Bombshell Epstein Ties To Intelligence Community? Gov Officials Refuse To Answer

Summary

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IHIP News Podcast Summary

Episode: Bombshell Epstein Ties To Intelligence Community? Gov Officials Refuse To Answer
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie Sullivan
Date: July 19, 2026
Guest: Julian Andreone, Capitol Hill Correspondent for Dropsite News

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the explosive and shadowy connections between Jeffrey Epstein, the Israeli intelligence community, and U.S. government officials. Hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan, known for their progressive and candid commentary, are joined by Julian Andreone, Capitol Hill reporter at Dropsite News. The episode centers on newly-surfaced evidence from the recently released "Epstein Files," the unsettling impunity of Israeli government operators, the paralysis of U.S. politicians on Israel, and wider geopolitical implications. The conversation naturally expands into corporate power, U.S.–Israel relations, political duplicity, media narratives, and the realities of organizing and surviving as progressives in red states.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Congressional Evasion on Epstein's Intelligence Ties

[00:45–02:07]

• Julian describes his efforts grilling members of Congress about Epstein’s alleged ties to Israeli intelligence.
• Congressional responses are typically dismissive, minimizing the national security threat or pleading ignorance.
• Notable Quote [01:44] — Julian Andreone:
  “I really don't know what you're talking about.”

Insight:

• The general political avoidance points to either willful ignorance or self-protection among U.S. officials when confronted with questions about the intelligence angle of the Epstein scandal.

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2. Beyond Sex Trafficking: Blackmail, Surveillance, and Power

[02:07–05:48]

• Dropsite’s reporting goes “beyond the sex ring,” exploring Epstein as a political operator and middleman between global elites, especially the Israeli state.

• Julian details new evidence:

  • Israeli spy Yoni Koren (aide to Ehud Barak) stayed for long periods at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment.
  • The Israeli government installed and maintained surveillance/security systems in Epstein’s apartment, which hosted high-profile guests.

• Notable Quote [05:03] — Julian Andreone:
  “The Israeli government...installed and maintained a surveillance system, a security system in Jeffrey Epstein's second New York City apartment...They had a role in...not only installing it, but also maintaining it...”

Insight:

• The installation and maintenance of surveillance by a foreign government in a U.S.-based apartment is presented as a bombshell with direct national security implications.
• The implication of blackmail as a central mechanism in Epstein’s web of influence is increasingly “obvious” according to Julian.

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3. Impunity and U.S.–Israeli Relations

[05:48–09:12]

• Discussion covers how Israeli actors are shielded from legal consequences, both in the U.S. and Israel.
• Parallel made to past U.S. scandals involving Israelis who escaped prosecution by returning home.
• Julian frames Israel’s expanding geopolitical ambitions as not only tolerated but indirectly aided by U.S. political actors and media.
• He suggests Israel operates “with an imperialist mindset,” seeking regional dominance and resource control.

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4. Epstein as a Global Power Player: The "Davos Class"

[10:06–13:33]

• Epstein is positioned not just as an operative for Mossad, but as a member of a transnational elite (“Davos class”) above traditional intelligence structures.
• Connections to Les Wexner, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and involvement in global operations (e.g., Iran-Contra).
• Notable Quote [12:37] — Julian Andreone:
  “He was operating at a layer above [Mossad]... The governments actually go to [people like Epstein] to set things up.”

Insight:

• The network Epstein cultivated allegedly facilitated arms deals, cyber operations, regime change efforts, and geopolitical maneuvering far beyond sex trafficking.

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5. Systemic Corruption & Legalized Bribery

[13:33–15:15]

• Julian likens legalized political donations to bribery: “If you are paying money to a campaign or a person in order to secure a voting record...that is bribery.”
• U.S. campaign finance decisions (Citizens United, SpeechNow) have enabled transnational oligarchs to buy political influence and facilitate regime changes.
• Example: Epstein’s role in establishing a backchannel between Israel and Russia during the Syrian Civil War to orchestrate the ouster of Assad.

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6. Bipartisan Paralysis on Israel, Blackmail, and Honey Pots

[15:15–18:19]

• Both hosts and Julian discuss the bipartisan inability to address Israeli state actions, theorizing blackmail and “honey pot” operations explain why even otherwise-progressive politicians toe the pro-Israel line.
• Examples cited include Matt Gaetz’s hotel story and longstanding congressional friendships with Epstein spanning both parties.
• Notable Quote [17:00] — Julian Andreone:
  “The history of Mossad would show you that they love honey pots, right? ...People who are really close friends with [Epstein]...spans both parties.”

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7. Media Narratives, Textbook Influence, and Corporate Suppression

[23:59–28:40]

• Critique of U.S. media for shaping the Epstein story to protect certain interests, focusing on select villains and ignoring long-term Mossad (Robert Maxwell) ties.
• Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine’s father, described as a notorious Mossad asset who acquired McGraw Hill textbooks—raising questions about narrative control on Israel in U.S. education.
• Israel’s actions (e.g., USS Liberty incident) cited as examples of impunity never confronted by U.S. officialdom or media.

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8. Accusations of Antisemitism, Identity, and Jewish Dissent

[32:33–37:42]

• Supporters of Israel attempt to conflate criticism of Israeli government actions with antisemitism—even targeting Jews like Julian.
• Notable Quote [33:00] — Julian Andreone (responding to being called antisemitic): “Enjoy this picture of me at my bar mitzvah in 2017. ...Israel does not equal Judaism and the assertion that it does is what is truly anti-Semitic.”
• Jewish American dissent is highlighted as both real and suppressed, especially among young progressives.

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9. U.S. Funding Priorities and Domestic Parallels

[37:42–40:18]

• Hosts highlight the contradiction between limitless U.S. aid to Israel and domestic neglect (e.g., health care, education).
• Medicare for All could save hundreds of billions annually, yet Congress routinely supports foreign aid over domestic investment.

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10. Political Establishment, Populism, and the Limits of Coalition

[40:18–68:25]

• Julian gives insider Capitol Hill gossip, noting the limitations of traditional press gaggles and strategies for getting honest answers.
• Expresses skepticism about Democratic and Republican establishment, advocating for populist coalitions—but hosts voice strong resistance given red state realities.
• Notable Quote [51:04] — Angie Sullivan:
  “There is a bloodlust...these people have about recreational cruelty.”
• The complexity of cross-ideological organizing is debated, especially in the face of intense right-wing media radicalization and Christian nationalism.

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11. Culture Wars: Life and Death in Red States

[69:29–70:51]

• Angie underscores that “culture war” issues are not abstract; for LGBTQ people, rape survivors, and vulnerable minorities in red states, they are existential and not mere distractions.
• Notable Quote [69:31] — Angie Sullivan:
  “It's life and death for them. It is literal life and death.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Blackmail and Surveillance as the Norm ([04:22], Julian Andreone):
  “You’d have to do more mental gymnastics at this point to get to the conclusion that he wasn’t blackmailing people than to get to the conclusion that he was.”

• On Israeli Impunity ([06:29], Julian Andreone):
  “Israelis are above the law in this country and in their own country...completely above the law, international law, American law, and Israeli law.”

• On the “Davos Class” ([12:37], Julian Andreone):
  “He was a member of this...class of elite businessmen...who the governments actually go to to set things up.”

• On Bipartisan Silence ([17:00], Julian Andreone):
  “It spans both parties. People always talk about the Trump connections...but he was also very close friends with Bill Clinton [and] Larry Summers...Obama, Biden, Clinton. It goes all the way back.”

• On Antisemitism Accusations ([33:00], Julian Andreone):
  “Israel does not equal Judaism and the assertion that it does is what is truly anti-Semitic.”

• Life-and-Death Reality of "Culture Wars" ([69:31], Angie Sullivan):
  “It's life and death for them. It is literal life and death.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [00:45] — Congressional stonewalling on Epstein questions
• [02:07] — Israeli surveillance in Epstein’s NYC property
• [04:22] — Implications of blackmail and geopolitical leverage
• [10:06] — Epstein’s role as middleman and his elite network
• [13:33] — Legalized campaign bribery and its impact on democracy
• [17:00] — Discussion of honey pots and bipartisan compromise
• [23:59] — Corporate media narrative shaping and education manipulation
• [33:00] — Jewish identity, anti-Semitism accusations, and Jewish dissent
• [37:42] — Contradictions in U.S. funding and policy priorities
• [51:04] — The poison of “recreational cruelty” in red states
• [69:29] — The existential reality of culture wars in red states

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Tone and Style

The conversation is sharp, deeply informed, and unafraid of poking at sacred cows or media orthodoxy. The hosts blend sarcasm (“Little Moses, Mike Johnson”), outrage, and dark humor with policy expertise and lived experience. Julian engages with seriousness, data, and a distinct millennial candor about corruption and the U.S. political system.

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Conclusion

This episode exposes underreported aspects of the Epstein saga—especially his intelligence ties, the nature of global elite influence, and bipartisan political dysfunction. It offers rare candor about the media’s complicity in narrative-shaping, the real-life stakes of “culture wars,” and the limits and possibilities of coalition-building in American politics. For listeners seeking an evidence-driven, critical, and radical lens on U.S. power, foreign policy, and the meaning of resistance in red state America, this is must-listen content.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host (Ad Voice)]

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[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

All right, I'm joined today by Julian Andreone. He is a Capitol Hill correspondent with Dropsite News. So he's the guy that goes around, shoves the microphone in all of the Congress people's faces, which I think would be so fun. I would love. And so you're on Capitol Hill grilling members of Congress. And here is a question that you're asking about Epstein's ties to Israeli intelligence. Juicy af. Let's play the clip.

[Julian Andreone]

If you're not following the Jeffrey Epstein thing at all, it's only superficial. I mean, let me come around to the other side of you. It is tawdry, but like that's just

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

not where my head.

[Julian Andreone]

In fact, I deliberately try not to read it because really I got so many, you know, right now we're trying to. We got so many important things we're having to do. It's not important. I mean, it could be a national security threat. It is important, but it's over. It is nothing over which I have control.

[Podcast Host (Ad Voice)]

I have.

[Julian Andreone]

I really don't know what you're talking about.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I don't know. But obviously this now circulation information, that this is more tied to maybe international maligned interests is something. Okay, so you really don't ever get a good answer on that.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah, well, I think some of it's really telling even though it's not direct. Right. So like Cassidy says, it's tawdry. That signals to me what the way, I mean, it signals to me that he's thinking about the Epstein scandal in the way that it's classically been thought about, which is this is a sex ring. It involves scandalous sexual details and it includes abuse of minors, which of course is the most serious component component of that understanding of the Epstein files. But what we did in our reporting at Dropsite is we looked a little beyond the sex ring. What was the sex ring being used for? There were geopolitical interests involved. And we went through not only the emails that were obtained by the House Oversight Committee to start off, then were released after the Epstein Files Transparency act, but also through leaked documents and emails from hacker groups, we got access to Ehud Barack's inbox, the former Prime Minister of Israel, close friend of Jeffrey Epstein, and learned a whole bunch more. And so once you start to dig into that stuff, you wonder, hey, how many, how many of these people know about the intelligence ties or know that he was working closely with certain governments that may be donating them a lot of money and how many of them are actually ignorant to what's going on and just, you know, throwing an offhanded comment before walking away.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It's really the most important question is why would a guy, Jeffrey Epstein, who was really wealthy and none of us really know exactly why or how he was so wealthy, but he was, and he has a private island. Why would you provide underage girls for people, powerful people in your homes, wherein we know from images that there were video cameras everywhere. And so I think it's very easy to deduce that he was blackmailing people or keeping people in, you know, positions to where he could keep their, you know, get them to do what he wanted them to do or what other governments wanted them to do. But speak a little bit about the former Israeli prime minister, because I think that's kind of a bombshell. UD Barak.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah, well, really quickly, to your point about blackmail, I mean, I think you'd have to do more mental gymnastics at this point to get to the conclusion that he wasn't blackmailing people then to get to the conclusion that he was. I mean, in our reporting, we found that an Israeli spy who was an aide to a top aide to Ehud Barak, his name was Yoni Koren, was staying for several periods of multiple weeks on end over the course of months at Jeffrey Epstein second apartment in New York City. This is a top Israeli spy. We also found that the Israeli government installed security systems and maintained those security systems in that second apartment, apartment that Jeffrey Epstein owned in New York City.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It was say that again, the Israeli

[Julian Andreone]

government, through this connection between Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak and Yoni Koren, installed and maintained a surveillance system, a security system in Jeffrey Epstein's second New York City apartment, which he often used to host his guests in the city. Right. So when he would have guests, they wouldn't necessarily stay at his, the, you know, the New York City residence, that is that he famously lived at and that people sometimes go and take pictures at. They would stay in a second apartment. And in that apartment, these emails revealed the Israeli government had a role in a primary role in not only installing it, but also maintaining it over the course of an elapsed period of time.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I mean, that's just a bombshell in and of itself. I mean, and if you think about any other country doing that, like let's say that France or Spain was involved in Jeffrey Epstein in this regard, it would be everywhere.

[Julian Andreone]

Every senator would be talking about governments did it.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And then with Israel, it's just with impunity. Do you remember that case? And it was probably at the very beginning of Donald Trump's second term, and there was an FBI sexting in Las Vegas and they got like, you know, where they catch a predator and they honey potted a Israeli, I think, government official. Yeah. And he, instead of facing the American justice system, extradited him back immediately back

[Julian Andreone]

to Israel, where the Americans who were involved in it did get prosecuted. So Israelis are above the law in this country and in their own country. Right. Like Israelis who have killed people in the west bank, you just, you know, spoke about this. You know, Israelis who have killed people in the west bank, including Americans, are not prosecuted. I mean, it is. They are completely above the law, international law, American law, and Israeli law. And I mean, the detail about the Israeli spy staying in his apartment and the detail about them maintaining and, and, and, you know, a security system in his apartment are sort of the most overt signs of corruption there. But if you look at some less sort of juicy stories like them brokering cybersecurity details in Mongolia or the Cote d', Ivoire, right after Ehud Barak got out of office and started this, you know, new private company, and they were deal, they were getting him all of these deals that would be profitable for him, or the fact that they were, you know, facilitating arms transfers to, to nations in Africa that were, you know, undergoing civil war, that they were, you know, involved in, you know, mineral trade in the Congo and other nations like that. Just, they were masters at profiting from war and masters at essentially colonialism. Right. Going into these places and extracting resources for themselves. And as you can see now with the way that the Israeli government is operating not only in Palestine, not only in southern Lebanon, but the way that they speak about their next target being Turkey, they are operating with an imperialist mindset. They want to establish a regional hegemon, you know, that was kind of the purpose of the war with Iran. In my view is that they wanted to decapitate the one nation in that region that posed a threat to their power. And this is. They also just got access to the Leviathan gas fields, right? So they are expanding and they're trying to, it appears they're trying to recreate some version of the Ottoman Empire that's run by the Israeli government in that region where they would have access to all of the lucrative deals in the surrounding areas. They would have access to the minerals, the diamonds and, you know, all this stuff in Africa. They would have access to the gas fields, they would have access to the Strait of Hormuz. They're trying to get access to all of these really, really, you know, profitable areas via empire. And it's sort of, it's sort of harrowing, right, like in the 2026, that this imperial moving along and Western media isn't speaking about it that way at all.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I mean, at all. I was just speaking with Congressman Roana about settler violence and I just don't think people in the United States quite understand what that means and what that is that somebody from New York, from Long island can go on an all expenses paid trip to the west bank and take somebody's home. I mean, it's insane. And I just, when I, when I first heard that, I was like, can you please say that for me again? That makes zero sense. Why would they think that they can take somebody's home? That's like me of, you know, European ancestry thinking, okay, I'm going to go to France and I'm going to take somebody's home. I mean, it's just, it's utterly insane. But as it pertains to all of the natural resources you were talking about, do you see people in the Epstein files that link the Israeli government to these types of acquisitions?

[Julian Andreone]

100%. I mean, Epstein was basically acting as a middleman. I mean, Epstein, Epstein basically leveraged his personal connection with Ehud Barack to secure deals that would be lucrative to Israeli cybersecurity, the Israeli cybersecurity industry. Not only were they doing arms transfers, but they were, they were training forces, for example, in Congo during the civil war. They had like an Israeli training unit go out there. This is our latest article on Epstein and Israel. But it was, it was more than just profitability or business in terms of the resources. It was, it was, it was geopolitical maneuvering. I mean, the way that Ryan, my boss, Ryan Grimm, spoke about this, you know, on Tim Dillon, when, when Tim Dillon had him on to speak about their Epstein Reporting is that Epstein, you know, there's. There's this theory that Epstein. Epstein was like, an Israeli spy, Right. That he was, like, working for the Mossad. But when you look at the emails and you read through them, you actually learn that he was operating at a layer above that. Right. Like, he was a member of this. This what Ryan called the Davos class. Like, this class of elite businessmen throughout the world who the governments actually go to to set things up. So Jeffrey Epstein, for example, was deeply involved. And this is our reporting, deeply involved in Iran Contra. And he actually facilitated an. Sort of this. This deal where the Iran Contra planes ended up back at Lex Wessner's home in Ohio. To then be used. Yes, to then be used to ship lingerie. Victoria's Secret.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

So listener, Lex. Les Wexner is the owner of Victoria's Secret. And by all accounts, the only reason that I've read that Jeffrey Epstein had money. The initial springboard was this Victoria's Secret guy. I ran the Iran Contra scandal. I remember growing up, and I remember that being all over TV with. I think it was Oliver North.

[Julian Andreone]

Okay.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Was that. Do you remember that? Years.

[Julian Andreone]

I was way too. I was.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

You were not born yet. But with. As it pertains to these American oligarchs like Les Wexner, and then Peter Thiel is in the Epstein files. Elon Musk, like, humiliating himself in the Epstein files. So is that the Davos class? Are these the people who think, okay, we run the world, and then we pick people and they get to be the leaders? Like, I think about Peter Thiel buying J.D. vance.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And just like, okay, I'm gonna install you here.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah, no, they definitely do. And it's not just that they think they run the world. I mean, they really do. Right. Like, they're donating. They're donating to politicians. It's essentially legalized bribery. It's like the example I always give people when I use the word bribery, and it catches them off guard, is if I were to walk up to someone and shoot them in the head, but in the law it said that that was allowed, it would still be murder. The definition of murder is to kill somebody. Right?

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right.

[Julian Andreone]

Even though a law may say that it murders, let's say it's the Purge. Right. Murder's legal today.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right.

[Julian Andreone]

You're still doing the action.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Julian Andreone]

And if you are paying money to a campaign or a person in order to secure a voting record from that person, that is in your best interest, and then they never vote against your interests, that's Bribery.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right.

[Julian Andreone]

And I mean, that is what all of these oligarchs are doing. It started with Citizens United is the famous case, the Supreme Court case. But there was also speech now, which was another case in the D.C. appellate circuit. And Citizens United, of course, allows these corporations to spend endless amounts of money. Speech now allows individuals to do it. And so now you're seeing even individuals pouring, you know, millions of their own dollars into these packs or super PACs that then gets rerouted to a candidate or, you know, a campaign entity that then spends on behalf of that candidate. And so, yeah, they are literally running the world. And we saw that they were orchestrating regime changes. You know, in the Epstein files, we. You know, one of our articles reported that Jeffrey Epstein helped establish a back channel between the Israelis and the Russians during the Syrian civil War in order to orchestrate the ouster of Al Assad, Bashar Al Assad. So they're literally. He was. He was the middleman to helping world leaders orchestrate a coup in a totally different country. I mean, this guy. The idea. And this is why, going back to the video that you played of my reporting, the idea that it's tawdry. Right. Like, anybody who understood the scope of the activities and behavior that Jeffrey Epstein was getting into, or at at the very least understood that he wasn't some random pedophile in Florida, but was operating on a much grander scale and had these powerful connections that he didn't just stumble into. Powerful connections because they like to party together. They had business dealings.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Julian Andreone]

And, you know, the idea that it's tawdry. I mean, what are we talking about? Right.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Like, exactly. So both sides of the aisle seem to be. There seems to be a paralysis surrounding Israel, like a complete. You see it in Democratic politicians, and you see it a lot in Republican politicians. I always think, as a normal person, like, in order to sell myself out, in order to ignore something somebody would have to have. Money wouldn't be enough for me to sell my morals down the river. I think that somebody would have to be like, okay, I'm going to kill your kid, or I'm going to release this super embarrassing video when I was drunk one night, maybe fold around on my husband or something like this. But for some people, maybe money is just enough or proximity to power. But I always wonder, like, why won't these politicians that fight so hard against racism and stand up for women and stand up for LGBTQ plus people. I'm talking about Democrats. And then when it gets to Israel, they're just paralyzed and they just espouse these talking points. I'm kind of thinking about, like, Cory Booker right here. He's always providing cover for them, but on so many other issues, as a woman from a red state, like, he was a dream is a dream candidate. So my brain goes to, are these people honey potted by the Israeli government? And I don't know if that there's any evidence for that, but do you know Matt Gaetz, who's a complete nut, and he was on a podcast and he said, you know, I went over to this, on this trip to Israel, and then I went back to my hotel room kind of early and there was somebody in the room.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And is it crazy to think that a lot of our politicians are. Are compromised in the same way that Jeffrey Epstein was compromising a lot of these wealthy elite people?

[Julian Andreone]

I don't think that's crazy to think at all. I mean, I. I think that there's a very real chance. I mean, the history of Mossad would show you that they love honey pots, Right? We don't know. We don't know who was involved among members of the American government, but we know people who are really close friends with him, and it spans both parties, Right? Like, people always talk about the Trump connections because Trump's in the White House now. And yes, they were very close friends, but he was also very close friends with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Kathy Rummeler. These are people who are Obama, Biden, Clinton. It goes all the way back. And I think that that gets to your point about these people who are really, really good on the culture war or social issues, but when it comes to corporate power or when it comes to Israel, they're nowhere to be found.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right.

[Julian Andreone]

And I think the reason for that is because on those social. The social issues are a distraction tactic. Right? So it's like if we can get people arguing about, you know, LGBTQ issues, or if we can get people arguing about abortion rights or, you know, social, cultural war issues that are definitely important in their own right, but are relatively unimportant on the grand scale of what's going on in the world and what systematically oppressing people, then they can continue to operate at a layer above as they did and to secure profits for themselves.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And see, that's where it's so genius, because you mentioned before we started filming, you're from Los Angeles, and for a queer person in a red state or for a rape victim in a red state, my home state of Oklahoma, those issues are life and death, right? They are absolutely life and death. And I think that sometimes the Democrats have a lot of success because those issues are local in that exact moment. Yeah. Abortion, LGBTQ plus stuff, race issues. And the larger issue with Israel that I think both parties are going to run into as the midterms and then 2028 come up is that there has been an awakening in the electorate where the propaganda is not working anymore because I kind of bought into. I'm like, oh, they're a democracy. Everybody else is a terrorist. All right, that's fine. You know, let's deal with these Christian nationalists around me right now. I was hyper focused on that. When you realize that the politicians you're counting on to have moral clarity don't. When it pertains to Israel, it's really, really devastating. And as it pertains to Jeffrey Epstein, I think something that is always been really problematic for me is all of the different DOJs that this went through. The original sweetheart deal with Alex Acosta was during Obama's doj, and of course, he had complete separation.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

But the thing that gets me the most about this thing is that Joe Biden and Merrick Garland had this while Trump was running again, after the. Fake. Not fake. I didn't mean to say that. After the alleged assassination attempt, which I do. I'm kind of a conspiracy theorist on this. I just don't think.

[Julian Andreone]

You can't blame anyone for getting into conspiracy theories these days.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I just. I just. Sorry. Like a guy sitting up on top of a building that whole time. And you have the Secret Service, the FBI, all of those. Come on. The first thing you do is check the top of the building. But I digress. But the fact that nobody did anything about this, about Jeffrey Epstein.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And how. You can see, I think the whole Iran war starting, of course, BB wanted it really bad, but Trump needed a distraction to wag the tail of the dog away from it. And so I think that everything that we're doing in this country now, all roads kind of lead back to this Jeffrey Epstein, don't you?

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah. Well, I think it's because the Jeffrey Epstein thing is a perfect microcosm for the way that our society operates. Right. It's this really, really rich guy in the private sector who's found a way to operate essentially a pseudo state. He's, like, running his own unofficial intelligence agency, gathering information and working on behalf of the interests of a foreign government from within the United States. Ordinarily, you would call that a spy. Every single move that he made geopolitically was to benefit Israel So it's not necessarily that he was working for Israel. We don't have evidence that he was a contracted employee of Mossad. You know, it's not like we discovered a contract with his signature at the bottom.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right.

[Julian Andreone]

But every single time that he's operating, you know, he's basically doing diplomacy on behalf of Israel and securing private sector deals for, for Israeli cybersecurity, you know, companies and tech companies. It's like this is, you know, once, okay, coincidence, twice, okay. But every single time, I mean, this is like a 12 part series, right, that we have. And like you're looking at the way that he was establishing relationships between Ehud Barack and Ariane de Rothschild, that she would finance his tech company. It's like all of the wealthiest people from all across the world. JP Morgan Chase was involved with Epstein, something that I was talking to Elizabeth Warren about and she was like, why hasn't the Banking committee looked into JPMorgan Chase? We are the Senate Banking Committee and we have evidence that JPMorgan Chase was working with Epstein's finances after he had already been outed as a pedophile. Why at the very least are we not looking into a bank collaborating with someone who's a felon?

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Which brings me to his death. So I asked Julie K. Brown, I asked this other lawyer, who was a lawyer, like for all of the victims, right. During the initial sweetheart deal that Alex Acosta gave him and other people that are involved in this, do you think he committed suicide? Every single one of these people, which I believe to be critical, credible, non conspiratorial, immediately didn't hesitate and say, no, he absolutely did not commit suicide.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Pile that on with Jeffrey Epstein's own brother who believes that he didn't commit suicide. So as we talk about this whole thing and what's so crazy about it, Julian, is when, when the right was all obsessed with this and it was like, oh, it's a cabal of rich pedophiles. They just thought it was like Hillary Clinton and a couple of other people. They were right. I mean, there's a lot of truth to the fact that there are these elites that are victimizing little girls honey potting each other. And when I think about the email and I think it was Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel talking about Brexit. Are those the two players you remember that?

[Julian Andreone]

I believe so, yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I think it's Peter Thiel celebrating Brexit. That for me was like, wait a minute, this is not just about sex crimes. There's when you read into the emails. There's so much more at play than just the sex crimes.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, one of the biggest players in this entire story being muddied is corporate media. Right? Like, there are very obvious connections and details and facts that they omit, and they tend to do that a lot. And we see it all the way up until present day. They do it on almost every story. They omit facts that don't portray the story that they want or the narrative that they want people to grasp onto. So, for example, when they talk about Jeffre Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as the scandal was evolving, they realized that Trump, a member of this elite class, was going to be implicated and he was president. And so they started. You could see, on the turn of a dime, their messaging and their rhetoric sort of started to change, and they were willing to throw Trump under the bus instead of saying it's a wild conspiracy theory. And they're like, okay, yeah, Trump did all these things with Epstein, but nobody else. Right? Okay. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Everything that they talk about about Epstein always comes back to Trump. Trump. They never, for example, tell you that Robert Maxwell, which was Ghislaine Maxwell's father, was one of the most notorious Mossad spies of all time, and he stole our nuclear secrets, gave them to the Israelis, who then sold them to the Soviet Union in the middle of the Cold War, while they were our greatest adversary. He also pumps the brakes.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Ghislaine's dad.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Julian Andreone]

He also purchased McGraw Hill textbooks, which are responsible for teaching all of our children in America the history of Israel and Palestine, among other international, you know, histories or. Or domestic history. I mean, McGraw Hill is, like, one of the biggest textbook publishers in all of the public schools. Why would a notorious Israeli asset need access to curriculum for a history textbook publisher? And you start to question why everybody has this preconceived notion about Israel being the only democracy in the Middle east or that the Palestinians are actually the terrorists or that world history started on October 7, 2023. And they're. Nothing ever happened before that. I mean, it. It's amazing. They're like octo. It's like everything that you talk about, though, the war, they're like, October 7th. October 7th. And it's like. Like, what about, like, 1967? What about, like, 1949? It's like, yeah. Oh, every year you go back and something happened to precipitate, you know, a resistance reaction from, you know, Hamas or some other organized group of people who have been radicalized to pursue violence because they've been oppressed for so long, systemically oppressed. And they just won't recognize it. And corporate media never talks about it. The Ghislaine Maxwell sort of detail regarding her father being an Israeli asset and stealing our nuclear secrets. What treason, by the way? Stealing our nuclear secrets, giving them to Israel, who then decided to sell them to our greatest enemy at the time. Special ally. Special ally. After that?

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Julian Andreone]

What about the USS Liberty after that? I mean there's all of these things.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

My listeners with the USS Liberty, there

[Julian Andreone]

was an American ship and the Israelis. Yeah, they shot it. There was a complete impunity of total impunity. And Thomas Massie recently did a floor speech with Survivor in sort of calling on survivors of the USS Liberty to try to bring this back into the political consciousness. But it's something that's never spoken about. And I think it's like, you know, I don't want to get bogged down in the details of any of it, but I just, I just think broadly speaking, there are so many inflection points at which the American media or American government officials could have come to the American people and said, we've been betrayed by this ally. Anything that Israel has done to us that, you know, people are now talking about that could be considered, you know, non ally behavior would have precipitated a war if it were any other country stealing our nuclear secrets, selling them to our greatest enemy, bombing one of our ships. I mean, these are, these are things that, they're acts of war. I mean, we went to war with Iran for less. Right. And I'm not advocating for war with Israel. I don't believe in war with anybody. But at least cut off the alliance. Maybe don't pursue merging your militaries together or passing a bill that would streamline the process of sharing all of our intelligence with them. Don't share all of your most sensitive military technology with that government. Perhaps sanction them. That's what we usually do when we don't want to go to war with a country. But they're operating against our best interests and we need to punish them. I mean, all of these options that they could pursue and they don't do any of them. Why? Because 505 out of 538 members of Congress have accepted a pro Israel lobbying contribution or campaign contribution throughout their careers. That's 95%. 95.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

When I knew that Israel was full of. And I'm late to the party here, slow learner. But I immediately knew when you could tell they preferred Donald Trump Over Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. And Joe Biden gave them everything they wanted. Yeah. I mean, he gave them everything they wanted. But when I realized, oh, when Bibi went to Mar A Lago and you could see that they wanted Donald Trump, I was like, this is this whole bullshit about it being a democracy. When you, if you're this beacon of democracy, you're not going to go support the guy that tried to overthrow the government on January 6, you know, and pack his toys up and left and wouldn't participate in the peaceful transfer of power. That to me was like, y' all are so full of shit with all of this stuff that. That Israel is such a pro. Beacon of democracy that. That for me, I was just like, off.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, I've also never heard of a democracy that has a hierarchy based on race, ethnicity or religion.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Exactly. But see, a lot of that stuff is kept.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

From. For a person that lives in middle America, there's people that are hyper focused on this issue and, you know, all the minutiae and all the details.

[Julian Andreone]

A lot of them work at dropsite. Right.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

The majority, the average American. And I hate to say it like this, but it boils down to, okay, Israel, democracy, they are white presenting.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Juxtaposed to these Arabic people surrounding them in a post 911 world. Oh, they are terrorists. It's a very easy thing for people to bite into that. Oh, they're the good guys. We support them. Because these terrorists blew up, you know, part of New York.

[Julian Andreone]

How can you blame them? They're getting all of their news from corporate media who are all controlled by the conglomerates that are.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And I was that person. I didn't. But also on the same token, I didn't care that much about it either. I did enough where I'm like. But it's just. It's such a far off place. But now it has become a kitchen table issue.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

The Israel issue. Because we are told that we can't have nice things. And I'm talking about cancer treatment as a nice thing. And I'm talking about an education as a nice thing. I'm talking about books not being banned, things like this. But Israel continues to get all of this aid. And it is on top of the fact when you see, and I don't care what, what kind of person you are, unless you're a monster. When you see these Palestinian kids that are dead or have lost limbs and people's homes, they're intentionally carpet bombing civilian infrastructure, it just, it, it's just an. It's A no across the board. So you and your colleagues at drop site are leading a truth based, fact based reporting on this to an electorate that is pretty much abandoning corporate news. And in being critical of Israel, you get tweets like this from this gal, Shannon Watts. She says vile anti Semitism from the far left. If the reporter was black or Muslim, would they accuse them of being incapable of being impartial on other stories? The answer is no. This is a real mask off moment. You respond to Shannon Watts with this. Enjoy this picture of me at my bar mitzvah in 2017. Shannon, remember, Israel does not equal Judaism and the assertion that it does is, is what is truly anti Semitic. So there is a censorship happening with people like me that used to live in middle America getting the facts about this. Tick tock and other social media platforms were exposing that. And now people that donate to the IDF are trying to buy up those

[Julian Andreone]

tick tock at the Larry Ellison at

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

the behest of Benjamin Netanyahu. But this gal here, she assumes because you're critical of Israel that you're an anti Semite and little did she know you're Jewish. And not only are we suppressing facts about Israel's war crimes, lies and propaganda, there is also a Jewish American opposition to this.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

That I feel all over New York City.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

That is getting suppressed. So can you speak to how, as you were critical of Israel, the expectation that people throw at you, a Jewish person, this kind of shit. And, and the, the opposition, the Jewish opposition. American Jewish opposition to what's happening in Israel.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah. To be clear, the. When you flash that up on screen, it shows that I deleted the initial tweet. The reason I did that is because I didn't want any misconceptions about what people thought I meant. I think I was, quote, tweeting Daniel Boguslaw, who is a reporter at the Intercept, and he was showing that this reporter who had written this story had parents who had basically raised her in Kansas and moved to Israel as settlers in Haifa. And so I was like, oh, nothing to see here. You know, I think it literally was just that, nothing to see here. But Shannon, of course is. I mean, it has become sort of a one issue.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

She Jewish?

[Julian Andreone]

I, I have, I, I have no clue and I don't even know if it's relevant. I mean, I think that, I think she, she started this like, gun violence.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Julian Andreone]

Thing on protecting children and is now like only focused on Israel and will come after people constantly tries to start fights with Hasan on Twitter and whatnot.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

But I think everybody wants to fight with Hasan.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah, they do. I don't know if it's like a visibility thing or if he just, like, really gets on people's nerves or if it's. Yeah, yeah. He's incredibly intelligent, so I think that's probably a big part of it. Yeah. I. But I think. I think with Shannon, like, look, I. So I grew up for the first nine years of my life and was Christian. Would go to Sunday school every Sunday. And then.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah, okay.

[Julian Andreone]

And then my. But I grew up with a single

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

mother at the time, and she was Christian.

[Julian Andreone]

Yes.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Julian Andreone]

Our whole family. And then she married my stepdad, who I now call dad. He raised me, and he's a Jewish man. And we all converted when they got married.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Julian Andreone]

When I converted to Judaism, I spent a year at Jewish day school and had a bar mitzvah. And now I'm 22 years old. And I'm not. I don't. I don't have, you know, some deep tie to really any religion. There are things that make me feel more spiritually connected. Like when I listen to gospel music, I feel quite spiritually connected. And I feel, oh, there's some higher power here. But I'm not reading the scripture of any religion. What I was trying to point out there is that I grew up around Judaism. I would go to synagogue for Yom Kippur. I would go to synagogue for Passover, Hanukkah. We would. Every single night, we would light the candles and say the prayers, and we would have Shabbat. I went to a Jewish day school of my close friends growing up were Jewish. And the notion that because I criticize a foreign government means that I am disloyal or adversarial or hateful towards that religion, I find personally insulting. And I find it more insulting because they're endangering Jewish people. They're endangering the people I love, including my dad. Right. If you link my dad and his religion. He keeps kosher. He is. He practices Judaism. And if you link what he practices, which is a religion that emphasizes peace and love and community, to a genocide, ethnic cleansing, imperialism, you're putting him in danger from people who are not able to decipher the difference between the nation committing those crimes and the national religion they claim. And now my dad might get hurt or might be subject of hate speech or anti Semitism because of this bad faith link that you've done for political purposes in order to uphold this nation state that's profiting your class. Class. Right. These wealthy this wealthy class of individuals who are profiting off of everything that Israel does, and they're profiting off of the war machine and the lobby. Right. Like, I, I resent that. Right. I don't want my dad to be in danger. I love my dad. I love my friends. And I.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And if you think about it, like, how insane it would be right now if, if we criticized Georgia Maloney and then all of the Catholics were saying we were anti Catholic.

[Julian Andreone]

It's insane.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Link to, to Rome or if you criticize the Pope. The Pope has always been criticism, criticism, always.

[Julian Andreone]

Trump did it.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Julian Andreone]

Is he anti Catholic now? Right.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

So when you think it, when you step back and think about it, of course there is a history that we all have to acknowledge the Holocaust and then, you know, prior to that, even the, the history of Jewish people. But I think what befuddles me the most is that the lesson of the Holocaust is that this shouldn't happen again.

[Julian Andreone]

It is that very fact that Jewish people have been persecuted throughout their history and have been subject to systematic ethnic cleansing and systematic genocide. That all Jews should be the most fervent defenders of Palestinian human rights and Lebanese human rights, that they should be the most fervent criticism critics of the Israeli government which discards human rights. And again, it's like you mentioned this. It's like we, we, we give them $3 billion a year in aid. It will end up being a lot more Money if Section 224, which is now known, or which is now known as Section 219 of the NDAA passes and our militaries are merged, where there's going to be one point person at the, at the Pentagon who can streamline the process of sending them all of our technology and, you know, sort of intelligence. It will be, it'll end up being a lot more money that they receive from us. It just won't be documented with all of that money that we have out going out the door to help them pursue these imperialist process processes and to inflict violence on innocent people in the west bank and Gaza and elsewhere. We have so much that needs to be addressed here. Right. Like the Congressional Budget Office estimated that if we were to transition to Medicare for All system, it would save US government upward, like at least $650 billion a year. It would save the US government $650 billion a year by cutting out the middlemen like the pharmaceutical benefit managers. Right. All of the deficit hawks are against Medicare for all. And they say, how, how are you going to pay for it? How are you going to pay for it? But then when it comes to sending $3 billion a year to Israel or passing this Section 219 in the NDAA, which would bleed us dry of money that would go to, to Israel, the deficit hawks are back out there and they're like, what about the national debt? What about the deficit? It's like, you weren't talking about that when we realized that Medicare for all could save our government money and lower the deficit. It's all disingenuous. All of the things they claim to care about, whether it's the Democrats who claim to care about trans rights and abortion and whatever the social issues, the right wingers who claim to care about their, their stance on trans rights and abortion, it's all nonsense, right? They all are among the same class of people who end up at the same cocktail parties at the end of the night in Georgetown where they discuss these plots like we learned about in the emails between Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barack, to manipulate the geopolitical order and to operate a pseudo state that will then become in turn incredibly profitable for them.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

All right, now let's shift gears and just gossip a little bit about your day job when you're, when you push the mic in front of people faces.

[Julian Andreone]

Let's gossip.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

All right, Little Moses, Mike Johnson, do you get to question him?

[Julian Andreone]

So I actually haven't questioned him while I've been with Drop site because he doesn't walk through the halls. He does press gaggles.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Julian Andreone]

And my style of reporting, this is actually interesting. I'm kind of glad you asked that question because a lot of reporters will gravitate to these gaggles, right? So they'll say, we're having a press conference here at this time and all the reporters will show up and they'll be in this big crowd and the person will stand in front of the crowd and they shout questions. But you really only get one question, right? So you ask your question, they spit back their talking point and they move on to the next reporter.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right?

[Julian Andreone]

I'm, I'm not deeply interested in that.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Walk and talk.

[Julian Andreone]

I like a walk and talk because if I can find you in a place where there's no other reporters, I can get four or five questions. And I trust myself intellectually against these folks because I think that they are taking a lot of what they purport to believe from donors. And so if I push with follow up questions just enough, I'm like, let's see if you really believe that or if you're reciting A talking.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

All right. Have you done a walk and talk with Lion Ted?

[Julian Andreone]

Oh, Ted Cruz. Yeah. I asked him recently about Dialogue. Peter Thiel, secret society. He's on the. I don't know if you saw that Wired reporting, but he's among three people in Congress who are listed on a membership list for Dialogue, which is, you know, Peter Thiel's essentially secret society, where they have these annual conferences.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Of course. Of course. Ted's right.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Does everybody hate him as much as they say?

[Julian Andreone]

I think Lindsey Graham Reese said once that if Ted. He said something along the lines of, like, if Ted Cruz was prosecuted and was brought to the Senate for a vote, everybody would vote to prosecute because he. He's not very well liked in the Senate. And I think, like, there are certain people who disagree with you politically who are, you know, quite good. They operate in good faith and they engage. You know, I like, I love talking to Thomas Massie, like, and I know he's become somebody who's understood to play that role, but I've always really liked talking to him. I think that he is somebody who thinks critically, and we disagree. The deficit actually is a big one. Like, he wears that little deficit counter on his. I disagree with his entire understanding of how federal spending works. But going up to him and talking to him, you can see he's actually listening to what you're saying as much as you're listening to what he's saying. And then you end the conversation somewhere where you've actually reached something that's informative for the audience.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

So what about Marjorie?

[Julian Andreone]

I. So she was there before this go around. I was there as a student reporter in my sophomore year of college, and I interacted with her. And I remember the one thing that I always thought about Marjorie Taylor Greene was that she definitely believed what she was saying, like, when I would look into her eyes when she was talking. And this is something that when you're on the ground, you tend to pick up on a human level. When you're looking at people, you can tell whether they're kind of trying to BS you or whether they're telling you what they believe, even if what they believe is crazy.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right, Right.

[Julian Andreone]

And she, like, Thomas Massie, is somebody who I always understood to believe what they were saying. I think Ted Cruz is a good example of somebody who's full of shit. He's somebody who doesn't believe in anything.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Total nihilist.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah. I mean, he. You can just track his comments throughout his career and how they contradict each

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

other, who seems the Most sincere on the left, Chris Van Hollen.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, I really like Chris, and I think that he is. He is really. He's really adept at talking about issues that are not within the national discourse. So he's really good at talking about Sudan. Right. Like, he really understands the internal politics in a bunch of countries that are not talked about on corporate media, which kind of shows you that he's thinking critically and he's listening to his advisors and they're actually doing the work, the research. I think Ilhan Omar is incredibly, you know, forthcoming. I always remark that when I talk to Ilhan Omar, it doesn't feel like she's trying to mask what she's saying to be okay for people to hear. She's just telling you what she actually believes or what the actual truth is, is. And I think people really appreciate that, like, it when it doesn't feel like they're trying to frame what they're thinking in a politician speak way, you know, or they're trying to make it sound good. For consultants in D.C. you just say it outright, right? Like, yeah, Jeffrey Epstein was definitely working in cahoots with Masoda. Whoa. Okay, there you go. Let's put that out there.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Okay, last one. Mitch McConnell, obviously, he just released, like, a proof of life photograph, which is breathtaking, truly. That a United states senator in 2020, who was on American soil, at an American hospital, not in custody, released a photograph of a newspaper with the date on it is so fucking crazy, which for me brings up more questions than it does answers. But have you ever questioned him? And I feel like we've been watching Mitch McConnell die publicly now for, like, five or six years.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah, it almost appeared like he had. I think everyone was kind of making fun of that clip where he, like, like, froze. But I think that was a stroke. Yeah, I think he just had a stroke.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

He was. His pants.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah. I have no clue. Could have been.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I mean, like, he freezes. He's like, oh, you know, there's running down my leg. And then they scoot him out in Washington.

[Julian Andreone]

You never know.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It could.

[Julian Andreone]

It could be anything. So I. I won't discount that theory, but I will say any scuttlebutt.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I mean, do you have any insider beat?

[Julian Andreone]

If.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Is he.

[Julian Andreone]

I'll tell you, you want to know something? And this doesn't matter. So I. I've heard so many different things about Mitch McConnell that. And then this picture kind of threw it all off. Because at first I was like, okay, they. They, you know, I heard some reporting that, like, they told The White House, like, Mitch is not coming back. You know, like, oh, he's like his. Yeah, he's alive. Technically, he's. But he's hooked up to a machine and whatever. And so he's brain dead. And once his organs fail, they won't be able to keep him on the machine. Then you see the picture and you're like, whoa, okay, well, if that's real, he. He's not hooked up to a machine and he looks okay. And it has the newspaper in it, which of course, was done deliberately, but unrelated to Mitch McConnell. And I think you'll find this interesting because you said, what's the little insider thing? Gary Peters is a senator from Michigan. He's the one who's. Whose vacancy will open the way for either Abdul El Sayed or Haley Stevens or Mike Rogers if the Republican wins. But he was the head of the dscc, and he generally told me on the record that he believes that the DSCC and Democratic campaign arms should stay out of primaries and that they should support whoever the nominee is. And so while this primary was going, going on, while Mallory McMorrow was still in the race, I asked him whether he was thinking about endorsing, whether he was talking to the candidates, what he thinks about the DSCC getting involved in these primaries, trying to tank. Graham Platner early on, trying to tank. Abdul El said, going all around, just trying to put their thumb on the scale. And he goes, yeah, well, I don't. I'm not with the DSCC anymore, but I just think they should generally stay out. Today he endorses Haley Stevens. A couple months ago, I overheard a conversation that he was having with Chris Coons, another senator, on the floor of the Senate, where essentially they were talking about just this. They said, oh, yeah, well, Mallory's in there and Haley's in there, but I think they're going to have to consolidate because there's this guy Abdul, and he's a threat, you know, and it wasn't exactly those words, but they were essentially talking about the fact that if Mallory McMorrow and Haley Stevens both stayed in the, in the race, they would siphon votes away from each other and pave the way for Abdul Al Said to become the nominee. And I think that. And this is an area where you're not allowed to record. There's no, there's no audio on the floor of the Senate. There's just like a muted camera that shows you them going in for votes, but you can't hear anything. But if you're a reporter, you can sit in the gallery and you can hear what they're talking about. And sometimes the senators don't realize that if they're talking too loudly, you can hear what they're saying. And so sometimes I'll just go up there after I'm done getting the clips and I'll just sit there for an hour and listen.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Oh, just a total. You probably are too young for this. Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched. You probably don't know who she was.

[Julian Andreone]

No.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Iconic nosy neighbor.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah, that's that. Maybe me. But this kind of tells you the way that the establishment operates. Right. They take these positions and they say, oh, actually, we're holier than thou and we're going to stay out of this race and we'll get behind the Democrat whoever it is under the assumption that the whoever it is is the one that they want. Then when it looks like it's not going to be the one that they want. Want. Right. Mallory McMorrow gets out of the race. Haley Stevens is the only moderate award that I kind of hate. She's a centrist. And they're staying out. They're staying out. And then as soon as it looks like it's really close that Abdul's gonna win and that he's polling surging ahead in the polls by outside the margin of error, they're like, okay, fine, yeah, Debbie Stabenow and, and, and, you know, Gary Peters, the last two senators from Michigan, let's throw them in there and endorse Haley Stevens. Right. I think that that the way that the. The way that my political philosophy has evolved has almost a. It has almost entirely weeded out the partisan nature of our politics today. The idea that Republicans bad, Democrats good. What I think that what is really needed is a populist coalition. I think that for there to be actual. And I'm not saying what's needed in terms of. For the country. I'm saying for there to actually be Democratic balance within our political system. Again, for us to have a trul. Democratic system or a republic. You can't have Democrats and Republicans be the only two parties because they are. They tend to be on the same side of a lot of issues. Right. Like economically speaking, in terms of how to manage the deep state, it is generally referred to how to manage private equity, for example. They're on. They're on the same side on campaign finance. They're on the same side. Healthcare. They're actually generally on the same same side because they don't want to go past a Certain threshold. So they'll say, okay, I'm in favor of ACA subsidies, I'm in favor of a totally privatized system. But that's here. And there's a whole other scope of the debate over here that they purport not to know about so that they can argue about these two, you know, sort of slightly different things. What I mean, the work that some people on the right wing are doing that are in the more populist wing and the work that some people on the left wing are doing in the more populist wing to come together and create like a unity.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

No way would I ever partner with the Tucker Carlson's the margin.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, the only reason we're talking about

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

would never do it because if you've lived in a red state and you have red state trauma, there is a bloodlust.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

That these people have about recreational cruelty.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, I'm not necessarily saying that it is.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I'm very scared of that. I'm very scared of people proposing that unity. And it typically comes from people who haven't lived around Christian nationalism.

[Julian Andreone]

And that's probably it. That's probably a big part of why I'm more optimistic about it than you are. Because. And I think the only thing I'll say is, look, I'm not saying that, that we should have a populist right wing government. Right. Like, would I ever vote for a populist right winger coming up? No. But I do think that it's crucial in order to unite the country for us to center the issues that we agree on and to backbench the issues that we don't out.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

See, I think the problem is, I think that the, the reason why there's even like this idea of right wing populism coming up right now is because of Tucker and, and Massey, I think

[Julian Andreone]

is a big part of it.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And which, which he doesn't freak me out as much as Tucker. Tucker Carlson is not a credible person. He says that he was asleep and that he was attacked by four demons in his sleep. He nut. And then if you want to talk about connections with people, his connections with Putin and his inability to be critical of the Russian government, which is an oligarchy which anybody, all of these really wealthy people that went to kiss the ring of Putin have fallen out of windows and have been killed off. I just do not trust anything right wing, period. I have too much red state trauma. I know these people. They are diabolical. Their machinations towards a white national and white nationalist Christian nation are serious. And Tucker Carlson is smart and he is a Darwinist, survival of the fittest. He knows that Trump is cooked. He knows he's a dementia duck. He knows the America first agenda was a lie. He jumped off that and he's like, okay, now I'm going to take this message to everybody that MAGA lost their way. And you hear Marjorie Taylor Greene saying this, and I know the language they're speaking because I know the people they're trying to speak it to, which are people in the middle of America. And that will hit hard.

[Julian Andreone]

I think it already is.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It hits hard. But what I know also hits hard is that Tucker Carlson made up the lie about being attacked by demons because that hits hard to the same people, the same evangelical base that elected Trump. And it's that spiritual warfare, binary, good versus evil. And it is Christian signaling they accuse us of virtue signaling he's doing that. It's Christian signaling it's getting the base, which is a very, very organized force of voters. And so I'm just terrified of the, the flirtation that some people have that are fed up with American politics, which I agree with. But the flirtation and giving credibility to Tucker Carlson because he's critical of Israel and I understand where it comes from because people are dying. Call out Israel for what it is, call it out for what it is, and then Tucker does it. But Tucker's desires to do that are not rooted in the earnest things that your desires for that are. They're completely different.

[Julian Andreone]

I think a lot of your commentary there makes total sense. Like, I think that on immigration, I totally disagree with Tucker. I think on January 6, I think he played a really awful role in peddling conspiracy theories that, that sort of undermined the strength of our democracy in a lot of ways. I think on, on, yeah, on some of the social issues, I totally disagree on his, with his rhetoric with regard to trans folks and lgbtq. F. I think on the, on the Christian supremacy stuff from at least from back when he was at Fox, I think, like, is horrible. And I am, I am sort of an egalitarian. I believe that all religions should be valued equally as can be. As can be evidenced by the fact that I, that I jumped.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I hate them all. I'm an atheist.

[Julian Andreone]

No, I totally. And I totally understand and value that too. I think that I'm talking less about figureheads of the right wing movement or people who, who would embrace that mantle and more about those working class people on the ground, people who generally aligned with the Republican Party after the Democratic Party left them out to dry, you know what I mean? When NAFTA came around with Clinton, when the Democratic party started taking corporate money, working class people navigated, you know, and looked for a political home. And the right wingers, as you mentioned, were super opportunistic and gave it to them with Nixon, you know what I mean? And I just think that those people on the ground are winnable and I think that they have been, I think that they have been subject to a disinformation campaign through corporate media and they, and through their politicians who maybe they trust because of their rhetoric on culture war issues or social issues that they've begun to believe or things that they've lied about with regard to economic policy that they take at face value, especially with Trump and all of his faux populism. But those people, people in their hearts and in their minds want the same thing, which is a dignified basic standard of living for them and the people that they love.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Some do. But, but there has been a cultural rot that has happened that, that saying things like that used to hit hard because it, it precludes and excludes that Fox News and right wing media and the right wing media ecosystem has fed up this red wing rec. Fed to the electorate this recreational cruelty.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

That you get to own the libtards in exchange for not getting policy delivered and the government delivering for you materially. And it's a part of them, it's got their claws into them. When JD Vance said that Trump was a, an opiate for the masses, right wing media and serving up recreational cruelty and picking on minorities and women is. The electorate has like a Pavlovian response to that. And I've seen it, I've seen that people will be happy to not get anything. Like here's an example in Oklahoma, our governor Kevin Stitt, who dedicated every square inch of the state to Jesus Christ, he said that on national television. I dedicate every square inch of the state to Jesus Christ. When Biden was president, he said, okay, here's hundreds of millions or however much, many millions it was for your child, federal funding for the children in schools to eat lunch. He said, no, Yep, I'm not taking that money. And these poor kids and these poor people in rural Oklahoma thought good for Governor Stitt for socking it to Biden.

[Julian Andreone]

Doesn't sound like Jesus Christ.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Doesn't sound like Jesus Christ. And, and they're dying of their whiteness. You know, there's a famous book written about that. And so that's a problem. I agree with you. But the hope in all of that Is, is during 2016, during the primary, when I voted for Hillary Clinton in Oklahoma. Bernie Sanders won in the state of Oklahoma. I'm on the record of saying I regret my vote for Hillary, but that's just where I was and in the course of my political evolution at the

[Julian Andreone]

time, I think is noble. Like, I, I'm, I admire.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Thank you. I mean, I. Yeah, thank you. But, but I do think that there's a, a lot of cultural rot that bad fact bad actors like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Green and others have played into in where now they have an electorate that likes to feast on recreational cruelty, and they have fed that cancer and they have grown it and they're going to have to water it. And Tucker knows that, and he's really, really good.

[Julian Andreone]

I think the recovering from that, that is to invest energy into those people and into showing them that their preconceived notions are not correct. Right. Like, I was recently in Nebraska doing a reporting trip, embedding with the Osborne campaign, to write a profile about him and to do a story about how the Iran war was affecting farmers because the fertilizer was getting held up with the Strait of Hormuz closed. And I was driving with one of the farmers from his farm to his friend's farm because we were going to shoot on his friend's farm farm. And he goes, you know, I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh every morning when I would be driving, and everything Rush Limbaugh said, I believed. He would talk about immigrants, I would believe it. He would talk about black people and women, I would believe it. But then he started talking about farming and everything he said made no sense. It was my one area of expertise. I knew everything about farming. And he started talking about farming and irrigation, and it made no sense. And I realized that he was lying about everything else. And I stopped listening to Rush Limbaugh. I exposed myself to a whole host of new information and I evolved politically. And now he's like this Biden. He's got like, Biden Harris signs all over his, like, garage and whatever. Like, I wouldn't do it, but he's like, all the way over there. You know what I mean? And that along with tons of people in my life who are, are Republican or right wing and have prejudiced views, have said things that are insulting to me, but have come to evolve on certain issues as they've become more exposed. They've had an immigrant in their life, maybe who's undocumented, who, who treats them with respect and dignity and who contributes to the community, and they realize, oh, this isn't actually that scary. Or they finally find that one relationship with a woman, whether it's platonic or romantic, where they realize that maybe they're not just a body or whatever, I

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

don't know, finally get laid.

[Julian Andreone]

Right, right, right.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And then they'll vote for us.

[Julian Andreone]

Right? No, but it's Again, it's like it. I. These are all examples, but it's all about exposure. Like, these are human beings. Right? Like, again, they have beliefs that we find to be insulting. And I am personally offended by many of them. I was partially raised by two, you know, undocumented immigrants who came here fleeing violence in their community in Mexico in the back of a, you know, in the trunk of a car for hours and helped raise me while my single mother was working. Right. Like, I am deeply tied to those people among other people, women in my life, minorities in my life. And I hate that the right wing has, you know, zoomed in on them. And LGBTQ people. I have an older brother who's gay. Right. Like, people who I really care about. And I hate that the right wing has made them the target of discrimination and hate and. And violence, which has evolved to violence. But those people are doing that because they're scared. And they've been systematically scared. Right. Like. Like this fear has been instilled in them. It's fear mongering from the corporate media, which is meant to divide us on these issues. And I understand exactly where you're coming from, especially because you grew up or you. You, you know, lived in a red state. But the position you're in now, where it's like, I will never work with, you know, the Republican, or I don't want. I don't want anything to do with the Republican is exactly. Whether it's good or not as a position is exactly where the corporate media wants you to be. Because as long as you are not,

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

as long as die on that hill, and that's. I really will. Because there is a huge difference between Republican ideology in a. In a Christian nationalist state like the one that Kevin Stitt overseas. And you should hear him speak about homelessness. Homeless. Homelessness.

[Julian Andreone]

Horrible.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And the dehumanization that he discusses. Rape victims in the state of Oklahoma have no privacy, no.

[Julian Andreone]

No access to.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I have no interest. For me, these people are hostile, bad actors. Now, what I work with is now a person who's off of and been deprogrammed from corporate media, an establishment Democrat to somebody who's a leftist. Now, those are people I think you can move because if I can, could, if I could unravel from the corporate media and the stances, but Republican culture in deeply red Bible Belt states, there is no compromise there. And the more we know that, the more prepared we are to deal with it. Somebody needs to roll into those states and not say, I'm going to work with the politicians here. They need to roll into that, those states and say, the Republican Party has lied to you. Conservative politics have lied to you. Trickle down economics was a lie. Republican. The Republican Party is a death cult.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, that's a part of reaching out.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

A death cult.

[Julian Andreone]

That's part of reaching out. And it's also the framing and the delivery of that message. Right.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Like I think that would be effective.

[Julian Andreone]

Again, I, again, it's like Kevin Stitt, for example. Like these politicians, the reason why they're so vitriolic on those culture war and social issues is not because they have this like deep ideological purpose to like root out. It's because they know the more and more vitriolic that they get about those culture war issues, the more and more they can get people disagreeing about it. And the more and more they can get people disagreeing about it, they can operate behind the shadows to steal money.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

But he doesn't even really, There's a whole part of this I think you don't understand. He's not getting people to disagree about it. He has consensus.

[Julian Andreone]

He know the Republicans are on his side.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

He has agreement in Oklahoma. He does all of this with swaths of massive consensus and agreement. He's not doing anything that anybody's really, particularly in the state of Oklahoma, disagreeing with him. Now there are, there are the people in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City is a purple city. But this is. They believe they have a mandate from God. They think they are going to deliver the United States of America as a Christian nation to God. And I think it's something that has to be addressed. If you want to address America. You have to address the, the crazy Christian problem because that's, that's what is guiding the Republican Party. That's what took it over with Reagan and, and it's, it's. The Christian nationalism is such a difficult thing to understand. How serious these people are, how diabolical they are, how, how well funded they are and how they see long term. And I tell you who knows this more than anybody is Tucker fucking fucker fucking Carlson. He knows it. That's why he talks and makes up lies.

[Julian Andreone]

What percentage of the Republican base. I'm not talking about the politicians. Because I think you and I are in alignment on the figure, on the figureheads and the politicians. I think we're on alignment. Working class Republican voters on the ground. Highly uneducated in terms of just like going to school. Right. Like we perhaps. I really think that the difference between educated and intelligent is really important. Right. Like, I think some of these people are actually more intelligent than they get credit for. What percentage of the base do you think is, you know, culty, like Christian nationalism party? Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

85 to 90.

[Julian Andreone]

85 to 90 of the base. The working class voters on the ground. Okay, see, that's exactly where the disagreement is.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Wildly indoctrinated, wildly to think that Democrats are demons, that if you vote for a Democrat, you're voting for a demon or for Satan. And they believe that, which is why Tucker Carlson, he knows that number. I told you. Look at the base. Look at Trump's polling with the Republican Party. It's high 80s. His polling right now within the base is super high. Nationally, his polling is low. Jimmy Carter low. But within the Republican Party, it's that high because the Republican Party has brilliantly propagand, propagandized and caused a cultural rot within the electorate that can only be dealt with when people address the crazy religion issue in America. And too many politicians are too big of pussies to come in and criticize religion. Religion.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah. I'm against religious extremism all over the

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

place that they're going to have to address it because these people ask me all the time, how do all of these religious people in Oklahoma support Donald Trump?

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Like their mega church pastors are exactly like him. Their dads are exactly like, oh, it

[Julian Andreone]

is a contorted version of the religion that's in the text. That's 100 true. And that's with all religions.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

That's religion in the Bible Belt. That is the mainstream religion in the Bible about, I'm telling you, mega church culture. The mega church boom of the 80s and then all of the indoctrination in it has been wildly, wildly, wildly successful.

[Julian Andreone]

What, how would you, how would you approach, you know, breaking through to people who are, who are, who are?

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

I don't. I would not focus on them. I would focus on the couch, who sits out, who doesn't vote. Our voter turnout is so low in this country. I think it is a fool's errand.

[Julian Andreone]

But I don't mean for, I don't mean to get their votes. I just mean how would you, I mean, in terms of establishing a country that operates without as much hate and vitriol as we have right now, you have to just.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

They're gonna hate you regardless. But you have to say, you can hate me all you want to. And I don't really like you either, but I hope you have health care.

[Julian Andreone]

Okay. Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

You know what I mean? Like, there's this. I hope all the libtards die. Mine's like, I don't want to go to dinner with you. I don't want to have a beer with you, but I hope your fat ass has health care. I hope that you have access to the things that you need. And that's the fundamental difference because. But I think the Democrats error is trying to convert these people and have some uni party when. When the. The way to approach it is who we have to get the people that are apathetic.

[Julian Andreone]

Well, I think the issue is that we have a uni party right now.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Julian Andreone]

Right. We have a uniparty right now. But it's aligned along an axis of corporate interests.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Right.

[Julian Andreone]

Right. Like one side supplies the votes, and those are the people who are arguing over the culture war issues. And one side supplies the money, which are the oligarchs at the top who are stealing all the money via tax cuts and via investments in foreign countries that are exp. Regions that are highly profitable. And so it, you know, if the donors can. Can keep providing the money and the people on the ground keep arguing about the culture war issues instead of organizing towards a better economic future.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It's so dismissive of gay people in red states to talk about them on the ground arguing about culture war issues. And that's where the far left loses credibility with middle America because the. The blue dots and red states are the toughest Americans. You have to be able to be gay and In Oklahoma, oh, 100%. And. And fight an uphill battle where it is just. It. It is. I have some friends. They have a trans child and they recently had to move to California to be able to raise their child. And they're fortunate. They. They have the money. But those culture wars that we talk about broadly in these conversations are being

[Julian Andreone]

lived on the ground in those areas.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It's life and death for them. It is literal life and death. Like, I can't tell you how many women and how many stories I know of people that have pregnancies that they wanted in Oklahoma and they go to get an ultrasound and there's something severely wrong with the fetus.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

And the doctor cannot do anything about it in a normal world in New York or in Washington, D.C. they would immediately do a DNC and it's private and all of these things. Now these women, men are driving to New Mexico or Colorado or Kansas to get abortion care. And so we have to be cautious in talking about culture wars because for the. The people on the ground in red states, it is literally life and death.

[Julian Andreone]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

It is so horrific what is happening to the LGBTQ community. Racism is still just so incredible. It's rampant in red states. And then what? The war on women in red states is just fever pitch. It is absolute fever pitch. So I. I think these conversations are so important because I think that all of us have passion and a desire

[Julian Andreone]

to

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

be something completely different than the status quo.

[Julian Andreone]

Oh, for sure. I think everybody is like, whatever's going on right now has to be something different. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

So, Julian, thank you so much. Thank you for. Thank you for all the work you do. I love all your clips. You're walking. I think they're so great.

[Julian Andreone]

Thank you so having me. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to engage with this, you know, amazing audience that you've built. And I. And I. When I watch your videos, I read through the comments. I watch the one with Prem, and people are so it. It's just so heartening to see people so engaged and so empathetic to what everybody is dealing with on the ground that maybe isn't themselves. And I think you've done a wonderful job cultivating that and I respect your political evolution and I'm so grateful for your voice.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Thank you. And I appreciate it too. And yeah, we're do have a great audience that's so eager to sit and learn more and evolve themselves.

[Julian Andreone]

So that's exactly the impression I've gotten.

[Interviewer / Podcast Host]

Yeah. All right, thanks so much.

[Julian Andreone]

Thank you.

[Podcast Host (Ad Voice)]

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