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Krystal Ball
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Krystal Ball
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Saagar Enjeti
Hey guys, Sagar and Krystal here.
Krystal Ball
Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show.
Saagar Enjeti
This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
Krystal Ball
So if that is something that's important to you. Please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member today and you'll get access to our full shows unedited ad free and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.
Saagar Enjeti
We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com turning now to Epstein and an update with a very significant story Ryan and Emily brought you all. Melinda Gates. Melinda Gates, response to some of the explosive allegations inside of the Epstein files. Remember that there is a specific memo which Epstein memorialized to himself in which he claimed that Bill Gates had passed on an STD to his wife Melinda and that he surreptitiously was trying to acquire. Require some antibiotics to slip her. She did not deny the allegation. Yeah, I mean, on its face, one of the most repulsive and disgusting things that a person could do. Allegedly, Gates has denied it. He has now denied it even more vociferously on camera. So here's his response to Melinda and to Jeffrey Epstein. Let's take a listen. To a lot of very rich people and he was saying he could get them to give money to Global Health. You know, in retrospect that was a dead end and I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him. You've no doubt seen the allegations, including some of them in the last 24 to 48 hours. Are they true? No, the. Apparently Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is, you know, false. So I don't know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me, you know, every minute I spent with him, I regret and I, you know, apologize that I did that. The problem is some of the things that he has sent and some of the information about other people that has come up in those files has been true. Why would he do this and say this about you? Do you think, you know, it's factually true that I was only at dinners, you know, I never went to the island, I never met any women.
Guest or Interviewee
And so, you know, the more that.
Saagar Enjeti
Comes out, the more clear it'll be that although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior. Nothing to do with that kind of behavior. Okay. You could take that for what you will. While meanwhile here in the United or. Sorry, meanwhile across the. Across the ocean in the UK there continues to be an explosive political scandal. It is amazing. You know, Emily has criticized me cuz she said the least American thing about me was my Love for the British system and it's true. You know what? I remain vindicated. I love the uk. I love the parliamentary democracy. I love the fact that their head of state is a king or a queen which is separated from it and that they have a raucous PM Qs where people get thrown about. They have a, they are press. I love them the way that they go after the British tabloids and the way they've been going after Keir Starmer.
Krystal Ball
Which is particularly impressive given that they don't have the same like freedom of speech right now that we allegedly have.
Saagar Enjeti
They can get sued at any time. The government can literally come in and censor them at any time that they want. They have an anti fragile system. They ditch their prime ministers all their time. When the Prime Minister loses the election, they fuck off into nowhere. You literally never hear of them again. They elect new leaders. They have a completely different head of state from the head of government. They constantly are like reshuffling inside and rethinking different ideas. And their British tabloids are ruthless on their politicians. They have no expectation of grace. I'm sure they have many of their own problems and the UK people are shaking their head at me, but from afar it's pretty amazing.
Krystal Ball
I think the UK people probably prefer their system to our system. They probably, as much as they see.
Saagar Enjeti
The issues probably do. I love the city of London. You never smell any weed. It's an awesome place. You go to a great big city, great big architecture and there's not a scent of marijuana that is in the air. But with all of that said, what I have loved the most is you have these Epstein files which get released and then what happens? A full blown crisis for the government because the Prime Minister appointed a close Epstein associate, Lord Mandelson, as the ambassador to the United States. Photos come out which are damning, disgusting. But even better is now you get insider trading allegations. What immediately happens? Scotland Yard opens an investigation. The Prime Minister takes to the House of Commons and is ruthlessly pressed by the opposition and forced to answer questions about this. It remains a top story in the United Kingdom today. Poly market traders are betting as of morning that Keir Starmer himself could be out sometime soon. This is a real scandal. This is what a system which is responsive to information, believes in consequences actually looks like. So here's Keir Starmer being pressed in the House of Commons specifically about the relationship with Mandelson. Whether he knew anything about Epstein and Mandelson's connections before he was appointed here as ambassador. Here's what he had to say. Can the Prime Minister tell us did the official security vetting he received mention Mandelson's ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein? Prime Minister yes, it did. As a result, various questions were put to him. I intend to disclose to this House all of the national security prejudice to international relations on one side. I want to make sure that. I want to make sure this house sees the full documentation so it will see for itself the extent to which. The extent to which time and time again Mandelson completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein and lied throughout the process, including in response to the due diligence he has to admit. I knew about his relationship with Epstein before I appointed him. And like I said, Mandelson, he's in trouble. Not just criminal trouble. They might strip him of his titles. There's talking about using some law from 1783. I mean their system is going full on. Meanwhile, over here right now, the only people who have paid any price for the Epstein files from my count, number one is Larry Summers who might be the most high profile person. Number two is Peter Attia may lose his CBS News game. May still hasn't been announced. And three, the head of a law firm who sent some emails as of this morning has been replaced.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, that's it.
Saagar Enjeti
So none of the billionaires paying a price, none of the politicians paying a price, nothing.
Krystal Ball
And no over there, anything.
Saagar Enjeti
Oh yeah, criminal, forget about it. But over there, oh my God. I mean it's a full on investigation, accountability. Prince Andrew's getting his ass kicked out of the Royal Apartments or sorry, Andrew Windsor I think is his name now because he's been stripped. Apparently they sent him in Norfolk, the people over there, like we don't even really want him here. You know, it's a full on shunning. Like it's a real system which is having consequences for the people there. It's amazing to watch. Like what a western country. We speak all the same language. How they are completely acting in a different way than we are. Meanwhile, our DOJ officials are going on television and saying actually it's not a crime to party with Jeffrey Epstein. Not a joke. Todd Blanche, the deputy Attorney General said that on Fox News just the other day. Let's take a listen. Is there any chance that any of these individuals who partied with Epstein and engaged in, you know, relations with minors will be prosecuted? Any chance we. I'll never say no and we will always investigate any evidence of misconduct. But as you know it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. And so as horrible as it's not a crime to email with Mr. Epstein, and some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But it's also the kind of thing that, that the American people need to understand that it isn't a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. It isn't a crime to have a party. It looks like that's all that was going on in some of those photos. I mean, if the photos could speak, some of them look pretty bad. Why does he have to say it twice? That it isn't a crime to party with Epstein also in some cases actually might be a crime party with Epstein. But at the very least, and this is the thing about public officials, because over there, they removed him, Mandelson, from his post as ambassador way before the criminality, potential criminality of being for insider trading was revealed. They were like, no, you can't be doing this. You can't be sending emails to Epstein being like, my dearest lovely friend, what's happened to you is an injustice for them. They're like, we can't have this man as our ambassador. And yet over here you've got all these politicians, all of these high level people, you've got fricking commerce Secretary who literally lied on camera about his relationship with Epstein. Where is he? Nothing. Nobody's even calling for him to resign.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, that's right.
Saagar Enjeti
At least with Acosta we got him out of here.
Krystal Ball
And there's like no either even expectation. No, I know that that would happen. I mean, I don't think the public has. The public has just been cond condition to expect that there's going to be complete elite impunity. And it truly like that elite impunity, which starts long ago with the financial crisis, with the Iraq war. No accountability for the lies that are sold to the American people. The crashing of the entire economy. This is one of the reasons why the country is falling apart. This is a key reason. And so now is a perfect example. Caught dead to rights, lying about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. We played the clip of him. Oh, my wife and I, the moment we met, we were so horrified. We swore then and there we would never have anything to do with this man who was my next door neighbor. And then fast forward, we get the emails, hey, me and my wife, we're gonna come down to the island, like let's make our plans, et cetera, et cetera, just brazen lies. And not even just the uk. So in Slovakia, there's like a national security advisor who's had to resign.
Saagar Enjeti
I saw that he resigned too, because.
Krystal Ball
Of his Epstein affiliation. So it is possible to have a society that continues to have some level of shame and consequences, but clearly we don't have that. I wanted to just mention with regard to the head of that law firm. Was it Paul Weiss, I think is the name of the law. It's one of these really significant large scale white shoe law firms, blah, blah, blah. And it also happens to be the first, one of. The first, if not the first, that capitulated to Trump's demands early on. Remember that when he first came in and all these law firms, oh, sure, we'll do your bidding and yeah, we'll do what you want and we'll do whatever pro bono work we want, et cetera, et cetera. Which caused a mass resignation of a bunch of their more junior associates and also a fall off in the elite applicants to that firm. Well, that guy was the leader of that firm. That was the first one to capitulate to Trump, which again, like, is that because he knows he's got this relationship with Epstein that surely the government knows about and surely Trump would know about and feels very much vulnerable and susceptible to what may come out. And so I think in a lot of instances with Trump, it's convenient for him to have a bunch of people around him who are compromised in similar ways to the way that he's compromised, because not only can he be influenced by people who have inside knowledge of whatever he was up to with Epstein, but he also has that inside knowledge that he can deploy and use as a cudgel and use as another little way to have additional power over the people in his administration. So it's not an accident that you have so many Epstein associates in this administration, both because all elite networks are just apparently shot through with these people, but also specifically because I think Trump likes having Epstein associates around him that he knows of because that gives him an additional lever to use against them and additional power over them.
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's just, it's so sick watching these people with impunity. Also, again, just a memo to the US Press. We're allowed to discuss Israel and Epstein. We're allowed to do that. You know why? Cuz they discuss it in Israel. Put this up here. I love this. Again, you won't find a scrap of this on cnn. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is tweeting about Epstein's relationship with Ehud Barak saying an amazing revelation about Ehud Barak that was exposed in his pedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein. Ehud Barak suggests carrying out selection among Jews and importing to Israel the right kind of Jews, those who are neither Mizrahi nor right wing. When the left and its Messiah, Ehud Barak, failed to win at the ballot box, they tried to replace the people. If that's not enough, they can always rely on Bennett and Lapid's Brotherhood of Brothers to team up once again with the Muslim Brotherhood. So the Prime Minister of Israel is acknowledging the relationship of Ehud Barak and of Jeffrey Epstein, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who, by the way, Epstein set up a meeting for Netanyahu with JP Morgan. So it's not like his own hands are dirty. If he can acknowledge that, how come we can't? Right now, our Western press is obsessed with the KGB connection. And as Ryan has pointed out, guys, he really only made connections with the Russians on behalf of the Israelis, just so we're all very clear about that. But it's amazing, you know, every other country in the world, they seem to be taking it a little bit more seriously over here. It's just, you know, it's fun to talk about, I guess, and to cover for as YouTubers, and that's great, but it would be a lot better if it were to be happening, I don't know, maybe at the highest level, but there's none of that.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, none of that at all. That it's worth just dwelling for a moment on the clip that Netanyahu is talking about there. And just to understand a little bit of the internal Israeli politics Netanyahu and Ehud Barak rivals. Barak is seen as more liberal. I think from his stances, I don't think he should qualify as liberal in any sense. But in any case, they have different coalitions within Israel. And in this recording, I'm not gonna play the whole thing for, but he was telling Epstein and Larry Summers that he told Putin he wanted a million Russians to convert to Judaism and to become Israeli. And he said, exactly as Netanyahu represents here. He says, you know, in the past, we didn't have the luxury of being. So we had to take some of these people from North Africa. But now we could be more choosy and we could take, you know, we could get better Jews to convert and become Israeli. Which just shows you how deeply racist this country is, and not only against non Jews, but even within various types, various ethnic backgrounds of Jewry within the state. And you can see that in terms of the Poverty levels and the treatment of people. That is abundantly clear from society. But he just says it absolutely outright to Jeffrey Epstein about his ranking of what the ethnic background and makeup of the proper more elite Jew should ultimately be. And it's just. I mean, it's just, again, so racist, so disgusting. And this is deeply embedded in the leadership thinking in the state of Israel.
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's sick. All right, let's go next. Just a couple more that we wanted to show. D5, please. Can we put that up there on the screen from the Israeli press, who apparently, again, you know, able to do a job that we can't do. Over here. Pro Trump billionaire on the Gaza peace board linked to Jeffrey Epstein and newly released DOJ files. Mark Rowan, who the president appointed to his board of peace tasked with reconstructing Gaza, maintained close, real connections with Jeffrey Epstein. Release documents from the Department of Justice show. Just to show everybody some of that. And then finally.
Krystal Ball
Hold on, I gotta. There's one other piece of this one that you will also enjoy. So not only is he on this board of peace. Right. In addition, he was spearheading the university crackdown and like the speech codes, the pro Zionist speech codes that are being imposed on various American universities. And do you know where he first made the case for this approach saga?
Saagar Enjeti
Got it. Free Press.
Krystal Ball
Free Press. Barry Weiss is Free Press, which he probably fonzed. Ding, ding, ding. So. And then he went on to make the case for it, New York Times or whatever, but that's who this guy is. Not only is he on the board of Peace, but that's. He's been busy cracking down on free speech and First Amendment here, you know, to the state of Israel.
Saagar Enjeti
Oh, timing. Rowan from Apollo. Okay. Yeah, Mark Rowan, he's the guy. Remember Apollo? That was Leon Black's company.
Krystal Ball
Yes, exactly. Yeah. So he. Doesn't he replace Leon Black when Leon Black gets pushed out over his Epstein ties? That's right. And now, lo and behold, we now.
Saagar Enjeti
It's all clicking. It's all clicking for me. All right, here we go.
Krystal Ball
Incredible.
Saagar Enjeti
All right, last one. D6 up here on the screen. Crystal. You found this one. Maybe you can explain it. It was about the executor of Epstein's estate and the connection with the party at Palm Beach.
Krystal Ball
Yeah. So this is just. Raises questions about Trump, of course, is always maintained. Oh, I cut off contact with him. When does he say? Like 2005 or something like that. And they had some dispute involved Virginia Gifret also involved a real estate deal. And they had some sort of falling out. Well, here you have an email from Jeffrey Epstein to, yes, the executor of his estate, who he was very close with and you know, all of the, like financial details of his life basically shared with this guy. And he says to him in December of 2016, so weeks before Trump is inaugurated into the White House for the first time, he says, on the 4th, I'm in Palm beach with all the Trump boys. Fun. There are some other indications in the emails that perhaps he still was very much in contact with the Trump family, if not Donald Trump himself, leading right up to his inauguration. And then of course, we know he carried on this very long friendship and deep friendship, apparently with Steve Bannon, who was very influential in the Trump administration, especially the first Trump administration. I mean, he served actually in the government to begin with before getting kicked down over a whole thing, that is. Yeah, whatever. Anyway, so he saw and he, in the emails after Trump gets elected, he talks about how much opportunity he's gonna have now with Trump in the White House and how happy he is that he's there. So that's why this one is very significant, is because it seems to indicate that if he's telling the truth here, that he was hanging out with probably Don Jr. And Eric here weeks before Trump is inaugurated back in 2017.
Saagar Enjeti
Yep, we'll continue to see. All right, let's get to the defenders. We're going to enjoy this one.
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Krystal Ball
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Saagar Enjeti
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Krystal Ball
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Krystal Ball
All right, so the Epstein files have become a little uncomfortable for a lot of people, especially people on the right, predominantly, who thought that this was all gonna be about just about Bill Gates or just about Democrats and all. Lo and behold, Donald Trump was, you know, very close with Epstein for a lot of years. He's all over this. A bunch of people in his administration is all over Elon Musk, etceter. So they've had to spin up a number of coping mechanisms to deal with the information that is being revealed in the Epstein files. And there have been a variety of strategies we wanted to lay out for you here. Chief among them, first and foremost, we've got Batya Ungar Sargon, who is always there when needed to defend some Trump insanity. Let's go ahead and take a listen to this. I'm just. Okay. I just. I really agree with the President. I think that most Americans just do not care about this. This has been an obsession of elites on the right and now elites on the left. Elites on the right were obsessed with it when they thought they could use it to hurt leftists, and now the left is obsessed with it because they think they can use it to hurt the right.
Saagar Enjeti
How do we know that until we have the evidence?
Krystal Ball
So far, there has been no evidence of that. I'm looking through all of the documents, and so far there is still no evidence. I'm open to me. I just. I just feel like it's like the obsession. I mean, bringing the Clintons in, it's ridiculous, but it is ridiculous. You just said you agree with Donald Trump.
Saagar Enjeti
You just said you agree with Donald Trump.
Krystal Ball
I think it's time to move on.
Saagar Enjeti
And I think it's. I think it's interesting you want to move on from this, but not from ballots in Fulton county from six years ago.
Krystal Ball
And I will say that I am not interested in that story at all. This is one of the more preposterous defenses. I've actually seen Sagre, that this is a fixation of elite. Are you kidding me?
Saagar Enjeti
No, it's actually the opposite.
Krystal Ball
It's the total. It's up is down, left is right. This is the total opposite of that. We've had to drag the elites kicking and screaming to even acknowledge that any of this exists. I mean, not to be too harsh, but Ezra Klein just months ago was saying, well, I think he was a pedophile, and I think he was also very well connected. I think those two things were totally separate.
Saagar Enjeti
That's not harsh, it's just true. All these people thought that we were. How many? Okay, I've been covering this story with you seven years. All right? For years, Epstein and UFOs were linked together. They're like, dude, why do you cover this shit? They're like, is it just.
Krystal Ball
And like QAnon or other?
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, they're like, oh, you're just playing, you know, And I. And I would always say, like, guys, I think there's something there. I'm not gonna stop. I still think it with UFOs, but we can put that to the side. My point is just around. For years, it's actually been the people. So, like, if I go out into the street and if somebody's gonna say that they appreciate the show, I would say probably a good half are gonna talk about Epstein. Like, a good half are gonna talk about that. And we're talking about Uber drivers and hotel clerks or bus boys. It's not. The people in Washington. In fact, the people in Washington thought I was a kook for the last seven years for caring about said story. Yes, it is quite literally the opposite. Also, her claim that there's no other crimes in there is blatantly untrue, as we can already see from what just happened in the uk, where there's a literal insider trading investigation. That's just one for the record. A high profile insider trading one which involves the senior most cabinet officials of the fucking. One of the biggest economies in the world. That happens to just be one other crime in there, correct? Just saying.
Krystal Ball
Yes. And listen for Bhatia when she can. She likes to defend Trump, although I will say she will criticize him at times. But you Also look, the Israel connections here, if you're being honest, are just undeniable in these files. And to the point about who is interested in covering the story and who is not. Media, legacy media still won't touch that angle with a ten foot pole. So, you know, that's. And that's. She's very defensive of the state of Israel. And so I think that's the other part of her motivation for why she wants to say there's nothing to see here. All of you just have this elite fixation. It's the polar opposite of the truth. Elites hate this story because it offends. Like the true elites that really do have all of the sway here in the US and around the world doing these deals with each other and always looking out for one another and their own financial interests at the expense of everybody else. Of course they hate this story. They hate that this was revealed. They fought against it tooth and nail and it was the disgust and contempt of the population that forced even this little bit of transparency. So just utterly, utterly preposterous. We also had another incredible moment, this one from Jasmine Crockett, who was put in the position of defending Stacy Plaskett, who is the representative for the Virgin Islands, who is the only known congressional representative to have actually visited Epstein's Island. Not to mention she also was caught red handed texting with Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing and asking him what questions she should ask when it was her turn to query, you know, to question a witness. Let's go ahead and take a listen. This is E2, so let's go and take a listen to that. Stacey didn't initiate that chain. Jeffrey initiated that chain and she took the information. Just like if somebody texts me. Yeah, but she was responding and saying, you know, what are you talking about? Quick, I'm up next. And her questions were about Rona, but do you think that was inappropriate? I mean, would you text with someone who is a registered sex offender about.
Saagar Enjeti
What you should ask?
Krystal Ball
I honestly know that he had never been convicted of any federal crimes at that time, but he had been in jail already. He had been dealing with. And my deal is this. The Republicans are constantly texting with a 34 count convicted felon. So if it's okay for them to text him at any point in time, then I'm not gonna say that that's right or wrong. Especially to the extent that you're talking about kicking someone off their committee. Were they talking? Were they sexting? Was it a matter of her being involved in the pedophilia no. And this is where, I mean, it gives the Republicans a lot of COVID because, I mean, they can make the case. Look at this. They're like, yeah, you only care because from a partisan, like, standpoint, and it's true for most of these people, they didn't care until they realized, like, the light bulb went off, like, oh, Trump was friends with this guy for a long time. And, you know, Bill Clinton's kind of passes prime, like, whatever. If he takes some strays, we can deal with it. So here she is acting in a purely partisan manner, just throwing out the what about ism. Well, what about what they do? What about what they do? Well, you know, if you want to be principled, you have to apply that across the board. And unfortunately, very few politicians willing to.
Saagar Enjeti
Do that, of course. And then even people who may have called for the Epstein files release in the past now be coming out and saying, actually they shouldn't be. Let's put E6. This is a personal favorite up here. Katie Miller, the wife of Stephen Miller, says that the Epstein files is a Democratic hoax perpetuated on the American people. Why didn't Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, or Bill Gates push for Epstein's arrest or prosecutions by their friends during the Obama or Biden years? In President Trump's first term, Epstein was arrested and jailed. In his second, he's released the file. It's curious. Why didn't these Democrats want justice before Retweet by Elon, who himself was a major pusher of the Epstein files until it ended up being a bit of a rebound for him himself. So it's just, you know, again, it's ridiculous. A Democratic hoax. This is pure Trump language you created. If anything, it's a hoax that you and the people around you said you were gonna do something about it immediately. That's the actual hoax.
Krystal Ball
Just so we're all well. And Elon, I mean, not only did he push for the files to be released, not only, remember, he said, look, I'm gonna drop the real bombshell. Trump is in the files, which obviously is true. He just didn't mention he's also in the files. I mean, up until five seconds ago, he was saying, there is no one who wants accountability for Jeffrey Epstein's crime more than me. There's no one who's been more steadfast in wanting these files released than myself. And now to come out and retweet Katie Miller being like, oh, it's all a Democrat hoax. And I don't know why you people care about this Anyway, is just. I mean, it's just absolutely incredible. They just have no shame. These people have zero shame. Let's put E4 up on the screen here. This is an incredible one. This is from Chris Ruffo, and I've seen this line of argument pretty frequently online. So you've got Meghan McCain who says, is every conspiracy theory real? And Chris Ruffo says, no. The Epstein files demonstrate that the most florid conspiracy theories were wrong and that Epstein's evil was a banal philistinism and hedonism rather than something out of a spy novel. He used insecure rich people to legitimate his desires rather than to rule the world. Sagar, having delved into these emails, not just this release, but the previous releases as well, my reaction is the polar opposite of this. My reaction has been, wow, you know, when I talked about, like, the deep state and the control of these capitalists globally and, like, the influences, I really thought of it in a little bit of a more amorphous way. Then when you see, I mean, there's another email that just came out about, you know, how he was plotting to loot Libya. And this was before we went in and took out Gaddafi and whatever. And he's there. They have all these mineral resources. Here's what we could do. Here's how we could get our taste. The deals that he helped, the connections he helped make with EHU Barak and various security companies. I mean, all of these in all the different countries that he apparently had sway and inside information into. I'm like, wow, it's incredible how much power this unelected pedophile had in the world. And not just him, right? He's part of. He's one spoke in the network. So my reaction has been the polar opposite of this, of like, oh, my God, like the worst, most egregious version of my understanding of how the world works was not even far enough to how it actually runs and how this whole thing actually operates.
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's willful blindness. It's one which the right has broadly embraced because they don't want to grapple with the Israel connection. You cannot look at the Mossad, at the Ehud Barak, at all of the different things that Dropside and others have unveiled about various security agreements and say that this was not a very powerful actor who was working on behalf of multiple foreign governments. Take a look at the one that I released about that email to a KGB or, sorry, FSB Academy graduate. Whenever he's asking for somebody to help him deal with a woman who's blackmailing powerful individuals. Go ahead and take a look at multiple of the business deals involving Assad, Libya, you know, multiple of these other foreign governments powers, Putin as well. You know, Cote d' Ivoire was another one. Cote d', Ivoire, I mean there's, you know, we can go on Somaliland. Remember, ordinary Philistines are not involving themselves in business deals with Somaliland, period. End of story. This is not to even mention all of the arms trafficking allegations from his start and Iran Contra, which birthed the very person who eventually steals all this money, maybe willingly from Leslie Wexner and all these other people, which launches the empire that we begin to know. So, yeah, it's just, look, they need this to be true because it absolves Israel foreign state and also because it absolves like the general like elite network, in my opinion, which supports, you know, a lot of not just this, but a lot of the politics and other things that they like. And it's very basic grappling with that basically requires a restructuring and replacement of the entire American elite, which is very inconvenient for a lot of people and.
Krystal Ball
Which I support, no doubt about it. And just last piece here, just to remind you, like the type of things that they're hand waving away, no big deal, nothing to see here. The other argument from Claire Lehman and Matt Taipei. Oh, this is boring. I'm not even interested in this. It's like, you've got to be kidding me. What is boring? I mean, first of all, this is not meant for your entertainment, by the way. Number two, getting a little bit of a glimpse into the way elite money, power and sex, the interplay of all of those things and the way they use all of those things to, you know, put pressure on various people and to effectuate certain outcomes, all in their benefit. Like, what could be more important possibly to understand. But in any case, there's also just the disgusting horrific crime that clearly were occurring here and that you also get a glimpse of in these emails. I mean, the number of utterly repulsive and disgusting things that I've seen reading through these things is astonishing. Put E1C up on the screen here. You can see one of these emails. So here you have someone emailing Jeffrey Epstein and saying, thank you for a fun night. Your littlest girl was a little naughty. And Epstein replies, great. Put the next one E1D. Put this one up on the screen. So you've got. This is like a French diplomat, Olivier Colombe, who Epstein is emailing with. And Epstein says to him, I'M on my island in the Caribbean with an aquarium full of girls and this guy says the king of Saudi Arabia has a few white sharks at his Jeddah Palace. I totally prefer yours. Sure, I would enjoy the view. Epstein says, as two are Russian, I guess some might refer to them as white sharks. He replies. Olivia Colomb replies, as long as you don't have any hammerhead ones. I like white sharks. And Epstein finishes by saying, no, some are like shrimp. You throw away the head and keep the body. Just utterly disgusting. And these exchanges are, you know, this is commonplace.
Saagar Enjeti
A dime a dozen. Yeah.
Krystal Ball
In these emails, these type of exchanges. And I think that was what was also so shocking about the birthday book, is it wasn't like there were one or two that were a little risque and Trump's fit right in with the mix with this naked body. And every day is a beautiful secret. And what's the secret to longevity or whatever the hell he was saying? I mean, this bizarre and disturbing Eyes Wide Shut shit, that was the whole thing. Everyone was writing him like that. Practically everyone in that book was writing to him some eerie, bizarre, disturbing thing. So everyone knew, everyone understood. There was another one. Who was it? Oh, it was Atia that emailed him. You know, the crazy thing about knowing you is that your lifestyle is so wild and I can't tell a soul. Yeah, so good. That's what you're defending. That's what you're hand waving away. Nothing to see here. This is boring. There are no crimes here, nothing to look into. I don't understand why you care about this. And it's an elite fixation. You've got to be kidding me.
Saagar Enjeti
Yep, that's right. All right, let's get to elections.
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Saagar Enjeti
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Krystal Ball
Got a little update for you guys on whether or not we're gonna like, have free and fair elections or anything even approximating that. So we covered before Trump making the comments that he thought that Republicans shouldn't nationalize and take over the elections. He was asked about that and he doubled down. Let's take a listen. What exactly did you mean when you said that you should nationalize elections? In which 15 states are you talking?
Guest or Interviewee
I want to see elections. Be honest. And if a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it. Because, you know, if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections. I don't know why the federal government doesn't do them any anyway, but when you see some of these states about how horribly they run their elections, what a disgrace it is. I think the federal government, when you see crooked elections, and we had plenty of them, and by the way, we had them last time. But go to 2020 and look at the facts that are coming out. Rigged crooked elections. If we have areas, take a look at Detroit, take a look at Pennsylvania, take a look at Philadelphia. You go take a look at Atlanta. Look at some of the places that horrible corruption on elections and the federal government should not allow that. The federal Government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take.
Krystal Ball
Over states that administer elections.
Guest or Interviewee
Mr. President, you know what? They can administer the election, but they have to do it honestly.
Krystal Ball
So he says there again, they should have a federalizing of the elections, nationalize the elections, take over the elections. This comes on the heels of his former advisor, Steve Bannon, who still runs a very influential podcast, talking about how they're gonna have ICE agents surround the polling places. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that.
Guest or Interviewee
We're gonna have ICE surround the polls come November. We're not gonna sit here and allow.
Saagar Enjeti
You to steal the country again.
Guest or Interviewee
And you can whine and cry and.
Saagar Enjeti
Throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.
Krystal Ball
So this is what a lot of people left of center have been concerned about, is that the ICE budget, which is extraordinary, and the number of agents that have been brought in and are continuing to be recruited and brought in, could be deployed in this manner as an intimidation tactic. And, I mean, you can easily understand how this works, especially with how much they've been willing to harass people regardless. It's not any sort of targeted enforcement, just based on their skin color, based on whether they have an accent or not. So here is Steve Bannon openly floating. Hey, let's have all of these ICE agents go and surround the polling places in November. And then you have the president himself floating some pretty wild things.
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, I mean, I'm not to cope. Bannon enjoys being the vanguard of third termism, of being the person, as I understand. And again, this is just an explanation from Bannon or Bannon around what the way they do. You cling to Trump on some of the most insane stuff so that you can criticize. Remember when he would criticize Elon and he called him Elmo and he would go after him, or consistently, actually, if you watch the Bannon show, they'll attack economic policy, even immigration enforcement more recently, all of these other things. But you have to give Trump or the White House something that he can show you. And so. So with the election, I mean, remember, with the election. Stop the steal. They were all in, always have been, from the very beginning. They were all in on third term. He continues to talk about how President Trump's gonna get a third term. Stolen election from 2020. And as we've said, like, what we're gonna get to with Tulsi, this is the quickest and easiest way for resuscitating your reputation. Just the other day, Trump, not even three days ago, Trump posted a photo of Peter Navarro and of Steve Bannon, two men who literally went to prison for Trump. And so Trump will never abandon them because of stuff like this. Again, not to cope, because I'm not saying that it's not going to happen. F2, can we put this up here on the screen? But one at least decent thing now so far is what they're saying is while Trump repeats call to nationalized election, White House walks it back. They're saying Trump was referring to the SAVE act, which was. It's a piece of legislation that, which Republicans have been trying to. Trying to pass through, which requires proof of citizenship whenever you have to vote. They actually didn't even ask to be added to the government funding bill, which a lot of Republicans wanted it to be. So if he was actually calling for it, he would have pushed for that to be part of that. And he didn't. So it's not like he actually was talking about it, but just putting and demonstrating how in this one, it is his wildest fantasy he would do it if he could. So we cannot rule it out whatsoever, considering the way way that the White House is there. But there doesn't seem to be some operation or plan or any of that. However, people should still be upset, concerned. And if there is more stuff, especially I would say the Tulsi Gabbard stuff worries me the most, more than anything.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, I was.
Saagar Enjeti
That's the one where I'm like, this is some crazy ass shit.
Krystal Ball
I was gonna say there clearly is some level of plan because you have not only you have the Tulsi Gabbard, you know, the rating of the Fulton county election headquarters. We can go ahead and put up on the screen F5, you have Tulsi going to Puerto Rico and investigating voting machines for some supposed tie to Venezuela, which then again ties back to the fact that they've got Maduro in custody. And the concept has been floated and I think it's increasingly plausible that they'll strike a plea deal with Maduro in exchange for him saying, yeah, we totally rigged the elections in 2020 for Joe Biden, sir. And I mean, he'll say it to get out of prison. I mean, I don't have any doubt about that. And Trump will accept it and they'll be to spin these conspiracies. And critically, it's not just about like. And then Trump gets to say he was right about 2020 use that as a pretext to say that's why you can't trust Fulton County. That's why you can't trust Philadelphia. That's why you can't trust Detroit. That's why we have to take over the election. That's why we have to send in our ICE agents or whoever to surround the voting places and make sure it's all free and fair. It would be a pretext to take all of the action that they are putting out as trial balloons right now. And so I don't think what you're saying about Bannon is cope. I don't think his motivations for it just to stay on Trump's good side. I don't think that has anything to do with whether or not these are like, real things that are being floated and ideas that Trump is enthusiastic about are certainly susceptible to. So Tulsi, who again is the Director of National Intelligence and all of these things that she's doing. And by the way, there's some whistleblower thing about her, God knows what that says and whether they that also gives them again, more leverage over her to get her to go out and do the dirtiest dirty work that this administration needs done. That's another important thing to keep in the background. You mentioned the Bannon being at the forefront of the Trump 2028 third term push. Well, Trump, we're going back to F1B now, guys. Trump got asked also in the interview, we played a few clips from that NBC News one about whether or not he would rule out a third term. And of course he wouldn't. So let's take a listen.
Saagar Enjeti
That on January 21, 2029, do you see any scenario where you are still president?
Guest or Interviewee
I don't know. It would be interesting, but wouldn't it be terrible if I agreed with, you know, if I gave you the answer that you're looking for, it would make life so much less exciting, right? It would be so much less exciting. But I only do this for one reason, make America great again. And that's what we're doing. We're making America great again. Greater than ever before. Our country is great than ever before.
Krystal Ball
Actually, Mr. President, I think a lot of us would enjoy it quite a bit more if you would just, you know, actually answer that question straightforwardly. So.
Saagar Enjeti
Well, he wants the freak out. He likes the media. He thinks it's funny. I mean, that's where what I find interesting is that many of the stuff which used to go viral, Trump trolling the media, it doesn't hit the same anymore. I can't explain why I'm telling you as somebody who I'll never forget when Trump called CNN fake news, Jim Acosta, it was electric. Loved it. Now I'm just like, I don't. You know, it's something about it.
Krystal Ball
I might feel the same thing, too. I'm not entertained by movie.
Saagar Enjeti
It's been 10 years, man.
Krystal Ball
I'm fucking funny to be a movie. I'm just sick of you.
Saagar Enjeti
I actually might be Exactly. Almost 10. It might be more than 10 years, because that was 2016, right after he'd been elected. At that time, it was extraordinary. That was when the term fake news got coined. Now it's been 10 years. It's just not funny. It doesn't seem funny. The reality of the situation just seems much more depressing. It's like, hey, man, you know, we. Because of ice, we kicked a whole block about housing, and it's like there was an entire block we had prepared to do where Trump is like, I actually want housing prices to be higher. It's like, no, man. Like, it's. We're living in a different universe now. Like, it's like we're. We're worried about 6, 6% interest rates, which you allegedly are, too. But not much is happening, you know, with any of that. We're talking about high inflation. We're talking about, it's been 10 years, you know, literally have a child now, and I'm gonna get my Trump buck from my Trump account. But it's like, what is that gonna be used for? Is it even gonna be worth anything 18 years from now? Like, these are the worries on my mind, at least. And I'm sure there's a lot of other people who feel that way, too. The humor in it, it doesn't hit in the same way.
Krystal Ball
We're gonna try to get to that housing block tomorrow, by the way, in the Friday show, so we'll see if we can get to that. It's gonna be a rare, super, super commie takeover tomorrow, by the way. It's gonna be me and Ryan and Max. So prepare yourself for that. Wear your Che Guevara shirts and be ready for a good time. In any case, one more for you to your point, Sagar, about. I mean, just like, everyone knows this is near and dear to Trump's heart. This is like the loyalty test everyone coming to the administration had to go along with the idea 2020 was rigged and stolen, blah, blah, blah. And like I said before, this isn't just about the past. This is about using these claims that 2020 was rigged as an excuse to take over or intimidate or whatever with regard to the midterm elections. And and so not only you have this Tulsi, Fulton County, Puerto Rico, Venezuela situation, you also they have sued something like 20 some states to get their voter rolls. They tried to pressure Minnesota with the federal agents to seize their voter rolls as well. So they are workshopping some things. I don't know how fully fleshed out the plan is, but clearly they're throwing some things at the wall right now. In any case, Mike Johnson was asked about Trump, Trump calling for Republicans to nationalize the elections. And he is right on message with exactly where Trump would want him to be. Let's take a listen to that.
Saagar Enjeti
What you're hearing from the president is his frustration about the lack of some of the blue states, frankly, of enforcing these things and making sure that they are free and fair elections. We need constant improvement on that front. I don't know what the ultimate solution is going to be. I'm not going to get ahead of the negotiations here, but I think that is something that's going to be a continuing theme here. Here. It's something that we'll continue to push and we hope the governors will insist upon that same thing as well. In some of the states, like in California, for example, I mean, they hold the elections open for weeks after election day. That's just one thing that bothers so many people. We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on election day in the last election cycle. And every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost. In no series of ballots that were counted after election Day. Were our candidates ahead on any of those counts. It just, it looks on its face to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No. Because it happened so far upstream.
Krystal Ball
Can I prove that? No. But that won't stop me from making all kinds of wild claims and backing up Trump and his utter delusions.
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's one look. It's not great. I don't think there's another different way to say it. It potentially could be full blown freakout time, especially if the Fulton county thing goes crazy and it's bad.
Krystal Ball
Can I say I'll end on a positive note here. One thing going back to our blog about the ICE drawdown and Trump saying we're gonna ask before we go into cities in the future, whether they persist in that or not, it indicates they at least still care somewhat about public opinion, which is a Good sign. Because when they operate like public opinion doesn't matter at all, that's when you should feel really, when they're moving, like, we're not gonna have to face the voters ever again. That's when you should be most concerned. Now, I think all of this is very dire, and there are all sorts of gradations of how aggressive they might be. There's no doubt they're going to try to mess with the midterm election. I mean, they already are with, like, their redistricting and all of that sort of stuff. But that's still in the bounds of, like, okay, we've done this before. Maybe not quite in this way. This is more aggressive, but we could. You know, we could put the pieces back together. There's, you know, there's that, and then there's things that are just wholly unprecedented and really are aimed at, like, ending democracy, making it so it's impossible for an opposition party ever to win.
Saagar Enjeti
That's a good point. And actually, this gets to, you know, every time that it's gone too far, that actually relies on what I've said. I go, look, you can freak out and you can be upset. You're watching what happened in Texas. You are literally watching the current democratic process play out, where the Democrats have held up funding and are now gonna have two weeks to negotiate. Already all ICE officers are gonna be armed with body cameras. As a result of Minneapolis, multiple judges have thrown out the most extraordinary tactics. You've had the TPS thing that gets held up, the Supreme Court eventually will strike down tariffs. Not sure when the fuck that's gonna happen, but it eventually will. It's like, you know, the argument that there have been no guardrails, no checks and balances, is actually not true. And your point as well, about, like, when they start acting as if they don't care anymore. We're probably in a very different situation. And a government which draws down in Minnesota, which immediately pivots, which, by the way, if you think that they're not listening on the affordability thing, take a look at some of their more recent interviews. Everybody other than Trump, they know it's a massive problem, and they're trying to hammer that home. So you can see, see, it's not like. It's not like they. They've given up or. Or anybody else should either. So there you go. All right. Inspiring.
Krystal Ball
That's all we can do.
Saagar Enjeti
It's always darkest right before it's completely black. Allegedly, there was a Chairman Mao quote.
Krystal Ball
What was that?
Saagar Enjeti
Okay. All right. Thank you everybody for watching. We appreciate you. Commie Takeover of the Friday show tomorrow. See you all then.
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Episode Date: February 5, 2026
Main Topics: Bill Gates Responds to Epstein Allegations, UK and US Elite Accountability, Pundit Defenses, Trump’s Election Takeover Threats
This episode is a deep dive into the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein files revelations and their impact on global elites, accountability (or lack thereof) in the US and UK, the responses (and evasions) from notable public figures, and the Trump camp’s increasingly explicit plans to control future US elections. Krystal and Saagar analyze the contrasting ways scandals play out on both sides of the Atlantic, dissect reactions from press and pundits, and warn of alarming trends in American democracy.
"Apparently Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is, you know, false. So I don't know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me, you know, every minute I spent with him, I regret and I, you know, apologize that I did that."
— Bill Gates (03:16)
"The public has just been conditioned to expect that there's going to be complete elite impunity. And it truly like that elite impunity ... is one of the reasons why the country is falling apart."
— Krystal Ball (11:07)
"So it's not an accident that you have so many Epstein associates in this administration ... because that gives him an additional lever to use against them and additional power over them."
— Krystal Ball (13:40)
"...shows you how deeply racist this country is...and this is deeply embedded in the leadership thinking in the state of Israel."
— Krystal Ball (16:33)
(22:42–33:59)
Competing pundit narratives try to downplay or deflect the impact of the Epstein revelations.
"We've had to drag the elites kicking and screaming to even acknowledge that any of this exists."
— Krystal Ball (24:25)
"The worst, most egregious version of my understanding of how the world works was not even far enough..."
— Krystal Ball (32:10) "Willful blindness...the right has broadly embraced because they don't want to grapple with the Israel connection."
— Saagar Enjeti (32:20)
(33:59–37:05)
Krystal reads repulsive email exchanges between Epstein and elites, clearly referencing sex with minors, highlighting the depth and ubiquity of the criminality.
"Here you have someone emailing Jeffrey Epstein and saying, thank you for a fun night. Your littlest girl was a little naughty. And Epstein replies, great..."
— Krystal Ball (35:26)
Both hosts emphasize: this is not marginal or "boring"—it is central to understanding elite power structures.
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:16 | Bill Gates | "The email is...false. I regret every minute I spent with him..." | | 11:07 | Krystal Ball | "The public has just been conditioned to expect that there's going to be complete elite impunity..." | | 14:09 | Saagar Enjeti | "...Just a memo to the US Press. We're allowed to discuss Israel and Epstein. We're allowed to do that..."| | 16:33 | Krystal Ball | "...Shows you how deeply racist this country [Israel] is... deep in the leadership." | | 24:25 | Krystal Ball | "We've had to drag the elites kicking and screaming to even acknowledge that any of this exists." | | 32:10 | Krystal Ball | "The worst, most egregious version of my understanding of how the world works was not even far enough..."| | 35:26 | Krystal Ball | "Your littlest girl was a little naughty. And Epstein replies, great..." |
"[Trump] says ... they should have a federalizing of the elections, nationalize the elections, take over the elections."
— Krystal Ball (40:40) "You have not only Tulsi, Fulton County, Puerto Rico, Venezuela... they are workshopping some things. ...They're throwing some things at the wall right now."
— Krystal Ball (48:44)
"It's not like they've given up or anybody else should either." (52:20)
Krystal and Saagar’s discussion foregrounds a pattern of elite unaccountability, the media’s complicity or hesitation, and the real-world consequences of the Epstein scandal exposing profound corruption. Their exasperation at both mainstream and alternative media’s “cope” and at the American public’s resignation is palpable, as is their warning that the integrity of US democracy is facing a distinctly new, perilous era. At every turn, the episode emphasizes that these revelations are not side-shows—they’re central to understanding the global power system, and ignoring them is a luxury the country cannot afford.