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The Jim Acosta Show
Trump Threatens Crackdown on "Hate Speech" plus New Developments in Epstein Files with The Good Liars and Rep. Jim McGovern
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Jason
FOREIGN.
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Jim Acosta
Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump's assault on American democracy. Trump and his top aides are now openly talking about cracking down on free speech in America. This comes as new documents were released by the House Oversight Committee in Epstein Gate. We're waiting to see if there are any significant documents in this latest batch. But here to discuss is Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern. He's the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, and that's one of the key committees, I should note, that will come into play as lawmakers on the Hill trying to avoid a government shutdown. And Congressman, I'll talk to you about that in just a moment. But thanks for coming on. Really appreciate it.
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Jim McGovern
Happy to be with you.
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Jim Acosta
And I guess if we can jump right into it, let me ask you about the some of these comments that you're hearing from Trump. Vice President JD Band Advance Attorney General Pam Bondi. They seem to be, they seem to be setting out a, oh, there goes my dog. There's Duke right there. There's Duke. Sometimes he has a little too much fun on these things. No, but the president, the vice President, Attorney General Pam Bondi, they seem to be creating a new category for speech in this country, unprotected speech in this country, saying they're going to go after what they call hate speech. And they seem to be saying, well, if you say unpleasant things about Charlie Kirk or any number of things, they could go after you. Trump was talking about going after Jonathan Karl with ABC earlier today. What's your response to all that? We'll get into some of these other issues, but I wanted to ask you about that first.
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Jim McGovern
Well, I think it's chilling. I really do. I mean, you know, free speech is a hallmark of our democracy. It's enshrined in the Constitution. And that Donald Trump or Pam Bondi or JD Vance are going to somehow tell us what is acceptable speech. I mean, that really is chilling. We know how thin skinned they are. So if I say anything mildly negative about Donald Trump, the next thing you're going to be the subject of investigation. I mean, I have a colleague in the Rules Committee, Chip Roy, who's proposing a special committee to investigate kind of radical leftists. I mean, and who's going to define what that is? I mean, you know, look at the we can all agree that the murder of Charlie Kirk was a tragedy. It is acceptable. It was horrible, you know, should never have happened. But, and you know, everybody that I know of on the Democratic side here in Congress has rightly condemned it. But when people on the Republican side, on the right wing of our country, using it as an opportunity, you know, basically to advance their agenda, to push this authoritarian, you know, viewpoint on the rest of the country, to control speech, I mean, that, that's disgusting. It really is disgusting.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And I guess on the Epstein matter, I know you've been commenting on this, but it sounds as though the House Oversight Committee is, is releasing new, some new documents today. I wanted to ask you about that because it seems as though Trump is still playing hide the football on this. They're releasing some documents, not all documents. What, if anything, can be done about it? Could Democrats insist perhaps that the documents be released or else you're not going to keep the government up and running? I'm just throwing out ideas here. But your thoughts?
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Jim McGovern
Well, first we have this discharge petition that Congressman Massey, who's a Republican from Congress, Kentucky has introduced, along with Congressman Connor, who's a Democrat from California. And we're at, I think, 217 signatures. We need 218 to kind of force the leadership in this House to, to deal with it, hopefully to bring it to the floor. They can always find a way to try to derail it. But the bottom line is this whole issue was, has been largely pushed by Donald Trump and his supporters. And you know, I thought we were about to get all the documents when Pam, Bob Fondi said they were on her desk and she's about to release them. And then all of a sudden, without any explanation, we can't release them. There's nothing there. There's no there there. And, but the, but the pressure and the insistence on full transparency continues, not just from Democrats, by the way, but mostly from Republicans, mostly from Trump's base. And so this is not going to go away. And again, there has to be a reason why Trump doesn't want them released. I mean, because if there's nothing there, then just release them. I met with some of the survivors who came here. They want them released. And even people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don't really give her credit for anything, but I'll give her credit for being consistent on this, is calling for them to be released, just release them. But it's not going away. In the Rules Committee, every, every bill that comes before the Rules Committee, I offer an amendment to bring the Massie counter bill to the floor for a vote. There ought to be a debate. We ought to have a vote. If the administration is not going to release them on their own, then we need a law to compel them to release them.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And I guess Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, was at the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier, earlier today, and he was asked by a Republican, Senator Kennedy of Louisiana, about what information the FBI has about people that Jeffrey Epstein was sex trafficking children to. And I guess let's listen to that and I'll ask you about on the other side, you've seen most of the files. Who, if anyone, did Epstein traffic these young, young women, too, besides himself? Himself. There is no credible information. None. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals. And the information we have, again, is limited. So the answer is no. 1 for the information that we have in the files in the case. I mean, if I were the senator there, I would have asked him follow up question. That doesn't make any sense to me, Congressman.
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Jim McGovern
And did you talk to the survivors? Yeah, I mean, I'm just saying, you know, like, like really, I mean, that sounds like Cash Patel, first of all. I wouldn't trust him to tell me the correct time, but putting that aside.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Jim McGovern
I mean, it sounds like he's covering up with Donald Trump. And so the way to put this all to rest is to release all the files. Let's have a full accounting. You know, enough of this stonewalling. I mean, this is, this is ridiculous.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, to me, it seems, I mean, that's just not a credible answer at all. I mean, like you were saying, if you talk to the Epstein survivors, they have said on numerous occasions and have made these allegations time and again that both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were engaging in child sex trafficking, and that's just what was going on. And, and she's in prison for it. I mean, so I, I don't get this.
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Jim McGovern
They are both monsters, right? They are both monsters. And if you talk to the survivors, that, that view of them only gets reinforced. But I was, I was really struck by Cat Patel's comment that there's no there there.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Jim McGovern
That somehow everything is fine. And again, I mean, there's lots of questions we, we have to ask, like, why does Ghislaine Maxwell, after she talks to, you know, an attorney that, you know, it was affiliated with Donald Trump, you know, after she said, oh, this, this Trump is, is perfectly innocent, there's nothing there there, all of a sudden gets transferred to this cushy prison, like this country club prison. I mean, that just, is that just coincidence? You know, how, how did that happen? There's lots of questions here. And, you know, again, they can be answered if they just release the damn files. If, if there's nothing there, if, you know, if there's no mentions of Donald Trump, if there's, you know, no mention of anybody else. And if, you know, then, then, then the full transparency will put this to rest. But I think they're afraid that the release of these trials will raise other questions, including like, you know, how did Epstein get this kind of initially from former Secretary of Labor, you know, Acosta, how do you get that sweetheart deal and beginning. But, but this is not going away. This is not going away. Democrats again on the Rules Committee, we continue to raise this issue. We continue to force votes. And quite frankly, many people in Trump's MAGA base are insisting that there be transparency.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, well, you brought up Alex Acosta, and as I like to say, when his name is brought up, no relation. We're not related in any way. As a matter of fact, Donald Trump has said that himself. Let me ask you this, because the clock is ticking towards a government shutdown. Apparently by the end of the month, you have to have a continuing resolution passed to keep the government funded and running. And it sounds as though there's some, something in the works to perhaps get something passed as early as this week. What are your thoughts on that? There are a lot of Democrats who are saying, why are we funding a government if they're going to be paying for ICE raids, expanded ICE raids, and all sorts of other horrific things. But your thoughts?
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Jim McGovern
So as we're speaking, I just ducked out of the Rules Committee, and we're taking testimony on the Republican version of a continuing resolution. But here's the deal. There's three choices here. One is Republicans can work with Democrats to come up with a bipartisan continuing resolution that would address an immediate crisis in health care. Right. People's premiums are about to skyrocket because the expiration of these tax credits and other things, a lot of people are going to lose their health insurance, and we can't wait until December to deal with it. It's a crisis that's going to happen right now. So they can work with us and we can address that health care cliff and pass something in a bipartisan way. Two, Republicans can do what Donald Trump has told them to do. Pass it on your own. I mean, they control the House, the Senate, and the White House. And, you know, we saw last week that the Republicans were willing to nuke the filibuster for, for nominees. I'm sure they're like, Trump might ask him to do the same for this so they could pass it on their own. Or the third thing is that Republicans can shut the government down, but this is all in their hands. And I gotta be honest with you, I mean, I can't go home to my constituents and say, you know, we knew this healthcare crisis, this healthcare clip was about to happen and we did nothing and your premiums are gonna skyrocket. I can't do that. Or the people are gonna lose their health insurance. I mean, I mean if this were a tax cut for billionaires, you bet your life the Republicans, you know, would vote to extend it and put it in the cr. But because it's healthcare for like working families, they don't give a shit. I mean, they just don't. And it really is stunning to me. I mean, we don't share the same values. I said that on the House floor today. I mean, you know, the stuff that they champion is stuff that I can't even relate to. I mean, I don't know any multi billionaires. A million. And I think I know a couple of millionaires. But you know, I mean, but probably.
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Jim Acosta
Serve with a couple maybe, but we.
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Jim McGovern
Serve with a lot of them. But I mean this is like, this is ridiculous. Their priorities are all screwed up and, and again so. But this is all in their hands. I mean if there's a shutdown, they created it, not us. They're responsible. They own this.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, and last time around there was a lot of consternation in the Democratic Party over whether or not Democrats should have gone along with Republicans and keeping the government running the last time around. And it seems as though there may be, I don't know, perhaps a split in the Democratic Party or some Democrats are saying, why are we helping the Republicans here? As you were saying, if the Republicans have the numbers, let them take responsibility for this. But it sounds as though they're in a jam and they may be looking to Democrats to bail them out.
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Jim McGovern
Look, I think, I think a lot of our base was frustrated because some of our party were cheap. Date they went along to go along. Had we been tougher, maybe we could have gotten something. And I think, you know, that's where we are right now. To go along with them right now means that we're going to screw a whole bunch of people who are going to lose their health care and who can see their premium skyrocket between now and December. And with no guarantee that they'll even fix it in December. I mean they, I don't care about this stuff. We, we know that, so if they want to pass the cr, they have three choices again, they can work with us and address this healthcare issue. They can pass it on their own. And they, they, they control all three branches of government. I mean, all, all two branch, I mean the House, the Senate and the, and the, and the White House. Or they could shut the government down if that's what they choose to do. But if they do, they own it. And we've, you know, they know what they can do to get our votes. And so far there's, I mean, this CR in the Rules Committee right now. I just saw it a couple of hours ago. I mean, they just dropped it on us. There was no negotiation with Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, no negotiation with our leadership, nothing. So this is, this is their very partisan bill and they try to say it's a clean bill. Give me a break. This is a dirty bill. This is a dirty bill. It's dirty because it screws a lot of people and throws a lot of people off of healthcare.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And the way that, I mean the so called big beautiful bill, if and when that takes shape, I mean that, that is going to screw people even more when it comes to health care. People who are on Medicaid are just going to get the shaft. And you're absolutely right about it. The other thing I wanted to run by you, and I mentioned it earlier, I want to come back to it before I let you go, is Trump. I mean, he threatened the press today and I guess that's nothing new in Washington. But Jonathan Karl was asking him over at ABC about what Pam Bondi had said about hate speech and going after hate speech. And this is what Trump had to say. I want to play it for you. And we can end the conversation this way. We have that. Matt, do we have that?
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Jonathan Karl
Is that, I mean, a lot of.
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Jim Acosta
People, a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech, should probably.
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Jonathan Karl
Go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly and say you have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they'll come after ABC. Well, ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech. Right. Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech. So maybe they'll have to go after you. Look, we want everything to be fair. It hasn't been fair. And the radical left has done tremendous damage to the country. But we're fixing it. We have right now the hottest country anywhere in the world. And remember one year ago, our country was dead and now Washington D.C. is fixed and I fix It.
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Jim Acosta
Okay. Except for the bullshit at the very end there. Your thoughts? I mean, the way he talks about going after speech, I don't think it should concern just journalists now. I think that it should concern everybody.
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Jim McGovern
We can't let political violence be an excuse to go after free speech. He's exploiting a tragedy, and that's what he does all the time, and so do his allies. And it's scary. And you know what? This is a moment for courage. It's a moment for courage for people in Congress. You have to stand up and speak the truth and deal with the incoming. It's a moment for the press, too, and appreciate Jonathan Carroll asking that question. But, you know, people have to. This is a moment of courage not to downplay things. This is serious. Look, there are lots of changes happening in our country very quickly. All of it is moving us in a kind of an authoritarian direction. It's happening quickly, and we need to be aware of that, because if we don't do something and we're going to move so far to the right that we're not going to be able to come back. And so this is. This is all very, very scary, but it's a reminder that we need to push back. We can't be intimidated at this moment, and certainly we can't give into these calls to limit speech. Look, I mean, Charlie Kirk himself, you know, talked about the importance of free speech. I just. I disagree with most of what he said. Right. Some of it I found very, very offensive. But he had a right to say what he said. And, you know, in our Constitution allows for, you know, there to be very ugly speech. And. But when we start saying that, like people like Donald Trump or Pam Bondi or Stephen Miller should define what is acceptable speech in this country, boy, that's scary. That really is scary.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. It's a dangerous slippery slope, there's no question about it. Especially, I mean, Donald Trump is the king of hate speech, it seems to me. I mean, he has said things like the enemy within and so on. I mean, this. I mean, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Give me a break.
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Jim McGovern
And look at how he's reacted to tragedies. When the political violence against Democrats. He acted when Paul Pelosi was nearly killed. I mean, the list. I mean, he's. He's not a nice man. I think he's a lousy president, but we got to deal with him. And. And we. And we got to fight back.
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Jim Acosta
All right, Congressman Jim Govin, thanks a lot for your time. Appreciate it. And sorry about Duke chiming in there, but, you know, sometimes he likes to get in on the act.
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Jim McGovern
I'd rather hear Duke to some of the people that are. I'm talking in my committee right now, so thank you.
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Jim Acosta
I hear you. Some dogs are barking up there, too, I believe. Thanks, Congressman. Art, good to talk to you. Really appreciate it. It's Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, and Duke was involved in that conversation as well. I hope Duke's speech is protected in America. I mean, his speech is always a loving form of speech, but, you know, listen, sometimes he has to chime in, too. My friends from the Good Liars are going to be here at any moment. Jason. Jason.
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Jason
Say my name, and I shall.
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Jim Acosta
You shall appear. And where's Davram? Is he coming? Is he.
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Jason
It should be. He should be.
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Jim Acosta
He's just a bit tardy.
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Devram
Where.
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Jason
Where is he?
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Jim Acosta
Where is that guy? Sure, we'll bring him in in a second. But good to see you. And you know, Jason, I reached out to you because I saw one of your greatest hits on Instagram and on this conversation about free speech. I thought it was important because. And on hate speech, I mean, Pam Bondi and Trump and, you know, the. They just make up what hate. They think hate speech is. But you have actually confronted politicians on their forms of hate speech, and it sounds as though you've talked to a lot of MAGA supporters over the years who are just, just fine with hate speech as long as it's coming from Donald Trump. But, I mean, what do you think about this, this free speech debate that has cropped up since Charlie Kirk lost his life?
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Jason
I think it's interesting. And again, like what JD Vance was saying yesterday on Charlie Kirk's show. And, you know, first off, like, what happened to Charlie Kirk was a tragedy and it shouldn't be happening in the country. Like, we should be able to exchange ideas. And I certainly didn't agree with most of everything that Charlie Kirk had to say, but that just shouldn't be taking place in the country. But to say it's a problem only from the left is. It's just. It's simply not true. I mean, there's a list of, you know, crimes that have been committed against Democrats by. By people who identified as Republicans. So I think. I think it's very odd to say it's only coming from the left because just from going to Trump rallies, like some of the rhetoric that we hear at Trump rallies, like some of the videos we don't even post, because it's so bad a Lot of people are, like, calling for acts of violence and calling for public hangings and things like that. So I think it's a really scary time. And I. I do worry, like, the representative was saying, that this will be used as a way to actually limit free speech and to, you know, slide further towards authoritarianism.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And you confronted. I was a politician in North Carolina.
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Jason
I believe, Michelle Morrow, running for Superintendent of Public Instruction in North Carolina, and.
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Jim Acosta
She was saying all kinds of crazy stuff about the Obamas or something like that. Is that right? I think we have that video. We should play that clip and then let's talk about the other side, because to me, I mean, isn't this hate speech? Let's watch.
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Jason
Really a fan of all the work that you've done. Oh, thank you. I was wondering if I could grab your autograph. Oh, you're so kind. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, sure. Do you mind signing this? This is one of those that your tweets said, Obama did it. Hillary did it. Shift did it. Comey did it. Holder did it. That says death to traitors on there. And I thought that was a great tweet. Do you mind signing it for me? Yeah, yeah, I do mind signing it for you. Oh, would you mind? Just. Nice. Nice to. Nice to meet you. Well, why won't you sign it? This is your tweet, Right. Will you sign this other one where you said. Will you sign this other one about killing Obama on pay per view events over here? Will you sign the tweet where you said, a firing squad for Obama, a pay per view death. Michelle, please sign it. All right. Well, she tweeted it that she wanted Obama to be killed by a firing squad on pay per view, but she wouldn't sign the tweet. So.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, Jason, I mean, this is something that has been going on on the far right for some time. I mean, it's kind of amazing that all of a sudden Pam Bondi and some of these people want to have this discussion about hate speech. I mean, they. They. They sort of, like, turned hate speech into a cottage industry when Obama was president. And what did you make of that, that little exchange you had there?
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Jason
Well, it was interesting because those. And here's to. From here.
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Jim Acosta
How can we just have one good liar when we have both? That's how it should be.
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Devram
That's right. That's right. Glad to be here.
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Jason
Well, those tweets were from. Oh, there he goes. Those tweets were from.
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Jim Acosta
He's back. Is it something we said? We Just started.
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Jason
He has to make an entrance. He'll do it once or twice.
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Devram
I love a big entrance. I'll make a few of them.
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Jim Acosta
Pokey.
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Devram
That's right.
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Jason
So. So those tweets were from, I think, 2020, 2021, where she was, she was tweeting this about Obama and, you know, saying death to traders and things like that. And what was interesting is she was running to, you know, to be in charge of the public schools and the education in North Carolina. And by the way, she almost won. She lost by a percentage point. Wow. I believe so. She. She was, she wrote these tweets and then when confronted with them, you know, asked, you know, for an autograph that she said, she said she wouldn't do it, which I thought was a little interesting. You know, like, everyone on the right is like, you gotta, you gotta stand up for what you believe in. And a lot of people, like, haven't even backed off from some of the things they said in the past. You know, Donald Trump certainly has it. So she, she didn't embrace it, I guess she didn't go full maga. She didn't embrace that. Maybe, maybe she would have done better. I hate to say. I don't know. But she, she. She ran away. And not only did she run away way to the wrong place two times, and then finally she had four options. 1.
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Jim Acosta
Was that why you kept having opportunities to talk to her? She kept going the wrong way. She.
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Jason
There were four doors there. She came in one door, she tried to get away another door. Then she had two options. She chose wrong again. Then finally the last option, she made it to her own event, an event for her that she didn't know where it was. So, good Lord.
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Jim Acosta
Well, you know, you can't blame her for trying. But, but, but the, the interesting part about. And Devon, we should talk about some of your stuff too, because you both have made the. Made a point of going to Trump rallies and talking. I always think it's interesting to talk to the people at the Trump rallies. I've done this myself. And, and just, and just listen to what they have to say. You know, you don't have to really lead the witness too much here. You can just listen to them. And I think we have a couple of examples of when you guys have just heard them say the most extreme things. And we should listen. Let's listen to this.
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Devram
Did you like in your tea dropping, young man?
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Jim Acosta
I like to be free. I like to have our country back. I want to see some hangings. I want to see Gitmo reopen.
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Devram
Holy.
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Jim Acosta
Holy, indeed.
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Devram
Yeah, that was. That was the only thing that came to mind in the moment, but I think it's pretty appropriate.
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Jason
Do you want to address the concept?
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Devram
I expected to say so, yeah. I, I should set the table there a little bit.
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Jim Acosta
Santa. Is that okay?
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Devram
I was Q. Santa. Christmas was coming up, and Q, we were in the time where Q was dropping, you know, new drops, and that was the most exciting thing to certain people. And so we just went down the line and talked to people while I was in the Santa costume. And this guy was very excited to sit on my knee. And I see the key there. That's right.
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Jim Acosta
Pringle. You might say something along those lines.
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Jason
Oh, that's good.
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Devram
That's perfect. We should. Santa Claus. Which does not roll off the tone.
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Jason
Santa Claus. Ye.
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Jim Acosta
Santa Claus.
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Devram
Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
Not as. Doesn't go as well, but. But, no, but the point is, is that, I mean, for folks who are like, oh, this hate speech. Oh, it's just so terrible what we're hearing right now. This has been going on, on the right for a very long time, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, it's.
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Devram
It's. Yeah, it's been going on. And, you know, as you said, we're not necessarily leading people to it. I mean, we just said, what would you, for instance, for this guy? What would you like to see? And it's oftentimes, it's gleefully. People are like, let's bring back, you know, these aspects of the most awful regimes in history. Let's have, you know, public executions and those types of things. Seems like what people have been talking about and aiming for for years and years and years. So to hear it's coming from one side, and in our experience, there's just endless video of, of the opposite.
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Jim Acosta
And, Jason, I mean, to what do you attribute this? Where. Where do you think this flows from? I mean, I guess maybe I'm asking a leading question now, but it just seems to me that they. They absorb this from Trump. That's been my experience, my observation. They absorb it from them, other figures of the far right. And a lot of this stuff. Don't you think is the case that you find that. That they're parroting things that they either heard on Fox or on conservative media or from Trump himself? Like some of just the exact. Almost the exact words that they say?
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Jason
No, exactly. You'll hear people respond, and sometimes they'll even have the same, like, gestures as Trump when they're, when they're. They're talking about what they Want to see happen with the country. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, but we hear a lot, a lot of, like, kind of violent fantasies sometimes. And one day that stuck out was on January 5, 2021. We heard a lot of people talking about how they wanted to, you know, storm the Capitol, and they wanted there to be, you know, people talking about hanging my pants and all these. These things. And then, of course, on January 6th, they were saying it, and then we saw the results of that firsthand. And also on January 6, Rudy Giuliani was out there saying we should have trial by combat in his speech there. So there's a lot of this, a lot of what Donald Trump says. There's, like, kind of like violent undertones to a lot of it. Like, we're going to take the country back. We're doing this. And you see that coming from his supporters as well, where, you know, we've asked people point blank if they would be happy if. If he was a dictator or if he was an authoritarian. And they. They answered, yes, that would be totally fine with them. So I do think it. It does, you know, it does come from Donald Trump. But there is like a. It's. It's not like Donald Trump is. Is the guy who's like the. The head of the snake. You know, he's like the. The guy who's started this whole movement. But there's, like, been an ugly thing, I think, in America for a very long time, and the kind of like a fantasy, a violent fantasy that exists here.
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Jim Acosta
And. Yeah. Do a poem called the Snake. I mean, I remember headed the snake. Used to do the poem the Snake or whatever that thing is.
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Jason
Wait, what is it? You got to tell me.
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Devram
Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
You guys ever heard this before? When he goes out on the campaign trail, he tells the story about the snake, and it's about this woman who takes in the snake, and the snake bites the woman. And he says, you knew I was a snake the day you took me in. You can just go and go on YouTube and just have a ball. He's told this. It's like a MAGA limerick or something. And he's done it.
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Devram
Like, it sounds like a little bit of a senior moment. He has, and he goes back and he retells the story.
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Jim Acosta
This was the weave before the weave.
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Jason
Oh, the weave before the weave. Okay.
- [28:37]
Jim Acosta
Before the week.
- [28:38]
Devram
But you were talking about where it comes from. And I didn't think about this until this moment, but, yeah, I realized Donald Trump directed some violence at me personally once, and I just haven't come up In. In. In the last week or so, I haven't thought about this, but we were filming a movie, and there was a moment where I was supposed to interrupt a Trump rally, and I do, and I'm shouting about Jason, who played a character in the movie, and a guy comes up and basically kind of takes a swing at me during the rally, and Donald Trump stops his speech and says, I need people like that working for me. That's the kind of guy working for me. Working for me. Yeah, folks. And the crowd went nuts. And so, you know, that was at a time where we were doing some. Some of these bigger stunts, and that was just a kind of a weird, eerie kind of thing that, you know, he was able to kind of direct the mob in that moment. So none of it's new, and we kind of know in large part where it's coming from.
- [29:44]
Jim Acosta
And we have another video, I think, of somebody talking about public hangings or something if we watch that.
- [29:52]
Jason
What would you like to see him do to Democrats? Escort him to the gallows. Really? You want him to kill his political opponents? You asked me what I wanted to see. You asked me what I wanted to see. Right, but you want. You want to see Trump kill his political justice done. Okay. What would they be sent to the gallows for? Treason?
- [30:16]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. I mean, Jason. I mean, some of this stuff.
- [30:18]
Jason
Not funny.
- [30:20]
Jim Acosta
I was gonna say some of the stuff is funny. Some of it's not. That's. Yeah, but it's what people say.
- [30:25]
Jason
Yeah. Yeah.
- [30:26]
Devram
And it was.
- [30:27]
Jason
That was, I think, last March or April in North Carolina. And we do hear, like, it's. That's not an anomaly. Like, I think at least once at a rally, you'll hear somebody say they either want to see all Democrats arrested because they believe some of these QAnon theories, or just because they. They hate Democrats and they hate. They hate liberals. They want to see these. These. These public hangings and. And being have people sent to the gala. So that one, like, shocked me mostly because of, like, the laugh afterwards, being like, it's funny. I mean, this is what. This is what I want to see. And I'm trying to think back to that gentleman, his backstory. I think he was like, he went down like, a Q A non. Rabbit hole and believe that there was, like, this global cabal of, like. Like, child sex trafficking going on and that the Democrats were in charge of that. So I guess if you have, like, a. The. They're. Some of these people that they're not living in reality. They believe these things are Happening. They're just simply not happening. That maybe they're gonna like, think feel justified in, in some, some violent actions. So.
- [31:33]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, and speaking of QAnon and this whole belief of a child sex trafficking ring, oh, by the way, there's Jeffrey Epstein. And this has been a source of great interest here in Washington for several weeks now. And you guys have been making a point of this as well. I believe you have. We have some, I think one picture of you guys hanging. There it is. Is that Trump Tower in New York?
- [32:00]
Jason
Yes, yes.
- [32:01]
Devram
There's the electricity, beautiful marble and the fake gold everywhere. Definitely. Trump Tower in New York City.
- [32:08]
Jason
It's the classiest building in the world. There's so much fake gold and there's nothing classier than fake gold all over the place.
- [32:14]
Jim Acosta
So if people are wondering why the Oval Office looks the way it does, you really should walk into Trump Tower and check that out. It will be very disturbing. But you guys were making a point. I mean, you're hanging the alleged tawdry letter that Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Although, I mean, come on, give me a break. But I mean, it is rather extraordinary. Is it devrom that that they made all of this hay out of the Epstein files? Released the Epstein files. You know, Clinton's in there and all these Democrats are in there and Trump won't release the Epstein files, it seems like, because he's in them.
- [32:50]
Devram
That's right. That's. That sure is what it seems like. And it feels like they spent months and years creating this. And so I think myself and a lot of people had no other choice but to believe that if he were elected, this would certainly be part of it. And certainly people were following him for, for the last several years would have believed that he would have released these files because he said he would. And he, it became a huge part of the campaign. So they created this moment and this, this. They had to know this was going to happen, and they had to know they were going to be covering it up. And individuals.
- [33:28]
Jim Acosta
And the information we have, again, is limited.
- [33:31]
Devram
Exactly. There you go.
- [33:32]
Jim Acosta
And there's Cash Patel being asked about it and, and having a terrible answer for it. But I mean, Jason, you know, it's, it's. You can't make up this kind of stuff. I mean, this is like just ridiculous hypocrisy on the part of, of Trump and Cash Patel and others. We solve the guy. There they are.
- [33:53]
Jason
Yeah.
- [33:54]
Jim Acosta
Your thoughts on all this?
- [33:56]
Jason
Well, first of all, Cash Patel, he is so nervous. He looks so nervous at These things. He always looks like he's like in over his head. Like he's like a used car salesman who like hasn't made a sale. And like, like that guy from the Simpsons. I forgot his name. He's like, oh, I'm nervous. Oh, I gotta get this right. I keep messing up when needs a sale. I can't remember, maybe that's not his name, but he looks so nervous in those situations. But also it's like, this is a thing where I agree with a lot of Trump supporters, like, release the files. Like, I want to know it. And a lot of the Trump supporters we've talked to over the years, up until, you know, we've asked them about it, you know, including this year at some events this year, everyone says, release the Epstein files. I want to see that. And we've pressed people being like, Donald Trump is, you know, his name, his name, he flew on the plane. We at least knew that at that point he's on the flight logs. Right. And a lot of people to their credit was like, hey, if he is like, if it's found that he's done some terrible crimes or was involved in this in some way, then I'll stop supporting Donald Trump. That's what some of the people have said. So I agree with them. I hope they release it. And I do think it's like, if nothing else, very, very suspicious that Donald Trump is saying that this is a democratic hoax when this is something that his supporters care very, very deeply about. And I don't think it's going to win him any points with them. And even if he's not like, if he's not linked to it and it just turns out there's like, you know, big donors that are like, you can't let this get out there still. That is a big, big story. That is a big, big scandal if that is the case. So hopefully, hopefully they come out in some way. But I don't know, maybe, maybe when the, when the victims release their, their list or something like that will have some sort of answers.
- [35:43]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, he's doing everything in his power to, to not release. I mean, this is, it's the exact opposite of what they promised to their own supporters in the run up to all this. And I, I gotta ask you to run. Has anybody caught on to you guys yet? Has anybody said on, in general, your videos get hundreds of thousands. I was looking at this thing. Your videos get hundreds of thousands of reposts. So I would think by now. Or is it just that because we Are we are in two different worlds or multiple different universes now that people just aren't even aware of what you guys do? And so when you show up at these Trump events and so on, they're just still not at all onto the, to the game here.
- [36:24]
Devram
Well, I, I think what you're saying, that's 90 of it. We're kind of in two different, you know, social media bubbles. And so I don't think the people who are waiting in line at these rallies have watched many of our videos, but I would say it does happen. And the strange thing that happens at that moment is most of those people are very excited and they want to talk to us or take a picture with us or something, which is surprising. And we've talked to people about that. And at first it used to be encouraging to me. I was like, well, maybe there is some sort of shared reality or at least some sense of humor about this or some self awareness. But talking with people about this, someone made a great point and they just said, you know, it's just that you're on their phones, they've seen you and they feel like you're, you know, famous in their social media feeds and kind of that's what got us into all this. Donald Trump being a famous person that they feel like they can follow and latch onto. So in the end of the day, maybe not as encouraging as we'd hoped, but certainly people do recognize us and we're able to just kind of move on and talk to someone else.
- [37:37]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, Jason, people do like to be interviewed. I mean, that is something that I found out. There's some people who definitely don't want to do it. They're shy, whatever, they're wanted, perhaps, but most people, most people want to do it. And it does help.
- [37:50]
Jason
Yeah. And also it's like at a Trump rally, you're around so many like minded people and you're kind of like getting a little drunk on the energy of so many people doing the same chance. Saying your shirt's funny, saying you've got a great hat when you've got a mag hat on, you know, so you're like, you're, you're kind of feeling, you're feel, you're feeling a little high on that and you're going in there, you want to share your opinion, you want to say these catchphrases because it's, you know, it's like pro wrestling. You want to get out there and you want to say, you want to say your catchphrases, you want to say Build the wall. You want to say. I don't know what the new ones are. Lock. Lock them up. The media is the enemy of the people. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it's going to be. Yeah, let's.
- [38:29]
Jim Acosta
Let's release the files. I think is.
- [38:31]
Jason
Release the files.
- [38:32]
Jim Acosta
I think that's. That's what they're chanting now.
- [38:35]
Jason
That would be a great thing. That would be a great chance to get started, actually. Devon, let's write that down.
- [38:39]
Devram
Yeah, yeah.
- [38:39]
Jason
Next time we go out.
- [38:41]
Devram
Taken right now. Notes being taken.
- [38:43]
Jim Acosta
You need to go with the bull bullhorn. Release the files. Release the files.
- [38:47]
Jason
We will give you no credit for that. That was.
- [38:49]
Jim Acosta
No credit.
- [38:50]
Jim McGovern
Yeah.
- [38:50]
Jason
Not your idea. Yes. Okay, good, good.
- [38:52]
Jim Acosta
Q Kringle, I want credit for.
- [38:54]
Jason
Okay, you got that one. You got that one.
- [38:56]
Devram
We'll have to dig that. We'll have to dig that pit back out. Although the mask was stolen at a later. At a later stunt.
- [39:04]
Jim Acosta
So what I appreciate is the craftsmanship you put into the mask. If we could. I don't know if we can show that again.
- [39:09]
Devram
We should give it a shout out to Michaels. We went there. We got. Got bought various different cues. We thought that Q was a little bit playful.
- [39:21]
Jason
And the mask was a baby mask. Was like a giant baby mask that we spray painted black. We did this all in the middle. Just.
- [39:29]
Jim Acosta
It's just lovely.
- [39:30]
Jason
You can see the baby eyes in there. You see, like, those are baby. Yeah, yeah. Very odd. Very odd. It's just. It's a little disturbing, to be honest. But we lost that at a. Devon was wearing that at a Michael.
- [39:41]
Devram
Michael Flynn event. Yeah. Yeah.
- [39:46]
Jim Acosta
Our dreams tonight, unfortunately.
- [39:47]
Jason
Unfortunately. Yeah.
- [39:49]
Jim Acosta
Well, guys, as I've said before, you're doing the Lord's work. And keep doing it. Keep. Thanks so much. And keep those videos coming. When I saw the one, Jason, with you and Michelle Burrow. Whatever her name is, the other day, I thought that was a fresh one, but you were like, no, no. That's one of the greatest hits. And it is.
- [40:06]
Jason
I wanted to give you an FYI beforehand. I didn't want you to, but.
- [40:11]
Jim Acosta
These goddamn politicians, they should be forced to sign these tweets when they put out that kind of crazy shit. I mean, honestly, it's a great. It's a great point, so. And I'm sure it was Devram's idea. It wasn't your idea.
- [40:24]
Devram
Thank you. Appreciate that. I didn't want to be the one to have to say it.
- [40:28]
Jim Acosta
Great stuff, guys. Thanks again.
- [40:31]
Jason
All right. Thank you.
- [40:31]
Jim Acosta
Good to See you, the good liars, you might say they're great, they're great at it and they're just doing incredible work out there. And I, I do, I don't know what anybody else thinks. I do consider that to be a form of journalism. They are going out and they are asking these politicians, many of them on the right, obviously, to sign their names to the bile and vitriol and horseshit that they put out there. I mean, there's a part of me that wants to get them press passes over at the White House just to see what Trump does, because I, I can almost guarantee you he has no idea who they are and hasn't it has been brought to their attention, although maybe Caroline Levitt has probably seen it just to, just to be ready for that. But I, I do appreciate the work that they're doing. The other thing that I, I do want to mention at the very end of this is that my old colleague Jonathan Carl, I think, asked the right question today of Donald Trump and they have been trying mightily to not have certain reporters back there for chopper talk or these other press opportunities to speak to Donald Trump. And Jonathan Karl, he had an opportunity to ask Trump a question and he asked the right question. He asked the question about whether or not it's appropriate. Yes, I mean, Donald Trump is going to say these sorts of things. J.D. vance is going to say these kinds of things, obviously, because he just wants to be the heir apparent. But for the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, she is the chief law enforcement officer of this country, to be threatening Americans over what kind of speech, and there's Jonathan Karl with, with Donald Trump right there to, to, to have the Attorney General of the United States saying, well, this, this kind of speech is acceptable. This kind of speech is unacceptable. She's basically trying to lay out what they believe to be unprotected speech in this country. And I have news for everybody. Charlie Kirk himself has said, he has said something that is going to blow their minds. He has said that their speech, that any kind of speech, even if it's hateful speech, is protected under the Constitution of the United States. Let me see if I can find this for you. It, it is something that he has himself said and it, to me, it is the ultimate form of hypocrisy. The fact that Donald Trump, J.D. vance, Pam, Bonnie, and these folks are trying to police people's speech. This is what Charlie Kirk tweeted last year. Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech there's gross speech, there's evil speech, and all of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free. That's what char. And again, you're not going to hear me quote Charlie Kirk a whole hell of a lot. A lot of what he said is just completely unacceptable and out of bounds. But he had the right to say it. And as we just saw in, in that segment with the the good liars, for years, far right conservatives in this country have been posting all sorts of horrendous things about the Obamas, and you name it, people should be put to death. They should be held, you know, liable for treason and so on. It's that kind of speech that should have no place in this country. But I got news for you. In many cases, you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. But in many cases, it is legally protected by the Constitution of the United States. I, I don't, I would never burn a flag. Personally. I don't believe in flag. I don't think it's, I don't, I don't like. It bothers me. I consider myself to be a patriotic American and so on it. But it's protected speech. If you want to go out there and call the president a son of.
- [44:37]
Jason
A.
- [44:39]
Jim Acosta
I mean, he himself was out on the campaign trail last year talking about the enemy from within. He was referring to Americans in this country as the enemy from within. That, that by definition to me is hate speech. When he came down the golden escalator, as he likes to say it, and announced he was running for President back in 2015, you guys remember that we were just showing the inside of Trump Tower a few moments ago with all the fake gold everywhere, referred to immigrants coming into this country as rapists and killers and criminals and so on. That's hate speech. How many times? I mean, you name it. Go down the list. Calling the press the enemy of the people. He has done this time and again. He is the king of hate speech. Donald Trump is the king of hate speech. How in the world can Pam Bondi police the speech of Americans in this country when her boss pedals it almost every day? And then he goes around and sues people like the New York Times. That was just announced today. He's suing the New York Times after he just sued the Wall Street Journal after getting settlements from CBS and abc. He sues everybody over speech. And yet he is the king of hate speech. He is the, he is one of the biggest liars we've ever seen walk the face of the earth. But that Speech is protected. His lies are protected speech. His hate is protected speech. And so how Pam Bondi can turn around and say, you should go rat out your neighbors if they've engaged in some kind of hate speech, call their employers, see if you can get them fired. I mean, this is one of, one of the oldest tricks in Trump's book. Get people fired for things that he doesn't like that you say, but it's protected speech. Just like when I say that Donald Trump is the king of hate speech. That's protected speech. It's my opinion. I have the First Amendment. And as one viewer is commenting right now, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. In a, in a, in a, in a note as we're wrapping things up here to that point, to that very good point. At 7 o' clock this evening, I'll be back live again here on Substack and, and I think we'll put it up on YouTube as well, that Congressman Ro Khanna, the Democrat from California who has been leading the charge to release the Epstein files, he was at that press conference just the other day with some of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell up on Capitol Hill with Thomas Massey, the Kentucky Republican. Ro Khanna's gonna be joining me tonight at 7 o'.
- [47:23]
Jason
Clock.
- [47:23]
Jim Acosta
So in about 2 hours and 12 minutes, I'll be back up here live with Ro Khanna to talk about the latest in the investigation. And as I was mentioning at the top of this hour, the House Oversight Committee has released some new documents in the Epstein matter. And so folks, don't get distracted, Donald Trump is going to try to distract you, Pam. Bonnie is going to try to distract you. J.D. vance. I mean, he's, you know, he's, he's just trying to stay relevant at this point. They're all trying to distract you. But the fact of the matter is, as I've said many times, Donald Trump stands alone as the one man blocking the Epstein files from being released to the American people. Donald Trump with the stroke of a pen, I don't even know if he has to sign an executive order. He could auto pen it. I think he could just tell somebody to do it.
- [48:13]
Jim McGovern
He could pick up the phone right.
- [48:14]
Jim Acosta
Now and call Cash Patel after he's done getting his ass handed to him up on Capitol Hill. He can call Cash Patel, call Pam Bondi and say, release the damn Epstein file files. But they don't want to do that. They don't want to have that conversation. They don't want to hear the kind of free speech that's going to be expressed after the Epstein files are released here in Washington because Donald Trump knows damn well there's war in those Epstein files. And he's, he's probably prepared to talk about at this point. And so we're going to stay on top of it. Rokhana joining me in a couple of hours from now, you'll see it right here. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I do want to thank Congressman Jim McGovern for joining me today and I want to thank Jason and Devram from the Good Liars. I hope people got the point of all of that. The people who are accusing others of hate speech right now, they have been peddling it for years, folks. Don't fall for this. Don't fall for it. In the meantime, thanks everybody for watching. And, and Duke's speech is protected, too, by the way. Duke's right to free speech is definitely protected. I will, I will definitely protect that. But in the meantime, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you later a little bit later on this evening. Have a good evening.