The Epstein files cover-up: Botched or calculated? | The Listening Post

Summary

The Listening Post – Episode Summary

Podcast: The Listening Post (Al Jazeera)
Episode: The Epstein files cover-up: Botched or calculated?
Date: February 14, 2026
Theme:
This episode explores the chaotic and controversial release of the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice – a massive trove of documents detailing the late Jeffrey Epstein’s global network of power, criminality, and complicity. The discussion spans the apparent cover-up, the failures of accountability in the US versus Europe, the media’s role, ramifications for democratic institutions, and broader issues of propaganda, censorship, and the reach of power, including coverage of Iran’s media crackdown, the NFL’s alliance with US militarism, and ethical dilemmas in AI development.

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1. The Epstein Files: Cover-Up or Calculated Chaos?

Overview:

• The US Department of Justice released over 3 million pages of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
• Victims’ identities were exposed while names of high-profile suspects were redacted or omitted.
• The release missed deadlines and raised allegations of a clumsy or deliberate cover-up.
• The documents implicate global elites across politics, royalty, Hollywood, and tech.
• In the US, accountability is largely absent, in stark contrast to resignations in Europe.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Nature of the Cover-up

• Botched or Calculated?

  • “Probably not the worst. I was a reporter for a very long time. Governments lie like they breathe. So I would call it a botched cover up because people aren't buying it.”
    — Investigative Journalist [02:52]

  • “Some people look at this and they think this is just incompetence and I actually believe it is an entire strategy.”
    — Political Analyst [03:03]

  • “Is it really a cover up if we know what's happening yet no one is actually facing accountability?”
    — Political Commentator [03:13]

• Department of Justice Under Scrutiny

  • DOJ accused of acting as Trump’s “personal law firm” and breaking the law by missing legal deadlines for release.

  • Congressional hearings see Attorney General Pam Bondi grilled:
    “You redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices and co conspirators. You shockingly failed to redact many of the victims names, which is what you were ordered to do by Congress. This performance screams cover up.”
    — Lead Host/Anchor [03:25]

  • “If we had 50 reporters reading 500 documents a day, it would take us four months to get through all the documents.”
    — Investigative Journalist & Host, on the scale of the files [04:51–04:56]

Blame Shift and Media Complicity

• “It is a calculated move to try and pin this entire syndicate on one man that is no longer living, Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell… This is a syndicate that was global, run by the most powerful people around the world. It did not just disappear.”
  — Political Analyst [05:05]

• Media outlets criticized for “not asking key questions” and facilitating public distraction.
  — Media Critic [03:20]

The Epstein Network: Scale and Details

• Epstein’s network involved top politicians, billionaires, academics, and members of royalty; their correspondence reveals coded references to sex crimes, even torture.

• “The nickname for his jet was the Lolita Express. You don't even have to have read Nabokov to figure out what that's about.”
  — Investigative Journalist [07:10]

• Trump’s name appears extensively in the documents: “for a time included Donald Trump, who Epstein once called his best friend and whose name reportedly comes up in the files hundreds of thousands of times.”
  — Lead Host/Anchor [05:44]

The Failure of Accountability in the US

• Major resignations in UK, France, Norway, Slovakia; US politicians remain untouched.

• Parallels to Watergate: back then, accountability forced a president (Nixon) out; “Fifty years ago, Republicans were able to stand up to Republican President. They are no longer able to do that.”
  — Media Critic [08:36]

• “If Richard Nixon was in trouble in this day and age… he would have had an entire media apparatus… gaslighting millions of people… to believe that he did absolutely nothing wrong.”
  — Political Analyst [09:00]

• “The rot inside of this country is so incredibly deep that pedophilia is no longer a bipartisan issue.”
  — Political Analyst [09:31]

• “The United States has crossed a point where it will be incredibly difficult to undo the damage that this administration has done to our systems of justice… I hope every government abroad pursues that, because we're most definitely not getting it here.”
  — Political Commentator [09:47]

Crowdsourcing, Social Media, and Citizen Journalism

• An informal coalition of lawyers, podcasters, activists, and citizens are crowdsourcing analysis of the files.

• “Social media has been a force for good… the biggest pressure for all this came from QAnon… Sadly, QAnon were kind of right about that bit. They just pointed in the wrong direction. They claimed it was the liberal left, and actually… it was the maga right.”
  — Media Critic [11:09]

• Outsiders and non-elites have been more effective in surfacing facts, despite lacking direct access to elite networks.
  — Investigative Journalist [11:33]

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2. Iran: Journalism Under Siege

Overview:

• Amid ongoing anti-government protests, Iran imposed a near-total internet blackout, making reporting very difficult.
• Authorities raid journalists’ homes, seize devices/IDs, block bank accounts and SIM cards.
• Chinese technology is being used to bolster Iranian surveillance and censorship (per Human Rights Organization Article 19 report).
• Starlink offered limited internet relief; methods now employed to jam it.

Quote Highlights:

• “The reporting that is getting out indicates authorities are are continuing to tighten the screws on the media… a clear attempt to blind the world to the reality on the ground … attempting to create its own curated version of the Internet…”
  — Field Reporter [12:18–14:20]

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3. The NFL, Super Bowl, and US Militarism in Spectacle

Overview:

• The Super Bowl is a major TV event intertwined with aggressive displays of patriotism and US military promotion.
• The NFL benefits from, and feeds into, the militarization of American culture.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

History and Language of Militarism

• “The NFL and militarism have always had a relationship… so much of football has war analogies to them. So there was a natural pairing.”
  — Sociologist/Academic [16:26]

• “Militarism is part of the football language. The players talk about being in the foxhole with their teammates. They throw deep bombs down the field…”
  — Sociologist/Academic [16:26]

Propaganda and Mutual Benefit

• “The world's most extravagantly funded war machine also runs a vast public relations operation working closely with Hollywood video games producers and major sports…”
  — Military Correspondent [16:53]

• “We kind of bristle when we see these large military displays in totalitarian regimes… but in many ways, the flyovers at NFL football games are the same exact things.”
  — Cultural Critic [18:20]

The “Paid Patriotism” Scandal

• $7 million in taxpayer funds were used to pay sports teams for pro-military displays (“paid patriotism”).
• “Unsuspecting audience members became the subjects of paid marketing campaigns rather than simply bearing witness to teams authentic voluntary shows of support for the US Military.”
  — Military Correspondent [19:35]

Ongoing Cultural Impact

• Military recruitment during games, presence of military at games is now normalized.

• “Americans are comfortable with the militarization as long as they don't have to think too deeply about it… And then we can get to the heart of the matter, which is watching a sporting event.”
  — Cultural Critic [21:40]

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s involvement: “This year, more than most, those justifications rang hollow… As a result, ICE has not benefited from the glitz, the communal spectacle and stage managed patriotism that has been so useful to the US Military in its association with the NFL.”
  — Military Correspondent [22:14]

The Battle for the Narrative

• “It's a propaganda battle. It's a battle of images. It's a battle of manipulation. Who gets to promote what they want you to see? Don't tell me it's apolitical. I'm not stupid.”
  — Sociologist/Academic [23:36]

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4. AI Industry Resignations and Tech Concerns

Overview:

• Noteworthy resignations from Anthropic and OpenAI highlight rising anxieties about the dangers and uncontrollability of advanced artificial intelligence.
• Claude AI lead safety researcher Mrinnank Sharma warns in a viral letter: “the world is in peril”.
• OpenAI staffer warns that their tech can manipulate users in ways “we don’t have the tools to understand, let alone prevent.”

Quote Highlights:

• “We've published research saying it could, it could take, it could blackmail the engineer that's going to shut it off.”
  — Political Commentator [24:54]

• “Is there a louder alarm bell for the future of this technology than when the people hired to build the guardrails for AI are jumping ship?”
  — Lead Host/Anchor [25:05]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I would call it a botched cover up because people aren't buying it.”
  — Investigative Journalist [02:52]

• “This is the worst attempt at a cover up. Some people look at this and they think this is just incompetence and I actually believe it is an entire strategy.”
  — Political Analyst [03:03]

• “Is it really a cover up if we know what's happening yet no one is actually facing accountability?”
  — Political Commentator [03:13]

• “Fifty years ago, Republicans were able to stand up to Republican President. They are no longer able to do that… Donald Trump is not on the verge of being impeached. His party backs every move that he does.”
  — Media Critic [08:36]

• “What is taking place is this battle. It is a propaganda battle. It's a battle of images. It's a battle of manipulation. Who gets to promote what they want you to see? Don't tell me it's apolitical. I'm not stupid.”
  — Sociologist/Academic [23:36]

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Key Timestamps

• Epstein Files and Cover-up: 00:28 – 11:59
• Iran Media Crackdown: 11:59 – 14:20
• NFL, Super Bowl, Militarism: 14:20 – 24:10
• AI Resignations and Tech Fears: 24:10 – 25:05

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Conclusion

This multifaceted episode pulls back the curtain on how power shields itself from scrutiny, whether in politics, media, or technology. The US response to the Epstein files underscores an erosion of accountability starkly contrasted by actions abroad, while the media’s complicity and the spectacle of militarism in sports point to deep-seated cultural and institutional problems. Rising suppression in Iran and tech-sector whistleblowing further dramatize the consequences when the machinery of state and industry operate in the absence of transparency, responsibility, and genuine civic oversight.

Transcript

[Sports Analyst]

This week on the take, we're marking one year since a pair of devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria with a new digital interactive. Listen and watch stories of survival, recovery and coping with the grief@al jazeera.com earthquakes Again, that's al jazeera.com earthquakes.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

If there was ever a story that should have political ramifications, it is the Epstein files. And yet in the United States, there is an outright absence of accountability.

[Political Commentator]

He is the most transparent president.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

None for the president nor for the other names in the documents. In Iran, dissidents and journalists are being rounded up as Tehran tightens its grip. Plus, they love a man in a uniform present the super bowl and American football have become essential players in the messaging of the US War machine. More than 3 million pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos. The largest document release of its kind and a very disorderly one. The long awaited tranche of the latest Epstein files from the U.S. department of justice missed its own deadline and then exposed victims identities while redacting the names of some of the high profile suspects involved. But this clumsy attempt at a cover up failed to fully conceal the intricate web of global elites spanning politics, royalty, Hollywood and tech. The common denominator? Power and influence used by a convicted child sex offender as leverage to get what he wanted and where. While some European officials have resigned over their appearance in the files, the fallout in the US ranges from the limited to the non existent. Despite Donald Trump's name coming up in those files hundreds of thousands of times, millions of pages are still being scrutinized by journalists in newsrooms and non journalists crowdsourcing amongst each other. And Americans are waiting to see who, if anyone, will be held accountable given the chaotic way the Epstein files have been released. Incompetence of those who tried to redact some names but failed and the resulting outing of some powerful men the U.S. department of justice was apparently trying to protect. Salvatore Navora Zorab Michalade Is this the worst political cover up the world has ever seen? Worst as in inept as in amateur hour in the halls of American justice?

[Investigative Journalist]

Probably not the worst. I was a reporter for a very long time. Governments lie like they breathe. So I would call it a botched cover up because people aren't buying it.

[Political Analyst]

This is the worst attempt at a cover up. Some people look at this and they think this is just incompetence and I actually believe it is an entire strategy.

[Political Commentator]

Is it really a cover up if we know what's happening yet no one is actually facing accountability and really the.

[Media Critic]

Media is complicit in this too, because the media is not asking key questions about what we have learned from the files.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

The unredacted part, this latest release of files, 3.5 million of them, and the way they were made public by the Department of Justice, was seemingly meant to muddy the waters. As Donald Trump's Attorney General, Pam Bondi oversees the doj, she appeared before a congressional committee this past week and was confronted with this. You're running a massive Epstein cover up right out of the Department of Justice. You redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices and co conspirators. You shockingly failed to redact many of the victims names, which is what you were ordered to do by Congress. This performance screams cover up. Another tactic of the Trump administration has been to delay. The DOJ was legally obligated to release all of the files more than six weeks, weeks ago. There are still another 3 million that have yet to come out. Which means that in a legal case that may represent an existential threat to Donald Trump, the U.S. department of justice has actually broken the law.

[Political Commentator]

The DOJ is essentially Trump's personal law firm, which is not what the DOJ is supposed to do. The DOJ is supposed to represent the interest of the American people and we've only scratched the surface of this tranche of documents. The New York Times in one of their podcasts said, look, if we had.

[Investigative Journalist]

50 reporters reading 500 documents a day.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

And it would take us four months.

[Investigative Journalist]

To get through all the documents.

[Media Critic]

Wow.

[Political Commentator]

And that's not even doing actual analysis, but really just assessing what is available to the public.

[Political Analyst]

It is a calculated move to try and pin this entire syndicate on one man that is no longer living, Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was in prison. It's this idea that because these two monsters are now one is locked away and one has died, that the entire apparatus has been brought down. It hasn't. This is a syndicate that was global, run by the most powerful people around the world. It did not just disappear. Reality is we know that somebody picked up the mantle because you just don't walk away from a multi billion dollar industry. Right.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

What stands out in the latest files, the emails pinging back and forth between Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged accomplices are the coded, sordid references to sex, girls and even suggestions of torture. Also emerging is more evidence on the details and the scale of Epstein's network. It was a cross party, cross border intercontinental power circle involving politicians, billionaires tech tycoons, royals, celebrities, academics and journalists. And that network, even after Epstein became a convicted sex offender in 2008, just kept on growing. The files expose a world where prestige is everything, where information is currency that can be leveraged into profits, traded for influence. A network that, for a time included Donald Trump, who Epstein once called his best friend and whose name reportedly comes up in the files hundreds of thousands of times.

[Media Critic]

The biggest takeaway is that we were lied to by the Trump administration. Kash Patel, Donald Trump's handpicked leader of the FBI, a former conspiracy theorist himself who spent many years in opposition talking about the Epstein files.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Put on your big boy pants and.

[Media Critic]

Let us know who the pedophiles are as soon as we become the head of the FBI. He says, no, no, there's nothing there. We've looked, and there was no trafficking. It was just Epstein. There's no evidence that he sent underage girls to anyone else. Well, that's not true.

[Investigative Journalist]

What we've not seen are the videos. When the FBI raided Epstein's mansion in New York, he had a safe the size of a closet. And we know that there were many, many recordings. That's not come to light. The mantra of everybody outed in the Epstein files is that they were ignorant of what Epstein was doing. Yet we know from the email exchanges that they were very well aware. I mean, the nickname for his jet was the Lolita Express. You don't even have to have read Nabokov to figure out what that's about.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Donald Trump's prominence in the files has got everyone's attention, but Americans are still waiting for a politician there, any politician, to take the fall. Contrast that to Europe, where major players in the UK and France have resigned over their links to Epstein. Heads have also rolled in Norway and Slovakia up until now. Watergate back in the 1970s was the most infamous political scandal in US history. After Republican operatives broke into a Democratic Party office to bug phones and photograph documents. President Richard Nixon tried to cover up that crime. He was found out, then forced to resign. I accepted. In the half century since, America has changed and accountability appears to have become a thing of the past.

[Media Critic]

Fifty years ago, Republicans were able to stand up to Republican President. They are no longer able to do that. Republicans were able to go to the White House and say, president Nixon, you've clearly committed crimes. You've clearly done things which are unacceptable to the American public. You got to go. And he did go. He was on the verge of being impeached and convicted. Donald Trump is not on the verge of being impeached. His party backs every move that he does. No matter what scandal it is, they will fall straight in line behind him.

[Political Analyst]

I do not believe that if Richard Nixon was in trouble in this day and age that he would have had to been forced to resign. He would have had an entire media apparatus that was dedicated to gaslighting millions of people in each and every day to believe that he did absolutely nothing wrong.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

This latest release serving as vindication, though.

[Military Correspondent]

For the President of the United States.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

The Democrats shouldn't be out there trying.

[Field Reporter]

To push, saying that somehow this has.

[Military Correspondent]

Something to do with President Trump.

[Media Critic]

That's just. That's a complete hoax.

[Political Analyst]

The rot inside of this country is so incredibly deep that pedophilia is no longer a bipartisan issue. And my concern is that whoever comes next is not going to be able to mend the deep fracture that has occurred.

[Political Commentator]

The UK has a handful of men, very powerful men, implicated in the scandal. And it's threatening the monarchy, the elected government. It is roiling financial and political institutions in France, in Slovakia, all over the world. People are realizing this is so bad. The United States has crossed a point where it will be incredibly difficult to undo the damage that this administration has done to our systems of justice. And I hope every government abroad pursues that, because we're most definitely not getting it here.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Ultimately, this is a story that pits two networks against each other. The wealthy, powerful people. In Jeffrey Epstein's circle, that network was selective. It was closed to people less privileged than them. But another network was not. The informal patchwork coalition that has come together on the web. Lawyers, podcasters, activists, citizens of all kinds have been combing through the files, gathering evidence that news outlets are now capitalizing on. It is a far less elite, much more inclusive crowd with people from both the right and the left that even has some conspiracy theorists in its ranks. A network that has proven to be influential in its own way.

[Media Critic]

Social media has been a force for good. Clearly, when it comes to the release of the Epstein file, the great irony is that the biggest pressure for all this came from QAnon, this far right conspiratorial network that said there was a cabal of powerful media and political people who were covering up for a pedophile network. Sadly, QAnon were kind of right about that bit. They just pointed in the wrong direction. They claimed it was the liberal left, and actually they turns out it was the maga right.

[Investigative Journalist]

I worked for the New York Times, so I was kind of an honorary member of the elite. I certainly had close physical proximity to them and understood them, but most people don't get that close. Most people aren't allowed into that inner sanctum and they're grasping in the dark. They don't actually understand the machinations of these circles, but their instincts have been right.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

It has been a month now since the Iranian authorities imposed a total Internet blackout during a violent crackdown on anti government protesters. Connectivity is still an issue and reports are emerging of a renewed wave of repression targeting journalists and political figures. Tarek Nafa has been following the story.

[Field Reporter]

Sweeping communications restrictions in Iran have made it extraordinarily difficult for journalists there to do their jobs. The reporting that is getting out indicates authorities are are continuing to tighten the screws on the media. The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists says security forces have been raiding journalists homes, seizing their devices and IDs and blocking bank accounts and SIM cards. CPJ says these punitive measures are a clear attempt to blind the world to the reality on the ground, with journalists in Tehran reporting the possibility of a new wave of protests. Prominent reformist politicians were also arrested by Iranian security and judicial authorities this week, according to state affiliated news outlets. They face charges that include attacking national unity and engaging with hostile media narratives. One of the few ways for Iranians to bypass restrictions and get online has been Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite Internet network. But during the recent wave of protests, authorities appear to be using new methods to jam access to Starlink. Some experts say Chinese hardware may be helping them to do so. The extent to which Chinese technology underpins Iran's approach to digital infrastructure was outlined in a report this week by Human Rights Organization Article 19. The report says that China is supercharging surveillance and censorship capabilities in in Iran by providing the government with key Internet filtering technologies from Chinese companies like Huawei and hikvision. By pursuing such a degree of control over the digital space and attempting to create its own curated version of the Internet, Article 19 says the Iranians are making sure dissent is not just silenced, it is prevented from ever surfacing.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Thanks Tarek. Last week, the most watched sporting event in the United States was broadcast across the country. The super bowl, the final act of the National Football League season, attracts more than 100 million viewers. It is a spectacle made for TV, meticulously planned from the moment the show begins with a celebration of the US military, from choreographed flyovers to flags stretching the length of the field. No other sports league has marketed patriotism as aggressively or successfully as the NFL. Militarism is embedded into sports and entertainment in the US and as the Trump administration tries to impose ISIS agenda across the country, the Immigration Enforcement Agency is also trying to get in on the act. The Listening Post's Ryan Coles now on the super bowl and the NFL's habit of giving the US military some serious screen time.

[Military Correspondent]

The super bowl, the United States most iconic sporting event. This year it delivered exactly what it always does. A blockbuster football game, a celebrity packed halftime show, and the muscular flex of the world's most powerful and arguably most destructive military.

[Investigative Journalist]

Present.

[Media Critic]

Or.

[Sociologist/Academic]

The NFL and militarism have always had a relationship going back into the 1960s. It was really the first sport that knew how to manipulate television. The sport where you can essentially plan your afternoon around. It's Sunday, you're gonna sit there, watch tv, eat your nachos. It's a great place for the military as well to have a presence.

[Sports Analyst]

Football's history is, you know, one of being a violent contact spot. And it still mimics military training exercises. You have men literally blocking other men. It's a direct show of physical force.

[Sociologist/Academic]

Militarism is part of the football language. The players talk about being in the foxhole with their teammates. They throw deep bombs down the field. So much of football has war analogies to them. So there was a natural pairing. Both sides, both the NFL and the American military benefit from this relationship.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

We're paying tribute to our nation's greatest heroes.

[Military Correspondent]

The tie in between the US National Football League, the NFL and the military is hardly unique. The world's most extravagantly funded war machine also runs a vast public relations operation working closely with Hollywood video games producers and major sports. American football in particular offers a multitude of opportunities for the military to showcase its hardware, recruit new soldiers and reinforce the narrative surrounding America's wars. The weaponization of football began in the 1960s. I'm somewhat of a football fan when President Richard Nixon became the first first sitting US President to attend a game as the US erupted in mass protest against the Vietnam War. Since then, the scale and spectacle of military displays escalated steadily.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Are children of some of the brave.

[Investigative Journalist]

Americans who have been deployed through Operation.

[Military Correspondent]

Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf, Reaching a high point during the United States so called war on terror in the early 2000s. And now joining our distinguished veterans are two former commanders in chief, the 42nd and 41st presidents of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton and George Herbert Walker Bush.

[Cultural Critic]

We kind of bristle when we see these large military displays in totalitarian regimes like North Korea. We are somehow culturally offended when we see these large military parades in places like like China. But in many ways, the flyovers at NFL football games are the same exact things. And we can then, I think make a very strong argument that organizations like the National Football League are complicit in making that militarization culturally acceptable and culturally comfortable. I would argue that democracies are not well served by the militarization of their societies.

[Sociologist/Academic]

The National Football League benefits from being associated with patriotism. It has decided that patriotism is part of its business model. And nothing suggests patriotism more than the military, than the industry that defends us and that defends and protects the borders. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.

[Military Correspondent]

Just how beneficial this arrangement has been for the NFL became clear in a 2015 investigation conducted by two US senators.

[Cultural Critic]

Contracts had some form of paid patriotism included in them.

[Media Critic]

What we're just learning about some of.

[Investigative Journalist]

Those patriotic scenes honoring our veterans at.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Major sporting events are paid acts of patriotism.

[Military Correspondent]

The investigation revealed that over a three year period, nearly $7 million in taxpayer funds were used to pay professional sports teams to stage displays of US Militarism during games. It became known as the paid patriotism scandal. As the report put it, unsuspecting audience members became the subjects of paid marketing campaigns rather than simply bearing witness to teams authentic voluntary shows of support for the US Military.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

The father, the husband who has just completed his fifth tour in Afghanistan.

[Military Correspondent]

Everything from the recognition of wounded warriors, surprise homecomings of soldiers and on field enlistment ceremonies had been paid for by the Department of Defense, Defense, what the Trump administration has renamed the Department of War. The investigation forced the Pentagon to agree to ban the practice and the NFL returned taxpayers money. The scandal didn't put a dent in the NFL military relationship though.

[Sports Analyst]

If anything, I think the NFL has only become more entrenched in its relationship to patriotism. Whether manufactured or not. You have soldiers returning home and appearing on. You constantly have members of the military who are present at games.

[Military Correspondent]

Let's hear it one more time for.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

The United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon.

[Sports Analyst]

It benefits the military a lot to have a relationship with the NFL. There are literally campaigns that get broadcast during games.

[Field Reporter]

It's the will to fight and determination to win.

[Investigative Journalist]

America's Secret Service protecting this super bowl is asking a few more to step forward.

[Sports Analyst]

There are in some stadiums, recruitment tables for the military. So there's the soft power of having a marketing association with the NFL. But then there's also the real tangible effect of the fact that you're able to sign people to join the military at games themselves.

[Cultural Critic]

Americans are comfortable with the militarization as long as they don't have to think too deeply about it. I can feel good about the American flag being unfurled. I can sing the national anthem and watch my team stand at attention to pay their respects. And then we can get to the heart of the matter, which is watching a sporting event.

[Military Correspondent]

For many years, another US armed force has been a presence in at the Super Bowl. Will there be ICE enforcement at the Super Bowl?

[Political Commentator]

We'll be all over that place and I can't. We're going to enforce the law.

[Political Analyst]

So I think people should not be.

[Political Commentator]

Coming to the super bowl unless there.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Are law abiding Americans who love this country.

[Military Correspondent]

The notorious Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency known as ICE deploys officers at the games. The agency says its role is to combat human trafficking, counterfeit merchandise, and to ensure that so called illegal immigrants are not among the spectators. This year, more than most, those justifications rang hollow. In the past month alone, eight people have either been killed by ICE officers or have died in ICE custody. As a result, ICE has not benefited from the glitz, the communal spectacle and stage managed patriotism that has been so useful to the US Military in its association with the NFL.

[Cultural Critic]

In many ways, what you're seeing on screen during these celebrations at football games and events like the super bowl is a sanitized version of military service and participation.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand with us and show your support for all these brave men and women.

[Cultural Critic]

And it's a way then for Americans to feel patriotic without seeing the ugly side of war. And it allows them to participate in this process without feeling guilty about what we actually see in our families and communities. For those who return home from war, who are dealing with the emotional, mental and physical traumas of war, none of that is really displayed in these events.

[Sociologist/Academic]

What is taking place is this battle. It is a propaganda battle. It's a battle of images. It's a battle of manipulation. Who gets to promote what they want you to see? Don't tell me it's apolitical. I'm not stupid. All you need to do is watch one afternoon of football and just track what images are being sold to you, what messages are being sent, and you see that it's much, much more than a game.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

And finally, the AI industry saw a couple of high level resignations this past week over concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence and our ability to control it. One of those departures came at the AI firm Anthropic, the company behind the AI Chatbot. Claude from the man who led their safeguards research team, Mrinnank Sharma. His rather cryptic resignation letter has been viewed more than 13 million times on X. Sharma warned that the world is in peril, but did not specifically cite what led him to leave the company. However, Anthropic's policy chief in the UK hinted at some of the terrifying predictions for AI at a conference late last year.

[Political Commentator]

We've published research saying it could, it could take, it could blackmail the engineer that's going to shut it off.

[Media Critic]

It was ready to kill someone, wasn't it? I'm not sure if it was Claude or someone else.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Political Commentator]

Yes.

[Lead Host/Anchor]

A researcher at another firm, OpenAI, also quit this past week. Writing in the New York Times, she said the company's tech had the potential for manipulating users in ways we don't have the tools to understand, let alone prevent. Is there a louder alarm bell for the future of this technology than when the people hired to build the guardrails for AI are jumping ship?