← The Daily Beans
The Daily Beans
Refried Beans | The Squirmish Doctor Biscuits (feat. Frank Figliuzzi) | Apr 8, 2022
00:45:28
Friday, April 8, 2022 In the Hot Notes: the Department of Justice is investigating the 15 boxes of classified material Donald stole from the White House; the New York Attorney General asks the court to hold Donald in civil contempt; the Manhattan DA says he’s continuing Cy Vance’s investigation into Trump despite the resignations of Pomerantz and Dunne; two men were arrested in DC For impersonating federal officers and giving gifts to Secret Service agents including an agent protecting the First Lady; and the effort to keep seditionists off the ballot under the 14th amendment grows; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Hey, everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans, where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago, so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro.
- [00:24]
Dana Goldberg
Refried beans.
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Allison Gill
I like refried beans.
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Dana Goldberg
That's why I want to try fried.
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Allison Gill
Beans, because maybe they're just as good.
- [00:28]
Dana Goldberg
And we're wasting time.
- [00:47]
Allison Gill
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, April 8, 2022. Today, the Department of Justice is investigating the 15 boxes of classified material Donald stole from the White House. The New York Attorney General, Tish James asks the court to hold Donald in civil contempt. The Manhattan District Attorney says he's continuing Cy Vance's investigation into Donald Trump despite the resignations of Pomerantz and Dunn. I'm not sure I believe it. Two men were arrested in D.C. for impersonating federal officers and giving gifts to Secret Service agents, including an agent protecting the First Lady. And the effort to keep seditionists off the ballot under the 14th Amendment is growing. I'm Allison Gill.
- [01:27]
Frank Figluzzi
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
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Allison Gill
That was the most professional. And I'm Dana Goldberg I think I've ever see.
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Frank Figluzzi
And I'm Dana Goldberg. And you're watching Sick. Like, it was very much like I was hosting TV just now. And I'm Dana Goldberg.
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Allison Gill
And next up, it's Dana Goldberg.
- [01:46]
Frank Figluzzi
All of that news sounds like we have some, like, positive things. What?
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Allison Gill
It was a bad fucking day for Donald Trump. I was going to say that.
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Frank Figluzzi
The baby Jesus.
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Allison Gill
I know, I know. And I know there's no indictments yet. Nobody's been arrested. We don't have a perp walk. You know, that's not really how everything works, unfortunately. I wish it was, but it's not. Later in the show, I'm going to be talking with our friend who is the author of the FBI Way, host of the Bureau podcast on MSW Media, former assistant director of the FBI for Counterintelligence, and excellent spaghetti sauce maker Frank Fegluti. And we're going to talk about these two dudes who were arrested in a Navy Yard apartment building half a mile from the DNC and RNC headquarters near the Capitol that were apparently impersonating Department of Homeland Security officers, and they had a bunch of guns and tactical units and apartments, and they were giving shit away for free to. It's a bananas story. It's like straight out of a. One of those novels whose authors I don't know, because I don't read. I don't read those.
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Frank Figluzzi
I almost had. Yeah, I almost had a name pop in my head about who writes those books, and then it popped out as fast as it came in, so.
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Allison Gill
James Patterson.
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Frank Figluzzi
Yeah, I think that's who it is. Patterson, is it?
- [03:01]
Allison Gill
Yeah.
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Frank Figluzzi
Someone will correct us if we're wrong.
- [03:03]
Allison Gill
And apologize to fans of those books. I'm sure they're fantastic. If I had. If I could, I'd probably be into them. Or we could just write this one, you know? You know, we'll just write this one. All right. We do have, as you could tell, a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, the Justice Department has begun investigating the handling of 15 boxes of white House records, including classified information taken to Mar? A Lago after former President Donald Trump left office. And that's according to a source familiar with the matter. Again, again, I repeat it. The Department of Justice is investigating the handling of 15 boxes of white House records. Come at me, bro. This comes as the Justice Department blocks the National Archives from sharing details on the boxes with Congress, which has launched its own investigation. And when this news first came out, somebody just put the letter out from Congress. Congress is being blocked and stonewalled by the Department of the stupid, scary Department of Justice. A holes who weren't won't let them get information on these 15 boxes. And then everyone. That's because they're probably investigating officially. And you don't want to hand over a bunch of documents to a committee that's got Matt Gaetz on it when you're trying, seriously, my God, you know, investigate this shit. So I think it was oversight and he's judiciary, but whatever. You still don't want any. You don't want to hand anything over to Congress when you're investigating. So. In a letter to the House that the House Oversight Committee disclosed on Thursday, Archives General Counsel Gary Stern said the agency is not able to respond to the panel's request for more information based on the Archives consultation with the Justice Department. So it wasn't even the Justice Department. It was the Archives saying no. And after receiving the March 28 letter from the Archives, also known as NARA, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney reached out to Merrick Garland requesting additional information as to why the Justice Department is preventing the Archives from cooperating with the panel. Like you need to know. I feel like she wrote this letter just to let everybody know that the Department of Justice is investigating. She says, I write today because The DOJ is preventing NARA from cooperating with the committee's request, which is interfering with the committee's investigation. By blocking NARA from producing the documents requested by the committee, the department is obstructing the committee's investigation. But she also adds, we do not wish to interfere in any manner with potential or ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice. Just to be clear, the FBI and Justice prosecutors routinely conduct reviews when classified materials are found to have been mishandled or stored in ways that don't meet requirements. Moving and storing classified information to the former President's club in Florida would appear to fall outside those guidelines. It does. It's also common for the Justice Department to limit information that government agencies share with Congress while an investigation is going on. That's just, it's just a no brainer to me. Justice Department declined to comment. Which is funny that they even bothered to reach out. Like, like all of a sudden they're going to be like, oh yeah, bro, we're investigating. What's up? The archives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment either. So Suck it, haters. DOJ's investigating.
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Frank Figluzzi
That's a good way to end that story. I'm going to start this one with one of our favorite ladies. The New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a New York court on Thursday to hold the former President Donald J. Trump in civil contempt for allegedly failing to comply with a court order that he turn over certain documents for her investigation. Now, state Judge Arthur Gerron. Yep, wonderful. Sometimes I get him, sometimes I don't. In February, that time, I got it in February, had ordered Trump to, quote, comply in full with the attorney general subpoena seeking documents and information. Now, Engoron also ruled that Trump, Donald Trump Jr. And Ivanka Trump should comply with the attorney general subpoenas for testimony. But Trumps, the Trumps, all of them are appealing that decision. In a motion filed Thursday, the attorney General's office said that the Trump, quote, the Trump, that Trump, quote, did not comply at all with the subpoena for documents and that his attorneys said he would not produce any documents in response to the subpoena because his attorneys believe that if the documents exist, the Trump Organization would have them and the attorney General's office, quote, will just have to wait until the Trump Organization completes its production to get them. Now, according to new filings, her office had agreed to extend an early March deadline for the documents until March 31. But rather than produce the documents that day, Trump presented 16 objections to the subpoenas demands. Yes, Trump's attorneys also presented the Attorney General's office an affidavit for a Trump lawyer claiming that the former President was unable to locate the documents. Did they check the toilet? AG was unable to locate the documents. Oh, my God. Documents being. And to the extent the documents even existed, they were in the custody of the Trump Organization, which faces a separate subpoena deadline. Okay. James argued on Thursday that Trump's attorney's response amounted to more delay and obfuscation. Obfuscation. You would think I'm drinking, people. I'm not. It's Thursday. This is supposed to be Amy.
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Allison Gill
It's a weird word. It's gotta be in it. An F. Next to it.
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Frank Figluzzi
Yeah, it's. You're not going to see it. Immortal. And it's hard to get out of my mouth, but you know what I'm talking about. So that's what it amounted to. More delays and obfuscation. Saying that his objections came too late, she said that Trump was, quote, highly likely to have been in possession, custody, or control of numerous documents bearing on her investigation. That he failed to adequately detail the efforts he undertook to search for the subpoena documents. Meaning he had. You didn't try very hard.
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Allison Gill
Right, Right. If he had said, hey, look, I looked through all my filing cabinets at home. I went through my car, I went through my other car, I went through the toilet. I couldn't find anything. And so they must be at the Trump Organization. He didn't even do that. He was like, no, I don't have a Buick.
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Frank Figluzzi
You don't have it. James is asking the court to impose a fine of $10,000 per day or any amount the court deems, quote, sufficient to coerce his compliance with the court's February 2022 order, as well as compensation of the Attorney General office's cost and fees in filing the motion. You're going to pay for our time and suffering because this is fucking ridiculous.
- [09:14]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And I think that the court might actually award more than that. They did in the Alex Jones case. In the Alex Jones case, they wanted $25,000 a day until he complied with his subpoena. And the court said, tell you what, we'll do 25 a day and then 50 on day two and then 75 on day three and 100 on day four. And we'll do that until April 15th, when it'll be a million bucks. Sound good? And they're like, yeah, that's fucking cool. We're down with that.
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Frank Figluzzi
Let's do it.
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Allison Gill
So that's interesting. All right. So under investigation for 15 boxes of stuff, of documents that he stole, and now in contempt for not being able to produce documents. Okay, next up, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg publicly discussed his office's investigation into Trump for the first time today, insisting that the inquiry has continued despite the recent resignations of two senior prosecutors who had been leading it. Mr. Bragg said in an interview that his office had recently questioned new witnesses about Mr. Trump and reviewed additional documents, both previously unreported steps in the inquiry. But citing grand jury secrecy rules, Bragg declined to provide details on the new steps in the investigation, which is focused on whether Trump committed a crime and inflating the value of his bullshit. And it remains unclear. I'm paraphrasing whether Mr. Bragg and his prosecutors have found a productive new route in the investigation, which has already spanned more than three years. For Bragg, a series of interviews on Thursday, as well as the release of a lengthy formal statement represent an attempt to quell the intense criticism he's faced over his handling of the high stakes investigation into the former guy. Yeah. In December, Bragg's predecessor, Vance, directed two senior prosecutors leading the inquiry, Pomerantz and Dunn, to present evidence to a grand jury. Go ahead, indict, prosecute. With the goal of indicting Trump. And Bragg, two months into his tenure, halted the presentation after disagreeing with Pomeranz and Dunn on the strength of their case. Their subsequent resignations led to public criticism of Bragg. I actually put his phone number, I put the Manhattan Diaz phone number on Twitter. I was like, call him, tell him, give him a ring. This was particularly after the New York Times published a copy of Paul Morantz's resignation letter. And AG read it in her wildly popular podcast, the Daily Beans. No, I'm kidding.
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Frank Figluzzi
Sorry. It's Friday. We're allowed to have a little fun.
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Allison Gill
Why not I just inject myself into the Washington Post, he said. In his letter, Pomerantz said, you know, I read it to you that Trump was guilty of numerous felonies and it was a grave failure of justice not to hold him accountable. In the letter, Pomerantz also said the investigation had been suspended indefinitely. In a nearly hour long interview at his office on Thursday, Bragg disputed Pomerantz's characterization of the investigation, basically calling Pomerantz a liar. But he did not respond directly to the details Pomeranz had disclosed. Huh, Weird. Saying the senior prosecutor's letter speaks for itself. Yeah, it does. And it said that you stopped the investigation. Bragg vowed in a separate statement released Thursday to publicly announce his decision on whether or not he would seek an indictment. Until now it was unclear whether he would do so. And I call, I don't give a shit on that. If you decline to prosecute, I don't want to just know that you declined to prosecute. I want to know why you declined to prosecute if the evidence didn't meet the requirements for prosecution under your criminal prosecuting rules. I know what the federal ones are, but I don't know what New York states are. I could look them up, I guess, but I'm busy right now reading the news and I want to know what evidence didn't meet the criteria and why not. I want it laid out like Mueller did with his declination decisions in the Mueller report. That's what I want. I want that kind of shit.
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Frank Figluzzi
Absolutely.
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Allison Gill
You just telling me you're declining to prosecute means that this whole bullshit interview was just a tactic to get pressure off your back from everybody being pissed at you. I'm the district Attorney, he said, I own this decision. Whatever conclusion we come to. Yes, you do. Pomerantz threatened to resign in January, but agreed to stay on in order to make a last ditch attempt to convince Bragg that the grand jury presentation should continue. Bragg stopped two key witnesses from testifying to the grand jury. So when he tells you, well, we want more avenues and more evidence and new things, then you don't stop key witnesses from testifying to the grand jury if you're after more evidence. But he and Mr. Dunn conducted a series of meetings with the district attorney in February. Pomerantz and Dunn hoping to convince him to charge Trump with conspiracy. Conspiracy and falsifying business records, in effect painting the former president as a liar rather than a thief. Got it. But Bragg remained unconvinced and on February 22nd told Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunn he was not ready to proceed and they resigned the next day. So here we are. And I, for one, you know me, I'm Mrs. I give you a chance until you give me a reason not to. And I think his bungling and the Pomerant's resignation is a reason not to. So now I'm in the camp of I'll believe it when I see an indictment. You know, I'm against that kind of stuff when it comes to the Department of Justice. But they haven't told us, they haven't given us a reason to me at least to doubt that they're going to move forward where I have a reason to doubt Alvin Bragg absolutely.
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Frank Figluzzi
And I think it's justified. Now, this last story actually brings me a great amount of joy. Don't know how much is going to come to fruition, but I just want to let everyone know about it. There's a big legal effort to disqualify from reelection lawmakers who participated in events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That has expanded on Thursday, when a cluster of voters and progressive groups filed suit against three elected officials in Arizona to bar them under the 14th amendment from running again. So it's the 14th amendment. In three separate candidacy challenges filed in Superior Court in Maricopa County, Arizona voters in the progressive group Free Speech for People targeted Representatives Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and State Representative Mark Fincham, who is running for Arizona secretary of State with the former president's endorsement. Now, it was unclear whether the challenges would go anywhere in an initial squirmish, although led by Free Speech for People.
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Allison Gill
I'm oh yeah, you said squirmish.
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Frank Figluzzi
Oh, yeah.
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Allison Gill
Which I love.
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Frank Figluzzi
Skirmish. An initial skirmish in an initial. What is that? Was skirmish. Is there another word I can use for skirmish?
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Allison Gill
Oh, an initial. Dust up.
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Frank Figluzzi
Okay, I'm going to use skirmish.
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Allison Gill
A dust up. Dust dump. A brouhaha.
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Frank Figluzzi
I was like, are you in a saloon? There's a dust up.
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Allison Gill
An initial. Oh, God.
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Frank Figluzzi
Okay.
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Allison Gill
Ballyhoo.
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Frank Figluzzi
All right. There you go. Ballyhoo. Okay.
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Allison Gill
Shenanigans. Initial shenanigans.
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Frank Figluzzi
Let me compose myself.
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Allison Gill
Bedlam.
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Frank Figluzzi
You can leave this in if you want.
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Allison Gill
Tomfoolery.
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Frank Figluzzi
There you go. That's what we're going to use. It was unclear whether the challenges would go anywhere. An initial skirmish, also led by Free Speech for the People. It failed to block Representative Madison Cawthorn's candidacy in North Carolina. But they were the latest bids to find a way to punish members of Congress who have encouraged or made common cause with those who stormed the Capitol on January 6. In all three suits, the plaintiffs claim that the politicians are disqualified from seeking office because their support for rioters who attacked the Capitol made them insurrectionists under the Constitution and therefore barred them under the little known third section of the 14th Amendment adopted during Reconstruction to punish members of the Confederacy. Now, on Friday, a federal judge in Atlanta, they're actually going to hear Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene her effort to dismiss a case that's been filed against her to strike her from the ballot in Georgia. Now, unless the judge, Amy Totenberg of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, unless she issues a temporary restraining order, an administrative law judge is set to hear arguments next Wednesday on whether Ms. Green should removed from the ballot. And I sure the fuck hope she is because how glorious would that be? There's so much I have a feeling that's gonna stay and listen people, it's Friday. You should enjoy the laughter of your co hosts.
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Allison Gill
If the editors take it out, there was something really funny and that's why we're laughing.
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Frank Figluzzi
Oh my God. I hope. I think they're gonna we'll find it.
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Allison Gill
We have to leave it in.
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Frank Figluzzi
If we're doing okay on time, they're gonna leave it in. Yeah, you have to leave it in.
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Allison Gill
We have a bonus story One of two men accused of impersonating federal agents and giving actual Secret Service agents gifts and free apartments in Washington has claimed to have ties to Pakistani intelligence and had visas showing travel to Pakistan and Iran. That's according to federal prosecutors. The men, arian Taharzadeh, a 40 year old, and Haider Ali, 35, were arrested Wednesday. The FBI raided a luxury apartment building in southeast Washington where the men were staying and had been offering free apartments and other gifts to U.S. secret Service agents and officers. Now, Tahirzadeh was born in the Midwest, so we're still trying to figure out the ties to Pakistani intelligence and the visas of travel to Pakistan and Iran, but the guy is an American. During a court appearance Thursday, Assistant U.S. attorney Joshua Rothstein said Ali had told witnesses he was affiliated with the Inter Services Intelligence Agency in Pakistan and that he had multiple visas from Pakistan and Iran. In the months before, prosecutors believed the men began impersonating U.S. law enforcement officials. Rothstein said the U.S. had not been able to verify the veracity of his claims. Now the FBI searched five residences at the building on the Navy Yard on Wednesday in D.C. and three vehicles. They found body armor, gas masks, zip ties, handcuffs, equipment to break through doors, battering rams, drones, radios and police training manuals. The two men also had surveillance equipment and high power telescope. The FBI found evidence that they may have been creating surveillance devices and also found a binder with information of all the residents in the apartment building. The FBI also found several firearms, handguns, ammunition, disassembled rifle pieces and sniper scopes. Prosecutors alleged Taharzadeh and Ali had falsely claimed to work for the Department of Homeland Security and worked on a special task force undercover covert investigating gangs and violence connected to the January 6th insurrection. They also said previously to that work they were working on child sex trafficking cases. Taharzadeh is accused of providing Secret Service officers and agents with rent free apartments, including a penthouse worth over $48,000 a year, along with iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a television, a generator, a gun case, other policing tools. And in one instance, he offered to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent who was assigned to protect the First Lady. Prosecutors allege one of the men also tried to destroy evidence once he learned he was being investigated. Whoopsie. And after Taharzadeh found out the FBI was starting to investigate him, he took steps to delete posts on social media and admitted that he had deleted the posts that would have been evidence in the case against him. A lawyer for Taharzadeh and Ali argue that both men should not be detained. Yeah. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey ordered both men held until detention. And there's a hearing today, Friday afternoon. Rostin said the case would be presented to a grand jury, expects both men to face federal conspiracy charges. So that's going on. It's an insane story. And I'm going to be right back after this quick break to discuss it more with our friend Frank Foglooszi. Stay with us after these messages. We'll be right back. Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men that say they were posing as federal agents for the Department of Homeland Security and gave free apartments and other gifts to U.S. secret Service agents living in the building, including one who worked on the FLOTUS security detail. That's Dr. Jill Biden. And joining me to discuss this incredible story is author of the FBI Way, host of the Bureau podcast, and former assistant director, the FBI for Counterintelligence, Frank Figluzzi. Hi, Frank.
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Dana Goldberg
Hey, Ag. This seems to fall into the category, increasingly frequent category of you can't make this stuff up.
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Allison Gill
No, you can't. And if I were in a television writer's room, they'd be like, this is just too on the nose for weirdness. We can't possibly.
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Dana Goldberg
Well, you know, it's funny because I just finished watching Inventing Anna, and now I'm in the middle of. Oh, what's the Theranos series with. With Amanda Seyfried.
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Allison Gill
Oh, I don't know.
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Dana Goldberg
Oh, Dropout. It's called Dropout.
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Allison Gill
Oh, Dropout. Yeah. I was just going to start the Americans again.
- [21:52]
Dana Goldberg
Again.
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Allison Gill
Again, yes. I've watched that a few times, and I always like to watch it with the West Wing, so I feel a little bit better. Yes, it's a good palate cleanser. So this is a bizarre story. We've got two guys, apparently at least one of them is using an alias because a reporter at Politico had found that he's actually the main guy in this whole thing is actually his mom's maiden name is like, Gerson or something. So they're from like the Midwest. And so he was born in the Midwest, so I'm not quite sure about the aliases. And then we just got breaking news also that, you know, these guys were paying for really nice apartments in Navy Yard, which is, by the way, about half a mile away from DNC and RNC headquarters. But apparently they weren't actually making any of the rent payments, and so no one was collecting rent on that. So why were these guys given such deference? And it wasn't until a postal Service inspector tell us this story.
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Dana Goldberg
Well, look, as far as we know, and you've got some late breaking stuff here, but as far as we know, this was discovered because some mail carrier got assaulted in this building, this condo building. And Here comes the U.S. postal Inspectors, who, by the way, I've worked with on major cases in my career. They're incredibly professional and they're very small organization, but they do their stuff really well. So here they come to investigate an assault on a mail carrier, and they start asking questions around the building, and they start apparently talking to one or both of these two guys who've now been arrested. And these two guys have the audacity to tell the postal inspectors, hey, we're undercover, special U.S. special police service. And the postal inspectors are like, what?
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Allison Gill
What?
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Dana Goldberg
And they start checking this out, and of course, it's all bogus. And this leads to this major arrest last evening. And, you know, we saw on social media last night an FBI SWAT team stacked up behind this condo building. And I'm thinking, well, okay, that only happens when you're afraid of weapons violence. And sure enough, what do we hear? We hear these two guys were impersonating federal agents, that there are weapons involved, that they may have purchased weapons for Secret Service agents, that they may have compromised agents who were living rent free, perhaps in this luxury condo, reportedly including a penthouse apartment. And so the residents of this building reported they thought multiple doors were kicked in yesterday evening, meaning execution likely of multiple search warrants. So the basic questions are, who are these guys? Who's funding this? If anybody, who are they working for? Number two, what. What was the objective? What. What are they doing? Are they trying to compromise? Are they trying. What's the, you know, any scammer con has at its root roots money? And so how do. I'm trying to see a scenario here, ag where they produce income, where they. Right, we want to hire you to be an agent. We are agents. It's not making sense to me right now. And then the last question. Why? Why would Secret Service agents fall for this nonsense? Is this just straight out corruption? Is there something much more broken at the Service? We know Carol Lennig at the Washington Post wrote an entire book on the historical problems at the Service. What's going on? And how do you get this close to the President of the United States, an agent on the security detail of the First Lady? How does this go so far? I don't know.
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Allison Gill
Yeah. And three of these agents, these Secret Service agents, two of them are a White House complex Secret Service. One of them is first lady detail. And they were apparently gifted these apartments right after January 6, right after the insurrection. One of the photos in the affidavit, the complaint show it has a timestamp of January 6, 2021 of him in all this tactical gear. And this doesn't feel to me like a foreign operation because these guys had PIV cards. They apparently had a DHS laptop or one that was mocked up to look like a DHS laptop and access to all the cameras in the buildings. They were talking about how, with this other agent that, you know, this other agent was saying, you know, we just switched for. We're about to switch from Sig Sauer 229S to Glock 19S, and the guy's like, oh, that's what I carry. I have the Glock 19. We just made the switch from the Sig Sauer a month ago. You know, like, these seem like domestic cosplay guys and not some sort of a. For an op. Particularly when you consider the alias, if an alias was being used, what the, you know, the aliases were. What sort. I mean, it's so hard for me to read this complaint and piece together, like you said, what's going on? What's going on inside the Secret Service? Why are they not collecting rent on any of these? I mean, were these guys just going around saying, hey, look, here's my badge. I'm dhi. I'm dhs. And, like, some guy at a local dealership gives him a free GMC and somebody at the complex gives him a free, free apartment?
- [27:22]
Dana Goldberg
You know, I can certain. I can certainly perhaps see a scenario where they're claiming, look, we're part of this government operation, and, you know the government budget. You know how procurement and contracting works. You got to fill out these forms and get. Are you guys on the list for. For a vendor? Okay, good. Because, you know, it's Going to take a few months for the show up. And I could see people in D.C. going, yeah, yeah, we're on the list. We know. Okay, here's. You know, I can see that. I can't see Secret Service agents falling for this. Especially as you just pointed out immediately in the aftermath of January6, everybody on heightened alert. I hope this doesn't get more ugly. I hope it's ugly enough. But I hope we're not talking about radicalized people. I hope we're not talking about some operation to compromise the security at the White House. I hope. You know, here. I realize what I'm about to say, ag, but here we are. I hope it's just corruption and greed at the Secret Service. I hope it's not radicalized threat.
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Allison Gill
Yeah. Or it might have been an infiltration and perhaps the Secret Service hadn't gotten to the part where they asked them for whatever they were going to get.
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Dana Goldberg
Yeah, they might have just been for my friends in the Secret Service, because I'm going to get the phone calls. I know it already. How about. Let me just put this scenario out. Is it possible that when the postal inspectors came upon these bozos, they reported to the FBI? These guys are pretending to be federal agents. And here comes a sophisticated operation where Secret Service agents now are part of the ploy, part of the investigation and the ruse, and they're doubled back against these guys and they're all in on it. I love that scenario. Unfortunately, the Secret Service has told us that there are several agents that have been placed on administrative leave. So that's probably not it.
- [29:25]
Allison Gill
Yeah, I mean, it could just be. You have to do that if there's some sort of a pending investigation, whether any wrong was committed or not. They are cooperating with the FBI, as evidenced in the complaint that we've read. They're telling them everything that this goes back to these guys dressing up, playing dress up, as far back as February of 2020. But, yeah, it seems it stretches credulity that a government worker would accept for now, over a year, a free penthouse in an apartment. But, you know, one of the people actually let him shoot him with an airsoft rifle to see because he. Basically, what happens is these two guys were saying, yeah, we can hire you for the DHS to be on our special force, but, you know, you have to make sure you have a pain tolerance. So I got to shoot you with his airsoft rifle. And the person agreed to it.
- [30:16]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
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Allison Gill
So they could be victims in this case. We just don't know. We don't know enough yet.
- [30:22]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. And of course, the thing is, you know, for those keeping track at home of Washington bureaucracy, the Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security as of, you know, when that agency was created. Much to their chagrin back then, by the way.
- [30:36]
Allison Gill
Yes.
- [30:37]
Dana Goldberg
And what were these bad guys pretending to be? Well, if I read the report correctly, some kind of super secret arm of Homeland Security. So Secret Service could have picked up the phone and write to their own umbrella organization and said, do we have a secret police thing going on here? And found out that. No, they don't. But maybe they did find that out. We don't know yet. We don't know.
- [31:02]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Or I could see a scenario where one of the two guys was like, don't even call them and tell them. They don't even know. It's so covert. You know, we can't alert them to it or they'll shut us down because there's no budget for it and we're on our own. Or, you know, I mean, the government is so big and sprawling, you wouldn't.
- [31:19]
Dana Goldberg
Be suggesting that maybe an IQ test should be part of continued employment?
- [31:23]
Allison Gill
Now, I'm writing the script for the Netflix series that you and I have discussed. But, I mean, it's just. It does seem improbable. I think we'll find out a lot more as time goes by here. But that it took a Postal Service inspector is.
- [31:41]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. And I have to. I got to tell you, for people who don't know this, U.S. postal Inspectors are. They're awesome. I worked.
- [31:49]
Allison Gill
They arrested Bannon on.
- [31:53]
Dana Goldberg
On the high seas, perhaps on a.
- [31:57]
Allison Gill
Go Wengwei boat or. No, a gal boat. Yeah, they totally picked him up.
- [32:00]
Dana Goldberg
On my. My first. My first exposure to them was as a very young FBI agent in Atlanta, Georgia, very early in my career. And we had a serial bombing case. I mean, it was a guy named Walter Leroy Moody had killed a federal judge, Judge Vance in Alabama.
- [32:15]
Allison Gill
Yeah, yeah, I remember that story.
- [32:17]
Dana Goldberg
And a civil rights lawyer in Savannah. And bonds were being mailed to federal courthouses. And I'm part of this case, as is everybody in the south now. And I get paired up with a. On the task force, with a postal inspector. And I'm like, who the. Who the heck is this? And turns out they're awesome. And they're very tiny. They just do mail crimes. But if you think about it, everything. Everything is mail fraud. Right. So they did something. Did something go in the mail? Okay. So, yeah, they're really good. And God bless them, it's Great.
- [32:49]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And that judge is the father of Joyce Vance's husband.
- [32:54]
Dana Goldberg
That's correct, yep. Joyce Vance's father in law, which. And we talked about that on our podcast when I had Joyce as my guest.
- [33:00]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Well, we're going to see a lot more of this. I look forward to having you back on to explain future filings because this is such an incredible story. And when I say incredible, I mean it in the mind blowing sense of the word and not radical. It's just mind boggling. It's mind boggling to me that this kind of stuff could go down, especially with the multiple trainings that we all take in the government to be able to see insider threats that we have to take. We have to take them biannually. It's very important. And that these guys coasted for almost for two years and it took a postal inspector. And you're right, they're amazing over there in their investigative work at the usps. But it shouldn't have taken. It shouldn't have taken that long. Anyway, time will tell. Time will tell. We'll talk to you soon. All right, everybody, check out the FBI way listen to the Bureau, the podcast. Former assistant director of the FBI for counterintel, Frank Feglisi. I appreciate your time today.
- [33:57]
Dana Goldberg
Take care, Agent.
- [33:58]
Allison Gill
Everybody stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. All right, everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone. Then good news with everyone. Good news, good news. And if you have any good news or pictures or anything, just, you know what, anything, anything you want to send us, including our new game, your silly superpower. You can do that by going to DailyBeansPod.com and clicking on Contact. And again, if it would really help us out, if you would subscribe, if you haven't subscribed and if you would give us a rating, we would love a five star rating from you. It helps get the fascists off the charts. Every time you guys do ratings for us, we beat like Hannity in the ratings and it's so much fun. So let's do that. And if for some reason the beans isn't popping up in your feed anymore, on Apple podcasts specifically, they said that they've done nothing wrong. I don't know what's happening, but all you have to do is unsubscribe and resubscribe and that'll fix it. So maybe give that a shot. And with that, I'm going to open us up with a submission from Debbie Pronouns. She and her and she said I wanted to request a correction and hill I will die on regarding the Oklahoma abortion legislation. In the reporting, the legislation and legislators were referred to as pro life. The term pro life is misleading at best. I think of the term pro life as a right wing talking point. Please call anti abortionists what they are. There are several ways to reference these laws and lawmakers. Anti health care, anti women, anti abortion, anti women, anti reproductive rights, anti choice, or more simply fucking.
- [35:39]
Frank Figluzzi
There you have it.
- [35:40]
Allison Gill
Thank you, Debbie. Thank you for the news. With Swears dying on this hill with me for pet tax, I've attached pictures of my two rescue kitties, Truffles, the calico and Marcy. Both were rescued in the past year. It took a few months of hard work, but my two babies are now thick as thieves.
- [35:54]
Frank Figluzzi
And they are cute.
- [35:57]
Allison Gill
Oh, these are beautiful babies. They are.
- [35:59]
Frank Figluzzi
And they love each. Oh my God. The last picture. Stop it. Get out of here.
- [36:02]
Allison Gill
I know, I know. And I just want to let you know, Debbie, sometimes we're reading from articles other people publish and sometimes that happens. And I will do my level best to make sure that other people's bad reporting doesn't get into ours.
- [36:17]
Frank Figluzzi
There you go. We will do what we can for sure. Okay, let's see. This is a short one here. Justin pronouns he and him. Just wanted to drop a line and tell y'all how much I appreciate you guys and the work you put into the show, keeping the rest of us informed and entertained. Attached as where's the cat? It's a tough one too. Lol. Thank you agdg, Amy and all the rest. Y'all make my mornings better. And oh, look at the baby.
- [36:41]
Allison Gill
I see the kitty. Hello. Hello, baby kitty on the other side of the couch next to the blue curtain. Hello.
- [36:47]
Frank Figluzzi
Oh, my goodness.
- [36:49]
Allison Gill
So cute. Thank you. Yeah, that was another thing. Somebody just said they wanted to just send a thank you. And so if you have thank yous, you can send those too. Thank you. Justin, you want to take the next one too? Sure.
- [37:00]
Frank Figluzzi
This is from T pronoun he. I like that. Good morning, AG and dg. Thank you for delivering the news in a fun and informative way. It's the perfect way to start my day. I'm a fifth grade teacher and it's wonderful to have students back in person. But there have been some tough times. Only time will tell how much damage the pandemic has caused. In an effort to focus on the positive, I borrowed your quote good news segment in my class today. I handed every child an index card at the beginning of class and had them write down one thing that was good in their life. The responses brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. It's not always easy to find the good, but it's out there if we keep grinding. I apologize for not paying a pet tax, but perhaps a confession would suffice. Thanks to Eddie Murphy's delirious album, Every time I pass lemonade in a store, I softly sing Lemonade, that cool, refreshing drink.
- [37:49]
Allison Gill
Wanna look Psych. Oh, that was raw. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for that. And thank you for being a teacher. That's such a hard job.
- [37:56]
Frank Figluzzi
Also, I love that you did incorporated the good news. I think that everyone should do that. Even if you're not a teacher, just start handing out 3,5 cards to strangers and be like, write something down.
- [38:05]
Allison Gill
Yes, write something good down. Please tell me something good. All right, next up from Alexis Pronoun. She and her wooby future. Wooby and a maker, maybe. Hi, everyone. During the pandemic, I had a lot of practice with crochet and knitting. Hats off to my sis in law for teaching me. Since the world was closed for maintenance, I also picked up sewing. The idea was to start making my own costumes, but I ended up learning to quilt and making teddy bears. As soon as I shared this with friends, I got requests for toys and blankets. That's how it goes. That's how it goes, Alexis. I had one poorly made mini quilt and a janky ass bear like toy under my belt. I warned my buddies, but they said they were into it. Attached is my latest creation, finished today, which was nine or so months in the making. Two baby quilts and two bears. One looks like he's seen tough times and the other might have a thyroid issue. I'm sure the babies will love it. They won't be too judgy, right? Thanks for all you do. Your good news segment is my light in dark places.
- [39:00]
Frank Figluzzi
Oh, my goodness.
- [39:01]
Allison Gill
These are fantastic.
- [39:02]
Frank Figluzzi
Yes, they are. I would take either of those little guys.
- [39:05]
Allison Gill
Oh, the Twinkle, Twinkle little star with the care bear.
- [39:08]
Frank Figluzzi
I know. I remember that.
- [39:10]
Allison Gill
I love the care bear stare. And once upon a time, these I want.
- [39:13]
Frank Figluzzi
Oh, I know.
- [39:15]
Allison Gill
These are. They're going to have these their whole lives. These are beautiful.
- [39:18]
Frank Figluzzi
They really are. Thank you so much for that thyroid problem. I know. That made me laugh. I was like, no. All right. This is from Susan Pronounci and her hi beans queens. My good news is that one of my favorite musicians, John Bautista, he won five Grammy awards. I've been a Big fan since I first heard him on Stephen Colbert show. The joy just bursts out in every note he plays. This is the kind of musician we need right now. I was so touched by his speech when he said, I believe this to my core. There is no best musician, best artist, best dancer, best actor. The creative arts are subjective and they reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most. It's like a song or an album is made and it's almost like it has a radar to find the person when they need it the most. And that was an incredible speech. Now, I think a lot of us needed this music right now. I think he could use all of our collective positive vibes and energy right now as his wife battles leukemia. Absolutely. I don't have poppet tacks as our sweet 12 year old boxer Maggie crossed the bridge last September. Instead, I have a new game for you. Count the caterpillars.
- [40:23]
Allison Gill
Oh, everybody will want to be into this one.
- [40:25]
Frank Figluzzi
Totally. We cut our milkweed back in October as we're supposed to, so that monarchs aren't left here after they should have migrated. However, due to the unseasonably warm weather we've had, it sprouted back vigorously. A monarch found it in December and we had a bumper crop of caterpillars. They're tiny when first hatched, so it's hard to see them as they grow. They become easy to spot with their cheerful yellow and black stripes and droopy antennas. So see if you can spot all the ones in this first photo. The second photo is from today. This is the first baby of the year I've seen. Although earlier I knew he was there. Since I found plenty of chew holes on the milkweed's leaves. I'll keep you updated as more babies arrive. Thank you for all you do. I appreciate all of your hard work. And listen every morning, look at these caterpillars.
- [41:13]
Allison Gill
Oh, my God. Okay, So I count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Is that five down there at the bottom?
- [41:21]
Frank Figluzzi
No, six. Okay, so I see six. I think you're missing the one that's curled up on the leaf at the top right corner. And then if you go down another leaf, there is a head sticking out of that one of another cat. All right, that was fun. It was like Highlights magazine.
- [41:41]
Allison Gill
I know. And then there's a baby. Hi, baby.
- [41:44]
Frank Figluzzi
Oh, Hi. The baby.
- [41:45]
Allison Gill
7. Seven counter caterpillars in the photo.
- [41:48]
Frank Figluzzi
Oh, that means I even missed one.
- [41:50]
Allison Gill
All right, well, let's have to look at it.
- [41:53]
Frank Figluzzi
Five, six.
- [41:59]
Allison Gill
Unless that's two that real Long one, right in the middle is two.
- [42:02]
Frank Figluzzi
I mean, it could be.
- [42:04]
Allison Gill
I don't know. I'll look later. Anyway, thank you for this. That's a fun game. You're right. It was like Highlights magazine. All right. And we are going to finish our day with a submission from Coffee crush Adam in Seattle. Woo hoo. I'm so excited to read this. Pronouns he and him. You wanted thank you. I'll give you some fucking thank yous. Longtime listener, infrequent writer here. Fucking thank you for this show. Every guest, every host has been fucking grade A Twitter follow. You're such an integral part of my morning routine. Fuck. You were an integral part of my morning routine during that orange stained, stubby fingered family wide Kragavi reviok. That's Russian for circle jerk. I don't know, I fucking googled it. I known as the Trump administration. So I thought it was your show. Makes me feel smarter and more tuned into what's happening and how shit works. People think I'm smart now. Ha. Joke's on them. I have a fucking arts degree any fucking way. So happy to hear you every day to watch you succeed and excel at what you do. News with swearing. Gotta fucking love it. P.S. cat pic included. His name is Dr. Biscuits. P.P.S working on my first design for Live and In Person Theater. Live. Excuse me, Live and In Person Theater. Since the pandemic drove the industry into the ground. Tin Cat Shoes. Produced by Washington Ensemble Theater. Broadway has backers and money. Go see some fringe theater where it's all blood, sweat and tears and you'll feel it and maybe smell it if you're in the front row. Every dollar you spend at a fringe independent. Broke as fuck. Theater helps your city's art scene. Weird and vibrant for the fucking tech bros who don't give a shit. Yeah.
- [43:40]
Frank Figluzzi
Well done, Adam.
- [43:43]
Allison Gill
Coffee crush. Adam. Ugh. Okay. All right. So my cat licks plastic bags too. I don't know what that's about.
- [43:49]
Frank Figluzzi
Wow. I don't either.
- [43:52]
Allison Gill
Somebody once said that the vegetable oil that's needed to make them is. I don't know, but my tuxedo.
- [43:59]
Frank Figluzzi
Interesting.
- [44:00]
Allison Gill
Does that as well. Yeah. Wow. Thank you for that. That was a very fun submission, Adam. And you didn't give us an update on the Coffee Crush barista. Maybe that story ended. I don't think so. Though. I don't remember it being resolved. You'll have to let us know.
- [44:15]
Frank Figluzzi
There you have it.
- [44:15]
Allison Gill
And if you have anything you want to send in, you can do it at dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact everyone. You're welcome, Dana. Do you have any final thoughts?
- [44:24]
Frank Figluzzi
I will be. Yeah. Just as I go to Houston this weekend to tell some jokes and raise some money to help support the Human Rights Campaign, I ask that sometime over Saturday and Sunday, you just do a small act of kindness for a stranger. Leave a note on the car. Like AG Said, pay for someone's coffee without their knowledge. Just smile at someone on the street. Just spread some joy. So that would be my hope for you this weekend.
- [44:48]
Allison Gill
Yeah, it comes back tenfold. It really does. I can confirm. Thank you for that. And, oh, it's Friday, so I'm not gonna hear. I'm not gonna see you guys until. Or talk at you guys. I guess I'm like, hear, see? No, I don't do any of that till Sunday with Mueller. She wrote in the MSW Book club. And then we'll be back Monday in your ears. So everybody until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, and take care of your mental health. Oh, and vote blue over Q. I've.
- [45:15]
Frank Figluzzi
Been AG and I've been dg and.
- [45:17]
Allison Gill
Donald Trump is under investigation by the Department of Justice. Them's the beans.
- [45:20]
Dana Goldberg
Refried beans.
- [45:20]
Allison Gill
I like refried beans.