← Pod Force One
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- [00:02]
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Hello, it's Miranda. I'm back with a new mini episode of Pod Force 1. This feature is a little more topical and relevant to my job as a columnist for the New York Post. Today's topic is the clown show that the Epstein saga has become, with both sides weaponizing the pain of victims of the late pedophile financier for base political ends.
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The New York Post has been delivering impactful headlines for over two centuries, and every weekday morning I'll bring them straight to you. I'm Caitlin Becker, host of the New York Post. Cast From Washington to Wall street if it matters to you, you'll hear it here. And it wouldn't be the Post without the stories other outlets like to ignore. So ask your smart speaker to play the NYPD cast. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:51]
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What possible purpose did it serve to drag Hillary Clinton into the Oversight Committee's hearing on Jeffrey Epstein other than to invite the Democrats to inflict the same gratuitous stunt on Melan one day? There are plenty of reasons to subpoena Hillary's testimony, but how she feels about photos of her husband in a hot tub with Ghislaine Maxwell and an unidentified woman is not one. Nor are lunatic questions about Pizzagate and UFOs. Hillary's role in launching Russiagate, meanwhile, went unexplored. How she must have laughed. The nine hour video of the Clintons testimony released this week is embarrassing. The Somehow Republicans like Lauren Boebert managed to make the loathed former first lady look rational and serious and allowed Bill to pose as a statesman who claimed he was testifying because, quote, I love my country rather than because he and his wife faced possible jail for contempt of Congress if they didn't comply with the Oversight Committee's subpoena. The most clownish moment in the Clinton depositions near their home in Chappaqua last week came almost four hours into Hillary's stint, thanks to Congressman Bobert, who had already disrupted proceedings by snapping an unauthorised photo of the former secretary of state and sending it to a pal to post on social media. That suggested the deposition was less about discovering the truth about Epstein on behalf of his victims than humiliating the Clintons for Internet clout. Boebert dredged up the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy that claimed a paedophile ring linked to Hillary was operating out of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. Hillary played her role perfectly, pursing her lips, glaring at Boebert with utter disdain, shaking her head in disbelief and laughing. Pizzagate was totally made up, she said. It was an outrageous allegation that ended up hurting a number of people. I can't believe you're even referencing it. Among all the genuine scandals the Clintons have been ensnared in, Pizzagate has the least credibility. It's such a convenient distraction that you almost wonder if the Clintons themselves haven't planted it, just as happened with the Hunter Biden laptop. False stories and doctored images suggesting Hunter was a paedophile threatened to hijack genuine evidence of corruption implicating Joe Biden. You'd think Republicans might have learned from their Monica Lewinsky debacle three decades ago. What was supposed to be an independent council investigation of then President Bill Clinton and his wife over alleged financial improprieties involving a failed Arkansas real estate development called Whitewater when he was Arkansas governor 20 years earlier went right off the rails. No conclusive evidence of wrongdoing by the Clintons was ever found, and Ken Starr's final report had almost nothing to say about Whitewater, but it lavishly explored President Clinton's affair with 22 year old white House intern Monica Lewinsky, ruining her life. No prurient detail of the Oval Office sex scandal was left uncovered by the three dozen attorneys working on the $60 million investigation, complete with descriptions of the first penis and DNA tests on Lewinsky's rather modest blue dress. On August 17, 1998, just 10 days after Al Qaeda bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, the president testified under oath about the Lewinsky affair for four hours via closed circuit video from the White House to a federal grand jury. That was when he spoke the immortal words it depends on what the meaning of the word is is. A few hours later, Clinton gave a televised national address from the White House admitting he'd had an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky and uttered another immortal quote, I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. An estimated 68 million Americans tuned in to watch his mortification, along with a massive global audience. It front page news from the Sydney Morning Herald to Le Monde. It made a laughing stock of the presidency on the international stage. I go through all this ancient history because the outcome was just the same as the Democrats witch hunt against Donald Trump, which backfired on his persecutors and is a big part of the reason Trump sits in the Oval Office today. Lewinsky impeachment, similarly was an unmitigated disaster for Republicans. The Senate acquitted Clinton after the House impeached him for lying under oath about the affair, and his approval rating soared to an all time high of 73% in the Gallup poll. Republicans lost five seats in that year's midterm elections, including the seat of Speaker Newt Gingrich. It was bad for the country, too. Just as the Democrats malicious impeachment of Trump in 2019, he was acquitted too, distracted the administration and paralysed Congress during the crucial period when COVID 19 started circulating. Back in 1998 and 1999, the Clinton administration was dealing with a number of serious national security decisions on terrorism, Iraq, Russia and the war in Kosovo. Three days after his grand jury testimony, Clinton turned his attention to the embassy bombings that had happened two weeks previously. In half hearted fashion, he ordered cruise missile strikes on a random aspirin factory in Sudan and on an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. The strikes missed Osama bin Laden altogether and only boosted his prestige in the Islamist world, setting the stage for 911 three years later. Apart from that, the Lewinsky witch hunt also poisoned bipartisanship for the next three decades and gave a green light to Biden and Nancy Pelosi and pals to pursue Trump over the most spurious allegations. Once you've hauled in a president to question him about the shape of his penis, all bets are off. The current Epstein scandal, while infinitely more sinister than the Lewinsky affair, has placed both Democrats and Republicans in a Mexican standoff, with each side fanning public outrage and selectively trawling the files for gotchas to portray their opponents as pedophiles implicated in an elite pedophile network run by Epstein with shadowy foreign intelligence ties pulling the strings, especially Mossad. Of course, no conspiracy theory is complete without Jewish villains, but despite their best superficial efforts and a whole lot of irresponsible rumours, they've come up empty on Trump and haven't advanced our knowledge about Epstein's activities beyond some suggestive photographs and the arrest of the UK's disgraced former prince Andrew over allegations he gave state secrets to Epstein in return for sex with underage girls. But no pedophile ring has been busted, and probably never will be. Nevertheless, if the Democrats regain office, expect Trump and the first lady to be subpoenaed over Epstein in another grubby tit for tat and probably another impeachment of Trump to consume Congress. There is a high cost to weaponising scandal which neither side of politics seems to take seriously. Don't forget to come back on the Wednesday for the next episode of Pod Force One. I hope you can tune in and have a wonderful week.