← Deadline: White House
Deadline: White House
“Donald Trump’s upcoming 250th Anniversary celebration”
00:43:16
May 29, 2026; 5pm: Nicolle Wallace and friends discuss how more than half of the performers slated for the Great American State Fair concert series to be held this summer on the National Mall have pulled out, citing the event’s political associations.
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- [00:01]
Cyndi Lauper
I'm Cyndi Lauper with fellow Cosentyx advocate Chef Michelle Bernstein.
- [00:06]
Nicole Wallace
We'll share our experiences with plaque psoriasis with psoriatic arthritis and Dr. Panico will talk about the possible connection.
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- [01:38]
Jimmy Kimmel
This is like Coachella for bands that hired their cousin as their tour manager. The listed performers include pop duo Milli Vanilli, one of whom is dead pop duo CNC Music Factory, another of whom is dead, and the Commodores, minus the original singers from the Commodores and minus the new singers from the Commodores who backed out today too. But don't worry, Brett Michael, Flo, Rida, Vanilla Ice and the guy from the Cracker Barrel logo Tootin on the jug are in so far. We'll check back on that tomorrow to see if they're still in it.
- [02:14]
Nicole Wallace
Hi again Everybody. It's now five o'clock in New York. Now he's even lost former Celebrity Apprentice winner Bret Michaels. Jimmy Kimmel there on the embarrassment that is Donald Trump's upcoming 250th anniversary celebration on the mall. We're not just talking about the UFC cage match slash Trump birthday party on the White House lawn every day. More and more of Trump's previously scheduled performers and guests for his concert are working overtime to get out of it and distance themselves from him. Washington Post reports this quote More than half the performers slated for the Great American State Fair concert series to be held this summer on the National Mall, have pulled out, citing the event's political associations. The latest act to drop out is Bret Michaels, the vocalist for hair metal band Poison, citing threats and the event's divisive response. Other artists backing out include Martina McBride, who posted this on social media. It greatly upsets me that any fan who has been moved by my music may now feel like I'm abandoning the meaning behind those songs. Some artists implied that they had been misled about the political nature of the event, including the artist YoungMC, who posted this quote I have informed in all caps I have informed my agents that I will not be performing at the Freedom 250 event. The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And if you thought Donald Trump has reached maximum humiliation, there's more. It now appears he has to recruit people to attend that UFC cage fighting match thing on the lawn for the birthday party. I didn't know that grown men had rides at their parties, but here we are. Washington Post reports this quote the Pentagon is moving to recruit hundreds of troops to appear as spectators next month at President Donald Trump's UFC cage fighting event on the White House lawn and requiring those who attend to pay their own way and to meet height. Is this real height and weight requirements? According to people familiar with the matter and internal memos reviewed by the Washington Post. One memo circulated within the Air Force stipulates that to be eligible personnel, quote, must meet current waist height ratio and current physical fitness standards. Troops will be required to wear their short sleeve dress uniforms. The memo adds, once a beauty pageant owner, always a beauty pageant guy. Donald Trump being forced to recruit people to attend his party as his brand becomes way too toxic for even Poison star Bret Michaels to attend is where we begin the hour with some of our favorite experts and friends. Media Matters for America President Angelo Caracon is here. Also joining us, Puck senior news political columnist and national affairs analyst John Heilman is here. And joining me at the table, Princeton University professor political analyst Eddie Glad is here. He is the author of a beautiful, beautiful new book, America usa, USA How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries. It's out now. We'll ask him about it in a couple minutes. I was embarrassed reading this in front of this intro about all this Cultural stuff in front of Eddie, but not you, Heilman. So I'll let you go first. This doesn't read as real. I have had the most surreal experience this week, and I will admit to being sort of confounded by AI. I watched the bears go inside and lay in the Labrador's bed, and I'm like, oh, that's so cute. And my son's like, that's not real. So I will admit to not being a savant when it comes to AI, But I didn't think the cabinet meeting was real. I did not think this Washington Post reporting about the. What is it for men, the waist to bicep ratio or whatever it is, and the short sleeve shirts. I mean, this cannot be happening. That there's no one around Trump that can say, don't put this out there. Your own people are laughing their asses off at you.
- [06:23]
I mean, look, it's funny. Nicole, you're more focused on some of the sartorial elements of this. I'm sort of focused on seeing these stories with these headlines, like, they're losing people from the lineup. Right. And I hadn't really been paying that much attention to this, to be honest with you, because, you know, we know what passes for, you know, musical stars in the world of Donald Trump. You know, you get to go to the convention and, like, Kid Rock is
- [06:50]
John Heilman
there, and, you know, and like, you're like, Kid Rock is like Kid Rock. It looks great in comparison to the
- [06:57]
Nicole Wallace
people who were on this bill before.
- [06:59]
John Heilman
They all dropped out. It's like you're holding an event where
- [07:02]
Nicole Wallace
Milli Vanilli, which was like, is one
- [07:06]
John Heilman
of the most embarrassing, fraudulent acts in
- [07:08]
Nicole Wallace
the history of pop music. Or Milli Vanilli is too. Is. Is too good for you. Right?
- [07:16]
Scandal. Yeah.
- [07:17]
John Heilman
Yes. Yes. That's the Lip Sync scandal. But all of these people are people who are all from, like, they're all one hit wonders from kind of the early 1990s. And I love 1990s music, but these people were embarrassing when they were one hit wonders. Now they tried to reassemble them for some reason that I don't really understand, and now they're all backing out.
- [07:41]
Nicole Wallace
And you haven't even gotten to the guy who is the leader of CNC Music Factory. Their one hit was going to make you sweat.
- [07:50]
John Heilman
That guy has now dropped out, and he's got a video of himself on Instagram sitting on the toilet where he's describing. If you don't like the fact that I dropped out, I am going to. I'm Going to get a Venezuelan girlfriend and some Venezuelan wine, and I'm going to get an Iranian this and this and a that. And yeah, I'm sitting here, here on the toilet while I'm recording. I'm like, what is. You want to think about something that looks like it's AI, go take a
- [08:18]
Nicole Wallace
look at the guy who's the leader of CNC Music Factory sitting in his john.
- [08:23]
John Heilman
That was a guy who was going to be a headliner. He was the star of the show until he decided, I'm sorry, I can't
- [08:30]
Nicole Wallace
be part of this.
- [08:31]
John Heilman
This is too low even for me. So I don't know what to make of any of it, except for the fact that the. The embarrassment of popular cultural kind of
- [08:41]
Nicole Wallace
like just scraping the bottom of the barrel that Trump has always done.
- [08:46]
John Heilman
It's like the bottom of the barrel now is scraping back. They're like, I'm sorry, we are the
- [08:53]
Nicole Wallace
bottom of the barrel.
- [08:54]
John Heilman
But.
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Nicole Wallace
But you're below us in this barrel.
- [08:57]
John Heilman
And so we are now going to take the high road and decline to
- [09:01]
Nicole Wallace
take part in your event.
- [09:02]
John Heilman
I think that is.
- [09:03]
Nicole Wallace
There's nothing more.
- [09:05]
John Heilman
There is no grander, a symbol of
- [09:07]
Nicole Wallace
how much Donald Trump and MAGA have lost popular culture than that. When Milli Vanilli says to you, I'm sorry, dude, we'll pass on the audience because, you know, our standards are too high. That's how you know you are screwed in terms of pop culture in America.
- [09:28]
Angelo, I. I am slightly embarrassed to have this conversation on television and. And with all of you. As I said, Heilman. I' embarrassed in front of Heilman because we'd have this conversation off tv, but to the point of recruiting the military. The other story that didn't ring real to me this week was that Cabinet meeting where I've seen footage from North Korea. We've covered Putin for years now because of the outsized role he's played in our domestic politics since 2016. The cabinet meeting is a huge, huge story the world over. Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America, has singular control over a uniquely deadly nuclear arsenal. And not a person in the room, I think, would have told him, the room is on fire. If the room is on fire, they would have said, you're so smart. You don't need this meeting. Let's go in the other room. I mean, these are people who are dangerously obsequious. And I bring this story up because, to me, it's their fault that he's so politically toxic that the lip sync Scandal guy from the 90s won't come to his party. Part of the chief responsibility of a cabinet and a White House staff is obviously to make sure that the government functions for the most vulnerable people. The people for whom the government safety nets, that's a talking point in politics, but in people who sort of live on the edge of poverty, it's the difference between life and death, between food stamps coming through and not. Between them working or them not health care appointments coming or not VA medical and mental health care appointments being available or not. Right. It's not a joke. They've turned the whole government and everything it does into a joke. But the other piece of their job is to keep the president politically viable enough, one, so that he can go places. Right. So that Air Force One can land in cities, that he can go to events and be wanted there and welcome there and not be so politically toxic that no one wants him in their swing district or their swing state. The other is so that when the country turns 250 years old, he can have a celebration that isn't an international laughingstock. And that's where this becomes a national security story and a problem for everybody, regardless of who you voted for. This Cabinet has allowed Donald Trump to turn this country into a joke.
- [11:52]
Angelo Carusone
Yeah. And I think there's something important in your point about the Cabinet because you know, and how that overlaps with this event. Because in a way, maybe they don't know in all instances, but at least in this instance, they definitely knew better. And here's how you can tell. They lied. That's how they knew better. They knew that Trump was so toxic that they needed to misrepresent the association or the event itself when they were trying to recruit talent. Because they knew that if they did not misrepresent it and they presented it as a Trump associated or Trump themed event, that they wouldn't even be able to get a lot of the talent they got in the first place. So to effect, they do know better. And that makes their enabling even more worse and terrible because they're just not doing it for a lot of reason. It is blowing up in their faces. And then the bigger thing to your larger point is that, and it's worth keeping in mind this compressed timeline is that the event couldn't sustain 48 hours of an association with Trump. It's not like this has been going on for months and somebody was like, you know, Jimmy Kimmel did a big segment and then that catalyzed the car. No, no, it was one just the second it became public and people thought about it, they immediately started to walk away. And I think just to really put an exclamation point on just how toxic that is, and that's where the staff sort of creating these conditions, made it, you know, sort of, they're stirring this cauldron of toxicity and stupidity is Bret Michaels isn't just another guy, another celebrity, another performer. He was a celebrity Apprentice winner. He was a celebrity Apprentice winner. I like this is like he was literally Apprentice. He won, he performed for Trump in 2017. He is his guy. This is not somebody who was anti Trump too and then suddenly got duped. This is somebody who could not get any more identified with Trump in this context. And even he said, it's gotten too far for me that I cannot sustain this association. Even the association is too much. And this is where it contrasts with your larger point. If you look back at 1976, the bicentennial, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, you know, Fleet, Mac Wood, Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac, you know, big, big names, four and a half million visitors. They didn't have to recruit members of the military to fill seats. They had millions of people, Americans showing up. The Queen of England came because it was such a big deal. To your point about being international embarrassment. So we have a reference point here, something that could be a moment of national unity where you can get a list talent. The difference between then and now, aside from time and all the celebrities themselves, is Trump. He's the X factor. And it's that underlying toxicity and the intensity of his brand and the destruction of his brand that all of these consequences are flowing out from. And yeah, the event is going to be a bust, and that's unfortunate for all of us. But it isn't just the event that's a bust. This is just a symptom of a larger orientation of governance and the day to day stuff that's happening in our country. And that's the part that's really devastating from my perspective.
- [14:50]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah. You know, Eddie, there's a debate, and I see it among our viewers, about whether the poll numbers matter. And I take all the points and I share all the concerns about whether the elections will be free and fair. But the political and popularity feeds everything else. It feeds all those other things I talked about, where the President can go, who will be associated with him, what foreign leaders will be seen with him, what summits we're invited to at those summits, what meetings take place, what bilats are on camera, what bilats take place behind the scenes, what associations Americans Abroad can still have whether people will be seen with us, whether we're safe around the world. And what this event, I think, has forced people to reckon with, again, regardless of who they voted for, is that America right now is stinky cheese left out in the sun in terms of its inability to attract people to want to stand next to us and with us on this really, really important anniversary.
- [15:49]
Eddie Glaude
Yeah. It reveals in very clear ways where we are as a nation, that we're standing on the precipice, that we're in the midst of a kind of decline, that our way of life that made our lives possible is collapsing right in front of us. But I want to just suggest to you that at every of our major milestone anniversaries, we've been in a moment of crisis. So if you go back to the centennial in 1876, that's the collapse of Reconstruction. Violence is happening. It's the dawning of the Gilded Age American empire. But you should see what's happening in that moment as the nation tries to tell itself a story about its founding in 1926. That's the decade of the Klan. The Klan in large numbers, March on Washington, D.C. as they celebrate the 1924 immigration act that they're trying to harken back to in 1970. I understand what Angelo is saying. I wore flag pants as 8 years old in that moment. But 1976, that's Watergate, that's Vietnam, that's black power. The country is deeply skeptical about any appeal to American, American patriotism. So their appeal to consensus is deeply, deeply reflective of a deep. Of an anxiety here. So here we are in the 250th, and we're. And we're grappling with the contradiction at the heart of the country that Trump himself represents. So if we widen the aperture, despite the failure and the sheer comedy of what we were talking about, they're trying to tell a particular story about the country in its 250th year that yokes it to Donald Trump and MAGA. It's going to be a white nationalist festival. And that's all we need to do, is to look at the Transformation from America 250 to Freedom 250. That's all we gotta do is look at the particulars of how they're organizing the muscular Christianity that's turning out. We should play Robin Hood men in tights as the UFC folk fight. Right. So we're at that moment in the country's history where the contradiction at our heart is in full view.
- [17:56]
Nicole Wallace
So much of this moment is wrapped up also in this man's particular embarrassments within his own party. Right. I mean, those other moments were about tectonic plates shifting violently the way they do in an earthquake. Right. You know, pushing, pushing, pushing and then bursting. This seems to be in part exacerbated by one man's narcissism.
- [18:18]
Eddie Glaude
Yeah. Trump is an accelerant of the virus that's in the body politic. He's always been. He's also an avatar for that which animates so much of the American polity. We can't forget, you know, people in Texas just voted for a felon, a criminal. To my mind, not a felon, but a criminal. Paxton, you think about what happened with Cassidy in Louisiana, came in third. You think about what happened in Indiana, Right? So it's Trump. Trump is the avatar for something in the body politics, something in us. But you're right, he's an accelerant in so many ways. He represents, he embodies the ugly underbelly of American life, the barnacled underbelly of American life. And we need to understand him for who he is. Not to exceptionalize him, but to see him as something, as a part of us.
- [19:09]
Nicole Wallace
Okay, we are just getting started around here. I'm going to try to shake off my embarrassment in the break because when we come back, we started the conversation, but we're going to turn to Eddie to talk to him more about his brand new book, America usa, How race shadows the nation's anniversaries and the tension and struggle the Trump administration continues to exploit 250 years after our founding. Also ahead, former Attorney General Pam Bondi is interviewed by the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. What we're learning about her closed door appearance today, who she refused to talk about and where she tried to pass the buck. Deadline Whitehouse continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere. Hey there.
- [20:01]
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- [21:29]
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- [22:05]
Jimmy Kimmel
Trump's planning to pardon 250 current and or future criminals on July 4, which is something like the Joker would do. And they won't be doing it quietly. This will be quite an event on July 4th.
- [22:19]
Satirical Voice (Trump Parody)
Join President Donald J. Trump and his wrongly accused friends for an all stardentennial celebration featuring appearances by Dr. Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Sean P. Diddy Combs, the Gilgo beach serial killer, the artist formerly known as as Prince Andrew, the ghost of O.J. simpson and the late great Hannibal Lecter.
- [22:45]
Nicole Wallace
Hannibal Lecter. How great an actor was he?
- [22:49]
Satirical Voice (Trump Parody)
Bring your family to join the first family at the bartennial celebration July 4th at 8pm only on Newsmax right after Bigfoot versus the Lincoln Memorial.
- [23:02]
Nicole Wallace
Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen. I didn't think I could do any better than your right ear would be first story.
- [23:13]
Danny Bensky
Thank you.
- [23:14]
Nicole Wallace
But what are you? I mean what is the country? How do we cover this?
- [23:23]
I don't know. With with an arched eyebrow and and a lot of profanity I think, I
- [23:29]
John Heilman
mean, I, you know, I think Jimmy
- [23:31]
Nicole Wallace
Kimmel's doing a pretty good job of, of covering it. And, and look, I think this is prime territory for the late night comics. And it's, of course, incredibly regrettable that we no longer have Stephen Colbert to help us out there, but the other guys are doing a pretty good job still.
- [23:50]
John Heilman
And I think there's some of these things that
- [23:54]
Nicole Wallace
there's no way, Nicole, to your point before, about your embarrassment about even talking about this, there's no way to take this seriously, per se. But I do think the way that you and Angelo and Eddie have been talking about it just is the right way to kind of contextualize it. And I do think that there is, you know, you know how seriously I take these signals. Even if the signals themselves of what's going on are kind of risable and, and almost beyond parody, there is. They are signal, not noise. And I think they are telling us something about, about Trump's declining political power because we understand what was so important to establishing the kind of political power that he had and how important culture was to that. When you see it getting to the point now where it's not like, hey, is he losing the culture? Six months ago, we were asking that question like, hey, are there seem to be some signs that Donald Trump's kind of losing the culture. Now we're sort of like, it's not just that he's losing the culture, it's that it's. He's losing the culture so dramatically that it's becoming like a Three Stooges act, right? Where you're kind of like, this couldn't be any funnier. They must be making this up. It can't be real. That, I think, is a sign of something about, but forget about the polls. It's a sign of something about where is the country going? Where does the country want to be going? What is the, the fear that people had In January of 2027, I would say January of 2025, which was Trump seems like he, this could be more permanent than we thought, and he could be taking the country someplace that we didn't ever think he really had the power to do. All of that is gone now. The question now is just how can we outlast him and can we keep enough of the country together and the institutions of the country together? Because he's not, not going to leave a lasting mark on the country. We can see that now. The culture is throwing up all over Donald Trump right now. And I think that that gives US gives people some. Should give people some measure of hope about what's recoverable here and with a lot of hard work after he's gone.
- [25:58]
Yeah, I mean, Angela, we had a lot of conversations, and I don't know that I'll leave these down about vibes. Right. About the manosphere vibes. I went and saw a popular manosphere comedian and heard him tell Epstein and Trump jokes and realized that the Epstein story, whatever else you thought about Democrats, and you always make this point, they're not necessarily attaching to the Democratic Party, but they are gone. And I think in ways that maybe we miss in the mainstream media or in studios, the vibes from Trump's 2024 win are gone. They're dead. What he still has is immense power as the President of the United States of America. An immense nuclear arsenal, an immense power that he's shown over and over again he's willing to abuse through the Department of Justice and punishing his enemies and imagine immense danger he could do to the men and women of the military in terms of things he asks them to do. But the vibes are gone.
- [26:57]
Eddie Glaude
Yeah.
- [26:58]
Angelo Carusone
And I think there's, you know, and, and, you know, as John was talking before, there's examples of that. Right. It's sort of look to where he is speaking to what parts of the culture online is he trying to pull in or engage with or give a wink and a nod to. And you know, a few years ago and a year plus ago, it was the manosphere, you know, sort of that lots of kinetic energy, all those broadcast, the comedian guys and he, you know, there was a dialectic between what was happening with Maga them and that was keeping them engaged. And then I think about your intro. But the part that was really silly and laughable is also a keyhole into where, where their thinking is. Because that whole thing about the types of individual men that show up and the proportions and the waist and everything, that's not just because Trump likes big, strong men. I've watched all of his rallies. He talks about it all the time. It's actually a little bit of a wink and a nod to an online community called Looks Maxers. And it's. That's not the only example. The Department of Defense. Yes. Guys that believe that there's a certain ratio, perfect math, that if you bang your face with a hammer, you take the right supplements, the right peptides, you can get these perfect proportions. And it's not just that one example. In fact, the Department of Defense has made several posts referencing Looks Maxers. And using that language and hat tips to them. And it's an illustrative. They're really far out of the culture. Right. But yet part of Trump's modus operanda has always been to organize and build power what used to be considered the fringes.
- [28:18]
Nicole Wallace
He.
- [28:18]
Angelo Carusone
And he's lost the very audience that you talked about when you know, these comedians, these broadcasts. He's not trying to pull them back in any way. So he's just trying to pull in another audience, another set of community, and has to go further and further away from what would be even considered a large part of our culture. And I do think that's another indication not just of their weakness and their lack of grip and engagement with the Zeitgeist, but also where things can increasingly go. Because there is something really deeply disturbing, not just silly and is silly about using and adopting that type of language and that framework and not just in public discourse, but actually as a part of the military.
- [28:59]
Nicole Wallace
You have to come back for a longer, more serious conversation about the book, which is beautiful and important that doesn't have to share airtime with Trump's perfect hip to wrist to bicep ratio. But I want to read this from the book. The reality is what it is. The country has given us Donald Trump and we have to deal with this madness again. The pounding in the skull returns as we struggle to beat back the intolerable bitterness of spirit. Because these people have done this shit again in the 250th year of America, USA. Let me see if I get semi quincentennial blues.
- [29:33]
Eddie Glaude
Yeah, yeah. You know, you think about this 250 years we find ourselves here because as much as we could talk about the waning of his power, Southern states are redrawing districts. The Voting Rights act has been gutted. 600,000 black women have lost their jobs. DEI has become a shorthand for telling a particular kind of story, for diminishing black power across all number of sectors, from private federal contractors to individual admissions at college on college campuses. And when you think about all of the major celebrations which I try to tell the story of the country through Its Milestone Celebrations, 1876. Reconstruction is collapsing. Frederick Douglass calls the country these people who once were anti slavery who are now capitulating. He calls them the apostles of forgetfulness. And between the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of the 20th century, over 53,000 black people are murdered. In 1926, the Klan was approved to hold its convocation on the grounds that of the Philadelphia Exposition. They were going to celebrate the flag and burn the cross at the same time in 1976, in the midst of all the things that Angelo was talking about, there's the iconic photograph in 1970, April of 1976 of the teenager turning around with the American flag to attack a young black lawyer who was trained at Yale over anti bussing. And here we are 250 years later. I have to raise my son is grown, but people have to raise their kids. In this moment where the country is deciding that Donald Trump in particular, Naga in particular have made a choice. The country can't be a beacon of freedom. It's only a beacon of freedom because it's a white republic. And that contradiction beacon of freedom, white republic is the divided soul of the country. It has deposited a kind of madness at the heart of America. And every milestone anniversary, we're dealing with the cycle and this 250th restore truth insanity to American history. They're going to tell a particular story and that story is going to require the disappearance of the vast diversity of America usa.
- [31:44]
Nicole Wallace
That's their initiative to purge all of our museums and libraries of our actual true history.
- [31:49]
Eddie Glaude
And our task in response. Just excuse my language. America is. We have to show our asses.
- [31:56]
Nicole Wallace
I love that.
- [31:57]
Eddie Glaude
Put forward the great diversity of this country as a counter to the nonsense that they're going to put forward on July 4th.
- [32:04]
Nicole Wallace
Can this be the beginning of the conversation?
- [32:05]
Angelo Carusone
I will.
- [32:07]
Nicole Wallace
Okay. All right. Eddie, thank you for being here. Congratulations on the publication of your beautiful new book, America How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries is out right now. Angelo and Heilman, you guys are always two of my favorite people to talk to. But extra, thank you for doing what you did today. I'm really grateful to both of you. No one else could have this conversation with me. Thank you. When we come back, what we know about ex Attorney General Pam Bondi's closed door interview today with the House Oversight Committee and her botched handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Reaction from a member of Congress who took part as well as an Epstein survivor. After a short break. Don't go anywhere. Hey there.
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- [34:45]
Nicole Wallace
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi was back on Capitol Hill today, answering questions about her handling of the Epstein files while she led the Department of Justice. But going against the wishes of Epstein survivors, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee agreed to question the former AG behind closed doors. You can imagine why Pam Bondi would not want to go before cameras given her last performance.
- [35:11]
Congressman Ro Khanna
If you are willing, please raise your hands if you have still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice. Will you turn to them now and apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information.
- [35:40]
Unknown Financial Commentator
I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics. The dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader. As I hear. Raskin, the dow is over 50,000 right now, the S&P at almost 7
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- [36:09]
Nicole Wallace
It was an answer so lame Trump wasn't even into it. She would go on to get Fired. And today didn't really seem to go much better. The fired Pam Bondi reportedly lost her temper again at certain points today. Here is what Congressman Robert Garcia had to say about her performance.
- [36:29]
Congressman Robert Garcia
I also personally asked the former AG five times and five different questions about her conversations with President Trump, whether he directed her any at any given time on the Epstein files, what he knew, what he asked her to redact or not. And she refused to answer any questions about President Trump. In fact, she said that she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do with President Trump.
- [37:03]
Nicole Wallace
Now, while the former attorney general admitted to what she described as redaction errors in her opening statement, she tried to shift the blame, throwing her successor, Todd Blanche, under the bus. She told the committee, that's, quote, as the head of a large department with broad responsibilities, I did not lead every aspect of this effort or conduct that document review myself. I delegated oversight of this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of the House Oversight Committee. He took part in today's questioning. Also joining us, Danny Bensky. She is one of the Epstein survivors we have been lucky enough to get to know on this program as she advocates for other survivors and for transparency from the Trump administration. Danny, your top line thoughts about what happened today on Capitol Hill?
- [37:53]
Danny Bensky
Yeah, I mean, she talked a little bit about that the redactions were botched, which we've known for quite some time. And it goes so much deeper than that. You know, something that we've always sort of looked for from her was just some, like, baseline empathy and we never seemed to get it. And I just always feels like she doesn't understand that these are people's lives. Like the government released nude photos of young girls and all of our identifying information, that's not like an oopsie moment. That's like you literally have derailed lives and you need to take some accountability for it. So to shift the blame constantly onto Blanche just makes me feel like we need to bring Blanche in. Then.
- [38:35]
Nicole Wallace
Congressman, what are the chances of that happening and what are your thoughts about what Pam Bondi said today?
- [38:43]
Congressman Ro Khanna
First of all, I so appreciate Danny's courage and how she's conducted herself over these past few months. We're in this place because of survivors like her. Pam Bondi didn't answer any questions. She shifted the blame to Kash Patel. She shifted the blame to Todd Blanche. When asked why there are no investigations and prosecutions and the amount of survivors who text me saying, why are people not being investigated and prosecuted. She said, oh, that's not my decision. That's Jay Clayton, who is the Southern District of New York U.S. attorney. So we need to call in Jay Clayton, Cash Patel, and Blanche to understand why the investigations haven't taken place, why these people are not being investigated and prosecuted, and why files went to the Justice Department from the FBI that already were filled with redactions before the process even began.
- [39:34]
Nicole Wallace
Congressman, was she able to answer what names were on the list that was on her desk in a file folder?
- [39:41]
Congressman Ro Khanna
She did not. What she said is that that was the binder that she gave to the influencers that basically she misspoke. I mean, what she was doing is hyping it up in trying to curry favor with Trump and, and, and the right wing. But fine, she made. Made a terrible mistake. My bigger problem is that once the Epstein Law passed, that Thomas Massie and I passed that, she has refused to comply with it, refused to give us the 302 forms where the survivors actually name names. She's refused to start investigations on people like Leon Black and Les Wexner, who are implicated allegedly, in very serious issues. And she's refused to release a lot of the remaining files.
- [40:31]
Nicole Wallace
Danny, let me show you what Todd Blanche had to say. Just as a window into where this is behind closed doors at the Department of Justice,
- [40:43]
Senator (Unidentified)
I want to go on to the Epstein investigation. Is it closed or open?
- [40:47]
Angelo Carusone
When you say the Epstein investigation, what are you referring to, Senator?
- [40:50]
Senator (Unidentified)
Well, the FBI said in, in last year, in July, that it had closed the Epstein investigation. So I'm just using their words. Is it open or closed?
- [40:58]
Angelo Carusone
I don't believe the FBI said that.
- [41:02]
Eddie Glaude
That's.
- [41:03]
Angelo Carusone
Well, I mean, if you're referring your
- [41:04]
Senator (Unidentified)
head of the Department of Justice, is the Epstein investigation open or closed?
- [41:07]
Angelo Carusone
I. I guess I don't understand what Epstein investigation means.
- [41:11]
Nicole Wallace
I don't know. I guess if you don't understand what the Epstein investigation means, why did Utah Blanche go sit down with Ghislaine Maxwell? And why after that meeting, was she moved to a different prison? I mean, what game are they playing, Danny?
- [41:24]
Danny Bensky
I mean, it really is exhausting, I have to say. It's like survivors are actually so burnt out, I think because it just feels like protection of self interest as opposed to actually getting to the core of real issues and finding root transparency, which is what we've always after. You know, it's gone beyond even like a political minefield. I feel like it's just. It's just about humanity at this point. So I think survivors have very little faith in our DOJ at this point. We've ended up going to. It just feels like we can't really trust our federal government. So we've been trying to change laws at the state level at this point. So right now we've kind of shifted our focus away from everything that's happening on the Hill to try to get this law right now. There is a, there's a law right now that states that it's a misdemeanor for a 15 year old to be solicited for sex in New York. So we're really trying to go to these like state level laws, find the reform there and then be able to build it back from the base up because it just feels like, it almost feels like a waste of time at this point. With Blanche and Bondi.
- [42:34]
Nicole Wallace
We want to turn back to what happens next. We have to sneak in a quick break before we do that. I'm asking both of you to stick around for that conversation next.
- [42:55]
Survivor Advocate
I just want to talk about the survivors for a second. Thank you so much for your words. They're here today. They were with us in Palm Beach a few weeks ago when we had a hearing there. And they've asked the Department of Justice repeatedly to meet with them. They've asked repeatedly to release certain files to them at least, such as their witness statements. And so we asked Pam Bondi about that today. She said it would be appropriate to meet with them. For some reason, she said she doesn't recall anything about them asking for their witness statements. She's forgotten all about all of their requests, even their public letter. It seems as though she was ignoring survivors this whole time, which is pretty astounding to me.
- [43:34]
Nicole Wallace
Congressman, The Department of Justice that Pambody once led has unveiled a $1.8 billion slush fund to give money to allies of Donald Trump up to and including the insurrectionists who attacked cops. The department, I think, has hired at least one insurrectionist. It has plenty of election deniers deep inside its political fold. What is the reason for not meeting with victims of one of the world's most notorious and prolific child sex traffickers?
- [44:06]
Congressman Ro Khanna
It's the thing that angered, actually Thomas Massie and me the most when we passed the law. We said, please meet with us. And they said, no. We said, okay, at least meet with the survivors and the survivors lawyers so you can have a process. And for a party, the Republican Party that has lectured us for decades about victims rights, about listening to victims, about having victims have more of a say in their justice for the Department of justice. To totally ignore that, to not meet with any of the survivors, any of the lawyers, that's one of the reasons we're in this mess. That's one of the reasons that survivors identities were disclosed, that the pedophiles actually were protected and that we don't have transparency, investigations or prosecutions.
- [44:51]
Nicole Wallace
Danny. There's another survivor that spoke out for the first time. This is Andrea Sterling. Let me play this.
- [44:59]
U
My name is Andrea Sterling. I am a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. And I'm breaking my silence because I'm done. I was living in New York when I was brought in by underage girls just like me by then who were also victims trained to do what was done to them. We deserve justice. We deserve closure for ourselves and for every family that has carried this weight alongside us. The United States is losing respect globally, and those responsible are still protected by the system. We are not going away, and everyone in the government will show us exactly who they are. People of justice or people protecting power.
- [45:40]
Nicole Wallace
She says something that we have covered here and tracked. She says the United States is losing respect globally. I mean, we are one of the only countries that hasn't held its government officials accountable in the same manner that governments in Europe have. What is the rationale in terms of how you understand it?
- [46:02]
Danny Bensky
I wish I knew. I think that, you know, we've used the word cover up so many times that it gets old after a while, but it does feel a bit like that. It's the same way that when survivors information has been released, you know, the first time you think, okay, maybe it could be an error. The second time you're like, really? Still an error. The third time you're like, okay, well, this has to feel intentional. So that feels. It feels incredibly frustrating. You know, we look to the UK and the UK is investigating Andrew there. You know, so. And then in this country, we look at what just happened with our fellow survivor sister Eugene Carroll, who is now being criminally investigated. And so we're putting our government resources into investigating Eugene Carol. But we can't even look through the 3.5 million pages and bring one person in to investigate. I mean, it really is appalling and it makes no sense.
- [46:56]
Nicole Wallace
Danny Bensky, we are so grateful to you for speaking out and for talking to us today. Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you so much for being part of our coverage today. Coming up next for us, intimidation tactics. Only an aspiring autocrat would be proud of what Kash Patel's FBI agents are doing Instead of following up on leads in the Epstein investigation. That story's next. As FBI Director Kash Patel dodges questions about his VIP snorkeling trip at Pearl Harbor. He's now sending FBI agents to the homes of election workers in the state of Wisconsin over the 2020 election, according to new reporting in the Washington Post. Quote, FBI agents recently showed up at the homes of former election officials in Milwaukee. That's according to two people familiar with their activities. The visits came after agents spoke to the state's deputy elections director, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This week, agents were planning to interview police officers who escorted the election official responsible for delivering the city's 2020 election results to a Milwaukee county election office. We will keep our eye on Wisconsin. Another break for us. We'll be right back. Thank you so much for letting us into your homes for another week of shows. We are so grateful.
- [48:32]
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