Trump Creates Slush Fund for Jan. 6 Criminals. My Discussion with Adam Kinzinger and Colorado Sec. of State. Plus Epstein Survivor Jess Michaels

Summary

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The Jim Acosta Show – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Trump Creates Slush Fund for Jan. 6 Criminals. My Discussion with Adam Kinzinger and Colorado Sec. of State. Plus Epstein Survivor Jess Michaels
Date: May 18, 2026
Host: Jim Acosta

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Overview

This episode exposes the latest efforts by Donald Trump and his administration to undermine American democracy. Jim Acosta analyzes two breaking stories: (1) the Department of Justice’s creation of a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund for January 6th rioters and Trump allies, and (2) the pressured commutation of the sentence of Colorado election official and conspiracy theorist Tina Peters. Interviews with Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, and Epstein survivor Jess Michaels underscore the deepening threats to democratic norms and the ongoing struggle for accountability.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. Colorado: Tina Peters’ Commuted Sentence and Trump Pressure

[00:05–15:23]

Tina Peters Saga

• Context: Tina Peters, former county clerk, was convicted for breaching election security in pursuit of the “big lie” about the 2020 election.
• Trump’s Influence: Trump and his allies lobbied for her release; Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence under pressure.
• Jenna Griswold’s Response:
  • Peters’ actions “a gross injustice…a very dark day for American democracy.” [01:18]
  • “She arranged to steal passwords... let someone else into voting equipment…compromising it…She was in a position of trust and…faced a trial and was sentenced to nine years.” [02:21]
  • On the governor’s rationale: even if the sentence was long, “an election denier should get no special treatment…granting this clemency sends the wrong message…it emboldens this lawless president…It really undermines our work as election officials in Colorado.” [04:15]
  • The governor avoided direct dialogue; Griswold was notified only 45 minutes before the clemency was announced. [06:43]
• Wider Consequences: Sets precedent that state accountability for undermining elections can be overruled by political pressure, risking further lawlessness.

Notable Quotes

• “No one has jeopardized and hurt our elections more than Tina Peters.” –Jenna Griswold [05:54]
• “If [Trump] pushes hard enough, even blue states may bow down.” –Jenna Griswold [04:32]

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2. Ongoing Election Lies & Data Grabs

[07:41–14:47]

• Disinformation Continues: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claims ongoing investigations in multiple states, alleging hidden evidence of fraud – unsupported by fact.

  • “There’s a ton of evidence the election was rigged…very good at hiding misconduct…” –Todd Blanche [08:26]
  • Griswold: “Why has it taken so long to prove this? …Because it didn’t happen.” [09:28]

• Federal Attack on Election Integrity:

  • Trump’s executive orders seek sweeping voter data.
  • DOJ suing secretaries like Griswold for not handing it over.
  • “What would they do with that data? …try to suppress the vote…push out disinformation, purge voters…” –Jenna Griswold [10:36]
  • State resistance is strong, but pressure mounts.

• New DOJ “Slush Fund”: $1.776 billion fund labeled “anti-weaponization,” intended to provide payouts to January 6th rioters and other Trump-aligned individuals, sends “clear message: If you break the law for President Trump, he will fight to get you off…you might even get a payout.” [13:13]

Notable Quotes

• “I am highly optimistic we will stop this potential fascist power grab…but it means having fighters in office right now.” –Jenna Griswold [13:18]
• “Our right to vote in America is in jeopardy right now.” –Jim Acosta [41:55]

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3. Adam Kinzinger on “Banana Republic Stuff” and GOP Complicity

[15:24–31:15]

DOJ Fund & Congressional Silence

• Kinzinger decries Republican support and silence as “humiliation spectacle” and “appalling.”

  • “Donald Trump, as he does because he’s a complete grifting snowflake, decides to sue for $10 billion…It’s egregious, appalling stuff.” –Adam Kinzinger [17:11]
  • “Every insurrectionist, besides a pardon, is now going to get about a one million dollar payout…Donald Trump gets to pick who sits on the board…They don’t have to be accountable for who it went to…” [18:22]

• Hypocrisy and GOP Submission:

  • GOP leaders embrace pro-Trump hypocrisy as badge of loyalty.
  • “The hypocrisy is actually the point. They love being hypocritical because it’s a tattoo of their allegiance.” –Adam Kinzinger [20:22]
  • “These guys have lost their ever living minds.” [21:33]

• Corruption & Autocracy:

  • Trump’s “day trading” in companies before government deals: “He’s like day trading for Mar A Lago.” [21:37]
  • DOJ fund creates “a taxpayer-financed goon squad.”

Potential for Electoral Chaos

• Fear that a close midterm could allow Congress (led by Speaker Johnson or others) to refuse to seat new members, dragging out results and fostering uncertainty.

  • “If it’s close, let’s say it’s down to a couple seats or whatever…the speaker could come out and say, ‘we don’t recognize that win’…” [27:08]

• Need for overhwelming voter turnout to thwart anti-democratic maneuvers.

  • “It’s got to be a Democratic blowout…if it’s close, they could seize ballot boxes, intimidation tactics—they will try everything.” –Adam Kinzinger [26:55]

Tina Peters’ Pardon

• Kinzinger strongly condemns Gov. Polis:
  • “Jared Polis, hang your head in shame…Tina Peters was put in jail because she tried…to allow Mike Lindell into the election system…[Polis] capitulated to the pressure.” [29:41]
  • “It’s bad enough to have one party that is anti-democracy. If we have members of [both], then we can just sign this away.” –Adam Kinzinger [29:50]

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4. Epstein Files Marathon Reading & Survivor Advocacy

[31:16–41:39]

24-Hour Public Reading—Keeping Accountability Alive

• Live coverage of the “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room” in Tribeca, NYC, a public 24-hour reading of Epstein files.

  • Intended to keep the story in headlines despite government attempts to suppress or slow-walk release of documents.
  • Visual power: “It really hits you hard…The DOJ wouldn't have spent millions of dollars and millions of man hours for nothing…” –Jess Michaels [34:18]

• Survivors’ Role:

  • Survivors, including Jess Michaels, led the first hour of readings, sharing stories and investigative leads that have been neglected.
  • A vigil with 1,400 candles for known victims, an area to call DOJ directly.
  • “You can't even comprehend it from a video…Standing in here and looking at the volumes of pages is very overwhelming in the best and worst way.” –Jess Michaels [36:52]

• Media Inattention & DOJ Stalling:

  • Congressional hearings with survivors received minimal national media attention.
  • DOJ is 150 days overdue in releasing files as mandated.
  • “I have not even seen that in the news…The DOJ won’t even name names.” –Jess Michaels [39:17, 40:06]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “If you break the law for President Trump, he will fight to get you off. And, hey, you might even get a payout. It’s corruption in the clearest way possible.” –Jenna Griswold [13:13]
• “The hypocrisy is actually the point. They love being hypocritical because it’s a tattoo of their allegiance.” –Adam Kinzinger [20:22]
• “We have to keep our eyes on the prize, folks…Our right to vote in America is in jeopardy.” –Jim Acosta [41:55]
• “Tina Peters was put in jail because she tried…to allow Mike Lindell into the election system…[Polis] capitulated to the pressure...” –Adam Kinzinger [29:41]
• “The DOJ wouldn’t have spent millions of dollars and millions of man hours for nothing…there are as we’ve said, millions of files…” –Jess Michaels [34:18]

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Critical Timestamps

• [00:05–15:23] — Interview with Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold: Tina Peters release, Trump pressure, and the threat to elections.
• [15:24–31:15] — Adam Kinzinger: DOJ slush fund, Congressional complicity, GOP hypocrisy, electoral chaos warnings.
• [31:16–41:39] — Jess Michaels & Tara Palmeri: Epstein files reading room, survivor advocacy, government foot-dragging.
• [41:40–End] — Jim Acosta closing commentary: Defending the Vote series, polling on Iran, Trump’s ongoing distractions, and renewed call to action for democracy.

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Tone & Style

Jim Acosta and his guests speak with urgency, frustration, and a sense of grim humor about the “banana republic” events of the day, balancing outrage with calls for resilience. Frequent asides highlight both the absurdity and the deep danger of current events.

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Summary

This episode is a warning and a call to action: the rule of law and fair elections are under direct, coordinated assault through both spectacle (pardons, slush funds) and bureaucratic maneuvers (DOJ data grabs, secretive hearings). Yet, in every segment, guests underscore the importance of accountability, transparent processes, and personal engagement—emphasizing that despite the corruption and setbacks, it’s not too late to defend democracy:
“We all have responsibility to try to save American democracy…and I think we’ll succeed.” –Jenna Griswold [13:18]

Transcript

[Adam Kinzinger]

Foreign.

[Jim Acosta]

Welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. It's another day that ends in wine and Donald Trump's assault on American democracy. The latest example is Justice Department just created a giant slush fund for the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6, as well as other Trump allies. Meanwhile, he just successfully pressured the governor of Colorado church, Jared Polis, to free a local election official, Tina Peters, from prison. Let's discuss with the Secretary of State of Colorado, Jenna Griswold. Madam Secretary, great to see you. Jenna. Great to see you.

[Jenna Griswold]

Thanks for having me on. Always. Always good to see you, Jim.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank you so much. And thanks for what you do. And I guess Secretary Griswold, let's just jump right into this. I mean, the Tina Peters story has been a long saga. Trump has been trying to get her freed for some time. You know, they've made this a cause on the far right. And then the governor, under all of this pressure, commuted the sentence of Tina Peters. This is how the Associated Press put it, following pressure from Donald Trump, the latest instance of the president using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 loss. Secretary Griswold, your response to all of this? It's pretty disturbing stuff.

[Jenna Griswold]

Yeah, it's horrible, Jim. The clemency grant Tina Peters is a gross injustice. Justice to our elections, election workers, and democracy. You know, this case has been going on, believe it or not, for five years. Peters breached her, her systems with the help of other election deniers back in 2021, trying to prove the big lie. And she was the last person we believe in the entire country facing any type of accountability for attacking American elections. And now she's free. So this decision is worrying on various, various levels. I think it's absolutely the wrong decision in a very dark day for American democracy.

[Jim Acosta]

And just remind our viewers, Jenna, what exactly Tina Peters did, because people might think, oh, you know, she was just some person on the far right with fringe ideas and, you know, that sort of thing. But she, she actually did stuff that was illegal.

[Jenna Griswold]

Absolutely. She did lots of things that were illegal. So the big picture of what Tina Peters did, she was a sitting county clerk. So in Colorado, we have 64 counties. Every county has a county clerk that's executing the election. So what she did is arranged to steal partial passwords from my office to voting equipment, worked with leading conspiracy theorists, let someone else into voting equipment, and they ended up compromising it. We discovered it back in 21 and didn't, you know, frankly, we knew Something was wrong, but didn't know the full extent of the story. So I launched the civil investigation that ultimately uncovered what she did. But we launched the investigation and suddenly she gets on private planes headed to Mike Lindell's cyber symposium with images of the voting equipment. And the big picture is they were following this conspiracy that suddenly they were going to expose the truth, the conspiratorial truth about the 2020 election. But the short story about this whole saga is that she helped compromise her own voting equipment. She was in a position of trust. Ultimately, she faced a trial and was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for various felonies and misdemeanors.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, and the governor, I guess he was under pressure from Trump. Apparently there were phone calls that were made and I guess he, I guess put out a statement. He, he wrote that Peter's, he said this about her case. This is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed nonviolent crimes. I guess that's how he's, he's, he's hanging this on that. The, the sentence was too excessive. Your response to what the governor did?

[Jenna Griswold]

Well, well, I, I think it's absolutely the, the wrong decision. Trump has been retaliating against the state moving space command, dismantling our climate research center, clawing back federal funds for the poorest of families, vetoing bipartisan legislation for clean water projects. You know, the, the extent of the illegality of the president, I think to knows no bounds. The president himself says he's only bound by his own morality. And we all know what his own morality is. It's corruption. So the retaliation was real. Right. But I do think bowing to this administration emboldens this lawless president. He now knows that if he pushes hard enough, even blue states may bow down. And the whole argument about Tina Peters prison term, her sentence being too long, that may be true, but I just believe that an election denier should get no special treatment. She had just gone in front of the court of appeals who actually ordered a resentencing in her case. I do not think Tina Peters should get special treatment. We should have, the governor should have let the district court re sentence her. And I think the effects of ordering this clause, clemency, of granting this clemency sends the wrong message. It sends a message to President Trump that he can ram his unlawful orders to realization just as long as he punishes enough. Sends a message to his followers who would break the law that there's a good chance that, hey, there's not going to be any Federal prosecutions of this lawlessness. And maybe they get off Scotch, Scotch free at the state level. And it really undermines our work as election officials in Colorado. No one has jeopardized and hurt our elections more than Tina Peters. And to see this type of lawlessness in our state, it's, it's just a horrible thing to see. I think it's the wrong decision in which, you know, frankly, the governor had not granted that clemency.

[Jim Acosta]

And I don't know how close you are to the governor. I mean, have you, have you spoken with him about this? Did he relay to you that. Yes, I'm under pressure. Trump is coming after me. I mean, anything that you can share, did anything like that happen? Did he tell you, you know, hey, he's coming after me?

[Jenna Griswold]

No. No. So, and this has been a long conversation. This, the conversation with the governor wasn't long, but this, this process has been very long.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Jenna Griswold]

Trump tried to illegally pardon Tina Peters. He can't. Their state charges. He then tried to get her move from state custody to federal custody. The governor hinted at the possibility of clemency. So this, this state conversation has been going on for months. The governor had not. Want, he, he did not want to meet with me about this topic. He called me 45 minutes before the grant of clemency was issued to tell me what the decision is, and it is what it is. He has heard from me and other election officials, including the Colorado Clerks association, publicly. We have repeatedly urged him not to, to grant a pardon or clemency, but ultimately he made his decision. I think it's, it's the wrong decision.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And I guess you probably saw over the weekend, the acting Attorney general, Todd Blanche, was on Fox Business and was again spreading this lie that there was something wrong with the 2020 election. When the 2020 election was free and fair. Trump's own attorney general said so at the time. Bill Barr, his cybersecurity director, Chris Krebs, at the time said so. But here's the acting Attorney general. Let's play this, because I think it's very worrisome in terms of what it means for the midterms. Let's, let's listen to this.

[Jess Michaels]

That we're going to find out that President Trump actually did win certain states in the 2020 election.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Now, the president says all the time

[Jim Acosta]

that the election was rigged.

[Jess Michaels]

What have you done about that?

[Jenna Griswold]

Do you have any evidence that the election was rigged? What can you tell us?

[Todd Blanche]

Well, there's a ton of evidence that the election was rigged that's not something the DOJ needs to, needs to tell you about. There's been evidence about that for many, many years. What I can tell you is that we have multiple investigations going on in Arizona, in Georgia, in Fulton County, Georgia. And that's exactly what we're looking at. By the way, this is very difficult because they're very good, they're very good at hiding up, misconduct and hiding what they're doing. And so that's why we're very focused on finding, finding out whether the right people voted, whether people who were supposed to vote voted, whether there was one vote cast per voter. And that's what we're doing in multiple states. And, and, and, and I expect, and again, people, you'll say to me, how long has it taken? Why is it taking so long? And the reality, the answer to that is because it takes a lot of work to uncover what happened in 2020. It takes a lot of, of old, good old fashioned law enforcement, police work, which is what we're doing.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, it sounds like Secretary Griswold that, you know, they don't have the evidence, even though he claims that there's tons of evidence. But your thoughts on this?

[Jenna Griswold]

I think that's right. You know, why has it taken so long to prove this? Well, because it didn't happen. 2020 election was free and fair. Multiple courts have struck down all of these conspiracy theories over and over and over again. But we are seeing the continuation of the attack on democracy now from the highest positions in the administration and not just the president like in 2020 to an extent. So it is gravely worrisome for American democracy. I do think we're going to get through it. But the attack on our elections for 2026, it's already happening. Trump issued two illegal, unconstitutional executive orders on elections. The first one was largely enjoined. The second one, there's multi state litigation. I think that it will be largely stopped. I am being sued right now by the DOJ for refusing to hand over sensitive voter data. They have been trying to collect voter data. Multiple states have, have refused. Multiple Democratic secretaries have, have refused.

[Jim Acosta]

What would they do with that data?

[Jenna Griswold]

So I, I think what they're trying to do, Jim, the White House has been trying to get at this data in, in different ways. So first, you know, a couple months after Trump was inaugurated, the second time the DOJ started to approach states requesting voter data, they, I would say misled states about the reason. Then they tried to sue us. They're losing the lawsuits. They then tried to put provisions maga tried to put provisions into federal legislation requiring that states hand over sensitive voter data. And then hopefully, lastly. But one of the last big events is in Trump's last executive order, he actually orders the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to compile a nationwide voter list of eligible people for mail ballots. So what would they do with the data? They would try to suppress the vote, I imagine. They would try to push out disinformation, purge voters, ultimately Republicans. This MAGA administration is afraid of the American voters. That's why they have tried to suppress the vote. That's why they're trying to undermine our elections. That's why they're trying to corruptly redistrict, to take control of Congress. And I think the other thing with all these attacks, whether it's the conspiracies coming out of the doj, the actual administrative efforts to undermine elections, is that if MAGA does not win in 26, well, then they can point to all these conspiracies that they themselves are spinning up to undermine that election. So I do think we're going to get through it. We'll have good elections. But we are at a very dangerous time in American history. And that's why I think the governor's decision to grant clemency is such a bad decision. There needs to be accountability when people attack our elections. Remember Donald Trump? He pardoned the 1600 people who took part in the insurrection. Our state justice systems need to work in giving someone special treatment when they attack our elections is not the right way to go.

[Jim Acosta]

And you just saw today, the Department of Justice established this slush fund, $1.776 billion slush fund. They're calling it an anti weaponization fund that would hand out rewards to a lot of those January 6th insurrectionists and rioters and other people who worked in cahoots with Donald Trump to overturn that election. It's stunning.

[Jenna Griswold]

It's stunning. It's scary for American democracy. You're sending a clear message. If you break the law for President Trump, he will fight to get you off. And, hey, you might even get a payout. It's corruption in the clearest way possible. I do. Jim, I do want to share with your audience. I am highly optimistic that we will stop this potential fascist power grab. I am optimistic, but it means having fighters in office right now. It means that the American people need to continue to lean in. I'm running for attorney general to fight back, to save our democracy, to fight for our freedoms. And meeting with folks all across Colorado, you know, I often hear people say, well, what can I do? It's not important as me and as an individual to show up to the rallies. It doesn't make a difference. It absolutely makes a difference. We all have responsibility to try to save American democracy and I think we'll succeed. But that includes Americans continuing to show up to show that they do not accept this power grab and ultimately to make their voices heard with the supreme, if you want to get into it, the Supreme Court's latest decision on the Voting Rights Act. We are seeing all these apparatus to make it harder for the American people to make their voices heard. But I am optimistic that we're going to get it done in 2026.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I mean, that's a whole other aspect of this, too, is the way that they're trying to redistrict things and push through redistricting to disenfranchise voters and so on. And. But Secretary Griswold, really appreciate you joining us today and good luck with your campaign for attorney general. I think you're right. I think a lot of people out there will say yes, they wholeheartedly agree with you. This is a time for fighters, fighters for this democracy because it is right on the edge. And I would like to share your optimism about the upcoming midterms, but I'm a little worried that what's happening here in Washington puts it very much at risk. But Jenna Griswold, thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate it.

[Jenna Griswold]

Thanks, Jim.

[Jim Acosta]

Good to see you. Thank you so much. And you know, I also had a chance to talk about this earlier today with former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Of course, he was on the January 6th committee. And we spoke about this announcement from the Department of Justice today that they are creating a 1.776 billion dollar, basically a slush fund they're calling an anti weaponization fund that would give taxpayer funded payouts to January 6th rioters and so on. It's so stunning and it sounds so crazy and dys, it's hard to believe that it's actually true. But here's my conversation with Kinzinger earlier today. Take a look. All right. And joining us now is the former Republican member of the January 6 committee in the House of Representatives, Adam Kinzinger. Adam, great to see you.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Hey, you too, man. Good to be with you.

[Jim Acosta]

Good to be with you. I wish it were better circumstances, but I mean, we've got another example of the slide into autocracy of just banana republic stuff. You know, Trump creating this slush fund essentially for his, you know, political attack dogs and people like the January 6th rioters and insurrectionists. And I, you know, I want to, I want to get your take on it, but just to give everybody a sense of what is being reported, NBC is saying it this way. The Justice Department announced it was establishing a 1.776 as in 1776 billion Anti Weaponization Fund after Donald Trump moved to dismiss his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax. You know, Adam, the, the big part of this that I think is really interesting is that it, it gives the January six rioters and insurrectionists a mechanism, according to NBC, to seek taxpayer payouts for their claims of government overreach. I mean, this is just egregious, appalling stuff.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yeah, let's keep in mind, so the original so called lawsuit from Trump was because somebody leaked his tax returns. There's actually a thinking law, a penalty for people that do that, a set penalty. But Donald Trump, as he does because he's a complete grifting snowflake, decides to sue for $10 billion. Now keep in mind, every president up to him has released his tax return. So Donald Trump didn't do it. Right. It's leaked and then he sets this thing up. And I think what gets me more than anything, Jim, is I couldn't imagine being in Congress right now and staying silent on this. And you are seeing the Republicans stay silent on this. This is taxpayer dollars, which means you and I and everybody watching has paid into this. And it's exactly what happened after January 6th. If you remember, right after the 6th, all these people that got arrested were actually ashamed of themselves. A lot of them were going on tv. They were misled, they were X, Y and Z. And then this Fox News crowd came around, coddled them, hugged them, told them they were heroes. And if people are going to come and tell you you're a hero, you'll believe it. And so they've turned them into the. By the way, I thought it was antifa. I.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay, yeah, right. Remember that one? Antifa.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yeah, yeah. Or whatever. And so now every insurrectionist, besides a pardon is now going to get about a one million dollar payout. And here's, here's the other thing about this. Donald Trump gets to pick who sits on the board. He can replace him at any time without cause. They can send this money out. They don't have to be accountable to who it went to and why and they don't have to reveal any other processes. And the Republicans are going to let it happen. I Don't understand it.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, a lot of them, Adam, I mean, they've, a lot of them voted to overturn the election. So I mean, you know, they're on board with this. And they can look at what just happened to Bill Cassidy, they can look at what might happen to Thomas Massie and think, well, I got to go along with this stuff. Yeah, I guess that's, that's the position is.

[Adam Kinzinger]

And I ask some of them, sometimes I'm like, is it really, Maybe I'm not in these harsher words, but is it really worth your soul to, to get another election? I mean, Donald Trump turned against Lauren Boebert, who's been the biggest Trump supporter, because she went to Tom Massey. Let's keep in mind, why does Trump hate Tom Massey? Because Tom Massey said, let's see the Epstein files. Let's see the Epstein files. And Trump, who ran on the Epstein files, is now going after Massie because he dared cross him on that. You know what, to the gop, if the country wasn't taking the hit on this, I'd be like, fine, guys, have at it. Destroy yourselves. Right. The problem is, is we're all part of this.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and if you look at the, the announcement from the Department of Justice, it looks like they, they wrote it up on a bar napkin. I mean, it's pretty shoddy looking stuff. I mean, that's it right there. It's only a couple pages. And Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, he's on this and he was just on Fox Business yesterday talking. I'm sure you saw this, talking about how, you know, there's tons of evidence that the election was rigged in, in 2020. I mean, it again, talk about somebody with no soul. I mean, his, his left the body a long time ago.

[Adam Kinzinger]

You know, we are five years after January 6th. They are doubling down on denying what actually happened. The funny thing was, after Trump got reelected, I, I remember saying this. I'm like, you know what, guys? I did my job. I can look at myself in the mirror. Fine, let's move on from January 6, obviously the country's made a decision. They're the ones that are obsessed with it. And they're obsessed with it for one reason. And by the way, the funny thing is when I would have those Republicans come up to me and do the, hey, thanks for doing it. I can't do it, but thank you for doing it. They would say things like, I just think it's time to move on. We have to heal as a country. And they're the ones on the front line of not healing as a country. It's just. Yeah, the hypocrisy. And I wrote an article in my sub stack, which is basically like, the hypocrisy is actually the point. They love being hypocritical because it's a tattoo of their allegiance. Right. The more hypocritical you are, the more Jim Jordan literally goes on TV and says he doesn't care if Donald Trump's kids benefit, but Hunter Biden can't. And he doesn't even care to make that square away. It just shows he's a bigger Trump supporter. These guys have lost their ever living minds.

[Jim Acosta]

It's a humiliation spectacle. There's no question about it. And Adam, the other thing too is, I mean, Trump is just do. Doing brazenly corrupt things. There are all these stories now about how he's investing in. In tech companies right before big announcements are made. I mean, it's just. He's like day trading for Mar A Lago. It's just incredible. On his, on his phone or something.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Unbelievable. And I remember back in January or February, he put out a random tweet or post about Paler. And I'm like, why would he put out a random post? I mean, I kind of knew already. And then we find out, literally, he buys Paler, tweets it. He's done that. You know, he bought a. A Taser company, A company that makes Tasers. Why would you even think to. To, you know, you know, to invest in that. And then, oh, by the way, two weeks later, magically, that company gets a $200 million or billion do whatever it is contract to sell Tasers to the Department of Homeland Security. The corruption here. I mean, Vladimir Putin, probably the richest man in the world because of his theft, is sitting around going, wow, this is brazen. At least, you know, Putin tries to hide it. This guy's just. And it's a superpower because he's doing it so out in the open that it almost doesn't feel wrong because he's so open about it.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and there are two things about that. One is, you know, with this slush fund that they've created, you know, he's also included the Mar A Lago raid for the classified documents. He's included the Russia collusion investigation, which, by the way, you know, they like to bitch about the Russian collusion investigation on Fox and whatnot. Are we ever going to get a straight answer as to why Don Jr. And Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were. Were meeting with a Russian attorney at Trump Tower.

[Adam Kinzinger]

That's right.

[Jim Acosta]

In 2016, are we ever going to get an answer to that?

[Adam Kinzinger]

So we have let them, we have let them take the narrative that the Russian collusion investigation came up with no evidence. There was plenty of evidence in there. Plenty. You know, the problem is, is Mueller said, you know, I'm not going to push ahead. This is up to the doj.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And he had classified documents in the ballroom and in the, the bathroom. They were in like the shower. And I mean, so he gets off scot free there because he has a sympathetic federal judge and alien cannon. And so the list goes on and on. But the other part of this that disturbs me, Adam, and I just curious, get your take on this, is that it? To me, it's this sort of is a taxpayer finance goon squad that he's creating because the, I guess the proud boys are going to get a cut, the Oath Keepers are going to get a cut. Doesn't that incentivize these people to be standing back and standing by and whatever for the next time he wants to do something? That's the thing that worries me.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Let's, let's keep in mind the message he's sending. I mean, even a couple of Apache helicopters fly to Kid Rock's place and you know, the army suspends the pilot, does an investigation, as they should, and then the secretary of war, I can do pull ups comes out and says, no, these pilots are fine, and then invites Kid Rock to go on a helicopter ride. So what these messages all send is like, if you're fighting for me, you're gonna get off. I will pardon you. Now, you're gonna get money. But it's got to be for me. Now, the thing that I would ask people to keep in mind is there is going to be a Post Trump day in this country. And at that point, then it is going to be up to those folks who thought they could get away with everything to now figure out how they have to face the music. And it's up to the Democrats to make it clear that they will face the music.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And I guess Trump has been saying, well, I'll pardon anybody within 100ft of the White House and that sort of thing. But is he offering that deal to state lawmakers who may work, try to work in cahoots with him? I mean, we've seen all of this with the redistricting stuff. But I mean, Todd Blanche, I mean, I'm just curious what your thoughts are on Todd Blanche. He goes out there and he, he basically admitted to Maria Bartiromo that they sent agents to Atlanta, sent agents to Arizona in pursuit of some kind of, like, you know, irregularity that they can latch on to and say, aha, see, the 2020 election was stolen. I mean, this is. And then the slush fund also announced by the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice is now sort of a, an intimidation arm of the White House.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, he. And she was also asked, like, basically, do you have the evidence now? Oh, we, we hope we will get it. I mean, listen. Yeah, they've raided Georgia. They've been. If there was evidence, I know that we would have known this by now, you know, that Trump would have put it out by now. The fact is we, we know there's no evidence, but that's where we have to be concerned is like, what does this mean for November? Now, this is why I'm so clear. It's got to be a Democratic blowout. Because like you saw in Hungary, if there's a blowout, the authoritarian has no option but to accept the results. And if it's close, you can imagine, Jim, the investigators, they're going to send the ballot boxes, they're going to seize, the intimidation tactics they're going to do. And so that's why this has got to be a blowout in November.

[Jim Acosta]

And do you think there's a, there's a chance that, and I've talked about this on my show, that they could just get this so tangled up in knots that, that Mike Johnson says, well, we can't really see the new Congress.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

In January. We're just not there yet. This is, you know, and go to the Supreme Court and say, well, we'll do this. Yeah.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yep. If it's close, let's say it's down to a couple seats or whatever. The House has to seat its own members. So he could, in theory. Well, not in theory, in reality, he could say, here are some results that we don't accept. We are. Now, I don't know if a new Congress could be seated because you don't have to get into, okay, the old Congress exists and then you go into this kind of nebulous thing while you elect a speaker. But they certainly could, in essence, seize power if it's very close. And, you know, again, the Congress makes a decision on who it seats. If Jim Acosta won his race by one vote, the speaker could come out and say, well, we don't recognize that win and we'll either seat the Republican or we're Just not going to seat that seat. And there are things you can do again. If it ends up being a 40, 50 seat swing, though, that becomes much more difficult to negotiate through.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And that's why people just have to make it their job to vote come this fall. And, you know, put to the side, you know, you may be frustrated, you may think this doesn't matter anymore, Trump got back in there, so why should I buy. You have to put all of that to the side, all of it. You got to get this, this democracy one last shot. And I mean, I think you're right. I mean, look at what Mike Johnson did with Adelita Grialva. You know, they didn't seat her for several weeks because they were afraid to release the Epstein files.

[Adam Kinzinger]

That's right. And then. That's right.

[Jim Acosta]

They just eventually had to do it.

[Adam Kinzinger]

So literally doing these things, not to even maintain power at that point, but to protect pedophiles. So if they're willing to do that to protect pedophiles, they will certainly be willing to do it to protect their power in Congress because they know that once they lose that power, there's going to be some accountability.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And, and before you go out, I mean, we should just, I mean, say only because it bears repeating from time to time how deeply troubling the events were of January 6, how dangerously close this country came to a coup. You know, for younger folks out there, you know, who may just be seeing this for the first time and thinking about this for the first time, maybe they were younger when this happened five years ago. I mean, this was, this was deadly serious. And for Trump to be not only pardoning these people, commuting their sentences, putting pressure on, at, on the governor of Colorado to release Tina Peters and so on.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yeah, don't even. First off, let me just say, Jared Polis, hang your head in shame. Hang your head in shame. I mean, for him to take Tina Peters and say, well, we don't, because she believes the earth is flat, we don't like. No, Tina Peters was put in jail because she tried. She basically allowed Mike Lindell into the election system, was found guilty, was sentenced, that's why. And then he was pressured by Donald Trump and he capitulated to the pressure. How he can call himself a Democrat? I mean, Jim, it's bad enough to have one party that is anti democracy. If we have members of a, another party that are anti democracy, then we can just sign this away because it's going to be tough to be tough to survive. Jared, I served with him. I am blown away at that.

[Jim Acosta]

I mean, what, he just buckled to the pressure? What do you think? I mean.

[Adam Kinzinger]

Yeah, I think so. Jared. He wears tennis shoes with his suit.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Cool.

[Adam Kinzinger]

I'm not a real politician. And occasionally he gets, you know, probably somebody from the maga side says something nice about him and that's addictive. And then all of a sudden, Trump comes in and starts pressuring you. And you know, you can make Trump happy, so you do it. That's what he did. That's what he did.

[Jim Acosta]

Brutal. All right. Well, Adam, usually we, we end with a hearty harhar, but it's hard to do that on a day like this. But good to see you, man. Really appreciate it. Keep fighting the good fight. Hope to do it soon.

[Adam Kinzinger]

You bet. Take care, buddy.

[Jim Acosta]

Thanks. Thanks, Adam. Thank you. Yeah, I always appreciate, yeah, always appreciate Adam Kinzinger when he can join us on the program. I mean, and it's such an important day to do it, too. I mean, this is, this is a couple of stunning developments back to back. The commuting of the sentence of Tina Peters and then the establishment of this slush fund by the Department of Justice. Just stunning. So I have more to say about at the end of the show, but I want to take you quickly to something that's happening in New York City right now. This is happening in Tribeca at the room. It's the, the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room in Tribeca, Manhattan. We've talked about this before. Our friend Steve Schmidt and the folks over at Save America foundation, they have been doing this all day long. The Save America movement, I should say. They've been doing a marathon 24 hour interrupted live reading of the Epstein files. And there's our friend Tara Palmeri, who's on the show from time to time. She's involved in this, too. And so what's happening today is a lot of folks have been hopping on this feed and reading excerpts, reading pieces of the Epstein files back to back. And they're doing this over a 24 hour period to sort of keep this story out there, keep it in the headlines, keep awareness up that, that the Trump administration is still covering up the Epstein files and so on. And so, you know, there's terror right there. And in a few moments when they're obviously listen to terror for just a few moments.

[Jenna Griswold]

And I will try to make them as interesting as possible. So although sadly, the, the graphic details of this story are horrific and kind of hard to turn away from. So here we are, page 27 of 55. Each defendant engaged in acts that revealed its intent to join and participate in the criminal conspiracy by knowingly using coercion to compel underage girls and young women to provide labor or services by force. Labor in violation.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes. We're going to monitor this. There's Tara reading some of that.

[Jenna Griswold]

And there's Jess Michaels, financially and an

[Jim Acosta]

advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, sexual assault, an Epstein survivor herself. And, Jess, from what I understand, you've been participating in this reading project too, is that right?

[Jess Michaels]

Yes. Hi, Jim. Nice to see you.

[Jim Acosta]

Good to see you.

[Jess Michaels]

Got into the city today and survivors were actually lined up and scheduled for the very first hour from 12 to 1. And yeah, so we got to speak and share whatever files we were interested in and that we found would be compelling pieces of investigative leads, things that should have been focused on and things that should have been followed up on.

[Jim Acosta]

Why do you think this project is so important, what they're doing now?

[Jess Michaels]

I think what's really fascinating about it is you see the. The vast volume of binders on social media. It still really hits you hard when you walk in and there are. And you see it in person. So I think that the very personal experience of walking in the room and just looking in every direction and seeing binders is extremely powerful because there's something I say all the time. The DOJ wouldn't have spent millions of dollars and millions of man hours for nothing. And clearly they were investigating a lot. A lot. There are, as we've said, millions of files and still millions that haven't come out. And so it's. I think it's powerful to look at everything they say is not there worth investigating.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, no, it's true. And I mean, and the stunning thing in all of this is that they haven't released all the files that Todd Blanche, who we were talking about earlier, he's helping Donald Trump cover up January six. He's helping Donald Trump cover up the Epstein files. I mean, it's one thing after another. But this facility, what's your impression of I have not had a chance. We profiled we had one of the organizers on, but I've not been there myself. I want to get there next time I'm in New York. What do you think about this place? Pretty amazing.

[Jess Michaels]

It's pretty amazing. It actually is closing in a week, so you only have a week, Jim. Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay.

[Jess Michaels]

It's laid out well. The center area that you're going to see as you comb through. See those curtains right there on the right? That's actually a Survivor vigil where they have 1400 candles lit for every single one of us. And we know that number is probably very conservative. It's very well designed. And they have a downstairs area called the reflection room. And not only do you have desks where you can sit down and write cards and messages and notes to survivors to how they're feeling, people are feeling when they go through this exhibit, but they also have an area with the DOJ number. And you can sit down and on your phone, call the DOJ from this room. And they said they've had thousands of people calling the DOJ from this reflection room.

[Jim Acosta]

Wow. Okay. That. That's really incredible. And I guess it raises the issue that we need something like this permanently. Don't we need.

[Jenna Griswold]

Yeah, we do.

[Jess Michaels]

We do. Because you can't even. You can't comprehend it from a video. You. I've tried to capture it on video. And. And standing in here and looking at the volumes of pages is very overwhelming in the. In the best and worst way.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And, you know, last week, we were in Florida covering that field hearing that Congressman Robert Garcia, the Democrats, had to hear from the survivors. They entered. Some of the ones who were there, entered their stories into the Congressional Record and so on. And one of the things that I noticed, and I'm just curious what your thoughts are. I didn't see a lot of national news media there. You know, it seems as though this is being moved to the back burner by the national media. Are you getting that sense, too? Because I was frustrated when I saw that.

[Jess Michaels]

I am. I have. I have not seen much media coverage. I know that they. They covered it after the fact, but it didn't make the morning. It's not like it lasted any longer than a report of this thing happened, rather than the impact of what happened, because that. That hearing was brilliant. I wasn't. I wasn't sure how. How it was gonna go. Yeah, I. I was questioning it, and I actually heard. I can't remember who you were talking to. Maybe it was. Maybe it was. Tara, you said something like, I think these. I think these hearings are important. And I was like, all right, well, Jim Acosta is saying it, so maybe I better, like, listen. And so I watched it, and I thought it was incredible, incredibly powerful. And they did a brilliant job of proving there was negligence. Proving it. Proving egregious offenses on the part of our government, on the part of the DOJ for. For decades. So I'm. I'm a little shocked that there's not much going on. I'm. There wasn't that. There wasn't a ton of media here. There was some, but it's also a really small, like, it's a small area where the media can stand. So it's not as if there was a lot of space. And I haven't heard much from media reaching out about this event yet at all. So it's discouraging. But I actually counted the days, Jim, and It has been 150 days since the deadline. 150 days since.

[Jim Acosta]

To release all the files.

[Jess Michaels]

To release all the files. So the DOJ has been guilty of breaking the law for 150 days. And I have not even seen that in the news.

[Jim Acosta]

Wow, that's stunning. And so, and we're almost to six months that they've been doing it. That means, and you know, one of the things that we're seeing in the House Oversight Committee is, you know, they're having these witnesses come in and talk behind closed doors. People like Howard Lutnick behind closed doors. Pam Bondi coming in. Apparently, she's going to be behind closed. What, what's going on here? How do they, why do they get away with not speaking in front of the, the American people? The survivors did it at this congressional, at this field hearing in Florida. You guys had the guts to do it, but. But they don't, I guess, is what it boils down to.

[Jess Michaels]

You know, one of the things I also say regularly, I said everyone keeps expecting survivors to name names and the DOJ is afraid to do it. You know, the DOJ won't even do it. The DOJ won't name names. They're too scared of repercussions. And so it's not, you know, the expectation that survivors should be, keep doing more when survivors have actually been doing the right thing for decades. Maria Farmer put her first report in in 1996 and actually saw that board actually, actually wasn't the very first one to, to report. There was actually a report from an interlocking girl, 14 years old, back in 1994 or five that I found just on this board here. So Maria and Annie were, were, were multiple proof of multiple victims and they ignored it.

[Jim Acosta]

Wow. Yeah. And we saw Maria, she gave her video testimony at this hearing last week, too. So. Well, kudos to you for keeping this on the front burner. And, you know, can we show that room one more time? We can. I think it might be Tara who's still speaking there. But I mean, what a, what a terrific, you know, display of courage that we continue to see on all of this. And it just, you know, it just seems to me that they're trying their best to shut this down. Is, is what we're seeing right now.

[Jess Michaels]

That's how bad it is.

[Jenna Griswold]

Yep.

[Jess Michaels]

They got to shut us down. There's no other choice.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well, Jess, great to see you. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for popping on. Really appreciate it. Good to see you again.

[Jess Michaels]

Thanks for having me, Jim.

[Jim Acosta]

All right. You bet.

[Jess Michaels]

Thanks.

[Jim Acosta]

And take care. All the best. Yeah. And we're still watching this. Looks like our friend Tara Palmeri is still reading portions of the Epstein files, the Save America movement. Steve Schmidt, those folks doing a great job putting on that marathon reading event today and really appreciate they're including us and allowing us to show some of it on the show today. I, I can't go without a couple of checklist items. For me, one is, I'm sure you guys saw this. The New York Times came out with a poll that shows that when it comes to the war in Iran, the American people are not on Donald Trump's side. Nearly two thirds of Americans now say it was the wrong decision for Donald Trump to go to war with Iran. Only 30% of the people in this survey, this is according to a New New York Times sienna poll. Only 30% say this was a good idea in that you do the breakdown. 5%. Only 5% of Democrats. You got to wonder who those 5% are. But this is the one that folks need to Pay attention to. 20. Only 21% of independent voters, 21% say this was a good idea, the right decision for Trump to go to war with Iran. Of course, 70% of Republicans, that's not a terribly high number for Trump with Republicans. But, but 21% of independents, that tells you how much trouble that he's in right now. If you go into the poll even further, it shows how much trouble the Republicans are in heading into the midterms. And it had me thinking about, we do a lot of talk on this show about Trump and his silly crazy distractions. For example, over the weekend, he was on another truth social media posting rampage where he was posting all kinds of crazy crap. I mean, we can just show some of the posts. They were just, you know, there's Trump with the space force. He's got his finger on some kind of button there. He's talking about making Venezuela the 51st state in the United States. I'd like to see that polled. He, of course, went after Hakeem Jeffries with a racist truth social post about how he has a low iq. Democrats. This is a new thing. He's, he said this on Fox the other day. He's, he's come up with this name for Democrats. He's calling them Democrats. And of course, he's showing Obama, Biden and Nancy Pelosi in the reflecting pool. He's trying to defend his reflecting pool project. This crazy AI slop thing that he put up. Dumb and dumber, showing Governor Pritzker of Illinois. The list just goes on and on. He just does this stupid, crazy crap all the time. I think he posted something else that shows him with an alien at area, you know, whatever that is. Area 57. What is that thing called Area 47? I can't remember what it's called. Anyway, there's Trump with, with an alien. He met with the alien overlords who may be coming over to take over our planet. Or it may just be some stupid thing that he found online and, and they posted and put it out there. But he is, yes, he is the Projector in Chief when it comes to dumb and dumber and low IQ and so on. But, you know, we can't really take our eye. And, and by the way, by the way, you know, another thing that Trump likes to do all the time is brag about his ability to take these cognitive tests. We have a little, little fun that we're going to have on the, on the Jim Acosta show tomorrow on this. I just don't want to give away everything, but it may involve me doing the cognitive test. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna put that out there and we'll see how it goes tomorrow. We'll see if I pass or fail. So if I fail, you know, there's, I'm just going to have egg all over my face, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. But stay tuned for that. And, but, but we can't take our eye off the ball, folks. We can't take. While Donald Trump is shitposting on his Truth Social account, there are serious things happening with our democracy right now. Like today, the Department of Justice making this announcement that they're creating this $1.776 billion government weaponization fund to give hand out cash courtesy of the taxpayers to people like the January 6th rioters and insurrectionists. And that is why we're starting a new series on this show called Defending the Vote. And I wrote about this yesterday on my substack. We're going to continue to write about this all summer long. We're going to Be featuring as often as we can, guests like Jenner Griswold, the Secretary of State of Colorado, Adam Kinzinger, the former congressman who was on the January 6 committee. Because this is vitally important, folks. While Trump tries to distract us with his bullshit on Truth Social, while he tries to claim that he somehow not cognitively declined by taking the cognitive test over and over again, I don't know how that proves anything. We have to keep our eyes on the prize, folks. And that is our vote is in jeopardy. Our right to vote in America is in jeopardy. Right now, when Donald Trump is handing out taxpayer cash to January 6th rioters, when he's handing out taxpayer cash to the proud boys and to the Oath Keepers and the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6, what he is basically doing, what he's essentially doing is setting up a slush fund for a goon squad in America. And it says that the next time he wants to attack American democracy, the next time he wants to incite a violent assault on American democracy, that he's going to pick up the tab that he's got money set aside to pay those people if they get themselves into legal hot water doing his dirty work. And we just need to understand that this, this very much, I think, I think this very much puts our midterms in jeopardy. I think it very much puts our democracy on the line heading into the fall. And that's why, you know, I, for the longest time, we've heard people say he's trying to rig the midterms. And to some extent, he is trying to rig the midterms. But I also think what he's just trying to do is wreck the midterms. He's just trying to drive it into a tree, drive it into a ditch. So it's such a hot, steaming mess come November. And in the months after that, it is almost, almost impossible to untangle who won and, and who lost and see the new Congress come January. And you know, I, I, I don't subscribe to the idea that he's playing three dimensional chess. As I often say, he's, he's eating the chess pieces, but he is certainly at this point trying to throw everything at the wall. He is trying to throw everything at the wall to see what can stick. And that includes setting up slush funds for January 6th rioters. That includes pressuring governors to free people from prison like Tina Peters, to make sure that the message is sent far and wide to all of his fellow fascists that if they somehow try to interfere with the upcoming midterms that not only will they get legal help, but it'll be paid for with your tax dollars. And, you know, at this point, I agree with what Adam Kinzinger said earlier on this show. This is a moment, and I may just be howling into the void here. This is a moment for members of Congress to search their souls, if they still have one. And this pertains to people on the Republican side of the aisle, never mind the fact that the governor of Colorado is a Democrat. Perhaps he should search his as well. But this is a moment for Republican members of Congress, what few of them that are left, that have a soul intact, that have something resembling a backbone, to look into the mirror, to look into the faces of their children, their grandchildren, their wives, their families, and ask whether or not they're going to do this, whether or not they're going to go along with Donald Trump on this crazy train into the midterms and somehow try to wreck our upcoming elections in this country. Because that, to me, is what Donald Trump is setting the stage for. He's setting the stage for some kind of crazy, dramatic wrecking of the midterms that we can't sort through and that we can't sort out. He's, he's sick and tired of getting his ass kicked in the midterms. He got his ass kicked in 2018. Remember that? He got his ass kicked while Joe Biden was in office. He got behind all these MAGA people in 2022, got his ass kicked then. And then, of course, got back into the Oval Office. And his, he is deathly afraid of getting his ass kicked one more time here in 2026. And so it's not a mystery to me at all that he would be setting up slush funds for his goons. It's not a mystery to me, to me at all that he is trying to spring his fellow election deniers from jail, as he did with Tina Peters in Colorado. This is all part of the plan, folks. This is all part of the plan for Donald Trump to evade any kind of culpability, any kind of responsibility for the nutty things that he's doing on a daily basis, whether it's invading Venezuela, starting a war in the Middle east that he can't fix, and on and on. And that is why it is so vitally important that, and I feel very strongly about this for folks who watch the show on a regular basis. You know, that I am all about sounding the alarm on our democracy. And this is why we're going to be doing this from here on out up until the midterms, it's going to be a continuing series of reports, interviews, everything that we can do to make sure that the public is engaged, to make sure our viewers are engaged. Share these videos, share these stories with your loved ones, with your friends, family members. Make sure people are keeping this in the forefront, on the front burner because it is your job to vote this fall. Donald Trump is trying to stop this, this midterm reckoning from happening. He's trying to wreck the reckoning is what he's trying to do. And we're just not going to let that happen. We're going to do everything that we can here on this program and what we do every day to make sure that that does not happen and that this democracy does hold and that we can have free and fair elections in this country and that we can have people held accountable for their actions. Especially when he's running this non stop blitz of corruption one day after another in this country right now. It's, it's got to stop. And that is why this is so very, very important that we defend the vote coming up this fall. I want to thank the Colorado Secretary of State, Jenna Griswold for joining me today. My thanks to Adam Kinzinger and my thanks to Jess Michaels for highlighting this very important display that is happening right now in New York City. There's a reading taking place right now at the podium, I think in that room in the Epstein Trump reading room there in, in New York. This is the 24 hours marathon reading of the Epstein files that our friend Steve Schmidt is doing. I'll get together with him later this week. We'll talk about this as well as everything else. But this is what, this is what Donald Trump is trying to stop from happening. He doesn't want a new Congress to come in. He doesn't want a new Congress to come in that will force the release of the rest of the files. And let's close out the show listening to the end of this. And in the meantime, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks for tuning in. We'll watch this as we play this out. I'll see you next time. From Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson, subject Rule 412 Motion on Thursday 28th October, 2021. Brad, Brittany attached please find a redacted version of the defense's memorandum of law in support of her Federal rule of evidence 412motion and related exhibits. As we mentioned earlier, this was filed under seal by the defense. Any response is due on November 1, 2021. Likewise, any and all responses will also be filed under seal and will not be docketed. The court also ordered that any in camera hearing is tentatively scheduled for November 5, 2021.

[Jenna Griswold]

We're happy to discuss further tomorrow.