Epstein Suicide Note? With Dave Aronberg. Plus Are We Being Censored by Big Tech? With Jessica Yellin.

Summary

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The Jim Acosta Show — Episode Summary

Episode: Epstein Suicide Note? With Dave Aronberg. Plus Are We Being Censored by Big Tech? With Jessica Yellin
Date: May 7, 2026
Host: Jim Acosta
Guests: Dave Aronberg (Former Florida State Prosecutor), Jessica Yellin (Independent Journalist)

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Jim Acosta Show dives into two major themes:

1. New Revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein Case: Acosta and Aronberg examine the recent release of Epstein's purported suicide note and the ongoing questions about transparency, cover-up, and accountability—particularly the involvement and resistance of Trump-era officials.

2. Big Tech and Media Suppression: Acosta and Yellin discuss whether independent journalists and anti-Trump voices are being censored online. They parse out the evidence, raise concerns about social media algorithms, and reflect on the state of political coverage, Trump’s increasingly erratic online presence, and the current administration’s strategies at home and abroad.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Epstein Suicide Note & Questions of Cover-up

[00:00–19:31] Guest: Dave Aronberg

• Latest Revelations:

  • A bombshell New York Times story prompts discussion of a newly released suicide note, purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein and previously sealed.
  • The note, found after his first suicide attempt in July 2019 by cellmate Nicholas Tartaglioni (a convicted murderer), reads:
    “They investigated me for a month, found nothing. It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye. What you want me to do, bust out crying? No fun, not worth it.” [00:40]

• Was it Suicide or Murder?

  • Aronberg stands firm in his belief that Epstein died by suicide, citing:
    • The authenticity of the note (consistent words/phrases found in multiple writings)
    • Significant investigations (Inspector General, FBI, NY medical examiner) all conclude suicide
    • No evidence of defensive wounds or outside intervention

    Aronberg: “As a former prosecutor, I deal with facts and evidence...there were no defensive wounds found on Epstein. There was no DNA under his fingernails, nothing defensive. So someone would have had to come into a locked [cell]...Strangled to death without any defensive wounds...no evidence.” [03:25]

• Skepticism Remains:

  • Acosta highlights ongoing skepticism, referencing investigative journalist Julie K. Brown.
  • Ongoing lack of transparency: 3 million DOJ documents remain unreleased.
  • Legal loopholes and the fight for document release:

    Aronberg: “The law that was designed to release the documents does have loopholes, and there's no enforcement mechanism...That was a blunder by the people who drafted the act.” [06:38]

  • Survivors may have the best legal standing to force document releases; need for a new law is stressed.

• Trump & DOJ:

  • Acosta and Aronberg contend that Trump loyalists have “corrupted” the DOJ (citing Jack Smith’s private criticism and selective prosecutions).
  • DOJ is accused of operating on political grudges, with Trump’s influence dictating priorities.
  • Trump and Melania have avoided testifying about their Epstein ties, as opposed to others like the Clintons.
  • The Trump strategy: Survival through denial, distractions (e.g., Iran war), and control of the narrative.

• Redistricting & “Dummy-mandering”:

  • Aronberg explains how aggressive GOP redistricting in Florida may backfire, creating more competitive (not safe) districts.

  • Aronberg: “There's a name for it. It's called a dummy-mander.” [14:09]

• Trump Loyalty & Cabinet Turnover:

  • Discussion of Trump’s strategy to fire and replace officials (with references to recent firings, like Kristi Noem).
  • Loyalty is transactional: “He’s holding on to these UNO cards in case he needs to reverse or get a wild card.” [18:17]

• Cash Patel Bourbon Scandal:

  • The oddity of key Trump ally Cash Patel gifting branded bourbon, despite Trump’s well-known anti-drinking stance, is highlighted as a sign of dysfunction and potential fallout.

  • Aronberg: “He is leaning in to this reputation of being a boozer by labeling his own alcohol. And I think that could backfire in two ways...hurts his lawsuit...hurts his standing with Donald Trump.” [17:03]

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2. Big Tech, Censorship & Trump’s Online Descent

[20:11–40:39] Guest: Jessica Yellin

• Trump’s Social Media Meltdown:

  • Acosta and Yellin reflect on increasingly erratic posts by Trump, including offensive memes and bizarre imagery (gold statue at Doral Golf Course, doctored photos of Biden sleeping and Clinton looming, rants about Hakeem Jeffries).
  • Yellin comments on a “marked degradation in [Trump’s] ability to communicate,” noting that even some Republicans are privately “cringing.”

    Yellin: “In the last two months, there’s been a marked degradation in his ability to communicate, his ability to stay awake...” [24:37]

• Media’s Reluctance to Cover Trump’s State:

  • Acosta criticizes mainstream media for not seriously covering Trump’s behavior out of fear of retribution or audience backlash.
  • Yellin: Coverage exists, but “there’s not a real discussion” about Trump’s mental state; networks often “move on” after a shallow segment.

    Yellin: “There’s not a real discussion of what you're bringing up, which is what does this say about the mental acuity of our president?” [26:05]

• Social Media Suppression Claims:

  • Both hosts worry their critical coverage of Trump is increasingly being “throttled” or hidden by social media algorithms.
  • Yellin reports a recent drop in engagement for anti-Trump content, especially on Meta platforms.

    Yellin: “In the last week, 10 days, the algorithm changed again. It’s as if the algorithm was turned down to suppress content that's critical of Trump.” [30:12]

  • Acosta: “They have switches; they can throttle us on social media.” [31:05]
  • They urge whistleblowers from tech companies to come forward and call on audiences to help “stop the throttle.”

• Trump Administration & the Iran War:

  • Discussion moves to Trump’s “war of choice” in the Middle East and the revelation that Iran can withstand a blockade for 3–4 months per a CIA analysis (up to the midterms).
  • Potential for severe domestic impact if the conflict drags on (gas shortages, economic pain).

• Trump’s Economic Disconnect:

  • Video segment featuring Kevin Hassett (Trump’s economic advisor) celebrating surging credit card debt:

    Yellin (sarcastically): “Great sign. Americans are in wild debt. Who is that good for? Credit card companies.” [34:32]

  • Both comment on the administration’s “profound disconnect” from the hardships faced by regular Americans.
  • Yellin draws a line to cultural moments (e.g., Met Gala) as symptomatic of elite disengagement.

• Concerns about Governmental Competence:

  • Joke about Cash Patel’s bourbon reflects deeper anxieties about the amateurishness and instability of Trump’s team ("goofballs and amateurs in important jobs").
  • Yellin: “Sometimes I imagine us... like the [Roadrunner] running off the cliff and not having looked down yet.” [39:04]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Aronberg on DOJ:
  “We have a Department of Justice today that targets people...because the President doesn't like them.” [07:54]

• Acosta on Media Silence:
  “The mainstream corporate legacy media, whatever you want to call them...they are so afraid to touch this. They don't want to talk about it.” [23:56]

• Yellin on Social Media Algorithms:
  “Anything I do of this nature...that is in any way bad for Trump gets way less engagement than it used to.” [30:12]

• Cash Patel's Bourbon Scandal:
  “He is leaning in to this reputation of being a boozer by labeling his own alcohol.” — Dave Aronberg [17:03]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Epstein Note & Cover-up — [00:00–07:13]
• DOJ Weaponization & Accountability — [07:13–15:57]
• Redistricting and Political Machinations — [13:09–15:57]
• Cabinet Turmoil & Loyalty — [15:57–19:31]
• Cash Patel Bourbon Scandal — [15:57–19:20]
• Social Media Censorship — [20:11–31:13]
• Trump’s Mental State & Media Coverage — [24:13–28:39]
• War with Iran & Domestic Fallout — [31:13–36:53]
• Disconnect between Elites & Americans — [35:20–37:39]
• Governmental Competence & Metaphors — [39:04–40:16]

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Tone & Style Notes

The conversation is brisk, sardonic, and frequently blunt—mixing irony, righteous frustration, and gallows humor alongside grave concern for the state of American democracy and media.

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Conclusion

This episode exposes new details and ongoing mysteries in the Epstein saga, explores the damage done by the politicization of the DOJ under Trump, and raises urgent alarms about Big Tech’s role in the American information ecosystem. Both segments end with pleas for transparency, accountability, and vigilance—urging listeners to stay informed, share independent journalism, and push back against emerging censorship or suppression.

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. It's another day that ends in y in the Epstein gate. Cover up. Some new information has surfaced in the saga of Jeffrey Epstein. And I wanted to talk about it with Dave Aronberg, former Florida state prosecutor. And Dave, always great to see you, man. Thanks for coming on.

[B]

Jim, love the show. Thanks for having me back.

[A]

You bet. And you know, I, I don't know, I think I know where you come down on, on some of this, but the fact that we're still learning new information all these years later and that a lot of this information we would not have learned about unless there was this big, you know, bipartisan effort up on Capitol that Donald Trump has, has fought against, that the DOJ has fought against, to release information relating to Jeffrey Epstein. But this New York Times story that just came out, which I think is a bit of a bombshell, it raises questions, although some will say it answers some questions. A federal judge has released a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein that was sealed for years as part of the criminal case of his cellmate. And I, I, I think we can show a little bit of this on screen, but, you know, the, the note says, they investigated me for a month, found nothing. It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye. The note continued, what you want me to do, bust out crying? The note reads, no fun, not worth it. And I guess the, the, this was a note that was found after his first suicide attempt in July of 2019 in his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglioni. I hope I'm saying that correctly. Not that it matters. Apparently discovered the note. The cellmate was a quadruple murderer, Dave. So, yeah, I mean, there's just so many twists and turns out. You can't make any of this stuff up. But you are not in the camp that you think Jeffrey Epstein was murdered. You think that he was probably, he probably committed suicide and that this may lend credence to that.

[B]

Yes. Hey, 17 of Americans can't be wrong, right?

[A]

Right. I think it's fishy. I, what do I know? I have no idea. I think it's, the circumstances are very strange that, you know, he was at least put in a position where he could have committed suicide, it seems to me, at the very least. But your thoughts on all this.

[B]

Yeah, by the way, I think that's possible where the guards who were given money, I mean, one of the guards was driving a Range Rover. I mean, she maybe was paid to look the other way. That's possible. But as far as who killed Jeffrey Epstein, I'm convinced it was a suicide. He killed himself. Now I know I'll get hate for it because most Americans disagree with me. I'm part of, like I said, 17%. But as a former prosecutor I deal with facts and evidence and the law and I just, I, I don't see the evidence that he was murdered. Especially because if you think there was a cover up and a murder here, no one tried to murder Ghislaine Maxwell. She seems to know lots of things. Right. I don't see anything there. And it's always been a big piece of evidence to me that he did try to commit suicide two weeks prior. So you have to deal with that. And now the suicide note has come out from the prior attempt, which is to me clear as from Jeffrey Epstein. I mean you can authenticate it by the fact that he uses words in there that he also used in a later note found in his cell after he killed himself. This was the second time where he uses the phrase no fun bust out crying. These are phrases that he, he, he likes to use. According to reports, you remember there was a, an email or that was supposed to, or a letter that was found that Epstein supposedly wrote where he invoked Donald Trump's name and he wrote it to that disgusting pedophile and Ohio the, that guy and Right, remember that. And that one like the way was written in the handwriting, it was like eh, that doesn't seem real. This one's real. And to me it's convincing. By the way, just another thing multiple investigations have been done from the Department of Justice oig, who's legit, the Inspector General, the FBI, the medical examiner in New York, they all found it was a suicide. And, and part of it is because there were no defensive wounds found on Epstein. There was no DNA under his fingernails, nothing defensive. So someone would have had to come into a locked gate we all know was locked, the door is locked to get into a cell somehow. Strangled to death without any defensive wounds, without anyone hearing or seeing anything, no evidence. And one more thing, there were many of these sheets that were found illegally accumulated all these sheets to try to do it right the second time. And he did.

[A]

Yeah, well, and, and I can see, you know, folks in the comments are going to say, but Julie K. Brown, now Julie K. Brown, the award winning journalist just won a Pulitzer the other day, she has raised a lot of questions about this. And so we can't move forward with the conversation without at least acknowledging that some experts that have looked at this have said there are serious questions. And I, you know, to me, whether he killed himself or he was murdered, obviously, if he was murdered, that's a huge deal. But it, that doesn't take the focus off of, you know, Trump administration officials who have been ensnared in this. Howard Lutnick was apparently behind closed doors answering questions from the House Oversight Committee. They didn't, there was no video of that, as far as I know. And Democrats walked out of that saying, and I think it was, it was Ro Khanna who said if Trump had heard this testimony, Howard Lutnick would be fired and he would not acknowledge that he misled the American people about how many times he had met with Jeffrey Epstein. And so, and it doesn't, obviously, you know, take away the questions surrounding Donald Trump in all of this. I mean, for Pete's sake, we might be at war with Iran right now because he wanted to get the story off of the Epstein files. So, I mean, Dave, I just, you know, I just think they're, these questions are just going to continue. Robert Garcia, the leading Democrat on the Oversight Committee, is having a field hearing next week in your neck of the woods where they're going to talk to the survivors and so on. And, and Todd Blanche is the acting Attorney general. There's just so much there that makes me think this. We still don't know everything that there is.

[B]

Oh, yeah. And now we have a lawsuit from Katie Fang, who is suing the department. Yeah, our friend Katie Fang, who's suing the Department of Justice to get the documents. There's about 3 million documents and still have not been released. And that's why there needs to be more transparency. There should be a special master. But I think part of the problem is, is that the act, the law that was designed to release the documents, does have loopholes, and there's no enforcement mechanism isn't in it. That's why Katie Feng had to sue, because there's nothing in the act that says if you violate the act, you'll go to jail. No, nothing. So I think that was a blunder by the people who drafted the act. I appreciated what they did. They had good intentions, but they need to go back after the Democrats win control of the House in November and draft a new law that forces the rest of the pages to be released. I don't know. Katie is trying her best, but there will be some questions about whether she has the standing to get these things released. I think the survivors of Epstein actually have the best position to get a court to force the release of these documents. But even then, it's no guarantee. That's why we need a new law.

[A]

No, I agree with you. And I mean, even if a judge were to come down and say, you must do this, the Trump DOJ could just say no. And, and there. It's a rogue department of the federal government, it seems to me right now. We should talk about this, Dave. I mean, Jack Smith, who obviously is no friend of Donald Trump and has, you know, a lot of things to say. This is in the New York Times. Apparently he has now accused the Justice Department of having been, quote, corrupted by Trump loyalists that he claimed were demolishing its credibility and seeking to undermine the rule of law. This story in the New York Times. Smith's remarks made last month in a private discussion at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. represented his sharpest criticism of the department since leaving his post early last year. I guess the Times obtain this and he says, quote, we have a Department of justice today that targets people for criminal prosecution simply because the President doesn't like them. That's what Jack Smith said in the video and that's exactly what's going on. We had Jim Comey last week with the Seashell indictment. Just total crock. And then they ra, they raid the office of Louise Lucas, who is working on Virginia redistricting in as a state lawmaker. And it's just, it almost seems as though they're being guided by truth social posts and rants by the President. And that's how it works now.

[B]

Well, you have an acting Attorney general in Todd Blanche who's auditioning for the job to be permanent. He wants it. And the way to get appointed permanently is to show Trump that you're going to prosecute Trump's enemy. See, Trump has a misconception about the criminal justice system. He really believes that the President can push a button and all his enemies will be wearing an orange jumpsuit. But that's not how it works. You've got grand juries, you've got judges, you've got trial juries. So even if you have an out of control prosecutor, a prosecutor's discretion is not absolute. I really believe that the reason why Pam Bondi was fired was not because of Epstein, was because she didn't get convictions of Trump's enemies. I mean, don't you believe that if Adam Schiff woke up this morning in a jail cell, Pam Bondi would still have a job?

[A]

Yeah. No, I agree with you. I think that's absolutely true. And I mean, to me, Pam Bondi, you know, she was allowed to, you know, skate off without testifying. I think that they're now trying to rearrange that. That's going to happen, and that's going to happen. But Donald Trump and Melania Trump have not testified. Bill and Hillary Clinton were hauled in, but not Donald and Melania Trump, who are photographed multiple times with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And I just, you know, Dave, I mean, to me, I, I guess Trump just figures he can. It's like Iran. He can just take the heat and he's just going to weather this storm and he's come what may, but he, he's certainly not going to let the cat out of the bag when it comes to Epstein.

[B]

You know, Trump was emboldened on Tuesday by the results in Indiana because, yeah, right. Trump cares about his base, about the MAGA base, and that's, that's where his focus is. And he controls Republican Party, and he was able to take out several Indiana Republicans who voted against his redistricting plan. So if people think Trump is going to lose his power amongst Republicans and as he becomes a lame duck, we're not seeing it yet. And in fact, those election results will show that they're going to be as scared of Trump tomorrow as they are today. So that, that's too bad, because when it comes to the criminal justice system, Jack Smith is right. I mean, we've seen it. I mean, I don't even think it's a dispute that if you're a friend of the boss, you're going to get treated differently than if you're an enemy. I mean, the January Sixers, they're all pardoned and commuted, and they're all out there free committing other, some of them committing other crimes. And you have people like Jim Comey who takes a picture of seashells that he didn't even arrange. He just sees them post it and then he takes it down because it was interpreted in a way he didn't intend. That case is a sure loser. But what happens is you've got Todd Blanche who wants it filed because that pleased the boss. What happens when the case goes down in flames and everyone's humiliated? Trump's not going to like that. So it's my belief that the only person that Trump would like as Attorney General is someone who could never get confirmed by the US Senate, Someone like a Matt Gates or a Sidney Powell who will be fine breaking the law and blowing the place up.

[A]

Yeah, and I've been saying this, and apparently Obama said this to Stephen Colbert that You know, we need new laws that, that the Justice Department shouldn't be able to do this. And, and, and I, you know, I firmly believe that when Trump leaves the scene, and of course he's going to pardon, he, I guess he's been reported as saying he's going to pardon anybody within 10ft of the White House or something like that. And I guess it'll be like the kind of blanket pardons we saw Joe Biden issue at the end of his administration because he was worried about people like Dr. Fauci being, you know, indicted for no reason except that they just, they want to feed it, you know, feed him to the, to the MAGA minions out there, but that, that people will be shielded from prosecution at a later date. But it just seems to me there has to be some accountability for weaponizing the Justice Department in this fashion and, and disbarring people. It just feels like weak sauce and not, not a deterrent.

[B]

I, well, maybe I'm wrong. Push back a little bit on that, Jim, because as a lawyer, oh, man, no one wants to lose your ticket. I mean, that's, that's your, that is your meal ticket. And, and it's embarrassing to be disbarred. And that's why it's so concerned. Attorney General Bondi that she issued a rule like an opinion that it's still, I guess, pending. Whether it will get enacted has to go through regulatory review, which says that if there's a state bar association investigating a member of the, that investigation would be subordinate to the DOJ's own internal investigation. So you have to wait. Which sounds okay, but if you think if the DOJ is going to act in bad faith, they'll just run out the clock and then the state bars will never be able to investigate or sanction. And that tells you, though, that lawyers really do care about losing their license. Bruno Giuliani cared. Sidney Powell cares. Is it incarceration? No. It doesn't deprive you of your freedom, but it deprives you of your living.

[A]

Yeah. No question about it. And I mean, you mentioned the, the Indiana redistricting in your neck of the woods in, in Florida. I saw a really interesting article in the Tallahassee Democrat about, you know, this Florida redistricting push. And the, the, the just of the article. The just of the article, the thrust of the article is that this could backfire on Republicans because what they do is they take these, these Democratic districts, they carve them up, they slice them up, slice them and dice them, and Democratic populations get pushed into these Republican districts and their new Republican districts. But the point of the story, and they talked to an expert on this, Alex Alvardo, the executive director of the St. Augustine based institute, known as CDRI. Aggressive redistricting creates the same number of Republican seats as doing nothing but doubles the number of competitive seats from three to seven. So the competitive seats double because there are more Democrats in those Republican districts that they've created. So it's like Texas. This could backfire.

[B]

You know, there's a name for it. It's called a dummy mander.

[A]

I like that. Dummy mandering.

[B]

A dummy mander. Yes. So again, this goes to what I said about Todd Blanche. The reason why Governor Santis did this was because it was for an audience of one. So, yeah, DeSantis would never have been elected governor without Donald Trump. DeSantis was a blip in the polls running against a very popular guy named Adam Putnam. And Adam Putnam was a shoe in to be the Republican nominee and likely governor. And then Trump endorsed the unknown DeSantis because the Sant was really wanted that he was promoting Trump on Fox News, sitting in a Fox News studio in D.C. and then, remember, he was reading

[A]

the book, Wasn't he like reading the book to his kids and all that stuff?

[B]

That was his commercials, right. Remember, they would build blocks, teaching these

[A]

kids, build the wall. Build the wall.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Oh, my God, that was shameless.

[B]

It was. And so what happened was DeSantis wins, and then just a short time later, four years later, he's. Or two years later, he's running against Trump for president. So Trump never forgave him for it. And I got to say, I mean, that's crazy, right? I don't blame on that. Like, you made this guy. This is your creation. And now your creation, Frankenstein has turned on Dr. Frankenstein. And so, so Trump held, and now DeSantis is trying to get back in Trump's good graces because DeSantis is term limited this year and he wants to run for president again. So he did this redistricting. But what could happen is that it could backfire and the Democrats could actually win more seats if it is a blue wave, because instead of deeply dark red Republican districts, now they're light red. Now, the attempt is that those Republicans are going to make Democratic seats Republican. But if it's a wave, it could really backfire. So it's something to watch.

[A]

Yeah, no question about it. And. And just finally, before you go, I mean, just back on the DOJ weaponization thing, I guess you shouldn't be Weaponizing the Justice Department while drinking a lot of bourbon. But I don't know if you saw this, but this is in the Atlantic. Cash Patel has been giving and that's this. According to the Atlantic, Cash Patel has been giving out bottles of bourbon with his branding on it. This is from Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote the original story about these allegations that Cash Patel's drinking too much on the job. And I, you know, you just can't make this stuff up. I do like, apparently it's Woodford Reserve. I do like Woodford Reserve. This is not an endorsement or an ad. I just, I, you know, it is one of my favorites when I'm out and about. But Dave, I, you know, I don't know how Cash is going to win this lawsuit against the Atlantic. I just don't. Doesn't sound like it's going to work out that well.

[B]

That's not going to help either. Right. Also, it doesn't help his job security because one thing we know about Trump is that he does not like alcohol and drugs. Right. He, he's a teetotaler. He doesn't, doesn't even drink. I think he had a relative who died of alcoholism.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so he didn't like the image of Cash Patel with the US Hockey team chugging beers and now you're like doubling down. And I think it is a sign that Casper Tell does not fear any repercussions. He is leaning in to this reputation of being a boozer by labeling his own alcohol. And I think that could backfire in two ways. You identified the first, I think it definitely hurts his lawsuit with the Atlantic. I mean that, I'm sure that's going to come up in court. And second, I do think it hurts his standing with Donald Trump. Trump's loyalty is not unlimited. It's often a one way street. So, you know, Cash Penn needs to be careful because he could be the next one out.

[A]

Yeah, it doesn't seem good for him. That's that, that's for sure. And you know, I, my sense of it is, is that, you know, the, that some of these really toxic cabinet members and important administration officials, these are going to be the sacrificial lambs that are going to get thrown out between now and the midterms because, I mean, it's sort of the same reason why Stephen Miller, you know, just don't see him as much anymore. Ice has been tamped down and of course we saw Bondi and, and Gnome getting thrown out. I just think that, you know, Trump is hanging on to These, like, you know, UNO cards. So you saw that picture of him with the Ono Uno cards the other day. He's holding on to these UNO cards in case he needs to reverse or get a wild card. And you know he's going to throw some of these people out to save his neck.

[B]

Yeah. And don't forget about the labor secretary. She's gone, too.

[A]

That's right. She's gone, too.

[B]

So far, it's been three women in the cabinet, so imagine that. Yeah, well, you know. You know what? I do think? Trump wanted to go for the entire term without firing anyone. He wanted loyalists, and he wanted to show what a perfect group he has. And remember, MAGA means never have. Never having to say you're sorry, never having to apologize. But then when he fired Kristi Noem, he broke the seal, and he did not get pushed back. And it was really easy to replace her with Senator Mullen. What's it?

[A]

Mark Wayne Mullen.

[B]

Yeah, Mark and Mullen. Right. And so after that, he was like, wow, this was easy. All right, Pam Bondi, the Chavez. And so let's see. I. I think that he's unleashed now, and we can see some of these people get fired. Meanwhile, Cash Patel's responding to it by saying, hey, I'm branding my own whiskey, like.

[A]

And I think the next to go is one of the two happy hour boys. It's either going to be Hegseth or Cash Patel. We'll see. But, Dave, great to see you, man. And Donald Trump, of course, is high on life, as we know now. But Dave, great to see you. Thanks so much.

[B]

Thanks for having me. Jim, can I plug my substack?

[A]

Oh, please. Dave's substack is fantastic. Dave is on substack at Dave Aaronberg. But plug it away. Yeah, tell us. Tell us more.

[B]

That's it. I do videos, and every night I do a legal analysis and then do a live Q A. Dave Aronberg. I call myself the Florida Lawman, because sometimes you got to give yourself your own nickname. Like George Costanza didn't. Seinfeld. He called himself T Bone, though. It didn't work out well.

[A]

So Florida law man, I love it. That's great. And we need a Florida law man or two these days, especially down there for all those Florida men who show up in the news from time to time. But Dave. All right, great to see a great plug, and let's do it again soon.

[B]

Thank you, Jim.

[A]

Thanks, Dave. All right. And speaking of Donald Trump being high on life, you know, maybe that's why he's posting so many batshit crazy things on the Internet on his favorite favorite platform, Truth Social Media. The Orwellian named Truth Social. Let's bring in somebody to talk about this. It's my former colleague Jessica Yellen, who hosts News Dot. No, she can't hear me, Jim. Oh, yeah, this is. Our gremlins have struck again. Jessica, hop out and hop.

[C]

We are having a technical difficulty.

[A]

Tell Jessica to hop out and hop back in and then we will, we'll reconvene. We'll get Jessica in here in just a second here. She's going to have to X out and come back in. But let me just, let me just tell you a little bit. I mentioned the gold statue to Dave before we got going on the program. And I was going to bring it up with Dave, but I was going to save it for the end of the show and save it for Jessica. But I do at least want to just mention that there's this new golden statue of Donald Trump. This is something that we need to talk about with Jessica Yellen when she comes on board here. This real gold statue of Donald Trump was unveiled at his Doral Golf Course the other day. And apparently a pastor came out to bless the statue. This is Pastor Mark Burns. And I think we might have a little bit of this video, but we should play it because it's just goofy stuff. Let's, let's see. There it is right there. There's Pastor Mark Burns. And I remember seeing him out on the campaign trail back in 2016, and he was one of these guys that was in Trump's corner and so on. But there's the gold statue and my goodness, we are definitely living in some very weird and surreal times. Is Jessica yelling with me now? Jessica, how are you?

[C]

Hi. Do you know that Dave Aronberg and I went to college together?

[A]

I did not know that. That's so cool.

[C]

And he was like Mr. Government back then, too, organizing everyone, getting things in order.

[A]

He gives off class president vibes.

[C]

He really does. I think he's one of the people would be proud to hear you say that, too.

[A]

I, and I say that I was the class treasurer of my high school at Annandale High School. And I did, I did account for all of the money that we brought in for the promise we had to raise money for. I don't know. I think it was, I, I'm pretty sure it was beer money. But no, we did use it for legitimate purposes of putting on prom and that sort of thing. I don't know why we were asking for money, but I was the treasurer and I was in charge of the funds.

[C]

Good to know you were responsible and trustworthy. We need.

[A]

I was, I was, I was Mr. Goody Two Shoes.

[C]

No craft back then.

[A]

No, I have. I, you know, my Irish mother would never let me get away with anything. I could tell stories about that all day long. But Jessica, great to see you.

[C]

Good to see you. It's great to see you.

[A]

I was just showing when you, when you couldn't hear me for a second there, and that does happen from time to time, I was showing this golden statue that they installed at the Doral Golf Course in Miami, Florida. And Jessica is so wonderful that you and I did get to cover normal presidents before Donald Trump came along. But I'm bringing this up and I want to bring up some of the other goofy things he's put on Truth Social today. There was one that he posted an image of Joe Biden asleep in the Oval Office and there's like an auto pen reference and there's Hillary Clinton maniacally hanging over him and ice cream and so on. There's another one. He put out another Truth Social post, a really nutty one of Hakeem Jeffries, and he says this lunatic, Hakeem Low IQ Jeffries, which is a racist comment, should be charged with inciting violence. The radical left Democrats actually want to destroy our country. President DJT and you know, I bring this all up, Jessica, because I feel as though, and I would love to get your perspective on this, that the mainstream corporate legacy media, whatever you want to call them, they are so afraid to touch this. They don't want to talk about it. They don't really want to get into it. They're afraid of being retaliated against, so on. So it's not covered. And I, to me, these are warning signs of somebody who is disturbed. My personal observation, not necessarily yours, but what do you think about all this?

[C]

I do. Well, I do most of my work on social media, so I see this stuff all day long, all the time. And I do agree with you, Jim, that he's, I mean, we agree that he's been somewhat disturbed for quite a while, but in the last call it two months, there's been a marked degradation in sort of his ability to communicate, his ability to stay awake. Like one of the things we're doing doing is we're posting every time we find video of him falling asleep in the Oval Office.

[A]

Good.

[C]

Not to sort of troll, but to say, here's our president, just be aware and I do think that, as you're pointing out, these social media posts are getting more absurd. Like, he's done absurd things before, but the clip at which he's posting really wildly offensive or outrageous stuff is picked up. Part of me thinks that's a strategy to feed red meat to his sort of extremist online base. Right. Like online maga, because they're pissed about the war, about affordability and so balancing that out with this and like a UFC fight on the South Lawn. But it's in either. Either version, whether it's strategic or not, it's disturbing. And yeah, it's worthy of coverage more than it's getting.

[A]

And. Okay, so that leads me to this question. Do you think there is enough coverage of it? Are you seeing it? I don't watch as much cable news as I used to. I've tried to wean myself off of it. I watch you a lot more. I watch people like Adam Mockler, who I had on yesterday, and I think there's just a lot of wonderful people doing independent news these days. So I just fill my time with that. But when I do watch, it's not on the nightly newscast. They. They really shy away from it. It's on every so often. It's in. It's in newspaper coverage a little bit every so often, but not to the degree that you and I are talking about it, which is when it happens and to. When you cover the president, you're just covering stuff that happens.

[C]

So I do see it. I have CNN on most of the day, and I do see it on cnn. They'll put up sort of the more outrageous stuff, talk about it and move on. Mississippi does it. Obviously Fox is not. Or if they. I don't watch Fox that much, but it's. It's dealt with sort of as like, look at what is that. Okay, let's. Or just this is we. Okay, let's move on. There's not a real discussion of what you're bringing up, which is what does this say about the mental acuity of our president? Right, right. And I guess it's obvious why people don't want to have that conversation. One is you don't want retribution. That's probably reasons one through seven. You also don't want, you know how it goes. They don't want to enrage people who think that they're being too harsh. That kind of is my guess. For me. I sometimes debate, like, every time I show this stuff, my audience is so upset they can't have the rest of their day. Like it's so triggering and upsetting. At some point you feel like, is this doing so much damage to people by constantly making them look at this? You know, if they want to see his feed, they can see his feed. Do I need to force it in front of them all the time? And sometimes I choose not to because, like, they got the point and they need to be able to manage their nervous system.

[A]

Yeah, I just think that, you know, we have to talk about this stuff and you know, I want to talk about serious stuff with you too, but. And this is serious. But, but what does it say to you? It says to me that there's something really wrong with him. And I, I don't know if, I mean, I, I kind of describe it as a coping mechanism when we assign strategy, you know, like, you know, it's three dimensional chess. I'm not saying you're saying that, but folks would be like, it's three dimensional chess. And it's just really, it's more like eating the chess pieces when he posts this kind of stuff. And I mean, he's the one who brings up Sleepy Joe Biden all the time. So I agree with you that playing video of him falling asleep or the other day, he's in the Oval Office talking to children about, you know, transgender stuff. And he's just saying wild stuff about, you know, Barack Hussein Obama and he's talking about, he's, I think he was saying something along the lines of if we had not gone to war with Iran, that Europe might not be here right now in the Middle east might not be here right now. He's saying this kind of stuff to kids. And I just, yeah, I guess cnn, those guys will play it and then they'll do a segment where people will yell at each other, but we're not getting into, you know, in the other day, he's bragging about how many cognitive tests he passes.

[C]

I know that was crazy.

[A]

And they joke about it on the Daily show and I guess we all laugh. Hahaha. But to me, it all adds up to, in, in addition to the golden statues and painting the EEOB and wanting to build an arch and painting the reflecting pool, it all adds up. To me as somebody who is very much in the throes of malignant narcissism to the extent that it is, is dangerous for the country, I also think

[C]

it speaks to, there's, there's something going on. Like he's deteriorating impulse control maybe, is what it feels like. And I will say two other things. One is it's Being noticed, and it's not working for him. Like, I talk to Republicans, I talk to people who aren't, you know, anti Trump, and it's the kind of thing that they cringe about, right? They, they're like, I hate that he does that. But so that accumulates against him. And I, you know, I don't know what. Yeah, I don't know if it's distraction politics. I don't know why he's doing it. Do you remember back in term one, they'd like, we want to let Trump be Trump. So he's like, showing us who he really is. And it's. I think that's racist.

[A]

And I don't think there are people like John Kelly who are there and James Mattis and H.R. mcMaster. There just aren't peers of his in his age group who can just tell him to knock it off, you know, and, and, and, and tell him things like John Kelly's. Tell him, you know, like, you know, Hitler wanted to replace his generals. You know, like, the most, the most

[C]

disturbing thing about this. Sorry, did I interrupt you?

[A]

No, no, no.

[C]

The most disturbing, Jim, is in the last call it week, 10 days, the algorithm changed again. We're on meta. And anything I do of this nature that kind of is any way bad for Trump gets way less engagement than it used to. Like, it's shown. It's. One of the perceptions is it's as if the algorithm was turned down to suppress content that's critical of Trump.

[A]

Wow. I think that that's very possible that that's happening. I mean, I will tell you, I don't really mess with Tick Tock anymore because I, you know, when I go on Tick Tock, a bunch of my videos are cited as not recommended for other people. And there's no, like, there's nothing toxic about what I put out there. It's. These are just critical videos that I've done about him. And I just think that they, they have switches, they can turn them on and off. They can throttle us on social media.

[C]

They so deny it so consistently at every level. And yet all day and see what's happening and you're like, right, something just happened.

[A]

Something just happened. I agree with you. I see it on Instagram, I see it on, I think I see it on YouTube too. And I don't know, maybe the YouTube people will say that's not the case, but I feel as though that stuff gets throttled and, you know, what's up, guys? You know, I don't know what's happening there and then there's, you know, Jessica, the. There's the. The really serious political jam that Trump is in right now. He's launched this war of choice in the Middle East. John Hudson, the great Washington Post reporter, he tweeted something out earlier today. We can put it up, A scoop of his that talks about a CIA analysis showing that the Iranians really. It says this. It says CIA analysis delivered to policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the US Naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more economic hardship, a finding that contradicts those hailing an imminent collapse. Now, there's a New York Times alert now that says the Iranian officials are saying that maybe they'll talk about this plan. But I feel like we keep hearing about these possible discussions of plan. But the long story short is the Iranians, they can hang with this. They can so hang with this for a while and make it so miserable for Trump, which I think is why he's desperate for a way out of this.

[C]

I mean, they. If, if there's one thing Iran has demonstrated is that it can absorb pain, and it has done this for decades. It is the oldest civilization, right? They know how to survive. And, you know, Trump doesn't want. I mean, where does four months take us? That's right before the midterms. And I think this administration very seriously wants this to end well before then, so he could get gas prices in the economy a little bit juiced before people go to the polling place, although maybe they'll have other ways around that. I mean, as reporters, we should acknowledge there is reporting that the President wants a deal before he goes to China. That seems extremely unlikely because in part, what the deal that seems to be on the table is one that he already basically rejected. Right? So that's one part of it. The other part that I think is, you know, not getting as much attention as it should is if this does go on another six weeks, the impact at home is something that I don't think most Americans understand, have prepared for, have, you know, even a concept of what it could be, a concept of a plan. And I don't know that we really know. But if we have extreme gas shortages and, you know, that cycles through our economy, we could be looking at a very different lifestyle, you know, two months from now.

[A]

No question about it. And I guess Kevin Hassett, who is one of Trump's economic advisers, who's been hanging around forever, I'm sure you've seen this video of him talking about how people spending a lot of money on their credit cards.

[C]

And which is a great thing, he

[A]

says, and let's play this, because we should talk about this. This is one of the nuttier things I've seen.

[D]

So the consumer is really, really firing on all cylinders, just like the corporate sector you're seeing in the earnings reports. And they're doing, doing that because they have so much more money in their pockets. In fact, I had the head of one of the big five banks in my office yesterday going through the credit card data. And just as Secretary Bessant said, credit card spending is through the roof. They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else, too.

[A]

Elise.

[C]

He says great sign. Americans are in wild debt. Who is that good for? Credit card companies.

[A]

Right, Exactly. All of Trump's buddies who are making out like bandits during the second term. And it's, it's unlike any, it's like a gilded age, Jessica, that we've never, you and I have never seen before, covering Washington, covering the political scene in the United States, the way that industries, corporate America are. They're just making out like, like thieves these days under Donald Trump. But for Kevin Hassett to brag about credit card spending going through the roof, that says to me that, I guess that's a soundbite that works on Fox Business when you're just, you know, playing the propaganda game with the Fox people. But, I mean, that sounds like a canary in the coal mine that could, could really come back and haunt us a little bit.

[C]

Yeah. You know, what it speaks to is no administration we ever covered would say that on the lawn and think that's a win, that Americans are spending more on gas and putting more debt on their credit cards. But it also speaks to the extent to which I think so many people who are policymakers in the Trump administration, parts of our business community are really in their own bubble and genuinely don't understand the suffering Americans are facing right now and the pressure on formerly middle class and upper middle class Americans who are seeing their, like, standard of living erode really rapidly. And, and you know, you see in that sound bite where there's no empathy or understanding of what folks are going through. I think to a certain extent, we saw it in the Met Ball. I know it seems like, dissonant, but I did a whole write on that in my substack on Monday and it got so much feedback because even though the Met Ball doesn't seem like news, the focus was really that there's this wild disconnect between how people at the top are Living and this reality of everyone else. And you're wondering, I just. Why is it that the people who have the most no longer feel any, any obligation to be demonstrably generous, openly concerned with how others are doing and invested in lifting others up? And I see it at the White House. I see it in culture. It's just everywhere right now. And there's just a profound disconnect that seems to be impacting policy.

[A]

Yes. No question about it. And I thought, you know, Met galas are, I guess, fun to watch the red carpet stuff and whatnot. But it does sort of feel like we're. That it was like a scene from the Trump Gilded Age playing out before our eyes. And Jeff Bezos, who has ruined the Washington Post. I mean, thank God some of the reporters want a Pulitzer the other day. But I mean, by and large, it's just a shell of the newspaper that it once was. And, you know, people are living large. We're about to. We've exited the phase where we have lots of billionaires in the world. We're going to end up with a phase where we have trillionaires. Oh, there's, there's Cash Patel's bourbon. I guess, you know, it all goes down, you know, the oligarchy goes down well with a glass of Cash bourbon.

[C]

Did you see what the FBI statement was about this?

[A]

We should show that bourbon again. Show the bourbon again. I don't know. The guys are ready to go. It's almost five o', clock, Jessica.

[C]

Okay, well, I heard that the FBI said that this is part of a long tradition of FBI directors gifting branded merchandise to do their team. So there you have it.

[A]

There's nothing, nothing to see here. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the reporting that the FBI director has an alleged drinking problem. I mean, you know, these are two different things. He's allowed to have branded bourbon bottles that he hands out to people, but that has nothing to do whether or not he likes to drink.

[C]

Every FBI director has to have branded merch. You're just not understanding. Okay, clearly.

[A]

And I love that he's, he puts it out there, Jessica, that he's number nine. You see this, that he calls himself

[C]

number nine, like that dollar sign for cash. It's just, it's literally like if they wrote the dystopic sitcom, this would be cut from a scene because it was over the top.

[A]

Because it's over the top. It would not even, it would not make the script for Veep because it's too over the top. But, you know, but you and I have. Have covered this stuff long enough to know that on a serious note, the job of the FBI director, that is a serious job. And, you know, the job of Defense Secretary is a serious job. And, Jessica, you know, I feel like we're, you know, I don't want bad things to happen or anything like that, but to some extent, I almost feel like we're living on borrowed time when you have so many goofballs and amateurs and cranks and clowns in these really important jobs that are. That are there to protect the American people from bad stuff happening. And how is this going to look if bad stuff happens? It's going to look terrible.

[C]

Well, right before the Iran war, they let go of their experts on managing the Strait of Hormuz. You know, there's purges at the Pentagon. That's what really worries me. It's like you can have a functionary at the top as long as they're surrounded by these unbelievably capable people. And what's very concerning is when they thin the ranks of anyone because they're bringing information that doesn't agree with them. To your point, sometimes I imagine us. Do you remember those Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny shows where the Roadrunner would run off the cliff and he'd just keep running until he looked down? I feel like we're just at the point before we've looked down.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. And Wiley Coyote would do that, too. Wiley, yeah. Evil genius. He would have the business card. That's an evil genius. And then his little legs would go. And then he would. He would crash and burn.

[C]

But, I mean, might be aging ourselves. Dating ourselves. I'm not.

[A]

That's okay. I don't. You know, Bugs Bunny cartoons were the best. I have to say, I was hooked on those. Growing up, before phones, we had it made. We had Scooby Doo. We had Bugs Bunny. We had all Scooby.

[C]

I love Scooby.

[A]

Super friends, all that.

[C]

The Wonder Twins.

[A]

Yeah, Wonder Twins. Jessica, you are one of my super friends. So thank you so much for coming on. We don't do this often enough, but we should do it more.

[C]

I would love it.

[A]

And we can have a Cash Patel. We could have a shot of Cash Patel. Woodford Reserve, you know.

[C]

Oh, my God, I'm down.

[A]

That would be.

[C]

It's great to see you.

[A]

Good to see you, Jessica. Thanks a lot. Really appreciate it. My team, I can see now. I, you know, you guys don't see what I see now, but I. I now can see the elements that we have Loaded. Loaded being a loaded term and ready to go, just in case I mentioned. And I guess I'll just say, can I say, if I say Pete Hegseth, does that picture come up? It does. It does. It comes up. If I say Pete Hegseth, it comes up. If we talk about Cash Patel, I guess the bottle of bourbon comes up. And yes, you can tell it's, it's Thursday, it's getting to the end of the week, it's almost five o'. Clock. And so you can tell what's on our minds here at the Jim Acosta show. But if you don't laugh, you'll cry, and if you don't occasionally have just a little pinch of, of something, you might go a little insane. But I just have to say the conversation that I just had with Jessica Yellen is blowing my mind a little bit because Jessica mentioned something that I'm very fearful of, and that is that when we do, you know, now that some of us have been pushed out of legacy in corporate media, and we're now an independent media, and we're trying to make our way in the world of independent media and bring you the truth, bring you the unvarnished truth, the stuff that they don't really want to show you in corporate media because they're mad, they're worried that Trump will get mad at them, that, that we might get throttled here, that the powers that be are leaning on that Trump and his and his cronies are leaning on the tech bros to, to throttle us and silence us here. And I can't think of another reason better than that as to why it's going to be pitchforks and tortures time in, in this country in the year 2026, in this midterm election cycle. If we can't even come here as independent journalists and speak our minds, then what the hell is happening in this country? And I'm just gonna, you know, let's, let's run through all of the stuff that we have today and we'll put out a video and we'll see what happens. I mean, I, maybe this is just a test pilot case, but there's the, I, I just pulled this in the last, last 12 hours. The golden statue at Doral. I mean, we have, we can show that again. The golden statue. Look at this. Donald Trump putting this, the real deal gold, at Doral in Miami, put there by great American Patriots. Now, does when he says the real deal gold, does he mean that that is actual gold, that this is a real gold thing? And you know, listen, that's not the most flattering pose there. I guess it's from Butler, and he sees that as his thing. But, you know, this, these are some of the bananas, batshit crazy things that he's been posting. He's been posting pictures of Hakeem Jeffries and threatening to go after Hakeem Jeffries. This lunatic. Hakeem Low IQ Jeffries should be charged with inciting violence. You know, you know, projection, you know, thy name is Donald Trump. Again, these are things that he's just wasting his time with. This is a highly accurate depiction of the sleepy Joe Biden administration. Tremendous damage done. But we're back. President JT and it's Donald Trump who's asleep in all these Cabinet meetings and Oval Office photo opportunities. And there's Obama behind him with the auto pen, and there's Hillary Clinton smiling maniacally behind Joe Biden, and he's just fast asleep. And, oh, by the way, Joe Biden is not president anymore.

[C]

War.

[A]

And these are the, these are the. These are the crackpot Looney Tunes things that Donald Trump is doing instead of resting or being President of the United States. And the people we have defending this country are people like Pete Heth. There he is. There he is. Pete Hexeth and Cash Patel, who apparently thinks it's an okay idea to sue the Atlantic for $250 million because they, they said that there are allegations that he has a drinking problem and he's handing out bottles of, of Woodford Reserve to his family and friends. And here's the question. It's on screen right now. Are we being throttled? You can stop this. Tell the algorithm we matter. Tell that algorithm do not throttle us. Take this video. Like it, share it, put it on your social media feed, and let's just find out what the fuck is going on with these tech companies. Because it seems to me that is. That is a, a dangerous scenario if that is the case, if, if these tech companies are now being leaned on by Trump and his. And his jackals, his hyenas that he has surrounding him to suppress independent media. We need to get to the bottom of this. We need people inside these companies to come forward. If any of those people are watching this and, and your finger is on the throttle button, we need you to come forward. We need you to. We need you to do the patriotic thing for your country and blow the whistle on these tech companies if that is indeed what is taking place. Because that is not. That is not something that should be happening in this country. That is suppressing our right to free speech. It's the exact same thing that the crybabies on the far right in a MAGA were complaining about before Donald Trump came back into the Oval Office. They were, they, they were complaining about what, shadow banning and, and those kinds of things. And look at the, look at the, the hyenas who are running these social media companies now. Elon Musk over at X, Tim Apple over at Apple and so on. If you are Mark Zuckerberg, who I, you know, you know, doesn't miss an opportunity to smooch Donald Trump's butt,

[D]

these

[A]

are the people that, that need to come forward so we can stop the throttle. You heard about stop the steel. We need to stop the throttle. If that is happening, mark my words, there's going to be hell to pay. And we're going to be, we're going to be dishing it out here on this program. You can, you can definitely take that to the bank. But in the meantime, please support independent media. It does matter. If the powers that be are trying to shut us down, you can do you your part by propping us up, lifting us up, making sure that we stay alive and well in this, in this thriving world of independent media. It does matter. When you, like, you subscribe, you share. All of that helps us in the independent media universe. But in the meantime, I want to thank Dave Ehrenberg. Great conversation with Dave. A great conversation with Jessica Yellen as well. Thanks everybody for watching. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you next time.