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- [00:00]
Michael Wolff
He's got himself in somewhat of a serious pickle here. If he doesn't go at this point, I mean, he kind of really looks weak. It's very complicated. I mean, Iran is a big country, is a formidable military power. People in the White House always talk about his reluctance to go to war. He's not going to go to war because it's too complicated for him. You know, he doesn't like to listen to generals. He doesn't like to be confronted with information. War is an information heavy activity, to say the very least.
- [00:47]
Joanne
Michael. Joanne, there is a sense of. There's too much going on. I can't keep on top of it. I wake too early. A. I have a very bad night because I'm still sleeping off this, this surgery and it means you can only sleep on your back. I'm a side sleeper. This is too much information. But I had a very spotty night
- [01:08]
Michael Wolff
and I wake up medicated, still on the.
- [01:11]
Joanne
I'm. I'm weaning myself off. I'm weaning myself off, but thank God, I don't think you can tell the difference, can you?
- [01:21]
Michael Wolff
Anyway, you could go down a path in which there's no return.
- [01:25]
Joanne
We're not going to do that. But I've been weaning my, myself off. But my point is a terrible night's sleep and I wake up to what feels like a hallucination, which is a text chain full of. Oh my God, oh, my God, oh my God. Andrew. The first member of the British royal family to be arrested for 400 years, unless you count Princess Anne, who got briefly arrested when her dog Dottie bit two children and she was eventually let go with a fine. But the previous arrest was King Charles the first.
- [02:03]
Michael Wolff
Make the, make the point here that this is a must be a British text chain.
- [02:10]
Joanne
No, it was an American and British text chain. In fact, I had, I had texts from people on the west coast who were up when this thing happened and who were just kind of crazed about it.
- [02:23]
Michael Wolff
I mean, they're indulging your Britishness. Maybe, you know, I mean, as an American, you know, Prince Andrew or the former Prince Andrew, could we care less? I'm just asking.
- [02:36]
Joanne
I don't think anybody at Britain, in Britain will get any work done at all today because this is such a big story. The Queen's favorite son arrested for giving Jeffrey Epstein proprietary business information.
- [02:53]
Michael Wolff
I get it. And let's. That's another interesting aspect of this. So he's not being arrested for sexual crime. And the entire focus of this scandal Relating to Prince Andrew has, of course, been the sexual end of this. He's been arrested now for a financial crime. Do we know the details of this financial crime?
- [03:14]
Joanne
It's really passing information that he had as a British trade envoy. And of course, the job was created for him a bit like an occupational therapy job by, By Prince Philip, because they knew that Andrew, out on his own, was dangerous. And we should point out that he did do. He did pay over, or his mother paid over, I think, £12 million to Virginia Duffrey as a settlement to get this thing done.
- [03:45]
Michael Wolff
And that the point there would be.
- [03:48]
Joanne
Well, the point would be that there was a sexual accusation here that he had slept with Virginia.
- [03:54]
Michael Wolff
But he is not. The, the, the point that' he was not arrested for that. He was not convicted for that. He did not admit to that. So what we have now.
- [04:05]
Joanne
No, he just gave over a cheque for £12 million. It's an admission of something totally, you
- [04:12]
Michael Wolff
know, and whether that is a PR thing, whether that is an admission. It's not an admission, actually, but it is a. You know, we don't know. But the point is he is not being prosecuted for that. That would be one thing. And, you know, they could have prosecuted him for that, but they are now prosecuting him for this, for this other thing. So this is. So we have to ask, is this the Al Capone thing? You know, Al Capone was, was, Was not prosecuted for. For the, the murder. The murders, the tortures, the. Everything that he should have been prosecuted for and was instead prosecuted for on a tax charge.
- [04:56]
Joanne
Right.
- [04:56]
Michael Wolff
He didn't file his taxes. So is that what's going on here or is there this other thing that's going on here, which is that everybody is trying. I mean, I mean, the, the, the, the country, Britain, your country, is in an entire kerfuffle. The government is in a. Is in a kerfuffle. The, the palace in. Is in a kerfuffle over.
- [05:20]
Joanne
I think it's kerfuffle. I think it's kerfuffle. I think you've introduced an unnecessary L. That.
- [05:28]
Michael Wolff
That might be true, but it could be that in the, In America. It's kerfluffle.
- [05:34]
Joanne
It's so not kerfluffle. It's not kerfuffle in any country. And not even the, not even the rum bunch of countries that have turned up for the Board of Peace, which we'll come to in a minute for you.
- [05:45]
Michael Wolff
It's a. It's kerfuffle.
- [05:47]
Joanne
It's kerfuffle.
- [05:48]
Michael Wolff
Kerfuffle.
- [05:50]
Joanne
Okay, well, let's anyway, but please continue.
- [05:53]
Michael Wolff
Possibly in New Jersey it's kerfluffle. Actually, I'm sure in New Jersey it's kerfluffle. But to continue. So the palace, the palace and the government are in trouble over this and are in a rush to place blame somewhere else. And Andrew is a, is a,
- [06:21]
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you
- [06:21]
Michael Wolff
know, and why not Andrew? Now the interesting thing to me is that everybody has known about Andrew for as long as I can remember. He's a money grubbing pussy hound wastrel who's never done anything with his life. Do we know more about, has the Epstein story revealed more about him?
- [06:48]
Joanne
Well, I think what's happened is that the Epstein files have given the police and those close observers of this case email evidence that this appears to have gone on. Of course, he hasn't been officially charged yet. That's expected to come over the next week for us.
- [07:08]
Michael Wolff
No, no, no. And I know this, the emails make this all the more vivid. But does it, does it tell us more about Andrew than we had previously known?
- [07:18]
Joanne
I think it tells us that he was cheaper than even we realized and that for room and board on the Reese side at Jeffrey Epstein's he was willing to give up information which he got in his privileged role as UK Business envoy.
- [07:34]
Michael Wolff
Right.
- [07:37]
Joanne
I am assuming that people thought the price was a bit higher than that, but in fact he just loved having a free place to stay.
- [07:44]
Michael Wolff
This feels to me, and we'll see when this comes out in the details of this, of this indictment and they're pursuing it, a similar investigation against Peter Mandelson for similar kinds of things. We will see if this has the feel of, of, of a real, of a real financial corruption scandal or if this is just, you know, we got to pin something on this, on this guy. You know, let's, let's just, we can't let him get away with this. Put this on him or.
- [08:19]
Joanne
Well, and the two cases may be different. No one is suggesting that Prince Andrew or formerly Prince Andrew's business acumen is anything to be admired. In fact, the fact he was so desperate to stay free at Jeffrey Epstein's and the fact he seemed to be asking for loans from Jeffrey Epstein and so was Fergie, his ex wife would
- [08:42]
Michael Wolff
always say that he was a money grubber.
- [08:45]
Joanne
Right.
- [08:46]
Michael Wolff
Which everyone, again, everyone has known this for a long, long time.
- [08:50]
Joanne
Right. With Peter Mandelson, who was business minister at the time, the fact that he managed to tell Jeffrey Epstein A full 24 hours in advance that Gordon Brown was going to resign as Prime Minister is genuinely confidential inside information?
- [09:07]
Michael Wolff
Yeah. No, and that's. I mean, Peter Mandelson was operating from the high levels of government. You know, Prince Andrew was clearly not operating from the high levels of government, clearly was operating from nowhere. Except that the peculiar status that he had as a son of the Queen, which gave him no authority, no portfolio, no respect even.
- [09:37]
Joanne
Right. I mean, he was known as Air Miles Andy because this job was created for him by his father to keep him out of trouble. They all knew that he was, as you say, a pussyhound. That makes me.
- [09:50]
Michael Wolff
That's when he was known as Randy Andy.
- [09:52]
Joanne
Randy Andy. So he went from Randy Andy to Air Miles Andy.
- [09:58]
Michael Wolff
So he has been a joke for his entire life?
- [10:01]
Joanne
Well, he briefly had a period during the Navy where I think he wasn't a joke. I mean, he was in the Falklands War, briefly. Falklands War, all the Malvinas, as the Argentinians called it 45 years ago. Yeah. But after that, he's done very little with his life, unfortunately.
- [10:24]
Michael Wolff
So the issue, the larger issue for the British government is how to, and to some extent for the palace is how to survive the Epstein scandal. So if you're sitting down in, in Westminster or you're sitting down in the palace, you have to think, what, what are we going to do? We got to do something. We gotta, we gotta, we gotta throw somebody overboard here. We gotta pin this on somebody. This has to be. We can't ignore this.
- [10:58]
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- [11:12]
Michael Wolff
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- [11:16]
Joanne
So off with his head. So let's arrest him. So it's just. I can't tell you what an enormous story this is in the uk. And of course, it's still not clear that the Prime Minister, Keir Starver, is out of the woods with his own.
- [11:30]
Michael Wolff
Let me ask you why it's such a story in the. In the uk There. Here is this person, Prince Andrew, who is. He's insignificant in the modern British state. He doesn't. Not even a part of it in any way. Wholly dismissed, wholly discredited. Somebody who, I mean, he's literally just there on the circumstance, the hapless circumstance in this case. Of his birth as not the first son. He doesn't become. He doesn't become anything. And so why are the Brits in such a.
- [12:12]
Joanne
Well, firstly, he's paid for by the public purse, so he's. I mean, you know, we. Well, the British taxpayer finances the Royal Family. And also big question marks over King Charles. In a sense, this is his Nixon moment. What did he know and when did he know it about Andrew's involvement with Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew handing over official British information?
- [12:39]
Michael Wolff
One of those moments of which we have seen in again and again where a kind of popular emotion rises to say to challenge the monarchy.
- [12:50]
Joanne
Yeah, I think so. And I think William, who's a, you know, who's very clearly pained. Well, I think he's more than pained. I think he's probably appalled by Andrew. And you could see in that extraordinary vignette where Andrew is trying to make contact with William and Kate on the steps of the Duchess of Kent's funeral that William won't have. Doesn't want to talk to him, won't have anything to do, turns his head. Princess Kate's sort of face is furious.
- [13:21]
Michael Wolff
Sergi and Andy, William is desperate about his job. He is looking at this and saying, and saying, you know, my job is at risk here. My.
- [13:31]
Joanne
Yeah. Prince Charles. It took Prince Charles 74, ascend to the throne. He promptly told everybody he'd got cancer. His time is limited. He's living with cancer. It's not apparently curable, but it's treatable and it's livable with whatever that means. But the assumption is that he's not going to be there forever. William is limbering up in the corridors of wherever he is, Windsor Castle, for the role. And William is appalled and understood, understands that this could be very bad for the British Royal family, that it could actually, this is.
- [14:09]
Michael Wolff
This goes the way of, of in, in past examples of, of the royal, the central royal family, the line being willing to shun other members of the family who are.
- [14:25]
Joanne
Who.
- [14:25]
Michael Wolff
Who might compromise their. The, the, the legitimacy. Yes. Or give the very existence bad PR problems.
- [14:36]
Joanne
Yeah, yeah. So again, it's a perilous moment. Perhaps the last perilous moment was the death of Princess Diana. But this feels like a genuinely perilous moment. And King Charles is very prominently saying, no one is above the law. The law must take its course.
- [14:53]
Michael Wolff
And so what do you think will happen? How does this, how does this play out?
- [14:58]
Joanne
I think Andrew is charged. I think he's charged with giving away official information to Jeffrey Epstein.
- [15:05]
Michael Wolff
And I don't Put in the. In the Old Bailey. And we see this. He has to stand there in that weird.
- [15:15]
Joanne
Well, I think he'll stand there and deny it, like he denied it on that terrible Newsnight thing, where he said, I can't understand it, I can't explain,
- [15:24]
Michael Wolff
but we will see a trial. Do they plea bargain in the uk?
- [15:27]
Joanne
They complete bargain. He might accept some sort of plea deal where he gets a custodial sentence,
- [15:34]
Michael Wolff
but it might be that we'll see him in the Old Bailey.
- [15:37]
Joanne
I think it's unlikely they're going to want to avoid that. He's going to have to do some sort of plea deal. Or maybe he does community service, except the local community don't want him living there. There've been all sorts of posters around Sandringham where he been banished from Royal Lodge, where he was living with 30 bedrooms, to the much smaller Marsh Farm, which it nevertheless is being renovated for him because he said he didn't like the state of the bathrooms or the kitchen. And all sorts of local people have put posters up saying, we don't want Andrew here, but I'm assuming they'll do something.
- [16:10]
Michael Wolff
And a trial in the Old Bailey. I liked it.
- [16:13]
Joanne
The British courts are amazing places to sit and watch things unfold.
- [16:19]
Michael Wolff
What was.
- [16:19]
Joanne
What was the court. What was the case you were doing?
- [16:22]
Michael Wolff
Hacking. Hacking. When Rebecca Brooks was. Murdoch's key lieutenant was on trial.
- [16:31]
Joanne
Wow. Well, I've covered many a court case that the Albania actually was.
- [16:36]
Michael Wolff
Was held in contempt.
- [16:38]
Joanne
What for?
- [16:39]
Michael Wolff
For writing something. Apparently, in. In the uk, you're not allowed to write about a trial when the trial is ongoing.
- [16:47]
Joanne
Well, that's not true.
- [16:48]
Michael Wolff
I mean, of course that is exactly true.
- [16:53]
Joanne
Well, you might have been given privileged information, but of course, people write about trials as the trials are ongoing. How would anybody know the trial was ongoing?
- [17:02]
Michael Wolff
Exactly. But you actually cannot do that. You cannot make. I mean, there's some. You can say some things, but you can't say other things like, hey, that person might be guilty.
- [17:12]
Joanne
Well, no, you can't say that. You can't say that.
- [17:15]
Michael Wolff
Well, in my country you can.
- [17:19]
Joanne
Yeah, you can't say that. In Britain, while we're sitting discussing the future of the British monarchy, the future of world peace hangs in the balance as Donald Trump pulls his Board of peace together in D.C.
- [17:34]
Michael Wolff
you know, and I went down the list of people who are. Who are attending the members of his Board of Peace, and it occurred to me that the members, actually the only members, comprise what Donald Trump used to regard as the shithole countries of the world. So the shithole countries have come to his aid.
- [18:01]
Joanne
Well, and I'm sure perhaps the countries that he stopped war between.
- [18:07]
Michael Wolff
But what is this Board of Peace which I think is being held at the Trump Institute of peace in D.C. in D.C. what is it supposed to do?
- [18:19]
Joanne
It's supposed to. It's supposed to raise. No, it's supposed to raise money. Don't you remember there was going to be a billion dollar membership fee?
- [18:27]
Michael Wolff
Yes. No. Well, that's the cost to enter this August board. But the boards then the purpose of this board, I mean, the purpose could just be to raise more money as, as the purpose seems to be of everything, particularly diplomatic sphere. But is there in a more, a more acceptable function that has been outlined here?
- [18:55]
Joanne
I think. Isn't the function to rebuild Gaza and to support the rebuilding of Gaza into, as we know, the new Riviera?
- [19:05]
Michael Wolff
Possibly. Is that what is going on here? Is that what they are talking about,
- [19:10]
Joanne
to implement its vision for Gaza, to help build.
- [19:13]
Michael Wolff
But we don't know what that vision for Gaza is other than there was a brief moment in which it was going to be the Riviera.
- [19:22]
Joanne
Right. That was the starting point. But since then, I think it's fair to say that Trump has broadened the scope for it to be the biggest, most important board in the world of world peace and world history, of the
- [19:36]
Michael Wolff
least important people in the world. Yes. Now, this is going on at the very moment that a war like force of really some consequence is enveloping Iran.
- [19:54]
Joanne
Right. So we're, I think, creating the biggest buildup of troops since the war in Iraq in 2000. And when was that? 2. 2003. And Trump is, will he, won't he send in troops or bombing missions to Iran? And does he want regime change?
- [20:14]
Michael Wolff
I mean, I think he's got himself in somewhat of a serious pickle here. If he doesn't go at this point, I mean, he kind of really looks weak and he already looks like he's already backpedaled this quite, quite, quite a bit. Remember, he invited all of those protesters into the street under, under the banner basically of his protection.
- [20:45]
Joanne
Right. Help is on the way is what
- [20:46]
Michael Wolff
help is on the way. Warnings to the Iranian regime. If you, if you, if you attack the protesters, you will have to answer to Donald Trump. Then of course, they did attack the protesters at a level beyond anyone's imagination. And Trump did. What did he do? Nothing. So he's there, he's up against that. I mean, he was explicit on this point and then he didn't do it. And all of those people died.
- [21:26]
Joanne
Yeah, I think we've got between six and 8,000 people were shot.
- [21:29]
Michael Wolff
Seriously under his watch. They died. So here he is now. Now he could back off again. But what does that make him look like? Or he can go forward, but the problem of going forward, which is why he didn't go forward the first time, is that it's very complicated. I mean, Iran is a big country, is a formidable military power, even degraded as it has been in our previous attacks and in Israel's attacks, but nevertheless, when people in the White House always talk about his reluctance to go to war, I mean, and this is sort of as a good thing, it's been portrayed he's not going to go to war because it's too complicated for him. You know, he doesn't like to listen to generals. You know, all of the generals are kind of McKinsey trained guys. He hates that. It's boring to him. It's PowerPoint and, and he doesn't like, he doesn't like to be confronted with information. War is in information heavy activity to say the very least.
- [22:50]
Joanne
Well, and he's not well supported by Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense slash war.
- [22:56]
Michael Wolff
No. Well, well, but the general, I mean, there are a lot of obviously competent generals in, in the United States chain of command who are there and, and they're on the line. I mean, it's, it's, it's, you know, I mean, failure will be blamed on them. Plus they know the people who are being put in harm's way, they're, this is their job. And so they take their job very seriously and they take their job of informing the president of all of the variables here. In other words, the risks. Because I mean, this is kind of a blame situation. The commander in chief has to make the ultimate decision and the ultimate blame is on him. So they, Rush and I've witnessed some of these meetings and they are thorough. They give you vastly more information than anybody would want. And Donald Trump wants no information. So it's a difficult moment for him to go forward in attacking Iran on a, on a, on a pretty massive scale I think would be is the implication here.
- [24:12]
Joanne
But it's also not what the MAGA base want. This is the last thing they want. They don't know where Iran is. Like the president, they can barely find it on a map. This is not what he ran on. And it's really of, you know, is he doing this again? We've asked this before, but is this a wag the dog Policy to get away from what happened in Minneapolis, to get away from the nonsense that didn't play well of Greenland, to get away from Venezuela that everybody's forgotten about and away from the economy.
- [24:43]
Michael Wolff
I mean, I think that is a fast bombing attack. Yeah, you could, you could say that. But a build up like this, I, I think he's caught in the middle, middle of this. You know, he can't back down because then he's going to look weak. He doesn't want to go forward because it's so complicated.
- [25:00]
Joanne
Couldn't he back down by saying we threatened it? They back down. I, this is another, you know.
- [25:07]
Michael Wolff
Yeah, no potential war.
- [25:09]
Joanne
I've resolved.
- [25:09]
Michael Wolff
Yes. I mean, I think that he will look for something like that. But, you know, this is pretty weak and it's pretty transparent as it was this time. I mean, the Iranians are, you know, they really don't cooperate so that they might do something and then they go back to doing the same thing that they've said they wouldn't do and including shooting people all over the place. So, I mean, I think it's difficult at this point to say, oh yeah, we've sat down with the Iranians and we have an understanding, all of them. I mean, Trump would come out and I mean, as he did with the North Koreans, we're love the guy. I don't think that can happen in this situation. And I don't think, I think it's going to be very difficult for Trump to come out with a credible result here and say we went eye to eye, the Iranians blinked and this is what we've gotten. I mean, listen, he says whatever he wants to say and if he does not really want to go forward, he will say something like that. But I think it's going to be a difficult sell.
- [26:25]
Joanne
Well, it's doubly ironic that he's meeting with his Board of Peace and perhaps more importantly, we should point out who's not at the Board of Peace or who hasn't sent Hyatt representatives. The UK hasn't, France hasn't, Germany hasn't, Sweden hasn't, Norway hasn't. In fact, the countries that he wants to be there aren't there. And as you say, he's got the ship. All of these.
- [26:48]
Michael Wolff
Yes. And all of those countries which are all of the mainstay Western European nations are now, I don't, I don't know, pretty, pretty much our, our. Well, they're being converted very quickly into our enemy.
- [27:05]
Joanne
Well, I don't know if they're our enemy. But they are viewing America with much more skepticism than they did. They know they can no longer allow and they're not going to pay the money. They don't want to be fleeced by China.
- [27:16]
Michael Wolff
I think the antagonism is mounting up almost on a daily basis. And you know, whereas the antagonism before would have been at Russia or China or the Iranian, you know, whatever. That standard view of the world in which the Western European nations were our allies in everything in history and in, and in the world order has so vastly changed just in the course of this past year, it's come tumbling down.
- [28:01]
Joanne
Well, as Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada said, there's been a rupture in the Golden Order.
- [28:08]
Michael Wolff
And then this goes on again. And this has now come up with the, with, with Trump's threats to, to, to break the treaties that, the North American treaty which exists between Mexico, the US And Canada. So essentially he is, he is the people who he is arguably most antagonistic to are the Canadians. How that has come up, I mean, that's.
- [28:41]
Joanne
Well, I think, because he's probably jealous of Mark Carney. Right? Mark Carney is everything Trump has to be.
- [28:47]
Michael Wolff
I mean, I think that there's a whole, there's a whole, a whole range of things, including this idea that Canada should be part of the US which is logged in his brain in a serious brain wormy way. And I'm not sure that he can get out. I mean it is, you know, he looks at a map and says, and says, people in the White House describe this with there. I, I would read their attitude as well, clear eyed, that he looks at a map and sees Canada is connected to the United States. This long border that we share. I mean, he has this obsession about borders and he may not know anything else on a map, which he does not know, which he doesn't, but he does. See, here's the United States and here's Canada and we all speak English or mostly. And why aren't we together?
- [29:46]
Joanne
Well, there's a certain logic to that. Why, why aren't we together? Except that it's a completely different country.
- [29:53]
Michael Wolff
Yes. So there is no logic to it except the logic of looking at a map and not understanding what you're seeing on the map.
- [30:00]
Joanne
Exactly, exactly. All right, now, most importantly, we've got lots of comments about my Melania Bucket. Some people don't realize that it's ironic. A few people said it was outrageous, I needed to get rid of it immediately. Some other people jumped in and said, no, it's Ironic. But I do need suggestions.
- [30:18]
Michael Wolff
What is to do with it?
- [30:20]
Joanne
The Melania bucket. This was the 1299 popcorn in there. I got popcorn in here which I immediately poured out because it looked sucky aspect. But this is the 12.99 Melania bucket of popcorn that I'm assuming she got 70 of the back end. There's a picture of her here. But I'm up for interesting ideas. I think we could do something interesting with it. So I'm just.
- [30:43]
Michael Wolff
I think so. I think we should reach out to people. We could solicit all kinds of ideas for the Melania merchandise company, which is shortly being rolled out.
- [30:54]
Joanne
Oh, it is?
- [30:55]
Michael Wolff
Yes. So it's not just Donald Trump's name on things, it's the.
- [30:59]
Joanne
Oh, it'll be Melania's name.
- [31:00]
Michael Wolff
Julian names. It's Melania. She's, you know, she, she wants to change. Wants him to change the name of Lincoln center to Melania Center.
- [31:14]
Joanne
Are you being serious?
- [31:15]
Michael Wolff
I'm not being serious.
- [31:16]
Joanne
Oh, I was going to say that, that I had that, I was gonna say that bypassed me totally.
- [31:22]
Michael Wolff
But now that I've said this, isn't that a.
- [31:25]
Joanne
It's an excellent idea. Yeah. Why does Lincoln need all these memorials? He, you know, Melania should have one. And we saw when the press on Air Force One asked whether or not he'd given her any flowers for Valentine's Day, he said, oh, it's complicated, but she's working very hard between Russia and Ukraine. So I'm sure she is. Is, yes, I'm sure she is.
- [31:50]
Michael Wolff
But, but, but really, I mean, the business that she is working to grow in New York in, and let me emphasize it is in New York because that's relevant to, relevant to my case against her is a, you know, is a broad marketing, merchandising, branding, licensing operation of which she is the centerpiece of.
- [32:15]
Joanne
So, Michael, we have another big haired girl in charge of something which she doesn't appear to have the perfect background for. I'm talking about Chamberlain Harris. What a fantastic name. Chamberlain. She's 26. Trump has appointed her to the commission that will oversee the rebuilding of the East Wing. And of course, before she was elevated to this role, she was the receptionist at the White House, known as America's receptionist.
- [32:46]
Michael Wolff
Oh, you know, I used. Cause I spent a long time sitting in the West Wing and chatting with the various Trump receptionists. So I have a sort of fond place in my heart.
- [33:02]
Joanne
She looks just like all the other young women that work in the White House who wear those shift dresses. With the boots. And they have magnificent hair. I'm thinking of Natalie Hart, Margot Martin. Some of them are mini versions of Melania. Carolyn Livitt, of course, Levitt.
- [33:20]
Michael Wolff
Yeah, they all. And the hair is all. It's always loose hair.
- [33:25]
Joanne
Oh, yeah, of course. It's worn down or anything. Yeah. And she has a degree in political science from the University of Albany at State University of New York. She looks very sporty.
- [33:40]
Michael Wolff
Oh, yeah. No, no, she literally, she looks like everyone who has sat in that desk in the West Wing.
- [33:47]
Joanne
Yes. I mean, and the hair is familiar, the grin is familiar. And she's 26 and she has no background in the arts whatsoever. And she's now part of the commission that is overseeing the renovation of the most important building in America.
- [34:03]
Michael Wolff
Well, I think that is, I mean, I mean, it's, it's very clearly what he has set up. This is called the fix. She's the fix. Part of the fix that he has to get certain approvals there from a theoretical commission overseeing the renovation of the East Wing. But he has now stacked this commission so that the commission will do what he wants done, which is to erect and completely inappropriate structure in that space.
- [34:37]
Joanne
It really is remarkable when you look at the plans for it. This is a 90,000 square foot building on a 45,000 square foot white House and West Wing. I mean, it's just remarkable. I mean, it's almost as remarkable as Prince Andrew, formerly known as Prince, being arrested. And again, we've just forgotten.
- [35:01]
Michael Wolff
I think it is. And the, the point of this is that for it to be. Not to be integrated, not to be something that would seamlessly become part of this structure. The point is for it to stand out, for it to be the Donald Trump Ballroom, which will dwarf everything else. So the only thing that we will see is when we see the White House is Donald Trump's ballroom with a very big Donald Trump name on it. I can guarantee.
- [35:42]
Joanne
It's just crazy. And also the arch, which they're currently budgeting 100 million for, but like the ballroom will, I'm sure, grow quickly and then that will block the view from the Washington Memorial to Arlington Cemetery.
- [35:58]
Michael Wolff
No, no. And this is just part of a, part of, I mean, to say the least part of this pattern of dominance of one man, the government of one wanting him, wanting this, wanting everything to memorialize the fact that this is a government of one.
- [36:22]
Joanne
A government of 1. And 6 million Epstein files still to be trawled through
- [36:30]
Michael Wolff
which, which, you know, I mean, I, you know, I think we are back and let's I mean, it's interesting to come back to this. I think that this is working out for him.
- [36:38]
Joanne
You think that the Epstein files, in fact, turn out to be good?
- [36:42]
Michael Wolff
Totally.
- [36:42]
Joanne
They're bringing everybody else down.
- [36:44]
Michael Wolff
They turn out to be a distraction from Donald Trump. So I think what he looked at with enormous trepidation, they're going to come for me because I'm all over these Epstein files. Turns out because of the luck of Donald Trump, which one should never underestimate, to have thrown up so much smoke about so many other people that at best, he's one of many. And actually kind of for the first time in his life, Lost in the Crowd.
- [37:16]
Joanne
Wow. Lost in the Crowd. Well, if you have been. Michael Wolf is not Lost in the Crowd inside Trump's head. The podcast is not, I hope, Lost in the Crowd. Thank you for joining us. Leave your comments for us on YouTube. Subscribe to the Daily Beast, where you can keep up to date with everything that's going on. And it's hard to keep up with everything that's going on. I mean, I was thinking this morning, you know, a terrible story of eight dying in a ski avalanche in Lake Tahoe, which would normally dominate the news. The former president of South Korea about to be sentenced to life imprisonment for inflicting a brief period of martial law against.
- [38:02]
Michael Wolff
For doing things that are not dissimilar to what Donald Trump is doing.
- [38:06]
Joanne
Right? Absolutely. So he must be watching that, although he's probably not watching it. Cause he's thinking, well, why wasn't he stronger? He should have just been more dominant with martial law. And of course, the terrible story of Nancy Guthrie, who's just disappeared and. And Keystone Cash Patel's FBI seem to have no clues whatsoever. So in normal times, these stories would all dominate the news. But of course, we're not in normal times. We're in Trump times, and he dominates the news.
- [38:36]
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- [39:08]
Joanne
And I should say subscribe to Michael's substack howl, which I gather you've got another piece up on Epstein today. I haven't read it yet. Yet?
- [39:17]
Michael Wolff
It's not up yet. That's why you haven't read it?
- [39:19]
Joanne
Oh, that's why I haven't read it.
- [39:20]
Michael Wolff
Yes, and I'm. I'm slightly wavering on it because it will ruffle some feathers, but hell do I.
- [39:30]
Joanne
Can I ask whose feathers
- [39:35]
Michael Wolff
most? It's my specialty. Most feathers will be ruffled.
- [39:39]
Joanne
Okay. Most feathers will be ruffled. All right. Well, I shall look forward to reading it post haste then. Perhaps you could send me an early draft. Do I not get any benefits as being your co host on Inside Trump's Head? I think I should get early drafts
- [39:56]
Michael Wolff
of your column in minutes.
- [39:58]
Joanne
Okay. And I've written a column. I've written a column about the seriousness of Prince Andrew, or formerly known as Prince, being arrested and Peter Mandelson and what's in store and how this remarkable story continues to spread. And as you say, it may be Donald Trump's good luck that there are so many other people implicated that he for once, doesn't stand out in the crowd. So the good news is we have so many bee beast tier members now, there are too many names to read out. And we really appreciate your support. Thanks to our production team. Devon Rogerino, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passer, Heather Passaro, Neil Rosenhaus.