← The Jim Acosta Show
The Jim Acosta Show
LIVE FROM PALM BEACH with Tara Palmeri, Olivia Troye and the sculptor of Trump's golden statue
00:58:13
Loading summary
Transcript147 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:07]
B
Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. It's another day that ends in y in the Epstein files saga. And I'm reporting to you now from Palm Beach County, Florida. We are going to be live at a special hearing that the House Oversight Committee Democrats are holding in West Palm Beach Tuesday morning. Tomorrow morning at 10am Eastern. We're going to be playing that out live. We'll bring that to you live tomorrow morning. But in the meantime, to preview that, I think Tara's gonna be here, too, is my friend Tara Palmeri. Uh, she is the host of the Red Letter on Substack. Of course. She's on YouTube. She's everywhere. Uh, she's been following Epstein, uh, doggedly for years now. Uh, Tara, great to see you.
- [00:47]
C
Thanks for having me. Jim. Um, hey, yeah. Excited to see you tomorrow.
- [00:51]
B
I know we'll see each other in person, although we saw each other a few nights ago, or I guess a few weeks ago, I should say, around the correspondence. We'll talk about that in a. In a bit, but I guess. What do you think about this? I think this is the first time they've done something like this. The House Oversight Committee Democrats holding this field hearing in Palm Beach. They're going to be Epstein survivors speaking at this hearing. Victims advocates, obviously members of the committee on the Democratic side. And this is a big deal. This is going to be big.
- [01:21]
C
Yeah. Yeah, it is a big deal. And it's important that they're being called. For the first time, though, we have to know that it is the Democrats that are calling. So it is a shadow hearing. And in a lot of ways, it's. That word shadow seems to signify exactly how the victims have been treated. Throughout all of this, they've been in the shadows. No one's ever really taken their testimonies, their sworn. Their sworn depositions, their 302s that they gave to the FBI seriously enough. And here we only have one party willing to acknowledge them. Some of the victims I've spoken to are disappointed. They say it feels performative because there's only one party involved in it.
- [02:04]
A
Right.
- [02:04]
C
That they should really be going to the halls of Congress. And I 100 agree with them. Instead, they sadly have to return to the scene of the crime. West Palm Beach.
- [02:13]
B
Yeah. And I. I will. Yeah. No, this is the home of. I mean, Jeffrey Epstein had one of his homes here. As a matter of fact, we. We went over by his old property earlier today just to see what it looked like. I had never seen it in person on the ground before, and apparently it's been demolished. It was bulldozed, I guess, four or five years ago. And the new purchaser wanted nothing to do with the new owner, wanted nothing to do with the old property, so they demolished it, rebuilt it. We could just show you just a tiny bit of little. I don't want to expose this person or anything like that, but we went to the end of this public street and just, okay, this is what the property looks like. But, I mean, that. That just goes to show you how much of a. Just a horrendous scar that Jeffrey Epstein has left on this community here. But I don't know.
- [02:59]
C
I mean, I've got my own thoughts on the Palm beach community and how they dealt with this, because it was always behind the hedges, you know, Jeffrey Epstein, what was happening. Although a lot of the locals noticed that there were girls constantly coming over in yellow taxis across the bridge, which you would notice in a town like Palm beach when everyone's driving a Bentley. Right. And so this is a town that. I think many did know about it. I mean, when it was. They were reporting on it in the local papers in 2004, 2005, about this horrific neighbor that they had, but yet he still lived there for many years afterwards. And it wasn't really until the parents of some of these girls that came from towns outside of Palm beach came forward to the police that they saw a, you know, some sort of action. Excuse me. Sorry about that. Some sort of action. And I just think perhaps this whole behind the hedges, keep to yourself privacy. Yeah, yeah. That's part of the reason. That was part of the problem to begin with.
- [04:06]
B
Kind of a code of silence.
- [04:08]
C
Yeah. And, you know, the house was hideous. It. If you saw it before, it was this, like, white block of a house, very kind of almost like, had almost like a West Hollywood style, but it was. It's on the bay, so it is waterfront, you could say.
- [04:23]
B
Yeah.
- [04:23]
C
And obviously no one could resist it for too long, but that should. There should be like a. Some sort of monument there and another person who's buying the property to build another monstrosity on it. I find the whole thing disgusting.
- [04:35]
B
It is. It is a little gross. I'll be. I'll be really honest with you. The house that they built there, it looks like. Like another compound of sorts. But obviously we can't, you know, say anything about the person who lives there. They. They. They chose to buy that piece of property. I can't imagine I would make the same decision. But, you know, Tara, the other thing, too, is. Is that and you alluded to this and I'm sure you've had conversations about this sort. And by the way, we're showing video that police took inside the Epstein home years ago. I believe this is the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department that took this video. And this is from back in 2005. But you're so right in that there were so many people who knew what was going on. Donald Trump apparently knew what was going on. I mean, you know, he's told various different stories about what Jeffrey Epstein was doing. You know, first, as people say, he kicked him out of the club because of Mar A Lago Club because he was a creep. And then Trump made those crazy comments to reporters recently where he said, well, I kicked him out because he was stealing the people who were working for him in his spa. So that story has never added up. But I, I think it's important that Robert Garcia, the leading Democrat on that committee, I think that they're having this is, is very important because, you know, I think what's taking place right now over the Department of Justice, Tara, is, is pretty unconscionable the way Todd Blanche has shut this down. He is saying no more files are coming out. He's reluctant to talk to reporters, as you found. And so I think this is important that they're doing this.
- [06:07]
C
Yeah, I mean, it's important. But I, I still think we have to be clear eyed about like how far we've come and how it feels a little bit like too little too late for a lot of the survivors. And I hope they have mixed feelings. Yeah, yeah, they do. And it's, it's like they, they feel like they're constantly putting themselves out there and they're ignored and they always have been. And you know, it's a very frustrating part of the story. And that's why I think, you know, if they actually listen to the survivors because, you know, they always, they said case closed, there are no other men involved. You actually listen to them. They keep saying that there are.
- [06:44]
B
Yeah.
- [06:44]
C
And nobody cares.
- [06:47]
B
Well, and I want to get to Todd Blanche because you and I bumped into each other at a, at one of the parties around the White House Correspondence Center. They have those pre. Parties and we're, we ran into one another at one of those parties and Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General was also at one of these parties and you went up to him to try to get some answers from him on all of this and he did not want to have it.
- [07:10]
C
No, he didn't. In fact, and I wasn't being like, aggressive at all. I think I just introduced myself as a journalist. I started with a simple conflict of interest question about how Jay Clayton, who is the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York in charge of handing over much of the Epstein files and in future prosecutions. Because remember, President Trump said you have to go after Democrats in this Epstein investigation. How he could be seen as someone who could reliably lead an independent investigation when Leon Black, who in an FBI presentation was named as a potential co conspirator and was accused by three women of assault in connection to Jeffrey Epstein. Although, you know, those cases, some of them were settled or dropped. How this man who, you know, lost his job at the firm he founded, Apollo, for Giving Jeffrey Epstein $150 million for estate planning, then we find out from the New York Times was really to pay off women. You know, when he left, the person that he appointed to take his position was Jay Clayton. He appointed him himself. Jay Clayton, who left that posting to join the Justice Department with more than $1.5 million in holdings just from Apollo, according to his financial documents. How is he running an independent investigation? And if so, why haven't we seen any sort of scrutiny at all? I mean, Leon Black is a big fat target, in my opinion.
- [08:31]
B
Yeah, no question about it. And, and we haven't had any major arrests since this whole thing spilled out into the open about a year ago in July, when all of the, you know, when all the reporting started to kick back up again, when they tried to shut down the release of the Epstein files. We know so much more now than we did back then. I mean, Britain has gone and, and they've arrested former Prince Andrew, and we have nothing even remotely close to that in scale or significance in this country. And, you know, it's just insanity. And the other thing we should note, and this goes to a little bit what you were saying earlier, Tara, and you and I have talked about this. You and I are not coming at this from a partisan lens. You know, I think you and I both said, wherever the chips fall, you know, let the chips fall where they may in this investigation. If Democrats get pinched, they get pinched. If Republicans somehow get swept into this, they get swept into this. If Donald Trump gets swept into this, they do. And you have stumbled upon some reporting, you've done some very good reporting and found that former Secretary of State John Kerry's name has come up in this Epstein saga. And enough that a major Democrat in the House, Ro Khanna, wants an investigation. He wants a hearing on this.
- [09:39]
C
And he should. And he's right to. I mean, so with this story about John Kerry, I first came across John Kerry and the fact that he was in Epstein's orbit before he ran for president through Virginia Giuffre, who I knew very well. We worked on a podcast together. We traveled around the country together looking for witnesses to her crimes. Like, we literally knocked on doors trying to find people who could corroborate the story of her horrific abuse. And I remember that she told me that she encountered John Kerry around Jeffrey Epstein at the height of his sex trafficking operation. You know, John Kerry has long maintained his team. 20, 19 said he didn't know him personally. Now we have a. You know, we have a photo of him in Epstein's home with Epstein's housekeepers. We have witness testimony from Epstein's former chef now that we didn't have before. Now the Epstein files have been released. And he said that he saw John Kerry on the plane. You know, we have other survivors saying that she recalls Epstein talking about Carrie. And now, crucially, we also see John Jeffrey Epstein offering access to various shadowy figures, offering access to Carrie, to various shadowy figures, to people like Steve Bannon as late as 2018, offering, saying, you know, Carrie's coming to town. Do you want to meet him? You know, this. That Emirati shipping billionaire who you sent the. I love the torture video to. Epstein, who had to step down from his role. He asked Epstein to help connect him with John Kerry when he was Secretary of State because he knew that he was going to be in town in the uae. You have the Terry Rod Larson, this Norwegian diplomat who, by the way, is being investigated by their crimes unit, Norway's crimes unit, because they're actually following up on anything.
- [11:28]
B
Yeah.
- [11:28]
C
Get in touch with Carrie through Jeffrey Epstein. And then Jeffrey Epstein was actively trying to court Carrie's deputy, Bill Burns. Bill Burns was when went on to be the CIA director. And if you know anything about the CIA and the State Department, they work very closely together because a lot of diplomats are running CIA assets for them. You know, the embassy is the posting for a lot of these assets and these people to come forward. And, yeah, you know, he literally was trying to help Bill Burns get a job while Bill Burns was working for the State Department on the Iran deal.
- [12:03]
B
You know, interesting.
- [12:04]
C
So he invited him to his island. He couldn't go because he had to go on his assignment, but he went to his house twice. Twice. And he connected him with Peter Teal. It's, It's. It's amazing.
- [12:16]
B
And so I guess. And there isn't any evidence that shows that Carrie did anything untoward or wrong. Right. We don't know that, that that's the case. What is John Kerry said, Have you reached out to him to try to reach out to his office about these ties, these, these, you know, I mean, it, it, it doesn't seem like we know everything that we need to know at this point.
- [12:37]
C
Yeah, there's still a lot more to be verified, but his team was very tone deaf. When I asked them about the meeting with. About a meeting with Steve Bannon in 2018, they said blank, like, just flatly, that he was never in Washington in 2018, which I find really hard to believe. They have no problem lying, as we know from the first time, when they said that he did not personally know John gary back in 2019, that he did not know Jeffrey Epstein back in 2019. And he, they just had like, a sort of mocking way of handling what is a very serious story. I mean, he's essentially lying about his. He was essentially lied about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein. By the way, Jeffrey Epstein, like, gave him money when he started his leadership pack. Well, not. Well, he sent him a package was his leadership address shortly after he founded it. There's a lot of connections. It's not more than I've even talked about, which is why go to the Red Letter? If you go there, you can subscribe and you can read this reporting. It took me about, like, 10 months to go through all of the files because he's mentioned so frequently, and they just seem to brush it off in such a way. And you see our Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, so many men like him saying, I didn't know anything about Jeffrey Epstein. I didn't know anything. And then suddenly the story always changes. Isn't it weird, Jim? It always changes as more information comes out. And then I did go to the island. Okay. I did do this. And the thing I want to remind you, from the way that I started this conversation, it was a survivor who told me to look out for John Kerry.
- [14:07]
B
Wow. And you're right. Howard Lutnick, I mean, he had that hearing last week. It wasn't even a hearing. It was sort of a behind closed doors Q and A session with no videotaping. I mean, the way they, the Commerce Secretary, the way they, they closed the lid on that was pretty extraordinary. And afterwards, Ro Khanna, the California Democratic congressman, came out and said, if Donald Trump had heard what Howard Lutnick said behind closed doors during that Q and A session, he would Fire Howard Lutnick. And because we're sipping from a fire hose of news these days, you know, that story comes and goes.
- [14:39]
C
Right.
- [14:39]
B
But you know, to me, you know, I think that's why this hearing tomorrow morning is so important. That's why we're going to cover it live. Because I think it's important that we continue to hear from these survivors and hear from these, these victims because, you know, I think that Todd Blanche is just, they're just trying to sweep this under the rug. We still don't understand why fully why Pam Bondi was fired. She has not come in as far as. Right. She's. She still has not come in yet. And so, you know, for the Democrats to have to come down to Mar a Lago, come down to Palm beach and have this hearing to keep shining a light on, this is, is, as you were saying earlier, pretty sad, kind of a sad statement for where we are.
- [15:19]
C
It is really sad. And I want to note that the end that, that evening in which I spoke to Todd Blanche on French soil at the U.S. ambassador's residence.
- [15:27]
B
Yeah.
- [15:28]
C
Where I saw you last. He ended our conversation by getting his security detail, someone that's paid for by US Tax, step in between us and tell me that I would be removed for trespassing if I asked a question. And his wife said I ruined their beautiful evening. So I think that tells you a little bit about how he really feels
- [15:46]
B
about Blanche threatened to have you thrown out.
- [15:48]
C
Exactly. Of the French. Off of French soil. Like it was insane. I really feel like that just that it was the way he spoke to me. Like, you don't know anything. You don't. You, you don't. You've never seen the files. I've read the files. And I said, well, aren't they public? Hasn't everyone seen them?
- [16:04]
B
Yeah, maybe he's read the files that haven't been released.
- [16:07]
C
I mean, 2.5 million. We haven't seen the 40 terabytes we haven't watched. So. Yeah. Thanks, Todd Blanche. Maybe we should see that. Maybe it would give us a little bit more understanding about Leon Black.
- [16:20]
B
Yeah. I mean, I think Todd Blanche needs to be brought in to testify, too. I think that the fact that he has not done that at this point, you know, they haul in the Clintons, but they're not hauling in Donald and Melania Trump. They, you know, they bring in Howard Lutnick, but it's behind closed doors. There's not even a, there's no videotaping. Even though when Hillary Clinton testified they had was It. Lauren Boebert was taking pictures of her and posted, sending them to Benny Johnson or something like that. This whole thing has been on camera.
- [16:48]
C
I don't know why all, it should
- [16:49]
B
all be on camera. Exactly like this hearing tomorrow.
- [16:52]
C
Yeah. And in fact, if I were a Democrat, I would literally call them all back and do another round of hearings, every single one of them. Like, this cannot be partisan. It really kind of like, it bothers me because I know that a lot of Democrats have like, grabbed onto it because it goes all the way to the top to Trump, as they should. But this has always been one of the biggest corruption stories of our time. And the survivors have been screaming this from the rooftops, like, since 2019. And Democrats didn't care then.
- [17:21]
B
And they've been trying to say, the survivors have been trying to say this is not partisan for us. We just want to get to the bottom of this. They're, they're not political.
- [17:28]
C
They're getting annoyed, honestly, they are. And it's, it's really sad. And I saw one of the lawyers that he's not going because he's just tired of it. They're just, they're, they really, they deserve more than what we've given them. And a shadow hearing is just the right, like, is sadly, the, the terminology for this hearing. And it kind of represents exactly where they've been the entire time.
- [17:48]
B
Yeah. And the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein hangs over where we are right now in Palm Beach. Tara, great to see you. Thank you so much. Let's do this tomorrow morning with the hearing and you might think you might be coming up. So looking forward to seeing you in person and we'll talk about this tomorrow.
- [18:01]
C
See you tomorrow. Okay.
- [18:02]
B
Okay, thanks. Really appreciate it. Now, the other story that I, you know, folks, we've been talking about this non stop since it debuted last week at Trump's Doral Golf Beach Resort, whatever it is, in Miami, Florida. Golf is a golf resort, something like that. The golden statue of Donald Trump. There it is right there at the Doral Golf Course. And they had a pastor show up. One of Trump's MAGA pastors showed up to bless the statue. Everybody has been talking about this statue, this golden statue of Donald Trump. People, of course, have pointed out that, you know, this looks like some sort of, you know, I don't know, godlike thing. That is completely sacrilegious. And yet this is the cult of Donald Trump. But I will say there's a talented sculptor behind this project. His name is Alan. Is it Alan Cottrell? Alan Cottrell. How do we say it? Alan Cottrell. Cottrell. Very good. I had it right the first time.
- [18:58]
A
You did.
- [18:59]
B
And Alan, thank you so much for coming on the program. Alan is the sculptor behind the Trump statue project. You built that. That statue that they put at the Doral Golf Club, is that correct?
- [19:10]
A
I did sculpt it. I was commissioned by a group of crypto bros.
- [19:16]
B
And, and how. How did that whole thing lay out? I mean, I was reading in the Miami New Times about this. These crypto guys came to you and said, we'd like to build this statue. Did they even know at that point where it was going to go or they just wanted to. To build this thing?
- [19:29]
A
Well, nobody ever came to me. I only knew one of their names for months, Ash. That's all I knew. Didn't know a last name. I didn't have a clue who. Didn't trust him too far, which turned out to be a good instincts.
- [19:47]
B
Yeah.
- [19:48]
A
They called me about a month after the assassination attempt. And just as an aside, I did do a life size of Corey Comprator, the guy that got shot and killed. And Trump was asked, of course, to be at that dedication and memorial for the slain fireman when he was attempted to be assassinated. But he said he couldn't make it. And I, I looked up his schedule that day, and I think he was at a sporting event in Philadelphia, same state. And I'm thinking t where somebody tried to shoot me and got killed. I think I'd be at the memorial service.
- [20:27]
B
Yeah, I think I would too. And what was this project like, Alan? I guess I. I know you. I think you mentioned that you. You would conceded as not a life. A lifelike statue of Trump. It's. It's got some. Some alterations, I guess you might say.
- [20:47]
A
I think he said he's 5 10, 185. So no, I tried to slimy. I did slim him down some from the photographs, life photographs. And the crypto guys saw it and said, oh no, he's way too heavy. And oh, shoot. Okay. So I slimmed him down some more.
- [21:07]
B
Slimmed him down some more.
- [21:08]
A
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Much? A lot. Then his turkey neck. I mean, he's a prominent turkey neck. I took about half off before I showed it to him. Oh no. They said you have to take that turkey neck off. Okay. So it's obviously an idealized representation of Trump.
- [21:30]
B
Yeah, but that's not the first time. I guess a statue has had these kinds of enhancements done. But it's interesting that they were involved in the process all along or at points along the way. Did you know that this was going to be painted gold? Did they say they wanted it gold? Where did that come from?
- [21:50]
A
In house, and I have about eight employees. I have a sculpture business. My business is to get commissions, do sculptures, pay my staff, pay my bills. This is about the 18th president that I've done. Behind me, there is a model or maquette of a seven foot President Garfield statue going to the national place where his hometown is In Mentor, Ohio, July 4th, we'll unveil that. So I've done lots of president statues. We called it in house the golden calf from day one. And everybody held their nose and said, okay, we have to pay the bills. About three months into the project, the crypto guys called and said, hey, is there any way you can make it look gold? And I said, absolutely. So I polished up the bronze, which made it look more gold. They. We had it at the inauguration, but the Secret Service wouldn't let us bring it into the event because they had to bring it indoors because the cold weather. And it would have been 22ft tall, many tons, temporarily installed. And they said, no, no, no, you can't do that. So it stayed in a warehouse for about a year while the crypto guys were still supposed to be paying me monies that they owed. And I thought, oh, man, how can I get this thing back and get all my money? So.
- [23:26]
B
So wait a minute. The crypto. The crypto guys were not exactly on time with payments. Is that
- [23:34]
A
from day one? Yeah.
- [23:37]
B
When you know it.
- [23:39]
A
Yeah. Right. So I thought, I need to get my hands on this statue. And at the time, Trump was talking about unveiling it in December. January, January of this year. And then it hit me, and we were on a group chat with Pastor Burns, two White House representatives, two people from Doral, and two of the crypto bros. So one day I'm on the chat with them, and I said, hey, guys, let's gold leaf this thing. Well, I knew how that would go. Yes, yes, yes. So that was twofold. One, how can we make it even more garish and hideous?
- [24:30]
B
I think you knocked it out of the park.
- [24:31]
A
And how can. How can we get it in my hands at my foundry here in Zanesville so that I get all my money? So, oh, yeah, we'll bring it right to you. So they did. Then they still weren't paying me. They said, oh, we'll pay after it's installed. Yeah, right. So I put it. I hid it. I put in an undisclosed Location here in the hills of Muskingum County, Ohio. Wow. And I said, hey, you pay me and I'll bring it down. And the White House contacted me and said, we need to put eyes on it. And I said, what do you mean, put eyes on it? Look at the 2 1/2 minute Reuters did the video they did. You can see every bit of it. Here's photos of it. You don't need to see it. Oh, yeah, we need to put eyes on it. So they sent a representative, and I thought about blindfolding him before I took him to the site, but I didn't. He got to the site and he said, well, yeah, it's just like you said, like in all the videos and photographs. So anyway, they. They finally called me one morning and said, we can wire you the money this afternoon. We want you to load it up, get it down to Doral tomorrow. Wow. Okay. So 4pm they finally wired the money. Myself and my foundry manager got in the truck with the trailer with the statue on back, drove straight through 18, 19 hours to Doral. We got there just knackered. And the people there, Doral said, now we need you to install it and have all the gold leaf repaired because when it travels, you have to strap it down and there's some repairing needs done. And I told them it took us about three days to do that. Well, this is early afternoon. They said, we need it installed and all the repairs done by dawn tomorrow. So we started, we got it installed, we worked through the night. 4am we finally got done. We got all the repairs done, got it installed, got a few hours sleep, and drove straight back to Zanesville, Ohio.
- [26:52]
B
Yeah. And I mean, so, Alan, I mean, it sounds like this was one heck of an experience. You were talking to the White House about this. You were talking to Pastor Mark Burns, who is a close, I guess, advisor to Trump or spiritual person to Trump.
- [27:10]
A
And every Sunday he would say, okay, guys, President Trump just saw the photos of the statue and he loves it. Loves it. Alan, send me some more statues. He wants to see him right now or more pictures. So, yeah, he. He saw.
- [27:29]
B
Trump was involved in this.
- [27:32]
A
He was in. He saw it as it was being finished. Yes. I don't want to say he was involved with the making of it per se, but he wasn't uninvolved either.
- [27:46]
B
Yeah. Did you ever talk to him or did he ever call the shop or did you put him on FaceTime or anything or.
- [27:52]
A
I didn't have any desire to talk to him, so. No. Better if I didn't better if you didn't.
- [28:02]
B
And so I guess, you know, when you get commissioned to do one of these, you know, you do it whether you, you know, no matter how maybe you feel about the person. But when you're making a sculpture like this of Donald Trump, what's going through your mind?
- [28:19]
A
Well, I do take my craft very seriously. I studied many years in New York City at the Art Students League, spent a lot of time in Europe. I did want to get the energy and the expression that they wanted, even though I wasn't. Yeah.
- [28:44]
B
Anyway, you weren't a big fan of it.
- [28:48]
A
No, no, no. But I was commissioned to do it. And that is my job. That is how I pay my bills. And I'd done, I think I'd done a few 12 foot statues, a couple of 10 foot presidents, and like I said, about 18 other life size or larger presidents. And I knew it would get some attention, which it, it has.
- [29:13]
B
Oh yeah, you're famous now.
- [29:15]
A
Oh, I don't know about that. But every time I see pictures of it, I just start laughing because. And I've gotten so much hate mail and hate emails and letters and again. And you know, it does look like
- [29:31]
B
something out of North Korea or something, doesn't it?
- [29:33]
A
Yes, it does. I knew that from the start. I knew. But you, you give somebody enough rope and they're going to show you just, just what they're made of. And. Yeah, that's what's happened here.
- [29:46]
B
Yeah. And so I, I guess how's that thing going to hold up, do you think? Because I was kind of wondering about the gold paint, is that.
- [29:54]
A
It's not paint. It's 3,000 little pieces of 3 inch square gold leaf. 23.75 pure gold. And what one does, what we did, you put glue or sizing all over the piece, let it dry and then, then you put these little gold leaf squares all over the piece and then blend them. Takes hundreds of hours.
- [30:22]
C
Wow.
- [30:22]
A
How's it gonna hold up? Well, usually 15 to 20, 25 years, it holds up pretty well unless somebody goes up and starts rubbing on it real hard.
- [30:34]
B
Let's hope that doesn't happen.
- [30:37]
A
Oh, that'd be a shame.
- [30:39]
B
Yeah, wouldn't that be a shame? I tell you and Alan. Yeah, for lots of different reasons, but. And, and you had to drive it through the night to get there. It sounds like they were desperate to get it there. Well, what I did. That's kind of strange. What?
- [30:55]
A
I didn't know that PGA championship golf event was happening starting I think Sunday. And we got There Friday, and there was just a flurry of activity, people putting up these buildings and tents and just dozens and dozens of people on the grounds. And that's why they wanted us to work through at night to get it done, so that the cranes and all the heavy equipment had. Wouldn't interfere with all the PGA setup. And then, of course, I'm sure they want it for the g. Is it G20 summit coming December?
- [31:39]
B
Okay, so they wanted it for that. I see. I say.
- [31:41]
A
They didn't say that, but I know enough about scheduling and what might make Trump happy.
- [31:49]
B
Yeah.
- [31:50]
A
Well.
- [31:51]
B
And. And I guess I. I guess I'm. I. I just wanted to peel back the onion a little bit more on the White House officials getting involved. Was it. Were they heavily involved? Was it just a couple of phone calls? And who are these crypto guys? I guess I was kind of. They sound like characters.
- [32:10]
A
Well, actually, San Salone. I finally got his last name after working. Working with him. He was my main liaison. He's a Canadian crypto guy. And I said, hey, hey, Ashley, come on over to my studio. I want. I want to take you around. You know, in my first life, I had done business in Japan. You get to know the people you work with. Yeah, well, I have a little problem with my visa. I can't get in the United States. What the hell? You're Canadian for crazy. But then the other main guy was Dustin Stockton. And the Times of London came over a year ago and did a nice article, and they quoted Dustin Stockton as saying, yeah, I was involved with Trump's the Border Wall, where we privately funded a section of it with Steve Bannon. But I didn't get indicted like he did, but I did lose. But I did lose all my U.S. banking privileges. That's why I went to the crypto.
- [33:09]
C
Wow.
- [33:10]
A
And he's quoted in the Times of London saying that, oh, brother, that's, you know, red flag. Red flag.
- [33:17]
B
Yeah. Yes. So, Alan, sounds like you were dealing with some. Some real, you know, solid individuals here. Very. You know, you got a crash course in Trump world, it seems to me.
- [33:31]
A
Oh, brother. Well, they. I told him from the beginning, I never meeting him. I said, hey, Ash, I don't around. Don't around with me. Yeah, well, like one of my family said, dad, they around with you and found out you had that thing in hiding for months.
- [33:53]
B
Yeah. Wait a minute. Yeah, you got to tell us that story on real quick before you go. You were hiding the sculpture, you were hiding the statue because you thought they might come up with a truck And. And grab it or something or.
- [34:04]
A
Yeah. They hadn't made their final payments. Yeah. Yep.
- [34:10]
B
And so there it was. You said it was in an undisclosed location, which I guess does fit with the President. I suppose that's in a lot of trouble.
- [34:18]
A
He doesn't know what it's like here in Appalachian Ohio.
- [34:23]
B
Yes, I. I understand that, but. Well, Allan, what is. What a tale you have there, what a story that you have there. I'm sure your family, kids, grandkids, everybody gets a good chuckle out of this. But really appreciate you talking with me and indulging us with all of our crazy questions. If you had to do it all over again, would you do it all over again?
- [34:44]
A
I would do it the same way I did it the first time. Hold my nose. Wait. Wait for the payments.
- [34:52]
B
Because sometimes when it comes to Trump, you don't always get paid, you know, that's.
- [34:56]
A
It wasn't Trump, but it was close enough with the crypto Bros.
- [35:02]
B
So you knew it was probably a good idea, payment up front if. If you want your statue. Yeah.
- [35:07]
A
And if I may, that's two freed slaves holding their open shackles facing inward toward a Trump statue out front of my gallery. It's interesting because some people understood the symbolism and others. And I started to make a genuflect here, rug and put in front. Front of the Trump statue, but I. I never did. Hundreds of people pulled off the side of the road, got out of their car, got in front of this Trump statue and had their picture taken. So it was a real fan favorite here in Ohio.
- [35:40]
B
Yeah. Explain the significance as far. I mean, for the folks out there who are maybe not getting it.
- [35:45]
A
Well, if you read enough books on Trump and his father, Fred, you would understand their attitudes about race and. Yeah. The more you read, the more you hold your nose.
- [35:58]
B
Yeah, I hear you. No question about it. Me, too. And I do like the placement there. That's. It's very well done, Alan. Great job. You've given us something to smile about in a time when there isn't a whole lot of smiling going on. But great to speak with you, sir.
- [36:12]
A
Well, I better go get my bulletproof vest now, because.
- [36:17]
B
I know the feeling.
- [36:18]
A
I kind of outed myself.
- [36:21]
B
Nah, it's okay. No, you did great. Wonderful speaking with you, sir. Thank you so much, Alan. Alan Cottrell, a sculptor from Appalachia who sculpted the famous, now infamous Golden Trump statue at the Doral Golf Course in Miami. Pretty incredible stuff. That's a tough act to follow. I don't even. Where do I go? Now what do I, what do I talk about now? My goodness, you know, I will, I will say of all the things that Donald Trump did today, apparently he's on his way to China right now. Maybe it's the fact that he was asleep again in another cabinet meeting that stands out to me. Maybe we just, can we just show that again? I just, I like to mark these, I like to show these every time that they happen because there he is, he's sound asleep and I don't think he did a whole lot today. He's doing, I mean, he's on a plane now to China, but up until this point, I don't think he had done very much publicly. And when he gets out in front of the cameras, he's falling asleep, he's just out. He's always nodding his head there a little bit just to be like, no, no, no, I'm not sleeping, I'm nodding, I'm listening. And he's not, he's completely out right there. And of course, this, maybe, maybe we can get Alan back and he can sculpt the, the Trump sleeping statue. That might be what we need to do next. The drowsy Donald statue that we could put. We sleepy Don. We could put that out in front of, I don't know, the Lincoln Memorial by the reflecting pool, you know, that Trump has painted, it's trying to paint blue. Apparently that's not going so well. There's a, no big contract involved. But there's Donald Trump sleeping away, snoozing away in the Oval Office surrounded by people who are talking and trying to do important things, I guess, or things that they think that are important. But it just goes to show you, I mean, this is what we're up against. Ladies and gentlemen, right now we have a President of the United States who cannot stay awake in the, the few opportunities that he has to go out in front of the cameras. And, and maybe that's why they are building the gold statues. Maybe that is why they're painting the reflecting pool blue. Maybe it's why his cabinet secretaries are coming to him and saying, hey, I'd like to do a reality TV show where I put my kids in a car, we drive around the country and the American taxpayers will continue to pay my salary while I go on a seven month vacation with my kids. Have you guys, have you guys seen this thing? This is, this is a, this is a, an ad for Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who is of course a reality TV star. He's doing this road trip with his family. This was put up on the Department of Transportation website. His wife is, of course, a famous Fox anchor. They're hitting the road, I guess, like Clark Griswold from Chevy Chase Vacation, and they're driving across. Across the country and looks like they're advertising for Toyota. They couldn't have found an American car, I guess, and. But maybe when Donald Trump is sleeping all the time, this is when you can just slide stuff past him. Be like, sir, I'd like to take my family on a road trip and make a reality TV show off and probably make a lot of money. Is that okay with you, sir? He kind of wakes up and nods his head, and then they're like, that's a yes. That's a yes. We can do the road trip show. He nodded. That's it. Maybe that's how things work now at the White House. Sir, we'd like to paint the reflecting pool blue.
- [39:36]
A
Okay.
- [39:37]
B
Oh, yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. This is what's happening inside the Trump White House right now. Sir, we'd like to build a. And then I guess Sean Duffy did put out a tweet that he was really pissed, and he put out a tweet on the official Secretary Sean Duffy Twitter account. The radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer, and they hate it. It's too awesome. It's too patriotic. It's too joyful. And he goes on and on and on. He needs to have more random capitalizations and bad grammar and bad spelling for it to be a true Trumpian tweet there. But that's the best he can do. I think they also visit Kid Rock in one of these episodes, and they show Kid Rock in the trailer somewhere. And I'm thinking to myself, my God, does every cabinet secretary have to, like, hump Kid Rock's leg these days? Is that what's happening? I guess that's what Sean Duffy has to hump Kid Rocks. They have other celebrities whose legs they can hump. So they hump Kid Brock's leg. There he is right there. He's talking to Kid Rock. He's like, yeah, man, I'll do a thing with you. I did a thing with RFK junior. We got in the bathtub with our pants on, and I guess if you want to come by, we can put pants on and get the bathtub, too. And your wife looks pretty good. What about that? I don't know. Something like that. That's how I imagine the conversation went down. Probably was a lot nicer than that. And it looks like the kids they took the kids on a cruise ship somewhere and then they're at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia because nobody has ever visited the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. So of course they had to go visit that. But anyway, that's how you get things past Donald Trump these days. You wait for him to nap in the studio and, and then you hope that you can get to him. All right, very quickly, though, before we go, serious subject, serious story. Before. I know I did a lot of goofy stuff there. Quick final update on a very important story. Virginia officials. This according to New York Times, asking the Supreme Court to restore the voting map that was drawn up by the Democrats is the New York Times breaking news story on the state officials are asking the Supreme Court to overturn a Virginia Supreme Court decision that struck down a congressional map that was approved by the voters. Let's bring in Olivia Troy. Olivia, our friend, is standing by. Here's Olivia right there. She was running for Congress and now she's in limbo. We don't know what Olivia is doing now. We love Olivia, though. But do you know what you're doing, Olivia?
- [41:55]
D
I am. I'm watching this very closely. Obviously, this is big news.
- [42:00]
B
Yeah.
- [42:00]
D
You know me, Jim. I am a fighter and I know you are. Fight. We fight till the end. I mean, I was like, hell, yeah, this is what we got to be doing. We take this and we go on record with it and we make them explain it. I mean, I think that's what, what we do. Right. And I think, well, I think the
- [42:18]
B
Supreme Court is the place to go at this point. Right. Because even if they say, well, we don't have jurisdiction here because it's a state election issue, blah, blah, blah, I mean, to me, you know, it doesn't make sense that Texas can do this and not Virginia, that Florida can do this and not Virginia. And so how are we supposed to have legitimate elections in this country if a state can't draw redraw its congressional map to respond to another state redrawing its congressional map? And maybe the Supreme Court will just come in and say nobody could redistrict. It's, it's not happening. But to me, this doesn't make any sense. And I guess if the Democrats are going to do something going to the Supreme Court, even though it's a MAGA 63 Supreme Court, it's something.
- [43:03]
D
Yeah. Like, I think we know, we all know that this is an uphill battle. And what happened on Friday was devastating.
- [43:08]
B
Devastating.
- [43:09]
D
I, I, like you said, I was obviously, I'm personally impacted by this, as many others. But I think it's important to stay the course here. And I think, like I said, I think this is a moment where you have to do everything you can to take a stand given what's happening, what the SCOTUS did to the Voting Rights Act. I mean, all across the board here. I mean, you and I have this conversation all the time. Republicans don't back down.
- [43:35]
B
That's right.
- [43:35]
D
To win every single round.
- [43:37]
B
Correct.
- [43:37]
D
They don't let their foot off the gas. And I think we need to meet the moment and do that. And I think we need to get in the trenches and be in wavering on it. And so look, I think we have no idea how this is going to go. A lot of us are kind of trying to assess what we're going to do. Myself, I speak for myself there and.
- [43:53]
B
Yeah, but, but this is another wrinkle. I mean, even right now, Olivia, I know we were talking earlier today and you were saying, well, I'm looking at it, I'm weighing my options and so on. But I suppose if the Supreme Court by some miracle were to say, oh, no, Virginia, you should be able to do this, if Texas is able to do it, if they were to apply logic to this, which I don't think they will, but if they somehow do that, by some miracle, I guess your campaign may be back on. I don't. Right.
- [44:22]
D
Yes, I think that is, that is, that is sort of the gamble here in the game right now. It's like, okay, what are we doing? And that's why when people have asked, I said, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna take a pause and really kind of take the weekend and see what the next step is. And I think this is the right thing to do. I think also, you know, if they decide not to take the case or if they say they're legit, get them on the record.
- [44:46]
B
Right, exactly.
- [44:47]
D
Take that. That's what I say. Get them on the record.
- [44:50]
B
Correct.
- [44:51]
D
Talk about this so that history can show what's happening here. Because what's happening here, we know what's happening here too, for our very eyes. And so they're going to do this. I think every opportunity that we have, we have to show it, even for historical purposes, to annotate this and say, this is what happened in the United States in 2026, when all of these advances were made and all of these rights that people have fought for, slowly they started to roll them back under the Trump administration and what these right wing Republicans are doing. And so I think that's why it's important. And, you know, I'm going to continue to watch this. Obviously, I've done a lot of deep soul searching this week. Not been easy. Friday morning was definitely a shock to all of us, and it was enraging as well. I think I've talked to a lot of Virginia voters and I mean, you know, everyone's looking around, they're like, so what? My vote doesn't. Doesn't matter. I mean, we voted for this.
- [45:44]
B
Exactly. But, Olivia, I'm going to brag on you for a second and say that while Olivia's campaign was thrown into limbo by the Virginia Supreme Court decision, Olivia still went up to New Jersey and was checking on a friend who was going through a very difficult situation with ice. And I know you. You were able to go inside the facility and, and see the conditions there and so on. This was up in New Jersey, I think you were saying. Right. And it just shows you what we're up against as a country right now.
- [46:15]
D
Yeah, you know, I got the news. I think I. I told you this. I was getting in the car to drive up and I. My godson's father was about to be deported, and I think I spent three hours on that turnpike thinking about real world effects and how this is happening every day to families across our country. And, you know, we've got this ruling. But I was like, life doesn't, doesn't stop for hard moments. You just have to keep going. And so I did go up there. I did. I was inside the facility. It was very heart wrenching to see what families are going through every day to see people, the tears, just the emotion. And, yeah, also just horrified at the conditions that many are being held under. Right. I think I told you, my friend's husband, he hadn't seen daylight. There are no windows there. They don't get an outdoor time. They don't get to go outside. The first time he saw the sky again and breathed fresh air was on Saturday morning when he was dropped off at the airport and escorted there and put on a flight to Mexico. That was the first time he saw the outdoors in 11 and a half months. And I'll just say, I just want to be clear that we won this case, Jim. I went out, we got the best law firm that we could, and we won this case last August. And he was still held in detention. He was detained on Memorial Day last year. And here we. ICE appealed it. We lost the appeal last week and he is now in Mexico. And now we are Going to figure out how my friend and her 4 year old son move on. And look, this is a story that so many families are facing every single day.
- [48:01]
B
And I know whatever happens with your campaign, that you are very passionate about this issue, as am I. And we're not going to let up on this. They can hide Stephen Miller. They're kind of hiding Stephen Miller right now. He's in a secure, undisclosed location, probably insecure undisclosed location. They've, they've thrown him under the, the attic or into the basement or whatever at the White House. And you know, they're, they're trying to hide that some of the more egregious things they're trying to, you know, put some distance between themselves, some of the egregious things that they've done during the second term. And the ICE in the mass deportation campaign to me is probably at the top, if not maybe the top three, you know, the Iran war, the parting of the Jan.6. I mean you could, the list goes on and on, but the ICE policy has been an absolute catastrophe and human atrocity that has been visited upon the American people.
- [49:00]
C
Yeah.
- [49:00]
D
Like I think it is important to remind people because while ICE may be somewhat not in the headlines or while. You see, I thought I saw that there's an Atlantic article that just dropped recently about Stephen Miller and how he's losing power is happening behind the scenes. Well, yeah, you know what? He should be locked in, in a room with four walls with no windows for a year and let me know how that goes. Yeah, I think that he should be feeling what all of these people are feeling. And so I, you know, lock them up. Yeah, I mean, no amount of Stephen Miller being locked up is going to bring these families together. These people are gone. They're left to fend for themselves. And so we're going to continue to advocate for this. And I think, you know, behind the scenes like this is all still happening. Right. It may not be in the streets right now like the way they were. I mean, they know that they overstepped. They know it's bad. They know we're in a midterm election year. So let's be honest about why they're doing this, the optics. But we both know, like it'll be full speed ahead after the Mitch on what they're doing. I don't.
- [49:55]
B
Absolutely. I totally. I think that's the case. If they somehow survive with the House and the Senate intact on the Republican side, they're going to crank all of this back up again come next year. There's no question. There's no question in my mind.
- [50:08]
D
Right.
- [50:09]
B
And if the House flips, they may not care about that one bit and crank it back up again. But the House and the Senate both flip, it may. That may slow their roll a little bit. They'll have, you know, hearings to deal with and subpoenas to deal with. It could have. I think it could have an effect, you know, a. A dampening effect on their nuttiness and insanity. But I think, Olivia, if you somehow can weather this storm and SCOTUS by some miracle, maybe, Maybe Sam Alito somehow has an epiphany that he's been an unconstitutional for a long time. And John Roberts, I mean, what a. What a. What devastation he has done to his legacy as a chief, you know, justice of the Supreme Court. It's unbelievable. But by some miracle, they. They changed their. Or they. They come out on the side of the Virginia Democrats on this. It's game on again.
- [51:03]
D
Well, and I hope they do it soon because the clock is ticking. Right? I mean, that's the thing. We're all under a timeline. We're all under gathering signatures. It's a ballot. And then it's like, okay, the primary's in August.
- [51:12]
C
I mean, it's.
- [51:13]
D
It's just created so much disruption. And, you know, the Republicans in Virginia, they knew exactly what they were doing. I mean, I'm just sitting here going, okay, who placed a call? I want to know who in that White House placed a call. That's what I want to know. Because I, you know, yes, we're speculating, but we. I know how this machine operates, and it's just very interesting to watch.
- [51:36]
B
Wow. Well, Olivia, thanks for jumping on. I saw the New York Times headline, and I thought we better reach out to you because that, you know, this. These things are changing minute by minute. But best of luck. Keep you posted.
- [51:47]
D
Thank you.
- [51:48]
B
Thanks, Olivia. Appreciate it. Congressional candidate Olivia Troy running for Congress in Virginia, waiting to see if the Supreme Court is going to allow Virginia to do what Texas is doing and what Florida is doing and what Tennessee is. Tennessee just. Just eliminated a black congressional district. The Supreme Court is allowing Louisiana to eliminate black congressional districts, minority congressional districts. What is happening in this country? What kind of democr. We're not becoming a democracy. We're backsliding towards autocracy. And the Supreme Court, one of the branches of government, is allowing this to happen. The. The Congress is allowing this to happen. Why isn't anybody trying to stop this president who thinks he has to have golden statues of himself at his. At his golf course in Florida. In what world is any of this normal? You know, I just ask, in what world is any of this normal? To the Republicans who, Who may somehow listen to this, or, you know, a clerk for Supreme Court justice who may listen to this, if you know a clerk for a Supreme Court justice, send them this episode and ask the question, why it. Why is Texas allowed to do this and Virginia is not? Why is. Why is Tennessee allowed to do this and Virginia is not? They voted for this thing to happen and Virginia Supreme Court not allowing it to happen for partisan reasons, obviously. And, you know, that's. That's not a democracy. If these states over here get to redraw their map and shuffle things around to help the guy with the golden statue and the blue reflecting pool for the nutties, the nutty kooks over at the White House, and the Democrats can't do the same thing, in what world does any of that make any sense? I see somebody commenting, he's never been normal. No, that's true. But if he's. But that's beside the point. The people should have the ability to vote on this stuff. And if the people say, we want to redraw our congressional maps, then how is that? How. I mean, can you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and how the Republicans would respond to this if they said, we voted for this in our state? States rights. Remember when the Republicans and the conservatives and the MAGA people and the Tea Party people used to say, states rights, states rights. Why aren't they lining up to. To help the Virginians have their state right of redrawing their congressional map become a reality? Why. Why are they not doing that? Because it's all. It's all politics. All they care about is holding on to power. All Donald Trump cares about is holding on to power. It's the reason why he ran for president in 2024 was to keep his ass out of jail, to keep his ass out of hot water. And he's doing. He's trying to do what he's doing right now to keep the Congress in Republican hands, to keep his ass out of hot water, because he is the de facto speaker of the House. He is the de facto Senate Majority Leader. He runs the Congress. And it's no wonder. They're erecting Kim Jong Un like statues of Donald Trump at Doral in Florida. He's our Kim Jong Un. I don't know. Kim Jong Un might be more sane than our Kim Jong Un. The. The. The real Kim Jong Un might be more sane than our Kim Jong Un. I don't know which dictator is crazier. Should we have a debate? Should we, should we do a poll? Which dictator is crazier, Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump? I think it'd be close. I think it would be close. It'd be about 5,149. I don't know. I, what do the betting markets say on that? Should we go to Polymarket, one of those things? Which dictator is crazier? Which autocrat is crazier? Who's the craziest? I think. I don't know. I don't know how that would turn out. I'm being honest, I'm being deadly serious here. I do not know how that would, that would pan out. Who would win? Who would come out of the world's craziest dictator? Sounds like a reality TV show. Maybe Sean Duffy could, could host it along with his wife after they get off their, their road trip. I want to thank, I, I want to thank Tara Palmeri as always for coming on and talking about the Epstein story is so important. Tomorrow morning, we'll be live from Palm beach where this special hearing is going to be taking place. The House Democrats on the Oversight Committee, be sure to tune into the coverage right here on the Jim Acosta Show. We're going to be carrying it live of this hearing. We're going to be hearing from Epstein survivors, victims, victims advocates. They're going to be shining a light on this story that Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, is trying to sweep under the rug that the Republicans in Congress are trying to sweep under the rug that Donald Trump is trying to sweep under the rug. But we're not. We're going to be covering this live on Tuesday morning. So stay tuned for that. Thanks for Olivia for jumping on and thanks to Alan Cottrell, the sculptor extraordinaire from Ohio did an amazing job. It just seems like he was, if any of you missed this, you got to go back and look because he was saying that they were, the people who were in charge of the statue project were telling him, it's too fat, you got to get rid of the turkey neck. And he had, he literally had to do this. And I read about this and I was like, surely that's not the case. Surely somebody is not reporting this correctly. And I called him. That's exactly what happened. So if you missed it, go back and take a look. But in the meantime, still reporting this time from Palm Beach, I'm Jim Acosta. See you tomorrow morning.