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- [00:01]
Joy Reid
Pepsi Prebiotic cola in original and cherry vanilla that Pepsi taste you love with no artificial sweeteners and 3 grams of prebiotic fiber. Pepsi Prebiotic Cola. Unbelievably Pepsi. Okay.
- [00:25]
Jason Johnson
Yeah.
- [00:28]
Joy Reid
Oh, Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian. Why, Brian, Wait a minute. Don't play it yet. Hey, everybody. Welcome to. Welcome to the Joy Reed show. Jason done teased what we're gonna look. It happened to Don. It's also happened to us. Big up to the lemon heads. We see all you already dropping in. I know what y' all already know. I want to big up to everybody that is watching the Joy Reid show on YouTube, on Substack, on Facebook, our Twitchies on Twitch, also those listening on podcast platforms, if you're on LinkedIn, wherever you're at, we just appreciate you being here. Happy Friday. Happy Friday for us. Not a happy Friday for everybody. Oh, the news that broke just before we went on the air, it's. It's like rankling shows. We're having to, like, probably push out some content tonight or, you know, get rid of some content that we wanted to talk about, because we got to fit this in, y'.
- [01:19]
Jason Johnson
All.
- [01:19]
Joy Reid
We got to fit this in. By the way, just reminding you guys, we're trying to climb up to 500, 000 subscribers on YouTube. We have surpassed 440, 000. We're climbing like a thousand to 2,000 a day, which is really fantastic. But please, if you have not sent this link to five friends, if you're. If you're a YouTuber, YouTube viewer, please, please, please send it to five friends. Maybe send it to 10. Why not make your whole family go? How about 20 friends? So we can get 20 friends, but that's 60,000 again. Eight weeks. We got to get 60,000 eight weeks. Let's get it done. Let's get it done. But we also are trying to get to 250 on substack, the stack. So we want to build that, too. We want to try to also build up our Facebook. Now, my personal Facebook, I have like, 600,000 people on there. But the. The official show, Facebook has like, a. Like, 25,000. We want to get that to 100. And our little Twitchies, we want you to. You're a little army of, like, 300.
- [02:10]
Dr. John Gartner
You're so adorable.
- [02:11]
Joy Reid
We love you so much. We want you to grow, too. We want everybody to grow. We love everybody. So. But. But. But yet. Let me tell y' all something. We had a whole plan, and we are definitely going to get to this wild Melania news later in the Show L paras is going to join us. Tommy Christopher from Mediaite. We got a lot going on. We got Dr. John Gartner to talk about Trump's mentals. But before we. And we have a great congresswoman, Congressman Ansari that's going to be with us shortly. But before we get to that, I, I just have to let you know this broke not long ago from the Daily Mail and I'm, I'm attributing this to. This is the Daily Mails reporting. This is not our reporting, but this audio seems to be accurate. This is Brian. Are we teasing or playing Brian Gnome. Let's play a teeny bit of it. Brian Gnome apparently was recorded by his big breasted gal pal and she might be the source of all of this news that he liked to dress up in busty wear and wanted to also maybe permanently be busty. A busty girl. But let's play just a tiny bit of the audio that has dropped from the Daily Mail on Brian. I'm only gonna play a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. And I would bow to you.
- [03:26]
Melania Trump
What if people saw us together?
- [03:30]
Dr. John Gartner
I don't give a.
- [03:32]
Melania Trump
Not even if you got recognized.
- [03:35]
Joy Reid
I don't care. Brian, what are you doing? Brian, Let me read the story. Christy Noem's husband Brian B R Y O N. If I pronounce that way. Brian had an on again, off again secret late relationship with a left wing dominatrix for more than nine years. The Daily Mail can exclusively reveal at times the former Homeland Security secretary's husband encouraged shy Soto Mayor. She's a wise Latina named Soto Mayor similar to the Supreme Court Justice Soto Mayor as she repeatedly insulted his wife. We're going to play that audio later. Brian fantasized about leaving Christie for the woman he worshiped as his goddess and discussed his desire to transition his own gender through surgery and hormone therapy. This is the far right wing mass deportation. Shoot him in the face. Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol. Former Homeland Security director, former governor of South Dakota.
- [04:35]
Lev Parnas
He.
- [04:35]
Joy Reid
They've been married since he was the first gentleman of South Dakota. Okay, Brian. Daily News has confirmed. Daily Mail. I'm sorry. Daily Mail has confirmed the telephone number that was used in these clips was BR's who also paid for their conversations using an email under the pseudonymous Crystal balls with a Z666 crystal C H R Y S T A L Balls B a l l s 666 and admitted that he would like to be referred to by the name Crystal Sotomayor. Is a five foot sex worker known as Raylan Riley with extra large 2500cc breast implants. Has shared dozens of phone recordings and online messages with the Daily Mail revealing her conversations with the now 56 year old insurance executive who used to, who used the alias Jason Jackson, taking the name of Jason in name. Y'. All listen, the news just be getting spicier and spicier and spicer up in here. It's not my type. Oh, we, oh, we've heard it fam. We've heard more. We're, we're going to play a little bit more of it later on. But baby, we're gonna have to talk about this later. Luckily we do have a clinician on soon. We've also got a media expert and also Lev Parna. So we're gonna, we're reaching out to them all now. Greetings from London. Thanks to those in London. Cheerio, pip pip. Thank you for tuning in from the uk we appreciate it. But we're gonna get to all that plus the Melania news later in the show. So you guys gotta wait for that. And of course we're gonna get our guests in on it. We're let, we're furiously reaching out to our guests to see what their takes are on all that. But let's start with one of the weirdest developments in our kleptocratic nightmare. The White House is now apparently extending its religious war not just to Muslims, Iranians, Palestinians and the still sovereign country of Lebanon, but now also to the Holy See of the Catholic Church and our first American Pope. Let's put up the pick. This gentleman is Elbridge Colby, perfect name for Patricia Goon. He is the under Secretary of Defense for policy, reporting to TV weekend host turned Secretary of war crimes Pete Exit. And according to Italian writer Mattia Farisi, wrote a piece for the Free Press, Barry Weiss's outfit, former outfit that got picked up by CBS for $200 million. As recorded by the Daily Beast, quote, a top Vatican diplomat was summoned to the Pentagon for a bitter lecture demanding that the Pope get behind Donald Trump. It has emerged Vatican officials briefed on the meeting told the Free Press that one of the Pentagon's most senior officials summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre to meet in January, then told him that the United States has the military power to do, quote, whatever it wants and that Pope Leo, the first American born pontiff, better take our side. Better take our side is a quote. The site writes that as tensions escalated, one US Official went so far as to invoke the Avignon papacy, the period in the third 1300s, when the French crown leveraged its military power to dominate the papal authority, essentially threatening to take our military and force the Vatican to become what, a vassal to the United States. What in the helion say? So what is it that got under the war crimes department's underpants, I wonder? According to the article, Colby, who is a Catholic who served in the first Trump administration and was nominated by Trump to his current role, and who's a close ally of, wait for it, Catholic convert and newly appointed member of the get us the hell out of Iran, Quackmire. J.D.
- [08:12]
Jason Johnson
vance.
- [08:13]
Joy Reid
The free Press article notes that such a meeting between the Pentagon officials and the Vatican is believed to be unprecedented. And here's what's apparently got to him. The Free Press writes that the Pentagon brass picked apart the Pontiff's January speech. The Pope's January speech. Pope Leo referring to his inaugural State of the World address. They reportedly took issue with a passage in which Pope Leo challenged Donald Trump's so called Don Row doctrine. A stupid name if I ever heard one. The Don Roe doctrine, which Trump invented, saying a diplomacy. This is what the Pope said. A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force by either individuals or groups of allies. They hate that. They also hate that the first American Pope in New Orleans by a Chicago Creole, which I love mentioning every time I can, opposes mass deportation and the regime's tormenting of immigrants, that he supports the right of Palestinians and Iranians to live despite being brown and mainly Muslim, and that he routinely says things like this,
- [09:18]
Lev Parnas
brothers and sisters, this is our God, Jesus, King of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use, justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
- [09:42]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
I don't think there's anything going to get me in heaven, okay. I really don't. I think I'm not maybe heaven bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly an Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make heaven.
- [09:57]
Lev Parnas
Brothers and sisters, this is our God, Jesus, King of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use, justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
- [10:20]
Joy Reid
Your hands are full of blood. Though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. They don't like that. But what really may have been the final straw for these fake Christians is that this Pope, he didn't come off the top rope on maga's golden calf with bars like these.
- [10:39]
Pope Leo (quoted)
In English, I would simply say once again, what I said in the Urbi message on Sunday, asking all people of goodwill to to search always for peace and not violence, to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war, which is continuing to escalate and which is not resolving anything. In fact, we have a worldwide economic crisis, energy crisis, situation in the Middle east of great instability, which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world. So come back to the table. Let's talk. Let's look for solutions in a peaceful way. And let's remember especially the innocent children, the elderly, the sick, so many people who have already become or will become victims of this continued warfare. To remind all that attacks on civilian infrastructure is against international law, but that it is also a sign of the hatred, the division, the destruction the human being is capable of. And we all want to work for peace. People want peace. I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen, to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war always. Thank you very much.
- [12:15]
Joy Reid
He said, contact your representatives. I love having an American Pope. I'm sorry. I love the idea that the Pope can come at the warmonger President in Chicago. English I it so much. I love the previous Pope. I thought the previous Pope was great. But this Pope is low key. Becoming my favorite pope. Right? So they hate the fact that he does that. Now, the latest Fox poll shows that while Donald Trump basically split the Catholic vote, he barely won Catholics. He won white evangelicals by like 80 points or something. But Catholics were a lot more split. Latino Catholics were slightly pro Trump. White Catholics went for Trump maybe like 52%. But it wasn't like an overwhelming win by. They were one of the more skeptical group of Christian voters. And Catholics of color did not vote for him. Black Catholics did not. But the latest Fox poll shows that Trump is now underwater with Catholics 48% approving, 52% disapproving. That's a Fox poll. And that distance between Catholics and this president is growing. Catholics tend to be pro immigration, pro helping the poor, anti war, none of which comports with this extreme neocon, hyper Christian, Zionist, white Christian nationalist regime. And make no mistake, this regime's religious war is not just against Muslims. It's also against Christians. Not just the Christians that, you know we in Israel are bombing in Gaza and Lebanon and Iran and that Israeli settlers are killing an ethnic cleansing in the west bank. In this country. Hegseth recently removed the head of the army's chaplain Corps and two other generals during Holy Week firing Major General William Green Jr. Who belongs to the National Baptist Convention and who happens to have been only the third black American to hold that position, fired clearly due to the color of his skin. Green was formally removed three days before Easter. No reason was given, no reason publicly stated. Green has not publicly commented on his removal either. The Reverend Raz Wa, executive director of the Military Chaplains association, told EWTN News, which a religious sort of news organization, that Green's removal is unprecedented, noting that chiefs are appointed to four year statutory written in law terms, so the firing was probably illegal. And Pete Hegseth, who has presided over not just one but four potential war crimes. The murder of fishermen in the Caribbean Sea, assisting the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and Lebanon, the kidnapping of the Venezuelan dictator, with Trump declaring that we are taking that country's oil, which is a whole war crime. And now the illegal war on Iran in which we opened by killing 160 schoolgirls with a tomahawk missile and then a second tap at that same school and then we in Israel bombed a stadium. The bloodthirsty, unqualified, drunken preteen who Trump cast to lead the Pentagon also routinely says things like this campaign that we've
- [15:06]
Tommy Christopher
conducted, that Israel's conducted alongside us was one for the history books, truly. And it's because we have a President United States, that when he sends his war fighters out to fight, he unties their hands to actually go out and close with and destroy the enemy and as viciously as possible from moment one. And that's why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs. You have a choice. As we loiter over the top of Tehran, as the President talked about about your future, the president has made it clear that you will not have a nuclear weapon. The War Department agrees. Our job is to ensure that. And so we're keeping our hand on that throttle as long as as hard as is necessary to ensure the interest of the United States of America are achieved on that battlefield. This is.
- [15:50]
Joy Reid
It is always helpful when people announce their war crimes in advance. We negotiate with bombs. Pete Hath, who seems so. He seems like people have described it as a 13 year old playing Call of Duty. That is the way that he sees warfare. Right? This is his chance to be as bloodthirsty as he apparently wanted to be when he was in the military. He got drummed out of the military, I think for misconduct or he just didn't fit into the military culture. But he's now decided to switch the military culture to fit his hardline, far right, white Christian nationalist belief system. And he's warping the military and the Pentagon to those aims. He's literally firing people based on the color of their skin or their gender. White men are the only people allowed to advance inside of the Pentagon. He's going after anyone who isn't a lick spittle to Donald Trump, trying to get complete obedience. And they're having, like, religious services inside of the Pentagon. There was one that got coded as no Catholics allowed. It was a, a Friday Mass on Good Friday, but technically Catholics don't do Mass on Fridays before Easter. But it got written up that way because he's been so reactively and sort of, you know, sort of reactionarily anti everybody except white far right wing evangelicals. He's had Doug Wilson, who is a far right wing evangelical leader, addressed the Pentagon from the a podium inside the Pentagon. He's turned the Department of Defense back into the Department of War, which it hasn't been since, what, the 1940s. You do realize that when we first started the country, there was a Department of War. It only supervised the Army. Then there was a Department of the Navy. And then over time, during the Civil War, there was still no formal one unitary Defense Department. But leading up after that, you know, war, we did have a Department of War, and then it was changed to the Department of Defense after World War II. Because after World War II, the clear mission of the Pentagon was to oversee all of the military branches, including the, not just the army and the Navy, but also the Marines and the Air Force. Remember, there wasn't an Air Force in the beginning, even though Donald Trump once said there was. And then it became the duty of the Defense Department to defend the country, to defend our country against all enemies. Foreign, apparently domestic, but they've suddenly restyled it as the Department of War. This was your first signal that they plan to wage unlimited war around the country. That just happens to also financially benefit the First Family. I will remind you again that Donald Trump's sons are invested in drone companies, three of them. While we are using those very weapons in Iran, the First Family is now benefiting from unlimited war, something Donald Trump promised he would never do. It's interesting, right? And the person that is the physical vehicle of this unlimited war around the world, illegal wars, Illegal attacks on fishermen in the Caribbean Sea, illegal bombing of a children's school, a girls school in Iran, and now helping Israel to wage what sure as heck looks like an expansionist war in the Middle east in order to achieve this illegal vision of annexing 5A territory from five of their neighbors to create greater Israel, Eretz Israel. It's all a mess. No wonder there are now calls not just for the impeachment and maybe 25th amendment of Trump, which we're going to talk about later in the show, but maybe also a Pete Hegseth. Joining me now is Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari. She represents Arizona's 3rd congressional district. She's the youngest woman in the 119th Congress and the first Iranian American Democrat to serve in the U.S. house and potentially maybe in the Congress at all. Congresswoman, thanks so much for being here. And you have called for Hegseth's impeachment. We're going to put your statement up on the screen, but I'm just going to let you tell us in your own words why you believe he should be impeached. Well, those are your words, too, but why do you want to see him impeached? Yeah.
- [19:49]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
First of all, thank you so much for having me. What a horrific week it's been. As I just caught a little bit of your show prior to this, with all of the war around the world and Donald Trump's increasingly erratic behavior from somebody who was focused on being an authoritarian here in the United States. I think he's gone on to now wanting to be an emperor. And the fact that he's mentally unstable and simultaneously trying to bomb other countries, seize other countries territories is really terrifying. And the person who is taking out and like actually executing all of these missions is Pete Hegseth. And Pete Hegseth has proven to be unfit for office from the very early days of this administration when he leaked classified information through a signal chat which you know, feels like a lifetime ago now, but that was in and of itself an impeachable offense with how egregious it was and the way that it was put service members at harm. Following that, he has been behind the double tap strikes on the boats in the Caribbean, which have been I think just condemned widely in the international community and for good reason, potential war crimes there. If he wasn't secretary of War, that would be considered murder. And most recently in the war with Iran on the first day of this war that while I will still stand by, the administration never gave clear objections for what the war was about in Some phrases, and in some places, they tried to pretend like it was somehow about freeing the Iranian people. And on day one of the war, they bombed a children's school and 160 kids were killed. We've already forgotten about this, essentially. I mean, it barely comes up.
- [21:44]
Joy Reid
Well, we haven't forgotten about it. I will tell you that. We talk about this on every single show. We have not stopped talking about it. Amen. I mean, this is a war crime, and I'm shocked. Congressman, and if I could ask you to turn landscape. Turn your phone. Can you turn your phone landscape for us? Yeah, thanks. Oh, yeah, Hit us with a landscape push. But, I mean, I 100% agree with you that, you know, the dehumanization of the Iranian people, much like happened in Gaza, began with a purposeful, deliberate attack on a children's school, which the US Came. They were pretty quick about taking credit for it. Right. They didn't even deny it.
- [22:24]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
No, they have not denied it. There's. There, sadly, has been a lot of propaganda still trying to say that it was the Islamic Republic regime that did it, but the US didn't deny it. And there's been no apology. There was never any, you know, reckoning of it as well, Which. Which is. Which is unfortunate, but I guess not surprising. So, yeah, so we are announc the articles of impeachment, but we are filing them this coming week and really urging colleagues to support. I think that, you know, there's always questions about whether or not impeachment in the minority is worth it politically. And I think we're just living in times where every effort is worth it. I mean, these are not normal times. And when it comes to matters of warfare and life or death, I think the fact that Pete Hegseth is somebody with making decisions that could, you know, have cost thousands of lives, could one day cost millions of lives. It's extremely serious that he's held accountable and removed from office as soon as possible because there's three years left to go in this administration. And clearly, Donald Trump continues to have aspirations in other parts of the world, militarily.
- [23:39]
Joy Reid
Yeah. And, you know, I note that Pete Hegseth himself left the army national guard in 2021 after being flagged as a potential insider threat by a fellow service member, which led him to being removed from duty at President Joe Biden's inauguration. He was seen as somebody who was dangerous to be in our military, in part because he has these tattoos. One of them is Deus Volt. It's a tattoo on his arm which is sometimes used by white supremacist groups. It's certainly used by religious supremacist groups, right? Christian supremacists, white Christian supremacist groups. He described it as being a betrayal when he's pushed out. But this is a man who now has the power to remove other people. And Adam Serwa has a great, I think, must read piece in the Atlantic where he talks about the fact that he's using his power to resegregate the military, to bring back honorifics to traitorous Confederate generals, to begin to laud them again publicly by our military, to push black troops out, including the chaplain, to get rid of women, to get rid of anyone who isn't a white man, and even to say there's no beards allowed, which would, you know, mean J.D. vance couldn't serve anymore. But I think that is a way of trying to get Muslim men out. Yeah, absolutely right. I mean, and I wonder if your colleagues on the other side express any discomfort with the things that he's doing in that regard.
- [25:10]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
I have not heard any conversation with colleagues about that. Look, I think there's, sadly, with how the, you know, districts are built now and the way primaries, as we know in this country largely become, you know, they do draw people to the left or to the right. So many more of our colleagues are just really bought into MAGA and the MAGA ideology and the more kind of racist ideology. And I think. I also think a lot is being missed. Right? There's so many egregious things that happen every single day. I think many people are still not aware of the Christian nationalism messaging that Pete Hegseth really is like leading with at the Department of War. And even for this war. I'm part of the Free Thought Caucus in Congress because I consider myself to be agnostic. The group is members who are either agnostic, atheist, or just very firmly separation of church and state is extremely important to them. And we were all chatting about just the. The messaging that was being spread among the military right before they decided to strike Iran about this being a holy war. And that is something that I think in and of itself. Again,
- [26:30]
Joy Reid
We're going to hope she comes back. Yeah, we just lost. We just lost Representative Ansari signal. So we're gonna hope it comes back. We can take her backstage and see if she comes back. Got you. Listen, the Internet is a curious thing. And we don't know if Starlink just listens to when people say things that Elon Musk doesn't like. It just turns their Signals off? We have no idea. Well, I think she's probably in the capital. And they probably got bad cap. Yeah, they probably have bad Wi fi. So we'll see if we get her back. But I think the point she was making was excellent. By the way, I will note that on Monday, we're going to do our belated moral Monday for the month of April. And I'm really excited. I do believe we have not just Bishop Barber, but also Father Michael Flager. We're really excited because we really need to hear from people who are real religious leaders. Because Pete Hegseth pretending to be a religious leader and bringing in people like Joe Wilson and this guy Rigney is frightening because they're trying to justify a war that is a profiteering war. Let's just be clear. This war is benefiting oil companies and the Trump family. Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and a small number of oligarchs are literally financially grifting the country using relentless war. And Donald Trump said he was running on not doing dumb wars and not continuing wars. He's doing it and making money off it. I think we have the representative back. I can see her there.
- [27:52]
Melania Trump
Hi.
- [27:52]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
Sorry about that.
- [27:53]
Joy Reid
That's okay. That's okay. I want you to go ahead and finish your thoughts.
- [27:57]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
I don't know where I lost you, but I was, I was commenting on the fact that Pete Hegseth was telling the military that this is a holy war and that we there was reporting about the fact that that is what some of the, the generals and the military was getting that messaging right before they decided to strike Iran and start this war. And that's, you know, that's terrifying that that's absolutely against what this country was founded upon in the separation of church and state. And any sort of war in the Middle east about being a holy war is just. I mean, it's apocalyptic in my view.
- [28:36]
Joy Reid
It is. And it's ironic that we are fighting a country that is an actual theocracy, and the people who are fighting it on our side are trying to turn us into a theocracy. And people get mad when I try to compare Iran and the US but it seems like Iran is aspirational to people, like Pete Hag said, because they want to be a country that governs itself out of a religious book. They just want to use a different religious book. Let's talk about another thing that might maybe attract some Republicans to your impeachment, because I don't know, how many. How many sponsors do you have?
- [29:07]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
We are somewhere in the realm of five to 10 Democrats at the moment
- [29:11]
Joy Reid
and no Republicans yet, not even Thomas Massie. Okay. So I mean, the one thing that I think might shake some Republicans loose because it is a, it's a big leap to try to get Republicans to vote to impeach any Republican appointed official. But the Military Times came out with something that it's been texted and emailed to me about 177 times. It has alarmed the crap out of people. The fact that the Pentagon is now implementing or the government, the federal government is implementing automatic draft registration. So draft eligible men starting in December will be automatically registered. Now we know that Selective Service, it has been the law since the 70s. If you don't register for the draft, you are ineligible for things like student loans, certain jobs, your credit rating. It's difficult to get like, it really makes your life hard. But what this would do is take away the agency. It would register all draft eligible men automatically. This coming on top of raising the enlistment age in the army to 42 is raising alarms that this is something that they are looking to as a way to get more men on the table in case they want forever wars. Do you think, first of all, what is your reaction to that and do you think that might shake some Republicans loose?
- [30:19]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
My reaction is that it's very alarming. It's unclear why a president who campaigned on no new wars has changed so significantly, allegedly. But I mean, look, I think we know that Donald Trump lied about many things on the campaign. I think he's gotten this taste of power or what he feels is like this, you know, limitlessness that he can do whatever he wants. He definitely felt that way about Venezuela. And if you've seen, I'm sure you've seen his most, one of his most recent posts about Iran saying that our, something about how our military is looking forward to its next conquest. Vaguely, you know, suggesting it's unclear whether it's about Iran or some, some other place. I mean, we know he's been talking about Cuba. So with three more years to go of this administration, this policy, like the actions that have happened, coupled with this policy indicate that there are more plans for the US to embark on wars and military excursions while at the same time they are taking away your health care and taking away your rights and taking away your food assistance and making life so difficult here. But I think you are absolutely right that Republicans could come on board with this. I will say, I continue. You know, I, it was stunning for me to see some of Donald Trump's Most avid supporters from the MAGA movement and his campaign, from Alex Jones to Nick Fuentes, of course, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson. They were calling for the 25th Amendment being invoked because of Trump's threats to end the civilization. So the more he goes down this path, he's going to lose so many of his top supporters. And that's when I think Republicans, I think Republicans in Congress are always just a little bit behind. Like, it takes a lot from the public and their base and just movement in the ecosystem for them to feel brave enough to do something against the administration publicly.
- [32:23]
Joy Reid
Yeah, I think sometimes people think a lot of Democrats are behind as well. Not you. But there are a lot of them that are in leadership positions that are not as ahead of the game as you are, Congresswoman. The White House has worn some of their internal staff to be wary of these aggressive trades that you've seen. You've seen a lot of people trading against the market, trading against the oil market. There were some mysterious trades just before Donald Trump started bombing Iran. We still don't know who did those trades. But, you know, you don't have to take too many wild guesses, but people are trading off of this war, including members of Congress. Congressman Tim Burchette of Tennessee actually partnered with Congresswoman Pramila Jal and other Democrats to say we need to put a law on the books to stop Congress from trading against the information that they get behind closed doors. Have you seen any movement on that? Because it seems to me that the biggest incentive for Congress to allow Trump to wage wars is that some of them are personally profiting from it.
- [33:19]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
I think there's a lot of movement here. I mean, there's a variety of groups teaming up on this issue and on prediction markets in particular as well. I have a bill with Congressman Greg Cassar, Senator Chris Murphy as well, and some others called the Bets off act, which would. It's kind of like a full ban on prediction market trading. For those with information. I think the fact that Congresswoman Jayapal is teaming up with a Republican is great. This is, this is the one of, you know, the crux of the issue here is the corruption, stunning corruption that is at, like, taking place right now that we're seeing every single day. What kind of a dystopian, black mirror esque world are we living in when people are betting on whether or not millions of people potentially will die or whether there will be a ceasefire that evening? It's so sick. So I think that we should be pushing on this much harder. That includes Myself, I mean, I have the bill, but I think as you know, so much goes on every single day. They just keep, keep us kind of going in different directions. But this is a commonality that's going on AC across every issue. So we really have to, I think this is where we really need to come together and get something passed, especially when it comes to anyone in the administration or family members of those in the administration, members of Congress, anyone. Our bill is anyone with access to sensitive government information should be banned from trading on places like KI, etc.
- [34:56]
Joy Reid
And before I let you go, I have to ask you about Bibi Netanyahu because there's, there's, there's been a lot of call at the, on the Democratic base side, but even among some MAGA Republicans, I think Tucker Carlson just recently called for the US to completely stop funding Israel, just completely defund Israel. Since they do not listen to us. They're supposed to be the junior partner. They act like they're the boss. Bibi Netanyahu's trial resumes, I believe this weekend, his corruption trial. He and his wife are charged with financial corruption. And there's a lot of belief that he is keeping these wars going in endless war for him is about staying out of prison. As long as he's at war, he's popular and he's able to stay in power maybe for life. And this is somebody who has said in an interview, said in a 2025 interview that he personally dreams of Eretz Israel, greater Israel, which would mean expanding Israel's borders by eating up parts of Jordan, confiscating parts of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, literally expanding the country by like 10, you know, five times. Just for yourself as an Iranian American, as you look at this region that somebody like Bibi sees as simply land and opportunity, he doesn't see the people there. He doesn't think that they have any rights to their land. He doesn't think he and his allies Smotrich and Ben gvir, I'm not even sure that they think that people who are not them are human. And just for yourself, how do you, what do you make of the fact that we still give this man so much money?
- [36:22]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
Yeah, I think, I think that there's nobody that's done more damage to Israel than Benjamin Netanyahu. I mean, he has single handedly, I think, turned, you know, changed American public perception to your point. Now the majority of Americans believe that the United States should not be supporting Israel militarily. I will admit I'm a little late But I will be signing the Block the Bombs act in the coming days that would condition offensive military aid to Israel. I think as an Iranian American, what I'll say is it's been a very hard time because there's actually a subset, and I'm sure you've seen it, there is a subset of the Iranian diaspora that is very right wing. And they were actually like the term miga was very popular these last couple of weeks. Make Iran great again. And when Iran and Israel first started. I'm sorry, when Israel and the United States first started bombing Iran, there were people celebrating, Persian community, celebrating, holding Israeli flags, holding, you know, American flags, posters of Benjamin Netanyahu. And I think some people, out of desperation for regime change in Iran, really believed that there was any. There were good intentions here by these two people. I continue to sound the alarm to say there was not. I have received so many death threats and so much backlash throughout this process because of it. It's been a very terrifying time for me and my family. But I can tell you very clearly that from. I mean, just look at their actions. From bombing schools, bombing dozens of hospitals, universities, desalination plants. I think that their goal was really to destroy Iran and turn it into a failed state and make sure that it's a weak country. I don't think that they would have any issue with the country disintegrating and losing its territorial integrity, which is something Iranians care very deeply about. And now look at what's happening in Lebanon. I'm also just signing on to the War Powers Resolution that Congresswoman Tlaib has in regard to any US Involvement with Lebanon because of how we are seeing the bombardment from Israel there. So it's very scary. And, you know, I am not an expert on domestic Israeli politics, but from the experts that I have talked to, it seems that even if there was somebody else, they wouldn't necessarily be better right now where. With. Where public sentiment is in the country and the political parties that are gaining power. So that's of concern because I think we were all kind of hoping that Bibi's days would be over and there could be somebody in leadership that would be more pragmatic and have a more pro diplomacy approach with their neighbors in the region.
- [39:26]
Joy Reid
Yeah, well, I am so sorry to hear that you are facing death threats and facing threats and difficulty, but you're very brave and I've always loved the fact that you speak out, you speak your mind, you stand up for truth and justice, and that's the kind of person that we love having on this show. So please feel free to come back anytime and stay safe. Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari, thank you so much for being here. Keep up the good fight. Please keep us posted as you get more sponsors for that impeachment because I think we all agree that it should happen. Thank you.
- [39:54]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
Thank you.
- [39:55]
Joy Reid
Have a great day. You too. Thank you very much. So there is one of the good congresswoman, the ones who's really fighting the good fight. Thank you all for very much for listening to her because she's really great. We'll hopefully have her back. I want to take a note before we move on to our next break to let you guys know that this show, the Joy Reid show, is brought to you by our friends at 120Life. This is one of our favorites. Okay, I got to show you this. I got to show you there's the cold one and I got to show you, there's the powdered one. I actually personally love the cold one best because it's nice and cold and you can drink it after a workout. But there's a better reason to drink this then that it tastes good because it actually really tastes really great. But it's, that's not the reason. The main reason that you want to turn to things like this is that we are facing so many pressures and challenges and health always takes a beating in those moments. 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If your blood pressure doesn't come down, you get a full refund. So go to 120life.com and use the code joy or read to save 20%. Why wait until next month? Nothing to lose except your high blood pressure numbers. Go to one twin life.com use the code joy or read get 20% off. Why not? These statements, by the way, have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease just to make your life better. All right, so let's move on. Let's still talk about this Trump Iran failure. It's now being just brutally, brutally and regularly mocked, basically by every Iranian embassy all over the world, from Zimbabwe to the eu. Let me show you one of the more popular memes mocking his concession to get a two week ceasefire that has not even reopened the Gulf of Hormuz. The Gulf is still not open. Here it is. Is B1. This is one of the many, many mockeries of Donald Trump. Here it is. Oh, yeah, B1. Yep, there it goes. Okay. Nope, here it comes. Oops. Okay, okay. Turn the music down. And boom, there it is. So there it is. This is one of the many that are that are floating around the interwebs of Donald Trump with a big white flag, you know, because he waved the white flag. He literally agreed to all of Trump's demands and then Iran's demands and then tried to say, we won a crushing victory and we did regime change. No, he didn't. Russian TV is also weighing in, mocking Trump's war failure as well as his mentals, his Declining mental state for Express News uk, quote, Trump has escaped from the top, has escaped from the trap of his own making by getting the two week ceasefire. But only the feverish mind of the American himself can consider this a triumphant victory, one of the newspapers reported. The Russian editor for the BBC also explained how Russian media believes there is a mass of political bonuses for Iran in this ceasefire. Referring to the ten point ceasefire, Moscow based daily newspaper Moscovy Coromolets wrote, the only thing missing from the list is the demand that the arrogant American leader himself personally come to Tehran, crawl 10 kilometers periodically kissing the bombed asphalt and then publicly repent. Damn. And of course, even Marjorie Taylor Greene began calling for the 25th amendment as you heard Congresswoman Ansari mention questioning Trump's sanity after this wild post on Easter Sunday, vowing to end Iranian civilization, to say nothing of the fact that he regularly saves says madman. Stuff like this. You said Iranians would be mad if
- [44:42]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
you stopped these attacks, but why would
- [44:44]
Joy Reid
they want you to blow up their infrastructure to cut off their power? Wouldn't that be punishing Iranians for the actions of the regime?
- [44:51]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
They would be willing to. They would be willing. And it's suffering. They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom. The Iranians have. We've had numerous intercepts. Please keep bombing. Bombs that are dropping near their homes. Please keep bombing. Do it. And these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding. And when we leave and we're not hitting those areas, they're saying, please come back, come back, come back. These are the people. I don't know what they do. All I can tell you is they want freedom. They have lived in a world that you know nothing about. It's a violent, horrible world where if you protest, you are shot.
- [45:36]
Joy Reid
If you protest in Minneapolis, you are shot. What are you talking about? Joining us now is Dr. John Gartner, American psychologist, psychotherapist, author, activist and former part time assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School. It is great to see you again, Dr. Gartner. Thank you for coming back. So. So let me just point you to an email that was, you know, the Epstein files have given us sort of a bounty of information. And in the Epstein files was this 2018 email between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein in which they reference a Daily Beast article entitled How Close is Trump to a Psychiatric breakdown? This is 2018. Epstein replies. Sums it up. Well, needs to add Melania pressure, something about equal C2BB indictment. Jared Money grubbing. Recipe for tragedy. Now, the piece they're referencing is a Daily Beast article about Trump's alleged psychiatric breakdown. And it refers to a 2017 book called the Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, in which you, sir, and 26 other experts, psychiatrists, psychologists, other mental health professionals warned of the clear and present danger that Trump's mental health poses to the nation and our individual well being. So I ask you, sir, how much danger, how much more danger are we in now than we were then?
- [46:52]
Dr. John Gartner
I know this sounds dramatic, but this is what I really believe. I believe we're careening towards the apocalypse. And I don't see anything that's going to stop us. See, I think what was missing from your reporting just now about the war is we're all gleefully kind of laughing the white flag, etc, but we're not appreciating the psychology or the psychopathology that's driving this war and how this is something he's becoming addicted to. He is a sexual sadist as well as a narcissist. And so, you know, we know that he's sexually assaulted multiple women. And so he enjoys raping. And so he gets pleasure out of terrifying and scaring the world and creating chaos and terror. So we think he lost. But from his point of view, you know, I remember being out to dinner with a colleague on Tuesday night saying, well, maybe this is our last night on Earth, right? And like, well, if it was good knowing you. And the thing is, millions of people on Tuesday were wondering if this was their last night on Earth. And what you need to understand is Donald Trump gets a sexual thrill from that. Okay. And so he's like a serial killer. Every time he does this, he gets an inflated sense of his power and his dominance. And it's exciting and it's pleasurable. And then what happens when we have something that is orgasmically pleasurable? What happens? We want to repeat it again. And he's already talking that way, Jonathan. Carl was talking about how he's already saying, you know, the military is already looking forward to its next conquest. You know, and even when he was, he was talking about, I'll take Cuba next. The point is, is that he's going to continue to escalate. Yes, it does distract from Epstein and his low poll numbers and the economy. And that's part of the reason for doing it right, not only politically, but psychologically, because he needs to feel powerful and dominant. And this is a space in which he can feel powerful and dominant. We can even, even if we take both houses of Congress, he's still the commander in chief. Now, that's his basic psychopathology. Now we have to add to that his dementia, okay? And so what we're really seeing is he's like a raging idiot with no frontal lobes. So he's not capable of understanding strategy or objectives or timing or negotiations. In fact, what really shows how sick this whole thing is and how it's totally driven by a psychopathology is British security officer Jonathan Powell said he had won the negotiations before he dropped the bombs, that Iran had already agreed to give up, stop enriching uranium to degrade the uranium. They had. They didn't offer any of those things to Barack Obama. He could have just said yes and crowed that he got things that Barack Obama didn't get. Art of the deal, art of the schmiel. You know, he. And he could brag about it, and he would have a right to brag about it because in a way, it would be an illustration of Henry Kissinger's madman theory.
- [50:08]
Jason Johnson
Right?
- [50:08]
Dr. John Gartner
If the other side thinks you're a madman, they'll make concessions. The problem is he is an actual madman, and he prefers to watch the world burn than to win the negotiations. And so, you know, now we learned that, of course, we know no one in the military establishment or the national security establishment or the intelligence establishment would have suggested that he go to war. But even with his. Within his own tight circle, we now learn from the New York Times that it was completely driven by Trump. The only person in his inner circle who even agreed with him was Pete Hegseth. And that guy's practically drunk on testosterone, Christian nationalism, and God knows what else. So I don't think he even counts. So all of this is being driven by Trump, and that's what he's saying. You know, it'll be over when I want it to be over. It'll be over when I feel it in my bones. And today, Maggie Haberman said he decided to go to war on a gut feeling. Full period, full stop. So all of this is being driven by his psychopathology, his dementia, and his need to basically make everyone terrified and make himself feel powerful.
- [51:16]
Joy Reid
That. Wow. I mean. And all of it tracks with the people surrounding him, right? What happens when a sadist surrounds himself by a woman who shot her puppy in the face because it wouldn't obey RFK Jr. Whose wife, unfortunately, unalived herself after, I guess, emotional abuse for years and years and years, and somebody who seemed to have very weird, sort of, you know, weird behavior and sort of, you know, wrestling a bear on the ground and eating it and things like that. Somebody like Pete Hegseth, who definitely seems to be bloodthirsty, like he seems to be enjoying nothing more than killing. Killing in the Caribbean, killing in Iraq, in, in Iran, killing in Palestine. The, the actual just act of killing seems to be what he gets off on and renamed illegally the Department of Defense, the Department of War, just so that he could make the point. Right. That we're going to kill, we negotiate using bombs is a quote. And you. So he surrounded himself with people who seem to also be sadists. Right. I'm trying to think of someone around him that's not a sadist. Even Pam Bondi, let me put this up. Pam Bondi, who Donald Trump berated and ultimately fired. And you know, there's lots of reasons why we're getting lots of left. Parnas and others have said why. At least if you go by what he has said, it's because she wasn't sadistic enough and she was trying to prosecute everyone who ever made him mad. He seems to have surrounded himself by a bunch of incompetent sadists.
- [52:42]
Dr. John Gartner
Exactly. And that's why I say I really don't see what can stop this. In his first administration, there were guardrails. Actually, you know, you mentioned our book, the Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. Little piece of interesting gossip. John Kelly, in the middle of the night went out and bought our book because he was trying to understand his boss.
- [53:03]
Joy Reid
That's your new book, by the way. Sorry? That's your new book, Rocket Man, Nuclear Madness and the. And the Mind of Donald Trump. I'm going to talk to you about that in a minute, but go on.
- [53:09]
Dr. John Gartner
We will go about that, please. But he bought, he bought the book to try to understand Trump and he said when he read the book he felt like, okay, now I really understand what the heck's going on with this guy now. There are no adults in the room. Look, he chose this cabinet based on his past experience because he knew he didn't want any guardrails. So this is more like Hitler's cabinet. Right, Right. They're all psychopaths and sadists.
- [53:30]
Lev Parnas
Okay?
- [53:30]
Dr. John Gartner
There is no one with any conscience. Look, first of all, your main qualification for being put picked for the Trump cabinet is that you're not qualified. That's actually, sir. Because if you knew anything about your field, then you would know what the facts were, what the rules were, what the policies were. But we don't want anyone like that. And we also don't want anyone with a conscience or decency or a moral Core, we want people who are going to be complete toadies. Basically. It's like a criminal organization. It's like the Mafia, you know, it's, it's very similar. He really rules like a gang leader, right? Through intimidation, extortion, et cetera.
- [54:04]
Joy Reid
Yeah, I mean, Pam Bondi's replacement tried to fight the Teamsters president in the halls of Congress. That's the replacement, right?
- [54:12]
Dr. John Gartner
No, he's just taking out one thug and putting in another.
- [54:17]
Joy Reid
What do we do about it? How do we stop this?
- [54:21]
Dr. John Gartner
You know, I get this question a lot and I think at this point we need to pray. I mean, either the cheeseburgers will catch up with him before he destroys the world or not. But I don't see anyone who can stop him or anything. Do you? Tell me who can stop him?
- [54:39]
Joy Reid
I mean, unfortunately, the problem is the members of Congress. Congress has abdicated the responsibility. They're either profiteering themselves. I mean, literally, Tim Burchette, one of the three or four Republicans who seem to have at least some conscience are trying to stop their colleagues from profiteering off the war. They're betting in the stock market on stock to get rich off the war. So I can't count on Congress. Right. You have John Thune, who is a wet noodle in the Senate, and then you have the poor speaker of the House who can't get to his knees fast enough to beg Trump. What is his next assignment? I don't think any of them. And even the Democrats, they themselves, so many of them are so pro Zionist that they're like, but Bibi wants it. Why can't we give it to him? I don't know if there's anyone there, like 12 or 13 of them that actually have any courage. And the rest are quizlings. And so there's no Congress, there's no Supreme Court, because they are monarchists. Six of them are monarchists. They want a king. John Roberts is just Samuel Lita with better manners. So I don't see anyone, I mean, I don't know who can stop him. I, I don't know. That was only.
- [55:38]
Dr. John Gartner
You knew. No, I, I mean, I, I, I am the prophet of doom here. I, I mean, and you, full stop, no joke. I'm always joking. People are always putting the comments on YouTube. John, Dr. Gartner, stop laughing, stop making jokes. You know, this is serious. Well, I'm not making a joke this time because it's really serious.
- [55:53]
Joy Reid
Yeah.
- [55:54]
Dr. John Gartner
You know, even if we won the 2026, if we were allowed to have an election and we won the House and we won the Senate, we still couldn't stop it.
- [56:04]
Joy Reid
Here's. Let me, let me propose this because, you know, you understand his psychology. I want to talk about your book, but let's go to this. The psychology, if you have somebody that is a malignant narcissist, the thing that they love the most is in the mirror, right? And the thing that they want the most is to be lauded and praised. That's what Donald Trump wants. That's why he's still. The thing that upsets him the most is the bad coverage he gets, right? The fact that people like me, people on the media, he's even still mad at cbs even though they are literally lickspittle toadies at this point. Not enough, right? His FCC chair still saying, not enough. Not enough, not enough. Kiss his ass harder. The thing is that can destabilize him, it seems, is people refusing to bow, which is why no kings feel so powerful to me, is that the people saying, we don't like you, we do not respect you, and we'll never respect you, we'll never kneel to you. That does seem to have an impact. That's one piece. And then the second piece is he cares about money. His kids are profiteering off the war. He's gotten $6.5 billion richer when he could never make that money as a real estate developer. So it seems to be that getting after the things he loves is how to get right. If Congress switches hands, I want them to take that East Wing ballroom, put a piece of dynamite under it and destroy it. If he builds an arc de trio, Trump, I want somebody to take a piece of dynamite, go over there and blow it up while he's still alive to see it. Like, I want him to see his name chipped off the Kennedy center where it doesn't belong. Everything he loves, take it. He should be dragged before the Hague. We can't do anything in the Congress, but maybe some kind country out there will force him. Hegseth, Pam Bondi, all these sadists, drag them before the Hague, make them be publicly humiliated, take away their ability to travel. If they are deemed war criminals, they can't go on vacation in Europe because Europe won't take them because they can't land there like that feels like our only out or an economic strike to basically turn him into a failure economically like those feel like the only things we can do.
- [57:54]
Dr. John Gartner
Here's the the problem with your analysis, Race. The first thing you said, you said he looks in the mirror and he wants everybody to laud him. He does. But malignant narcissists get an even bigger thrill, right, out of harming terrifying, degrading. Right. Other people.
- [58:13]
Joy Reid
Right.
- [58:13]
Dr. John Gartner
You know, I know that people always say, oh, there's no evidence. There's no evidence. But let me tell you why. As a psychologist, I believe in the Russian PP tape, because as psychologists, we're trained that if you hear a really weird detail when you're taking a history, it's probably true. Because who the heck could make that up, right? So that's the first bias I have. Second of all, but so let's just, for argument's sake, say it happened. So, look, most people who are within some realm of normality, if they're in a situation where they've chosen to be in a hotel room with prostitutes, right, are probably going to have some sort of relatively conventional sexual pleasurable experience. What he chose to do was to spoil and destroy.
- [58:55]
Jason Johnson
Right?
- [58:56]
Dr. John Gartner
He would rather watch them urinate on Obama's bed than have any kind of. He could have had any sexual experience he wanted. This is what I'm saying about the perversion. It's called omnipotent destructiveness. It's a real term to describe these people that was actually introduced by my mentor, Otto Kernberg, back in the 70s. But they feel omnipotent through destruction. So destruction makes them feel powerful.
- [59:24]
Joy Reid
Do you think that's what bonded him to Epstein, who seemed just bent on destroying everyone, especially children and women?
- [59:32]
Dr. John Gartner
Yes. He's a predator, right? He's a predator in every sense of the word. I mean, he preys on children, he preys on adult women. He preys on anyone, really. And so that's the thing. He's a sort of raptosaurus, you know, he'd rather eat you than make a deal with you. You know what I mean? And so that predatory, sadistic, destructive, malevolent core that now is completely disinhibited by the fact that he has not only dementia, but a particular type of dementia called frontotemporal dementia, which, unlike Alzheimer's, where memory is the main problem, they have memory problems. And he's shown memory problems. He didn't know who Jeffries was. He's saying that Kellyanne Conway is his press secretary. But the bigger problem is behavior. They start to behave erratically and aggressively in a disinhibited way. Because as the frontal lobe, the frontal lobes are our breaks, right? The frontal lobes are what keep us from killing each other on a daily basis. Because the frontal lobes forces to think through our feelings and our Actions, once that starts to deteriorate, we just act, right? And so if somebody's got a fundamentally malevolent personality, they're going to start acting on those impulses in a more and more discontrolled and dangerous way. Look, even the way he started his. The way his language has become so much more corporate course, right? He didn't curse in his first administration, right? But now he's saying, shut up, piggy. And, you know, things like that, cursing, you know, in. In that famous tweet to Iran, you know, they better, you know, do what I want them, those bastard lunatics or whatever, you know, he's raving. You know what I mean? This is the ravings of someone who is. Is. Is losing even the most primitive internal controls. So think about this. He's an evil madman to begin with. He's lost all internal control, and he's established an administration where there's no external control. Okay, somebody just put in the, in the, in the comments. Sounds like the Antichrist to me. I want to say I'm Jewish, okay? But I've sometimes only half jokingly said that Donald Trump has converted me to Christianity because I now believe in the Antichrist
- [61:51]
Joy Reid
and seen. I have two questions for you. I'm going a little over with you. Thank you for being patient with me. Let's talk about your book. Tell me about it. Because it also seems terrifying.
- [62:00]
Dr. John Gartner
Yes. Now, this book, which was a massive commercial failure, we. This came out in 2018, Rocket man, and it was about this fear of Trump and nuclear war. I'm just going to read you the concluding paragraph of my essay. I said Trump might push the button because at a moment of crime crisis, he lacks the cognitive capacity to objectively and critically analyze data. Look at a standoff from an adversary's point of view since he appears to have no empathy even when he was cognitively intact, or fashion creative alternatives to war, he might push the button because at times he appears to be in a true psychotic state, operating under the influence of grandiose and paranoid delusions, believing either that he is an invincible conqueror or that his adversary is imminently planning to attack when he is not. He might push the button because he's angry, impulsive, and determined to show the world who is boss by employing the ultimate power. As perverse as it sounds, Trump would revel in being the center of chaos and destruction. In a wag the dog scenario, he might push the button in a conscious, cynical calculation that while millions might die, war would distract from the Mueller investigation. I guess now we can say the Epstein investigation and rally his base behind him as Commander in Chief and consolidate his power. He might push the button because he's egged on to do so by his uber hawk war cabinet, who may throw gasoline on Trump's fire when they should be throwing buckets of cold water. Most likely, if doom awaits us, it will be some combination of these factors coming together in a perfect storm that will take us to DEFCON 1. In my opinion, Donald Trump is sick and he is getting worse as he goes further downhill. The risk of Armageddon skyrockets, skyrockets. The time to panic is now.
- [63:43]
Joy Reid
Oh, my God. My God. And what terrifies me is, as you were saying, all of that. I feel like you are also describing Bibi Netanyahu, who I am terrified is going to bomb the Al Aqsa mosque or use a nuclear weapon on Iran because he, too, is a malignant narcissist. And he's running a government where the only way to stay in power is to promise the even crazier people who got him in there that they can have Greater Israel and eat up five other countries. And so he's. He's doing anything. He's desperate. I'm afraid he might use a nuke, too. Last question to you. And this was this. I'm sorry if it's a curveball. We try to get our producers to ask you in advance, but this, Brian, and you haven't, you haven't. I don't know how much you have seen the latest news on him today. So what. What is it? What. What could cause a man who kind of had everything. He's a very public figure. He was the first gentleman of South Dakota to delve into such a risky behavior as going into chat rooms where he's being, you know, he can be screenshotted in costumes with big breasts and is talking in a way that he could be recorded and was recorded by one of these people on the other side of the chat room. And just now he's being completely humiliated. He's humiliated his wife. What. What do you think CA could cause somebody to go there and take those kinds of.
- [65:01]
Dr. John Gartner
Yeah.
- [65:02]
Joy Reid
Yes.
- [65:03]
Dr. John Gartner
I don't know the, you know, the details about his case, and I haven't been following it that closely, but one thing I have noticed is, you know, there's a kind of Caligula like quality to this administration. You know, that the level of sexual perversion and acting out and perversity. Right. It really feels like the movie Caligula. Right. You know, with it and that is one of the signs of a. Of a civilization that's getting ready to fall is decadence. And it just seems like the level of sexual amorality and predatory and acting out behavior in this party is just off the map.
- [65:40]
Joy Reid
It is the Epstein class that is the reason that we call them the Epstein class. They all are. Jeffrey Epstein. Sadistic, bored, normal pursuits are not enough in order to entertain themselves. They need violent sexual sadism just to be minimally entertained. I agree with you, and I think that's part of it. These are sadistic people. Dr. John Gardner, I hope you will come back often. I. It's terrifying to talk to you honestly, but I still enjoy it for whatever reason. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. We're going to. We're going to get that book into the shop, guys, because now I want to read it because I'm scared, but I also kind of want to read it. Oh, my God, I'm terrified. All right, let's talk about. First of all, welcome to hour two of the Joy Reid Show. I want to note that we have so many amazing sponsors. Our other wonderful sponsor sponsor number two is our friends at Mosh. I'm going to open this box and see if I have any left because y' all know what's happening in this house. You guys know how it goes. People be coming over here. Look, look, y'.
- [66:35]
Melania Trump
All.
- [66:35]
Joy Reid
Okay, Let me show you how much is left. Okay? Y' all know how much was left last time we talked about this. The Joy Reach show is brought to you by the snack I used to have. That is all disappearing before my very eyes. Our friends at Mosh. Now listen, remember, you know, it's you are what you eat, okay? Just remember that you are what you eat, if you can get any to eat. And it rings very true to all of us in the modern day. And I'm always looking for an on the go protein snack if I can get one that satisfies me. But now I have found one that helps me live intentionally. Intentionally. And they are Mosh bars. So Mosh, which you may have heard of on Shark Tank or Oprah's Favorite Things, was founded by Maria Shriver and her son Patrick Schwarzenegger with a mission to spark a conversation about brain health through. Through food, education and research. Maria's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and after that, they set out to create something bigger than just a protein bar. 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Your favorite functional fuel is delivered directly to your door so you never run out and supporting your brain health becomes a simple habit that you can feel good about. Mosh will donate a portion of the proceeds from your order to the Women's Alzheimer's movement because 2/3 of Alzheimer's patients happen to be women and Mosh is working to close the gap. So if you all want to try it, find your favorites, build your boxes. All you have to do is head to moshlife.com read and subscribe today to get 25% off your first variety pack and 20% off your monthly subscription with code REID. That's 25% off your first pack, 20% off your subscription of brain boosting bars delivered right to your door. Start building your brain health every day with Mosh bars. Thank you to Mosh for sponsoring this episode. All right, so we're going to jump into hour two real quick. We have a lot going on. We're running a tiny bit behind, but we're going to start now. If you missed out, by the way, before I get to that on the Joyce House Insiders conversation we just did yesterday on Substack with the great Ari Berman, do not worry. We have a bunch of shorts that are available right here on this channel on the YouTube channel. But if you want in on the full conversations and you get to also ask questions of our experts, you can become a premium substack subscriber to get in on those conversations there every Thursday at noon Eastern time. And we also have more premium stuff coming, including some live show stuff, some stuff that I won't tell you full things about, but lots of good stuff coming. All right, we're also trying to think of a Twitch only stream very soon. I'm going to plan to do that. And we're preparing to turn 1 years old on June 9th. So again, we're trying to get to that 500,000 on YouTube, 250 on substack. We're already at 397 on Twitch. So we're growing fast on Twitch, super, super fast. All right, so now if you're a history buff, that is the housekeeping for hour two. Now, if you're a history buff, you will recall this epic television moment. Even if you weren't live for it, you may know about it in 1962 when the fabulous Jackie Kennedy. Let's throw that up on screen. It's very fabulous. Look at Jackie Kennedy walking through the East Wing. Long may it wave that no longer exists. Everything you're seeing there has been demolished by Donald Trump. But Jackie Kennedy walked through the East Wing to give a tour of the White House. CBS News produced it. They were so interested in talking to Jackie O and having her do this walkthrough of the White House and all the renovations that she had done, including her fabulous garden, that CBS actually produced it as a special exclusively this exclusive tour of the White House with the great Jackie Kennedy. Now, Ms. Kennedy, of course, was one of our youngest ever first ladies. I think she was the third youngest at the time and the most glamorous pre Michelle Obama. What a different first lady, right? What a different time in this era. A very different first lady who also, by the way, has a passion for fashion. Did her own dramatic White House walk this week, but it was a bit different. We're gonna play it for you. I may pause as we go through it, but let's listen to this very different White House walkthrough.
- [71:30]
Melania Trump
Good afternoon. The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean spirited attempts to defame my reputation. I never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time.
- [72:14]
Joy Reid
Okay, you pause for a second. Jason, can you pause there for a second from time to time? Underestimating that just a little bit. They went to a lot of parties together, including some of them that were hosted literally at Mar A Lago. But go on.
- [72:24]
Melania Trump
Since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach. To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. My Email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn't amount. Amount to anything more than a tribal note.
- [73:02]
Joy Reid
Can we stop there for just a second, Jason? So this email she's talking about, and it's not clear which one she's talking about, but there are emails in which she and Ghislaine Maxwell are exchanging some really, really close pleasantries about, oh, I can't wait to see you in Palm Beach. And I think at one point, she's called, like, sweet Pea. She's calling her. She. Ghislaine Maxwell calling her Sweet Pea. So if that's like, a casual thing, I'm not sure. People who. I'm just in a casual relationship where we're not friends, call me sweet Pea, but. All right, keep going.
- [73:30]
Melania Trump
I am not Epstein's victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at the New York city party in 1998.
- [73:45]
Joy Reid
Let's stop there for just one moment. The New York city party in 1998. That is a consistent story, but the party was at the Kit Kat Club. She didn't mention that part, but that is where the party was.
- [73:55]
Dr. John Gartner
Keep going.
- [73:57]
Melania Trump
This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book.
- [74:02]
Joy Reid
Melania, stop for a second. Did she just try to sell her book from the White House? Did she just literally try to get you to buy her book? Okay, keep going.
- [74:12]
Melania Trump
The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000 at an event Donald and I attended together. At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings. Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been calculating on social media for years now.
- [74:46]
Joy Reid
Stop for a second. That is true, actually. I went through Snopes today, and there are a bunch of images that were that are popping up all over social media. There's one of her, like, hugging Epstein, and it's like a picture that looks like a magazine. Not real. Like, there are a bunch of fake images of her and Epstein that actually is true. Keep going.
- [75:02]
Melania Trump
Be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories are completely false. I'm not a witness or a name witness in connection with any of Epstein's crimes. My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements, or FBI in interviews surrounding the Epstein matter.
- [75:32]
Joy Reid
Okay, let's stop there for a moment because that's an. That's a reveal because you know whose name has appeared in court documents, depositions, and FBI files? Her husband. Keep going.
- [75:47]
Melania Trump
I have never had any knowledge of Epstein abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane and never visited his private island. I have never been legally accused or convinced of a crime in connection with Epstein sex trafficking, abuse of minors, and other repulsive behavior.
- [76:24]
Joy Reid
Stop for a second because you know who has been accused of a crime involving sexual abuse, including of minors and not proven, but accused her husband. Keep going.
- [76:37]
Melania Trump
The false smears about me from mean spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially and climb politically must stop. My attorneys and I have fought these unfound and baseless lies with success and will continue to maintain my sound reputation without hesitation. To date, several individuals and companies have been legally obligated to publicly apologize and retract their lies about me, such as Daily Beast, James Carville and Harper Collins uk. Now is the time for Congress to act. Epstein was not alone. Several prominent mill executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course, this doesn't amount to guilt, but we still must work openly, openly and transparently to uncover the truth. I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony. Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes. And then her testimony should be permanently entered into the congressional record. Then and only then, we will have the truth. Thank you.
- [78:41]
Joy Reid
Okay, we can leave it there. Okay. I mean, talk about taking an issue that Donald Trump had driven off the front pages by starting a whole ass war and putting it right back on the front page by contradicting your husband and saying, I haven't done the things that he literally has been accused of. Baby, I want to know what's going on here now. Some of the things that are true about what she said. She has told a consistent story about how she and Donald Trump met when she was 28 years old and he was 52. Let's look at this Larry King clip from back in the day. This from 2005. Trump. Melania Trump, the international cover girl, has now joined us. We got to discuss the media. How did you two meet?
- [79:30]
Melania Trump
We met in New York, 1998. It was a fashion week. September 1998.
- [79:36]
Joy Reid
The famous fashion week.
- [79:37]
Melania Trump
The famous fashion week.
- [79:38]
Lev Parnas
Were you introduced?
- [79:40]
Melania Trump
Well, no. We were both at the same party and that's how we met.
- [79:46]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
Right away I went crazy. I said I was actually supposed to meet somebody else. And it was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet the supermodel and they were saying, look, there's so and so. I said, forget about her. Who's the one on the left? And I was more.
- [80:02]
Joy Reid
Did you like him right away?
- [80:03]
Melania Trump
It was a great chemistry and energy. We had, you know, great time. We start to talk and you know, it was. Something was there right away and it
- [80:13]
Joy Reid
was a long engagement.
- [80:15]
Melania Trump
It was.
- [80:16]
Joy Reid
Why?
- [80:17]
Melania Trump
Well, you know, we just had a great time and we didn't worry about it and you know, just live lives. And then one day.
- [80:27]
Joy Reid
So how did the proposal take place?
- [80:30]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
Well, we were together.
- [80:31]
Joy Reid
Give it to us.
- [80:32]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
We were together five years. We literally have never had an argument or forget about the word fight. We never even had an argument. We just are very compatible. We get along. And I just said, you know what? It's time. And it wasn't a big deal. It was almost like, you know what?
- [80:46]
Joy Reid
It's time.
- [80:47]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
No, I did it a little better than that, you know, without going into too much detail, but it was time. And. And we just have a very good relationship.
- [80:56]
Joy Reid
And Melania, by the way, is on the latest cover, the COVID of Weddings from InStyle magazine.
- [81:02]
Lev Parnas
You're the wedding cover?
- [81:03]
Joy Reid
Why?
- [81:04]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
And she's on the COVID of Vogue.
- [81:06]
Joy Reid
That's right.
- [81:07]
Melania Trump
That was before. Yeah, that came out before the wedding, a few days before.
- [81:10]
Joy Reid
Did you want that elaborate? A wedding?
- [81:13]
Melania Trump
Yes. When I started planning, it was a lot of fun. So I loved it.
- [81:18]
Joy Reid
It.
- [81:19]
Melania Trump
I loved my dress. I love. I had great time in Paris. I went with my great friend, Andre Leon Talley. He's an amazing man. And we went to Paris for one week to the shows and with Anna Winter, the editor of Vogue.
- [81:33]
Joy Reid
What was the wedding like?
- [81:35]
Melania Trump
Fantastic. We had a great.
- [81:39]
Joy Reid
I had to work. We missed you. We wait a long time. What happened? Why did you wait? She became a citizen in 2006. The negotiations took about four years before we figured out what she was going to get. She was 28, he was 52. And that even looked like a young 52. Like he didn't even look like a preserved 52. He looked 72, but he was only 52. Come on now. And one more clip, one more clip. Because what took it so what took so long for them to finally. For him to put a ring on it and finally get her to agree. For a 22, 28 year old woman to agree to marry this 52 year old. I wonder what they were talking about marry him.
- [82:18]
Pope Leo (quoted)
Would you say yes?
- [82:20]
Melania Trump
No, it's. I don't want to comment.
- [82:22]
Pope Leo (quoted)
You don't want to comment on that? If you've said that before, that you've said yes, you would say yes. I mean, it's in, it's in the publications that I read.
- [82:29]
Melania Trump
Yes, but that was misunderstood or something, so I didn't.
- [82:34]
Joy Reid
So you changed your mind. You don't want to be.
- [82:36]
Melania Trump
I didn't change, but I just don't want to go out with it.
- [82:41]
Pope Leo (quoted)
Donald Trump's name is synonymous with a lot of things, but not the least of which is the phrase prenuptial agreement. Do you know what. You know what that is?
- [82:48]
Melania Trump
Yes, I know. What is it?
- [82:51]
Pope Leo (quoted)
Given his history with acrimonious divorces, with bitter divorces, would you even consider signing one with him?
- [82:59]
Melania Trump
You know, everybody has different opinions. So let's see what's happened.
- [83:07]
Pope Leo (quoted)
Different opinions about.
- [83:08]
Melania Trump
About the prenuptial agreement, about sign it. Not to sign it. Everybody decided what's, you know, what is inside of them.
- [83:17]
Pope Leo (quoted)
So you're not ruling out anything?
- [83:20]
Melania Trump
No.
- [83:20]
Pope Leo (quoted)
Can you picture yourself, the First Lady?
- [83:23]
Melania Trump
Yes. I would be very traditional, like Jackie Kennedy. I will support him. I will do a lot of social obligations. They say I'm complicit. I'm the same like him. I support him. I don't say enough. I don't do enough.
- [83:39]
Joy Reid
No. Where I am.
- [83:41]
Melania Trump
I put, I'm working like a. I know Christmas stuff that, you know, who gives a. About Christmas stuff and decoration? But I need to do it right. Yeah.
- [83:52]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
But 100.
- [83:53]
Joy Reid
You have no choice.
- [83:55]
Melania Trump
And okay. And then I do it and I say that I'm working on Christmas planning for the Christmas. And they said, oh, what about the children that they were separated.
- [84:04]
Jason Johnson
Give me a break.
- [84:06]
Pope Leo (quoted)
If you did become first lady, it probably wouldn't be ethical for you to give commercial endorsements to products.
- [84:14]
Joy Reid
Melania Trump has entered the cryptocurrency world with her own meme coin, Melania announced Just before Donald Trump's second inauguration, Melania shared the news on X, inviting people to purchase the coin. Despite their popularity, both Melania and Trump coins are noted as not being investment opportunities. Since their launch, both Melania and Trump coins have experienced volatile trading. The Trump coin briefly dipped in value before rebounding. Currently, Trump's market valuation is around $12 billion, while Melania's stands at over $2 billion.
- [84:48]
Pope Leo (quoted)
So your modeling career might be over at that moment.
- [84:50]
Joy Reid
What would you think about that?
- [84:52]
Melania Trump
I will stand by men you'd be
- [84:55]
Pope Leo (quoted)
willing to give up your modeling.
- [84:56]
Melania Trump
Yes.
- [84:57]
Joy Reid
Yes.
- [84:57]
Pope Leo (quoted)
Have you been hurt by the comments that you're with him because he's rich?
- [85:02]
Melania Trump
You know the people, they don't know me. People who talk like this, they don't know me well.
- [85:09]
Pope Leo (quoted)
You don't see many 26 year old supermodels on the arm of 53 year old car mechanics.
- [85:15]
Melania Trump
And you know what? You can't sleep or to hug or to talk with beautiful things with beautiful apartment, beautiful plane, beautiful cars, beautiful houses. You can't do that. You could feel very empty. And if somebody said, you know, you're with a man because it's rich and famous, they don't know me. Who gives a about Christmas stuff and decoration but I need to do it right.
- [85:51]
Joy Reid
You can't sleep with beautiful house, beautiful car. Joining me now, joining me now is Tommy Christopher, associate managing editor of Mediaite. Tommy, let's talk about. Yes, I got you. I got you. Thank you. Welcome to the show. This has been a strange moment. You're, you're a media editor there at Media. I want to show you really quickly Fox's reaction to that very strange press conference and get your take on it. Here it is, Jason.
- [86:19]
Tommy Christopher
CPAC Peter, we don't know why it
- [86:24]
Lev Parnas
looks like the White House was blindsided by this, right?
- [86:27]
Joy Reid
I don't think blindsided, but it seems like there was not a big plan
- [86:32]
Jason Johnson
for, for the message to change from
- [86:36]
Joy Reid
a wartime message and peace talks in Pakistan to this. And yesterday all morning we were getting
- [86:42]
Jason Johnson
calls from the afternoon shows that, that
- [86:45]
Joy Reid
this statement was going to air during what's the topic? What's it going to be about? And I was asking in the West Wing and they said we, we don't know, we're not sure. And so out of left field for us here covering the White House House. The press shop did not give us any insight into what this announcement would be about. That's typical. Oftentimes the first lady doesn't share a lot of details with the White House communications shop that, you know, covers the president on what her announcements might be. We didn't, for instance, get a lot of details ahead of her prior announcement on her efforts bringing home Ukrainian children. But similarly, we had no heads up on this. We're not getting any information from them now including whether or not the president was aware she would be making this statement.
- [87:29]
Congresswoman Yasmine Ansari
It's unclear to us if she is
- [87:31]
Joy Reid
reacting to something or that's already happened already already or trying to get ahead of something is what they said. How unusual is it for Fox to be that Nonplus. When it comes to the Trumps. I mean, normally their, their default is obedience and praise, but they seem very much thrown off.
- [87:48]
Jason Johnson
Yeah, I mean, the, the problem here was like, you know, when, when he did that thing about how he was gonna end, kill the entire civilization of Iran, like, they didn't have to, like, come out with anything about that right away. They could sit there and let that sit for a while. But this, she was just like, bam, here I am. And it's like they couldn't ignore it. And, yeah, it was quite a scramble. And, you know, I mean, everybody was shocked because, I mean, you know, you said it yourself, it was. The story had been, you know, taken off at the front pages and, you know, people were, People like you, me and our friends were struggling to get people to pay attention to this. And now all of a sudden, thanks, Melania.
- [88:34]
Joy Reid
And the way she put it back on the front page is to say, I've not done the things that literally Donald Trump has been accused of. Right. I mean, he has been. He's in FBI records with interviews of women who claim he abused them as children. She says she's never been accused of a crime. He has, he's been convicted of one. He has a 23, I believe, sexual abuse and various ranges of abuse accusers. E. Jean Carroll won a civil case against him for sexual abuse. You could go on and on and on, but she's distancing himself from her, from him in a very public way, in a way that it doesn't, it's not clear that he had a heads up on.
- [89:13]
Jason Johnson
No. Well, yeah, it sounds to me like apparently Melania's team told the New York Times that he was giving a heads up, but that doesn't really mean much. You know, I mean, just because she was like, oh, by the way. Doesn't mean he. There was anything he could do about it or that he was. That he had a lot of time to do anything about it or that he told any of his people about it. But, yeah, it's crazy. I, I think the, the instinct that, I mean, I think even Fox News said it. The instinct that people have that there's something coming is the correct instinct that there is a story that they are trying to get out ahead of. Yeah, yeah, it is interesting that she did not get her story straight with Trump and coordinate this ahead of time.
- [89:56]
Joy Reid
Even if she coordinate like John Witherspoon said, you have to coordinate. They don't seem to have coordinated. And also there's no way they could coordinate. She's basically saying, I didn't know him. I only met him at parties with Donald Trump. He's Donald's problem. And the thing is she sort of said what Hillary Clinton said, right. That the women, the victims need to have their day in court. There needs to be congressional hearings. People need to be on, deposed on the record. She's calling for hearings. So it's different if, you know, when Hillary called for hearing, she's not first lady anymore. She's not a public official or secretary of state anymore. Melania is the sitting first lady. It's really, to me, awkward for Republicans to say no to hearings when it's Melania asking for them. Right. I mean, there's some things that, you know, I played some video that shows that maybe the long wait between the engagement and the actual marriage was because she was doing that prenup. She was negotiating that prenup to make sure she was going to get paid. But, you know, there's things you could say about her, whatever. But the reality is she actually has now made the highest profile demand for formal hearings and she is the top Republican woman in the country.
- [91:03]
Jason Johnson
Yeah, no, that's, that is something. I mean, she did it clumsily because, you know, as you, we've all seen, you know, the survivors are up in arms about this. They're like, and how dare you try to put this on us. But you're right, it is something in that it puts the Republicans on the spot. But what would have been better would have been for her to say we need hearings with people who are in the files. And she'd have to, she didn't have to necessarily mention Trump, but if she would have said these people who are in the files and the people at the Justice Department who messed this up, they need to be public hearings, that would have been quite, quite another thing. But you know what? If Democrats are smart, which is a big if, they will, they will take this and run with it and scoop all that into the same, into the same ball.
- [91:49]
Joy Reid
That's right. I mean, it would have been more powerful if she was standing with Victims FC victims. But I'm sure they didn't want to stand with her. Right. I mean, this is about, like, her bringing home Ukrainian children. Like, where are the children at? I don't think she did that either. Let's also talk, I want to stay on FOX for just a moment because the other sort of awkward place that FOX is in now is that the base of the Republican Party is not down with the war. At least, at least According to even Fox polls. So here is a little bit of Fox themselves on the comfy couch in the morning expressing what seem to be
- [92:17]
Lev Parnas
doubts say that the President's demands.
- [92:21]
Joy Reid
We have not reached any of those objectives. I have full confidence that the President is going to find some way to make this happen. But he said that we want to dismantle all major nuclear facilities. That has not happened. The end of uranium enrichment on the soil, they're still enriching. The transfer of the rich Iranian stockpiles out of Iran, that hasn't happened. The acceptance of intrusive international inspections, they're still not willing to do that. And they have not suspended their ballistic, ballistic missiles program. They're still firing them off to stop the production of the long range missiles. That's just a few of them on the President's proposal. The question is, is the president using this two weeks to give our soldiers a break, a rest, to see if we can get this ultimately done? We'll see. Two questions. Number one, how unusual is it for you to hear that kind of doubt on Fox? And number two, how long before that brother gets called DEI in a Trump truth social rant and gets fired for being a black?
- [93:27]
Jason Johnson
Yeah, no, I mean, well, you know, I guess, you know, we could probably help him out with that by blowing that up a little bit. But you know, I, I, I, I don't, I don't want to name names, but there have been times where I've picked something out that somebody said just because I figured that it would send Trump off the, the deep end and it, it has worked on multiple occasions. So. Lawrence, I don't know man.
- [93:50]
Joy Reid
It's, I mean, according to Dr. John Gartner, that's not hard to do since Trump is a malignant narcissist and prop may be insane but I mean the, the doubts thing is real because what you're seeing in, you know, right wing media, the right wing podcast world, the Tucker Carlson, Candace, Owen, Nick Fuentes, that world, they're not on the same page. Megyn Kelly said that she doesn't care what Donald Trump does if he knows nukes Iran. She's still voting Republican. She's a shill for the Republican Party. Donald Trump humiliated her over the weekend. Said she and Trump are, she and Tucker are stupid. They're stupid people. She'll still be kissing his ass tomorrow. It's what she does for a living. But I mean, how much of a, of a, are you of a sort of rift are you seeing on the media? Right.
- [94:28]
Jason Johnson
Yeah, well, I Mean, we. I guess we'll see what happens over the next two weeks, because there is a, you know, Lawrence, as an example, there's a. There's a safe space where, you know, yes, he expressed out, but he did it gently. And he's sort of trying to, like, walk the line between Trump and Trump's fans, because, you know, Fox News needs Trump, but they also need Trump's fans. And so they've really got to walk a line there. It's going to get harder the more that this rift develops, but. Yeah, right. You know, it's hard for me to. To see that a lot of these people who are. Or MAGA are going to just abandon Trump and be like, well, okay, we don't hate trans people anymore, because that's not how it works. They will stick with him as long as he hates the same people they hate. And if they've got us, you know, swallow, you know, a temporary argument over this war, then that's what they'll do. But I, you know, we'll see.
- [95:25]
Joy Reid
Well. Well, you know, on that. Jason, let's take a little pivot here, because can I. I have to show you guys my shirt. I'm gonna stand up here, and I'm gonna show you guys my shirt. This is my where in the world is Carolyn Gallego shirt. Carolyn Gallego is one of Donald Trump's many pseudonyms where he would pseudonymously try to promote himself when he would pretend to be his own publicist. And one of his alleged sort of other versions of himself was Carolyn Gallego. And so I find that a fun story to have. I happen to wear this shirt. It's literally. It's a shirt that's in the shop, by the way. Yes, it is. But I happened to wear it today just because I thought it was fun, because I went to get my hair done. Thank you for the compliments on my hair. I went to the hairstyles, I was like, let me look cute. But we have now gotten some new information about someone else who likes to dress up and maybe dress up as a lady. And that would be. I mean, I don't know if he dressed up as Carolyn Gallego. He just used the voice. Carol allegedly used the name Carolyn. I don't know if he dressed up, but Brian. No, let's talk about that. Let's play a little bit of that Daily Mail exclusive audio of Brian and
- [96:30]
Dr. John Gartner
I would bow to you.
- [96:34]
Melania Trump
What if people saw us together?
- [96:38]
Dr. John Gartner
I don't give a.
- [96:40]
Melania Trump
Not even if you got recognized.
- [96:43]
Joy Reid
I don't care.
- [96:47]
Dr. John Gartner
You know, What?
- [96:48]
Melania Trump
What?
- [96:50]
Joy Reid
To be seen with you?
- [96:51]
Melania Trump
Yeah.
- [96:55]
Joy Reid
I don't give a f about anything else. Yeah, it's time we'd be seen together.
- [97:01]
Melania Trump
You told me you loved me, didn't you?
- [97:07]
Joy Reid
I do love you.
- [97:08]
Melania Trump
Do you?
- [97:10]
Joy Reid
Mm.
- [97:13]
Melania Trump
So much better than your wife, aren't I?
- [97:17]
Joy Reid
You're so much better.
- [97:22]
Melania Trump
You can't live without me, can you?
- [97:25]
Joy Reid
I can't.
- [97:32]
Melania Trump
Just so weak and desperate for me.
- [97:35]
Dr. John Gartner
Yes. God.
- [97:37]
Joy Reid
Thank you.
- [97:38]
Jason Johnson
Thank you.
- [97:39]
Joy Reid
Thank you.
- [97:40]
Jason Johnson
Thank you.
- [97:41]
Joy Reid
Thank you.
- [97:41]
Jason Johnson
Thank you.
- [97:43]
Melania Trump
What a good boy.
- [97:46]
Joy Reid
Oh, my God. This is a left wing dominatrix named Shai Sotomayor who apparently was the goddess and dominatrix of Brian Noon. How much does the right. How what does the right even do with this information?
- [98:06]
Jason Johnson
I don't know, but I gotta say. Well, first of all, I thought his name was Byron. So thank you for correcting me there.
- [98:11]
Joy Reid
It's B, R, Y, O, N. So I pronounce that Brian.
- [98:16]
Jason Johnson
I am 100 team Brian. First of all, Shy never shot no puppy. Okay?
- [98:25]
Joy Reid
Fair.
- [98:26]
Jason Johnson
And so right then and there, she. She's got it all over. Over Christie. But look, yeah, I don't know. You know, that's. That's the real question. The real question is what? How do right wingers handle this? Because I feel like, you know, people like us, what the hell do I care what Brian Gnome does? And you know what, you know, I mean, from what I understand, you know, he had some. So there were some car. There was some making up to do for some that she did. And so, you know, allegedly.
- [98:53]
Joy Reid
Yes, that he allegedly had a very long term relationship, allegedly, with the man who then became her junior subordinate at the Department of Homeland Security, Corey Lewandowski, for years. And that rumor, which of course we cannot substantiate whether they were having a sexual affair, but she refused to answer the question when she was asked it directly by a member of Congress. And that rumor goes back to when she was South Dakota governor. She didn't say no.
- [99:18]
Jason Johnson
Yeah, no, no.
- [99:19]
Joy Reid
That's humiliating him. Right?
- [99:21]
Jason Johnson
Like, I feel like somebody walked over my grave when you said the sexual affair.
- [99:25]
Joy Reid
I'm like, oh, I know.
- [99:26]
Jason Johnson
Because first of all, in my head,
- [99:29]
Joy Reid
I'd rather her face is as false as Brian's fake boobies.
- [99:34]
Jason Johnson
Okay, well, here's the thing about. Here's the other thing that, that's sort of like messing me up about this story is her name is Shy Sotomayor, but that's her real name. And she uses a stage name. And I'm like, how do you not use Shy Soto? My door I'm with you on that.
- [99:48]
Joy Reid
I agree.
- [99:49]
Jason Johnson
Like Supreme Court kink all the way, man.
- [99:52]
Joy Reid
You know, but she's 5ft tall with two 500cc implants. That means she is as wide as she is tall or she's six hours
- [100:02]
Jason Johnson
standing up or laying down.
- [100:03]
Joy Reid
Yep, Correct. That is very interesting.
- [100:07]
Jason Johnson
Good for Brian. And you know, this is the thing, like I don't really care what consenting adults do in private. And you know, what happens, you know, between married couples, it can be heartbreaking and it's personal and whatever. But also, Christy know she killed the dog and her goons killed Americans. And so, you know, I hope, I hope Brian didn't sign a prenup. You know, I hope he gets all of it. Hope he gets half of that plane.
- [100:40]
Joy Reid
You know, he needs some money for his implants and I hope he gets it from. I'm with you. I hope he takes her for everything. Christy for everything she's got based on infidelity, takes all her money and uses it to buy his implants and go ahead and get with his Sotomayor, his
- [100:52]
Jason Johnson
queen, his best life with shy Soto mayor. You know, man, they could play that. They could be like the hot bench,
- [100:57]
Joy Reid
you know, they could, they could have a booby off. They could have which one is the bigger cup.
- [101:05]
Jason Johnson
It could be like Elena Kagan.
- [101:09]
Joy Reid
He could feel like the kids. All right, Tommy, let's move on. Let's move on real quick because I still have you White House Correspondence Association. This is something I vowed to really honestly never go back to because it, at a certain point it feels very self congratulatory, this thing and it. Can you sit there and you sort of listen to the. The last really good one was when President Obama mocked Donald Trump in 2011. I was actually at that one was really funny. We now have this situation where the White House Correspondents Association, I guess fearful of having a comedian make Trump sad, Amber Ruffin was unceremoniously fired from being the White House Correspondents association comedian because they were afraid she was going to say something mean to Trump, which is literally her job. If she's the comedian, they've now hired a mentalist. A mentalist?
- [101:59]
Jason Johnson
Yeah.
- [102:00]
Joy Reid
I'm not sure what a mentalist is. His name is Oz Perlman and he will be doing some magic for the audience.
- [102:09]
Jason Johnson
I don't want to crap on this guy. He's probably a professional and a good entertainer. It's a mentalist is like, did you see that movie? Now you see me. It's like the Woody Harrelson Guy in that and I mean I'm sure he's whatever, you know, I'm not gonna hate on an entertainer who's out there doing it, you know, doing his thing. It's not his fault. What's, what's disgraceful is, is the White House Correspondents association which by the way I am glad they never got a penny of douche out of me because they are all apologies to any friends who are currently officers. It's not your fault, I guess or maybe it is, I don't know. Whatever. Useless. Completely useless.
- [102:48]
Joy Reid
Yes.
- [102:48]
Jason Johnson
What have they done when, when Trump has just, it's been an all out assault and you know, assaulting entire organizations, assaulting individual reporters. What did the White House correspondents do for every time he goes after Caitlin Collins like a piranha. Okay, what do they do? What do any of them do?
- [103:10]
Joy Reid
They're calling women piggy. Calling reporters piggy. What have they done when going on the plane.
- [103:17]
Jason Johnson
There was no, there wasn't a single person on that plane that said a goddamn thing. That's right afterward. It's crazy. So I mean the White House Correspondents association and you know like they, they, you know they hired, this is not the first remember after Stephen Colbert did it to George W. Bush, I think the next year they had Rich little at least rich little comedian.
- [103:39]
Joy Reid
Yeah, yeah. They're too scared. And by the way the FCC is chair is currently still attacking cnn. You've got Don Lemon arrested, you've got Georgia Ford arrested. Journalists being arrested and they're so scared of the regime. Comedians are braver. You've got Jimmy Kimmel still going hard. You've got Stephen Colbert still going hard. Jon Stewart, all the rest. But they're so scared of him that they're like we can't have a comedian. We need a mentalist. And look, I just hope that he guesses the signal chat password for Pete Hegseth so we can find out who they're gonna bomb next. Before I let you go, last comment. The fact that Colbert is going to be replaced apparently at C. Cbs, the late shows being cashiered and they're now going to have Byron Allen's comics unleashed. Which to my understanding pays for the time.
- [104:30]
Jason Johnson
Oh I, I didn't know that part of it but well that makes it less, you know, I, I, I, I was, I was sort of struggling with it because you know, Byron Allen is in a very impressive dude and I, I think I might, I, I can't remember and I think I might be a little bit old than you Joy, I don't know if you remember Byron from back in the.
- [104:47]
Joy Reid
Everyone's older than me, Tommy. Everyone.
- [104:49]
Jason Johnson
Yes.
- [104:49]
Joy Reid
Go on.
- [104:49]
Jason Johnson
I don't know if you remember Byron Allen from back in the Real people.
- [104:52]
Joy Reid
Yeah.
- [104:53]
Jason Johnson
But if you would have told me that the guy that sat next to Skip Thompson or whatever his name is was going to end up being a billionaire, a media mogul, I would have been like, what? So, I mean, cool, you know, hats off to Byron Allen for what he has accomplished.
- [105:09]
Joy Reid
Agreed.
- [105:10]
Jason Johnson
And look at me span for the time. That's, you know, I mean, whatever. Good for him.
- [105:14]
Joy Reid
I'll have to check that. I can double check that. Don't quote me, but I understand that that's sort of the arrangement that's made that CBS is going to make money on the deal. We'll see what happens. Tommy, Christopher, you're great. Thank you very much. And we're going to follow everything you're doing on media. Thank you, my friend.
- [105:26]
Jason Johnson
Thanks for having me.
- [105:27]
Joy Reid
Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, well, the Jordan show, we got to give you one more ad sponsors brought to you by our friends at Helix. Now listen, getting a good night's sleep literally key to having a decent life. Because if you, if you're sore at night and your arm is numb because you're sleeping on your side, because you're sleeping on your back and you get a leg cramp ruins the next part of your day. A good night's sleep sets you up for a great next day. And so listen, I am an insomniac. And so I'm a person that has struggled with sleep. I always struggle with falling asleep, staying asleep. I happen to get up in the middle of the night 10 times. And so having the right mattress is literally a game changer. And Helix literally helps you sleep better. A study has found that 82% of those involved in a study on those who slept on a Helix mattress saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle while sleeping on that mattress. It is an amazing. Again, game changer. For those with multiple and sorry for those of you who need to sleep better and need to change out your old mattress because you want to start over this year, in the year, by year 2026, even though it's the middle of the year, it's spring, never too late. Helix offers free shipping and seamless delivery. They deliver your mattress right to your door. Free shipping in the United States, 120 night sleep trial, limited lifetime warranty. The Happy with Helix guarantee means you're going to rest easy with seamless returns and exchanges. And that guarantee means it's a risk free customer first experience designed to ensure that you are completely satisfied with your new mattress and you get a great night's sleep. It's an award winning mattress, the most award winning mattress brand tested and reviewed by experts at places like Forbes and Wired. If you want to try a Helix as we have and I'm super excited, whole new Life, go to helixsleep.com joy for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com joy for twenty percent off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name the Joy Reid show after checkout. So you know that we sent you. All right, let's stay on this Melania situation. Let me show you this 2017 email between Michael Wolf and Jeffrey Epstein cackling about rumors that Melania might have a boyfriend. Joining us now to discuss all things Melania is Lev Parnas, our good friend Lev from Lev remembers Lev and is also running for Congress in the great state of Florida. Okay, Lev, we just want the tea buddy. Tell us why in the world is Melania doing that press conference? Why'd you do it?
- [107:43]
Lev Parnas
Well, it's a combination of things, but she did because remember this name, Amanda Ngaro. And Garo is a female victim. She's a female victim that basically got into that world when she was 16 years old as a model. She ended up marrying Paolo Zamboli. Paolo Zamboli, for those of you that might not know, is somebody is one of Donald Trump's close friends, but also is, I think works for his administration in some part or another right now,
- [108:13]
Joy Reid
Wasn't he a modeling agent at some point?
- [108:15]
Lev Parnas
He was actually, he was the, he was Melania's modeling agent. Actually, he was Melania's modeling agent. He's the one that brought her over. He and he ran the modeling agencies in Miami, Florida, New York, and very involved in that. So the story goes. Basically, you know, he got married to Amanda and then they got separated. They were having a, you know, a not divorce or separation.
- [108:42]
Joy Reid
And she's a model, too. Sorry to interrupt you, but she's a Brazilian model, I believe. She's a very beautiful Brazilian model.
- [108:48]
Lev Parnas
Beautiful Brazilian model. And it's interesting because she's been giving interviews right now talking about how she first met them when she was 16 years old, how she saw these young models, how she was introduced, how Zamboli, when he first introduced her to Epstein, he was telling her that Epstein's a very good guy. And you know, and she's doing all of this. And by the Way Joy. We're actually, I've been in talks. We're trying to get Amanda to come on. I'm actually first trying to get her right now to give sworn testimony to the House Oversight Committee and then trying to get around to tell her story because she is ready to scorch earth basically on some of the stuff because she's been there. She's different than the rest of them because she actually saw, she's been saw Melania and Donald's relationship. She's been there for 20 years. She's seen, I mean, speaking to some of my sources that know both of them very well. I'm getting records of all the events they've been to together. And you know, even when Trump, you know, in his first administration, when he won the presidency, I mean, very close. And then what happened was basically they got into a fight and Zaboli came to Trump in this administration and asked him for a favor to have his Gestapo ICE agents basically give arrest Amanda, which they did. She was arrested at ICE and basically deported, where she is now in Brazil. And Boli kept the child here in the United States. So putting this aside for a second, simultaneously, our great incredible workers like Ellie Leonard and others have been also doing some great reporting. Journalists work about Michael Wolf and Michael Wolf with these tapes that he has over 100 hours of tapes. One of those tapes actually talking about where Michael Wolf said that he has, where he says that Melania slept with Donald Trump on his plane. He also said.
- [110:53]
Joy Reid
On Epstein's plane.
- [110:54]
Lev Parnas
On Epstein's plane. Correct. So Melania yesterday comes out and makes a lot of statements, a lot of false statements. One of those statements that also is very right now that I'm hearing, there's a lot and I'm going to connect the dots, but I'm just trying to get you a lot of information that throughout the day I've been getting is also I'm now hearing that Paolo Zamboli, because Trump's now putting a lot of pressure on him because now he's getting this heat because of all of his stuff. And he's saying that now he's willing to go test the testify in front of Congress and basically perjure himself and say that he introduced Melania to Donald Trump. But here's the sticking point because Melania herself has come out on several shows. Larry King, we have video of all over the. And Melania says that nobody introduced her, that she met Donald Trump at a Fashion Week party in the KitKat club. Well, no, she says not the kick
- [111:48]
Joy Reid
that's where she says it's not the Kit Kat Club.
- [111:51]
Lev Parnas
No, Zambodi says he introduced them at the KitKat Club. Oh, Melania says she met Donald Trump at a Fashion Week party, not at the kid, Karen.
- [112:02]
Joy Reid
And we played that audio just a little while ago before you got on lab. We played that video of Larry King interviewing Donald and Melania Trump in 2005 when they had gotten married after five year. A five year courtship in which it seems to me, just for me, just watching the videos in order from 99 on, that they were negotiating that prenup. Because she was asked about the prenup in 99, and she said, oh, you know, you can love. But she was like, probably waiting for her money. Right? She gets the. The wedding. She gets Andre Leon Talley helping her get her gown. All this stuff getting on the COVID of Vogue, blah, blah, blah. On the COVID The Clintons went to the wedding. It was a huge wedding. But she did say in that interview that they met at a party and she was sitting at a table. Donald Trump saw her and was supposed to meet another supermodel.
- [112:44]
Jason Johnson
I don't believe.
- [112:45]
Lev Parnas
Stop right there for a second. Think about what you just said. Think about. Donald Trump said. Listen to. This is interesting because Donald Trump says in his own words that he was supposed to be introduced.
- [112:55]
Joy Reid
Yes.
- [112:56]
Lev Parnas
So somebody was supposed to introduce him that to a different superm that was sitting next to Melania. And he said, stop, I don't want to meet her. Who's that? Who was that person making the introduction? See, see how their stories.
- [113:10]
Joy Reid
Can we play this? I'm sorry, hold on.
- [113:12]
Lev Parnas
Yeah, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
- [113:13]
Joy Reid
Okay, okay. No, keep going, keep going, keep going. We're gonna see if we can pull it.
- [113:15]
Jason Johnson
Go ahead.
- [113:16]
Lev Parnas
See if you could put. But see, because these little, you know, if you take these little words because he says, I came there and I was supposed to be introduced to this fine supermodel. But when I saw Melania sitting there, I. I said, forget about her. Who's her? And that made the introduction.
- [113:31]
Joy Reid
C3 when Jason. Whenever you can. C3. C3. Sorry. Yeah. C3 whenever you can.
- [113:36]
Lev Parnas
And I think that was Jeffrey Epstein, because that's what Wolf says. Wolf says Jeffrey Epstein made the introduction at an event. So. So we're linking the dots here. Joy, I'm telling you.
- [113:47]
Joy Reid
Whoa. You just blew my mind once again. Wait. You got it, Jason. Okay, Jason, play it, play it. Play Trump. Melania Trump, the international cover girl, has now joined us. We got to discuss the media. How did you two meet?
- [114:05]
Melania Trump
We Met In New York, 1998. It, it was a fashion week. September 1998.
- [114:11]
Joy Reid
The famous fashion week.
- [114:12]
Melania Trump
The famous fashion week.
- [114:13]
Lev Parnas
Were you introduced?
- [114:15]
Melania Trump
Well, no. We were both at the same party and that's how we met.
- [114:21]
Tommy Christopher
Did like her.
- [114:21]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
Right away I went crazy. I said I was actually supposed to meet somebody else. And there was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet this supermodel and they were saying, look, there's so and so. I said forget about, about her. Who's the one on the left? And it was more fun.
- [114:38]
Joy Reid
You can stop there. You can stop there.
- [114:39]
Lev Parnas
You see how he, he says, you see the guy said look, here's so and so. And I said stop. Who is her?
- [114:47]
Joy Reid
Boom, boom. Well, hold on, wait a minute. Wow.
- [114:56]
Lev Parnas
Yeah. Yeah. And it's just the beginning, Joy. This is, they are scrambling at the White House and that is why today you're also starting to hear reporting of Donald Trump starting to issue preemptive pardons. Today they literally before I came on your show, my son actually I think broke those that Donald Trump is. Now there's official conversation in the White House about preemptive pardons that they're talking about because there is chaos because right now Donald Trump needs to keep people in line and everything is coming out and it's, and, and, and it's gonna, and this Epstein file is going to be the downfall of a lot of people.
- [115:36]
Joy Reid
Why does Melania, why would Melania want to make this all come? Because she's saying in this, in her press conference, I didn't commit a crime. I've never been interviewed by the FBI. I've never been accused of crimes. And she lists things that literally Donald Trump has been accused of. And she distanced, she took one giant step away from him. Is there, do you know why she decided to open this can of worms?
- [115:58]
Lev Parnas
Well, it's, they're trying to be preemptive first of all. They're trying to also use to bury it in certain media cycle even though, you know, they understand it's a big story. But also you have the Iran war happening right now, peace talks happening. There's a lot of major media cycles that coming out. The second reason is because this is the person that is now telling him that she's got Amanda. She is different than the rest because she was like Melania. She went through the same system. Like see a lot of people forget that Melania, you know, before she met Donald Trump, she was also a 16 year old girl that traveled in Paris and friends and met Zamboli and came over during that era. So she came over the same way as Amanda did. They were part. So they. And they also similar. Like Amanda ended up marrying these powerful people and ended up staying in that circle. And that's what's different because they continued being now as wives and as girlfriends, seeing the. The crimes continue happening because, you know, there was still, you know, it was okay. They look the other way because they made it.
- [117:10]
Melania Trump
It.
- [117:10]
Lev Parnas
You know, it's like, you know, we made it. Whatever doesn't happen. I don't know. I don't see. And they're trying to now distance themselves from it. And that's why Amanda also. Listen, Amanda for many years didn't come out and say anything. I mean, and now, you know, she's coming out and saying it for whatever reason, but now the truth is coming out.
- [117:29]
Joy Reid
So she's probably saying it because she's now in a fight, a custody fight with.
- [117:33]
Lev Parnas
Right, absolutely. Well, 100.
- [117:36]
Joy Reid
And for her immigration status, her immigration.
- [117:38]
Lev Parnas
They took her child away. And a mother scoring. I'm sorry, you know, anybody that knows that, don't mess with mama wolves, you know, that you don't, you know, mama bears, mama wolves. I'm sorry, you know, you cross the line on that. And so, you know, and she knows, See, this is the whole thing. She spent 20 years with them. Joy, these are close friends. Just think about. I think I say, you know what I say to myself like this, I spent four years inside of Trump world and think of. And I'd say to myself, think about all the stuff I know. Just think about all of the things I've been privy to think of. And I'm not even as close to as, like, somebody like Amanda Bird that. That literally was married, had kids, and, and, but so. So she knows a lot. And so Melania coming out and saying that. And that's why she used another very key word. She said, I'm not Epstein's victim because she was Epstein's victim. Victim. She's trying to differentiate. They're trying to change the story. Because for Donald Trump also, there's a very big thing, you know, for those type of men. It's, you know, it's like a pride thing. Like, God forbid she would have slept with Epstein and then. And then he would have, like, married her.
- [118:48]
Pope Leo (quoted)
It's.
- [118:48]
Lev Parnas
It's that, you know, sick, disgusting, powerful men world of the 90s that they had. They had to be. So there's a lot of things. And with Donald Trump, listen, it's like everything else Joy, he's trying to change history. He's trying.
- [119:01]
Joy Reid
So you think he was behind the press? You think he knew she was going to do that, walk out and he
- [119:05]
Lev Parnas
was 1 million percent not do I think, I know they helped to write the letter. She didn't. What do you think? You think Melania wrote that script, do you think?
- [119:13]
Joy Reid
Not unless she copied it from Michelle Obama.
- [119:15]
Jason Johnson
Exactly.
- [119:16]
Lev Parnas
Good one, good one there. But, but think about also strategically, because what was written in that script was strategically to turn. Oh, it was. She played the, like that role, like she's supporting the victims, but at the same time she was attacking the victims and the survivors by saying, you go put your story, we want you. She, she didn't come out and say I want Donald Trump. She didn't. You know what? If she really was an advocate for truth, she should have came out and said I want to go and testify on the record, not do some statement. Because what she did there, she lied. She lied about a lot of things. And I think right now, because she opened that can of worms. And I spoke to a couple of Congress people today. I'm going to Washington D.C. next week to put more pressure. They need to subpoena Melania. They need to forget about subpoena, put the pressure on her and say, melania, you need to come. We want to talk to you. Just we want to talk to you. You know what I'm saying to you?
- [120:11]
Joy Reid
And the thing about it is you go through the timeline. She meets Donald Trump in the heart of his Epstein era, when she met Donald Trump. Trump. Donald Trump was best friends with Epstein. We know they were best friends in the 90s, late 80s, early 90s. So this is the heart of the Epstein era. She admits they met in like 1998. She was 26 years old. That's when she says they met. We have the documentary evidence that she's on tape saying it, right? And then she doesn't marry him. You have that 1999 interview on ABC where the, where she's sort of coy about a prenup and says, oh, you know you can. But she doesn't answer the question of whether she'd want a prenup. And we, what would it take for her to marry this 52 year old man as a 28 year old woman? And it's clear that she wants the prenup to include a lot of money for herself. She marries him in 2005. One year later, she gets a genius visa. She gets her, well, she got a genius visa immediately. She gets her citizenship the year after Donald Trump marries her. So she got a lot out of this. She got her mother citizenship. She got her sister into the country, not just herself. She got all three of them in and she got to be rich. And she, all she had to do was, I guess, not see what she could, what she was seeing.
- [121:18]
Lev Parnas
Well, exactly. It's like, you know, once, you know, it's a sad, you know, world, but it's like, you know, when you have a lot of, you know, people that are trying to get, you know, once they make it, they don't care. It's like they don't care about the rest. It's like now I'm on a different level. And that is why I keep, I keep saying why Amanda Umberto is such an important individual, because she also, she is, she made it just like Melania. She also was like Melania. She also went through all of that stuff. She also seen all of it and she was married to Melania's agent. She's, she's married to. So think about, think about, think about some of those bedroom stories that, that, that just, just take about 20 years of, of the stuff that Paulo might. Would have told and confined it into her and that now, you know what I'm saying, Joy.
- [122:12]
Joy Reid
And it's impossible to believe. Sorry. That Melania is with Donald Trump, dating him in 1998. 99, when he's best friends with Epstein and says she never met him, she didn't know him. They weren't friends. They just were invited to the same parties. Trump was throwing parties and having Epstein over his house. Of course you knew him.
- [122:30]
Lev Parnas
And they got pictures of hanging. And not only that, but, but Epstein and Zamboi, they were friends. They were all, they, they were all. It was the same Epstein crowd. It's the same.
- [122:39]
Joy Reid
And also Brett Ratner, who was obviously in Epstein's circle, he just directed her movie.
- [122:46]
Lev Parnas
And I'm telling you, Ellie's on vacation, but I'm going to get the wolf pack on it. That video of the Larry King, we're going to try track it down to what party they met at, who threw that party and who, who's that person that said that? Trump said, hey, not this one, but this one. Somebody was there aching that introduction. And I have a good feeling that was EPSTEIN, because in 1998, like you said it yourself, that was that.
- [123:13]
Joy Reid
I, I mean, it could have been Casablanca. I mean, you think of a small number people. Jean Luke Brunel, who's in France, John Casablancas, who was Donald Trump's other dear friend, Jeffrey. Ep. These are the people who are rolling in those circles. And Paulo Zoli, like, there's a. A small group of men that were hanging out that were all in that modeling world. It's a small number of people. You don't have to do a lot of research. You research four people.
- [123:32]
Lev Parnas
Absolutely. And the reason why I keep going back and thinking it's Epstein is because of connecting the dots with what Wolf has. Because if you take a look at what Wolf now brings the table and then you bring. It all starts to connect to that. Because, you know, you hear Epstein, you know, saying in his own words, even if you don't believe everything Epstein says, even if you take bits and pieces, I mean, a one plus one equals two. I mean, it's. It's as simple as that. You can't. You can't. You know, you could call whatever you want, but it is what it is.
- [124:02]
Joy Reid
So I. I texted you before and asked you this question of. There's a person whose name is Re is sort of like, shortened as C2. Do you have any idea who that is? Because you. If you read the Epstein emails, they keep doing an equals C2. Do you know, that could be.
- [124:18]
Lev Parnas
Actually, I'm. I'm gonna get you that answer. I'm looking into that, and we're gonna get you that answer. I don't have it for you right now, but actually, I want to give you some good news, some breaking news. I think Artemis just broke this, and. And it's about to drop and safely. Yes. Artemis 2 is about four miles. So. Yeah, it's. I'm watching it land right now. This is incredible. Joy, we are. Yeah, everybody has. The parachutes have opened up, and they are about to. Yeah, they're about to land into the water.
- [124:51]
Joy Reid
That is awesome. And of course, Lev Parnas. He is our moment of joy, providing us an alternate moment of joy. Artemis 2 back coming safely to the Earth left. Partners, we have to make a weekly appointment. Man. I'm gonna just need you to just clear your Fridays for me. We need it once a week. I need you on once a week till we get this tea. Thank you for blowing our minds, Lev. Y', all, please support Lev. Go to Lev paras.org. you got to support him for Congress. If you was in Congress. Fire burn them.
- [125:18]
Lev Parnas
Let me tell you, we're getting there. Joy. I promise you we're gonna.
- [125:22]
Joy Reid
We're not ready for you. They're not ready.
- [125:27]
Lev Parnas
Yeah, I. I promise you, before we even get to Congress, they're not Ready. What we're about to do. They're not ready. No, we're not. Because let me tell you, next week, one of the things, when I'm coming to D.C. and I'm going to send you the pamphlet, we are putting on a protest. I'm organizing right now with no Kings, with Midas, with Defiance, with everybody. We are going to flood their phone mails. We are going to make millions of people. We're going to call every day, and we're going to demand, demand, demand. And we're going to shut down the government with our emails and phone calls. Well, get ready. We're about to action. So, Joy, get ready. We're about to do some stuff. I'm excited.
- [126:02]
Joy Reid
Listen, I don't have to get ready because I stay ready. Left.
- [126:04]
Lev Parnas
That's right, you look. That's right.
- [126:07]
Joy Reid
Get ready. I stay ready left. Partners, everyone. Happy weekend, my friend. You are the best. Like, don't. Don't turn off your phone because you know I'm gonna be texting you immediately after the show. Take care. Good night.
- [126:18]
Lev Parnas
Take care, guys.
- [126:19]
Joy Reid
Thank you. Oh, my. Do y' all see that? He could. Lev came and connected those dots, baby. Lev has the T E a T every single time. Okay, we're going to make a weekly appointment with Lev, guys. Do you agree with that? I think we all agree. We need Lev once a week. I'm sorry. And when he gets to Congress, I don't know what he's going to do because he's going to have a congressional job. But I'm still going to need to talk to Lev all the time because he's got the tea. All right, before we go, wow. Let's grab another moment of joy. We are excited about Artemis coming back down. You can open up a second window on your YouTube if you want to watch that land or just grab the clips later. We'll of course, grab them as well and use them on Monday. But we're excited that the men and women and women on the Artemis 2 have come come back safely to Earth, where it's messy, it's problematic, but it's home. All right, let's do our moment of joy. This is from a very hilarious creator on Instagram called DVD Colombo.
- [127:10]
Tommy Christopher
Sure. Why we're all still having trouble with this. Let's try it again from the top. This is a victory for the US because our goal from day one was for Iran to open the strait. That didn't close till after we attacked, which was completely controlled by their military. We had total dominance over, and it was a waterway that we could have taken over but instead asked for help that we didn't need. But we'll remember that our allies did not give us all because of the negotiating power of a FIFA Peace Prize recipients threat to annihilate a civilization in order to liberate them from a regime that changed which was not our goal. But we we will take credit for from an old man who hates us to his younger son who hates us for those reasons and that we killed his father. And while it is not clear the status of Iran's nuclear capabilities that we obliterated last year, but we're going to be a problem in two weeks. One thing is for sure, they now have more money and control of the strait than they had when they made the old deal that we ended because it was terrible. Now I think that is enough about a third authoritarian propagandistic regimes. Does anybody have any questions about the Trump library golden statue?
- [128:21]
Joy Reid
I actually think that DVD Colombo needs to be the new White House press secretary because he actually makes more sense than Caroline Levitt. Thank you all for watching the Joy Reid show. Wow y', all. What a Friday. Let's all pray for Brian to find a good supportive brassiere because we all know that support is everything when it comes to the breast disease. So let's just hope that he gets the right kind of bra for himself. He deserves to have a break from a woman with a woman who doesn't actually shoot puppies in the face. We're rooting for Brian. I don't know what a woman could do to a man to make him want to make it. You know, let me just leave it alone. You know, it's got to be something real severe that. That heifer. We were heiferologists. We are junior heiferologists on this show. We need to ask Ms. Maddie J about. We need to probably. You know what? I'm. We're going to reach out to Ms. Maddie J because I need to know. I need to know what a hea gotta do to a man to take him from first gentleman of an entire state to someone who for nine years is trolling around on the interwebs with people who he wants to emulate their boobature turning. I need to know what that. Kristi. No. Must be demonic.
- [129:36]
Dr. John Gartner
Terrible.
- [129:36]
Joy Reid
She took that man from the first gentleman to the first lady of that chat room. She took him from first gentleman to first lady of miss. Ms. Sotomayor, the five foot dominator. That is his queen with 25cc implants and he wants 26cc. He wants bigger. He wants his to be even bigger than her bazooms. He wants his bazooms to be bigger than her bazoons. What on earth did this woman do to that poor man? Brian, we stand with you. Whatever she did to you, it had to be glass houses.
- [130:15]
Jason Johnson
Terrible.
- [130:15]
Joy Reid
She did something to him. And it's not just eating up the mosh bars that were sitting on the count. No, she did something. She shoots dogs. Are you back on this mosh boss? I did. Anyway, can we go now, please? Because I didn't touch your marsh bars and you are still talking about. I have a great weekend, everybody. Take care. Oh, wait, before you go. Jason, wait. Don't stop yet. What? I got to let everybody know how to make a security. Listen. Yeah, y' all know the chat knows it's true. Here's how you make a security. Y' all asked me in the last show, and I promise I would tell you. Here's how you make a security. You get yourself some champagne. Get anyone you like. I personally like a Moet Imperial. Imperial is my favorite. You're going to take a dram of champagne, you're going to add. You're going to add a good cognac. Don't go with the cheap cognac. You need an excellent, high quality cognac. You want one shot of cognac. You want one shot of Saint Germain. Okay, so it's champagne, one shot of cognac, one shot of Saint Germain at a maraschino cherry and just a little bit of a drizzle of grenadine to give it some color. And if you want to make a twist now you can throw a little lime in there and give it a little, you know, a little something, something, something. That is a security. Is that what you drink next? 100%. I'm gonna eat it with my last mosh bar. All I got left is 2. I'm eat them both. I'm gonna tell you something. You need to stop sleepwalking at night and eat those marsh bars because again, I haven't tasted any of them. But Carolyn Gallego in the house. Carolyn Gallego just said that. Carolyn just said Jason didn't eat the mosh part. I'm about to take this off the air right now. So, Joy, say good night to everybody. Get my Z biotic and my security. Love you guys. See you on Monday. Bye. Getting back to the basics. Grassroot level.
- [132:06]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
Let me dig a little deeper with the shovel. Plenty. Can't tell the fors from the trees
- [132:11]
Joy Reid
that I'm hard to detect Like a
- [132:12]
Unknown Guest (possibly a commentator or contributor)
black hole in the dark Injustice anywhere it's a threat to justice everywhere Let
- [132:17]
Joy Reid
me make this clear I got a bone to pick and I'll never fear the threat of poverty they don't want to talk about it they rap the party so I'm a real talk about it for show.