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- [00:00]
A
You're tuned into Auto intelligence live from AutoTrader, where data, tools and your preferences sync to make your car shopping smooth. They're searching inventory. Oh yeah, they find what you need, they gonna find it. You can make a budget for your wallet to help you succeed.
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B
Pricing's precise and true.
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A
So true it's smarter. Car shopping. Ooh, just for you. Oh, it's just for you. Find your next ride@autotrader.com powered by Auto.
- [00:29]
C
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B
But hurry.
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C
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A
Shop now at BestBuy.com, best Buy.
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D
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A
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D
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A
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D
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A
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B
I just give my stylist my size, style and budget preferences.
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A
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D
And he sends just for me pieces.
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A
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C
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- [02:16]
A
Where to begin? Do we start with Donald Trump threatening a group of Democrats that they will be hanged for treason as a result of them making a video telling the military to not follow unlawful orders? Which is just a restatement of the law. Do we start with the White House, through its chief propagandist Caroline Levitt, saying that the voters elected Donald Trump precisely because he calls female reporters piggy? Do we start with the United States military removing from their list of hate symbols swastikas, nooses, and the Confederate flag? Do we start with the fact that unemployment ticked up to 4.4% and the Trump regime was spiking the football as though this were a good thing and we know what a disaster October was for jobs, so we're heading to 5%? Or do we start with Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who was one of those people who promised that the war with Ukraine would end in 24 hours and peace would be brought in 24 hours, but he's now leaving, either been forced to quit or has resigned. At the same time, the United States refused to show up at a conference in Istanbul between the leader of Turkey, Erdogan, the leader of Ukraine, Zelinsky, and the US Was supposed to be there, but the US Was going to ambush Zelinsky with a demand for a surrender, essentially to Russia. 28 point plan of surrender. Or do we start with Donald Trump tanking in the latest Fox poll? As we've seen with other polls and even amongst white voters, Donald Trump now has a 50% disapproval. Only 46% approval approve. We could start with any of these topics, but why don't I call in my brothers Brett and Jordy and they could tell me where I start. This could be a choose your own fascist adventure story here, brought to you by the Midas Touch podcast.
- [04:29]
B
I don't know, man, all these stories are so crazy. First, I mean, I got to say, what's up to everybody. Hey, Midas. Mighty. What's up, brothers? How you doing? Another crazy day in Trump's America. You could tell these Epstein files now that they are signed, they are really getting to them. You know, the DOJ and Trump are working on all those schemes to hide all the pertinent files to Donald Trump. And you see him increasingly backed into a corner as the economy tanks. As things get worse for him, you see his Department of Justice completely falling apart. And so what does Donald Trump do, as Ben calls it, the rule of holes. He keeps on digging and keeps on digging and he makes his problems even worse. So we're going to get into it all. I know we have a lot to discuss. Ben, that was quite the outline. Let me pass it over to Jordy. Jordy, what's the latest?
- [05:12]
D
What's up? Brothers. What's up, Midas? Mighty excited for today's show, Benji. That was like a really concise mashup of just crazy things that are happening. I mean, every time you do this intro, it just sounds like a game of Mad Libs that we're playing with everyone. I don't know where to start, honestly. Benji, I toss it to you. Where do you want to begin today's show?
- [05:31]
A
Well, you see, that was just the prologue, because then we could get into Lindsey Halligan, Donald Trump's handpicked top prosecutor who now runs the Eastern District of Virginia federal prosecutorial office, who was smoked out by a federal judge during a hearing by James Comey and his lawyers to dismiss the criminal indictment on the basis of vindictive prosecution. And it turned out exactly what we predicted happened, which I said, I got to be careful in saying this, because this is clearly unchartered territory, which is what the magistrate judge said, which is, did she never present the actual operative indictment to the grand jury? And she and the other prosecutors on her team said she only had the foreperson and another grand jury take a look at the operative indictment after the first indictment she tried to present to them got rejected. So we can talk about that, or we could talk about that how today the DOJ filed something I've never even heard of before called a notice of correction, where they said, oopsies. What we said to you yesterday during the hearing, when we admitted that the grand jury never saw the operative indictment, we were wrong. They actually did see it. So, sorry, we. We. We just messed up yesterday. We meant to say they did. I'm like, that's kind of like, no offense to our Midas Maple out there, to our Toronto Blue Jays fans. It's kind of like the Toronto Blue Jays after the World Series is over. I know it's the tough one, saying, you know what?
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B
Let's.
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A
Let's go back and redo the game. Sorry, the. The. The game's already over. It's no such thing as a notice. Notice of correction. We just said the exact opposite of what we're saying right now. We could talk about the United States saying that they purportedly accidentally invaded Mexico, and they thought that the area of Mexico by the Gulf of Mexico, which they now label Gulf of America, was America and it was Mexico. And so they invaded it and started putting signs in it saying, this is the.
- [07:42]
B
This is the craziest story. I mean, this is. Shows you. This is like chaos meets incompetence. This is the entire Trump administration packaged into one Ridiculous story, just scary stuff.
- [07:53]
A
By the orders of the commander, like what is this friggin Star Wars? By the orders of Darth Vader, we hereby declare this territory to now belong to the United States. And it like it's Mexico territory by the Gulf of Mexico area. And the US Just like invaded it. Like they sent these like private contractors and others and they believed it to be territory of the United States of America. They're claiming and this has created a massive international incident. Or we could start by talking about Donald Trump signing the release of the Epstein files bill after being forced to do so. But now it goes to the DOJ and Pam Bondi and Cash Patel and Todd Blanche and that crew where we saw a press conference yesterday with Pam Bondi and they were asked, so can you tell us, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she would go because there's an ongoing investigation in the sdny. I can't answer that question. So there were a number of questions from the press asking about things that are in the files. Can you comment and Bondi's responses based on the active investigation? I can't respond. So that should just give you a preview of where they're going, of what she's going to testify to, what Patel is going to say, what Blanche is going to say when they get called before the House and the Senate. Or we could go to chapter three where we could talk about Lindsey Graham objecting to a unanimous consent motion put on the floor in the Senate by Democratic Senator from New Mexico, Senator Heinrich, requesting that the senate repeal the 500,000 per incident gift that they gave themselves at the taxpayer dime, that the Republicans ginned up a phony cause of action, that if their phone number showed up in connection with Jack Smith subpoenas relating to the January 6th insurrection, not eavesdropping, not wiretapping, if their phone number, the digits showed up, every time it shows up, they get half a million dollars and then they revoked in their law that they passed for the continuing resolution to reopen the government any defense that the DOJ and taxpayers could assert. So it just becomes a direct payment to these Republican senators who were making calls relating to the insurrection. And that's what they say. They suffered emotional distress and Lindsey Graham stands up, objects and kills the unanimous consent to keep the freaking money. And we can talk about how Americans are being psychologically tortured right now, living paycheck to paycheck while Donald Trump is out there giving these gifts to the senators and partying with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia rolling out the Putin red Carpet, right. That's who Donald Trump loves. Putin and the Crown Prince. And Donald Trump looking like he seen his crush for the first time. There's no other way to describe how giddy and turned on Donald Trump seemed to be in front of mbs. It was weird. It was creepy. He was doing like weird, like things like, let me hold your hand, let me hold your hand. It was like very, very strange behavior. But why don't I start off by showing us when Caroline Levitt, the Trump chief propagandist, is asked by a reporter. Good question. What did the President mean when he called this female reporter piggy? Here, play this clip.
- [11:32]
C
Natalie. Thank you, Caroline. What did the President mean when he called reporter piggy? Look, the President is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. You've all seen it yourself, you've all experienced it yourself. And I think it's one of the many reasons that the American people reelected this president, because of his frankness. And he calls out fake news when he sees it. He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration. But he also is the most transparent president in history. And he gives all of you in this room, as you all know, unprecedented access. You are in the Oval Office almost every day asking the President questions.
- [12:12]
A
And so I think, so you all voted for this guy. Not you all watching this. You voted for him because you wanted him to call the press piggy. And isn't it just an honor that he invites you to these press conferences where he looks at a female reporter and calls her piggy? Also during that press conference, Caroline Levitt said, you know what? We discovered a great thing during the government shutdown. We found out that we don't need the Department of Education anymore. Here, let's play this clip.
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C
The Democrats reckless 43 day government shutdown did manage to do one valuable thing. It proved that America does not need a federal Department of Education. During the longest shutdown in history, the Department of education furloughed new 90% of its staff. And America's education system was not impacted whatsoever. Schools stayed fully open across the country. Students attended class and received normal in person instruction. And our wonderful teachers received their paychecks on.
- [13:20]
A
Because schools are not run by the federal government, you morons. They're run at a state and local level. The Department of Education supplements things like meals for people's lunch, services for disabled students, enforcing equality and inclusiveness and anti discrimination in schools. The Department of Education deals with student loans supposed to help further fund and Maybe supplement the gaps at a local level. But what you've learned is that you need a destroy the Department of Education. And doesn't it seem like every week they just talk about doing something to destroy the future of kids and marginalized communities? Of course they seem to hate kids, though. It's like, we're going to do this to kids and that to kids. While the regime covers up a child sex trafficking ring. So you kind of see what's going on here. Then Caroline Levitt was asked about the Coast Guard no longer classifying swastikas and nooses. And the Confederate flag is hate symbols. And this was announced by the Coast Guard. There's a memo that states that there, I think it's going to be labeled potentially divisive symbols, but not hate symbols. In other words, if people in the military use them, there would be no penalty for it at all. It wouldn't be viewed as insubordination. I'm just thinking to myself, is this what they're sitting around at the Trump regime and thinking about right now? And the answer is yes. While American people can't afford things, while Americans look to Thanksgiving with angst, the Trump regime sitting around and someone saying at a table, I've got a great idea. What's your great idea? Let's do, let's bring swastikas back to the military. Oh, how about we do nooses? Okay. Yes. Let's bring this up. Okay. Let's make this like, who in the world? But then you realize the type of people who the Trump regime's promoting, they're the type of people who have, like, Adolf Hitler posters in their offices. Right. I mean, these are people out there who are saying white nationalistic things on social media. But Caroline Levitt was asked about it by a member of the press. And watch her ignore the question. Here, play this clip.
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C
Yes. The Washington Post just reported that the Coast Guard has. I'm calling on Bloomberg. Go ahead here. Thank you. Two questions for you. The New York Times.
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A
I'm calling on Bloomberg, who Donald Trump called the other reporter at Bloomberg. Piggy. Let's, let's pause there. And Brett and Jordi, let you respond to all that.
- [15:58]
B
And by the way, I wish the other reporter would then ask the same question. It's an important question and it's one of these things that just shows you, like you said, what their priorities are. I don't know how Caroline Levitt gets up there every single day wearing that cross and it doesn't just burn through her chest. I mean, like, she is honestly one of the most detestable people in this entire administration. I hate the people who do Trump's bidding, people who should know better, but just repeat all of this crap. I mean, she's 28 years old. She should well know better. She has a long life ahead of her. And this is how she wants to spend her time on this planet, defending this monstrosity, defending swastikas and all this stuff. I mean, I just don't understand how so many people don't see it and how there are so many people who are so afraid to speak out against it. You know, I think one of the things that also relating to that story is that, you know, I've noticed in recent years also the ADL just totally abdicate all of their responsibilities to fight back against antisemitism. Because I remember that guy who runs the organization is that guy Jonathan Greenblatt. And I remember he was threatened by Elon Musk a couple of years ago when he started speaking out against the anti Semitism that was on X on Twitter. And Elon Musk basically threatened to sue him. They got in all these public sports stats and then there was kind of one turning point where like they spoke, they had some sort of private meeting or something as Elon was threatening him. And the guy completely and forever changed. And now he just has turns a total blind eye to all the horrific anti Semitism that we're seeing come from the right, that we're seeing from maga. It's being thrown in our face every single day. And then he tries to only focus on the left. And there is anti Semitism on both sides. I mean, I'm not going to acknowledge that. Absolutely. But then they highlight all this other stuff. They try to, they try to equate other things with anti Semitism and they try to, you know, they go after Mamdani, that he has the mom Donnie monitor and all this various stuff, while he totally ignores the things that Donald Trump is doing in order to stoke all these horrific things from our dark past. And it just, it's just really like disgusting to me to watch this from the White House. People with just a. Such a lack of respect and people who want to promote hate every step of the way. And there are so many issues that we should be focused on right now as a nation. There are a lot of people going through hardship. And as you said, Ben, these are people who are focused on really like just trying to demean and punch down at every marginalized group, at anybody who isn't like a White, Christian, male. It's just like the most horrific way of governing, like, only governing for a very select few people and not be a president for the actual country at large. But that's what we see with this Trump administration. And, like, it's just. It's just every step of the way, they've surrounded themselves with all of these lunatics.
- [18:40]
D
No, it's such an excellent point. And if I can hear. I just want to respond to the piggy clip, if you haven't seen it yet, Brett, I think we have that clip. Can we actually play the clip?
- [18:50]
B
Yeah, let's play it.
- [18:51]
D
Donald Trump calling the reporter piggy. And I just want people to, like, look at the. Look at his eyes when he says it. Like, just look how aggressive he's being. Just. Just watch it. I'll come in when we come back. I mean, it's really, really gross and just bizarre and disgusting behavior, especially from the President of the United States. I mean, I never could have dreamed of calling anybody who I had a disagreement with picky, let alone a woman and a reporter. It's so beneath the office and just so disgusting. In fact, when I saw the clip play originally, I actually thought he said, Peggy. I thought there were. Cause you can't see who's asking the question. I'm like, there's no way he called. He called that female reporter piggy and pointed his face and lunged at her face with his. It's so, like, utterly bizarre the way.
- [19:42]
B
He lunged at her. Right, Jay?
- [19:44]
A
Yeah.
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D
The way he lunges and points the thing. If he's willing to do that while he knows cameras are around. Just think about how he talks about people, how he talks about women behind closed doors. I mean, it's really repulsive stuff. So now that we played that clip, and sorry to go back here, but could we play the clip again of Caroline Levitt being asked about that, Brett? Because I think that's important to see the sort of the next steps there.
- [20:05]
C
What did the President mean when he called reporter Peggy? Look, the President is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. You've all seen it yourself. You've all experienced it yourselves. And I think it's one of the many reasons that the American people reelected this president.
- [20:21]
D
Like, I don't even understand what she's saying. What is. What is Caroline Levitt saying there?
- [20:27]
B
That that's just Trump being honest and transparent. That's why everyone loves Trump. In fact, you should be thankful that he speaks to you in that way. Press. Right. That's why I don't understand this whole argument that, like, you know, the Trumpers and the press like to make where they're like, Trump is so transparent. Look, he's speaking to the press every day. Look, look, he's out there. He's got them all. He's. All he does is he gets there, he bloviates and he lies like that. I'd almost rather somebody not speak to the press than speak to the press and spew such hatred and garbage every single day. I don't think it helps.
- [20:55]
D
And that's your point, Brett. That's your point is also, then why doesn't the press have each other's backs? Right? Because if this could happen to one reporter, it sure as hell can happen to you as another reporter. So I'd love to see some sort of at least mutual respect for the press corps there, like, with, with each other, because it's so. It's just really sad to see that these folks. And Caroline Levitt actually even says it in, in the second half of her response there about the piggy question was, was the unbridled access that you get to the president, Right? But all you have to do is, is sort of play by his rules is essentially what she goes on to say.
- [21:31]
A
There's.
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D
And so what if I don't, if I, if I actually want real answers and I don't just want the, The Trump regime propaganda, I can't ask legitimate questions anymore. And so to the press corps there, it's like, again, I want a strong fourth estate. I think that's vital to a successful democracy, to, to, to the United States of America. But you guys have to do your part. You guys have to have each other's backs there, because that's just simply pathetic and beneath the office. Unbelievable.
- [21:55]
A
Ben, you, you all know, you've all been around him. That's what he does. That's Trump being Trump. He calls you piggy, yells at you. That's what he does to everybody. And it's like, what? No, this is the presidency. This is not okay. We should not normalize that behavior from any human being at any position or relationship to us. It's dehumanizing, yet alone to have the President of the United States say that. I think about raising my little daughter right now. It's 14 months. And in a world where the President of the United States is calling female reporters piggy, or in a world where. You know what it reminds me of.
- [22:35]
B
Though, if I could just say quickly, it's. It's abuse. It's an abuse. It's what an abuser does and what an abuser. And it's an end their enablers do. And it's stuff you see often in, like these, these cults. When people try to escape cults, what do they do? They attack. You know, like the way Donald Trump's attacking Marjorie Taylor Greene now and attacks all these figures. And six, all these death threats on the Indiana lawmakers who don't want to vote for the redistricting because the redistricting schemes have completely backfired for the Republicans. If somebody even disagrees a little bit with the cult. I mean, you see this in things like Scientology and whatnot. What do they do? They will do everything to make your life hell and maga. And this Trump world works the same exact way. And what we're seeing here are two ends of an abuser, right? We're seeing the abuser themselves. Who's in this case, is Donald Trump inflicting the abuse on people, on the American people, on that reporter, every single day. And then you see the friend who's the gaslighter who tells you, oh, no, he's being nice to you. You should enjoy his company. Everything's great, actually. Or how could you possibly ask that question? You have it good. You guys actually have it good. And so you're actually getting it from both ends there, and it makes it extra gross. But anybody who has ever studied abuse, who has seen abuse, knows that this is the exact pattern that abuse follows.
- [23:51]
A
And you see that in cults a lot where there's abuse or abuse of women, Right? That they will have someone like a Caroline Levitt act like, this is normal. This is what it's like to be a woman, or this is what it's like to be in the group. Like, this is how we bond. This is what we go through together. Right? Right. And no. Wrong. Wrong. And it's also wrong. This morning, Donald Trump is an understatement, calling for six Democratic lawmakers who urged the military not to follow any illegal orders. He called for them to be arrested and to be hung. And he says that George Washington would have hung them. And he says that they're terrorists. Hang them. George Washington would. Traitors, domestic terrorists, Democrats, they should be charged with sedition. Donald Trump reposts those statements. Seditious behavior at the highest level. To be very clear, if this were an instruction not to follow lawful orders, that would simply be insubordination, not insurrection or sedition. Saying, don't follow unlawful orders is just a restatement of the law. It is unlawful to follow unlawful orders. If you follow an unlawful order and you are involved in a war crime at any level of the chain of command, you are a war criminal who will need to sit one day before war criminal tribunals. Right. This was established in Nuremberg and even before that, though. And it was not a defense for a person in any level of the chain of command in Nazi Germany to say, I was just following the order and that's why I did it. Any person, including the person who flies the drone, who was just taking the order and shoots and kills those people in the fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia or in the Pacific, even said, I just was told to fly the drone and do it, or the fighter pilot who does it, they are war criminals even though they were ordered to do it. And everybody in the chain of command, up to Pete Hegseth, and it should be the commander in chief, Donald Trump, at an international war crimes level. Trump doesn't have absolute immunity, but in the United States, our Supreme Court gave Trump absolute immunity. And these were some of the examples that were actually given by people who said, you shouldn't give him absolute immunity. What if he does things like this? And the right wing Supreme Court was like, oh, that's not what we're worried about. They're never going to do things like this. We believe the president will exercise good and sound judgment. We're worried about the president having his exercise of his powers chilled by not having absolute immunity. So you see where that brought us in, that Supreme Court ruling going back though, to Caroline Levitt. She was asked, so don't you think you're stoking violence against Democrats when Donald Trump's out there saying to hang them and kill them and treat them as traitors? Seems pretty direct. Caroline, here, play this clip.
- [27:15]
D
Can I just follow up?
- [27:16]
C
The president and the vice president, for that matter, have accused the other side of encouraging political violence. Isn't that exactly what the president is doing when he says that members of Congress should be killed? Why aren't you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence? They are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members not to defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders, every single refuse an illegal order, which they're suggesting. They're suggesting, Nancy, that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief and through this command. Chain of command.
- [27:59]
A
Well, it's not that they're suggesting. It actually the lead lawyer of the Southern Command, which is this region where a lot of the war crimes are taking place. So the lead, number one military lawyer says that these strikes constitute extra judicial killings and constitute war crimes. So why didn't that legal opinion prevail? Because the Department of Justice, Pam Bondi, overruled it and the DOJ said, nope, we think it's perfectly fine. Ignore what the military lawyer says. Now you may say, hey, Ben, that sounds pretty unprecedented. The DOJ is overruling the military lawyer. Has that happened before? Nope. The same way it never happened before, ever. In any context where a federal prosecutor gets an indictment of anybody but doesn't show the thing to the grand jury and then admits to such and then files a notice of correction and said, nope, I actually meant I did show it to them. We're seeing firsts of the worst kind of malice and incompetence combined in this disastrous regime. No wonder Trump's approval is the lowest of any president in American history. At this time, we're going to take our first quick break of the show. We've got a lot to discuss when we come back. A reminder, please become a member of our YouTube channel if you can. If you're a subscriber, you can join and become a member, which is a paid membership to get you access to the bonus features, the emojis, the special podcast I do with Ron Philipkowski. You could also gift memberships to as many people as you can who may not be able to afford memberships during these difficult times. So if you're able to, it helps grow and support this network and you can give it as a gift to others. Heading into Thanksgiving, let's take our first quick break of the show.
- [30:11]
B
So, look, holiday season is here, and if you've been in my kitchen lately, you know I'm fully obsessed with Hexclad. I mean it. I've got other pans literally collecting dust because once you cook on these, there's no going back. They look sexy as hell, they perform better than anything I've owned. And yes, I've basically traded in my old cookware for Hexclad. If you're wondering what to get the cook in your life or what to hint at for your own wishlist, Hexclad is it. Holiday season is where it all goes down. Big roasts, game day feasts, all the sides, all the desserts. And if your current pans panic at high heat or burn the gravy, it's time for an upgrade. Enter Hexclad, the cookware that's as serious about performance as you are about carving that holiday turkey. You get the perfect sear, crazy durability and easy cleanup. Stainless steel strength, toxin free nonstick convenience. And they look damn good when the whole crew is over their 6 and 12 piece sets. Unreal gifts. Whether you're starting fresh or going big, you are covered and every hexclad product comes with a lifetime warranty for a limited time. Hexclad is having a massive Black Friday sale. Head to Hexcl to get up to 52% off. This is by far the biggest discount they've given all year. That's hexclad.com for up to 52% off. After you purchase they will ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them.
- [31:32]
A
We sent you Look, Starting a new business can be intimidating. I get it. Midas Touch Network was not built overnight. You need the tools to help you engage in the day to day tasks, the growth. And so that's why we use Shopify. It made things easy for us. And I think you should use Shopify too. So Shopify is a commerce platform. It is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all E commerce in the United States. From household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands like the Midas Touch Network. Get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand style, accelerate your content creation. Shopify is packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines and even enhance your product photography. Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. Even if you don't easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling to the Midas Touch Network. And best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert and with its world class expertise and everything for managing inventory to international shipping, to processing returns and beyond, you can count on Shopify. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. So turn your big business idea into Boom Boom Boom With Shopify on your side. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com Midas go to shopify.com Midas one more time. That's shopify.com Midas typical children's vitamins are.
- [33:17]
D
Basically candy in disguise, filled with two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals and other gummy junk growing kids should never eat. That's why Haya was created. The pediatrician approved Superpowered Chewable Vitamin. While most children's vitamins are filled with 5 grams of sugar and can contribute to a variety of health issues, Haya is made with zero sugar and zero gummy junk, yet it tastes great and is perfect for picky eaters. Haya fills the most common gaps in modern children's diets to provide the full body nourishment our kids need with a yummy taste that they love. Formulated with the help of nutritional experts, Hayya is pressed with a blend of 12 organic fruits and veggies, then supercharged with 15 essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin D, B12C, zinc, folate and many others to help support immunity, energy, brain function, mood, concentration, teeth, bones and more. It's non gmo, vegan, dairy free, allergy free, gelatin free, nut free and everything else you can imagine. Haya is designed for kids of all ages and sent straight to your door so parents have one less thing to worry about. My son loves Haya so much and he also had a blast decorating the bottle with the stickers that come in the first order. I can't speak more highly of Haya. We've worked out a special deal with Haya for their best selling children's vitamin. Receive 50% off your first order. To claim this deal you must go to hiahealth.com midas the deal is not available on their regular website. Go to h I y a h e A-T-Com midas and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults. Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in description of both YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit surveyed, let them know we sent you a lot of great holiday deals this time around. Check them out. Benji, real quick before I throw it back to you. When you were going on and on a little bit in the beginning, you did a great job. Don't get me wrong, I thought you were like almost doing like a bit. That was, that was going to be the whole show where you're like or should I start here or should I start here or. And that was just going to be an hour and 15 minutes of that. So take it.
- [35:33]
B
We can do a whole pod like that.
- [35:34]
D
I like that.
- [35:36]
A
You know, the reality is sometimes I just don't know where to start and so, so go through all the chapters.
- [35:43]
B
When you open a book to look through the chapters first, I'll try to.
- [35:46]
A
Get instruction about where I start so I filibuster for about eight minutes and I'm like, I'm going to start, I'm going to start here. So that's what goes in.
- [35:54]
D
I thought you picked the perfect place to start. So kudos to you and boy brothers.
- [35:58]
B
We got, we got to say too, thanks to the Midas mighty out there. So Apple released their charts of the top followed shows of 2025 and Midas touches on the top 10 most followed shows of this year. That means people will go to their Apple podcast app and hit the little plus sign on the top. So let's keep the momentum going, folks. This is like a big deal. I'd say every single other person on that chart were like these massive corporations who own these podcasts like the mass. And we're the only independent one in the whole thing, thanks to you. So go check it out. Apple podcasts, Midas touch podcast, add it right now. Let's keep this momentum going. I'm just grateful. So thank you everybody.
- [36:31]
A
The state visit to the White House, a time honored tradition. The United States, the leader. The White House, the president meeting with America's closest friends and allies. It is a statement of unity. It is a statement to the world. Who does the United States consider its closest friends? Well, we see how Donald Trump has treated people in the past like Zelensky, Prime Minister Carney, Anthony Albanese and others. Not state visits. They don't get the airplanes flying over or the horses marching. You'll usually get Donald Trump berating you or saying that he wants to take you over, conquer your country or perhaps attack one of your top ministers. But when it comes to the leader of Syria, when it comes to the leader of Saudi Arabia, MbS, the crown prince, Donald Trump just wants to smell you. He wants to take that cologne and spray it all over you and sniff you. It's how excited he gets now maybe saying, ben, what the hell are you talking about? Well, when Donald Trump rolls out the red carpet for authoritarians and for people who he likes and his staff, he loves smelling them. And he has Trum cologne and he has perfume. And so you walk into that golden bordello that has become the Oval Office, which looks disgusting, literally looks like it reeks and it looks gross. Any future president on day one, it will be so cathartic when that stuff is taken down. It's part of what I think about in the future as I'm doing my woosas, woosa, woosa. But don't take it from me. Like, Ben, I know you say these things. You don't like Trump, you're this, you're that. So you just stop. Don't make it up. Like, just come on. Well, why don't you listen to Trump's chief propagandist, Caroline Levitt? This is what she said about what Trump did to the leader of Syria, who used to be the leader of Al Qaeda. He beheaded people. He held the heads up. He was wanted by our FBI and intelligence agencies. $10 million bounties on this guy's head because he was the leader of Al Qaeda. He was invited into the Oval Office, and Trump started spraying him with cologne and sniffing him. But Caroline Levitt wants everybody to know that that's what Trump does to everybo, everybody and like, to people that he likes and staff and world leaders. He just goes and sprays you and snips you.
- [39:09]
C
The president went. The Syrian president came in and President Trump sprayed perfume all over him. And I just wondered, like, did he smell? No, let me tell you, that happens all the time, not just with the Syrian president, but I've seen it with other foreign leaders. I've seen. Seen it with members of our cabinet myself. He sprays a cologne and a perfume. Yes. He's just showing off his wonderful scents. He's very generous.
- [39:43]
A
I'll just leave it at whatever I say here. I think the thing speaks for itself.
- [39:48]
B
When you're a star, they let you do it, it seems, was her answer.
- [39:50]
A
Basically, let's just leave it at that. But, Caroline, what about the release of the Epstein files? What do you think about that? Let's play the clip.
- [39:59]
C
But if you look at how this Epstein story sort of evolved over the past week, it's classic Washington hoax.
- [40:06]
A
Okay, cool. You want to see what normal, though, is? Let me show you the deputy prime minister of Sweden with her delegation that went to Canada. And I want to show you what normalcy, intelligence, grace, humility looks like, as the rest of the world sees. Why would we go to the United States and be sniffed by this guy and attacked? Or it seems that he's friends with, like, the leader of Syria and he likes Putin and MBS in Saudi Arabia. Like, we're not their friends anymore. Just think about that. We went from Biden, who helped bring Sweden into NATO, right to them saying, and most countries looking at the U.S. like, they're the bad guys. They're the bad guys. Now we're the bad guys. Now we're North Korea. We're the bad guys. What a horrible revelation. And also, you want to see what the good guys look like? Here's the deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and her visit with the royal family there to Canada. Let's play.
- [41:13]
B
Well, we brought in the heavy artillery. We brought in the King and Queen of Sweden. It doesn't get any better.
- [41:19]
C
Better than that. But I would say that we, I.
- [41:21]
B
Mean, everyone knows these are truly turbulent.
- [41:23]
C
And quite tough and challenging times. And in those times, you need to.
- [41:28]
B
Choose your friends wisely. And Sweden is choosing Canada, and I think rightly so.
- [41:34]
C
And we're also seeing a very strategic.
- [41:36]
B
Work from, from Canada and not least.
- [41:38]
C
From Prime Minister Carney himself in choosing his friends globally now, very, very strategically, and I think Sweden is a great partner to, to Canada.
- [41:48]
A
Wow. Wow, wow.
- [41:49]
B
Or it makes sense though, doesn't it? Because what defines the Trump administration? Like, I would say, if anything, like corruption, like, this is the most corrupt administration we have ever seen in our entire lives. Corruption, incompetence. So it's no surprise that Donald Trump is attracting other corrupt nations and other people who engage in this sort of excess wealth and corruption and are willing to buy favors with their money and do all of that sort of corrupt stuff and is pushing away the countries that are actually trying to run by ethical procedures. And so we push away the Canadas, we push away Sweden, we push away the UK While we embrace Saudi Arabia, while we embrace Russia, you know, Turkey, all of these countries, it's like, it's very obvious because Trump views himself in like one of those leaders of those countries.
- [42:36]
A
And those countries have smaller GDP than the good guys. You know, the good guy. Like, you know, the Canadas, the, you know, the UK's, the France, the European countries, you look around, they have higher GDPs, they're more successful, they give healthcare to all of their people. Right, Versus the people who Trump looks up to, like the qataris. The whole GDP is $166 billion. Saudi, the whole GDP is like $1 trillion. And yes, they have a sovereign wealth fund for a trillion dollars, but you know, it's not exactly, you know, it's not, it's not Canada, you know, But Trump will look at Canada as weak and the Saudis are strong. But while this visit from Saudi Arabia is happening, the Trump Organization is getting involved and has been involved in all of these deals. Billion dollar deals with the Saudis, billion dollar deals with the Qataris and the Emiratis. And they're doing it in plain view. The Trump Organization's posting new Trump Hotel coming to the Maldives. We're doing it with Dar Dar, which is one of the subsidiaries of the pif, the private investment Fund, which is the Saudi Sovereign wealth fund. Because here's the thing, Trump can't run things on his own. Not sure if anyone's been paying attention to it, but Trump Media, remember that spac, the special purpose acquisition company? Do y' all know what it's trading at right now? It's trading at about 10 bucks. Do you know what a SPAC starts at when it's just announced that it exists? 10 bucks. So technically, right now, it's at $10.29. Over the past year, it's lost around 70% of its value. And you may be saying the past year where Donald Trump won the election and was inaugurated, his own media company has lost 70% of its value this year alone. Yeah, because he bankrupts and destroys everything. Look at his casinos. Look at this company, that company. If you can't run the media company with. Because it's a publicly traded company, Right? So you can't do some of the deals that the Trump Organization does. Right, with the Saudis and the naming rights and some of that stuff. If you can't run this public organization the right way, Trump Media, how the hell are you running the United States? Actually like that? Right? That chart looks like the way our jobless claims look. Looks like our unemployment numbers, 4.4% unemployment. Also looks at Donald Trump's poll numbers where he's plunging in The Fox poll, 38% in the box. Reuters or 50, 59% disapproval. The Morris poll, this poll, that poll. He's in the 30s, basically, in every single poll right now. This is who he is. And one of the things that I've always been trying to emphasize, and I guess better late than never, although the slightness of it freaking sucks that people didn't realize this before. This guy's a con artist. He's a fraud. He's quite literally a criminal. I mean, he's a felo, Helen. He lies and he destroys people's lives. And this is what he does. He's a rug puller. He tells you this, and this is what he's doing with the $23 trillion. Ah, it's just right around the corner. You're gonna get rich. I'm gonna give you dividend checks.
- [46:14]
B
I'm gonna be this.
- [46:15]
A
Gonna give you that. Gonna give you this, gonna give you that. It's all good. I'm gonna make you so wealthy. I love you. I love you. I'm gonna make you so wealthy. I hate you. I hate you. I love you. I love you. You know, demented, and it is manipulative and it is abusive, and that's his skill set. But he is a horrible builder. He is a destroyer of the biggest kind, and he's destroying the United States right now.
- [46:41]
D
Just.
- [46:41]
A
You want to see what he was doing when he hosted the leader of Saudi Arabia. I mean, he's given this speech at this conference at the Kennedy center, and it's just demented. I mean, this is what he's talking about when it comes to eggs. Here, play this clip. They started screaming at me. Eggs, eg. Then this is what he says about affordability. Here, play this clip. We're also making incredible strides to make America affordable again. That's a new word that they're using. Affordability. They talk afford. It's a new word that they're. Now, the word affordability has been there all along. And you promised that you would make things affordable on day one, and you lied. And now when everybody knows you're lying, you're claiming that everything is more affordable. You're saying that Thanksgiving's never been cheaper and that people are in a golden age. And people are like, no, we're not at all. Let me show you what J.D. vance said. He was asked, what do we do to address health care? What do we do to address healthcare? JD do you wanna talk about this? Here, play this clip.
- [47:52]
D
What do we do to address healthcare.
- [47:54]
A
Prices and premium prices and so on and so forth.
- [47:57]
D
What does that look like?
- [47:57]
B
Like, is it a reconciliation plan?
- [47:59]
A
Walk us through what happened. So what's so crazy about this Matters?
- [48:02]
D
Right before the government shut down, we.
- [48:03]
A
Had a meeting with Hakeem Jeffries and.
- [48:05]
B
Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office where they get President Trump and MAGA hats.
- [48:10]
D
Yeah, this is. No, no, not.
- [48:12]
A
Not just that, but the President whispers.
- [48:15]
D
To one of his.
- [48:16]
A
His personal assistants.
- [48:17]
D
They're all very good people.
- [48:18]
B
And she kind of runs off. And I think to myself immediately, oh, what the hell have I gotten myself into to.
- [48:23]
D
And she comes back with two Trump 2028 hats to give to Jeffries.
- [48:29]
B
And.
- [48:30]
A
Okay, this is. These are serious issues. People are worried that they're. The way he goes. I mean, the biggest freaking phonies, you know, in the world, freaking phony people. People are worried that they're about to lose their health care. They're losing their health care. Their Medicaid's being taken away. The rural hospitals are being shut down. People can't afford food. And just think about this demented scene in the Oval Office. You've got this fake gold motif everywhere. It looks, as I called it, a Golden bordello. You've got Trump in there yelling at female reporters and calling them piggy while at the same time spraying cologne and perfume on authoritarians and his staff and sniffing them. And his staff is like, oh, we love that. That's just Trump being Trump while he is giving away Maga 2028 hats while building a golden ballroom, while doing great Gatsby parties with half naked women in martini glasses where the slogan is a little party never killed nobody, building triumphal arches to himself. And then he has the audacity to send out a message to his, to his supporters who he's scamming, saying, on Thanksgiving, I need your money. I need you more than ever on this Thanksgiving. So please, I can't do this without you. Please chip in. $25. What are you running for? What are you talking about? And this is the art of a con artist. This is the art of a felon. This is the conduct of a sexual abuser. This is Trump and what the Republican Party has become. No wonder these generic polls have Democrats up, what, like 14 now? 14 points in generic congressional polling. You've got Democrats putting money into a congressional race. Afton Bain, the Democrat running against that guy, van Epps, the MAGA Republican in a plus 22 Trump district. Think about it. Think about it. Brett Jordi, I want to take our last quick break of the show. When I come back, I'm going to let you speak because the audience is going to get mad at me for not letting you speak. I also, and I let me just.
- [51:06]
B
Say this quickly while we're on this topic. What J.D. vance did in that moment encapsulates the entire MAGA strategy of how they take advantage of their own followers. And it's what they do with every topic. They deflect the issue, as Ben said, that is seriously harming people's lives. You know, people are going to lose their health care. It's a very bad thing. What's your plan? Instead of answering that question, tell you how I'm going to help. Let me show you this funny way that I owned the libs. Let me try to get you laughing. Let me try to point at our mutual enemy and say, look, I owned that person, remember? And then hope that you forget about actually what's going on and the problems in your life because you're too busy trying to laugh at your enemy while you're the one who gets screwed. You can look through all of maga. You can look through Trumpism, but that is a defining trait. And J.D. vance exemplified that Perfectly there on the stage.
- [51:59]
D
It's such an excellent point. And I also want to talk about this real quick. Trump using the word affordability is very telling to me. Like, he can't help himself because, you know, somewhere recently his handlers have told him that the biggest issue or one of the biggest issues right now on the American people is affordability. It's a major reason we saw the election swing the way they did in early November. Mr. President, hammer affordability. It's important. And so what does Trump do? Because he's just so vain. He literally hammers the word affordability. And he goes up there and he tries to talk about affordability as now being one of his things that he's going to almost, like, steal.
- [52:39]
B
Right?
- [52:39]
D
Like this talking point. Right. It's way more than that, as we all know. But when he gets up there and tries to talk about affordability and how it's a big initiative of his, he can't help himself. But then further gaslight the American people. Like, oh, this word affordability. I mean, come on, America's amazing right now. What are we talking about? Affordability. He can't help himself from not just being a maniac when it comes to this and realizing and understanding where the American people actually are and what the word affordability actually means to the American people. No, this Thanksgiving, Trump, it's not the cheapest it's ever been for people. People are hurting right now and people are hungry, and people want prices to be at a normal place so that they can enjoy their lives. And you telling people, oh, it's all fine. No, absolutely not. Gaslighting the American people does not help their bank accounts in any way.
- [53:33]
A
Ben, let's take our last quick break of the show. When I come back. When we come back, I want to talk about some of these legal developments. I'll break down what's happening with the case against Comey, in case you were a little bit confused. We'll make sure there's no confusion there. Also, you had the DOJ dismiss a case against a woman who they shot five times and accused of being a terrorist that I shot five times. They just dismissed the case because they made it all up. We'll talk about. We'll talk about that and more. You had Judge Ellis in Chicago issue a permanent injunction against the Trump regime's tactics there. A lot to discuss. We'll be right back after our last quick break of the show. Reminder. Click join. Become a member of our YouTube channel. Gift as many YouTube memberships as you can while you're at it. Check out midasplus.com that's our substack community. Check that out. We'll be right back.
- [54:34]
D
The older I get, the more I find myself wanting to be more intentional about the way I live, eat and take care of my body. That's why I'm so happy I found MASH Mosh, which you may have heard about on Shark Tank, was founded by Maria Shriver and her son Patrick Schwarzenegger with a simple mission to create a conversation about brain health through food, education and research. Maria's father suffered from Alzheimer's and since then she and Patrick have dedicated themselves to finding ways to help other families dealing with this debilitating disease. MASH joined forces with the world's top scientists and functional nutritionists to go beyond your average protein bar with eight delicious flavors including a plant based one in peanut butter and chocolate. Each Mach Bar is made with ingredients that support brain health like Ashwagandha, lion's mane, collagen and omega 3s. And now Mach Bars come with a new look and new formulation featuring a game changing brain boosting ingredient that you won't find in any other bar. MASH is now the first and only food brand boosted with Cognizant, a premium nootropic that supplies the brain with a patent form of citicoline. But here's the best part to make you feel good, Mosh donates a portion of all proceeds from your order to fund gender based brain health research through the Women's Alzheimer's movement. Why gender based? Because 2/3 of all Alzheimer's patients are women, Mosh is working closely to close the gap between women and men's health research. Personally, I love the taste of my Mosh bars. My favorite is the Peanut Butter Crunch, which I have each morning before I head off to the gym. Now if you want to find ways to give back to others and fuel your body and your brain, Mosh bars are the perfect choice for you. Head to moshlife.com midas to save 20% off plus free shipping on the bestseller trial pack. That's 20% off plus free shipping on THE Bestsellers Trial Pack at M O S H l I f e.com Midas thank you Mosh for sponsoring this episode. Ever have one of those moments where your body reminds you it's not 25 anymore? Maybe it's the slower recovery after a workout or the way your joints creak like an old floorboard. And don't get me started on how much worse it is in the winter. It's like my energy goes into hibernation. Aging is a reality for all of us, but our actions determine how we age. That's why I use Qualia Senolytic to help keep my cells healthy and my body feeling youthful. Zombie cells are real and they're aging you. These senescent cells stop being useful but stick around, draining your energy, slowing recovery and making you feel older than you are. Qualisinolytic helps your body fight back against aging. It's a powerful clinically tested formula with nine vegan plant derived compounds that support your body's natural ability to eliminate zombie cells so you can feel sharper, stronger and more energized. Take it just two days a month. That's all it takes. Take Qualia Senolytic for just two days a month and start aging better at the cellular level. After adding Qualius Analytic to my routine, I noticed a real difference. My energy feels steadier, recovery is quicker and mentally I'm more dialed in. Experience the science of Feeling younger go to qualityoflife.com midas for up to 50% off off your purchase and use code Midas for an additional 15%. That's qualialife.com midas for up to 50% off your purchase. Your older self will thank you and thanks to Qualia for sponsoring this episode. Ever wake up sweaty, freezing or just uncomfortable? The temperature in your bedroom can make or break your sleep. That's why I switched to Miracle Made Sheets. They're inspired by NASA technology and use silver infused temperature regulating fabric to help you sleep perfectly all night long. Miracle made sheets are crafted with NASA inspired silver infused fabric that helps regulate your body temperature. Hot sleeper, Cold sleeper, it doesn't matter. These sheets help keep you in the comfort zone all night long. Thanks to their antibacterial silver technology, Miracle made sheets stay cleaner and fresher up to three times longer than regular sheets. That means fewer odors, fewer wash cycles and way less laundry. They feel just as good if not better than sheets you'd find at a five star hotel but without the steep price tag. Smooth, breathable and ridiculously comfortable. Upgrade your sleep or give the gift a better rest. Go to trymiracle.com midas to try miracle made sheets. Today you'll save over 40% and when you use promo code Midas you'll get an extra 20% off plus a free three piece towel set. They make an amazing gift with a 30 day money back guarantee there's no risk. That's try Miracle.com Midas code Midas@ checkout thanks to miracle made for sponsoring this episode. Let's go Shout out to our sponsors links in description of both YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know. He said sent you Benji. Where to next?
- [59:33]
A
So there was a big hearing this week in the eastern district of Virginia where James Comey is seeking to dismiss the criminal indictment brought by the Trump regime against him for vindictive prosecution, among other potential defenses. And there was a bombshell that occurred during the hearing. And rather than me just characterize what went down. Let me just read for you what happened in the court. So the court asks the lawyer who was there basically on behalf of Lindsey Halligan, the DOJ lawyer who's now kind of stepped into this case, because Halligan doesn't know what she's doing at all. And the person's name is Mr. Lemons. So the court, judge Nakmanoff in the eastern district of Virginia says. All right, now let me ask you the question again. Again, let me be clear that the second indictment, the operative indictment in this case that Mr. Comey faces is a document that was never shown to the entire grand jury or presented in the grand jury room. Is that correct? The DOJ lawyer says, standing here in front of you, your honor. Yes, that is my understanding. Now, I don't. I was not there, but that is my understanding. Yes. Yes, your honor. Okay. Does it get any more clear than that? His answer was yes. Now, what do you mean Lindsey Halligan, who was the only person alone in the room with the grand jury. Judges aren't in the room. The defense lawyer is in the room. What do you mean she didn't show them the operative indictment? Well, here's what happened. She showed them first a three count indictment. Now, the DOJ claims that the grand jury approved two of the three counts, but Lindsey Halligan then says she had to go out in the hall, print out a new copy of the indictment, and then get the grand jury to sign off on a newly printed out indictment that became the operative indictment. Right. But the issue is, did Lindsey Halligan ever actually show that second indictment when she printed it out back to the grand jury? Because Lindsey Halligan says something very different about the first indictment when you actually look at what the indictment says. Because the first indictment shows that all three counts were rejected. That's what it says. Rejected in total. But she claims that the grand jury accepted two of the three counts. But it says all three counts were rejected. So that's why when that proceeding took place, the Magistrate was very confused because. Wait a minute. All three were rejected, but you're saying that the grand jury accepted two. So it's like, actually, we have the four person here. The grand jury agreed to two of the counts, and that's why we had to print it out. Again, that's not what the first said. It said it was all rejected, not that they've agreed to two of the three counts. So it would have been important, given that what they signed off on was a total rejection, for her to. If that was an error. Right. What should she have done if she knew what she was doing? Let's just assume that the grand jury didn't mean to reject all three counts, that they accept what Halligan says as true, even though we know they lie about everything, and the grand jury just accepted two of the three counts. Will you go, well, there's clearly an error. So to avoid that error, I have to then show the new indictment to the grand jury so that there's no doubt and let them sign off on it. But the grand jury left for the day. She let them go after they seem to have rejected the first indictment. So she just is there with the foreperson and these four. It's just a citizen who gets a jury notice. They don't know what they're doing, and has the four person just sign off on it as though the whole grand jury saw the second indictment, the operative indictment, and they never saw it. And so Halligan's lawyer, the DOJ lawyer who was making the argument, admitted that the grand jury never saw it except the four person and except, I think, one other grand jury. Then the judge called up Halligan and said, is that true? And she's like, well, actually, there was one other grand juror, so a total of two. And then Judge Nachman, I was like, okay, sit down, sit down. Got it. So then today, Halligan and the DOJ filed something that I've never seen before, no practicing lawyer, former practicing lawyers, ever seen before. Governments notice, correcting the record. So today they say, actually, when Mr. Lemons said to the court what Ben just read, Mr. Lemons was wrong, he actually meant to say no, but he said yes. What Mr. Lemons meant to say, standing in front of you, your honor. No, that's not my understanding. The grand jury saw the whole thing, but instead he said the grand jury didn't see it. So the exact opposite, the main issue that was the hearing. Now, you want to file, like, a letter to the court saying, oopsie, we got it wrong. And get this, their Evidence now to say why the DOJ lawyer was wrong during the hearing is when the court spoke to that four person, the court said, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. So you voted on the one that has the two counts and the four person says yes, that doesn't clear anything up at all. The four person does not know the way grand jury proceeding works. The fore person didn't say actually there was a mistake. And here's what went down. All the four person said is that the four person signed off on this thing that the DOJ lawyer in this case, Lindsey Halligan, who's never been a federal prosecutor in her life, who was a former beauty pageant contestant turned insurance lawyer, Trump's personal lawyer, when he made her that lawyer just to go after Kobe. All he's saying here is that he signed or she, whoever the four person was, signed the document. Not that the whole grand jury saw the operative indictment. Again, what I just said has never happened before, by the way. Then there are the other issues that Lindsey Halligan and the DOJ have to get through that we talked about on the last episode, that Lindsey Halligan lied to the grand jury essentially that James Comey didn't have a fifth amendment right against self incrimination. She gave false jury instructions and she said, oh, if you don't like our evidence, don't worry. It's Comey's burden to rebut him at the time of trial, which is not the legal instruction that's supposed to be given. So she gave two false legal instructions. Then her only witness was an FBI agent who was exposed to attorney client privileged information between Comey and Comey's lawyer and that rendered that agent so that he shouldn't have been able to testify at the proceeding. Yet he testified at the proceeding even though his testimony was tainted. So you have tainted witness, two false jury instructions and then the grand jury doesn't even see the operative indictment all in one two hour period in front of the grand jury. A first year law student, if you gave them a book on grand jury practice and told them we need you to do this tomorrow, would have done a far better job than this. And now the Trump regime is going to say, oh, it's a liberal judge and it's this and that and they're coming after me. That's why I wanted to read for you the transcript so you can see for yourself. Brett and Jordi, I've just never seen this before. No practicing or formerly practicing lawyer who's been in federal court has ever seen this Before. It's wild.
- [68:05]
B
I think the craziest thing about it is from, like, the very beginning of this case, we knew that something was up. We knew that something wasn't quite right, because the information that the public knows, the information that's out there shows that all these charges are bs and so we knew that whatever that they were presenting to the grand jury, whatever Halligan was presenting to the grand jury, was certainly not the full story, that she was not providing the exculpatory information that she's supposed to provide to the grand jury. We knew that something was. Was up. I'm not even sure we knew that it would be this far. And, you know, I rewatched our. Our last episode. I think it was our last one, Ben, where you put a lot of legal disclaimers as you were doing your explanation for what possibly could have happened. Like, did the. Did they not submit the actual indictment? Ben was like, I want to be careful here, because this is, like, an outrageous thing to even suggest, and I want to be very careful here, but is that even possible? And, yeah, like, that. That's exactly what seems to have happened here. Once again, going back to what we've been saying throughout the episode, it's the perfect combination between the corruption of the administration, the incompetence of the administration, and their attempt to just try to weaponize the Department of Justice, to try to ruin people's lives to a certain extent. I don't think they totally care about all of this chaos, about the incompetence or whatever, because they just want to try to make, you know, James Comey's life hell, Letitia James's life hell, try to bury them in legal expenses. But I hope that somebody like a James Comey and a Letitia James can fire back at this, get these quickly dismissed, and then actually fight back and get their money back that they have to spend on cases like this. And just think of all the time they're wasting, you know, just like, to try to put them through, like, some sort of public humiliation by booking them at the jail. I mean, this is actually, like, sick stuff to do to people who have not done anything wrong. And it actually is the real weaponization that these right wingers try to accuse Democrats of and the Biden administration of all that time when none of that was going on. I mean, Joe Biden let his own son get indicted by his Department of Justice, but this administration just tries to go after all their political opponents, and they keep getting trapped because they're not following the law. They're following Donald Trump. And so one by one, we're seeing all of these people around Donald Trump now get in trouble, right? We're seeing all the people around him try to do his bidding. And in doing so, in trying to conjure up these charges, what inevitably happens, well, they got to make stuff up. They got to do things unethically, illegally, and then they keep getting caught in all of this sort of stuff. And so we see it here with Lindsey Halligan, who has no idea what the heck she's doing. As Ben said, her, she was never a prosecutor in her life. She didn't have the job. She's literally has no clue what the heck she's doing. She's just a yes person who Donald Trump knows that he could stick in there. We see this recently. There was a story, story with that Bill Pulte guy who does the housing administration for Trump. Apparently, he was engaged in all this, allegedly in all this unethical activity surrounding the Letitia James investigation and surrounding the Adam, the investigations they're doing into Adam Schiff now. It's looking like he could be in trouble. There's a federal grand jury actually in Maryland right now that's investigating Bill Pulte and the D.C. attorney, Ken Martin, for their kind of illegal behavior, what seems to be illegal behavior in trying to dig up all this dirt on Trump. But we just have a corrupt regime right now where, you know, to me, at this moment in time, I don't know what the remedy is, because even if a guy like a Pulte or a Ken Martin, and I'll ask this to you, Ben, like, even if those people were to be indicted on charges like this, ultimately, to me, you know, I guess they gotta sign a special prosecutor or something. The judge would have to assign a special prosecutor, because if this goes to this doj, they're the people running this doj. It's the most corrupt doj. They're not going to prosecute their own. And in the situation where they actually do get prosecuted, get convicted, all of that happens. You know, the end game is Donald Trump just pardons these people. And so they've set this up where they just are endorsing corruption and they are enabling it. And that's what this regime is. And it's no different than what happens in Russia, North Korea or all these autocratic countries, because right now, we do not have a democratic system with equal justice under the law.
- [72:05]
A
Think about this. In the Abrego Garcia federal cases, and there's kind of a civil case that deals with his deportation, and the Trump regime wants to send him to, like, different African nations. And then there's the criminal proceeding that's taking place in the middle district of Tennessee. But we now learn today that senior ICE officials were submitting declarations that they didn't write or even seem to review, that people at the DOJ were writing the declarations for them. And smartly, judge, like Judge Zinnis and others have been calling these agents to testify because they didn't believe their declarations were written by them. And sure enough, the declarations were not written by them. So you've got people ghost writing their declarations in order to inflict this horrible pain on people. And these ICE agents are letting their names be used. And we're in accountability phase at least, or discovery phase of finding this stuff out. I think accountability phase will still unfortunately be a few years, a few years away. You have Judge Boasberg, Washington, D.C. remember him? He's reignited the contempt proceedings against anybody in the Trump regime who defied his orders and sent those hundreds of migrants to Venezuela. I mean, to El Salvador, rather to El Salvador, Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they were tortured by the Bukele regime and placed in sicot these detention centers, which look like concentration camps, seen like concentration camps. So you had that, and then you have the Trump DOJ had to dismiss all charges against Miramar Martinez, who federal agents shot five times and who the DHS previously described as a domestic terrorist. And they said that she ambushed them in Brighton park in Illinois. And they now have to dismiss the charges because it was all made up. Every aspect of it was made up by the ICE agents, by Border Patrol, by dhs. And they were exposed after doing exactly what they've done so many times to people using the full force of the federal government to try to destroy them. As I mentioned at the top of the episode, I want to conclude here by talking about Ukraine. Donald Trump promised he would bring peace to Ukraine in 24 hours. Well, in the past 24 to 48 hours, we saw Russian drones and missiles kill an additional 25 innocent Ukrainians, including at least three children. And also the United States refused to show up at what was supposed to be trilateral discussions in Turkey. Erdogan was there. Zelensky was there. Wyckoff was supposed to be there, but didn't show up after Zelensky said that he would be arriving with a peace proposal that he drafted with the Europeans. When the Europeans and Zelensky learned that Trump and Wyckoff were working with a guy named Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian special envoy who's been staying in the United States. And he's the guy who also controls a lot of the Russian money from the Russian sovereign wealth fund. His name may sound familiar because he was the guy who was meeting with a lot of MAGA Republican Congress members like Anna Paulina Luna. He was handing them books about Putin and a lot of propaganda there. But he was also back channeling discussions with the White House. And they crafted Putin's plan for surrender to Ukraine that the US And Russia were going to present in Turkey. Zelensky got word of it and then worked with the European allies of Zelensky of Ukraine to counter it with the European Zelensky proposal. Then Witkoff refused to show up. And then we saw Russian kill those innocent civilians. And I think they're all tied together. And at the same time, you have Keith Kellogg. Keith Kellogg, who was the special envoy, also the original special envoy to Ukraine and Russia. He got removed from being the special envoy to Russia because Putin didn't want him to do that. And he was the guy who said, remember at the outset, we would show you videos of him, where he goes, actually, it's not going to be 24 hours. It's going to be a few months or a hundred days or 24 hours, but we're not going to tell you what 24 hours it's going to be. Remember, I used to show you those clips of the guy, maybe 24 hours, like in a few years from now. And then we basically always said that this guy's going to get fired or pushed out. And so he's either quit on his own or resigned or he's been forced out and fired essentially by the Trump regime. But this was a serious guy, Keith Kellogg. People in the military say that he had a very distinguished career. And he's like, thrown his entire reputation away, really. His reputation is in the trash right now because of what he's done here. And it's just a disgraceful way for someone who had a great career just to destroy it. And that's what happens in this Trump regime. So, bye bye, Keith Kellogg, he was one of the voices that you would hope would have advocated for Ukraine. This is what happens to people like that, just thrown away and discarded like trash in the dustbin of history now. And it's sad because the guy. It's more sad, screw this guy. It's sad because of what it means for Ukraine and what it means for the region. And Donald Trump can say all he wants. I've solved eight wars. I've solved 17 wars and $23 trillion. And Americans aren't buying it. Americans aren't buying it. So.
- [77:45]
B
And there's real consequences online. I mean, yesterday, what happened, like, yesterday, Trump made one of his other announcements, right? He said, we've got a deal. He goes, we got another Ukraine deal. I was like, what's the deal this time? And then as the details came out, and of course, there were some places who wrote a headline, trump says that he has new Ukraine deal. Well, he didn't. He spoke to Russia. Russia gave him their demands. And then he said that we had a deal, that he was going to try to force Ukraine to meet Russia's demands, was just essentially giving up, like, all the land that Russia's trying to take. And that was his idea of doing a deal. And so you just see the utter weakness of the administration and the lives on the other end of that weakness right now. The people who are suffering, whether it's in Ukraine, whether it's here in the United States. And unfortunately, far too often, the media goes along with all of his BS on hand, the other these peace deals and everything. But, you know, the American people are seeing through it. There's a reason why even in these latest Fox polls, and Fox has good polling, you know, typically, by the way, that Donald Trump is sinking in all categories. You're seeing it on all these polls. That Maris poll that shows Donald Trump in the low 30s, you're seeing it in the Marist poll that shows Democrats surging ahead of Republicans by like 14 points in the midterms. All the signs are there right now that people are sick and tired of this administration. Unfortunately, it took a year of this chaos or 10 months of this chaos or whatever for it to sink in for a lot of folks. But now, here we are, okay? And if you're just joining us, fine, come in. Let's get back to reality. Let's try to get the wheels back on track here, get the train pack on track here, and let's try to fix this thing, okay? We're going to have a lot to deal with right where there's. It's a lot easier to destroy than it is to build. But let's get through this. Let's stick together, let's keep the momentum going, and then we try to rebuild what's left of our democracy, and we try to actually create a new future where we don't accept the President of the United States screaming at a reporter, calling her piggy and having somebody behind the lectern in the press office defending it and gaslighting you and abusing you as they take away your snap, as they take away your Medicare, as they take away your Medicaid. Like, enough of this bs. Enough. We want normalcy, right? We want this country to actually work for people, people. And we actually wanted to work for working people and not have them be gaslit and destroyed as you go.
- [79:59]
A
Oh, we'll get Mega Hats.
- [80:00]
B
Oh, look, you can put the MAGA hat on him. Shut up. Shut up. People are trying to work. People are trying to actually live here. They're trying to take care of their families. Just stop with the games. So if anybody happens to catch the stream, catch this podcast just through algorithms or whatever, and they're watching it and they don't know what's going on and they're on the fence and they're, you know, maybe even more MAGA or Republic. Come in, let's do this. Okay, enough is enough. We've seen what Donald Trump did. We've seen what the Republicans are doing. They're trying to cover up for the most notorious sex trafficker that's ever existed. Okay? That's what they're about. Okay? There's normalcy and there's that crazy stuff. I think let's go on the normal path right now.
- [80:37]
A
I agree. Thank you everybody so much. Remember to click join and become a member and gift memberships. If you can subscribe to the Midas Touch podcast on all platforms. So YouTube viewers subscribe on audio. Audio listeners subscribe on YouTube. If you can leave a five star review wherever you get the audio podcast from, that's a huge help as well. Check out Midasplus.com and thank you, thank you, thank you. Jordy, take it away.
- [81:04]
D
Shout out to the Midas mighty.
- [81:13]
B
Against the fascists we sing our song.
- [81:24]
D
Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack@midasplus.com you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available@midasplus.com hey, Ryan Reynolds.
- [81:39]
B
Here wishing you a very happy half.
- [81:41]
D
Off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch up front.
- [82:01]
C
Payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first 3 months only speed slow 135 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile.com.