← The Jim Acosta Show
The Jim Acosta Show
BREAKING NEWS NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING IN DC, WITH MALCOLM NANCE & LEV PARNAS, PLUS MOLLY JONG FAST WITH OUR TOP 10 TURKEYS
00:55:47
Loading summary
Transcript203 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:06]
B
Welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. I am coming to you live right now with breaking news. Two members of the West Virginia National Guard have been shot and killed. That is according to the governor of West Virginia. The shooting took place in downtown D.C. right by the White House, uh, in Farragut Square, which is a park about a block or so from the White House. I would. I ran down to the scene and got a little video of what is taking place right now. And basically, all you can see is the law enforcement presence that has cordoned off Farragut Square and blocking off some of these intersections near the White House. Take a look. This is some video I sent in just a short time ago. Law enforcement from D.C. police, Secret Service, ATF, you have national Guard members all keeping this area secure. And what we know right now, according to the Washington Post, other news outlets, is that a couple of members of the National Guard have been shot here in downtown Washington, D.C. we don't know the conditions of those Guard members at this point, but what we saw earlier was a pretty chaotic scene. You saw people coming out of office buildings, people being told that their office is on lockdown, not to come down here on the street. But now the scene appears to be pretty secure at this point. And, you know, we are seeing a law enforcement presence. Just over the shoulder of my photographer, Sam, there is a member of the police department, it looks like the U.S. marshal's office with an assault rifle. And so it's a pretty scary, chaotic scene in downtown Washington, D.C. we're trying to get the latest details. When we do, we'll get them to you. Okay, so that was me down on the scene just a few moments ago. And then at 3:42pm this is about 20 minutes ago, the Governor of West Virginia tweeted this. It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, D.C. have passed away from their injuries. These brave West Virginians lost their lives in their service to their country. We are in ongoing contact with federal officials as the investigation continues. Our entire state grieves with their families, their loved ones, and the Guard community. West Virginia will never forget their sacrifice, and we will demand full accountability for this horrific act. In the meantime, let me go to my producer, Sam, who is also my photographer and jack of all trades. Sam is down there on the scene. Sam, what can you tell us? What can you see?
- [02:29]
C
Well, everything you just said, Jim, unfortunately, these Guard members have passed away. It's really tragic incident. The law enforcement presence is Actually growing as more and more members of the media, press, just onlookers coming by. There have been a few people talking. I tried to. I'm going to try to talk to a couple of them talking to media here who say they witnessed or were around the area on 17th and I, which is a little under half a mile from the White House, just a few blocks. Who witnessed the shooting, Whether they saw it with their own eyes or heard it, I'm not clear on that. But, yeah, it's just a growing law enforcement presence. And on the Metropolitan Police Department's official X account, which is, of course, their, you know, the police presence in Washington, D.C. there is one person in custody, one suspect.
- [03:23]
B
Yeah, we don't know anything about that suspect at this point. We don't know how this shooting went down. All we do know is, is the confirmation from the governor of West Virginia that these two National Guard members were killed. Sam, if you hear anything, let us know. We appreciate it. But, yeah, you can see in this video that we got just a short while ago, when you have National Guard members at certain intersections, you had the ATF, you had the D.C. police, police, secret Service. I mean, one thing that people need to understand about downtown Washington, D.C. especially by the White House, is that you have a lot of law enforcement agencies all in this area. Sam, is there anything else you can see? You can tell us real quick?
- [04:00]
C
No, it's just the. Honestly, the police presence continues to grow, as does the media presence. It's. It's burdened off entirely. And now they are forcing members of the press to essentially pick us out of the street so vehicles can cross. According to the MPD X account, it actually occurred on the intersection of 17th and I. So that's where the initial reports are coming from. And so we're here on K Street, which is of course, one block north.
- [04:28]
B
All right. All right. Thanks, Sam. Really appreciate it. Again, I mean, just tragic news. And we've been reporting on the presence of the National Guard here in the nation's capital for a few months now. And it's been very controversial here in Washington, D.C. but when you run across these members of the National Guard, I can just tell you from my own personal experience, when I run across them, they are just as nice as can be. And, you know, it reminds you when you see their very young faces often that they are fellow Americans and they've been asked to do a job here. They've been doing it. And it is just terrible, tragic news that this is happening right before Thanksgiving. Two members of The West Virginia National Guard killed near the White House. Absolutely tragic. And my. My producer, Sam, is down on the scene. We'll go back to him when he gets something. But, you know, we're coming to you today. As there's a lot of other news happening right now. One of the other things that we wanted to talk about is this ongoing peace process, these peace talks that have been apparently occurring. When it comes to Ukraine, I want to bring in Lev Parnas and Malcolm Nance. Uh, they're with us, of course, uh, two fixtures from the substack community and have been pretty fierce critics of Donald Trump's handling of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lev and Malcolm, great to see both of you. Really appreciate it.
- [05:50]
A
Thanks for having me.
- [05:51]
D
Glad to be here. And I'm sorry we have to be here after such a sad occasion. Just to touch back on the National Guard story, you know, I spent two weeks in D.C. with the Remember your Oath group, and we had a great time with the Guardsmen. We, you know, they're forced to be there. They. They didn't choose to be there. And this looks like a very targeted attack. If I put my counterterrorism hat on, you know, very focused attack. You know, if, you know, that intersection at 17th and I, right off Farragut, that's pretty benign area. There's a lot hotter, more places that the guy could do a demonstration attack if he had want to.
- [06:28]
B
Yeah. And we just don't know at this point what happened. But, I mean, to have two members of the National Guard shot and killed like this in Washington, D.C. right by the White House, absolutely horrific news. And, you know, our hearts go out to those family members of. Of those National Guard members, and we'll see how this develops. But apparently my producer, Sam, is telling me that a podium has been set up at 17th in case, so maybe there'll be some sort of press conference that takes place down on the scene.
- [06:57]
A
I. I also just text Governor Morrissey. I know him very well, actually, from the first administration, and if he responds to me, I'll let you know. So I just said text also. Right.
- [07:08]
B
Yeah. And, I mean, he was a pretty important member of Trump's political team.
- [07:13]
A
He was. He was. Back then. He was.
- [07:16]
B
That's right. He was the Attorney general. That's right. During the first Trump administration. And I think he ran unsuccessfully against Joe Manchin. Is that correct? And then came back and won his governor after Jim justice was the governor of Western. Anyway, our hearts go out to the folks in West Virginia. Really, really sad news. Really sad news. But guys, this, there's this very important news as it relates to Russia and Ukraine and we really ought to dive into this and in particular this news that came out of this explosive story that came out of Bloomberg that Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy for diplomatic missions, had a phone call with a senior Russian official basically to suggest that they work together in cahoots on a peace plan for Ukraine, a so called peace plan for Ukraine, and that Putin should bring up the idea with, with Trump. And they were essentially strategizing as to how to, how to, you know, convince Trump to go along with the Russian position in all of this, which, you know, may not take a whole lot of coaxing, I suppose, for Trump to take the Russian position or take Putin's position. But Malcolm, I know you have served. I had you on my show before when you had served in Ukraine fighting alongside the brave Ukrainians for their, for their liberty and their, and their freedom. Malcolm, what's been your response to all this? I mean, it's a pretty damning story.
- [08:35]
D
It's interesting and I want to touch on two aspects. First, the 28 point peace plan that they proposed, I've seen that before. Most of that was proposed in June of 2022 for ending the war. Ukrainians must learn Russian and you have to give us all Donetsk, Luhansk and everything else that's a non starter for many Ukrainians. But with regards to this story about having, you know, this recording of, of Steve Witkoff coming out and first off, promising Russia, this is a very part of the story. I don't think many people have gotten promised Russia, Donetsk and Luhansk. He just signed off on it. He's like, yeah, you're getting Donetsk and Luhansk, you know, which is insane. That is not negotiation. It was surrender. It was, he stipulated, this is how it will start. So Witkoff and Lev's going to talk more about it because he knows him personally, has been on the Russian game negotiating on behalf of Russia. Let me tell you something. The situation isn't near as dire as people think in Ukraine. I was just asked to come back into the international legion. They're forming a new regiment. But, you know, I mean, they don't need the manpower. What they need is that they need peace. And the best way to get peace is for Russia to leave Ukraine. Short of that, the problem is the United States is in this game of coercion and they are on the schedule for the Nobel Prize. They aren't on the schedule for keeping Ukrainian citizens Alive. And one last thing, there's very few weapons systems Ukraine needs from the United States anymore. Very, that's right.
- [10:22]
B
This has been a drone war in many ways and they've been very effective. And Lev, what do you think about all this? You've gone as our Chiron there says maga, maga operative to whistleblower. You whistle on, on some nefarious stuff that was going on to try to get dirt on Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, the proud and brave Ukrainian president. But your thoughts on how all of this has unfolded and what Malcolm was saying? Because I mean, elements of this so called peace plan which includes like limiting the number of Ukrainian soldier handing over land. I mean it's basically gift wrapping everything that Putin wants.
- [10:57]
A
Oh, absolutely, Jim, thanks for having me. I mean, me and Malcolm actually speak about this all the time. This is one of the things that we discuss and we go on our substack shows because this is such an important subject and we've, I'll tell you honestly, since I first came on substack about six months ago, Malcolm will tell you the first probably letter that I wrote was about Steve Witkoff, K D and Jerry Kushner. That's another name nobody's talking about. Very few. I mean, but just think about Jerry Kushner yesterday, Trump said is going also to Moscow because it's part of that little cabal. It goes way back, it goes way back to 2017 that these, this is more than just power, this is more than just money. This is the. And that's why you're seeing Kushner come in towards the end, just like you saw in the Middle East. Now it's time to divvy it up. They think now it's time. But I agree with Malcolm 100%. Speaking to the Ukrainians, which we have plenty of friends and connections there, they are strong, powerful. What they need is they need to Trump to get out of the situation, leave us alone. They got a strong army. That's why Russia wants to limit their army. They have more better capabilities with the drones like Malcolm said than anybody that anybody in the Eastern Europe. And just think about all of this time. Russia is at a stalemate. They have not on the actual war front, they have not caressed at all. The, the things that we report on are the terroristic acts that Russia does by hitting civilian targets all over the country. But as far as the actual war, they, they haven't moved. It's a stalemate. That's why Russia needs to end the war. You know, that's why they're trying to do. And the other thing that nobody talks about and we should talk a little bit about here also, Jim, how also this ties into the Epstein files. There's another reason why, you know, Russia and, and, and Kyl Demitra is having K. Dimitri Witkoff and Kushner deal with it and not Rubio because they needed to quiet. There's certain deals besides the power. So there's a lot going on. And I could tell you right off the bat that this is no peace deal. I've spoken to my sources on all three sides. At the end of the day, they're going to try to push Zielinski into trying to threaten him by corruption, that they're going to open up an FBI investigation, all kinds of stuff to try to do a regime change. But what I'm hearing is Zelensky is going to stand strong. So we'll see what happens at that point.
- [13:23]
B
Yeah, I mean, Malcolm, I mean, I've said this once, I'll say it a thousand times. At every turn, Donald Trump sides with Vladimir Putin at every turn. And it seems as though he has the people in place who will do his bidding in that regard. I mean, that. And that seems to be what Steve Witkoff is doing. When Trump was asked about it on Air Force One, he goes, oh, that's pretty standard. You know, that, that Witkoff would do this. No, it's not.
- [13:47]
D
No. And it's even more significant that there was an audio recording of this. This is signals intelligence. Russians are famous for doing this. You might recall the audio recordings of the first U.S. ambassador to Ukraine speaking about some relatively benign things. But they were monitoring her phone communications with other Ukrainian officials there and then put it out. And that got her fired. Right, by Donald Trump. That and the fact that it was the basis of Trump doing extortion. But for the. I think that this was clearly a Russian intelligence operation.
- [14:27]
A
I'll even tell you, I'll tell you who would think it was Andre Deerkoff. Okay.
- [14:30]
D
What do you think, Andre dear?
- [14:32]
A
Of course. And I'll tell you why. Go ahead, Malcolm, after you finish, I'll tell you why.
- [14:36]
D
Well, I'm going to tell you one last thing. Why is Trump siding with Moscow? This has nothing to do with peace. It has to do with the fact that there's a. There's almost half a trillion dollars of solid gold reserves and sanctioned money sitting in Russian banks he wants access to. And if you look at the original at the 28 point plan, that's one of the first, things that they wanted to do where they wanted the Ukrainians to pay him half, and then they wanted to lift all sanctions against Russia and bring them back into the G8. They are desperate for that money. Trump is only motivated by that, and he thinks he's going to get a Nobel Prize. It's absolutely silly.
- [15:17]
B
Yeah. And love, what were you gonna say?
- [15:19]
A
Yeah, I was gonna say also, he's also worried about what might come out in the Epstein files because one of the things we mentioned and we've seen that came out already with Epstein was heavily connected to Russia. I've spoken to some of my sources. It's not just Epstein, but others. Even in some emails you've seen between Epstein and his brother, they're talking about Bannon sending stuff over to.
- [15:40]
B
And there were some email, love, that said, you know, Epstein said, well, tell the Russians if they want to know how Trump operates or, you know, what's going on with Trump, make sure they talk to me. I mean, it's in one of the emails that was released by the House Oversight Committee, which is. That was strange.
- [15:55]
A
Yeah. And, Jim, even deeper it talks about. And this is what a lot of people didn't pick up on. And if you have some time, maybe look into, we could do another special buzz. Epstein's relationship with Victor Churkin. Victor Church was the ambassador to the United nations, and he was the U. S. Ambassador, I mean, the Russian ambassador. And in some. In the. One of those emails, he talks about how he's downloaded Churkin on all the. They need to know about Donald Trump. So this is. This is, you know, an ongoing operation. So there's a lot. It's not one individual thing that Donald Trump is worried about when it comes to the Russians. That's why he's so frustrated with Putin.
- [16:30]
B
Right.
- [16:31]
A
That's why he can't get. Because at the end of the day, Putin has them by. You know what. And. And that's why we're seeing this play out.
- [16:39]
B
Yeah.
- [16:39]
D
If I can make a quick.
- [16:40]
B
Go ahead.
- [16:42]
D
Look, this is not that the Russians needed help doing analysis of who Donald Trump was. They had this man under surveillance from 1977.
- [16:52]
B
Right.
- [16:52]
D
1977, when it was the KGB into the 1980s, right up to the fall of the Soviet Union and then up to 2012. They kept their dibs on him to when he came back from Miss Universe, when Putin came in 2014, when they invaded Ukraine and Trump was praising Putin, you know, when he called in about Donald Trump, they wheeled in a wheelbarrow of material because Putin is a human intelligence officer, a human manipulator. And all of these contacts with Churchin and Dmitriev, all of them, these people who are coming to Putin to say, I can give you information about him that just systems checks what they've already evaluated about Donald Trump and also gives other people that they could easily blackmail or coerce to get more information. America must look like a sieve. And this is actually an old KGB tactic. They preferred rich, corrupt white guys they did not like, you know, colored leftists, you know, because they were easy to manipulate. Easy to manipulate. And it was always about money. And now the promise of huge amounts of Russian money.
- [18:04]
B
Yeah. And the other thing that was weird about Wyckoff was he did that interview with Tucker Carlson just recently, and that video was bouncing around the Internet in the last couple of days where he says, oh, I think Putin's a good guy. I like him.
- [18:15]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [18:16]
B
What the hell? It's insane. And, well, I mean, Malcolm, you can. You can testify to the fact how bravely and courageously. I mean, this has to be underlined and reiterated over and over and over again. How brave and courageous the Ukrainians have been through all of this and you were alongside.
- [18:35]
D
Yeah.
- [18:36]
B
The sacrifices they've made.
- [18:38]
D
You're right. And I've since gone back to Ukraine a few times. But let me tell you this. The Ukrainians, if there's any one thing I learned about these guys on the battlefield being right next to them on operations, they cannot be defeated. They just don't have it in them. They have pure, unadulterated guts. And the children have it, the mothers have it, the old babushkas have it. It's just not something. Surrender is not in their name. That image of the Cossack with the hair lick and the big mustache and the saber twirling over his head, that's them now. And they have embraced that and they would rather fight. I believe the statistic was 67% of Ukrainians said, there's no way we're giving up land, including 2014 land, to the Russians. But even more importantly, the perseverance that they've had. This is the Battle of Britain. Four years long.
- [19:37]
B
Yes.
- [19:38]
D
Not for three months. Four years long. The firemen, amongst the bravest people I have ever seen, they will in. In places like Kharkiv and Dnipro and Odessa, places are getting blitzed. They rush right in, they put these fires out, then the municipalities, within 24 hours, tear down or clear destroyed and damaged buildings. They love their country. And I've seen firemen risk their lives for dogs and go into bombardments to get animals out of the car key.
- [20:13]
B
Amazing. And Lev, I mean, but for the Russians, their ace in the hole is Donald Trump. That's. This is the best thing that could have happened to the, to the Russians. Was Donald Trump winning in 2024?
- [20:29]
A
Yeah. No, they, they hit the jackpot because like I said, you know, not like Malcolm said, not only, you know, a lot of people used to say compromise, meaning thinking it's a T P tape or something like that, but it's, it's a lot worse. Worse and serious. They've been following him for over 40 years. They've been watching his, setting him up, giving him business deals, introducing him, even doing honey pots. You know how many in the 90s, Russian women that came here, there were working for the FSB XKGB to become. And now they're even right now, some of them, you don't know, their girlfriends, their mistresses, they're even wives having kids. They are working with some of the most influential, powerful men, you know. And that was part of the infiltration after the, in the, during the 90s, when the fall of the Soviet Union, of trying to survive, not only send the oligarchs, but also infiltrate. So Donald Trump's been on their radar, you know, for a long time. And that is why, you know, I laugh even sometimes, you know, as serious it is because I, me and Malcolm, when we talk, I say Steve Witkoff is the new left partners. Because if you think about just, just compare the two instances right now. Instead of having Marco Rubio deal with it, you have Kiril Demetria flying in here giving a Russian peace plan and that peace plan, a takeover plan, a surrender plan to Wood Cough and Kushner, you know, and instead of at least massaging it and you know, trying to fine tune it, the guy really just Google translates it and then hands it over to, to Marco Rubio during the Ms. In the Oval during the MBS meeting. This guy takes, they hand it over to the, hand it over to the Ukrainians and pass it on. It gave me PTSD. It reminded me in 2019 April, we're sending me Rudy, Victoria Tunzing are sitting in the White Washington D.C. trump International and we're putting together the Russian disinformation about the Bidens that we're about to hand over to Pompeo at the State Department. And we got, we the, you know, waiters and the waitresses helping us make copies of all of this stuff as we're copy and pasting this package that eventually went over to the State Department and they're doing the same thing. And, and the reason why he did it then and the reason why he's doing it now is because of the information he does. He, he doesn't want to get out. That's why you don't see the Rubios or the, even the heg sex or any, any of the, even the faces that are loyal to him, you know, like Pam Bondi and, and Cash.
- [22:54]
B
Right.
- [22:54]
A
There's a different, there's a different, different inner circle. I'm sorry, Go ahead, guys.
- [22:59]
B
Yeah.
- [23:00]
D
Let me just make one quick comment about Witkoff real quick. The reason Witkoff is there, he's a real estate broker. And this is really about real estate. When it comes to Ukraine. He bought him in for Gaza, which they seriously have eyes on 25 km of beachfront land. And they've said it out loud, this guy thinks he is doing a multimillion dollar house deal. And that house is the lives of 42 million Ukrainians and 2.2 million Gazans.
- [23:35]
A
And I'll tell you, if I could add, Jim, what Malcolm saying is 100% right, but it gets even worse because, and I want to sound the alarm is make sure Jared Kushner is now in there. What is Jared Kushner doing in Ukraine and Russia all of a sudden out of the blue at the last second? Just like you saw, he came out of the blue last second in the middle, because it's over here. It's a little bit more than real estate because it also involves Venezuela. Some of my sources are also telling me, you know, because, you know, I was very close in the Venezuela whole situation with Maduro on the phone, working with the soft land for Trump. And what I'm hearing is there, there, there's a major play right now taking place also between MBS and Saudi Arabia to control the oil market. Because look, if you got Russia, you got Saudi Arabia, you got America. Now you got Venezuela under your thumb. You know, there's a, there's a lot that's going to take place, you know, you know, with the oil drill, baby drill type of thing.
- [24:30]
D
So there's, it's a bad, it's a bad version of risk where only one player has the dice.
- [24:36]
B
Absolutely. And guys, I just, I want to interrupt because we did start the program talking about the situation in downtown Washington, D.C. i have an update and this is from the governor of, of West Virginia, Patrick Morrissey. We were saying at the beginning of the show that there were two guard members who were killed. The governor of West Virginia has just put out a tweet in the LA just since we've been on and we may need to change the chiron here because this is what the governor of West Virginia is saying. We are now receiving conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information. Our prayers are with these brave service members, their families and the entire Guard community. And so, so this is, and this goes back to my days as a cable news anchor. You know, sometimes the information that comes out at the beginning of these things is not how it ends up. And so the governor of West Virginia appears to be saying, hold on just a few moments until they get definitive information about what happened to these two National Guard members. And so I repeat, it is possible at this point that they are alive. We don't know. We don't have official confirmation yet. But that is from the governor of West Virginia.
- [25:52]
A
Typical Trump regime type of stuff.
- [25:56]
D
This is bad all around. This is bad all around. I'm saying this as a senior leader in the, in the Navy and As you know, 20 years in the armed forces. This is bad all around because first off, I didn't like going into Dupont Circle and seeing these guardsmen with long rifles and handguns. Now they're going to mandate that everyone carry those long rifles. Condition one, hot, be prepared. You know, the liberals are going to attack and they will now militarize D.C.
- [26:25]
B
Well, that's why you have to wait for the facts.
- [26:27]
D
Now. It's going to come. No, but it doesn't matter whether those facts are benign or not.
- [26:32]
B
Well, I hear what you're saying, but I'm saying as far as we're concerned, we're going to wait for the facts to come in.
- [26:36]
D
Yeah, we're going to wait for them.
- [26:37]
B
We're going to wait for them to come in. But you're right that there should be concern that this could be politicized and twisted. And that's why it's important. We in independent media, we insist on having the facts, we insist on having the truth. We insist on making up our own minds. We're not going to have it spoon fed to us from the top down. But you're absolutely right. The way this started at the beginning of the summer, Trump said, I'm going to send in the National Guard, they're going to clean up D.C. and so on. Crime was already coming down in D.C. i mean, these are things that have already been reported over and over again. And then Trump was recently saying there was no crime in D.C. because he put the National Guard. Now this happens.
- [27:14]
D
And so, yeah, the mindset is going to be, and I'm saying this to somebody who's, who's been there, the mindset's going to be that you are now guarding a bridge in Fallujah, which means everyone around you is a potential threat. Based on what I've seen, this is what we call a step up assassination. Gunman comes up, steps up, pops two of you, dis tries to disappear, somebody else got him.
- [27:37]
B
But the worst, I hope that's not the case.
- [27:39]
D
The result from that is every other guardsman is going to be weapons up now.
- [27:46]
A
Yeah, not only that, but the message from the Trump campaign and from people inside is going to be. Absolutely. It's. The mindset is going to be off the rails, I could tell you that much.
- [27:56]
B
Well, and they pushed through, I believe it was Pete Hexath over the Pentagon pushed through the policy that allowed the Guard members to carry their weapons on them when, you know, there was a lot of discussion as to whether that was even necessary and whether Muriel Bowser, the mayor of D.C. should have been so, you know, open to this idea. I mean, there's so many layers of this, and that's why you have to sort of, at this point, strip away the politics from it, strip away all of that. We'll get to those discussions, but at this point, we don't even have the information as to what is going on. I want to get, I want to button up our conversation, though.
- [28:30]
D
Sure.
- [28:30]
B
On Ukraine and Russia, guys, because it's so important. Do you have any faith, Malcolm, in this peace process? Can the Ukrainians have any faith in this peace process while Donald Trump is in the White House? That's what I'm very skeptical.
- [28:45]
D
Not at all. Not at all. Donald Trump is a acolyte of Russia. He really, really wants that money. And this is just simply about that. He also wants half of everything Ukraine does in terms of profits of its own industrial sector and rebuilding will go to a United States conglomerate that's essentially run by the Trump administration. This is mind boggling. It's like the Marshall Plan in post World War II was given to them, but at 50% interest for the next 50 years. I mean, Europe would never have flourished. It would never have happened. There's nothing altruistic or statesmanlike going on in this thing. So, no, there's, you know, as long as Donald Trump's involved in this process, which is going to be for the next three years, the Ukrainians are probably having to figure out, based on what President Zelensky said the other day, that the great relationship with their biggest partner or their dignity, and they're not going to ever sacrifice their dignity.
- [29:49]
B
And, Lev, a final thought from you.
- [29:52]
A
I mean, I agree with Malcolm. I mean, I hope, actually that Donald Trump walks away already, because I was speaking to my Ukrainian friends and, you know, sources. Their biggest problem is right now, the United States and Putin knows it. That's why he keeps Trump on that hook, and that's why he keeps having Trump. I call him two week, Donnie, going back and forth, two weeks. All of a sudden, he's on the Ukraine side two weeks later. And we've been going through this for 10 months now, but at the end of the day, we need to understand this, guys. Ukraine has, since Trump has come into office, Trump has stopped all Ukraine aid, even the aid that the Biden administration approved. So Ukraine has been doing this for the past 10 months without any, I mean, very minimal, if any, help from the United States. Even the intelligence, you know, sharing, I'm hearing that, you know, they don't trust that much. So right now, what they need is to be unleashed. They, you know, their hands to be untied for them to be able to go do. Just think about. We don't report on a gym, but you know me, Malcolm, we have a show. We talk about Ukraine all the time is Ukraine strategically has been knocking out Russian oil reserves, over 40% oil reserves. Russia is bleeding. The only. That's why Russia is hitting, you know, these civilian targets. They need to get the world attention. They need to try give Trump that, you know, little avenue of so he could say, oh, I stopped the bleeding. And I, like Malcolm says, want the peace prize. But at the end of the day, look, look, there's. There's. This is not a peace plan. Kushner and them are going over there. This is dragging out time. They're now talking about oils, minerals. You know, Nordstrom, there's so much there that, you know, to uncover that, you know, we can't do in a couple of minutes. But it's not a peace plan. Ukrainians are not going to surrender. And, you know, I don't think Putin's gonna let Trump get off that hook that easy that quickly. I think we're gonna see this thing dragging out a little bit, but it's. We'll see what happens in the next week or so.
- [31:48]
B
Well, guys, let's do this again because it's a really important topic. And, Lev, I know you've been pinging me saying, Jim, we got to do this. We got to do this. We did it, but we're going to do it again. Lev and Malcolm, great to see both of you. Really appreciate it.
- [32:01]
D
Our pleasure.
- [32:01]
B
Take care and thanks for all you do. Thank you guys so much. Really appreciate it. And I think Lev and Malcolm hit the nail right on the head when it comes to Ukraine and Russia. I think that, you know, to me, the, the solution is to give the Ukrainians what they need to win. Give the Ukrainians what they need to win. The best thing that the United States can do is put the Ukrainians in a position to win. Getting behind the Russian dictator. Vladimir Putin only helps Vladimir Putin. I don't, I don't see how in the world Donald Trump and the, and Steve Wyckoff and Marco Rubio and these guys could possibly think that this somehow is beneficial to the United States to have the Ukrainians basically be forced to surrender part of their territory, be forced to surrender so much in order to have the Russians stop bombing them, especially when they've been doing so well on the, on the battlefield and fighting so, so bravely. For the regular viewers of this show, you know that yesterday I was, I was forecasting that we're going to try to have a little fun on this show right before Thanksgiving. And of course there was a little breaking news that has intervened. But I do want to try to stick to some regular programming here and you know, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I'm heading over to mom's house for her famous turkey dinner. Turkey and all the trimmings. Nobody does it like mom. And it had us thinking over here at the gym Acosta show that perhaps, just perhaps we should hand out the top 10 turkeys of 2025. And this was difficult to put together. Guys, I have to tell you, there were a lot of contenders for the top 10 turkeys of 2025. It was so difficult that I didn't even shave today. I've been working so hard on this. Even Duke was saying, dad, give it a rest. But I got my friend Molly John Fast together and we put together what we believe to be the top, or at least I believe Molly tolerated this, but what I believe to be the top, top 10 turkeys of 2025. Enjoy. Joining us now is the lovely and talented Ms. Now contributor and sub stacker Molly Zhang Fast. Molly, it's great to see you. I'm so happy to unveil this holiday tradition with you. We're handing out the top 10 turkeys of 2025. I. I have to tell you, it was really hard to boil this down.
- [34:18]
E
I. I believe it.
- [34:20]
B
There's so many turkeys.
- [34:21]
E
Am I the Van White of this situation?
- [34:24]
B
You are kind of the Vanna White I'd like to buy.
- [34:26]
E
Val, did you know that Vanna White holds the world record for clapping the. She's clapped more on television than anyone else in history. In history.
- [34:39]
B
That's amazing. That is. Well, we can hand her an award if you. We could just do that at the end.
- [34:43]
E
We'll give her. I think she may. There are so many of those people who are actually Trumpers. Like, isn't that Sajak one? Yeah, that's what I was thinking of, Pat.
- [34:54]
B
He's a big. He's a big Trumper. And you know what? But we should check out, you know, how they feel these days, because maybe they're not so much. I mean, look at Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is not one of the turkeys this year.
- [35:03]
E
No, she's one of the. She's one of the. The members of the mainstream media. Welcome to the resistance.
- [35:12]
B
She gets a slice of pumpkin pie.
- [35:14]
E
That's right.
- [35:15]
B
All right, well, let's do this. I think we should just jump right into this. We're going to start. We're going to start from 10 to 1, and then I think we'll hand out some honorable mentions, some humble pie. Honorable mentions, and let's do this. This is. I mean, it's the first time ever, so folks are gonna have to cut us some slack if it's not perfect. All right, number 10. I'm calling this number 10, the henchman. And it's a shared award. Award going to evil deportation mastermind Stephen Miller, Project 2025. Rust Vote and Free Speech Douche. Brendan Carr and Cavazar Tom Holmes. They are the henchmen. They. They received the first Turkey of 2025. They are Turkey of 2025 at number 10. What do you think of those, Molly? What do you think? Who stands out to you in that one?
- [36:07]
E
Tom Holman, because he got a bag of $50,000 in cash in a kava bag. And then the administration was like, he gets paid for things like. As opposed to, like, yeah, you know, we're going to investigate this, make sure he's cleared of all wrongdoings, like, you know, a normal anything. But instead they were like, he's probably been made. Paid more than $50,000. Oh, okay, so they pay taxes on the money that came in the kava bag or. No.
- [36:40]
B
Right, exactly.
- [36:41]
E
Are bribes taxed at a different Rate, because.
- [36:45]
B
And he also likes to say illegal. He's, he talks about the illegals and then he was getting bags of cash or a bag of cash.
- [36:53]
E
Right. I mean it strikes me, it strikes me that if you're getting a bag of cash, there's a reason that they're not doing like a wire transfer through.
- [37:07]
B
Or a check like Trump might hand out at a golf tournament or a live golf tournament or something.
- [37:11]
E
So it does, it's a real question in my mind.
- [37:15]
B
Yes. And I had to put Brendan Carr. I mean, obviously Russ vote goes in there. I mean there's just no question about it.
- [37:22]
E
He's the mastermind of the whole administration.
- [37:25]
B
He is. But Brendan Carr, right. Tried to silence Jimmy Kimmel.
- [37:29]
E
You know, my favorite part of this administration has to be like, so you have Russ Vaught basically completely stripping Congress of all their power, right?
- [37:41]
B
Yes.
- [37:42]
E
Pocket rescission. 7 billion dollar, billion B with a B dollars foreign aid strips it right out in the last minute in a pocket rescission. Not how any of this is supposed to work. Congress at the time, totally silent. Like, you hear Murkowski be like, well, I don't like it so much. And Collins is like not so happy. Then fast forward a couple months later, after Donald Trump loses the 2025 cycle, people are starting to get worried about their jobs. They're like, we hate Congress. We don't have any jobs anymore.
- [38:13]
B
Correct.
- [38:14]
E
We don't have any power. You guys, do you remember Russ Vaught? There's a straight line between Russ Vaughn taking away your power and you not having any power. And you're bringing this up now.
- [38:27]
B
Exactly. Well, and I'm glad you're bringing up members of Congress because they may be making the list. Yes. At number nine, the wussies, Mike Johnson and the Republicans in Congress. Mike Johnson, the weakest House speaker in U. S. History. He is a co conspirator in Epstein gate. He refused to swear in adelitograva, according to the New York Times. Said he sent them all home. Yeah, sorry. No, no, I was just gonna say in New York Times in October 20, Donald Trump apparently joked that he is both the speaker and the president. That's how weak Mike Johnson is. And as you were just saying, the Republicans in Congress, they haven't done anything to reclaim their constitutional authorities.
- [39:05]
E
They haven't even been in there. They haven't even been in Washington D.C. if you look at the calendar, it's months and months and they've been in session for days and days. And I don't know if it's nine days. I mean, during the shutdown, what Mike Johnson did was he just in, he just sent everyone home. So they didn't pretend to negotiate. They just didn't do anything. They just went home. You know, they told members not to have, not to have press, you know, not to have a constituents meetings, don't go in public, yelled at town halls. Right. So they just didn't. Nothing.
- [39:42]
B
Yes. I mean, I, and, and Mike Johnson, you know, the fact that he didn't swear an adelitograva for was six or seven weeks to me. I mean, it's just the most ridiculous thing of all time. All right, number eight. I call this the sellouts, Marco Rubio and Steve Woodcock. Congratulations, you are number eight on our list of. Go ahead.
- [40:02]
E
Marco belongs with Steve Woodcock. Because I do believe that Steve Wyckoff really doesn't like. Marco knows better. Like, my man has been a US.
- [40:13]
B
Senator, he should know better.
- [40:16]
E
He definitely knows better. Like, I mean, I don't know what the game here is, but he definitely knows that all of this is not how any of this works.
- [40:23]
B
I know. Well, in the latest thing for Steve Wyckoff, I mean, this is amazing. The Bloomberg scoop. Bloomberg News reported this week that Wyckoff, Trump's special envoy for just about everything under the sun, had a phone call last month with a senior Russian official to suggest that they work together on a peace plan for Ukraine and that Putin should bring up the idea to Trump. They were. Wykoff was basically working with the Russians on how to sell what the Russians want to do with Ukraine. Carving up Ukraine to Donald Trump. I mean.
- [40:54]
E
Yeah, no, I mean, I would like to actually read you a little bit of it because by the way, the administration was like, yes, that's what we do.
- [41:03]
B
Yeah. Trump was like, yeah, sure, that's what happened. Yeah.
- [41:06]
E
I mean, like, you know, none of this, like, no, this is crazy. So here is. But Steve Wyckoff giving Yuri, I don't remember his last name, Yuri, something Russian advice on how to negotiate with Trump. Maybe he. Oh, how Putin should negotiate with Trump. Maybe he says to President Trump, you know, Steven Urie discussed a very similar 20 point plan to peace and that could be something that we might move the needle. That might move the needle a little bit. We're open to those sorts of things to explore what's going to take to get a peace deal done. Now.
- [41:42]
B
Me to you.
- [41:44]
E
Me to you.
- [41:45]
A
Right?
- [41:45]
E
Yeah, I know what it's going to take to get a peace deal done. Donisk. Maybe a land Squat swap. I mean, so it's like. It's like this is. I mean, in a normal administration. I know we say this all the time, but in normal administration. That is insane.
- [42:03]
B
It is.
- [42:04]
A
Well.
- [42:04]
B
And that's why I put Rubio in here. He's supposed to be one of the grownups, but he's selling out because he wants to be the MAGA heir apparent in 2028. But he'll say he's just going to do anything, which is very trumpy, very maga. Just do anything for power. And that's why I make him one of my turkeys of 2028, 2025.
- [42:21]
E
Do you think there's any world in which Rubio ends up being the heir apparent to Trumpism?
- [42:26]
B
No, there's no way. Which is what makes him even more of a turkey.
- [42:29]
A
Yeah.
- [42:30]
B
So congratulations, Marco Rubio and Steve Wyckoff, number eight. And our turkeys of 2025, number seven. I mean, it's got to be. You know, she's the Ice Raid Barbie. She. Concentration camp cosplayer. Cosplayer. Whatever you say.
- [42:48]
E
I love those Lego glasses she wore the other day. The pink Lego glasses. Here's a tip. Everything I ever learned about American politics, I learned from Veep. Don't wear a prop.
- [43:00]
B
Don't wear a prop.
- [43:02]
E
When you see a prop, don't dress up in it and take a picture.
- [43:06]
B
Right? And she's been tweeting out these horrible videos of, like, it looks like Apocalypse now in Chicago, and she's riding on horseback.
- [43:15]
E
And she's really into riding on horseback.
- [43:18]
B
Yeah, apparently so. So I've heard. So, Christine, your number seven turkey also kills dogs. But anyway, that's. Yeah, that makes it terrible. Number six, Pete Hegseth. For foxifying the Pentagon. He gave a dumb speech going off on fat generals. He renamed the Department of Defense to Department of War, which is not a real thing. And he texted about war plans. Pete Hegseth. See, you can see how, Molly, this is getting hard. To boil this down, it's getting harder and harder. You can see the struggle that I went through putting together this list. But Pete is my number six turkey of 2025.
- [43:55]
E
My favorite part about Pete Hegseth is he brought all the generals back. So he. So they said, everyone, no matter where you are, you have to come back. This is like a completely unprecedented thing to bring everybody back. He brings them all back, and then it turns out it's just for a campaign speech. Like, it's not even. And then Trump is like, I want to talk, too.
- [44:19]
B
Yeah. And Then Trump completely overshadows him by saying, we're going to go after the enemy from within. And also, Hegseth, you're talking about Kristy gnomes, glasses. Pete Hegseth's, you know, choice in suits. And he wears these goofy, like, suits with the American flag and the inlining and every. It just, it's just very, it's, it's tragic from a fashion standpoint what he does.
- [44:43]
E
I mean, it's all really bad.
- [44:47]
B
He's Foxified the Pentagon.
- [44:48]
E
Yes, that. Except that. Yes, yes. He's Fox Business. If I. The Pentagon, it's the, like, lowered. He's Fox Nationed, right?
- [45:01]
B
Yes.
- [45:01]
E
Because. Because Fox, you have still people like Brett Bear. Like, I may not agree with Bret, but you get the sense that he's sort of more along the lines of.
- [45:12]
B
I would be more comfortable with Brett Bears. A Secretary of Defense, repeat hexa.
- [45:17]
E
Brett Bear has a real job.
- [45:19]
B
He can do that. That would be good. That would be good.
- [45:21]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [45:23]
B
No question about it. And speaking of Fox, my number five is Jesse Waters. Because, Jesse, why are you so obsessed with me? Jesse Waters?
- [45:31]
E
I'm gonna give him you.
- [45:33]
B
He really likes me. He talks about me on his show. It's a little creepy. It's a little weird. Yeah.
- [45:39]
E
You have to think that if you're Jesse Waters and you're one of the very few people who have not been asked to be in the administration, it's kind of weird, right?
- [45:49]
B
That's sad. Makes you a turkey. Makes you the number five turkey.
- [45:52]
E
It's not very MAGA to not be asked to serve in the admin.
- [45:55]
B
That's true.
- [45:56]
E
Happening there.
- [45:57]
B
You can hold out hope for press secretary, maybe, something like that.
- [46:01]
E
I can see him as hud.
- [46:03]
B
Hud, yes, hud.
- [46:06]
E
They really tend to put people they have a lot of respect for and hud. So.
- [46:10]
B
That's right. That's right. And now you can see this. It's getting tight. Now we're down to the top four turkeys of 2025. I'm sorry. You know, to the folks who didn't make the cut, didn't make the list, but you can just see what I'm working with here. Number four, Pam Bondi, the attorney general. You are a number four Turkey of 2025. You said you had the Epstein client list on your desk and then you tried to cover it up. She lied about the one thing that the Trump base cares about more than anything. And I was going to include Cash Patel, but he might get fired. So, Molly, what do you think? Number four? Pam Bondi.
- [46:43]
E
I mean, I mean, for her work and completely marginalizing the Justice Department. Congratulations. Pam is there. I mean, look, she's very pretty, and in an alternate universe, she. I don't know. I think it's just so. I mean, look, so much of this was already, like, in the Project 2025 handbook, like, DOJ that serves as at the pleasure of the president. Like, all of this is just, you know, Heritage foundation kind of fantasy. You know, this is not what any of the federal government is supposed to look like in any which way.
- [47:27]
B
No. And it's an embarrassment in that they go after Comey, they go after Letitia.
- [47:31]
E
But it doesn't work. I mean, the one good part is that it doesn't work. Like, they go after Comey. They can't quite get it together. I mean, if. If American democracy survives, and I think there's still an if there, it will be because they are very bad at this.
- [47:47]
B
Yes. Incompetent fascists are better than just fascists.
- [47:51]
A
Yeah.
- [47:52]
B
All right. You could tell. Now we're getting to the nitty gritty here. And speaking of fashion, number three, it was JD Vance who once said that Donald Trump was America settler. So, J.D. vance, you are number three. Turkey of 2025. You are perpetually online. You tweeted a picture of yourself as the Vance dance meme for Halloween. Go touch grass. Get off the sofa and go touch grass. He grossly defended the young Republicans chatting about gas chambers by saying critics were just pearl clutching. He threw his wife under the bus over religion. He is Trump without the charisma. Molly, what do you think?
- [48:27]
E
I just don't understand why he has to swing it. Defend literally everything. I understand that he got the job by defending Trump, but I don't think you need to defend like, like random racists who you don't even know having a group chat. Like, just, you know, you don't have to swing at every punch. I mean, it's like being a con, you know, it's like writing about politics. There are some pieces that you don't have to write. And so I. I don't understand why he defends every single thing. I think he's too online, but I also am too online, so I know.
- [48:58]
B
I am too, but I'm not the vice. We're not the vice president, you know.
- [49:01]
E
Not yet.
- [49:03]
B
That's correct.
- [49:03]
E
Not yet.
- [49:04]
B
You and I are going to be co. Vice presidents.
- [49:06]
E
Presidents together. That would be. We really have the temperament for that job.
- [49:10]
B
Yes.
- [49:11]
E
And as someone who really enjoys long meetings, that's Right. I think we'll have a great time.
- [49:17]
B
And being a podcaster is not disqualifying anymore. You can have high ranking positions in government. You also don't have to be a medical expert to be in charge of HHS. That's right. RFK Jr. You're our number two Turkey of 2025 for single handedly decimated dominating public health in this country.
- [49:33]
E
Read the piece in the Atlantic.
- [49:35]
B
Oh, my God. He's linked Tylenol to autism without evidence for just being a quack. He swims in sewage. He works out in jeans. He's a dirty old man. RFK Jr and I was saying to the viewers yesterday on my show that I was going to do an RFK junior Impersonation. Molly, is that politically incorrect? Am I allowed to talk like RFK Jr?
- [49:56]
E
I don't think his talk. Mocking is not his biggest character defect. It's, it's.
- [50:02]
B
What do you think about RFK Jr. These days?
- [50:05]
A
I'm.
- [50:05]
E
I mean, look, I just, I. All I can say about RFK Jr. Is that he will ultimately likely be the most dangerous member of Trump's cabinet.
- [50:15]
B
I agree.
- [50:16]
E
The anti vax stuff, you know, we're seeing measles come back. We're seeing chickenpox, we're seeing all of these preventable. You know, we are like, so.
- [50:26]
B
We're seeing things come back that I had never heard of before, which I don't want to say anything more than.
- [50:30]
E
That, but yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just really dark. And so in my mind, it's so dangerous to have a. It's so dangerous to have an administration where you really are undermining. Undermining public health at a moment when Americans are just not putting their faith in institutions in a way that.
- [50:55]
B
He's the epitome, he's the poster child for that. No question about it. All right, number one, we don't have a drum roll, but maybe we'll edit it in later. Number one, Donald Trump, of course, is the top turkey of 2025. How could Donald Trump not take the prize this year? He let me count the ways for mainstreaming fascism in America. He said it's okay if Mamdani says it, so now we can all say it. He is a fascist. He also bulldozed the East Wing without telling anybody in advance except people inside the White House. His name was all over the Epstein files. He's apparently tired all the time. The New York Times has a new story out about how he's tired all the time.
- [51:31]
E
Yeah, that was very good. Interesting story. He starts days later. Look, he's the oldest person ever to be president.
- [51:39]
B
Yeah.
- [51:39]
E
Ever.
- [51:40]
B
He's an old turkey.
- [51:41]
E
And if you're care. And if you're worried about people being too old, then you should probably worry about Donald Trump. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the books and theories about how Donald Trump is too old. We did not see any of that with.
- [51:56]
B
You should write a book on that.
- [51:57]
E
What if we did that so much. We should. You and I should write a book about how Donald Trump is too old to be president and maybe about how. Should we write a. Should you and I write a book about how there's a cover up in the white.
- [52:15]
D
We should.
- [52:15]
B
I think there's a major cover up going on.
- [52:17]
E
And then the makeup on his hand. Should we write about that, you and me?
- [52:21]
B
It's all about the blending. I say, is that what's.
- [52:24]
E
What's the book gonna be called? A CNN anchor and a journalist together writing a book about a president's age. But has it been done?
- [52:35]
B
Has it been done? I don't know. We should write a book about it and see what happens. And then we can go on a bunch of talk shows and.
- [52:42]
E
Yeah.
- [52:43]
B
Tell everybody to buy our book.
- [52:44]
E
Maybe. Let's do it.
- [52:46]
B
Let's do it. That's a great idea.
- [52:48]
A
Yes.
- [52:49]
B
Hooray. And maybe that book will be the top turkey of 2026.
- [52:52]
E
All right. Let's hope.
- [52:54]
B
Quick, last thing. Honorable mentions. These are my humble pie. Honorable mentions. It's a tie between Lindsey Halligan and Caroline Levitt. Those lips, those lips, those lips. That's all I was.
- [53:03]
E
Lindsay Halligan is an inspiration to us all. It turns out you. Some people should, in fact, have imposter syndrome.
- [53:13]
B
They really should. And you know what? She's not going to get a prize for her legal work or being the U.S. attorney of whatever that is in Virginia. But you get a slice of humble pie, Molly Junk fast. Thank you so much for helping me count down the top turkeys of 2025. You're the best, Molly. Love you. Let's start writing that book.
- [53:32]
A
Yes.
- [53:32]
E
Our book will be forthcoming. Thank you, Jim Agassa.
- [53:35]
B
All right, great to see you. Happy Thanksgiving. And yes, and congratulations to all the winners out there. The top turkey of 2025. Who else but Donald J. Trump as the top turkey of this year? I want to thank everybody for watching. Thanks to my producer Sam for reporting down on the scene, my executive producer Matt, for doing a terrific job putting together the top 10 turkeys of 2025. And my thanks to all of you. If you want to know what I'm thankful for on this Thanksgiving, I am thankful to all of you for giving me this, this, this great show that has been so much fun. It has been such an accidental blessing in my life. And I'm very thankful to all of you for making it happen. Really appreciate it. No long soliloquy, no long monologue to close out the short show. Just me saying thanks to you. And I just hope all of you out there have a very, very happy Thanksgiving. And I'll talk to you next time. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Happy holiday.
- [54:54]
A
Sam sa.