Underwhelming Overall (feat. Adam Klasfeld)

Summary

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The Daily Beans — July 16, 2026

Episode Title: Underwhelming Overall (feat. Adam Klasfeld)
Hosts: Allison Gill, Dana Goldberg
Guest: Adam Klasfeld (All Rise News)
Theme: Progressive, snarky analysis of political/legal news, focused on recent Capitol Hill confirmation hearings and broader issues within the Trump administration.

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Episode Overview

This episode covers the Senate confirmation hearings for Todd Blanche (Attorney General nominee) and Jay Clayton, focusing on their performances, the overall lack of Democratic pushback, and key issues raised. The hosts detail recent news concerning ICE's presence at polling sites, fatal ICE traffic stops, Trump’s threats to Iran, and transparency in DOJ processes.
Allison Gill is later joined by journalist Adam Klasfeld for an in-depth dissection of the hearings, discussing what was missing, standout moments, and the current state of the Justice Department.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Confirmation Hearings: Todd Blanche & Jay Clayton

Segment Begins: [01:09]

• Overview: Both appointees faced their Senate appearances with lackluster, controversial performances.
• Hosts’ Take: Dana calls both candidates "pieces of garbage" — "This is the best they have? It's just gross." [01:42]
• Disappointment: "It fell flat... I was just disappointed that nobody was coming to the defense of Jack Smith and his brilliant investigations." — Allison [02:01]
• Notable Senators: Some Senators did well—Booker, Hirono, Whitehouse, Schiff, Ossoff—but there was little sustained pressure: "It just should have been back-to-back, all killers. And it just wasn't." — Allison [02:38]
• Dem Message Coordination: Adam and Allison agree that Democrats failed to mount a clear, coordinated case; repeat questions wasted chances.

2. ICE at Polling Places: Troubling Evidence

Segment Begins: [03:34]

• New Disclosure: ICE admits to holding 11,103 potentially responsive pages about plans to deploy agents to polling places—after previously denying document existence.
• Illegality: Such deployment is largely illegal and seen as voter intimidation, "a move clearly meant to intimidate voters and poll workers and influence election outcomes." — Allison [04:15]
• Midterms Loom: "Not a single page has been produced, with less than four months before the midterm elections." — Allison quoting Judge Beryl Howell [06:49]

3. Fatal ICE Traffic Stops & Trump’s Contradictions

Segment Begins: [07:08]

• Trump’s Stance: He urges ICE to continue traffic stops, even after fatal shootings prompted DHS to suspend the practice.
• String of Deaths: At least 10 deaths in ICE operations since 2021; most recent involved fatal shootings and a death during a chase. Expert consensus: shooting into moving vehicles is "almost always to be avoided." [08:55]
• Politically Pointed: Even typically reticent Senator Susan Collins agitated for cessation—"so troubling that Susan Collins actually said something out loud." — Dana [09:30]

4. The “Weaponization Fund”

Segment Begins: [10:04]

• Todd Blanche’s Contradictory Testimony: Blanche expresses regret for supporting the DOJ’s $1.8 billion "slush fund" for alleged victims of government targeting but refuses to put that in writing. [10:54]
• Congressional Frustration: "It seemed like a very weak defense... you could just put it in writing, sir. You want Congress to pass a law for you?" — Allison [12:47]
• Settlement Skepticism: Blanche claims the DOJ-IRS Trump settlement only covers past tax documents, leaving Trump’s historic tax crimes unscrutinized.

5. Trump’s Threats Against Iran

Segment Begins: [16:00]

• Escalating Tensions: Trump threatens to destroy bridges and power plants unless Iran returns to negotiations.
• War Crimes Warning: Quoting the UN’s Volker Turk, "Deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime." [16:50]
• Policy Whiplash: "Five months now of this: every week, we're gonna blow you off the planet... we love you, come to the table." — Allison [18:07]

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In-Depth: Allison Gill Interviews Adam Klasfeld on the Hearings

Segment Begins: [21:21]

General Sentiment

• "Underwhelming overall": Both agree Democrats failed to deliver a “killer, no filler” case, lacking coordination, repetition of questions, and insufficient pushback on the “weaponization” narrative.
• What Was Missing: "What did not happen from that hearing, what got no evidence, airtime was encyclopedic." — Adam Klasfeld [22:58]
• Notable Omissions: No mention of DOJ case collapses, failed political prosecutions, or lack of defense for Jack Smith and career prosecutors.

Standout Moments

• Effective Senators: Whitehouse, Booker (pressed on failed prosecutions, Epstein case), Schiff, Cornyn (even as a Republican, "really drew blood" on IRS deal) [24:30, 41:03]
• Missed Opportunities: No coordinated Democratic messaging, missed chance to educate public on Trump DOJ dysfunction; "If all one knew about Todd Blanche was from that confirmation hearing, you wouldn’t have known any single thing that I just said." — Adam [25:42]
• Jack Smith’s Media Tour: Seen as compensating for lack of congressional defense of the DOJ’s integrity. [32:33]

Notable Quotes

• Adam Klasfeld:

  • "We’re seeing a level of incompetence and a level of defeat by this Trump Justice Department that we haven’t seen in this country before." [24:03]
  • "For the first time... an attorney general nomination has been opposed by more than a thousand of his former colleagues in the Justice Department talking about the threat to the rule of law. This isn’t normal." [31:01]

• Allison Gill:

  • "I wanted to see today: just one after another after another, all killer, no filler… but there was more filler." [44:35]
  • "There was just a big letdown for me." [41:03]

Critical Moments with Timestamps

• Booker presses Blanche on Epstein case transfer: [41:03–42:16]
• Whitehouse displays graphics showing misconduct findings: [41:03]
• Cornyn questions Blanche on IRS deal: [41:03, 44:35]
• Hawley and Blanche spar over Jack Smith perjury claim: [33:59–36:00]
• Welch’s convoluted conflict of interest analogy fails to land: [38:26–41:03]

The Big Picture

• Democrats Didn’t Seize the Narrative: Missed the opportunity to frame Trump's DOJ as uniquely dysfunctional and dangerous.
• GOP Message Discipline: Republicans effectively pushed "weaponization" claims, unchallenged for the most part.
• Lack of Education to Public: "This is your time… to, among other things, educate folks on what we've been living through and the collapse of the Justice Department…" — Adam [42:16]

What’s Next

• More Hearings: Expert testimony set for July 17. Adam expects more depth but is realistic about the process. [50:21]

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Good News Segment

Segment Begins: [52:16]

• Listener submissions: Positive stories about activism, pets, gardening, baking, and beekeeping.
• Advice and Resources: Awareness on ICE and immigrant rights, guide shared from the National Immigration Justice Center.
• Community Action: Updates on public feedback opposing OMB’s anti-science policy changes.

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Dana on ICE traffic stops: "It was so troubling, that Susan Collins actually said something out loud." [09:30]
• Allison on Democratic performance: "I was just disappointed that nobody was coming to the defense of Jack Smith…" [02:01]
• Adam on Blanche: "If all one knew about Todd Blanche was from that confirmation hearing, you wouldn't have known any single thing that I just said." [25:42]
• Allison on the hearing: "There was just a big letdown for me." [41:03]

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic | |----------------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:09 | Main theme & news stories summary | | 03:34 | ICE polling place documents | | 07:08 | ICE traffic stop deaths | | 10:04 | DOJ weaponization fund, Blanche testimony | | 16:00 | Trump threats against Iran | | 21:21–51:30 | Gill & Klasfeld hearing debrief, analysis, key moments | | 44:35 | Adam: missed chances, what “all killer, no filler” means | | 52:16 | Good news segment (listener letters, positive stories) |

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Tone & Style

• Highly opinionated and direct: The hosts bring sarcasm and snark, especially toward Trump officials and Democratic underperformance.
• Engaged and passionate: Both hosts and guest express frustration, disappointment, and a desire for better performance from public servants.
• Deeply informed yet accessible: The conversation is detailed but designed for listeners seeking both political depth and clarity.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode delivers a sharp, critical analysis of the recent confirmation hearings for Trump’s DOJ pick, condemning both the administration’s choices and the Democrats’ tepid response. With detailed context from Adam Klasfeld, listeners gain insight into the dysfunction and dangers of Trump-era Justice Department policies, the continuing erosion of rule of law, and the urgent need for effective, coordinated political opposition. The latter half’s ‘good news’ segment restores some optimism and underscores the resilience and activism of The Daily Beans’ audience.

Transcript

[Brian Caram]

I'm Brian Caram, and I've spent decades covering politics. Now I'm taking you behind the scenes, one interview at a time.

[Brian Caram (Promo Voice)]

Join us as each week Brian confronts the issues that matter, posing the questions you wish you could ask. No filter, no agenda, just the truth.

[Brian Caram]

We're not here for sound bites. We're here for substance. Join me, Brian Caram, every week as we cut through the noise and get straight to it. This is Just Ask the Question where curiosity will lead us to the facts.

[Brian Caram (Promo Voice)]

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and remember, when you want answers, all you have to do is just ask the question.

[Allison Gill]

Msw media.

[Dana Goldberg]

News.

[Adam Klassfeld]

We're swearing. Daily beans. Daily beans. Daily beans. Daily beans.

[Allison Gill]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, July 16, 2026. Today, Todd Blanche and Jay Clayton testified in their respective confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill. Trump says ICE should continue traffic stops less than one day after DHS suspended the practice. Donald also threatened to destroy bridges and civilian power plants in Iran. And ICE has admitted it has a trove of documents about being stationed at polling places. I'm Alison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Allison Gill]

Hello, my friend. How are you today?

[Dana Goldberg]

I am okay. I'm so annoyed at this. Like, we're about to talk about them, but these two fucking guys in their confirmation hearings are just pieces of garbage. It's just gross. I, I this is the best they have. Okay.

[Allison Gill]

It's the best they can get.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, I guess that's true.

[Allison Gill]

My God, there are much better people. They just won't work for this administration. Yeah. No, and cool thing. Adam Klassfeld from All Rise News is going to join me later in the show to discuss these hearings more in depth. But you and I are going to go over some of the Highlights on the Beans video podcast at the MSW Media podcast channel on YouTube, so everybody can check out some of the clips and highlights there. But yeah, it was just, it fell flat. And, you know, as you'll hear me talk to Adam later, I was just disappointed that nobody was coming to the defense of Jack Smith and his brilliant investigations.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

Letting that just sort of be a something that exists. Like, oh, well, we all know that the Biden DOJ was weaponized. It was just there wasn't a lot of pushback on that. Couple standout moments from a couple of senators. I know Booker did well. Hirono always did a good job. I thought White House, Senator Whitehouse and Senator Schiff did well, but it should have been wonderful. Ozoff was great. It just should have been. Back to back to back to back, all killers. And it just wasn't. So we'll talk about that later. And as we know, tonight, Trump is going to give his speech about fake 2020 election interference. Should I watch it?

[Dana Goldberg]

We're going to watch it so you don't have to, you know, we're actually, I'm probably just going to watch clips, let's be honest, because I can't watch the whole fucking thing. It drives me crazy. But I'll get the clips and it'll, you know, we'll have the important, important moments.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, well, all the top line information for you. We already kind of know what he's going to say. It's what he's been saying for the last six years and everybody's kind of tired of hearing him say it. And I think it's actually going to give Democrats a boost in the primaries and turns. I sure hope so. I sure hope so. Yeah, same. But we do have some information about elections and polling places in the main news. So let's get to the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from democracy docket, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE lawyers have told a court via a court filing that the agency actually may have thousands of documents relevant to the Democrats demand for the Trump administration's possible plans and to deploy ICE agents to the polls this fall. Still, with the midterms approaching, ICE has not produced a single document leaving Americans in the dark amid fears that Donald Trump may heed the calls of prominent MAGA figures and station ICE agents or National Guard troops at voting sites, a move clearly meant to intimidate voters and poll workers and influence election outcomes. It's also illegal. The White House and senior Trump officials have refused to rule out the tactic, while senior Department of Justice officials, including Todd Blanch, have endorsed it. Even though federal law largely bars the deployment of law enforcement to polling places. ICE's disclosure marks a significant reversal. The agency told U.S. district Court Judge Beryl Howell earlier this year that it found no responsive records to the Democratic National Committee's the DNC's Freedom of Information act requests for documents on the potential deployment of federal agents and troops to polling places, drop boxes and election offices. Meaning if you're trying to avoid getting it all tangled up with the post office because they're not going to send out mail in ballots and you fill out your paper ballot and go to a Dropbox, there could be ICE officials there. The about face came after the DNC pointed out that recent alarming actions by ICE agents in or around voting sites must have Generated documents pertinent to this FOIA request. Specifically incidents highlighted by the dnc, including two ICE agents confronting a poll worker at a voting site in Syracuse. You been doing it?

[Adam Klassfeld]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

There's gotta be documents. At least those. And that was as that poll worker was helping carry out the state's recent primary elections last month. In a docket entry Monday, Beryl Howell, who was nominated by Obama, said ICE had identified. Get this, Dana. 11,103 potentially responsive pages.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Whoa.

[Allison Gill]

In addition, Customs and Border Protection, which previously told HAL it didn't have a set timeline on when its search for responsive documents would be completed, they found 116,779 pertinent records.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Wow.

[Allison Gill]

According to Beryl Howell, now, under the Freedom of Information act, government agencies are required to inform the requester if no responsive files exist or if the documents are exempted under the law from being revealed, such as those related to ongoing criminal investigations or in my case, trying to get the FOIA Epstein training videos, saying, well, there's people's private information in there and we have law enforcement stuff we're doing, and it could be deliberately lucrative process privilege. Come on.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

Beryl Howell is also the judge in my case, by the way. Beryl Howe noted that even though several agencies identified thousands of potential documents responsive to the DNC's request, quote, not a single page has been produced, with less than four months before the midterm elections. So. Yikes.

[Dana Goldberg]

Well, you know, we'll keep you posted. This is actually a related story from NBC. President Trump says Immigration and Customs Enforcement should continue traffic stops after recent fatal shootings, seeming to contradict a new policy to halt them, Trump wrote early Wednesday on a social media site. ICE is doing a great job. One that has to be done. Yeah. The Republican president says that the two removed criminals he says were let into the country under the previous Democratic administration. This is a quote. We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we cannot give up. One of ice's most important and effective crime fighting tools, Murder. I'm sorry? The traffic stops. That's what Trump said. Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands. Now, the policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency's enforcement tactics that are widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good in Minnesota. In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time a 28 year old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers. It's a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration's immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers then saying they opened fire when their vehicles became a danger. That's despite decades, decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Right.

[Allison Gill]

Like you're saying, we were protecting the public, but you're going to kill a driver of a moving vehicle and that's supposed to make the public safer?

[Dana Goldberg]

No.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

It doesn't make any sense. That's why you're not supposed to do it. At least 10 people, by the way, have been killed during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. I guess they're just saying that during apprehension because we know there's been deaths in these camps. We know there has. So I don't, I don't agree with that number. But at least four of these deaths involved people in vehicles, including one last week in Houston. A trend so troubling. Whoever wrote that bucking sentence is amazing. A trend so troubling. US Senator Susan Collins said Tuesday that she urged DHS Secretary Marquis Mullen to cease all non urgent vehicle stops. It was so troubling that Susan Collins actually said something out loud. Hmm. John Sandweg, who was acting director of ice, which is part of DHS during the Obama administration, estimated recently that there have been roughly 18 traffic stop shootings during the Trump administration crackdown.

[Allison Gill]

Geez. Yeah. So, okay. DHS and Mark Quain were like, all right, well we won't do traffic stops. And Trump's like, no, it's our most important drug crime fighting tool.

[Dana Goldberg]

Seriously.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, God. Oh, my God. All right, next up from courthouse news, Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche told Senator Dick Durbin he, quote, made a mistake championing a billion dollar slush fund for victims of government weaponization. The top Senate Democrat said Tuesday afternoon. This was before the hearing, the expression of remorse from President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department comes just a day before he's expected to testify before Senate lawmakers in a hearing where he's sure to face sharp questions from both sides of the aisle over the controversial fundamental. And his refusal to rescind the program in writing, by the way. All day today, he said he didn't have to put it in writing and that he wasn't going to put it in writing and that we should Just take his word for it. That's why in Virginia, the judge is like, put it in writing. You haven't done it under penalty of perjury yet, sir.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

Now, Durbin, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Courthouse News during a conference with reporters that he had asked Blanche about the defunct $1.8 billion weaponization fund. During a one on one meeting on Capitol Hill, quote, Blanche said, what more can I do? What more can I say? I made a mistake. I don't want to see the weaponization fund go forward.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Great.

[Allison Gill]

Write it down, sign your name. Asked in a follow up question whether he was quoting Blanche directly when he said the nominee admitted he made a mistake, Durbin signaled that he was. The Justice Department in June rattled Congress when it announced it would stand up a $1.776 billion slush fund and aimed at paying out damages to people it said had been unfairly targeted by the US Government. With no oversight, nobody checking to see if they were actually weaponized against or whatever. Lawmakers worried that the fund, which was the result of a quote, unquote settlement between Trump and the irs. I can't believe they used the word settlement here. I've been telling people it's not a settlement.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

Lawmakers said the fund could be used to give monetary handouts to people who committed violent crimes. On January 6, amid backlash from some prominent Republicans, Blanche later said the weaponization fund would not move forward again. What does that even mean? He resisted calls, though, to make his declaration permanent by issuing a written order. Turban told Courthouse News that he'd again asking the Attorney General nominee to formally rescind the fund. And he did in that meeting. But Blanche had put the ball in Congress's court. Quote, I said, why don't you put it in writing? Do something so it's a credible statement by you. And what he said is, if Congress wants to codify it, then I'll work with them to codify the fact that it's gone and it's not going to be used again. It seemed like a very weak defense. Yeah, yeah, you could just put it in writing, sir. You want Congress to pass a law for you? A spokesperson for the Justice Department didn't return requests for comment. Lawmakers, for their part, tried repeatedly over the summer to put a legislative stop on the on the weaponization fund. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, both Republicans, attempted to work language related to the fund into the marquee budget reconciliation measure, the one that Susan Collins voted on to give ICE $70 billion more. But lawmakers ultimately passed the spending package without that guardrail. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have also introduced standalone bills aimed at stopping the weaponization fund or future iterations of it, and none so far have passed. Durbin, meanwhile, told reporters Tuesday he'd also spoken with Blanche about a Florida federal judge's move this week to shut down Trump's settlement with the IR irs, which stemmed from the lawsuit. Stop calling it a settlement. Quote, he said he had nothing to do with the case. Oh, my God. And he believes he was the victim of a hit job by the judge in Florida.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Bro.

[Allison Gill]

Bro. U.S. district Court Judge Kathleen Williams wrote in her Monday ruling. The Trump administration, the Justice Department and other agencies colluded to ensure the president and his family could not be scrutinized over past tax returns and to stand up a weaponization fund following the June settlement. Stop it. Courthouse News. Stop it. Blanche issued a statement holding that the US Government could never again probe Trump, his family or business for past tax information. The Justice Department has framed the memo as standard practice for settlements. Durbin said that Blanche insisted Tuesday that the memorandum wasn't prospective. I mean, it's not for future stuff, and it could only cover past tax documents. Oh, great. So all the tax crimes he's committed in the last 50 years are inscrutable.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Allison Gill]

Quote, that was his defense, said Durbin. That's not much of a defense as far as our needs are. Why would, why would they be exempt from tax laws? The Senate Judiciary Committee is supposed to meet with Blanche. They did on, on Wednesday morning, and we'll talk about that a little bit later with Adam Klassfeld. He must survive. Tough questions from not only Democrats, but some skeptical Republicans, including Tillis and John Cornyn. And by the way, John Cornyn actually was pretty tough on him in the opening questions. Now, after the death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who sat on the Judiciary Committee, Blanche's nomination could be deadlocked in committee if one Republican lawmaker chooses to defect. I don't think that's going to happen, but we'll see. The Trump administration had pushed hard on Senate Republicans to confirm Todd Blanche. The president himself wrote on Truth Social that Blanche was doing a phenomenal job as acting attorney general, as his personal attorney general, a post he's held since April after former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired. Quote, when the Corrupt Injustice Department by radical left prosecutors tried to throw me in jail and interfered with our historic 2024 presidential campaign, Todd Blanche stood by my side. And fought off the lawfare. That's what Trump said. He's a great lawyer, always fair. And every Republican senator should vote to confirm Todd Blanche asap.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love that Blanche messed up. I know. We're going to talk about it. In Bean's talk, when he was like, I'm the. I'm his lawyer. I mean, I was his lawyer.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. All right, everyone. This is from the BBC. Trump has threatened to strike Iran's bridges and power plants next week if the country does not return to talks. Nothing says liberating the people of Iran like blowing up their bridges and power plants. The comments made in Fox News interview aired as the two countries exchanged fire for the fourth day in a row. Trump earlier reversed a threat of a 20% fee on all Strait of Hormuz cargo shipping, but resumed blockading Iranian ports. And I quote, next week. It gets really bad for them. That's what Trump said. We're going to knock out all their power plants, we're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate. Okay. Maybe that's why Rubio is trying to get rid of the International Court. Back in April, Trump threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants. UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk responded at the same time by saying, under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Yes. The 1949 Geneva Convention on Humanitarian Conduct in War prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians. And I quote, I'll save the energy targets for last. But ultimately, we'll hit energy targets. That's what Trump said in an interview on Special Report with Brett Baer and aired on Tuesday night. He said US Negotiators had conveyed to their Iranian counterparts on Tuesday evening that they better make a deal or we're not going to have anything left.

[Allison Gill]

That's a new one. No, it isn't.

[Dana Goldberg]

No. You better make a deal. Let's see what comes along Tuesday. The escalation in rhetoric comes after Trump said a 20% toll that he had threatened to impose in the Strait of Hormuz would be replaced by massive trade and investment deals with Gulf states. The announcement came hours before the US Military carried out a seven hour wave of strikes on Iran and resumed a blockade of its ports. Nothing's going better than a ceasefire, than what we've got going on now.

[Allison Gill]

Five months now. Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

Five months now of this every week. We're gonna blow you off the planet. We love you. Come to the table. They're gonna come to the table. We're not coming to the table. They came to the table. We didn't come to the table. We have an agreement. No, we don't.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

It's everything.

[Allison Gill]

We're gonna blow you out of the stock. Like, just.

[Dana Goldberg]

We're gonna liberate the people. These are the people we're gonna hand over. The people trying to take asylum.

[Allison Gill]

We're gonna liberate the good people of Iran by taking away their temporary protected status and sending them back to Iran. Thank you for your attention in this matter.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. Djt.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, God. All right. We have an interview coming up with Adam Klassfeld from All Rise News about the hearings on the Hill today. So that will be followed by the good news. So stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.

[Dana Goldberg]

We'll be right back.

[Allison Gill]

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[Brian Caram]

I'm Brian Caram and I've spent decades covering politics. Now I'm taking you behind the scenes, one interview at a time.

[Brian Caram (Promo Voice)]

Join us as each week Brian confronts the issues that matter, posing the questions you wish you could ask. No filter, no agenda, just the truth.

[Brian Caram]

We're not here for sound bites. We're here for substance. Join me, Brian Caram every week as we cut through the noise and get straight to it. This is just ask the Question where curiosity will lead us to the facts.

[Brian Caram (Promo Voice)]

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and remember, when you want answers, all you have to do is just ask the question.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Hey, everybody.

[Allison Gill]

Welcome to the Breakdown.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

I'm Alison Gill. Thank you for joining us. I'm here today live with Adam Klasfeld

[Allison Gill]

from All Rise News. And

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

I was waiting for about 15 to 30 things to come up in the confirmation hearing of Todd Blanche that just didn't happen and or weren't covered enough or were asked once and then left behind. There were a lot of repeat questions. And I'm speaking about the, the Democratic side of the Senate committee. It just felt like there wasn't a lot of coordination. It felt, meh, it felt kind of feckless. I was expecting some fireworks. We got a little with Booker, a little bit with Adam Schiff, some with White House, but it just, it didn't live up to my expectations. And I wanted to talk about that today with somebody who was watching and live posting about what he was seeing, too. So please welcome Adam Klassfeld. Hey, Adam, what did you think today of this hearing?

[Adam Klassfeld]

I sadly have to agree with what you said, including the senators who I thought did an excellent job. The ones that you had mentioned, I thought Senator Whitehouse getting Blanche on record with not committing to share his internal communications with Trump in Trump v. United States. That is something that the Senate would be entitled to. He did a good job pressing him on that. I thought Booker did a good job to actually mention one of the collapsed prosecutions that I thought the discussion of that was totally absent from the hearing. Otherwise, when he talked about Newark Mayor Ross Baraka and how Blanche was at the center of that, really pressed him on that really pushed back on his answers. Schiff, I thought, also did a very good job. But like you, Allison, I came away with the conclusion of where was the coordination and the theory of the case. Because what did not happen from that hearing, what wasn't mentioned, what got no evidence, airtime was encyclopedic. Here's where the rubber hits the road for me. At the end of the day, it is extraordinarily rare for a grand jury to say, no, Bill, we're not going to pursue this indictment. This doesn't meet the low standard of probable cause when we haven't heard from the defense. So rare for that to happen. So rare for grand juries and judges to kill the case from its inception. To see dismissals, to see allegations of grand jury misconduct, to see subpoenas being quashed against the chair of the Federal Reserve or multiple Minnesota elected officials, high elected officials who were subject to a criminal inquiry, but the subpoena was quashed. These were unicorn type things and their evidence of a Trump DOJ in utter shambles. More than 10,000. And yes, you're hearing that right, folks who are watching right now, 10,000 thousand cases that the Trump DOJ was defending tossed by judges overwhelmingly rebuking immigration policies. We're seeing a level of incompetence and a level of defeat by this Trump Justice Department that we haven't seen in this country before. We had, we didn't hear during that hearing any of that. We didn't hear the name Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the collapse of that case in a vindictive prosecution motion. I had never seen one in my career covering the courts before that. And that is inextricably tied to Blanche. The name wasn't mentioned. The name Jerome Powell wasn't mentioned. The name Senator Mark Kelly, their Senate colleague, who would have been subject to a political prosecution for accurate stating the law, along with five other Democratic colleagues of his. But for a grand jury saying that and every correction, every single grand juror saying that case was another joke. And we're not going to put our rubber stamp on this, that that is Todd Blanche's record. And if all one knew about Todd Blanche was from that confirmation hearing, you wouldn't have known any, any single thing that I just said.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Well, I wish you were on the committee, my friend, because those are the things I wanted to hear about. If I'm, if I'm a senator on this committee, I'd get together with all the other senators in my caucus, in the Democratic senators, and I'd be like, all right, the first thing they're going to do is hammer on Biden's weaponization of the Justice Department. How do we counter that? Effectively, by saying that what Trump did was a crime and then by listing all of the things and the failed prosecutions that you just mentioned. Something else that they're going to bring up over and over again is this Catholic memo from Merrick Garland about spies in the Catholic Church or something, whatever that insanity is, using the Face Act. And then you can counter that with what happened with Don Lemon and that faltering prosecution, because they're using that law, they're like, condemning anyway. And then also Jack Smith. And you can just bring up facts

[Allison Gill]

about what Jack Smith's cases were.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

If you wanna counter that. We didn't hear anything about the known files that are being withheld under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. We didn't hear anything, you know, in Katie Fang's lawsuit, for example, and now mine, where I got the FBI letter admitting that there are training videos instructing FBI analysts on whose name to redact. They've admitted those exist. They didn't release them under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Where was that kind of accountability? But it just seemed to be that there was no meeting and that there was no court. If there was, why these things weren't split up. Like, all right, you talk about failed prosecutions, you talk about Epstein Files Transparency act. You hammer on this particular item the fact that he's been referred to the bar for disciplinary action in the IRS case. You bring up the tax immunity stuff, why it wasn't split up so they didn't keep going over the same ground over and over, while also failing to defend against the Republican BS that was coming from the other side of the aisle about. Well, I, you know, even Tillis was like, I can't believe my colleagues aren't acknowledging the Biden weaponization. There was no weaponization in the Biden Department of Justice. There were crimes that happened. And if you say. Because basically what you're saying is that Trump didn't commit any crimes but Comey Powell, Letitia James, the canoeist who touched the reflecting pool sandwich guy, Broadview 6 with the grand jury malfeasance, all of these thought they all committed crimes, but not. But certainly not Donald Trump, who is actually a convicted felon.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Right.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

It blew my mind.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Right?

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Adam Klassfeld]

I remember Tillis talking about something to the effect of selective outrage. And he was beating on, as you said, about the Trump cases, about certain January six cases, while denouncing Democrats for Not taking on their side. I was waiting for him to take on his side. Like the most that he said, said at one point was that certain January 6 cases should have been brought forward, including the assault cases. Okay, Senator Tillis, how about the cases against Jerome Powell? How about any of the failed cases where judges said this was weaponized? This is Trump trying to pursue a vendetta against his political opponents or pursue an agenda. He failed by his own terms. But I was pleasantly surprised with Senator John Cornyn, who went to the heart of everything that was wrong about the settlement agreement and extracted damaging concessions from Todd Blanche. That was unexpectedly pointed questioning from the departing senator, Republican senator from Texas. But to your big picture point, Alison, there was just so much left on the table that could have been coordinated. And I, I don't want to be too tough here on the senators, because to lay out all of the chaos, it's more than a one senator job. To your point, there should have been coordination. And sometimes effective questioning means diving deep into the one thing. But what did not come across was the theory of the case of why the this nomination is what all the history that's coming to it, the threat to the rule of law, the fact that a quarter of Department of Justice personnel have been purged, the increasingly desperate measures to try to lure Justice Department employees to a job that was once very coveted, that none of these points made airtime. And to your point, Republicans were very much on message with the claims that there was something wrong with the Trump prosecutions. There was just some sort of vendetta against conservatives during the Biden administration. No pushback at all to those claims. There were no. There was no mention that Biden's own son was prosecuted by his Justice Department, as were members of both parties. Something that we have not seen happening during Trump 2.0. There was no the, the. That there was the hammering of this point, that there was weaponization under the Biden Justice Department that was supported only by the opinions of the senators making the allegations. Where we have grand juries, judges, juries and others just stepping up in record numbers. The fact that for the first time that I've ever heard of an attorney general nomination has been opposed by more than a thousand of his former colleagues in the Justice Department talking about the threat to the rule of law, this isn't normal. And what support does he have? Well, he has the support of local police unions, and that's well and good, but he's not running for the role of police chief of the United States. He's running for attorney general of the United States and people who have served in the Department of Justice who know best. The attorneys are turning out in record numbers who oppose his nomination. And those basic points just didn't get airtime.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Yeah, well, it's no surprise to me why Jack Smith is on a media tour right now speaking out to defend the line prosecutors, the investigators, the career professionals that have been targeted, fired or are still working as best they can within the Department of Justice, the FBI and these other agencies run that Todd Blanche wants to run because no one else is speaking out for them. And I was really looking, I was looking for some defense of the prosecutions of Donald Trump that were scuttled by the Supreme Court eventually and by Judge Eileen Cannon, handpicked judge in the Southern District of New York, sort of going along with the premise of the Republicans questions that the Biden DOJ was weaponized. It was disheartening. And now I understand why Jack Smith has made it his mission to go out and speak in defense of not only his prosecutions, but all of the men and women and people who worked for him, around him and in those once sacred agencies to defend their honor and to defend what they did as correct and right and within the rule of law.

[Allison Gill]

Everybody, we're talking to Adam Klasveld. We're listening to my interview with him on the Breakdown and All Rise News. And we have more after this break. Stick around. We'll be right back, everybody. Welcome back. We're talking with Adam Klassfeld of All Rise News. And we'll continue the interview now.

[Adam Klassfeld]

I mean, we found out today that during a contentious exchange with Senator Hawley, he of saluting the January 6th insurrectionist fame, all but goading Blanche to try to prosecute Jack Smith on a bogus theory that Jack Smith perjured himself when answering accurately questions about toll records. And this takes some unpacking for those who are watching this, and I think this is one of the headlines of the day, Blanche all but said that he was considering investigating Jack Smith for perjury because during his testimony he said that when he subpoenaed toll records that those toll records didn't include the text message content. That's true. And what the distinction that is being either willfully obscured or overlooked, and I suspect it's a former is that Jack Smith obtained through a separate inquiry through the National Archives and Records Administration, text messages between White House personnel, their text messages which included communications with members of Congress. Now, it doesn't make Jack Smith's testimony a lie that when asked about his subpoena of toll records and that those records don't include text messages, that somewhere in the universe of evidence that they obtain from a different source, that that evidence included text messages. But this we might have witnessed the birth of the next sham criminal investigation. So it's incumbent on the public to know the facts of this and why it doesn't wash, why it doesn't hold water. As you know, as I see a couple of folks in the chat saying Todd Blanche had that mic drop moment of Freudian slips where he said, I'm Trump's lawyer, or I was Trump's lawyer, quickly correcting him. But the theory of the case that he was and is Trump's lawyer is very easy to prove. There's a vast record that doesn't rely on editorial opinion. It doesn't, it doesn't require this great leap that it does to say that the prosecutions against Trump for trying to unlawfully overthrow a free and fair election was somehow unjust, or that his other prosecution, of which a New York jury unanimously found him guilty, was unjust, or everything that happened that Trump doesn't like or that a GOP senator doesn't like was an astonishing abuse of power to say that as an opinion without evidence. If you are trying to make the case that Todd Blanche has been using the Department of Justice to exact revenge against on Trump's enemies and advance his agendas, you can cite judicial opinions, you can cite names, you can cite astonishing statistics of thousands of cases that collapsed a nationwide effort. And this actually did make the airwaves today, that he was questioned about the fact that Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's former election lawyer, has been going from coast to coast in 30 different jurisdictions trying to seize sensitive voter data and federal judges, no matter who they're appointed, by saying, no, thanks, that this losing streak record shows the case. It doesn't depend on message discipline that the GOP really show. I mean, you do have to hand it to them. They do make it sound, if you're looking at that hearing as evidence that one side has been persecuted by a rogue Justice Department, one has been very much on message about this point. And not to say that the Democrats weren't on message about it, but they, I feel that on, on balance, on the whole, there was a lot of evidence, there were a lot of exhibits in that case that were just left on the table.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

And Senator Welch, I think, actually touched on the conflict of interest, but he did it in a really wonky sort of long winded way where he did this hypothetical where if somebody had $9 million invested in a company that you were overseeing that was a blind prosecutor, would it be a conflict of interest for them to be on a case in the. Again, you know, overseeing the company that they hold stock in? And Todd Blanche is like, yeah, that'd be a conflict of interest. And instead of just, you know, because he was getting at the fact that Todd Blanche got $9 million to represent Donald Trump in the hush money election interference case that he was convicted for for falsifying business records and that the tax immunity thing would come into play. Like, I'm already putting myself to sleep. Adam, the question should be, you represented Trump in a case where he was convicted of falsifying business records that impacted his taxes, and then you signed an addendum giving him immunity from oversight on those taxes. Can you answer that question? Why wasn't it just that? Why did we have to go through the whole, a man invests $9 million in a company and da, da, da, da. It just. It didn't hit. There was nothing that, like, landed. Everything was slippery. And I felt like Todd Blanche was obviously a lot less contentious than, like, a Pam Bondi or something. He was like, no, you're right, I'll look into that, or, yep, I should do that. And absolutely, I agree with you there. And, you know, just nobody's challenging, nobody digging in, nobody getting under the fingernails. And it was just a really frustrating thing to watch, especially all of the lambasting of Joe Biden's Justice Department and Jack Smith with absolutely. Well, not absolutely no one, but pretty much no one coming to their defense and just sort of letting that premise exist and hang in the air as the rest of the questions happened. It was so frustrating. And like I said, I totally understand now why Jack. Well, I understood before, but especially now why Jack Smith is going out and going around on Jon Stewart and talking to Nicole Wallace and trying to stand up for his investigations, for the rule of law, for what should be the integrity of the Justice Department. Hell, they could have even just read a list of all the things that judges have said about the loss of presumption of regularity over the last year, and they didn't do any of that. It was just very frustrating to me. And I want to do my best to support my party in Congress, especially coming up for the midterms this. This November. But, man, that was just a big letdown. It was just a big letdown for me.

[Adam Klassfeld]

I'll do a credit where credit is due. There was a point where Senator Whitehouse had two wonderful graphics listing all of the comments at federal judges and really laying out the weight of federal judges saying the government is giving a pretext, what that means to come from the mouth of a federal judge and all of the findings of misconduct. I just wish that was more of a consistent theme across the board. There was another effective moment by Senator Booker when he was questioning Blanche on the Epstein case and the, and his interview of Ghislaine Maxwell and really pushing him to get on record about why he transferred him, why he transferred Ghislaine Maxwell, excuse me, to another prison. And Blanche said, well, there were threats on his, on her life. And Booker's reply was priceless. You don't. So you deal with the threats against her by sending her to a camp to lower security. Lower security.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

You lower the security when there's threats against her life. That's your answer, right? That was a good moment.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Exactly. So there are moments where I, you know, to be fair to some of the senators, you know, watching today, that there were, there were really bright moments where there was real accountability. And there is a difference between laying out an indictment and all of the evidence of all of the things that have gone wrong in Trump DOJ and pursuing a line of questioning on a particular topic to extract concessions and to move the needle. And I recognize that they're separate things, but on a confirmation hearing, one of the things that you're doing is laying out a case to the American people. And many of them aren't as well versed as people who go through the courts every day, who, you know, are going across the country to watch another case collapse and who are talking about it like we are. And this is your time, these are your hours to, among other things, educate folks on what we've been living through and the collapse of the Justice Department as an institution and how it has alarmed record numbers of alumni of that agency who are warning loudly about threats to the rule of law, as are Trump appointed judges, as are judges across the political spectrum. And things that just don't happen in a competent administration happening again and again and again. And I don't think that someone who watched that hearing comes away with that impression. I don't think that anyone has learned the true breadth of the dysfunction at the Justice Department under Todd Blanche's watch and in some cases directly connected to his own actions, including the collapse of Kilmar Garcia's case was, you know, if not for Todd Blanche going on TV and running his mouth off, he might still be Prosecuted right now. Mr. Abrego. And the American people are not wiser about that case and so many other cases after that hearing.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Yeah, and I'm with you, credit where credit is due. There were some great moments there. Like, like you said from Booker, even Cornyn had a great moment there. I thought Mazie Hirono had a couple of great moments. I thought Senator Whitehouse had some great moments, thought Adam Schiff had some great moments. But in the, you know, the over three hours of hearings, or however long this was, to have a handful of great moments isn't enough when you've got a smorgasbord of things to go after. You know, when I was a comedian, I started in San Diego and I started with 10 minutes, went up to 20, got to 30, got to an hour of material because my joke kept stretching out, the setups kept getting longer. So I had just as many punchlines, but there was more filler. And so what we call this is. There's a term for it, because I had to move to LA, and when I moved to LA, they're like, you have 10 minutes now, not an hour. So I had to pull out all my setups and leave all the punchlines in. And we call it all killer, no filler. And so that's what I wanted to see today. Just one after another after another in order, over and over and over. You've got a hundred things you can hammer him on. He's, like I said, referred to the bar for disciplinary action. And when he said, no, I wasn't, they just said, send a copy. The correct follow up would be like, they said, send a copy because you already have a file open investigating your actions, you're already under disciplinary, they're adding to the file.

[Adam Klassfeld]

And what a distinction without a difference. Does he think that judges say, send my laudatory opinion to the State Bar of New York? Of course not. Now, you know, precision matters. And I was precise in saying that the judge sent a copy of her ruling or ordered the clerk to transmit a copy of her ruling to the State Bar of New York. But why do you think she did that, Mr. Blanche? Might be a valuable question. You know, it's a. You know, it. It just shows it would give away the game to just ask that basic question. Oh, you say that's a big difference. Explain the distinction to me. Do you think that Judge Williams sent that decision potentially to absolve you of the accusations that you have been running that department of unethically? Of course not. So that, that seems to be the kind of Shape of things that.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Well, it was like when they said Judge Boasberg ordered the planes turned around in his oral order, but he didn't put it specifically in his written order. And that's why we didn't turn the planes around. Like, oh, okay, all right, all right. For precision's sake. And we've seen judges, like, kind of amend their language as we've gone forward because of that stuff. I know. I remember one judge was like. And what I mean by this is that you do A, B and C, because you didn't seem to think that last time. And I'll make sure to put it in my written order as well. Do you remember when that happened?

[Adam Klassfeld]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

It's just. It's absolutely ridiculous and frustrating. So there were some great moments, and hats off and kudos to some of the folks who were the architects of those great moments. But I think it could have been done better. And again, it's probably not gonna matter. Even if he got a no vote somehow on this, even if he wasn't confirmed, section 508 kind of overrides the Vacancies act, which means he can kind of be acting Attorney General for as long as Trump wants him to be anyway. And there's actually precedent from Joe Biden doing that, too, but not with, like, a criminal. And so, you know, we, we, we. I don't know if they were like, look, he's gonna, he's in the job. He's gonna be in the job. There's nothing we can do about it, even if we vote no. But I don't know. I don'. And I just overall, was underwhelmed. But you're right, there were some really very good moments.

[Adam Klassfeld]

No, I agree with all of that, Alison, there, that there were good moments. But overall, the kind of theory of the case that if you were learning about this person named Todd Blanche, what is he about and what is his record? What has he done? What do his former colleagues say about him? You don't come that much wiser. You learn some things, and you learn some very troubling things. And maybe some of those troubling things are the bones of a future story. And kudos to the senators who were able to perform that accountability on both sides. One of them is named Cornyn, and one of them, and he really drew blood in his questioning of the Trump the IRS deal. But at the end of the day, I do think that with Tillis, it seems like the die is cast. And in order to lay out a case that this is a threat to the rule of law, that we are seeing the prosecutorial powers being abused, that you can harass people with a subpoena that's entirely unwarranted. Just because the president of the United States wants you to be served in some sort of criminal process, even if he can't prove anything against you beyond a reasonable doubt. And you have judges after judges saying this and cases collapsing at scales that were unimaginable in Trump's first term, that, that this is, you know, we, this seemed like a normal opposition, and we are not in a normal political moment.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

So what happens tomorrow?

[Allison Gill]

My understanding is the hearings are today

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

and tomorrow, the 15th and the 16th. What is, what is tomorrow?

[Adam Klassfeld]

There will be testimony by experts, and that's how these things are traditionally done. There's one thing that I, I had forgotten to say that apparently, according to the rules of the hearing, there were 10 minutes of questioning. So we've never had a kind of cramped amount of questioning. So that's part of the reason why today turned out the way it is. But tomorrow we're going to be seeing expert testimony on this, and I'm sure that both sides will bring their experts. And of course, I'll be watching.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Well, thank you very much. And everybody, if you want to follow up on any of this or get any more information, you can do so on All Rise News here on Substack. And if you're able to support financially the work that Adam Klassfeld does, that would be greatly appreciated. And Adam, I appreciate your time today talking to me. And, you know, well, I'm sure we'll be back here soon talking about something else.

[Adam Klassfeld]

I'm sure we will, too. Had a blast as always, and talk to you soon, Allison.

[Brian Caram]

I'm Brian Caram, and I've spent decades covering politics. Now I'm taking you behind the scenes, one interview at a time.

[Brian Caram (Promo Voice)]

Join us as each week, Brian confronts the issues that matter, posing the questions you wish you could ask. No filter, no agenda, just the truth.

[Brian Caram]

We're not here for sound bites. We're here for substance. Join me, Brian Caram. Every week as we cut through the noise and get straight to it. This is just ask the question. For curiosity will lead us to the facts.

[Brian Caram (Promo Voice)]

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and remember, when you want answers, all you have to do is just ask the question.

[Allison Gill]

Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Who likes good news?

[Dana Goldberg]

Everyone.

[Adam Klassfeld]

Then good news, everyone.

[Allison Gill]

Good news. And boy, do we need the good news today. Please send it all to us. Dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. It can be good news. It can be good trouble suggestion. It can be a shout out. You want to give a shout out to like your spouse or a partner or a great nonprofit you want us to know about, or a government program that's helped you or a loved one. Anything that'll bring a smile to our face. Tell us your favorite street joke. Tell us some great community activism that's happening in your area. We want to hear about it. And all you got to do to get your stuff read on the air is attach a photo. Pay your POD pet tariff by attaching a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, it can be an adoptable pet in your area. And if you don't have that, you can grab a random photo of an animal on the Internet. It can also be a photo of, I don't know, something that's lovely and brings us peace and calm, like a nice sunset. Or if you're canoeing or something. And you know, just don't go near the reflecting pool. I don't think there's any water in it right now anyway. But maybe what your garden looks like. Maybe you're gardening, or maybe you're painting or making music or writing poetry, knitting, crocheting. Maybe you're raising chickens. Maybe you got goats. Send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. First up is your good trouble. Good Trouble today comes from Tucker pronouns he and him. I love these. Make sure you talk to your neighbors, co workers and friends who are immigrants about what is happening with ice. My Egyptian co worker asked me the other day if he needed a visa to travel to Canada. I told him I didn't think so, but I'd be worried about being let back into the country. And he said, what do you mean? That's when I learned he didn't know what had been happening with ICE and that people were being barred from re entering the US if they weren't born here. Fortunately, I knew the name of local immigrant support organization and put him in touch with them. So if he does decide to travel to Canada, he knows how to get back into the United States. So here's a link to a guide to your rights if you encounter ICE from the National Immigration Justice Center. We're going to have that link in the show. Notes. Thanks for that good trouble. And we have an update regarding OMB's political attacks on scientific research. This was a good trouble that we did quote the public comment period on OMB's federal financial assistance rule closed on midnight July 13. Nearly 500,000 comments were submitted, and an analysis of the first 51,000 found that 94% opposed the rule change. Opposition came from across the scientific community, including Nobel laureates, as well as organizations like the American Meteorological Society, the American association for Cancer Research. NOMB will now review the comments before deciding whether to finalize the rule on October 1, 2026. This update comes from the Five Calls Act. So well done, everybody, leaving your comments on OMB's political attacks on scientific research.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, thank you so much. And Alison, as always, we're going to have an update on the Trevor Project right on that link. We're still running it through the end of the month, so as you know, if you'd like to donate, you can do that. Allison, remind me what the link is for us.

[Allison Gill]

It's trevorproject.org beans wonderful.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you so much. Next up, someone is Anonymous pronoun she and her welcome back dg. Thank you very much Anonymous. I wanted to thank you both for keeping us all up to date, even when we don't want to be. I'm just grateful that I'm not the only one swearing. My kids are total potty mouths, so I must have done something right. I wanted to give a shout out to my middle child on her half birthday, which will be on Thursday, July 16. She's home for the summer after completing a freshman year at UMD where she got straight A's. She says that she got an 1Aminus. But seriously, what the fuck is that? Why half birthday? My husband's mother, goddess rest her soul, started this trend when the girls were little. Unfortunately, she left us last March for that big old library in the sky. I hope she is reading all the books up there, eating bon bons and listening to Clay Aiken on repeat. But the tradition stands. I'm hoping that you will help me remember. Ladies of Illuminati, as I am so, so likely to forget for Potpet Terra, please enjoy my oldest axolotl, this is Doc in a Rock and my daughter Aspen and Acorn the chick during a study session last year. Oh my goodness, look at the oh,

[Allison Gill]

look at the chick who doesn't need

[Dana Goldberg]

a chicken on their shoulder while they're studying.

[Allison Gill]

Chickens on my shoulder make me happy. Axolotls and the roxolotls make me cry. Okay, that's enough of that.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Wow.

[Allison Gill]

I love axolotls so much. Anonymous I'm so jealous you have one. And I love this photo of your daughter with the baby Chicken. All right, next up from Janet. Good morning to my favorite voices to wake up to every day. Good morning, Janet. Thank you for that. My daughter in law works at a bakery in California, the Altadena Cookie Company. She sends pictures of special cookies and I thought you'd get a good laugh. Next, are my goats Butch and Sundance?

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid welcoming

[Allison Gill]

my friends onto the property. And I wonder why no one will come visit. Please keep the news and the fun coming. All right, so these are ice cookies and FDT cookies.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

And they're beautiful.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, they are. That's awesome.

[Allison Gill]

Congrats to your daughter in law, the Altadena Cookie Company.

[Dana Goldberg]

Okay.

[Allison Gill]

That's just wild though, the goats. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we have two goats on the hood of a car.

[Dana Goldberg]

I would just be like, do we honk? Do we not? What do we do?

[Allison Gill]

Windshield wipers. I don't understand. How do you get a goat off a car?

[Dana Goldberg]

I don't know. It's a good question. All right, next up from Marianne pronouns. She and her hello, beans Queens. I just wanted to share my completed protest umbrella. I'm very much looking forward to participating in the good trouble event at our stage state capitol this weekend with the best friend and my two daughters. I'm also including a pic of my front yard after the wildfire smoke cleared. I don't always get out for that head clearing morning walk, but I do get a couple of times a day to play ball with my pup. Wishing you and all the Leguminati a fabulous day. Oh, yeah, and fuck Donald Trump.

[Allison Gill]

Awesome. So we have a map of good trouble lives on events on mobilize. There's a link in the show notes to that. And look at this great umbrella. Look at the protest umbrella.

[Dana Goldberg]

So good.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, we got Pete, Buddha, Judge 2028. Now we know who the who Marianne lives there for the 2028. Justice for all. No kings. Impeach, convict.

[Dana Goldberg]

Remove.

[Allison Gill]

I love this. I love this umbrella.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's awesome.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, and look at that beautiful scene. That lovely. Oh, that's nice. That's very serene with the sky and the tree. I want to go walking there.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

All right, next up, Dusty the lesbian pronoun. She and her hello, queens of the beans. As a Fulton county voter. Oh, Dusty girl, I am incensed at the idea of calling my two wonderful senators illegitimate. Ossoff and Warnock have been a blessing for this state. Add to this the fact that my voter data is in the hands of who knows who and I'm in PTSD mode. I can't ignore the news, but I resent being back to waking up to what fresh hell has he unleashed overnight? We already had four full years of this and we don't deserve more. The only way I can calm down is to hit my balcony and tend to my flowers and watch the bamboo flourish in the yard. It's my version of the morning walk. Due to my mobility issues, I'm enclosing photos of said bamboo and my Portulaca moss rose nursery. We've learned how to say that recently. I love this. Student mobility issues. You just sit and just look at this beautiful view.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

How gorgeous is this? And you've got the flowers right there on your porch that you can oh, these are lovely. Yeah, that's nice and peaceful. Dusty. Thank you for that.

[Dana Goldberg]

This next picture is awesome. This is from Julie Pronoun. She on the days where so many things seem out of control and chaotic, it is cathartic to walk out to my beehives and watch the ladies go about their work. Bees work together for the common good. They are amazing creatures. I've included a picture of a frame of a bee brood. At the top of the frame is white wax over cells of honey. The golden area is the rest of the frame is capped bee brood. The dark cells are empty as the baby bees have already emerged from them.

[Allison Gill]

It's a bee nursery.

[Dana Goldberg]

It is.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, we should all next time we like show up in millions in numbers to March. We should all wear bee costumes.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

We're working together.

[Dana Goldberg]

Awesome.

[Allison Gill]

Coming to get you. Release the bees.

[Dana Goldberg]

Release the bees.

[Allison Gill]

I'm coming to bees. Next up from Ed Pronouns he and him. Pongiorno Beans Queens. Welcome to Napoli. The locals are quick to point out that Naples is in Florida. Our tour guide was charming, funny, and five different flavors of a train wreck. I watched her fight a losing battle with two tangled microphone cords and a water bottle, ultimately separating the cords, but drenching herself in the process. But she threw herself out into Napoli traffic so we could cross, scolding scooter drivers and finally proclaiming, we don't say we're from Napoli. We say that we survived Napoli before shouting anarchy. She was a joyous whirlwind. I wish I had one tenth of her energy. Photos today are the Galleria and the Napoli Dom. Amidst the chaotic swirl of this city, you see beauty around every corner. Wishing you all the best. I hope you had some pizza because, I mean, that's what gotta have in Napoli. Yeah, isn't that where pizza was invented? Anyway, beautiful. Ed, thank you for the update. I hope you stay in Italy. Touring Italy like you're our own little Stanley Tucci here on the tv.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

Seriously, Ed.

[Allison Gill]

Ed does Italy. And I look forward to every post and I look forward to to everybody's good news. I love all these submissions today. Please keep sending them in DailyBeansPod.com click on Contact. Thanks to Adam Klassfeld for joining us today. It was a very productive and informative conversation. We're going to show you a couple clips from those hearings over on Beans Talk here in just a bit, but thank you so much for sending in your good news. Dana, do you have any final thoughts?

[Dana Goldberg]

Not for today.

[Allison Gill]

All right, everybody, we'll be back tomorrow. Until that, 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. I've been DG nem's the Beans 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 podcast dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw Media

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

history is messy. It's weird, wild and anything but boring.

[Allison Gill]

Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

podcast about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life? From crazy disasters and tape, from hasty scandals to enlightening and surprising heartwarming tales,

[Dana Goldberg]

we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully.

[Guest Host / Interviewer]

We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot. It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the rabbit hole.

[Allison Gill]

MSW Media.