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Political Commentator
Yes, the same Monday.com Clause 13 of
Rule 1, the House stands adjourned until 9am on Thursday, May 7.
Total chaos engulfed the House of Representatives as the MAGA Republicans were in cover up mode. You just saw there three days ago. The House of Representatives gaveled out. They shut down the House once again for a number of days. They're going to gavel out again this morning and no one's going to go to work. Let me tell you what is going on behind the scenes. Well, first, a federal judge released what purported to be Jeffrey Epstein's suicide note. When you actually take a look at it, it looks like a Donald Trump social media post. I mean, quite literally with the exclamation points. I've had enough. I can't take it. I mean, look at it. It looks like a Donald Trump post. Separately, you had the Justice Department rushing to the Supreme Court in order to try to intervene and demand that the Supreme Court overturn the case where Donald Trump was found civilly liable for sexual assault and defamation. But what the main cover up was all about yesterday as the GOP went into cover up mode was the fact that Howard Lutnick was supposed to have his defense deposition taken yesterday. It was supposed to be an under oath video deposition. We all know Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary, lied and said he had no connection with Epstein except he met Epstein once in 2005. Never met him again because Lutnick said after I met him this one time because Epstein was his neighbor, he was so disgusting. I knew he was a blackmailer. I knew he was a pervert. I knew he did bad things with little girls so I would never be around that creep ever again. Me and my wife talked about it. We then found in the Epstein files that Lutnick had numerous points of contact with Epstein and he brought his children to Epstein's island. Lutnick also brought his friend's children to Epstein island after Lutnick admitted that he knew all of the bad things about Epstein. So you brought your little kids and you brought the little kids of your friends and you lied to the American people. And so this was supposed to be an under oath deposition. It was supposed to be on videotape. But Lutnick shows up and working with Donald Trump and Magna Mike Johnson and James Comer, mind you, who shut the house down so people wouldn't be paying attention to this. Right. I think that's the main reason they basically shut down Congress to further cover up the Epstein files and all of these things. What goes on when this deposition starts? Well, James Comer says well, well, well, well, well. We're not going to actually do a deposition here. We're not going to do Lutnick under oath. We're not going to do a videotape. We're just going to do a transcribed interview. So it's not under o videotape. And James Comer's like, we don't want them purple hair. Ms. Now watchers, modest touch watchers, these liberals with the purple hair watching videos of Lut. What are you even talking about? And so they did this massive cover up as they continued to cover up this child sex trafficking ring. So they shut down Congress, they shut down the House, they shut down the Senate because they thought that we wouldn't be paying attention. Well, guess what? Midas Touch Network is now leading all news network. Independent media is now in the forefront. And we had our cameras all over the Capitol building to observe the COVID up in action and to call it out and to expose it. We saw Lutnick heading into the room that they turned into this transcribed interview. And then Democrats were out there calling out this massive cover up. So I did a video on the Democrat response to Lutnick and Comer and Maga Mike and Trump's cover up where they had Lutnick just give this transcribed interview and not testify under oath. By the way, they did not release the transcribed interview yesterday. Just think about that. They concealed the transcribed interview so that they could try to mold it and say what's going to happen and they can try to manipulate the news cycle in hopes it goes away. And they didn't do it under video, they didn't do it under oath. So it's basically worthless. But here's something that I don't think you've seen anywhere else. And we were able to capture it. And frankly, James Comer wanted to brag about this. So James Comer comes storming out of the deposition room, which is now a transcribed interview room. He comes storming out of there, storms out of his office and he runs to the media. And our cameras were there as well. And Comer was like, look, everybody, look, look, look, the Democrats are trying to manipulate all of this. I'm just trying to protect the victims here, okay? And we should be talking about what every American really cares about, which is we should be talking about the Metro Police Department and Minnesota fraud. And we're doing everything we can with Lutnick. Lutnick, so what? He went to the island with his little kitties. Everybody gone to the island with their little kitties, right? That's what you do, you do with that. That's what you do if you're a Republican. What are you talking. Everyone doesn't bring their little kids there just so you can be like, oh, Ben, are you exaggerating? Listen to what Comer said. And again, mind you, I want to set the scene. They shut down Congress to try to cover all of this up. Well, we ain't falling for it. Comer here, play this clip.
James Comer
Feel compelled to have to come out and clean up and correct some of the statements that the Democrats made. I couldn't believe as I was getting updates of what they were saying. And I hope that when you get the transcripts, you fact check them on what they say. This is a habit of the Democrats on this committee coming out telling you all stuff that was said that was not said. The only cover up that I've seen on the Oversight Committee is the COVID up of the Democrats trying to cover up our investigations of the Metro Police Department lying about crime statistics and the COVID up of the Minnesota fraud by Tim Waltz and Keith Ellison and the COVID up of the hospice fraud in California. So what? We asked some very substantive questions the first hour. The Democrats during their hour repeated the exact same questions because there's only so many questions you can ask Howard Lutnick, who lived, had a property next door to Epstein in New York, but talked to him three times over a decade, three interactions over a decade. He was on the island with his family, with his wife and kids, six people in his family and six people in his friend's family for lunch for two hours. And he has admitted that. So the Democrats are going to go another hour. I'm sure they're going to try to filibuster and do whatever. They had a narrative to come in. They were hoping Lutnick wouldn't come in. They were hoping Pam Bondi wouldn't come in. Remember, Pam Bondi came in a month ago to answer questions. The Democrats didn't ask him a single question. The first 20 minutes of the Democrats question in here, they complained about not having video and not having things to be able to put on MSNBC for their angry purple haired viewers to be outraged over. This is a serious investigation.
Political Commentator
Then more from James Comer right here. He goes on to say, look, just think about it. Look how transparent Lutnick was. He showed up and he wanted to speak voluntarily. Dude, it wasn't under oath. It's not a video, it's just a cover up. Then he's like, and Pam Bondi is going to show up as well, voluntarily. You're going to do the same thing with Bondi. No video, just a transcribed interview, not under oath. What's the point of these things?
What?
What, what is the point? And by the way, don't take my word for it. James Comer forced Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton to have depositions taken under oath. Not transcribed interviews. Because Comber and maga, Mike, Donald Trump and all the mag Republicans and Jim Jordan said you don't do transcribed interviews. Those are worthless, folks. These people are vile. I don't care what political party you're from. These are vile creatures who cover up child sex trafficking rings. This should not be a Democrat issue. This should not be a Republican issue. This should be a human issue, damn it. Here, play this clip of Comer.
James Comer
It's my understanding he wasn't on the island very long and he was there with his wife and kids, but we'll, we'll see what he says.
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Pretty extraordinary to bring in a cabinet secretary.
Political Commentator
Secretary or something like this.
James Comer
Yeah. And look, the. I've been on the oversight committee 10 years and there's never been a chairman. Bring in cabinet secretaries of their own party. And this, this, we have Lutnick coming in today, we have Pam Bondi coming in in a couple of weeks. So I think people can see that this is a bipartisan investigation. We're really sincerely trying to get the truth. Our goal is to provide justice for the victims and hopefully today will be helpful. All right.
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Political Commentator
What else were MAGA Republicans doing as they shut down Congress? Well, $1 billion going to Donald Trump's ballroom, the new reconciliation bill. Oh, they're working on it. They want all of your tax money to go to Donald Trump's golf courses, his arches, his ballrooms. They write it into reconciliation bills. $1 billion for a fricking ballroom while they rip away your health care. That's what Republicans have been working on. But they shut down Congress. They don't want you to see this, but it's in the reconciliation bill. $30 billion more for ICE MAGA Republicans want to spend another 3.4 billion for Border Patrol. Another 2.5 billion to DHS in general. What else are they doing behind closed doors? Well, they're working with South Carolina to get rid of all Democratic congressional districts in South Carolina. Remove all Democratic districts there in Tennessee, get rid of all Democratic districts in Tennessee so there will be zero representation of black communities. What these Republicans are doing after that suprem court ruling which basically said it is racist to defend anti racism. It is racist to say that there should be black majority congressional districts and that you shouldn't have states dilute the black vote. The Supreme Court, the right wing extremist Supreme Court, MAGA Supreme Court goes saying that we need to stop racism. That's racist because you're talking about race. We've moved beyond racism in this country. No one's racist anymore. That's what the Supreme Court said. These sick, vile people. Right? I mean, what else is this really to call out racism? You're Saying is racist. That's a right wing, extreme fascist court for you. So because of that ruling, all of these MAGA states are saying no more black representation at all. The Voting Rights act doesn't exist, even though it was a bipartisan piece of legislation in 1965. Damn it. Where Republicans and Democrats came together and said, we need this. We the people need this bipartisan. Our right wing Supreme Court. Yeah, they didn't know what they were doing in 1965. We know better. We know better. Same court that says we know corporations are people and they should have unlimited speech rights. Corporations to buy elections. What a despicable court. So you have all these MAGA states now doing emergency sessions, getting rid of any district that has black representation. They're doing exactly what the Voting Rights act was made to present, by the way, here was Lutnick squirming and looking so guilty in the halls of Congress. Play this clip. Why did you continue to communicate with him after his conviction?
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Mr. Secretary, can you clarify what happened
Political Commentator
when you went on the focus of management? Then we had all of the Trump sycophants out there doing their media appearances while they were on vacation while the American people suffer. You have MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy saying, and you know, I don't know, man, maybe Obama and Colbert should get a motel together. What's your weird Obama like? Sex fantasies, man. Y' all are a bunch of weird creeps. Play this clip.
Bad.
I also got a kick out of of Mr. Colbert. He and President Obama are obviously best buds. I maybe they ought to get a motel room or something. They were just fawning all over each other. Speaking of weird creeps, then you have MAGA Republican Congressmember Tom Emmer said, donald Trump is so strong, he's an icon for the ages. What a weird cult these MAGAs are. What a weird cult. Play this clip.
MAGA Republican Congressmember
All of these polls that try to suggest that Donald Trump's influence is waning are completely false. Donald Trump has never been stronger, especially with the Republican base. And you saw it last night in Indiana. He's become more than Donald Trump. He is an icon of the ages. And when he speaks, people listen. And I know the left doesn't like to hear that, Stuart, but it's fact. And you saw it last night on display in Indiana.
Political Commentator
Yes, the MAGA held together and supported the President on this.
MAGA Republican Congressmember
I think his political fortunes may be on the upswing just a little.
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Political Commentator
And then you heard from MAGA Republican Congressmember Jimenez who said, can you imagine what it would Be like if Biden
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Political Commentator
If Biden was in office, gas prices would be through the roof. Biden, gas prices through. What are you talking about? Gas prices were lower under Biden. They came down. Inflation was down under Biden.
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It went down, sure.
Political Commentator
It was up at first because he inherited a freaking fire from Donald Trump and he had to put it out. And corporate news and magazine were able to convince the American people that the fire department was the anarchist. Here's what Jimenez says. Play this clip.
Kiana
Are you expecting to lose seats in the House for the midterm elections this year?
MAGA Republican Politician
No, I was, but I'm not.
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No, you're not.
MAGA Republican Politician
I'll tell you why I think that the. No, I'm not. And I'll tell you why. Because we need to go on offense against the Democrats. Can you imagine what oil prices would be today if Joe Biden were actually in office and the Straits of Hormuz were being closed by Iran? We were. We're now energy independent and we're energy dominant under him. We were energy dependent. And so the world would be in a much worse place if Joe Biden and the Democrats were in power.
Political Commentator
And then, as I mentioned, Donald Trump working with the Justice Department to try to shut down the verdict against him that was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in the E. Jean Carroll case. So disgusting. We did hear from MAGA Republican Congressmember Thomas Massie, though. He was able to go on Tucker. And here's what he had to say about Lauren Boebert. Let's play it.
They took her over to the Situation Room, right? Like this is where. Where if they're trying to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, this is where they are at the White House. They took her into the Situation Room and tried to whip her into taking her name off of the discharge petition.
Over Epstein.
Over Epstein.
James Comer
Yep.
Political Commentator
And then the president vetoed a bill that would have brought water to a large portion of Colorado, like.
Over Epstein.
Over Epstein. And this isn't even at this point. It's not just about Lauren Bobert. Why are people in Colorado deprived of water? Because their representative wants to expose a sex trafficking ring. I mean, none of this makes any
sense at all because it's a losing issue for Trump and has been. That was the beginning of the end, really, for. I mean, I think we're at the end. And then here's what he said about Bondi.
Let's play it public. A member of the Judiciary Committee. This was in April of last year, about a year ago. And I told Jim Jordan on the way over. He said, everybody gets one question. You can ask the attorney general a question. I said, I want to ask her about phase two of the Epstein files. Would that be too, too confrontational? And Jim said, I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't ask. Go ahead. So I was one of the first people, as we finished dinner, to ask a question, and I asked Pambani where the rest of the files were and when would they be released. And she said there was nothing left but child pornography and nobody wants to see that, and made it sound sort of like I was a voyeur or pedophile myself.
If you were creepy for asking.
Yeah, that I was creepy for asking. And so I didn't ask any more about it. Then I saw in the news as things played out, the story kept shifting. And I said, well, there's some there, there.
And then behind all of this right now, folks, let's just talk about the energy situation. I want to put this on your radar right here. This was from a recent. This was from Bloomberg yesterday. Here, play this clip.
Energy Market Analyst
When do storage tanks run empty?
Parts of the world, like Australia, Philippines, Thailand, you are. But the question is when and where? I still see the review. It's going to be sometime in the month of May that you're going to end up with Europe hitting tank bottoms. And in the US it's somewhere in that July 4th time period, if not sooner. By the way, the inventories number coming out of the US the ones we got last night, the ones last week, I've never seen anything like that before. And I think that it's important to remember that these inventory numbers, let's define terms a deficit versus a shortage. We have a deficit today, meaning that demand is above supply and we're drawing inventories. It's not a shortage yet. So to answer your question, you have the shortages in places like, like, you know, Asia. And it's not that bad yet because you're not completely at tank bottoms. But in places like Europe and the United States, you're in a deficit and you don't hit the shortages until you hit tank bottoms.
Political Commentator
And finally, here's what Democratic Congressmember Subramanian had to say yesterday. Let's play it.
We asked him over and over again, why did you go to the Island? He says he doesn't remember. That is inexplicable. And he simply didn't know how to answer the question at that point.
And here's what Congressmember Ro Khanna had to say, let's play it.
We know why that interview was not videotaped. If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick. It was really embarrassing. He was asked very straightforward questions about whether he regretted misleading the American people. I mean, he said that he would never see Epstein again in 2005. And everyone knows that he took his wife and kids to see Epstein in 2012. And yet it was just contortions and lies and no acknowledgement that he misled the American public. And if you saw the exchanges that my colleagues had with him, you would see he made a farce of the English language. I mean, he was trying to define I as if saying that what he really meant is that he would not see Epstein alone but be totally fine with having his wife and kids kids see Epstein. It made no sense. And then he's raised even more serious concerns about the investigation. He originally had said that Epstein engaged in blackmail and recorded videotapes. Now he's saying, well, he was wrong. He was just speculating. And Epstein actually didn't engage in blackmailing. This raises the question of what the COVID up is. Did someone tell him to say that? I've not heard that he is that Epstein never engaged in blackmail. Why is Howard Luttin changing his testimony, changing his story? He's lost all credibility. And really it's a shame that the American people don't get to see what he did there. Total lack of truth and lack of honesty.
There you have it folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks so much for watching everybody. New Midas merch head to store.midas touch.com today and get yourself the best pro democracy gear and show your support. That's store.midastouch.com
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This episode, hosted by the Meiselas brothers (Ben, Brett, and Jordy), tackles the recent "shutdown" of Congress by MAGA Republicans, centering on the alleged cover-up surrounding the Epstein files, the Howard Lutnick deposition debacle, and broader Republican efforts to redirect attention and manipulate current political crises. Drawing from their signature mix of pointed legal analysis, political commentary, and brotherly banter, the brothers offer an unapologetically pro-democracy perspective while unpacking the ongoing chaos in Washington.
Summary: The House was gaveled out repeatedly, with work suspended amid controversy. The hosts allege GOP leadership orchestrated the shutdown to obscure the Epstein investigation and Lutnick’s scheduled testimony.
Context:
“They shut down Congress to further cover up the Epstein files and all of these things.”
— Ben Meiselas (04:51)
Summary:
“So what? We asked some very substantive questions the first hour... Democrats during their hour repeated the exact same questions because there's only so many questions you can ask Howard Lutnick…”
— James Comer (07:52)
Summary:
"They concealed the transcribed interview so that they could try to mold it...and they didn’t do it under video, they didn’t do it under oath. So it’s basically worthless.”
— Political Commentator (06:36)
Summary:
“All these MAGA states are saying no more black representation at all. The Voting Rights act doesn't exist…”
— Political Commentator (15:18)
Summary:
“$1 billion for a fricking ballroom while they rip away your health care. That’s what Republicans have been working on."
— Political Commentator (13:33)
Summary:
"Donald Trump has never been stronger, especially with the Republican base. He is an icon of the ages."
— Tom Emmer (17:21)
Summary:
"We have a deficit today, meaning that demand is above supply and we're drawing inventories. It's not a shortage yet.”
— Energy Market Analyst (21:37)
Summary:
“He was trying to define ‘I’ as if saying that what he really meant is that he would not see Epstein alone but be totally fine with having his wife and kids see Epstein. It made no sense.”
— Rep. Ro Khanna (22:55)
On Epstein/Trump Parallels
"When you actually take a look [at Epstein’s suicide note], it looks like a Donald Trump social media post. I mean, quite literally, with the exclamation points."
— Ben Meiselas (02:36)
On Cover-up Tactics
"Comer was like, we don’t want them purple hair…these liberals with the purple hair watching videos of Lut."
— Political Commentator (05:41)
On Partisanship and Human Rights
"This should not be a Democrat issue. This should not be a Republican issue. This should be a human issue, damn it."
— Political Commentator (10:23)
The episode paints a portrait of institutional chaos and unaccountability, with the Meiselas brothers arguing that Republican leadership continues to subvert democratic norms to protect their own, stymie investigations, and distract from real crises through procedural manipulation and culture war tactics. Democrats' efforts to hold individuals accountable are consistently stymied, as cover-ups and shifting narratives become the new normal. Listeners are urged to stay informed, support independent media, and remain vigilant in defense of democracy.
This summary captures the essential arguments and exchanges from the May 7, 2026, MeidasTouch Podcast episode, spotlighting both GOP maneuvers in Congress and the hosts’ passionate, comedic, and incisive commentary.