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Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Host (0:00)
History is messy. It's weird, wild and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life? From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to enlightening and surprising heartwarming tales, we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully. We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot. It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the rabbit hole.
Allison Gill (0:35)
MSW Media. Msw media.
John Fugelsang (0:58)
Daily beans
Allison Gill (1:01)
daily beans.
John Fugelsang (1:02)
Daily beans.
Allison Gill (1:07)
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, March 20, 2026. Today, Corey Lewandowski is taking millions of dollars in bribes for government contracts. California has renamed Cesar Chavez Day amid a backlash from sex abuse allegations. The Pentagon is seeking 200 billion more from Congress for Trump's war in Iran. Joe Ke is being investigated by the FBI for leaking classified information. ICE is taking DNA samples from arrested protesters. And bank of America settles an Epstein victims lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody, Happy Friday. It's Fugal sang Friday on the Daily Bean. So we'll be talking to John Fugelsang later. Dana's out. This is her last day being out. She'll be back on Monday, Sunday night. If you're a patron of the Daily beans. Because if you're a patron patron, you get these episodes ad free and you get them early, you get them the night before they come out to the public. And right now we're gonna, you know, we still have a $3 a month level, just 36 bucks a year for this, plus all the other benefits of being a patron of the daily beans. But that $3 a month level is going away on March 30th. You got 10 more days to sign up for $3 and then you get to keep that $3 a month membership for life for as long as you want. But it is going away for new subscribers starting on March 31st. So just wanted to get that out there. It's patreon.com muller she wrote. If you've been thinking about joining, you can still get in on a three dollar action. So again, head to patreon.com Muller she wrote. All right, we have so much news to get to and there's a lot to cover. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, Massive, massive bombshell reporting from NBC by my friend Jonathan Allen et al over over at that network more than a year ago, the Geo Group founder George Zoli asked for a meeting with Corey Lewandowski, a close ally of Trump who had just started a powerful position as a top advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. As a titan of the private prison industry, Geo Group stood to benefit from Trump's mass deportation agenda, which would require the federal government to spend tens of billions of dollars to transport, detain, monitor and deport undocumented immigrants. Now, the company' contracts in those areas already totaled more than a billion dollars a year. But Zoli at Geo Group and his advisors were worried that the road to securing new government contracts under Trump now ran through Lewandowski. But the two had history. Lewandowski and Zoli butted heads during the transition between Trump's November 2024 election and his January 2025 inauguration before Lewandowski officially worked for the government. So Zoli and Lewandowski had a big old fight during the transition period. And that's according to two industry sources and a senior DHS official. Now, during the transition, this is what happened. Lewandowski told Zoli he wanted to be paid in exchange for protecting and growing the Geo Group's DHS contracts. So not only will we give you more contracts, I'll make sure you don't lose your current ones, but you got to pay me. That's according to a senior DHS official and three people familiar with the discussion. Zoli, concerned about the propriety of the ask the legality, told Lewandowski he would have no part of it, describing the confrontation as tense, according to sources. Now, Lewandowski took a role then as an unpaid special government employee at DHS once the new administration was sworn in, where he advised and acted as a de facto chief of staff to Kristi Noem, according to sources. And he influenced contracting awards. Now, Zoli scrambled to find a way to patch things up, assuage tensions from the meeting during the transition that he had with Lewandowski. That's according to two industry sources familiar. And he did secure that follow up meeting with Lewandowski in late February or early March of 2025. But the second meeting didn't go much better. Zoli offered to put Lewandowski on retainer, a recurring consulting fee with Geo Group, according to two industry sources familiar with the matter. But Lewandowski balked, saying he wanted to be compensated based on the company's new or renewed contracts with dhs. Quote, he wanted payments what some people would call a success fee. That's what a person familiar said. Now, Zoli declined. And in the months that followed, the Length of the two Geo Groups federal contracts shrank, and currently several of its facilities that could house migrants sit idle. Even as Congress and Trump have poured millions and millions of dollars into mass deportation, GEO Group officials believe that is tied to their not agreeing to Lewandowski's solicitations. Now, a senior DHS official told NBC News that within weeks of Lewandowski's second meeting with Zoli, Lewandowski told him not to award more contracts to GEO Group. Lewandowski, through a spokesperson, denied that. Months later, in December 2025, GEO Group did receive a new contract for $121 million for services that help locate immigrants that DHS is trying to find. We reported on that call for, quote, when it happened, but no longer detention facility stuff. So $121 million contract to help locate immigrants, but their current at the time contracts for housing, detaining immigrants shrank and they didn't get any more additional contracts for detention. Now, Lewandowski's spokesperson denied all of this, all of the interactions with the GEO Group, quote, this is absolutely false. It did not happen. Mr. Lewandowski never demanded any payment or compensation from the GEO Group at any time. That's what his representative said. Asked whether he ever received any money from any of the contracts that he signed off on, Lewandowski previously told NBC News in an interview. Zero. Not one penny. Now lawmakers are asking about Lewandowski. Noem testified at a congressional hearing, as we know, earlier this month, in which lawmakers asked about her and Lewandowski's role in government contracts. Trump called them both and asked Lewandowski questions about his role in DHS contracting decisions. That's according to a source with knowledge of the call. The president fired Noem after the hearings, saying she would depart as secretary coming up on March 31st. And Lewandowski told NBC News he's not decided whether or not he's going to leave DHS with her. On Wednesday, Trump's nominee to replace Noem, Senator Marquene, that's Senator Mullen from Oklahoma, was asked during a congressional hearing if he would cooperate with the investigation by Democratic senators into three businesses that received a $220 million advertising contract featuring Kristi Noem. That probe is looking into whether she or Lewandowski financially benefited from the agreements. Mullen said he would cooperate with any DHS Inspector general investigation. So not Congress. Got it? Speaking of Mark Twain, as predicted, by the way, Fetterman voted yes and his confirmation will now go to a full Senate vote. So even though Rand Paul, the chairman of Homeland Security. Republican well, caucuses with the Republicans voted no. John Fetterman voted yes, saying, why don't you just give him a chance? Now back to this story. One marketing firm abandoned plans to pursue two lucrative DHS contracts after it received requests to indirectly pay Lewandowski. That's according to a person familiar. The marketing firm official recounted the experience to an official in the Trump administration about two months later. That Trump administration official later confirmed that discussion with NBC News. The firm, which had no previous federal contracting experience, was contacted by Salus Worldwide Solutions, according to a person familiar. Salus is run by William Walters, who the Washington Post reported is a donor to the America First Policy Institute, which is a nonprofit that promotes causes aligned with the Trump administration. Now, Salus in May 2025 won a fast Track DHS deal to help carry out deportations, a contract ultimately worth nearly a billion dollars. Now, a person representing Salus asked the owner of this marketing firm whether he was interested in pursuing a $20 million contract to create materials for an agency that falls under dhs. Getting in as a government subcontractor, which could lead to future deals, seemed to the marketing firm owner like a potentially lucrative opportunity. Salus representatives laid out most of the details on a September conference call with the marketing firm, according to the person familiar. But there was one final detail. A representative from Salus called the marketing firm owner after that conference call and said, you're going to have to bring in a consultant to manage it. That's what the representative told the marketing firm owner, quote, manage what exactly? The firm's owner replied, manage the relationship, the representative from Salus said. The marketing firm owner said, I still don't understand. And he blamed that on his lack of experience in federal contracting. Maybe everyone gets a consulting firm with their contracts. I don't know. So he asked the representative to explain it to him in more detail. And the representative quote, we are guaranteed this contract, but we need to make sure we're properly thanking the person who gave it to us. That's what the Salus representative said, naming Lewandowski as the one who had secured the contract and deserved the gratitude. The marketing firm owner was told he could hire one of several consulting firms, all of which are tied to Lewandowski. And that tripped an alarm bell. Imagine that, a private prison contractor marketing firm who works with private prison contractors having a moment, a scrupulous moment. So this tripped an alarm bell. The marketing firm owner ended the call. He phoned two friends who work in federal contracting and asked whether such an arrangement was normal One of them called it a giant red flag and the other raised legal concerns. Is this normal to have to pay Corey Lewandowski through a consulting firm to manage a contract relationship? No. No, it's not. Now, the Salus representative told the marketing firm owner that because he refused to hire the consultant, the marketing firm didn't get the deal. The contract was not ultimately awarded to Salis. A short time later, according to the person familiar with the discussions, Salis reached back out to see whether the marketing firm owner would be interested in working on a DHS outreach campaign. The representative, in a follow up call, told the marketing firm that this contract would be worth 40 or 50 million dollars, but that the marketing company would only get 20 million. The representative would direct the rest to a consulting company tied to Corey Lewandowski. Quote, we will make sure the consultant is handled, the representative said. In both cases, the Salus representatives made it clear to the marketing firm owner that hiring a Lewandowski linked consultant is a condition of winning a contract. A spokesperson for Lewandowski called these allegations patently false. And Mr. Lewandowski had no conversations with anyone regarding a marketing contract. The spokesperson added, any insinuation that someone was speaking on behalf of Mr. Lewandowski was completely unauthorized and if undertaken, it was done so without his knowledge. Well, so then I assume you would want that person prosecuted anyway. A lawyer for Salus denied the accounts of both meetings as entirely false and said Salus would never entertain this type of arrangement. You didn't get the contract, bro. They said Salus was never funded to perform work involving a subcontract to a marketing firm. In both cases, quote, had a prospective subcontractor made us aware of such an alleged communication, Salus would have taken every step to identify whomever had misrepresented themselves as an agent of the company and turned that individual over to law enforcement. Still do that. The lawyer went on to say Salis did not authorize anyone to hire or promise to hire any consultant in connection with any Salis subcontract, let alone as a condition of issuing such a subcontract. The marketing firm turned down the second offer too, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Worried that it might run a foul of the law. Not because you're profiting off of detention, but I mean, everybody's got to watch out for themselves, I guess. That's just an insane story. All right, get this next up from the Washington Post. The Pentagon is asking the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran. Enormous new ask that is almost certain to run into resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. That number would far surpass the costs of the administration's massive airstrike to date and instead seek to urgently increase production of critical weaponry expended as US And Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets over the past three weeks. That's according to three people familiar with the matter who confirmed that the DoD is seeking a package of $200 billion. The funding request is likely to stage a major political battle in Congress as public support for the effort remains tepid and Democrats have become sharply critical. Republicans have signaled support for the forthcoming supplemental request that haven't committed to a legislative strategy or found a clear path to surpass the Senate's 60 vote threshold. They would have to get rid of the filibuster. $200 billion. It was $50 billion a week and a half ago. Right now it's quadruple that. Meanwhile, our national debt just ticked past 37 trillion dollars. It'll hit 38 trillion next month and 39 trillion in May. Wow. Yeah, the Republican is. The Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility. Unbelievable. Maybe if he hadn't spent a hundred billion dollars on ribeye and crab legs last September and iPads and pianos, maybe you wouldn't need this. Hey, you know what? Borrow it from ICE. They have 130. ICE and CBP have $130 billion slush fund. And you don't care about what money is appropriated by Congress for what? So just go raid that raid, raid those coffers. Next up from Semaphore. The FBI has opened a leak investigation into a top former intelligence official who resigned Tuesday in protest over the war in Iran. The investigation into former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent is focused on allegations that he improperly shared classified information, according to four people with direct knowledge of the investigation who spoke to Semaphore. In his resignation letter, Kent wrote that Iran, quote, posed no imminent threat to our nation and accused Trump of starting the war because of pressure from Israel. The investigation predates Kent's departure, according to the four people. One of them described it as having been months long. Trump aides and allies denounced Kent as a leaker immediately after his resignation became public. So yeah, when you're a piece of shit, you don't get a lot of credibility. It's kind of how it works. Next up from npr. In late January, Ben and his wife, Gabby, were driving to their home in northeast Minneapolis when they received a message on an activist group chat that federal immigration officers were nearby. They'd been observing ICE activity in the city for weeks, and so they headed over. A crowd had already gathered when they arrived. Ben, who requested NPR only use their first names because he fears retaliation from the federal government, stood on the side of the road filming the officers who were back inside their car and looked like they were about to leave. But they stopped and got out of the car, he says, and that's when I got tackled. Video of the incident reviewed by NPR shows a masked federal officer running at Ben and slamming him to the ground. Three immigration officers pinned him down and dragged him to their vehicle. Ben says he was held in custody for about three hours before his release. Ben officers photographed and fingerprinted him. Then, before Ben realized fully what was happening, an officer ran a swab similar to a Q tip along the inside of his cheek. It was super casual, ben says. It was just like, okay, yeah, we're going to take this now. Now, NPR found five other people in Illinois, Oregon and Minnesota who described similar occurrences in recent months in statements made under oath as part of lawsuits against the Trump administration's handling of immigration. They said they were arrested seemingly without provocation while protesting ICE and then had officers try to take what appeared to be a sample of their DNA. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that a Maryland state law that forced an arrested person to give their DNA to police was constitutional. But that case involved clear restrictions. It involved a law that required the arrest be for a serious crime, and the arrest had to be lawful based on probable cause. Now, Oren Kerr, who's an expert in these matters, especially the Fourth Amendment law professor at Stanford University, says whether the arrest is lawful is the most pressing question at hand when it comes to the DNA taken from ICE protesters. Quote, what you worry about is an officer making a decision in the field that a person committed a crime when they might not have. Maybe they were doing something protected under the First Amendment. That's what Oren Kerr said. And he went on to say, the officer says, I think you crossed the line. I'm going to arrest you. It turns out the officer was wrong, but the DNA test has been conducted and the information has been entered into the database. What then? Yes, what then? Indeed, There is more to this story@npr.org, you might want to go check it out. You can Google dnais or incur npr and I'm sure it'll pop up for you. Next up from the Associated Press. Bank of America's the third bank to settle now has tentatively settled a lawsuit claiming it ignored suspicious financial transactions involving Epstein while he was sexually abusing hundreds of girls and women. The proposed settlement was revealed in filings in Manhattan federal court Monday, the same day the billionaire financier Leon Black was originally scheduled to be deposed in the case. So they settled before Leon Black had to be deposed. Isn't that just convenient? The terms were not disclosed. The amount has not been disclosed. The bank declined to comment. Though not a defendant, Leon Black was recently described as a critical witness in the case by Sigrid McCauley, a lawyer for Epstein victims. During a hearing last week, a lawyer for Black persuaded Judge Jed S. Rakoff to postpone Black's deposition for 10 days on the grounds that the parties were close to settling. The lawyer, Michael Karlinsky, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The October lawsuit accused the bank of ignoring $170 million that Black paid from a Bank of America account to Epstein purportedly for, quote, tax and estate planning advice. I have been after this $170 million payment and I wanted that Leon Black deposition, but they've settled. The bank has settled for an undisclosed amount. You can add it to JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche bank for settling with Epstein victims. All of these banks settling probably multi million dollar suits. Of course it's an undisclosed amount, but I'm sure it's not small. All of them and no one was charged with a crime. And Pam Bondi continues to cover it up. Speaking of Pam, she gave a briefing to members of Congress today and then said that because of that briefing, she no longer needs to be deposed by Congress on April 14th pursuant to that subpoena that was issued for her deposition. Democratic lawmakers then walked out of the briefing after Jim Comer accused Rep. Summer Lee of, quote, bitching when she pressed Bondi to comply with their lawful subpoena. Typical misogyny, misogynoir going on. Rep. SUMMER lee, fantastic. Representative. She was just bitching when she was trying to, you know, uphold the law against the powerful and wealthy. One of the women most responsible for the COVID up of the Epstein files, Pam Bondi. We'll keep an eye on this story as it develops, but I imagine we'll see a letter from Pam Bondi saying that briefing she gave excuses her from being deposed. She's going to try to say that that bullshit briefing satisfies the subpoena. It does not. And Democratic lawmakers are pretty mad about this. Again, keep an eye on that for you. Next up from the Times. California lawmakers announced Thursday they intend to change the name of Cesar Chavez Day to Farm Workers Day in the wake of devastating accusations of sexual abuse by Mr. Chavez, an iconic labor leader who has been celebrated for decades in the state, I can confirm. Twelve days before the annual March 31 state holiday, leaders of the California State assembly and State Senate said they're introducing a bill to make the change. It came as elected officials across the Southwest are grappling with how to respond to the New York Times investigation that detailed how Mr. Chavez groomed and sexually abused two girls and raped Dolores Huerta, his most prominent farm labor ally. Quote, this moment calls for honesty, it calls for reflection, and it calls for renewed commitment to the values that the farm worker movement has built. That's Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. That's what he said in an emotional floor speech on Thursday, recalling his grandfather's history in the union that fought to improve paying conditions for farm workers. Monique Limon, leader of the California State Senate, said the lawmakers are examining how to update other parts of state law as well, because the Cesar Chavez holiday is mentioned in a dozen different provisions, including educational requirements. Mr. Chavez, who co founded the United Farm workers, died in 1993 at age 66. Been hailed as a civil rights champion for decades, his status only seemed to build over time. His governments and schools hailed him as a hero, holding celebrations and teaching lessons every March, grounded in farm worker history and the fight for Latino equality in the United States. So shocking were these revelations, however, that many state and local leaders raced on Wednesday to distance themselves from Mr. Chavez. The governor of Texas and Arizona almost immediately moved to cancel state observances of Cesar Chavez Day on March 31. In Dallas, city Council members are seeking a different change, renaming the holiday to Dolores Huerta Day and moving it to April 10th, her birthday. I like that solution. Now, Ms. Morguia and another woman, Deborah Rojas, say that Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were girls, 12, 13 years old, from around 1972 to 1977. He was in his 40s. He'd become very powerful, a charismatic figure who captured global attention as a champion of farm worker rights. Now, the two women had not shared their stories publicly before, and that investigation or the New York Times, as I said, uncovered extensive evidence to support their accusations and those raised by several other women against Mr. Chavez. The abuse allegations appear to be part of a larger pattern of sexual misconduct, much of which has never been publicly revealed. The Times Investigation found that Mr. Chavez also used many of the women who worked and volunteered in his movement for his own sexual gratification. His most prominent female ally in the movement. As I said, Dolores Huerta said in an interview that he sexually assaulted her, a disclosure she has never before made publicly. Many of the women stayed silent for decades, both out of shame and for fear of tarnishing the image of a man who has become the face of the Latino civil rights movement. His image is on school murals. His birthday is a state holiday. The Time spoke at length with Ms. Huerta, who is a renowned Latina activist who helped run the farm workers union with Mr. Chavez and coined the social justice rally and cry si se puede, loosely translated as yes we can. She said she has held back on her dark secret for nearly 60 years. Quote unfortunately, he used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children. It's really awful. That's what Ms. Huertas said. Now I want to end the hot notes on some better news. CBS is reporting that the people of Minneapolis St. Paul are being honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile and Courage Award for their response to the federal immigration enforcement operation this winter. And that's according to the JFK Library foundation announcement that happened on Wednesday. The award recognizes residents who risk their lives to protect neighbors and immigrant community members during what the Department of Homeland Security described as the largest federal immigration enforcement enforcement action in U.S. history. The foundation also announced it's going to honor Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve despite years of personal attacks and threats from the highest level of government. All right everybody, it's Fugal Sang Fridays. I'm going to be right back with John Fugalang followed by the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.