AIPAC trying to buy our elections. People all across the 15 counties that I visited more than once now want something different for Tennessee, for District 9, and for our country.
COATES: Representative, your opponent, Brent Taylor, just put out a lengthy statement where he is attacking you. He wrote in part -- quote -- "Pearson is the face of the extreme left in this race -- the same activist who has repeatedly put chaos over order." He actually goes on to accuse you of having contempt for law enforcement, saying an altercation you have with officers at the state capitol. Can you respond to what many describe as complete hyperbole?
PEARSON: Absolutely. It is extreme and it is radical that we don't have access to health care in the richest country in the world. It is an extreme problem that people in District 9 are suffering from poverty and are dealing with the consequences of unaffordable housing and an affordability crisis that has been manufactured by this administration on behalf of the billionaire class. It is wrong that in rural communities and small towns in our cities, we're dealing with toxic data centers built by people like Elon Musk.
[23:24:58]
My opponent is being funded by Space X A.I., he is being funded by folks like AIPAC, and he's getting money from individuals like CoreCivic, and that is perpetuating the ICE raids in our communities.
That's what's wrong with our country. I think people are sick and tired of hearing the hyperbole. They want to see real solutions that improve the quality of their lives. That's why I'm running for Congress and that's why we're going to win in November.
COATES: Address his statement that you have contempt for law enforcement. Is that true?
PEARSON: Absolutely not. Anyone who knows me knows that I have loved ones who serve in law enforcement. The reality is I think there are deeply problematic issues at times with law enforcement when the president of the United States, for instance, has a task force in our community that has killed four Black African-American men.
I believe it's wrong when law enforcement is separating families at the behest of this administration. He's operating as though he has a private army. I think those things are wrong. And we need to have real conversations about how we make communities safer by dealing with poverty and not by occupying communities as has happened in Shelby County.
COATES: Progressive and socialist Democrats have been pulling off lots of upsets in primaries as of just recently. But someone who has had tough words for this wing of the party is Democratic strategist James Carville. Listen to what he just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The Blacks don't buy this shit. Black folks, listen to me very carefully, are the most loyal part of the entire Democratic coalition. If you disrespect them, they know it. And Democratic Party can never show any distance between itself and Black voters. And it gets to the point that the progressives want to disrespect people. They're going to understand that, and you're going to lose the constituency that has stuck with you for the last 70 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Now, let's assume, to make a conversation, that James Carville has his exclusive thumb on the pulse of Black America. But do you believe the Black voters don't like what they're seeing from progressive and socialist Democrats?
PEARSON: Yes, I think a lot of Black voters don't like being called Blacks in that way. I think the Black African-American people in our country have been very loyal to the Democratic Party, but the Democratic Party establishment has not been loyal to Black African- American people. We see that with the rates of investment that we do not get and that
we have not received. We haven't passed Medicare for all. We have not addressed many of the issues that matter to Black Americans. And when we have people in political offices who take money from AIPAC, who take corporate PAC money, and who are not investing in our communities and not investing in the south particularly, it shows what people think about us.
Fifty-six percent of Black African-American people live in the South, and we are not getting nearly as much investment, even in our race, as we should from people from across the country who say that they represent the Democratic Party and Democratic ideals.
I believe people want Medicare for all. I believe people want us to stop the genocide that is happening and being caused by AIPAC and the Israeli government. They want those investments to come to our rural hospitals. They want those investments to go to our public schools. They want those investments to go to our communities. I believe those are the issues that are paramount to Black folks in this country.
COATES: The voters will answer whether it's true or not come November. Justin Pearson, thank you for joining.
PEARSON: Thank you so much for having me. Keep the faith in the fight.
COATES: Next, my star witness tonight, the one and only Tommy Davidson on his incredible journey from being rescued from the trash as a baby to how his childhood shaped the way he makes us laugh, plus what even his biggest fans may not know about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: What do you think people misunderstand about you?
DAVIDSON: There's something you can't see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN LAWRENCE, ACTOR, COMEDIAN: And we're back with Varnell Hill.
DAVIDSON: Did you miss me?
LAWRENCE: Yes, brother, they miss you. That's why I cut that last commercial short. OK? I was afraid people would call in. Where's Varnell? We miss him.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: It's hard to find a funnier duo than Tommy Davidson and Martin Lawrence. And 30 years after their iconic scenes in the show "Martin," they are reuniting for a spinoff. "The Varnell Hill Show" is going to follow the fictional talk show host Davidson played on "Martin." It debuts September 1st on Paramount+.
Now, the idea of Varnell Hill first started percolating in Tommy Davidson's mind even before Martin, and that's one of several incredible, hilarious insights and poignant memories that he shared when he testified as my star witness.
I am so excited you're here. Welcome home. Back in D.C.
DAVIDSON: I'm home. I'm home. And this is a really different feeling, to be home and on CNN.
COATES: Why?
DAVIDSON: Well, because I didn't think that would never happen.
COATES: Really? All that you've done? All that you are?
DAVIDSON: You know, not in my hometown. You know, if I'm in New York or, you know, in L.A. or whatever, my mother lived up the street, so it's like, well, did, you know? And caught the train down to her job at HUD and used her Union Bank, you know, to get my first little car. So, it's all here.
COATES: It's all here. I mean, you have improv shows. Everyone here loves you. You really are a hometown kid. But you have traveled near and far. And your journey, when I first met you and we talked about your personal journey, I don't think people know your beginnings because they see where you are now and they think, oh, obviously.
[23:35:02]
But it wasn't so obvious.
DAVIDSON: It was -- my journey really is that I'm a blessed man because I couldn't have done this, you know. The way I feel about all of us, you know, I say all of us living on this little blue marble we're on, was influenced by the fact that I was abandoned in the trash. You know, I'm not going to know that, you know, until years and years later. But I -- you know.
COATES: You mean literally. I think people need to understand.
DAVIDSON: Yes.
COATES: You -- as a baby, you were abandoned in the trash.
DAVIDSON: Yes. And my mom, who raised me, and my dad, who raised me partially, were teachers at Colorado State, right? So, they decided, we're going to do something. They went to a little small town in Greenville, Mississippi to immunize children and to get involved with the voting. But that didn't go too good.
(LAUGHTER)
It was kind of like now. And so, they had met my natural mom. And she was doing voting drives. She was hip and young. They became friends for a short time. And they left. But they were going through that town, going somewhere else a couple of years later, and asked about her. They said, she took her kids and left. But I think she left her youngest baby at that house. And she found the house because she knows it.
COATES: Yes.
DAVIDSON: So, she goes in the house. There were teenagers in there, you know, using drugs and drinking. It was a dilapidated house.
COATES: Yes.
DAVIDSON: So, she was walking out, and she said, something told me to look under this tire that was on top of this pile of trash. And when she moved the tire, she said she saw my foot. And she moved the trash out of the way, and there I was. I was unconscious, dirty, didn't know how long I'd been there. And she said I had a t-shirt on that said, I will be the president of the United States in 2-0, and the rest was ripped.
COATES: Wow.
DAVIDSON: So, they took me from that, took me to the hospital. It was 60 days or whatever. I lived.
COATES: You know, a lot of what you're saying is -- obviously, your delivery is comedic, but it is particularly insightful and resonates today, all these years later. Many people look at you, and they see your entire repertoire, right? I mean, man, is it brilliant. I love that you're here, love all your work. But the common thread is that you make people laugh and think. I can't help but think that everything, that foundational years and that observation is what dictates, even to this day, helping the world hold a mirror to itself.
DAVIDSON: Yes, because I was really a happy kid. I just was like that.
COATES: That tells you a lot about how you look. But let me ask you. You mentioned the different stages. I mean, there has been -- you know, you do dynamite impersonations. When I first met you, we were talking. I was telling my kids, this is Tommy Davidson. I was giving the whole list of things. And until you did Oscar Proud, they were like, oh my God.
(SCREAMING)
Then they did the, oh my God, mommy, you know, Oscar Proud. I was like --
(SCREAMING)
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIDSON: He's always screaming. He's always hurt. You know what, mama, you should know.
COATES: But you can do it. You can turn off and on like this.
DAVIDSON: Yes.
COATES: From Sammy Davis, Jr. to the Michael Jackson stuff. I mean, "In Living Color," everything.
DAVIDSON: But I'm in D.C. So, hold on, I'm in D.C.
COATES: Go ahead.
DAVIDSON: First of all, you know, we're talking about "The Proud Family," we're talking about all these cartoons, we're talking about "In Living Color," we're talking about all these things that amalgamate to one human laugh.
(LAUGHTER)
And the thing I love about a former president-elect is that he can take something that isn't important and it sound presidentially important, like Kellogg's Frosted Flakes --
(LAUGHTER)
-- part of an essential breakfast, and they are great.
(LAUGHTER)
You know what I mean? So, you know, that was my ode --
COATES: And I get -- now, I'm thinking about -- honestly, I was thinking about the T-shirt you had on as a baby.
DAVIDSON: Yes. Yes, that's --
COATES: There's something powerful about those bookends, what you've just done, I have to tell you. By the way, I have named what you have done, but you are still doing.
DAVIDSON: Yes.
COATES: You've got some -- I mean, everyone remembers you.
DAVIDSON: Still going.
COATES: Tell me, you've got something on the horizon. Tell me about you as a talk show host. What am I hearing right now?
DAVIDSON: This is a hybrid, a hybrid television show.
[23:40:00]
So, me and Martin Lawrence come from this.
COATES: Name drop, but thank you. Go ahead. I mean, you know --
DAVIDSON: I got --
COATES: OK. There you go.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIDSON: Me, Martin, Jim, and Jamie were --
COATES: Yes. We know the list.
DAVIDSON: So, we got together on an idea. We left here, went out there, found our fame, worked hard for it. And really, it was kid from kid in place idea because we had done their video. In the 90s, it was a whole Black renaissance ain't nobody going to forget, right? And he called me and he said, you know what, man, on these late-night talk shows, there's not a lot of talent coming out there turning it out. And he said, why don't you call Martin and ask him to let you do that Varnell Hill character as a late-night talk show? So, I called Martin. He said, yes, that's funny, all right, all right, all right, let's do that, right? Seven years later, we did it.
COATES: Yes. "Martin?"
DAVIDSON: Yes. And what it is to me is it's a combination of "In Living Color," "Martin," and "The Arsenio Hall Show."
COATES: Sold. That's the trifecta.
DAVIDSON: Yes. It's a T.V. show about a late-night talk show. That's a late-night talk show. So, you get to see the whole day and what it goes through and this, that, and the other thing. But at the end of it, it's October London, you know? At the end of it, it's Kirk Franklin or whatever's happening. You know, it's also that, you know. We also have people coming in and out of there, Light (ph), EMC (ph), Jaleel White.
COATES: I'm sure Martin. Oh, Jaleel White.
DAVIDSON: Everybody is going to show up and do -- you know, so we're doing -- sketches are being done.
COATES: I love it.
DAVIDSON: But it's all part of the whole thing, you know?
COATES: I can't wait. I can't wait.
DAVIDSON: I can't wait.
COATES: But you also sing. I mean, Earth, Wind and Fire, you have worked with. I mean, you have -- you are a renaissance man. So, I'm going to pick your brain for a second if you can, all right?
DAVIDSON: OK.
COATES: Some things I often wonder about people because I really want to understand --
DAVIDSON: OK.
COATES: -- who people are. When was the time you decided to bet on yourself?
DAVIDSON: I never really did.
COATES: You don't think so?
DAVIDSON: No, no. I wouldn't be here if people bet on me. You know, I just -- I just got blessed by having a lot of people that love me. A lot. Reggie, OK, around my neighborhood. Seventies, muscles, perfect afro. Stacked heels always walked through the neighborhood and walked out. And I was like, where does he keep going? What's out there? But every time he would see me, ever since I was six, you know, he'd lean down and he'd say, hey, little Tommy, how you doing? I'm doing all right. He said, all right. OK. Good, man. Good. All right, little Tommy, talk to you. And gone, right?
Years and years and years later, I'm in front of a restaurant here in Maryland that's owned by a friend of mine. I'm out there with basketball players. I got the movies and the da-da-da. And a trash truck pulls up, and Reggie jumped out. He walked up to me just like that, like he did before. He said, hey, little Tommy, how you doing, man? I said, I'm doing good. He said, that's good, man. And right before he got in that door of the truck, he turned around and he said, I always knew you was going to be something. You see?
COATES: Did you always know you were going to be something?
DAVIDSON: Not until I was, you know.
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, you know, Miss Coleman, my math teacher, never gave up on me. You know, I still ain't no good at math, but she didn't give up. You know, I know that I'm more famous than my math teacher and less famous than Michael Jackson. So, I'm good.
COATES: Tommy Davidson, I'm so happy you came. Thank you.
We have so much more from my interview with Tommy Davidson. I'm going to post the full interview on my social media. Just follow @thelauracoates. You want to hear his comments on all the things that are impacting his life because so much of it is so poignant today. Check it out @thelauracoates. We'll be right back with my bingo card.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE COTTON, MANAGING EDITOR, TMZ DC: You live at the back of Mitch McConnell's house? SEN. THOM TILLIS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: There's actually a separate edifice if you see over here. It's a carriage house that he has rented out for years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: We're getting ready to kick off the weekend here in D.C. So, let's have some fun and show you my bingo card where I tell you what I saw coming this week and what I did not. Let's start with the first item on my card. Trump not assigning himself any of the blame, saying that all the frustration within the Republican Party, not his fault.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans, to be honest with you.
UNKNOWN: Why is that?
TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, they're angry at Republicans, but they're not angry at me.
UNKNOWN: That's an interesting thing. Why?
TRUMP: They're not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Also predictable, Trump formally of the big apple wanting a second bite at the apple. Yep, he's trying to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed yet again. I guess he forgot about the Supreme Court slapping that down already. But did I think we'd be talking about Thanksgiving in August and that it would be a major political headline this week? Nope. But Francesca Hong started some drama when she backtracked about whether the holidays should be canceled. So, here we are.
What about all these headlines this week about A.I. models going rogue, hacking into other companies, faking identities? Can't say I thought it would happen multiple times. Maybe we should have listened to Stanley Kubrick some, what, 60 years ago?
[23:50:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR DULLEA, ACTOR: Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
UNKNOWN: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COATES: Such a good movie. And speaking of space, did you hear about the SpaceX rocket crashing into the moon, traveling at more than 5,000 miles per hour? It is expected to leave a 65 to 90-foot crater. You know, put that one in the free space since it was expected to happen, but it still has the science world buzzing.
And let's stick with the space theme here because my space might be making a comeback, and that certainly caught me off guard, and it begs the question, who's asking for this? Maybe I should just add VHS tapes and floppy disks, which I probably have to my house already, to next week's bingo card.
You know what I did see coming, though? The latest Spider-Man movie smashing box office records in its first week. I mean, it just had the biggest opening weekend of all time in the United States. So, new rule of thumb for all of you: Never bet against this Hollywood power couple.
Now, I'll admit, nothing could have prepared me for this last one because amid all the drama this week over whether GOP Senator Thom Tillis would vote to confirm Todd Blanche, the last thing I would have had on my bingo card was who his landlord is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COTTON: Excuse me, Thom. Sorry to startle you. I'm from TMZ. You're just visiting Mitch?
TILLIS: No, I live here.
COTTON: Oh, you live here?
TILLIS: Yes.
COTTON: He just got discharged.
TILLIS: That's what's so funny about everybody talking about all the intrigue here. It's a Senate member who happens to live in a carriage house.
COTTON: You live at the back of Mitch McConnell's house?
TILLIS: There's actually a separate edifice if you see over here. It's a carriage house that he has rented out for years.
COTTON: So, the media who have thought that this was Mitch's house is actually your house?
TILLIS: That's why I've had so much fun. Everybody talking about the whole process.
COTTON: Oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: A separate edifice. OK, let's bring in the reporter who took that video, co-managing editor of TMZ DC, Charlie Cotton. OK, I have to ask you about that clip because people were staking out and trying to see if he'd come home and where he actually was. I mean, nobody realized that Senator Thom Tillis lived there, too?
COTTON: No. I mean, I was shocked when I see Thom Tillis sidling up to Mitch McConnell's house because, yes, I just got the notification like Mitch has sent out the email saying I've been released from the hospital, I'm recovering at home. And so, like, I make the sprint over to Mitch McConnell's house, and Thom Tillis is walking towards like the back of the property, and I'm like, he's going to visit Mitch, like this is a crazy shot, like he's going to visit Mitch who's just got home. And then, like, roll tape, it's actually his house.
And, like, over the past many weeks since Mitch has been, you know, in hospital and all, I've made a trip to that house to see if anything is going on. Like, I saw one guy taking in carpet samples, they were re- carpeting the floor and tiles, apparently, in Mitch McConnell's house.
COATES: Or Thom Tillis's house.
COTTON: Well, that's what I'm thinking now because, yes, I brought it to Thom Tillis. He's -- Mitch is his landlord. So, I was like yes, super surprised. It's an interesting scoop. I talked to Thom about it today. He's like, ah, I don't know. It's like, what were you doing? Mitch McConnell is like the biggest story in politics right now.
COATES: Right.
COTTON: And so, yes, he just happened to come in frame, and he gets it, he gets it for sure, that he's a part of this big story now. We laughed about it.
COATES: I have to say, I can see why you wouldn't want to tick off your landlord. It might increase the rent prices. They've got the whole story behind why we don't have more information about his condition. You're onto something there.
COTTON: Might take an extra day to come around and fix the toilet. So, you've got to play your cards right.
COATES: All right. We'll see. You also caught up with Senator Bernie Sanders this week. He had some very important business to talk to you about. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COTTON: How do you have fun, though? When you go home, what do you do to blow off steam?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, I've got some -- I have four wonderful grandchildren that I spend time with. I enjoy playing basketball with them and soccer with them. They're beating me now. That's a real problem.
(LAUGHTER)
COTTON: You still got a good jump shot?
SANDERS: I'm working on it. I don't think -- what do you think? I think I can make the NBA.
COTTON: Hey, not bad, not bad. Is that how you kind of stay fit and healthy, too?
SANDERS: Yes. I play a little bit of ball. I do a little bit of walking. I get around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: I love the holding of the wrist. It is pure. That was pretty good, I got to say. But it's important to have these moments of levity because, obviously, we want to see our members of Congress as real people. But it's also a time of such turmoil and problems that it must be good to have these connections.
COTTON: Yes. I mean, you hit the nail on the head. I want to see these people as real people. It's all well and good when they give these political interviews and everything.
[23:55:00]
And Bernie is great at that. Bernie is great at the pitch. You know, he is passionate about what he believes in. But who is Bernie? You know what I mean? I want to know who this man is. And so, he's kind of a tough nut to crack. You know, he wants to talk about what he wants to talk about. But I wanted to see him with fresh eyes as a person. And, you know, he bit on it. He did his little --
COATES: Hold the wrist. Got to hold the wrist.
COTTON: Got to hold the wrist.
COATES: Yes. That was the Bernie part of it.
COTTON: The Bernie. Yes. So, I mean, good on him for like, you know, being a little bit more vulnerable and just authentic. That's what TMZ DC is here to do, basically see the real side of politicians. They put on a mask, and they go out there, champion their causes. But learning about who they are is just so interesting because I think America wants to know who's running the country.
And people who watch TMZ aren't the ones who are watching CNN or Fox News necessarily. They're watching TMZ because maybe they're a different type of person or they want a different type of entertainment. And then we slide in all of this political content, which makes them know they're members of Congress, feel a little bit more politically-engaged. And so, since we've got here, it has been an amazing reception.
COATES: Yes. I mean, there's something to a candid moment that gives you -- I mean, you cannot get anywhere else.
(CROSSTALK) I see it.
COTTON: Yes.
COATES: Charlie Cotton, thank you so much.
COTTON: Laura Coates, thank you.
COATES: And thank you all for watching. Here comes Elex Michaelson with "The Story Is."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
