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The Daily Beans
President For Sale (feat. Dan Friedman)
00:45:34
Thursday, July 2, 2026 Today, former CIA Chief John Brennan has sued the government asking the court to order administration officials to preserve records; a federal court tells the Hegseth he has to stop requiring escorts for journalists at the Pentagon; Donald made over $2bn in crypto and other investments in 2025 alone; ICE arrested a nun on her way to church and it’s creating pretty intense backlash in South Texas; the Cook Political Report has moved the Alaska state Senate race from “Lean Republican” to “Tossup”; progressives notch another big win in the Colorado primary elections; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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- [00:00]
A
Hello, Martin Sheen here. And it seems to me that no day of the week is without its endless barrage of bad news. Even on Sunday. For God's sake, let's change that. What do you say? Together, let's make Sunday immune to bad news. Available now every Sunday, Season three of the Martin Sheen Podcast with yours truly, Martin Sheen has begun. Yeah, 10 brand new episodes are already underway. So join me, Martin sheen, for a 20 minute journey as I share my personal stories, a bit of poetry and insightful reflections that will encourage you to take a deep breath and enjoy a relaxing moment. Of course, it's important to know and understand what's happening in the world. But I also believe there's nothing wrong with taking a step back to find strength and clarity. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever. A moment of thoughtfulness and calm may be rare these days, but it doesn't have to be. So what do you say? Say you want to take back your Sundays. So do I. And guess what? I've already done it with the Martin Sheen Podcast, Season three. Available now. Don't mess with my Sunday. And thank you for listening.
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B
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, July 2, 2026. Today, former CIA chief John Brennan is suing the government, asking the court to order the administration to preserve records about him. A federal court tells Pete Hegseth he has to stop requiring escorts for journalists at the Pentagon. Donald made over $2 billion in crypto and other investments in 2025 alone. ICE arrested a nun on her way to church. And it's creating pretty intense backlash in South Texas. The Cook Political Report has moved the Alaska state senate race from lean Republican to toss up. And progressives notch another big win in the Colorado primary elections. I'm Alison Gill.
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C
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
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B
Guess what? Guess who's back. Back again. Beans Talk is back today.
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C
I know everyone missed our faces. You can check out our faces on Beans Talk over on YouTube channel.
- [02:31]
B
It's always free, never any paywalls.
- [02:33]
C
Yeah.
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B
Also later in the show, we're going to talk to Mother Jones's D.C. bureau reporter Dan Friedman. We're going to discuss Donald's Freedom 250 slush fund. That's happening. Like what this like it's like his inaugural. Remember how like $50 million just disappeared and nobody really looked into it for some reason? And also to go over some election stuff before we get to the hot notes. Democrats saw another progressive oust a long term incumbent in Colorado, adding to their collection of wins in primary challenges. Across the country. The far left uprising seen in New York trickled into Colorado on Tuesday as Democratic Socialist Malak Kiros defeated Rep. Diana DeGette in what has become the major storyline for the party this election season. On the Republican side, Trump's endorsements continue to prove effective even in fiercely blue state.
- [03:21]
C
Yeah, effective, but both fucking candidates were nuts. If you saw any sort of a debate between the two of them, my God. Yeah. By the way, the race to to replace term limited Governor Jared Polis, that was not as tight as expected, actually. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated three term Senator Michael Bennett 55.8% to 44.2%. That's a clear 11.6 percentage point victory. The Associated Press estimated 89% of the vote had been counted at that point a year ago. Bennett held a decisive 30 percentage point lead. That quickly diminished as Weiser gained traction among Democrats who expressed frustration at complacency in their own party. Weiser went after Bennett for his votes to confirm some of Trump's nominees. So we'll see what happens there. I just pray to God that I hope too many Democrats aren't frustrated because you do not want a Republican governor in Colorado. It would be a disaster.
- [04:18]
B
No, I'm pretty sure whoever wins that primary is going to win. I think Attorney General Phil Wiser will win the election. But the story of the night apparently is the Democratic primary where voters embrace the younger generation by choosing a 29 year old lawyer and a doctoral student over a 15 term incumbent. Yeah. Kiros won 51.3% of the vote, besting longtime Democratic lawmaker DeGette, Diane DeGette, who took 41.7 in Colorado's first district. Now Kiros, the latest Democratic Socialist to oust an establishment Democrat, was born months after DeGette was first elected to the House. She will face Christy Peterson, who's the Republican nominee in the general election in November.
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C
That area, that district is very, very, very blue. So it'll be interesting to see what happens. Also, Senator John Hickenlooper fended off a challenge by a younger, more progressive candidate to secure the Democratic nomination in his bid for a second term in office, despite seeing his lead drop to just seven points in June at Colorado Community Research Poll. Hickenlooper won the Democratic primary by 55.1%, defeating State Senator Julie Gonzalez, who just took 45%. Now Hickenlooper will face State Senator Mark Baisley, who did take the GOP nomination. Right.
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B
So we've got some Democratic socialist winning in a House race when we've got Hickenlooper, the incumbent, winning by 10 points in that race. Also in Alaska, the Cook Political Report has changed the Senate race there between Mary Peltola and the two Dan Sullivans from Lean's Republican to a toss up.
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C
That's fucking awesome.
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B
A toss up in Alaska. Alaska uses ranked choice voting, so the top four will advance. I hope the two Dans make it.
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C
I hope so, too.
- [06:08]
B
My two Dans. We'll call that episode My two Dan.
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C
There you go. Perfect. Take all the confusion we can get.
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B
I know, right? Thank you. All right, everybody, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from the since late last year, senior officials at the Justice Department and their allies in the news media have been unabashedly discussing a pair of investigations into John Brennan, the former CIA chief who has long been one of Trump's most reviled political enemies, because he dared to say that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. On Wednesday, Mr. Brennan's lawyers publicly fired back, putting the Trump administration on notice that if prosecutors bring charges against him, they intend to fight them by claiming that they're an act of vindictive retribution. The warning came as part of a lawsuit filed in the federal district court in Washington that asked the judge to force Donald and top officials at the Justice Department to preserve any and all records or communications they might have related to the investigation into Mr. Brennan. Now, the lawyers say they want the materials saved in anticipation of bringing a motion for vindictive and selective prosecution if charges against Mr. Brennan are ultimately filed. The request for a judicial order requiring officials to keep records about a case that has not even been filed is somewhat unusual. And yet it reflects just how abnormal Trump's revenge campaign has become in recent months. As the president's attempts to use the courts to go after his adversaries have become more aggressive, so too have the reciprocal efforts by defense lawyers who have sought to fight the inquiries at ever earlier stages of the investigative process. Almost everything about the inquiries into Mr. Brennan, who ran the CIA during the second Obama administration, has been unorthodox suggest suggesting that prosecutors focused first on him as a target and only then set about looking for a crime for which he could be charged. In the end, department officials appear to have settled on two separate theories of a case. Joe DiGenova and Victoria Tonzing, who were lawyers for fraud guarantee, by the way, and Rudy Giuliani, and they ought to be in prison, are working on this case. So is John Yu, the torture memo guy. Oh boy is also helping. And you know I'm going to be talking about this with Andy McCabe on this weekend's episode of Unjustified because Andy's been subpoenaed in this criminal investigation, investigation into Brennan because Andy worked on that assessment.
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C
That's wild. Yeah, he's a big deal. I like our big deal.
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B
Yeah, me too.
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C
All right, this is from the post. President Donald Trump's reported income soared to more than 2.2 billion in 2025 as the president took in more than 1.4 billion from cryptocurrency, digital tokens and related partnerships, according to his latest financial disclosure forms. And let's also remind you this is a cryptocurrency he fucking invented. This is something he decided was a thing. Now the 927 pages of disclosures released Tuesday indicated that Trump's income substantially increased after he re entered the White House last year. Overall, Trump reported assets worth at least 2.4 billion and income of over 2.2 billion. His assets are almost certainly worth more since the federal disclosures forms require only that the asset values be reported in ranges that top out at over 50 million, which leaves the full value of the President's holdings very unclear. In 2024 financial disclosure filed a year ago, Trump reported assets worth more than $1.6 billion in income of over $600 million. In addition to income from crypto ventures, Trump reported over $620 million in real estate, hotel and golf related income. The President also reported receiving $86.5 million from settlements in five separate lawsuits against ABC, CBS, YouTube, Meta and social media platform Twitter. The 2025 disclosure includes 635 million royalties from a license agreement with Celebration Coins. This is what I'm talking about. At least 525 million in proceeds from token sales by World Liberty Financial, which is a cryptocurrency project founded by Trump and his sons, 65 million in proceeds from World Liberty Financial's equity sale and 196 million in net proceeds from a stablecoin transaction. Trump also saw increased income from his golf clubs and resorts. He reported 121 million from Trump National Doral in 2025, up from 110 million a year earlier and 77 million from Mar a Lago, up from 56 million. In response to a request for comment about Trump's significant increase in income from crypto and similar ventures, the White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that Trump had, and I quote, proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions supporting Legisl, like the Genius act and other common sense policies to drive innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.
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B
All Americans.
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C
All Americans.
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B
Yeah. I made like 2 billion last year, didn't you?
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A
Oh, yeah.
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C
At least 1.6. Yeah. And this is a quote. Neither the president nor his family has ever engaged or will ever engage in conflicts of interest. Fuck off.
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B
It's funny. Nobody really asked you that and you just sort of said it.
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C
Yeah. She went on to say that any suggestion otherwise is just tired false narrative. Is it? Is it now? Trump's disclosures are in stark contrast to Vice President J.D. vance's filing, which came in at 17 pages. Vance, however, also saw a boost in at least one category of income, royalties from Hillbilly Elegy, the memoir he released in 2016. Vance reported earnings of 50,000 to 100,000 from the book in 2024. Last year, the range shot up to a million to 5 million. Interesting. This month, Vance published a second book called Communion, which he has promoted on an extensive media tour over the last two weeks.
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B
Men of the people, right?
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C
Men of the people for sure.
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B
All right, next up from the post. Oh my goodness. Sister Letitia Leti Ugbowaja was walking to Sunday Mass in McAllen, Texas, Sister Leti, when a federal immigration officer stopped her, confiscated her rosary and put her in handcuffs. The Catholic nun from Nigeria was released hours later after Democratic and Republican lawmakers intervened. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment about her immigration status, and diocese officials would not give details other than to say she's a nurse who entered the country legally. Sister Letty's arrest was the latest to trigger anger from both sides of the political aisle in South Texas, highlighting how Hispanics in a region that supported Trump in the 2024 elections are growing wary of his administration's deportation campaign. Well, an unlikely bipartisan consensus has emerged in Texas's Rio Grande Valley to protest several recent immigration arrests, including those of three teenage mariachi musicians, numerous construction workers and cases involving children and people who'd been granted protection from deportation. And now a nun on her way to church. Rep. Monica de la Cruz, a Republican who flipped her House district that includes the Texas border in 2022, has joined Democrats in the predominantly Mexican American region in calling for the release of immigrants with deep ties to their local communities and no criminal record. Quote, as I have repeatedly said, our immigration enforcement should target violent criminals, she wrote on Facebook. A Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat to our community. Now Trump won 12 of 14 Texas border counties that had long been dominated by Democrats in the last presidential election. The rightward shift was the result of widespread discontent over how the Biden administration handled immigration and inflation. But lawmakers and political analysts say border constituents hold nuanced views that the deportation campaign is testing. On the one hand, they support deporting criminals and enhancing border security. But they also say hard working immigrants with no criminal record should be given a chance. And that's what Trump promised, by the way. And they are upset by images of people like Sister Leti being detained while going about their daily lives. Quote, if the administration said they closed the border and are deporting criminals and stopped there, it would have been welcome news. That's Rep. Henry Cuellar from Texas as a Democrat. But they didn't stop there. They started going after people on the streets. And that part the overreach by ICE is turning Hispanics back to other candidates to Democrats, honestly. The Diocese of Brownsville said Sister Leti is part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy Congregation headquartered in Niger and has worked for more than a decade at local Texas hospitals. Sister Letty has not publicly addressed her arrest by ICE and did not respond to her request for comment. And ICE also didn't respond. Richard Cortez, a Democrat who is the elected the elected judge or administrator, I guess, of Hidalgo county, is a parishioner of Our lady of Sorrows, the church that Sister Leti had been walking to when she was arrested. He said he contacted representatives for De La Cruz, the Republican, and Cuellar, the Democrat, after a deacon texted him to let him know that a nun was arrested. The lawmakers then sent frenzied phone calls and text messages to Homeland Security Secretary Mark Quain and Tom Homan, the kava bag bribe guy. The administration's borders are, quote, where is she? Cuellar recalled texting officials in Washington demanding her swift release. The veteran lawmaker, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said Mullen and Homan reassured him that Sister Letty would be home by nightfall. De La Cruz wrote on Facebook that she had elevated this to the highest levels. Now this congresswoman is up for reelection and has been walking a very careful line in supporting the Trump administration while also advocating for specific immigrants caught up in the deportation campaign. In a statement to the Washington Post, she said there is a misconception that Hispanic families want open borders. It simply isn't true, she said. We want a strong, secure border and enforcement that prioritizes violent criminals and real threats to our neighborhoods. Now, local activists and cultural leaders were also involved in sounding the alarm, including Tejano singer Bobby Pulido, a Democrat challenging De La Cruz in the upcoming election. Quote, it's an aggression coming from the top and they're not targeting bad people. Trump voters, friends of mine, are very upset by this. Now, Sister Norma Pimentel, a well known figure in the region, drove to the El Valle Detention center in Raymondville, Texas, late Sunday to embrace a tearful Sister Letty as she exited the metal gates. The Republicans are optimistic that redistricting and a slate of promising new candidates will allow it to hold and expand the party's reach in the borderlands. But Republicans will have to strike a more nuanced tone than they may in other parts of the country on immigration, said political scientist Alvaro Corral, the University of Texas in Rio Grande Valley. Quote, she's arguing for the compassionate release of some, but not others. That's what Corral said of de La Cruz. It puts her in a complicated place. The folks that elected her likely cheered some of this on.
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C
Yeah. Now that release of the nun, there's a video of it and the motherfuckers at the detention center while she is crying and shaking are just back there laughing. They don't have any humanity. They're just disgusting.
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B
Yeah.
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C
Anyway, I am very grateful she has been released. This one's from the Times. A federal judge ordered the Pentagon on Tuesday to temporarily lift a requirement that all journalists visiting the building be accompanied by an official escort while the New York Times sues to overturn the rule. The decision was another rebuke to the Trump administration's efforts to restrict reporters who covered the military complex. In a preliminary ruling, Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. district Court of the District of Columbia said the escort policy violated the First Amendment and I quote, this court has spoken at several points about the critical importance of protecting the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment. And that evergreen message bears repeating. Did you not fucking hear me the first time? The decision is a preliminary victory for the Times. It bars the Defense Department from enforcing the escort rule against the newspaper's Pentagon reporters. It is not clear when others in the Pentagon press corps will get the same relief. The Times has challenged the efforts of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, to limit journalists access to his department's buildings and staff. In October, the department adopted a policy authorizing it to revoke the press passes of journalists. It deemed, and I quote, security risks if they sought certain information from military employees who were not authorized to speak to the news media. In a December suit, the Times challenged those rules as unconstitutional infringements of the First Amendment. And Judge Friedman sided with the news organization in a March ruling. One business day later, the Pentagon released a revised set of rules which included the escort requirement. Before that change, journalists could just move about some parts of the building without an escort. The Pentagon is appealing the March ruling. In a preliminary ruling in April, an appellate court allowed the Pentagon to keep the escort rule while the case was being litigated, in part because Judge Friedman had not addressed the escort policy to the original court case. Then in May, the Times filed a second lawsuit seeking to overturn the escort requirement on the grounds that it was retaliatory and that it ran afoul of press freedoms. Tuesday's decision means the court has now heard the arguments about the escort policy and found preliminarily that it independently violates the Constitution. That's what Judge Freeman wrote. Sean Parnell, he's that chief Pentagon spokesman. He pledged to appeal the decision and said in a statement, and I quote, this ruling strips away reasonable security measures and will make it easier for sensitive and classified information to reach our adversaries. You know what? Nez boxes are fucking sensitive in a shitter at Mar a Lago. Go fuck yourself. No, that's rich. And it is rich coming from a group that, as I said, leaked war plans on Signal Chat to a journalist on an unsecured text chain. Come on.
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B
Yeah, and probably on an unsecured Internet WI fi network, right? I wonder what his WI fi network is. All right, everybody. I'm really looking forward to this discussion I'm about to have with Mother Jones D.C. bureau reporter Dan Friedman on the Freedom 250 State Fair of you know, the all the BS that's going on for the America's 250th and that it's basically a slush fund. So stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
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C
Will be right back.
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B
When Mint Mobile says plans start at 15 bucks a month, people tend to assume there has to be a catch. But our producer switched over to Mint and found out there's no catch. There's no gimmicks, no gotchas. You get unlimited talk, text data and fast reliable coverage on the nation's largest 5G network and an award winning care team compared to what he was getting from his old provider, Mint has delivered at the same level of service without the bloated monthly bill, the bogus fees, or the overpriced extras. So let's thank Mint Mobile for supporting this episode. Make the switch@mintmobile.com DailyBeans Mint Mobile looked at everything broken about wireless and fixed it. Instead of overpriced plans and endless monthly bills, they offer premium wireless. For just 15 bucks a month. You can keep your current phone, keep your number, keep your contacts and switch without making your life hard. They also let you choose from 3, 6 or 12 month plans, which means you can stop dealing with a monthly bill. The whole process is easy too. You sign up online, make the Switch, get three months of premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. That's it. So if you're tired of paying too much for the same basic service, Mint Mobile is the way to go. So to get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com dailybeans that's mintmobile.com dailybeans cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com dailybeans that'S IT. There's no catch. $45 upfront payment required. Equivalent to $15 a month new customers on first three month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. CMIT mobile for details. Hi, I'm Frances Collier.
- [22:06]
C
And I'm Angela V. Shelton.
- [22:07]
B
And we're Frangela.
- [22:09]
C
You know what you need in your life? The Final Word podcast.
- [22:13]
B
Yes, you do.
- [22:14]
C
That's right. It is the final word on all things political and podcast pop cultural, where
- [22:18]
B
we make real news, real funny. Where we inspire you so you can hashtag resist, subscribe and get a new episode of the Final Word podcast each week.
- [22:27]
C
It's the news we think you need to hear. That's right, we think you need to hear it. Okay. Yeah. It's what we say. So. That's right. And because all we do is give.
- [22:36]
B
Every Thursday, you can listen to our
- [22:37]
C
hysterical podcast, Idiot of the Week. We round up the stupid. Because you know what?
- [22:42]
B
Somebody has to.
- [22:43]
C
Okay?
- [22:45]
B
All we do is give. So by now, I am sure you have all seen the multitudes of videos of absolutely zero people milling around the state fair, 250 anniversary, whatever thing going on in Washington D.C. they've even gone so far as to zoom in on somebody's reflection in their sunglasses to show that there's, I think, four people listening to that band. We've seen Fox News set up a whole ass news desk in front of the emptiness that is this 250th state fair. We heard about a North Carolina booth was told to take down their Confederate flag. It's just been a mess. It's the fyre Festival. And it's supposed to be, if anybody is of a certain age, you might remember the bicentennial that we celebrated in 1976. It's supposed to be a massive, incredible, congressionally organized type of event. But it seems as though we've got new information about it totally being usurped by Donald Trump. And today we have a reporter In Mother Jones's D.C. bureau, Dan Friedman, who's been following this story. Welcome, Dan.
- [23:59]
D
Thank you for having me.
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B
Yeah, I'm so glad you're here because, you know, we've kind of just sort of been jollily laughing at the embarrassment of the no crowds and the reflecting pool turning into a swamp and all this other stuff that's been happening and then wincing at this UFC fight, particularly some of the things that were said during that event, seeing BMX motorbikes and stuff go happening at the Ellipse. But you've actually been digging into this because my very top line thought was this reminds me of his inaugural where $50 million just disappeared out of, say, an error. And I don't think we ever had a follow up investigation on that. But you're digging into this. Tell us what you're finding.
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D
I am digging into it. It is a lot like the inaugural House. And I think we've seen Trump raise money for his inauguration. We've seen him raise money for his ballroom that he is building where he tore down the east Wing. We see him raising money for the Statue Garden of American heroes, the statue garden he wants to build in D.C. for his architect. In all these cases, they've set up these private fundraising entities. And in most of them, at the same time, they're also using federal funds, our tax dollars, to pay for these things. And Trump will say, I'm raising my own money for it. But then when you look at the details, in fact, lots of taxpayer money is being spent on this stuff. And a great deal of taxpayer money is being spent on the America250 celebrations. To try to be brief, there was an organization called America 250 which was set up like 13 years ago to start organizing the 250th anniversary celebrations. It has a congressionally appointed board and has by statute is required to have bipartisan events for Americans on the 250th anniversary. That organization, I think a lot of people don't know this part. When Trump came into office, that organization absolutely bent over backwards to try to appease him. They hired a whole bunch of Trump operatives like Chris Lacivita, who ran Trump's campaign to work there. And they produced the parade that happened just over a year ago on Trump's birthday in 2025, the military parade.
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B
Oh, the squeaky, squeaky tanks. The way. Yeah, that. Okay.
- [26:20]
D
In Washington. And they hired Event Strategies, which is a event company that is best known for organizing the January 6th rally at the Ellipse in 2021 that preceded the attack on the Capitol. Despite all of that, again, because it's by statute, it can't just do anything. You can't throw a campaign rally for the president. Trump's operatives became unhappy with it and essentially fired them and created a new organization, Freedom250, which for reasons I won't get into because they're mundane, is they can do whatever they want with it. And they said they were raising private money for it, but they also steered money that had been set aside by Congress for America 250 for regular anniversary events to freedom 250. So these events that we're seeing now, the Greater American State Fair, the July 4 event that is upcoming, where he said he's going to give a 45 minute speech and have the biggest fireworks show in human history, all these flyovers that, if you live in D.C. are quite disruptive to anyone in the city. That's all being paid for by taxpayers via Freedom250. And they are giving Trump exactly what he wants, which is just a big party that has absolutely nothing to do with the founding of this country, the principles on which this country was founded. Except you could make the argument that it is in many ways opposed to the principles in which this country was founded.
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B
Right. Or with all the corruption, it is what it's become, a celebration of what has become. Because you're talking about a slush fund here, right? In part, he's using our taxpayer money and he's kind of hiding it through dark money groups. And then in part, he's getting bribes. Like, I would rather you didn't get donations, because as we learned, I think the companies who donated to the ballroom project, for example, have been given, awarded OR expanded over $50 billion in government contracts. We also know that, I mean, we had. This is a slush fund guy that Donald Trump. We had. Remember when Michael Cohen set up Essential Consulting and got paid by all these companies massive amounts of money, basically just to have access to the president. He's also running a pardon scheme, going rates about $2 million for a pardon, if anybody wants one. And you got to get that money in somehow to somewhere. We have Lewandowski setting up A consulting firm saying, you're not going to be able to keep your DHS contracts that I oversee unless you hire my personal consulting firm. So it's just slush fund city. It's totally amazing. Like, the corruption is insane. Talk a little bit about the role of the Department of the Interior here because, I mean, I understand that he's going to put a sycophant in every seat in the Cabinet, but, I mean, just to roll over and accept all this is beyond the pale.
- [29:11]
D
Yeah. Can I just give you one example of one of the donors that is, I think, a particularly strong example of aspect. Scott's Miracle Gro makes lawn care products and they have an exclusive deal to sell Roundup in the United States, and that is the subject of litigation because of alleged carcinogens in Roundup. And Scott's Miracle Grow is lobbying not to avoid to sell more Roundup and not have any issues with that. So they're supporting their donor to Freedom250. Trump, a few months ago announced that Scott's Roundup is a national security. There's a national security need to produce more Roundup in the United States and said that there should be a priority placed by the Defense Department on making more of it and presumably selling more of it. So after the UFC fight crashed the South Lawn of the White House, people may have seen the pictures of the ellipse in the South Lawn with no grass. Scott's Milk or Grow announced that they were contributing a million dollars worth of product to help regrow the grass on the White House lawn. And the White House and Fox News then ran a story that was absolutely glowing description of what a wonder thing Scott's Miracle Grow was doing by donating supposedly a million dollars worth of product. And the White House then aggressively promoted that story. So the White House is doing an infomercial for Scott's Miracle Gro while also helping them with their larger regulatory issues, perhaps with some connection to the fact that they are a donor to Trump's big parties that he's having for America 250. So it's kind of like, like it's pay for play corruption coming and going.
- [30:53]
C
It's right.
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D
So the Interior Department set up when Trump aides created Freedom 250, it was set up under the National Park Service. And in the national park, the National Park Service works with the National Parks foundation, which is a nonprofit that raises private money for national parks. And they stuck Freedom 250 in there, and then they're getting money through that. And so the Interior Department has done that at the same time, the Interior Department has also, again, through the National Park Service, has taken a lead on Trump's efforts to build monuments to himself, to redo the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, to build the arch that is on what will be if it is built. It is on national park land in D.C. on the Potomac River. So the Interior, through Burgum, is sort of the key agency in facilitating these seemingly corrupt celebrations and construction of monuments to Donald Trump's vanity.
- [31:58]
B
And he's just rubber stamping all of it, right?
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D
Yeah. I wouldn't.
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B
I mean, there's no pushback within the Parks Department or the Interior here.
- [32:05]
D
That's right. And in fact, Burgum was asked whose decision was it to put Freedom250 essentially within the Interior Department, which he runs in congressional testimony a few months ago. And he said he didn't know. He said, I'm not sure who made that decision. So apparently this organization mysteriously appeared within his department and is now receiving tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. But he's not sure what happened there.
- [32:29]
B
Of course he's not. I remember that testimony. Anyway, tell everyone where they can find all of your reporting, how to find you, follow you on social media, because I think this is all fascinating to dig into this, where all this money is going to.
- [32:41]
D
Thank you. Yeah, it's motherjones.com, i have a new story up on this company, Event Strategies getting money from our money through Freedom250 to throw these events despite their role on January 6th. And I'm @DFreedman33 on Twitter, and I think I'm Daniel Friedman, 33, on Bluesky and out there on the Internet in as many ways as I can be.
- [33:03]
B
Awesome. Well, I appreciate you coming in and talking today and giving us a little bit of insight on what's going on behind the scenes, especially that a January 6th events organizer is helping with the Freedom 250. I mean, that's just the headline writes
- [33:18]
D
itself in that, making tens of millions of dollars to do it.
- [33:23]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much, Dan Friedman. I appreciate your time today. Thank you, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news.
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A
Hello, Martin Sheen here. And it seems to me that no day of the week is without its endless barrage of bad news. Even on Sunday. For God's sake, let's change that. What do you say together, let's make Sunday immune to bad news. Available now every Sunday, season three of the Martin Sheen podcast with yours truly, Martin Sheen has begun. Yeah. 10 brand new episodes are already underway. So join me, Martin sheen, for a 20 minute journey as I share my personal stories, a bit of poetry, and insightful reflections that will encourage you to take a deep breath and enjoy a relaxing moment. Of course, it's important to know and understand what's happening in the world, but I also believe there's nothing wrong with taking a step back to find strength and clarity. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever. A moment of thoughtfulness and calm may be rare these days, but it doesn't have to be. So what do you say? You want to take back your Sundays? So do I. And guess what? I've already done it with the Martin Sheen Podcast, Season three, available now. Now don't mess with my sundae. And thank you for listening, everybody.
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B
Welcome back. It's time for the good news,
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everyone. Good news. Good news.
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B
And if you have any good news, big or small, recent or in the distant past, maybe a funny joke, maybe your favorite street joke, maybe some misheard song lyrics, or today I learned or I was today years old when I learned. I love those. Maybe you have a good trouble suggestion or a shout out to a loved one or a government program or yourself or a nonprofit or some great community organizing. Just send it all to us. Bring a smile to our face. Dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. And all you gotta do to get your stuff submitted is attach a photo. It can be your pet. We can try to guess the breeds in your shelter pup. It can be a random animal on the Internet. It can be an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have a pet, you can send baby photos. Family pictures. Awkward family photos. Tell us. Show us what you wore for Halloween last year. It can be anything. Sunsets. What you're growing in your garden. Maybe you're quilting or knitting. Maybe you got some hens that lay eggs. Chickens. We love chickens. Goats. Send them to us. All of the photos. Dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your good trouble and your good trouble for this July 4th weekend. America250 is the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to coordinate the nation's 250th. Its mission is to celebrate the country's history through educational programming, civic engagement, historical preservation, and community events that welcome Americans of every political persuasion. That's America 250. Freedom 250 is a trump scam organization. Double check that you're not attending, participating or amplifying anything from Freedom250. You can find a list of nonpartisan America250 events from all over the country at America250.org and we'll have a link for you in the show notes, including a link to an events calendar. Please have fun celebrating this weekend. Also, July month is pride month in San Diego. So we're continuing our campaign to raise money for the incredibly important work that's done by the Trevor Project. You can donate@trevorproject.org beans if we're going to do this for the whole month of July, we'll see how much money we can raise. Maybe we can break some records. It's all tax deductible as well. Cause it's a 501. So. Trevorproject.org beans amazing.
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C
And Alison, I'm very excited to announce and I think I've hinted at this before, everyone, I am finally bringing the Funny Fest back to Albuquerque. We've been on hiatus for six years. I have an amazing lineup. It's gonna be on October 9th. It's a Friday night. And we are going to help raise money for Equality New Mexico. It is an amazing organization. Now, what's wonderful is we are looking for sponsors. If you have a company in New Mexico or even across the country where you're like, you know what? I want to be a sponsor of this event and I want my logo on that poster and I want a shout out on Dana's website. You have an opportunity to do that. Obviously, if you're in New Mexico, it would benefit you a little bit more. But it is not just exclusive to New Mexico companies. I'm talking bigger, small sponsorships. If you would like information, you can email me@danagoldberg.com so it's just my name, danagoldberg.com and I will send you sponsorship information so you can become part of the Funny Fest. I'm so excited to bring this back to Albuquerque. It's at the historic Chemo Theater. A lot of you have already been to this and you have been asking, when is it coming back? It's coming back and you can be a part of it. So I just wanted to put that out there. Alison, thank you. By the way. Amazing.
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B
Yep, Amazing. We need more funny things.
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We do. I'm so excited. All right, next up, from Dusty Pronoun, she and her Good morning Beans Queens. As I listen to the news about birthright citizenship, my mind reels with the hypocrisy. Back in Trump 1.0, there were multiple stories about him running hotels in the Miami area for wealthy pregnant Russian women awaiting the birth of their babies. Those stories are still available on Google. Not my imagination. This juicy tidbit needs to come to light as he decries decrees. Decries. What is that word? Decries? The whole concept. The fucker made money on it and now he hates it. Thanks for all you do. I'm including a photo of Portulacus Portulacas from my balcony garden. Is that what these are called?
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They're beautiful.
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They're gorgeous. Portulacus.
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I love it. Also, Barron Trump.
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Yep.
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Melania didn't have her citizenship when he was born.
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C
Yeah.
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Interesting. Ted Cruz.
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Yep.
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Marco Rubio. Okay, yeah, the hypocrisy is pretty stunning, but I remember those stories. He was running a Russian baby rich lady hotel. You know, birth doula in Miami. Anyway, thank you so much for bringing that up. Next up from anonymous, pronouns, he and him. Hi, beans. Queens Ag made the excellent point that there's no freedom of religion without freedom from religion. So I'd like to shout out the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It's an advocacy groups that help send out letters informing local, state and federal agencies when they're violating separation of church and state, as well as lawsuits when necessary on behalf of local plaintiffs. I'm one of their weird non atheist members being a Catholic because as our Mormon friends found out recently, the Christian nationalists can decide one day that you're no longer the right flavor of Jesus. The Freedom from Religion foundation does amazing work protecting the rights we Americans are guaranteed in the Constitution. And they deserve a shout out for it. Also, they perhaps have most hilarious commercial for needling Republicans with President Ronald Reagan's son, Ron Reagan, saying he's a lifelong atheist and not afraid of burning in hell. Have you seen that ad I had for pot pet tariff? Please find a llama at the Lake Geneva Wildlife Safari in Wisconsin.
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Alrighty.
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There's plenty of great animals there, from these chill llamas to emus who hate you for existing. Seriously, the emus there have convinced me Liberty Mutual ads are just emu propaganda. Thanks for all you do with the pod. Look at the llama. I love llamas.
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C
So good.
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B
Oh, I think that's the first time we've had. No, we've had a llama before. We've had a long one before.
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C
Yeah, yeah. All right, next up from Renee pronouns. She and her hello, queens of the beans. Thanks for doing what you do. Your item about Dan J. Sullivan and Dan S. Sullivan running for Senate from Alaska brought back a memory so strong and funny that I had to get this to you right away.
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B
Ooh, I love these.
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C
I know There was a year in my 30 year career as an elementary school music teacher that I taught a third grade class with two Jason Smiths. Last name changed, of course. One was Jason E. Smith and the other was Jason R. Smith. And you had to call their whole name every time you needed them to do something in class. That was the year that the rest of the boys in the class were aj, cj, dj, ej, jj, lj, oj, pj, rj, tj and impossibly, a fella that just went by J. That's wild. As the music teacher, I only saw the class about 36 times over the year. But that poor teacher and a dozen precious little girls had to deal with this every day. I can't imagine what our admin staff were thinking when they put this bunch together in August. The teacher was one of the best. I learned so much from her, but I'm pretty sure she retired at the end of the year. Here's a quick pic of my youngest great nephew, Leo. Oh my gosh. His parents didn't tell any of us that his name would be until the day he arrived. They mischievously called him Blueberry until that day. He's wearing the blueberry outfit for this pic given by a family member and is obviously a very happy kid. We love him so much. Thanks again. I can't, I can't, I can't.
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Is that a narwhal? Is that a narwhal? No, it's a blueberry.
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Okay, It's a blueberry.
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I'm like, what's the. Oh, it's the stem. It's the blueberry stem.
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C
It's a blueberry.
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Aj, cj, dj, ej. Oh my God.
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C
I know.
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B
I'm so glad you sent that in. I love those interesting things that just pop into your head. All right, next up, Susan riding and illusions pronoun. She and her. Hello, imperial leaders of the lagunati. Oh, how I appreciate you both and your shows. I even stopped checking in on Blue Sky a thousand times a day because I know you'll cover it all with swears and humor. All the news I care about. Thank you, Susan. I want to make a suggestion and I hope you share it with your independent journalist colleagues. Lots of us have been turning the term snowflakes back on the repulsive, regressive. Repressive Ruth Uglicans. I think that validates their ridiculous label of us Dems. I've been thinking that a better adjective for them is weenies. Burn for my pod pet tax you burnt. Please meet my beautiful Bella she's been mine for a year, but I've had her since my childhood dream of riding Andalusians. You were a huge fan, Susan. Oh, look at the beautiful horse.
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Oh, gorgeous. So gorgeous. All right, next up from Grace Pronoun. She and her hello AG and dg. Long time listener, second time reaching out. You both are the best and this podcast helps so much. Swearing included. Fuck Trump and scotus. While I'm here, I'm writing in a shout out to my amazing husband. A little background. We have a kitchen table and chairs that are older and mostly in good chair. I bought the set nearly 30 years ago and noticed two of the chairs needed replacing. I thought we'd have to buy four new chairs or possibly an entire new table and chair set because no way could we find ones that match with the cost of things. I was dreading it. Well, the universe heard me. Yesterday my husband was out with a buddy of his at a local Goodwill and just happened to run across two brand spanking new chairs that match my set. They were under $6 each. Holy smokes. Obviously we bought them and now we don't have to wor about the expense of buying all new chairs or a whole new table and chair set. What a great guy he is. He comes through and just makes me happy. I'm lucky and very grateful. Attached her two photos of my podpet tariff. Our boy Winston chilling out by the kitchen door. The second one is him finding the pillows on the lazy boy in my office. He's a weirdo, but a love bug. Thank you both again. Stay salty, stay strong, and keep on swearing.
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Yeah, look at that little chonker. What's up, Winston?
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D
Love it.
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C
What's up, Winston?
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B
Thank you so much. What a cool story. And congratulations on finding $6 replacement chairs that match your set. That's insane.
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C
Serious.
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All right, next up from Z Pronoun, she and her Teresa Z lorem, Ipsum. How has no one mentioned that the algae in the reflecting pool was actually Brondo? It's got electrolytes. Anywho, you said you like Pekingese. Here's mine. Zuzu rose. Named after Zuzu Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life.
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Oh, look at the baby.
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Pekingese teacher says idiocracy was considered fiction before 2016. And here is the thirst mutilator. It's got electrolytes. Plants crave it. Plants crave it.
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C
So funny. All right, next up from Cheryl Pronouns. She and her hello, ladies of the beans. I wanted to share some of the little things making my mother and me Happy, happy. These days in our chaos gardening mama is growing pumpkins and has two on the vine so far. She just put seeds in the ground. No special prep. And they grew. Attaching a picture of one in its little support hammock made from an old undershirt. I have a patch of random wild sunflowers that reseed themselves every year. They attract bees, butterflies, and even hummingbirds. I caught a bordered patch butterfly laying eggs this year. If you ever see a ton of little caterpillars on sunflowers, they're probably bordered patches. Finally, for the pod tacks is a toad that has taken up residence in my backyard. Apparently there's plenty to eat because it leaves me poop presents on the porch. Little toad can have all the mosquitoes at once. Hoping you all find some little things to bring joy as well. Aw, that little hammock for the pumpkin is frickin adorable.
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I know, I know. I didn't know you needed to it put, put. I mean, it makes sense. Pumpkin hammocks so they could. Don't weigh down the vine. Look at the toad. Thank you. Thank you so much, Cheryl. And thanks to everybody for sending in your good news. Please send all your good news to us, no matter how small. Seriously, even if you just want to say hi dailybeanspod.com and click on contact and hey, do us a favor, rate our podcast, if you would, on whatever app you listen on that really helps us out. Absolutely would love that. And then of course, if you would like to follow us on social media, it's DG comedy for Dana, wherever she is. And I'm pretty much Mueller. She wrote everywhere. So you can find us on social media. We would love that too.
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C
Yeah, we would.
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B
All right, everybody, thank you so much. Do you have any final thoughts, my friend, before we get out of here today?
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C
That's good.
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All right, everybody, we'll see you tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family. I've been ag.
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I've been dg.
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And I'm Sabine. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw Media 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
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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.
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B
We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and
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a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot.
- [49:12]
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It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining.
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C
Let's fall down the Rabbit hole.
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MSW Media.