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Amazon Representative
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Political Commentator
Ads magam Mike Johnson just said he's canceling all votes. He's sending all the members of Congress home. There's going to be a recess. And if you listen to what he said at this disastrous press conference that he held, MAGA Mike Johnson says he needs to give Donald Trump some space to figure out everything about Epstein. He goes, we're just being transparent. The DOJ and FBI is doing what they need to do, and I think it's our obligation here in Congress to give the Trump regime space to figure out how they're going to deal with Epstein. So we're good. We're going to take a vacation right now. Peace out. We'll see you later. Watch him. This is what he said moments ago.
Political Analyst
As I've said many times, there's no daylight between the White House and the House. You have to allow the legislation to ripen and you also have to allow the administration the space to do what it is doing. The President has said clearly and he has now ordered his DOJ to to do what it is we've all needed DOJ to do for years now, and that is to get everything released. So they're in the process of that. There's no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they're already doing. And so this is for political games. I'm very resolute on this. We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims. And if you run roughshod or you do it too quickly, that's not what happens. But I'm convinced that the DOJ is going to do their job, the administration is going to do their job, and we'll do Our job. And so we'll see to it. Yes, ma'. Am.
Political Commentator
So you're going to protect the victims. But Donald Trump is calling it a hoax and saying that the whole Epstein thing, as Trump refers to it, was created by Obama, James Comey, Hillary Clinton and former President Biden to attack him. Trump called it a hoax. Also, of course, we know Donald Trump's past with Epstein here. Maga, Mike Johnson, though, from that same disastrous press conference. He tries to invoke the moral authority. This is a godly issue, and this is about the morality of it. And we're just here to protect the victims. That's what we and Donald Trump are trying to protect the victims. Here, Play this clip.
Political Analyst
No, no. But as you all know, I speak to the president multiple times a day on a typical day, often always. And what I know about the president's heart on this is that he, he agrees with everything I've said here today. He wants maximum transparency. But he's also very insistent that we do not subject people who have been already been victims of unspeakable crimes to further public scrutiny. And it would be a very dangerous thing to put those people's names out or to do a release of information in a way that is haphazard, where they could be easily unmasked. And so you have to be very careful about how you do that. I think we have a moral responsibility to do that. We have a moral responsibility to expose the evil of Epstein. And everybody was involved in that. Absolutely. And we're resolved to do it. But we also have an equal moral responsibility to protect the innocent. And that is. That is a fine needle to thread.
Political Commentator
That's what kind of bothers me the most about it. You're invoking the. The victims to try to cover up for the perpetrators and cover up for Donald Trump's involvement. And we know that Trump has ordered thousands, literally thousands of FBI agents to go through the files, not to help the victims, but to find if Donald Trump's name was in it, which we believe it was to flag every time Donald Trump's name was in it in order to cover up for Donald Trump.
Political Analyst
Don't.
Political Commentator
Donald Trump has his own criminal defense lawyer in a case where Trump was convicted on 34 felonies as the number two in the DOJ right now. And Trump is sending that guy, Todd Blanch, to now speak with Ghislaine Maxwell as she fears for her life. What the FBI and DOJ are going to do, I'm going to do a whole other video about that. Her brother Ian says she's fearful that she's going to get killed. Right now, here's what Donald Trump said about his own criminal defense lawyer who he made the number two. Now going to interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. Here, play it. Do you support the Justice Department seeking.
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
A new interview with Maxwell, George, the attorney general? I don't know anything about it. They're going to what, meet her?
Political Commentator
They're going to. Your deputy attorney general has reached out.
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
To Delane Maxwell's attorney asking for. Yeah, I don't know about it, but I think it's something that would be. Sounds appropriate to do you.
Political Commentator
Let's bring in Democratic Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy. Congressmember Krishnamoorthy showed you those clips, I guess MAGA Mike Johnson is sending you all home in Congress right now. What do you make of all of this?
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
Well, he wants to change the topic, my friend. He doesn't want to talk anything about Jeffrey Epstein or the Epstein files. I don't know if you saw, but one of my colleagues today successfully, I guess, move to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell to appear before the Oversight Committee. And this is a fellow Republican named Tim Burchett. There's tremendous infighting within the Republican conference right now. And I think that Democrats are united. Let's just release the files. Let there be sunshine and transparency on what's happening here.
Political Commentator
What happens next here? I mean, with Eastern. He thinks it's going to go away. Is it going to go away? Or I mean, do you think Americans are just going to forget about everything that's happened because it's the summer and go. All right. I mean, Trump, you see Trump trying to change the topic on everything. It was actually the biggest scandal is Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. He just repeats the thing over and over again. It ain't working anymore for him, huh?
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
I don't think so. I mean, like when you have people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Scott Perry, I mean, these are the people that are kind of the most vocal among others within the Freedom Caucus, repeatedly bringing it up every single day to the point where they've basically frozen the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee, for your viewers, is essentially the committee that enables votes to happen for legislation to come to the floor. And basically people like Thomas Massie and others have essentially frozen that process such that we can't take any votes at this point. And so that's in part another disaster that is awaiting us. But I just want to say one last thing, which is I got to tell you, my Constituents and others that I talked to are so frustrated about this whole situation. They're like, okay, release the files, have full transparency and then fix the darn economy, which is tanking for them. I'm on the phone with people and they're getting laid off, man. There's tremendous chaos in the economy. Uncertainty prevails with small businesses and people can't afford to buy a home because their home mortgage rates are like 6.75%, which is super high for most people. And so I think that everything is compounding to create tremendous frustration with Donald Trump right now.
Political Commentator
And I think that's the best point, which is obviously, I mean, Donald Trump was the one saying he was going to release these files. Then he covered it up and everyone's like, what are you doing? And now it's a mess. And now we're embroiled in this cover up where everyone's like, just, just, you know, we know the FBI has it. Stop with this. We're going to speak with Delane and get her to write his statement. Or we're going to release the grand jury testimony, which is just, you have 300 gigabytes of stuff. Redact the victim's names. Nobody at all is saying, release the victim. No one's saying that. Release the file and then move on to the stuff that you said you were going to do. Because as you point out, in Chicago and Illinois and across the country, people are suffering. We have this disastrous budget bill and all Donald Trump wants to, you know, do is enrich himself. And I think finally people are seeing it. What are you seeing out there?
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
I think that's absolutely right. I think that look, I mean, his disapproval rating on the economy is 60%. So 60% of Americans now disapprove of his handling of the economy. And by the way, roughly 60% disapprove of his handling of immigration. And now a majority of Republicans even have come to the view that they believe in a legal pathway for people who might be here undocumented because they've seen ICE as act out of control. My theory about this, by the way, is I think that the Jeffrey Epstein stuff contributes to people's distrust of the administration such that they're starting to open their eyes a little bit to the other problems that beset them. And now as the pink slips are starting to go out for layoffs, as small businesses are suffering, as people learn about the large lousy law, which he calls the big beautiful bill, I think they're just getting frustrated and upset. And I think that does include Republicans as well, in unlikely places.
Political Commentator
Right. Because you have them with the Epstein files saying, we've been transparent, we've given you everything. Great. And people are like, no. But then move that to every other. He goes, inflation is gone. I fixed it. And people are like, no. He's like, this is now the golden age. No, I've brought back $17.2 trillion from my trip to the Middle east and business is booming. No, I'm going to create something called Stargate and we're going to invest $500 billion into AI factories across the country. Now they're talking. It's going to be one small data center, maybe, you know, and so lie, lie, lie, lie. And people, how about.
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
How about the 90 deals in 90 days with regard to the tariffs so that the tariffs would go away or at least go down? I don't know if there are nine deals. I don't know if there's even one deal in 90 days at this point. I think his credibility is eroding in part because of all these different dumpster fires. And now you see the Jeffrey Epstein situation, and I think that just is like the, you know, the coup de gras, that's the top of the cake, whatever you want to call it, which is, you know, this guy can't be trusted. Now, I'm not saying that the MAGA base has flipped on him or anything like that. I just think that there are some cracks and maybe they'll start listening to other voices, and that's where we have a chance to maybe appeal to them on certain issues so that we can kind of get back to some rationality around here.
Political Commentator
No. Or to appeal to people who just didn't vote, who sat it out, who thinks that they're impervious to politics and everybody's basically the same and everything is bad and they're going, wait a minute, your point? You're saying 90 deals in 90 days. So you do none. Then you send out like 16 letters to countries. You were too lazy that you didn't even send out 90 letters. You did like 16.
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
And then you didn't spell check them either.
Political Commentator
And then he goes, the letter is the deal. The letter is the deal. What the hell are you talking. The letter is the deal. What does that even mean?
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
It doesn't make sense. And I think, you know, a lot of people credit him for a lot of sophistication, savvy on economic matters, but it just looks chaotic to the average person. So I'll just give you an. Just. This is anecdotal but you know, in my district, 47% of the voters supported Trump and a lot of them were independents, a lot of them were small business people. And now they are basically complaining to me that, you know, the tariffs have caused so much business uncertainty, whether it's, you know, you know, importers or in logistics or in small manufacturing, such that, you know, they're pausing investments, pausing hiring, they're now laying people off and it is just, you know, driving people insane.
Political Commentator
Yeah. You know, and what I worry about a lot about is this mirage of the market kind of rebounding to frankly where it was under Biden. Maybe, you know, some of the indexes slightly up, some of them right where they were just over a six month period. But that not reflecting the fact that we now have or Trump has set all of these traps for Main street and that, you know, every time he does a fake deal or a fake this, the market responds to kind of the, the Ponzi scheme nature of it, but that we all know, lying. You know, the day traders and the, and the quant traders, they may be feasting off of this environment and find it fun or whatever, but at the core level, when the ships aren't coming in the way they used to, when all of the members of Congress I speak to say, look, our businesses are saying the exact same things that you are. I mean, let's not forget an 0708 that Great Recession was caused by subprime mortgages. And it had a cascading effect in my view. And I want to hear from you, Trump's set up hundreds of examples of subprime mortgage like things that any one of these things, at any point you wake up and then all of a sudden it's reported like, my God, how did this happen? And, and I'm like, because we've been telling you, here's what he's done in all of these places. It's very predictable that he set up these ticking time bombs.
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
100%. I think you just look at the inflation numbers from the other day. We're going in the wrong direction right now. You look at the high mortgage rates, 6.75%. You look at just the cost of groceries. It hasn't really changed since he came into office. It's stuck at a high level. And you just, as an average person out there, you're about to see, especially if you're making, let's say, 60,000, $70,000 or less, you're about to see your net income probably go down because of the large lousy law and by the way, if you live in a rural area or underserved area and your hospital is about to close and you're going to have further layoffs and oh, by the way, you can't access health care, that is really, really bad. And people are starting to feel that and just a certain anxiety and they're pulling back on, you know, the way that they would otherwise behave in the economy, which is what we want them to do. We want people to buy things, we want them to invest, we want them to buy homes. They're not doing that as much now.
Political Commentator
Congressman, thanks for joining us. Come back. Thank you.
Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthy
As always, my friend.
Political Commentator
Thank you everybody. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth over lies collection@store.midas touch.com All 100% USA Union made.
Wayfair Representative
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Zibli Fiber Representative
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Amazon Representative
Let's go.
Zibli Fiber Representative
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Political Commentator
Brad, you're on mute.
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Detailed Summary of "Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi on Holding Trump Accountable" Episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast
Release Date: July 23, 2025
Guests: Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthi
In this compelling episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas delve into the pressing issue of holding former President Donald Trump accountable, particularly in relation to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The discussion is enriched by the participation of Democratic Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthi, who provides insider perspectives on Congressional dynamics and the broader implications for American democracy.
The episode kicks off with the Political Commentator critiquing a recent press conference held by MAGA Mike Johnson. At [00:54], the commentator highlights Johnson's surprising announcement to cancel all votes and send Congress members home for a recess. This move is portrayed as an attempt to deflect scrutiny from Trump's alleged ties to Epstein.
Notable Quote:
MAGA Mike Johnson just said he's canceling all votes. He's sending all the members of Congress home. [00:54]
The Political Analyst responds by emphasizing the importance of allowing the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI to conduct thorough investigations without undue political pressure. He advocates for transparency but cautions against rushed actions that could compromise victim protection.
Notable Quote:
“We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims. [01:37]”
Contrastingly, the Political Commentator accuses Johnson and Trump of using the guise of victim protection to shield themselves from accountability. He alleges that Trump is orchestrating a cover-up by having his own criminal defense lawyer interfere with the Epstein investigation.
Notable Quote:
“That’s what kind of bothers me the most about it. You're invoking the victims to try to cover up for the perpetrators and cover up for Donald Trump's involvement. [04:05]”
The discussion transitions to Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthi, a prominent Democratic figure, who is brought in to shed light on the internal conflicts within Congress and the broader implications for the Epstein case and national politics.
Krishnamoorthi articulates the deep divisions within the Republican conference, citing figures like Tim Burchett who are actively seeking subpoenas for Ghislaine Maxwell. He underscores the unanimous Democratic push for complete transparency in releasing the Epstein files, contrasting it with Republican infighting and obstructionism.
Notable Quote:
“There’s tremendous infighting within the Republican conference right now. And I think that Democrats are united. Let’s just release the files. Let there be sunshine and transparency on what's happening here. [05:49]”
Shifting focus, Krishnamoorthi delves into the economic repercussions of Trump’s policies, highlighting soaring mortgage rates (6.75%), persistent high grocery costs, and the detrimental impact on small businesses. He paints a bleak picture of economic uncertainty, emphasizing the frustration among constituents who are grappling with layoffs and unaffordable living costs.
Notable Quote:
“They’re like, okay, release the files, have full transparency and then fix the darn economy, which is tanking for them. [06:25]”
He criticizes Trump’s economic strategies, mentioning failed tariffs and the lack of tangible deals promised by the administration. Krishnamoorthi points out that these economic missteps are eroding Trump's credibility, even among some Republicans.
Notable Quote:
“I think his credibility is eroding in part because of all these different dumpster fires. [11:13]”
Krishnamoorthi discusses the growing disenchantment among voters, including those within the Republican base, due to the administration's mixed messaging and economic mismanagement. He highlights that a significant percentage of Americans now disapprove of Trump's handling of both the economy and immigration.
He further explains how the Epstein scandal exacerbates public distrust, creating an atmosphere where even traditionally staunch supporters are beginning to question Trump's leadership.
Notable Quote:
“I think that does include Republicans as well, in unlikely places. [12:08]”
Krishnamoorthi emphasizes the urgent need for accountability and transparent governance to restore faith in the democratic institutions and address the multifaceted challenges facing the nation.
The episode wraps up with a reinforced call for holding Trump accountable, leveraging transparency to heal the political and economic fractures within the country. Congressmember Raja Krishnamoorthi underscores the imperative of addressing both the Epstein files and the deteriorating economic conditions to pave the way for a more stable and trustworthy governance.
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions from the episode, providing insights into the political strategies, economic concerns, and the overarching quest for accountability within the current American political landscape.