TARA SETMAYER PLUS FORMER TWO OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY WRESTLERS WHO SURVIVED SEXUAL ABUSE TELL THEIR STORY

Summary

The Jim Acosta Show — Episode Summary
Date: February 19, 2026
Episode: TARA SETMAYER PLUS FORMER TWO OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY WRESTLERS WHO SURVIVED SEXUAL ABUSE TELL THEIR STORY

---

Overview

This powerful episode centers on two intertwined themes:

1. The Ripple Effects and Ongoing Cover-ups of Jeffrey Epstein’s Crimes: Jim Acosta and Tara Setmayer delve deep into why the U.S. continues to lack accountability for high-level figures tied to Epstein, contrasting it with recent developments in the UK, such as Prince Andrew's arrest.

2. Survivor Stories and Institutional Accountability: The podcast features candid, moving interviews with Dan Ritchie and Mike Schick, former Ohio State University wrestlers and survivors of sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss. Their testimonies are woven into the broader conversation about abuse, power, and institutional failure—drawing direct parallels with the Epstein saga.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Is There Accountability in Britain, But Not in the U.S.?

[00:05–03:17]

• Prince Andrew has been arrested in Britain for alleged misconduct tied to the Epstein case.
• In the U.S., despite copious evidence and public documentation implicating high-ranking officials, there’s near total impunity, especially under the Trump administration.
• Tara Setmayer notes the visible presence of Trump and his associates in the Epstein files, hinting at why no governmental consequences occur stateside.

Quote [00:39, Tara Setmayer]:
“Donald Trump is all over the Epstein files and his cabinet and people in his orbit are all over the Epstein files in ways that no other administration in any other timeline... would ever get away with. So I wouldn’t hold my breath about Trump’s government... doing anything about it.”

2. The “Epstein Class” and Drip-Feed Disclosure

[03:17–07:03]

• Discussion of the “Epstein Class”—those within the elite and government who have protected or covered up for Epstein and similar predators for decades.
• Consequences for implicated figures (e.g., Larry Summers, Catherine Rummler, Howard Lutnick) are occurring only in the private sector.
• Release of the Epstein files is slow, with government and key institutions resisting full transparency.

Quote [04:54, Jim Acosta]:
"As much as Donald Trump wants to say he’s been exonerated, all the file... can lie her ass off all she wants and keep trying to obfuscate for him, but... In these midterms, people need to think about... are you really going to elect someone... unwilling to do the right thing here?"

3. Parallels to Institutional Abuse: Ohio State and Epstein

[20:15–42:48]

• Jordan and Strauss at Ohio State, Les Wexner’s money and influence, and abuses all reflect similar dynamics: institutional cover-up, denial, and survivor isolation.
• Survivors describe agonizing journeys before coming forward, often facing intimidation or disbelief from the very systems meant to protect them.

Quote [22:41, Dan Ritchie]:
"To be honest, I wasn’t going to come forward... Our teammate Mike DiSavato, the whistleblower, reached out to me... Once that happened... you could just, like, this has just got to be the tip of the iceberg."

• The struggle for justice is ongoing, and survivors feel let down by coaches (specifically, Jim Jordan) and the university while still fighting for acknowledgment and reform.

Quote [41:52, Dan Ritchie]:
"If they want to go five more years, we’ll go five more years... We’re wrestlers, we’re not going to take a knee. We’re going to fight this to the end."

4. The Systemic Pattern: Power, Protection, and the Media

[45:50–59:45]

• The media, particularly corporate media, is criticized for failing to hold power to account—whether in the Trump White House, in Congress, or in the press briefing room.
• Jim and guest Tommy Christopher decry the lack of tough, follow-up questions for the administration—particularly on issues of racism and abuse.
• They argue that excessive self-censorship, corporate fear, and normalization of abnormal behavior are undermining democracy.

Quote [54:25, Jim Acosta]:
"He is a racist, authoritarian, wannabe dictator. And you have to walk in, into that White House press room every day with that in mind, because that’s who he is. And the country’s in a lot of trouble, and we’re counting on them to hold their feet to the fire."

5. Voter Suppression, Authoritarian Drift, and the SAVE Act

[14:02–18:49]

• Tara Setmayer details new efforts to suppress the vote (particularly through the SAVE Act), arguing it’s not ordinary voter ID legislation but a pretense for disenfranchisement, especially targeting women and minority voters.
• Highlights how authoritarian tactics (e.g., planting election-deniers in DHS, threats to filibusters) aim to entrench political power and prevent accountability.

Quote [15:03, Tara Setmayer]:
"This is the Steve Bannon tactic of flooding the zone. Right? Flood the zone. So it’s difficult to keep track of all the ominous shit that they’re doing."

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |:-------------:|:------------------|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:39 | Tara Setmayer | “…Donald Trump is all over the Epstein files and his cabinet…in ways that no other administration…would ever get away with…” | | 04:54 | Jim Acosta | "As much as Donald Trump wants to say he’s been exonerated, all the file…can lie her ass off all she wants…are you really going to elect someone…unwilling to do the right thing here?" | | 09:26 | Tara Setmayer | "There's a connection with him and Lex Wexner…They're both Ohio based companies. And I perked up and I went, holy…" | | 22:41 | Dan Ritchie | "To be honest, I wasn’t going to come forward…Once that happened…I started talking to some of my teammates and getting their stories and you could, you could just, like, this has just got to be the tip of the iceberg." | | 31:42 | Mike Schick | “…unless you were blind and deaf, there’s no way in hell that anybody could go through that building that we practiced at to not listen to the wrestlers in the locker rooms talk about what was going on…” | | 53:54 | Jim Acosta | "...the White House Correspondents association doesn’t do enough to stand up for reporters when they’re abused by Donald Trump…It’s just ripe for the taking. Like, Caroline, what about the birther thing? Wasn’t that racist?...you could have, like, a field day with this…" |

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:05–03:17 — Epstein files and U.S. accountability vs. UK’s response
• 03:17–07:03 — Private sector consequences; slow disclosure of Epstein files
• 07:03–13:18 — The scale of cover-up, international connections, “Epstein Class”
• 14:02–18:49 — Voter suppression, SAVE Act, authoritarian tactics
• 20:15–42:48 — Ohio State survivors: Dan Ritchie & Mike Schick share their stories
• 45:50–53:54 — Media responsibility, White House press accountability discussion
• 53:54–59:45 — Press failures, normalization of extremism/racism, need for media courage

---

Tone and Style

The episode is unflinchingly candid, urgent, and often indignant. Acosta and Setmayer don’t mince words, using robust language and a sense of activist outrage directed at entrenched power, cowardice, and complicity. The survivors are vulnerable, honest, and determined, speaking with raw emotion and perseverance.

---

Summary Flow

• The episode kicks off with outrage over Prince Andrew’s arrest in the UK vs. inertia in the U.S., with Tara Setmayer outlining the political and institutional reasons for American inaction.
• The conversation broadens to the “Epstein Class” and the difficulty of exposing the deep, cross-institutional rot behind enduring abuse and cover-ups.
• The emotional centerpiece is the testimony from Dan Ritchie and Mike Schick, who personify the cost of institutional betrayal and the courage necessary for survivors to challenge it.
• Acosta connects these abuses and cover-ups to analogous issues in the media and politics—especially authoritarian tactics and voter suppression—calling out journalistic failures and the normalization of egregious conduct.
• The episode ends on a call to awareness and action, demanding accountability from both those in power and those covering them.

---

Final Takeaway

This episode is a sobering exposé on systemic rot—within elite circles exposed by Epstein, within revered institutions like Ohio State, and within the American government’s highest echelons. Through stirring survivor testimony and unapologetic commentary, Acosta and guests demand truth, accountability, and vigilance against the forces that enable and obscure abuse. The message is clear: “Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to fear. Hold on to the truth. And hope.”

Transcript

[Tara Setmayer]

Foreign.

[Jim Acosta]

To the Jim Acosta show, it's another day that ends in y and the Epstein gate cover up. Meanwhile, over in Britain, there are real consequences happening. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was taken into custody by authorities in the UK we're not seeing so much of that over here in the U. S. Let's talk about this more with Tara set mere of the Seneca Project. Tara, great to see you as always. I mean, I woke up this morning and I saw the Prince Andrew news and I said, why ain't we seeing that over here? You know, what do you think?

[Tara Setmayer]

Well, we're not seeing it over here because Donald Trump is all over the Epstein files and his cabinet and people in his orbit are all over the Epstein files in ways that no other administration in any other timeline in, in the real world would ever get away with. So I wouldn't hold my breath about Trump's government, the government here doing anything about it, where we are starting to see some consequences in the private sector. So at least there's that. But as long as Donald Trump and his henchmen control the Department of Justice, which, by the way, I don't know if you saw, he put, they put up one of those obnoxious banners of his face on the Department of Justice. I saw that, like, North Korea dictator thing. They did it at the Department of Labor before, too. Now it's over at doj, which is just disgusting. But as long as Pam Bondi and, you know, Cash Patel and those people are in charge of anything, we're not going to see. I, I don't think anything coming from our federal government of, of consequence until we get them out.

[Jim Acosta]

Right. I mean, there are other figures who have had to, you know, withdraw from private and public life. People like Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard. There's Cath, Catherine Rummler, I think is her name.

[Tara Setmayer]

She's in big trouble.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. The former White House counsel for Barack Obama. She's, she's in hot water over at Goldman Sachs. There's a whole slew of folks, but we're not. You're right. I mean, Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, basically acknowledged that he did not tell the full story about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, how he went to the island once with his family. But this kind of stuff doesn't result in any consequences over here. And I, you know, I, to me, and, you know, what happened with Prince Andrew, I think former Prince Andrew is important. I mean, they're saying that he has been basically arrested on suspicions of misconduct in Public office. He. There are accusations that he shared confidential information with Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yep.

[Jim Acosta]

And this is according to the New York Times. So I mean.

[Tara Setmayer]

And that they found that out because of the files.

[Jim Acosta]

Because of the files.

[Tara Setmayer]

Right, because of the files and, you know, people combing through them. And so it's not, it's, it's kind of indirect justice. A little bit on the Prince Andrew part of this because it's actually not about the horrific behavior with him and trafficking women and what, what happened with Virginia Duffrey. It's not that. It's actually they found another way to get them. So it's kind of the Al Capone tax evasion method at this point.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And you. And you've. Your Seneca project, which is about galvanizing women, saving democracy. You guys have put together a video on this. We've. Let's play it. Talk about it.

[Tara Setmayer]

I was recruited in 2004. I was 17 years old. It was full blown sexual abuse.

[Epstein Files Survivor (Voiceover)]

There are a thousand of us.

[Tara Setmayer]

Our voices are real. This was me at 14 years old. I was only 14.

[Epstein Files Survivor (Voiceover)]

The Epstein files are not about loyalty to any one political party.

[Tara Setmayer]

Shame on any elected official who obstructs truth and justice for the American people.

[Jim Acosta]

The President's got the power to release the Epstein file right now. I believe he's trying to protect friends and donors.

[Dan Ritchie]

The massive distraction by the Democrats.

[Jim Acosta]

I am traumatized. I am not stupid.

[Tommy Christopher]

House voted 427 to 1.

[Jim Acosta]

The bill is passed. The whole thing is a hoax. I'm deeply disappointed in this outcome.

[Tara Setmayer]

Jeffrey Epstein was not a pedophile, but he liked 15 year old girls.

[Tommy Christopher]

We want the whole truth to come out.

[Jim Acosta]

Out. Great video. Excellent video when it comes out this kind. And then Trump, Trump the other day is saying he's been exonerated in all this.

[Tara Setmayer]

Right.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, it's insane. He has not been exonerated in all of this. The, the questions have not been answered. He's in there tens of thousands of times.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yep.

[Jim Acosta]

And we don't know what the hell happened. We still don't know what happened.

[Tara Setmayer]

Right. And shout out to Atlas Collective, who we worked with on putting that. And we actually did that back when the Transparency act was first passed and still relevant because even though that passed, we've seen how the, the drip, drip, drip and the fits and starts with releasing the information and it still applies. Like we will never forget who protected predators America is watching. And so actually that video has been submitted for, for Webby consideration this year. So hopefully we'll find out whether it makes the cut or not. But we did submit it, and we'll be doing more because there's so much more now that we have found out from, from those files and what's in it, that this is going to be an ongoing theme for out throughout the year. As much as Donald Trump wants to say he's been exonerated, all the file, you know, Pam, Bonnie can lie her ass off all she wants and keep trying to obfuscate for him, but it's not this. In these midterms, people need to think about, yes, who's going to be best to help with the economy and affordability and health care and all those things. But are you really going to elect someone whose judgment is as bad as people who would protect predators that were unwilling to do the right thing here? I think that that's, that should be a through line through everything. This is an albatross for Donald Trump and his administration, and it should be because it's horrific.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes. And, and we're just beginning to understand the full scope of this. I mean, Les Wexner, the Victoria's Secret magnate, he was testifying before the, he gave a deposition before the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors. The Oversight Committee just released a video of him giving that deposition. He is denied any wrongdoing in Epstein Gate, but over at Ohio State University, they're trying to pull his name off of the buildings over there because he's been a big donor over there. I'm going to be talking about that a little bit later on in the. But I mean, this is just spreading in all different directions.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yes. And the tentacles of this are, are just extensive. It's really quite something. I mean, I think that this is an international cabal of proportions that we have never seen in modern history. I mean, it just the layer upon layer upon layer of the, of Epstein's involvement in things, whether we're talking about potential intelligence assets and the Mossad and Russia and, you know, Ghislaine Maxwell and her father and his questionable ties and

[Jim Acosta]

then whether Epstein committed suicide. I mean, there's.

[Tara Setmayer]

Right. Like, and did you ever think that we would ever question that? We used to be like, people are crazy with that. I don't know. I question if some other of these things. I, I don't know.

[Jim Acosta]

Julie Brown, the leading reporter on the whole thing, questions it. I, you know, to me, it's a question you have to keep.

[Tara Setmayer]

You know, it's true. Julie K. Brown has done intrepid work on this. She really resurrected this story back in 2018 down at the Miami Herald. And Vicky Ward's another Tara Palmieri. Now, like, there are some reporters, all women, by the way, who have done intrepid reporting on this, keeping this relevant because it is, it's bigger than just, oh, you know, it's, it was women being sexually abused and trafficked, like, right. That's, that is horrible. And it should be a serious offense as it is. But it's bigger than that now. And Lex Wexner, can I just say something about this? Okay. So Jim and I, you and I are friends. You know that my husband and I traveled to Sicily over my birthday when I turned 50 this year and for our anniversary back in September. So we were driving all around Sicily and listening to podcasts. We like to listen to like true crime podcasts and business podcasts and stuff like a lot of other people when you're driving around. So my husband loves fashion. And so we were listening to this podcast. It was a British podcast about Abercrombie and Fitch and that whole, like that was another with male models and male like trafficking and like that the head of Abercrombie was a disgusting pig. There's a connection with him and Lex Wexner, like hit. Les Wexner was brought up during that podcast about like, because they're both Ohio based companies. And I perked up and I went, holy. And that, that podcast was, was produced a couple years ago. Like that wasn't now. It was a couple years ago.

[Jim Acosta]

And it, and it brings up the point of the Epstein class. It's called the Epstein class. These rich and powerful people who have been able to shut this thing down for years.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yep.

[Jim Acosta]

And Donald Trump has been part of it. He has been trying to shut this down. He had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And, and, and, and meanwhile, you know, when he's not being drag, kicking and screaming, he's falling asleep at things. I wanted to show you this. He was at the, his Board of Peace. They had a Board of Peace thing today. Yeah, it was.

[Tara Setmayer]

He's all right.

[Jim Acosta]

And he was bored of peace. He was falling asleep at the Board of Peace meeting. But I, I.

[Dan Ritchie]

Implementation of the second phase of the Gaza peace plan.

[Jim Acosta]

This includes ensuring a lasting season. It's hard to stay awake when you're the head of the Board of Peace, I guess. And you know, I, I just want to point out there are 50 countries that were brought together for this. 27 have joined the board. This, according to the Associated Press, other participating countries as well as European Union came as observers, Trump claims that nine board members pledged $7 billion. Yada, yada, yada. Here are the members of the Board of Peace. Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, El Salvador, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait. The list goes on at Saudi Arabia, the uae, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Qatar, Pakistan. These are not exactly like, this is not like the, the leading countries that I think of around the world that are all about peace, right, and prosperity and harmony around the globe.

[Tara Setmayer]

No peace and freedom and rights and democracy. Not exactly the top 10 or top 20, frankly, no. Victor, Victor Orban, who Donald Trump has modeled a lot of his authoritarian behavior after what Victor Orban did in, in Europe and continues to do there. People, they, he laid out the playbook for Donald Trump and so he praised him. Oh, yeah, that's great. Marco Rubio. Oh, yeah, this guy's great. And where's this money going? Exactly? Where, where is this money? Where is this money going? I mean, Trump made, made a lot of comments during this thing when he wasn't sleeping during it that were, again, would have been front page news in any other time. But unfortunately, it's just one of potentially impeachable offenses that he commits per day. So it's just nuts. Like, where's that money going? Why he. People need to remember the Institute of Peace was forcibly taken over, literally forcibly taken over by federal agents last year when the whole Doge debacle was going on.

[Jim Acosta]

And they put his name on it,

[Tara Setmayer]

too, and put his name on it. The Donald Trump Institute of Peace, like it's, it's nuts.

[Jim Acosta]

And meanwhile, he's talking about bombing Iran.

[Tara Setmayer]

Bombing Iran.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, we should just point out that he's now talking about bombing Iran. And the New York Times, you know, put it this way, for a president who ran for office promising to keep the United States out of wars, Trump is now considering what would at least be the seventh American military attack in another country in the past year.

[Tara Setmayer]

In a year.

[Jim Acosta]

Talk about bombing Iran, despite the fact that he said that they decimated the nuclear capabilities of Iran last year. So, you know, Board of Peace piece of crap. I don't, you know, yeah, we're all over the place here. But he's, he can't stay awake. He's falling asleep, you know.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah. I mean, listen, Trump is clearly unwell, not only physically, but mentally. We already know this. The guy is unwell and has been for a long time, and he's deteriorating in front of our eyes. This is the same guy who went after Joe Biden, called him sleepy. Joe Biden and all this. And he's been falling asleep during the day, during work hours, on camera. People are talking to him.

[Jim Acosta]

I don't out there that much. You would think sleep when you're not on camera.

[Tara Setmayer]

Well, he doesn't. Well, he doesn't sleep at night because he's too busy live tweeting or Truth Socialing. Random crazy all night long like an insane person. Yeah, no kidding. Which, by the way, did you hear what. What happened today with that. With Caroline Levitt.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tara Setmayer]

I mean. Or was that yesterday?

[Jim Acosta]

That was yesterday.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yesterday. Right.

[Jim Acosta]

I'm gonna talk about that a little bit later, too, where they just. They're just laughing about it. Yeah.

[Tara Setmayer]

Just. Oh, well, everything he puts on Truth Social is coming directly from the President of the United States. But two weeks ago, when the racist monkey gorilla meme was posted about the Obamas, then it was. Oh, it was a staffer. We didn't know. We're gonna look.

[Jim Acosta]

It was the coffee.

[Tara Setmayer]

Boy, they're so full of. I know. It's. It's. It's like. Yeah, it's laughable. If it weren't so sad.

[Jim Acosta]

I. I know. It's. It's very true. And then you and I were talking about, you know, he's. He's talking about sending people to Georgia again. I. I don't know. This. This sounds ominous. We could play this. It sounds like something that the members of the Board of Peace would do, sending their thugs down to a place where they want to control who's voting. But it's just, you know, I'm really worried about what we're going to see play out over the course of this year. Tara. I think he's desperate. I think he's freaked out about Jeffrey Epstein. I think you're right. He's staying up in the middle of the night and tweeting all kinds of crazy stuff. And then during the day, he can't stay awake. No, I mean, it's. It's a hot. It's a hot damn mess. And they are so terrified of. Of losing their grip on the Congress that they're strong arming senators, like they were strong arming House members of the Epstein files, They're strong arming senators to pass this Save act, to kill the filibuster. Pass the Save act so they can gobble up all the voter rolls.

[Tara Setmayer]

You said a lot. You just said a lot there.

[Jim Acosta]

It's not good.

[Tara Setmayer]

It's not. It's not. And this is the thing again. This is the Steve Bannon tactic of flooding the zone. Right? Flood the zone. So it's difficult to keep track of all the ominous shit that they're doing. And. But they are, they are coming for the elections. We warned about this before. We warned about this in 2024, that this is what they would do if they won again. The last year, they've been planting people inside the Department of Homeland Security who are a bunch of election deniers. There have been stories already written about these people. Like, these are not, these are batshit crazy election deniers. People who were involved in trying to overturn the election in 2020 with the fake elector schemes and all of that. They, There are people currently right now in the Department of Homeland Security working, being paid by taxpayer dollars, working on ways to try to make it more difficult for people to vote or to seize voting machines or whatever the hell fantasy dictator fantasy Donald Trump has. Now, the memo that came out earlier this week from DHS that our friend Carol Lennig over at Ms. Now and her colleagues reported on this whole thing about, you know, sending HSI agents out to Homeland Security Investigations, agents out to investigate voter fraud. Arizona is trying to pass a bill to have federal immigration officers, you know, armed officers at the polls. They are looking to do anything they can to try to intimidate and voter suppress. And what happens in what happened in Georgia was just the beginning. Our good friend Denver Riggleman wrote a whole chapter in his book the Breach about this after he spent time as the technical Advisor on the January 6th committee about trying to, you, you know, these claims of foreign interference, which is why Tulsi Gabbard was involved, that's made up like this is, it's, it's insane. So we have to remain diligent. And the other thing that we warn people about that's also coming to fruition that they need to pay attention to is what in Georgia? Why Georgia? Let's remember in 2021, after January 6th, a bunch of red states started passing these, these voter suppression laws. And Georgia was. Everybody focused in on, you can't hand out water to people online, cookies. Right. Cook and all that. There was another way, more dangerous provision in there which allows for the state to take over the board, the, the County Board of Elections there, right. If there's a, if they vote on it. And the majority of the, of the board, the county Commission, the election commission in Fulton county are MAGA Trumpers. They've been planting the seeds for this for years. So we have to remain diligent. That's why, you know, shining a light on all of this and Paying attention to it is important. And the SAVE act, too, which used to just be about, you know, you need to have proper documentation to vote. Nobody has a problem with that. But now it's evolved over the years where a driver's license isn't good enough anymore. You have to have a birth certificate and. Or a passport, which a lot of people don't have. 69 million women who've changed their names. If they've gotten married or divorced and kept their, you know, married names, people, it's. It's a. Another voter suppression tactic that I think as long as the pressure from the American people stays on, this will not pass the Senate. But that, you know, Seneca project is also getting involved in putting pressure on our senators and making sure people are aware of what this really is. It's not just some voter ID bill. That's. That's it. That's a red herring.

[Jim Acosta]

Exactly. No, Trump wants everybody to think it's about, oh, you just. You just show up with your driver's license and, you know, that's all that this is. No, that.

[Tara Setmayer]

No. It took 10. Look, it took 10 years to implement Real ID.

[Jim Acosta]

Right. If that were the case, they wouldn't need to kill the filibuster to pass it.

[Tara Setmayer]

Correct.

[Jim Acosta]

We'll just pass that piece of legislation.

[Tara Setmayer]

That's right.

[Jim Acosta]

It's because they're trying to, you know, the fix is in, as I like to say. But, Tara, these conversations go too fast. Let's do it again soon. But great to see you, as always.

[Tara Setmayer]

Thank you, Jim.

[Jim Acosta]

Thanks for always bringing it. Good to see you.

[Tara Setmayer]

I appreciate you. See you soon. Bye.

[Jim Acosta]

All right, see you soon. Thanks. And I'm glad Ter and I had this really good conversation about Epstein because I. I want to stay on this subject. As you know, as. As the folks know at home who've been watching this show. You know, we. We've. We are on this like a pit bull on steroids, and we're not gonna. We're not gonna get off of it. And it's important to note that the Epstein file scandal has brought the subject of sexual abuse of minors and young adults and into focus in recent months. It's a story of the rich and powerful assaulting victims whose stories are often ignored by investigators and then covered up by people in powerful positions. It's a pattern. My next guests understand Dan Richie and Mike Schick were wrestlers at Ohio State University. And among the young men at the time who alleged they were sexually abused by their team, Dr. Richard Strauss, who later committed suicide. Well, just this week, Ohio State students and people tied to the university have been demanding that the name of Les Wexner be removed from campus buildings there. Wexner's name has come up in the Epstein files as an alleged co conspirator. He has denied that, apparently did so in a deposition before the House Oversight Committee. That video came out. Other important connections in all of this to talk about. But let's talk about this now with Mike and Dan. Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

[Mike Schick]

Thank you for having us.

[Jim Acosta]

And apologies for the long wind up there. I just. It's. It's. You know, it's a story that I think a lot of people remember because it was in the headlines for. For years, and it was a huge scandal in Ohio. I mean, Ohio State University. It doesn't get bigger than that in the state of Ohio. And. And, Dan, I'll just start with you first. I was just watching the HBO documentary on this, which is phenomenal. You're in it, Mike. You're in it. And your thoughts on. On, you know, how this subject has come back to the forefront, and this issue of sexual abuse of. Of young teenagers and young adults, and.

[Mike Schick]

And.

[Jim Acosta]

And when you hear about Epstein and. And the Epstein story, I mean, I don't want to say you can relate, but it is. It's a subject matter you're familiar with, Dan. To some.

[Mike Schick]

It is. It is. I. I think the. And. And again, I'm. I'm just now finding out the connection between Ohio State and Jeffrey Epstein and how deep that that whole thing went.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Mike Schick]

And I think it talks to. The rot that was going on at Ohio State and how deep it actually went. Now, they are still trying to look into any connection between Dr. Strauss and Wexner. Whether or not they find anything, I. Honestly, I don't know. But the. The. The. The scope and depth that this thing has run over the last eight years is just astounding to me. And the fact that Ohio State continues to downplay it is. It's aggravating to all of us still involved.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And, Mike, can you talk a little bit about. I watched the documentary, was just blown away. Talk about how difficult it was to come forward, because I've done a lot of Epstein segments, and I've even talked to survivors of Epstein, and it's not like survivors just come forward all of a sudden one day willingly, and say, hey, I'd love to tell my story. This is. This is tough. This takes time. This takes guts. Can you talk about that?

[Dan Ritchie]

To be honest, I wasn't going to come forward. I was a John Doe for several months early on, I think In January of 2018, our teammate Mike DiSavato, the whistleblower, reached out to me and just started talking to me about Dr. Strauss and asked me one day if he could interview me and tell my story. And so I did. And I didn't really think anything of it. Once that happened, I started talking to some of my teammates and getting their stories and you could, you could just, like, this has just got to be the tip of the iceberg. And, you know, so we, you know, I went through the next months leading into that July of 2018, and the people that we looked up to, our coaches, the people at Ohio State, they weren't doing anything. Matter of fact, they were not in our court. And I just, given what I had already uncovered with some of my teammates, I had to come forward. I mean, if anything, I was just going to try and bring this out the best I could. And next thing you know, Dan jumps aboard and does it as well as a friend. And so, yeah, it's hard. I mean, this is a personal thing, I mean, to put this out there so everybody knows my business. I mean, heck, we just went in June of last year to New York to go screen the documentary. I had no idea how much I was going to be in it. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I, I thought I was going to be a, you know, a sound bite and I had no idea how much I was going to be in it. And we sat there at HBO's building, you know, on the 20 something floor, watching, watching this. And to be honest with you, I'm sitting next to my son. He was my plus one. And oh, wow, I danced to my right with his plus one, his wife, my son's my plus one to my, my left. And, and I, I probably cried through the, the majority of it. So. Yeah, this hasn't been easy. I mean, I, I, I think we've gotten to the point now where, you know, we've talked about it so much. I mean, what, what more am I scared about? You know, everybody kind of knows it, so.

[Mike Schick]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And, and, and Dan, what about you? How, how was it for you to come forward?

[Mike Schick]

Well, at the beginning, all I could see is, is Mike and a handful of guys talking about this. And I, and I saw what it was doing to some of these guys and I said, I can't sit by and let them be the only ones. I, Mike is my best friend. He is, he is My brother and. And I had to stand with them. I. But the difference is I still live in central Ohio, so I have kids that go to school here, and that was a big decision for me that I had to talk about with my. My wife and my kids. And, you know, God bless her. My wife said, do what you have to do. So it has been. Initially, I was. I was really worried about the backlash that I would get, but I. I've gotten nothing but positive and just people backing us up.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Ritchie]

And the cool. The cool thing is that we have each other as a safety net. You know, if I need to call and talk to somebody, you know, we probably talk four or five times a day. So, I mean, I. We. We have each other. That's. That's been a blessing.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And. And Dan, what about. I mean, since you're in central Ohio, how big of a deal is this Ohio State University connection to Epstein right now there, you know, with Les Wexner? I mean, one of the richest people in Ohio history, you know, testifying before the. Or giving a deposition to the House Oversight Committee. He. He's denied this. His name came up in the Epstein files as an alleged co conspirator. He's denied that. He says that he cut ties. This is a statement. I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide. That's according to Les Wexner. But, I mean, people are so, you know, upset about this. They want his. He's been a big contributor to Ohio State. They want his name off of buildings and so on.

[Mike Schick]

Yeah, he's. I mean, he's given millions to the university. And I know that it's really starting to gain traction here, and people are talking about it a lot more than. Than they have been. And I'm. I'm really curious to see how far this thing goes.

[Tommy Christopher]

But.

[Mike Schick]

And to be. To be honest, I think when it initially came out, my. My main concern is the guys that are dealing with the Ohio State Dr. Strauss situation. So I did not necessarily put a whole lot of effort into finding out what about the less Wexner. But the more I. The more I read, the more I see, you know, they. They've. Ohio State has a lot of explaining to do, and I'm really curious as to see what they. What their next step is, considering what they have done to us over the last eight years. I'm not holding out a whole lot of Hope that they're going to do the right thing, but we'll see.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well, and the other connection that is very peculiar in all of this, just last week, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jim Jordan, presided over a hearing that involved a lot of testimony about the Epstein files. And this was the one with Attorney General Pam Bondi. And we should note, I mean, for folks who are familiar with the story, they'll know this. But for those who don't, I'll point out Jordan was an assistant coach on the Ohio State team when this abuse occurred. And Jordan claims he knew nothing about it, that he did not know what happened. Here's a statement that he made. He told reporters at one time, I've stood up to the FBI. I've stood up to. To the irs. So if I thought there was something wrong, if I knew there was something wrong happening, I would have stood up for them. There was no truth to the fact that I knew of any abuse. This is Jim Jordan, what he said in the past. Mike, your reaction to that?

[Dan Ritchie]

Well, if you go back to that, can you put that last quote back up?

[Jim Acosta]

Sure, yeah.

[Dan Ritchie]

I mean, it says it was one part of it. I've stood up to the irs. I've stood up to all these people. Well, why didn't you make your way to Ohio as part of the deposition that happened yesterday? You know, I. You know, we. We want to uncover what, you know, I haven't. I'm not going to sit here and say that I know every fact about the Epstein thing or Wexner thing, but, you know, you have two of the survivors of Wexner or Epstein, Virginia Giuffre and Maria Farmer. I mean, they both are on record in depositions saying that they were sex trafficked or sexually abused at Wexner's home. I mean, if that's not enough to, you know, depose somebody like Wexner to find out, you know, the, you know, more knowledge about what's going on, I don't know what is, but, you know, I look at Jim, you know, he was our coach for five years, and then I stayed on as another. Another three years as a volunteer coach. So I. I was there for a year with Jim, so six years. And, you know, and then, to be honest, I sat through his deposition. You know, I got to sit in on that. And it's just heartbreaking when you sit across from somebody that you spent so much time in your youth, you know, answering the way he was answering when, you know, a lot of it was not in my. In my Perspective accurate. So it's, it's sad. It really is. And, you know, we, we've been sitting here fighting for the last eight years to get accountability, and he's sitting in a position right now where he could be helping us. You know, there's not one person that he's reached out to, and this isn't about Jim Jordan, but there's not one person he's reached out to that, you know, hey, what can I do to help? What? You know, it's always about covering, covering himself and not, you know, reaching out to find out what he could do. I mean, who, who's to say that him being there at the deposition and like, I'm gonna go and rally to be there for my guys, I want to find out information about all this stuff for my guys. I mean, he was a coach. He was a coach. Why, why wouldn't, why couldn't you do that? Yeah, you know, I mean, I, I, I mean, I don't know. It's sad. It just really is. And for me, this whole thing, you know, for the last eight years with me, I mean, betrayal in so many ways with, you know, the, the key people that were a part of my life and the university, so. Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And is that how you feel as well, Dan?

[Mike Schick]

I, honestly, I, Mike's volume, I, I couldn't hear him. But I will, I will say that over the, the, the four years that I was there, unless you were blind and deaf, there's no way in hell that anybody could go through that building that we practiced at to not listen to the wrestlers in the, in the locker rooms talk about what was going on in there. So to say that Jim Jordan didn't know anything, I've said it before. I, I, I, It's a, it's a lie.

[Jim Acosta]

And, and Dan, why do you think that is the case? Why hasn't he done more? Why, why didn't he stand behind you guys and, and fight for the truth the way he says he, he fought against the FBI and the IRS and all the other things?

[Mike Schick]

Well, to be honest with you, I think initially this was way back when he was considered for speaker of the House. And I think any kind of scandal or hint at a scandal or any kind of black mark on him might, he might have thought that that would cost him that position. And he took the position that he didn't know anything. And maybe at some point he's thinking to himself, this is going to die down. Nothing's going to come of this. It's been so long. But you Know, and I tell people this all the time. We're wrestlers, we're not going to take a knee. We're going to fight this to the, to the end. So to think that he would just think that this is going to just die down. I think he sorely misjudged it.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, yeah. And, and Mike, can we talk about the broader issue of, of what young men and, and teenage boys go through when they are sexually abused? Because it's, it's one of those subjects that just does not get talked about really at all. And I, I, when I looked at the documentary, the, the picture that they paint, the circumstances that are laid out, is that you guys would line up for physical exams. Dr. Strauss, the team physician, the athletics program physician, would abuse the guys. And then the guys just didn't know what to do about it and they walked out and just like looked at each other and didn't know what to do about it. I mean, that's how it's described in the documentary. I can't imagine what that was like, the torment, what you must have gone through over the years trying to just like, how do I deal with this? What, what, and what it does to young men and teenage boys who go through this.

[Dan Ritchie]

Yeah, I, I'm trying to uncover just how deep it's affected me, you know, over my time. I mean, a lot of things that have come about in my life, I mean, trust is a big issue with me. I mean, and you know, did that stem from what happened to us back at Ohio State? I'm sure it does on many levels. So I mean, I look back at, you know, you're an 18 year old kid just finishing high school and you're ready to go spread your wings in. I mean, I'm from a small little community down here in Florida with a conservative mom and dad and you know, they send me off to a University that's what 60,000 students, faculty and staff. And the university is like a city, you know, and then you, you, you, you start putting your trust in all these people that, you know they're going to protect you and do, do what is in your best interest. And you know, all of a sudden you're thrust into, you know, getting exposed to a doctor that was doing what he was doing. It's like, whoa, you know, and you know, you, you, you kind of, I'm in my 50s now, so I have a little bit more wits about me to kind of look back on how I operated. But you know, as an 18 year old kid back in the, you know, the 80s, it's a little different than what we are, you know, dealing with today. I mean, you got so much social media stuff. I mean, we didn't have that. I mean, we didn't know about stuff. And so, you know, I was learning as I was going. I got put into an environment that, you know, I was as naive to the world as anybody could be.

[Jim Acosta]

And there was no Internet where you could go and say, let me research this. Yeah.

[Dan Ritchie]

I mean, I had maybe 20 Encyclopedia Britannicas to do my homework. You know, I didn't have the Internet. I didn't have any of that. And so, you know, you get. You get put in a position where. And I was on a full scholarship. Dan was on a full scholarship. We ended up, you know, we just get in line, do. Do it, do what you're told. And I'm no different than anybody else, if people don't realize this already. But there's, what, 17 different sports and hundreds and hundreds of other athletes. We all. We all ended up kind of operating in the same fashion. I mean, we. We. It was. I mean, so it wasn't out of the. What I did wasn't out of the ordinary. I mean, the way I handled it. I mean, we all kind of, you know, just. We didn't want to be that guy that was going to sit there and. And talk about it, but we teased about it, and it's just what we

[Jim Acosta]

did in the locker room.

[Dan Ritchie]

And we were. We were in a locker room that was just so small, and you got 35, 40 of us in there, and we were all on a fishbowl, and we all knew our stuff. Everybody knew everybody's stuff. So, you know, to deal with it like we dealt with it was just. It was just normal, you know?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And Dan, you know, Mike, talking about how big of a deal Ohio State University was back in those days, 60,000 students in the 80s. I mean, that is a. That is a big place. And, I mean, I've been to Ohio lots of times for my reporting, and it's the king of Ohio. I mean, there's just no way around it. And I just can't imagine going up an institute up against an institution like that. I mean, I did see that was it back in 2019. The President of Ohio State did step down as a result of this scandal. But, I mean, it. It sounds like this took years and years and years of trying to get the truth out.

[Mike Schick]

Yeah. To put it in context, it's about twice the size of the town that I grew up in. So when. When you have some Midwest kid coming to a university like this, it's very, very intimidating. And I think being put in position, in the position that we were with Dr. Strauss, like you said, you know, you go into these situations, like, I don't even know what just happened. You know, when you walk out of there and you look at it from the. From the time it starts till the time that you make a decision to. Or I made a decision to leave the team, it just kept getting worse, gradually worse and worse and worse until the point where, like, I. I can't do this anymore. And, you know, you. You. You put all your. Your dreams, all your desires in the back burner just to save your own sanity. And when you don't have the support or the support that you think you should have from your coaches, whether it's Jordan or Helen or. Or anybody else, you know, you feel like you're out on an island all by yourself and you have your. You have your buddies. And look, when. When we were dealing with this, the best way that we figured out that we could deal with it, we make jokes about it to each other, but deep down, you're thinking, this. This isn't right. And you just try to keep moving forward and, you know, worry about the next time you have to go see Dr. Strauss about something.

[Dan Ritchie]

Yeah, but we're. But we're doing that in the midst of. We're at a Division 1 school trying to work our way to be a national champion. I mean, that's what we went to school for, you know, I mean, to. So. To try to navigate that while you're trying to, you know, chase your dreams. It's like. It ain't easy.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Dan Ritchie]

You know.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, I. I will say, while you were both speaking, a subscriber comment. We put that up just a few moments ago, saying that young men need role models like you both. You, Dan, and you, Mike. So what you're doing now, I mean, maybe your coaches weren't the best role models for you when you needed them, but it sounds like from what we're hearing from our audience, you know, I think that that's a potential thing that. That you can do, you know, in showing leadership to young men coming up in sports today, because I'm sure it's. It's an issue that's still a problem in sports. I have to think it's a problem in collegiate sports today.

[Mike Schick]

Yeah,

[Dan Ritchie]

I'm a coach. I'm a coach down here in Florida. I've been a coach for a while. Now and, you know, if you, if you watch the end of the documentary, they have me in the wrestling room with my athletes and they talk about I had the, you know, when I took over the job, I ended up putting the word integrity up on the wall. And it meant everything to me. I mean, my, my, my dad preached it to me, to be honest with you. Coach Helixon preached it to me. And, you know, it was important, so I put that on my wall. But it's like that was a big reason why I ended up coming forward because there were so many people that, you know, they were lacking in that department and, but, you know, you sit there and try to influence kids in a way that, you know is going to do better, if that makes sense.

[Jim Acosta]

Absolutely. Any final thoughts from you, Dan?

[Mike Schick]

You know, we've been, we've been doing this battle for about eight years now, and one thing that Mike had said in the documentary, if they, they want to go five more years, we'll go five more years. You know, we, we're. We are. We've been tested again and again with this, and I don't think there's many of us who are gonna, like I said before, take a knee to it. So we're in it for the long haul, regardless of what happens.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well, guys, I'm, I'm impressed and I think the, the leadership you're showing and taking this on is, is gutsy and really appreciate you taking the time for us. It's, it's, it's very relevant now, for sure. I mean, you know, this is a subject that is now in everybody's faces, and it's, it's really important that you did this today. So thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Dan Ritchie and Michael Schick, guys, great having you on. Thank you so much.

[Tommy Christopher]

Thank you.

[Mike Schick]

Thank you, Jim. Appreciate it.

[Jim Acosta]

Please stay in touch. We'll stay in touch. Thank you so much. And, you know, I, I think that, you know, the, the lessons that can be drawn from their story, which happened in Ohio at Ohio State University, and you take the lessons that they've learned over the years. You take the lessons that we've all learned from, from the Epstein files saga. It is about people in power, people who are supposed to be in leadership positions acting responsibly, responding to horrific abuses and doing it in a responsible way. And the pattern that it seems to me that I, I'm seeing and listening to, to those two gentlemen and, and after covering the Epstein files for as long as we have, is that it, it takes a lot of guts. It takes a lot of courage on the part of survivors to come forward and insist on accountability. And that's it. At the end of the day, it's about accountability. Look what took place just today over in, in the uk, in Britain, with the former Prince Andrew being arrested, being brought into custody and brought in for questioning about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. And I think the question has to be asked, why is there no accountability here in the United States? There's no, there's no sense of accountability. There's no sense that. That justice is coming. It may be a long fight, a long struggle, like the conversation we just had a few moments ago. It takes years, but it has taken way too long for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to get any sense of accountability and justice. They're just fighting to get the truth out at this point. And, and, you know, to me, it's, it's one of the reasons why Donald Trump is running scared right now. It's one of the reasons why he's throwing out distraction after distraction. He's now talking about bombing Iran. He's got this cockamamie board of peace that's composed of countries that are pretty much not about peace, I think that's safe to say. And, you know, I think one of the reasons why we saw the crazy racist tweet from Donald Trump a couple of weeks ago was probably yet another distraction. He wants to distract his base with these crazy conspiracy theories about election fraud that have never been proven. And, and, and he obviously likes to chum the waters with a lot of race baiting. He has done this over the years, over and over again. Let's talk about this with Tommy Christopher from Mediaite. Our old friend Tommy's here. And Tommy, great to see you as always, man. The subject of the race, the racist tweet came up in the, in the press briefing at the White House, our old stomping grounds, and it was not one of the finer moments over there.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah, you know, I really, I've been writing about this all day and thinking about it. I really did want to get sort of your take on this because, by the way, I blew it. I was trying to make a joke about. Today's my birthday.

[Jim Acosta]

Happy birthday.

[Tommy Christopher]

So I don't know.

[Jim Acosta]

That's all right. So don't put my age.

[Tommy Christopher]

Here's the thing.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I know. Right?

[Mike Schick]

Yeah.

[Tommy Christopher]

So here's the. You know, when I saw this happen yesterday, you were the first person I thought of because, you know, Jim and I all, we both sat in that room. And we both know the people that are in that room. And, you know, things have changed a lot. And so I immediately thought of you when I saw this. I. I don't know. I think you saw the clip.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. You have it. Show it.

[Tara Setmayer]

Democrats.

[Dan Ritchie]

It was always my pleasure to help

[Tommy Christopher]

Jesse along the way. Go ahead.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay. Where or when does the president believe

[Tommy Christopher]

he's been falsely called racist?

[Epstein Files Survivor (Voiceover)]

You're kidding, right? I will pull you plethora of examples. I'm going to get my team in that room to start going through the Internet of radical Democrats throughout the years, Ed, who have accused this president falsely of being a racist. And I'm sure there's many people in this room and on network television across the country who. Who have accused him of the same. In fact, I know that because I've seen it with my own eyes. And the president very much looks forward to having a event later this afternoon at 3pm to celebrate black History Month and to talk about how his policies are advancing opportunity and prosperity for all.

[Jim Acosta]

They were. They were laughing there in the briefing room. And then what she said was laughable. But. Go ahead, Tommy. Right.

[Mike Schick]

So.

[Tommy Christopher]

Well, this is the thing, and I've been. I've sort of been dying to get your take on it, but before I. Before I ask you for it, I just want to point out that Ed o' Keefe is a guy that I have pounded over the years because of the way that he used to go after Biden, and not in ways that I was considered to be in good faith. I don't think Ed o' Keefe was, like, biased against Joe Biden or whatever. I just think Ed o' Keefe is one of those guys that we all know who just sort of takes the shot that's going to get a reaction, you know, and so he.

[Jim Acosta]

I like. Eddie's a good fighter. I know what you mean.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I'm not trying to crap on it. I'm just trying to say I don't think Ed is some kind of lunatic liberal. Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tommy Christopher]

And yet did a great job there. And I think Ed phrased that question perfectly when he said, when does the President think he has been falsely accused of racism? He asked for those examples. And I don't want to coach you, so I just want to note that. And I also want to note that after that moment came out, the Trump war room, which is an official Trump account, posted a tweet from Ed O' Keefe calling Trump out for these racist tweets from 2019. As if that was some kind of an own on Ed o'. Keefe. Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tommy Christopher]

And I wrote a column today, I think you saw it, in which I pointed out that those racist tweets that Ed o' Keefe called out were also called out by like half a dozen Republicans at the time.

[Jim Acosta]

Right. Yeah.

[Tommy Christopher]

And so, you know, it isn't.

[Jim Acosta]

There's a bit. The bigger story here though, Tommy, is that, and maybe it's not the biggest story is that, and correct me if I'm wrong, were there other reporters in the room after Ed asked this question who followed up and said.

[Tommy Christopher]

Right, exactly.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, there are plenty of times when Donald Trump has behaved like a racist. Give me a break. He is a racist. You know, there's the birther conspiracy. You know, I mean, there's, the list goes on and on. This is one of the problems that I have with the White House press corps these days. Like it, it ain't that hard to just follow up on your colleague's question.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah, right. And so I think that's the angle that that sort of you and I can, can agree on and sort of, you know, it really hits home because, you know, I mean, we, there was, there were times, it's rare, but there have been times when, when reporters have teamed up and, and try to get an answer when, when somebody would certainly happened under Obama. And yet, yeah, nobody in that room. Not only that, but I don't, I wish that I could have seen who the chimpanzees were that were laughing at that because, you know, it's hard to tell anymore because there are so many like MAGA propagandists populate that room and there were a lot of laughs and that's probably who it came from. But, but no one was there to speak up and say, okay, but you know what? You didn't name one that was false or why it was false. Which one do you think was false?

[Jim Acosta]

And well, part of the reason why is, I mean. Go ahead.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah, well, that disturbed me in fact, that you know, not one of the, the only network that, that that reported on the exchange was Fox News, CNN, CNN didn't. Ms. Now for some reason didn't. And you know, the only outlets that ran with it online were right wing outlets. As if like this was a big, like her quip. Are you kidding me? Was some kind of a big owner.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and this just in, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, she did not name a situation where Trump was falsely accused of being racist. Right. I mean she just right she just

[Tommy Christopher]

said, all of them.

[Jim Acosta]

My staff will look into it. Yeah, I mean, Caroline is the latest and long line of, of gullible, you know, in over their head, incompetent fools to be a White House press secretary under Donald Trump. And they, they just go out there and make a fool out of themselves, and they, they just, I, I assume they're going to regret it later in life, but you go from Sean Spicer lying about the crowd size for Donald Trump's inauguration to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was revealed in, in the Mueller case to have been in his investigation, to have lied to the White House press. That was the thing that came up during the Mueller investigation. You have Kayleigh McEnany and all of the times she lied and was. And then she came out that one day after January 6th where it looked like the real Kayleigh McEnany finally showed up in the White House briefing room. And all of a sudden she was like, she was just as mortified as everybody else, at least for, like, a brief, fleeting moment. And now we have Caroline Levitt, who used to work in the White House press office for the, For Donald Trump during the first administration. And I think her claim to fame at that, at that time was that at one point, she insulted Leslie Stahl or something and said, well, how, you know, who's Leslie Stahl? Or something like that. And all of us in the White House press corps are like, okay, well, that just tells you everything you need to know about Caroline Levitt. She has no idea what she's talking about. She doesn't know anything about Leslie Stahl. Get out of here. And I mean, it just seems to me, Tommy, what we have right now is we have a White House press corps that is not really functioning at the moment. There are individual reporters in there who do a really nice job, but the White House Correspondents association doesn't do enough to stand up for reporters when they're abused by Donald Trump. And I'm sorry, it's just so. It's just ripe for the taking. Like, Caroline, what about the birther thing? Yeah, wasn't that racist? And just go through all of them. There have been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. And I mean, you know, saying he wants a Muslim band. I mean, you know, it just. There's, there's. I mean, you could have, like, a field day with this. And to me, it just seems like they have been ground down to the point. The White House press outlets in Washington have just been beaten down to the point where they've Just raised the white flag. And it's.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah, I'll tell you what, you know, and I hate them. I don't like to name names, but I do, you know, like, there was one reporter. I don't want to name him. But before this exchange was sort of like, jokey, jokey joking around with her. And like, you know, it's like, I, I just, I don't know. It really bugs me.

[Jim Acosta]

And she says or be or, or take lightly anything that they do when they ban the Associated Press from the White House press pool.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, when they go after news organizations the way that they have, you know, Trump still calls the press the enemy and all these other things, you know, to me, you know, you have to treat him for who he is. He is a racist, authoritarian, wannabe dictator. And you have to walk in, into that White House press room every day with that in mind, because that's who he is. And the country's in a lot of trouble, and we're counting on them to hold their feet to the fire. That's why you're there. That's your job. That's it.

[Tommy Christopher]

And here's the. This is the other thing. Like, you can, I mean, they, They've made racism into such a matter of opinion that it's almost, you know, like they can explain anything away or they can try, but, but, but there's, there's a factual basis for what she said that is just nakedly false, which was. She said that people who have accused Trump of racism are all of these radical Democrats, and that's just not the case. Like, just last week, it was Tim Scott, and over the years, it has been Republican after Republican people who, you know, in my column today, I pointed out that J.D. vance called him America's Hitler.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right. I mean, I don't know why Donald Trump has a problem with being called Hitler. His own vice president once wondered if he was America's Hitler. I mean, the other thing, Tommy, is, is that Caroline Levitt sat at that said at that briefing, if I'm not mistaken, that, you know, that Donald Trump is the one who is behind those truth socials. If it's a truth social post, it's from Donald Trump. She said this in the briefing.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

Despite the fact that two weeks ago, they said, well, first she said, oh, get rid of this fake outrage over the racist tweet of the Obamas portrayed as apes. But then that did. That didn't work. That explanation, that comment didn't work. And they had to concoct this Lie that some staffer did it.

[Tommy Christopher]

Absolutely.

[Jim Acosta]

Which is absolute. Horeshit. There's no question about it. That is Horeshit. And so how does that square with what she said yesterday, that if it's a post from Donald Trump on Truth Social, it's from Donald Trump? Yeah. I mean, help me out here.

[Tommy Christopher]

I don't know. Make it make sense.

[Jim Acosta]

Make it make sense. But I, you know, I'm glad that you wrote the piece on Mediaite and people should go check it out. But it just seems to me there are good people in there. And I know we don't want to paint with too broad of a brush because there are people who are doing a fine job over there, but they're not. People need to understand this. They're not being sent in to that briefing room or into the Oval Office with the full backing of their news organizations. By and large, the news organizations, the corporate news organizations, are petrified of pissing him off these days. And they're threatened on a regular basis by his people. And they're just nervous Nellies behind the scenes. And when your executives and bosses are nervous Nellies behind the scenes, that makes reporters who go in there self edit, self censor, not be as tough, be worried about the consequences. Will I keep my job? Will I get that anchor gig that's coming up next? Is my career going to be on the line if I ask the wrong question? All of that should go out the window when you're dealing with the person who's the most powerful person in the world in the United States of America. That's my view.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah. Speaking of which, you know, I checked, and Ed o' Keefe put the guy who asked a really great question. I can't praise him enough for that question.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tommy Christopher]

His own network did not run the exchange on the CBS Evening News. I wonder why.

[Jim Acosta]

I wonder why. They're too busy saluting Marco Rubio. They're too busy, you know, both sides in January 6th. You know, I mean, Barry Weiss, you know, Anderson Cooper just left 60 minutes, you know, heck of a job, Barry. You know, heck of a job.

[Tommy Christopher]

When you, when you think about it that way, you have to sort of get. You have to sort of give Ed o' Keefe props. And I want to. Also, one other thing. I know you probably got to get going, but, you know, at one point that gets missed in all this. I can't believe that none of the networks ran with that exchange with Caroline Levitt. But the fact is that the question that Ed asked, the excellent question that Ed asked was based on this true social post that Trump made about Jesse Jackson that was just like berserk and crazy and nuts. And if any other president had done a statement like that, it would have been, I mean, like a, a two week story. And then he would have been talking 25th Amendment.

[Jim Acosta]

And his statement about Jesse Jackson was disgusting. His statement about Jesse Jackson was disgusting. Jesse Jackson is a civil rights pioneer. He delivered the Keep Hope alive speech that will be remembered for all eternity. And Donald Trump, because he is losing his mind and losing his grip on reality, put out a crazy, race baiting, insensitive post about somebody who had just passed away. And he does this, did it with Rob Reiner. In what world does a president of the United States put out crazy, insensitive posts in memory of somebody who just passed away and is beloved by millions of Americans?

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And it only happens if you're batshit crazy. That's it.

[Tommy Christopher]

Yeah. And that's the thing. And it got nothing. And you know, it's like everybody's just get. Getting used to it now.

[Jim Acosta]

Everybody's whistling past the graveyard. Everybody's whistling past the graveyard and just hoping and praying that we can just all get through this. And it ain't a good bet, ladies and gentlemen. It ain't a good bet. You better. It's time to put the big boy pants on for all the big boy and big girls in Washington, D.C. they got to put their big boy and big girl pants on and come to this with the seriousness that this moment requires. Because to me, that is not what's happening. And the public is so frustrated and so pissed that they're. They come here to get their news. They come to independent media to get their news because they're like, I can't watch it. If the anchor of the CBS Evening News is going to say, we salute you, Marco Rubio. They're just not gonna watch Wake the up.

[Tommy Christopher]

Well, you know, we got to get you back in there, Jim.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, I've thought about it. I don't want to blow up the whole world, but I, I'm not sure I'll get in there.

[Mike Schick]

But.

[Jim Acosta]

Tommy, great to see you, man.

[Tommy Christopher]

Great to see you too, Jim. Thanks for having me.

[Jim Acosta]

It's good to see.

[Tommy Christopher]

Thank you.

[Jim Acosta]

Thanks a lot.

[Mike Schick]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Good to see you, man. Thanks. I can't go without showing this. Speaking of batshit crazy presidential things, they put his mural up on the Department of Justice. I just, I wanted to show this before we go. Insane dictator, as one of my producers put it. And it is insane dictator. This Is. I mean, and I know sometimes like, oh, Jim, I get the comments. You're cursing again. Do you. Must you curse and say the F word and the S word and the GD word and all the. Yes. This is goddamn crazy. And it's totally not dictator behavior. It's totally, totally normal for the President of the United States to put his name and his picture on every federal building in Washington, D.C. it's. That's just totally normal. And I just have to ask the question, at what point is somebody in a position of authority in Washington, D.C. gonna say boo about this and say something about this? Well, one of the networks. Please end your newscast by saying, why is the President putting his face and his name on all of these buildings? Isn't that nuts? Isn't that cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs? Isn't that One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest? Yes, it is. This is not North Korea. Donald Trump is not Kim Jong Un, ladies and gentlemen. There are midterm elections, what, eight or nine months away. His ass is on the line. His party's asses are on the line. That's how democracy works. That's how we do things in this country, at least for now. But he is acting as if all of that is not going to occur. He is acting as though he's staying and that his party is staying in power no matter what. And people better start waking up. I don't know how many signs and how many pictures of himself and how many times he has to name things after himself around Washington D.C. before this town gets the memo, gets the message that this president is out of control and, as I've said many times, probably out of his mind. I want to thank everybody for tuning in today. My thanks to Tara Setmayer for joining me. My thanks to Dan Ritchie and Mike Schick for their courage and coming forward and talking about the abuse that they suffered at Ohio State University. I'm really proud of putting that interview together. And I want to thank my whole team and, and everybody involved in that story for bringing that to you. I think it's. It's extremely important we're going to stay on this subject, folks. I know it's not the most comfortable subject, but it's something that we have to talk about if we're going to get better as a society. And my thanks, as always, to my fellow prankster, Tommy Christopher. He always gets me riled up. And he did it yet again. But it's his birthday, so he deserves it. And my thanks to all of you for watching Independent Media Matters. Make sure you, like, subscribe, share, share all of the things. It matters. It helps us. It keeps the lights on, keeps this thing going. Do you really just want to be left with corporate media? Do you really just want to be left with legacy media and all of the things that they're doing right now? Or should we have some independent voices out there? It seems to be that might make a difference, but in the meantime, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you next time.