Kristen Welker (9:42)

You said Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. People don't believe it. Well, I mean, listen, they have a right to their opinion.

Ben Mankiewicz (9:51)

But as someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor, who's been in that prison system, who's been.

Kristen Welker (9:56)

In the metropolitan detention center, who's been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was.

Ben Mankiewicz (10:04)

He killed himself.

Kristen Welker (10:06)

Again, you want me to.

Ben Mankiewicz (10:07)

I've, I've seen the whole file. He killed himself.

Kristen Welker (10:10)

I know it's hard work.

Ben Mankiewicz (10:11)

Okay, okay. But by the way, it's right wing people like you who were saying a very different thing before. And also, where are the Epstein files? Where are they? Release them. Didn't you say you were going to release them? What, a hundred days ago, 120 days ago? Wasn't that one of the promises? Oh, wait, Donald Trump was best friends with Epstein. So now you don't want to talk about that anymore? You don't want to mention that? By the way, I think it's important that we as when I do this analysis, I kind of reflect where people are getting their news from in general as well, like take a look right here. One of the things I was telling you is that this Trump budget bill, remember I said it was going to fail in the Budget Committee before it ended up failing? I said they don't have the votes in the Budget Committee MAGA Mike doesn't have the votes because the MAGA Republicans want to see more cuts to Medicaid than are even being made right now. They basically want it totally gone. And right now it's only like 13 million people will lose their health care. But other MAGA Republicans want to see everybody basically lose their health care. They want more than $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid. So just take a look at this. There's a speed feature on something called Ground News, which is the research tool I use. It's called Blind Spot and it says Trump's big bill faces next hurdle in Congress as GOP conservatives warn they may not vote for it. So this was earlier in the week. Take a look at this. This was being reported 40 in terms of the amount of coverage, left wing, left wing media reported on a 43% of the time, quote unquote. Center media reported on a 57% of the time. Not a single right wing outlet was reporting on this because they viewed that as, oh, if we report anything negative on Donald Trump, then he's gonna get mad at us. And then what ended up happening, the bill failed. And it's one of the big disasters that Donald Trump is dealing with right now that his quote unquote, big, beautiful bill is a massive disaster. Remember, we're heading towards another issue where if they don't raise the debt ceiling, America's going to default on its debt, which has already been downgraded by Moody's. We're approaching that deadline again. We're approaching another government shutdown deadline again. And the MAGA Republicans are absolutely doing nothing. That's why I think it's important that you use these research tools the way I do them. The one I just use there is called Ground News. It's my favorite research tool and I think it's essential nowadays to kind of see through any double standards in the current media ecosphere. Here's what you gotta do. Go to ground news, slash MTN or scan the QR code. We're giving our viewers 40% off ground news top tier vantage plan which will get you unlimited access to everything I've shown you and more. Again, I think Ground News is essential nowadays. It's subscriber funded so they don't rely on ads that could also introduce bias subscribing supports our channel and their independent team working to keep the media transparent. Go to ground.news, slash MTN or scan the QR code and get that 40% off. Ground news, top tier vantage plan. Thank you. Ground News. Speaking of trying to understand what's going on, a right wing and left wing echo chambers, you take a look here what Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said this morning on Meet the Press when he was asked about accepting luxury planes from Qatar from Donald Trump. Accepting these luxury planes from Qatar. He said, actually what we should realize is that it's Biden's fault. Biden wanted the jets. So now they're blaming Biden for the Qatari jet to Donald Trump. Bribes, huh? Okay, play this clip.

Kristen Welker (13:52)

It's the wrong message. It sends the wrong message and raises concerns ethically, raises concerns constitutionally and about security. Why is it appropriate for the president to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar?

Scott Besant (14:04)

Well, it's not. The president accepted to be the United States government. And Senator Mullen said this weekend that the talks had actually begun under the Biden administration.

Ben Mankiewicz (14:15)

So.

Scott Besant (14:15)

But Kristen, what I can tell you is I think this is a.

Ben Mankiewicz (14:22)

Off.

Scott Besant (14:22)

Ramp for many in the media not to acknowledge what an incredible trip this was, that President Trump has brought back trillions of investments in the United States. Every stop we made that the enthusiasm in Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, in the United States, aboriginal Arab Emirates to invest in the United States, that they want to push more and more their funds here. And if we go back to your initial question on the Moody's downgrade, who cares? Qatar doesn't, Saudi doesn't, UAE doesn't. They're all pushing money in. They want to, they've made 10 year the, they've made 10 year investment plans. So this administration, we're doing peace deals, trade deals and tax deals.

Ben Mankiewicz (15:09)

And just one of the things that Besant also tried to claim is that this is no different than the Statue of Liberty. If you don't know the differences between America getting the Statue of Liberty, which Congress passed a resolution and America helped fund, and Donald Trump getting a 747 jet to use for a hypothetical library so he can ride his billionaire friends around. If you don't know the difference between that and by the way, none of the media ever pushes back when Besson says that goes, you know, the Statue of Liberty, there was a congressional resolution on it, number one. And number two, America also helped with a lot of the funding on it. No, I mean, France did most of it, but America was involved in it. And it's not like a jet that America what are you even talking about? You're saying him getting the jet is like the statue. Isn't that just offensive? At his most basic level here he is as well when he's, when he's asked by Kristen Welker, what do you say to some Republicans who say the Qatari jet sends the bad signal? He goes, it's just a gift to America. It's a gift to America.

Kristen Welker (16:12)

Your Playlist clip to keep that plane in his presidential library after but what do you say to some Republicans who argue it sends a message that the United States can be bought or that other countries can curry favor if they offer gifts?

Scott Besant (16:26)

I say that the gifts or to the American people, these trillions of dollars of investments that are going to create jobs in the US Whether it's the UAE building this gigantic aluminum plant in Oklahoma, whether it's these data centers that Qatar is they are going to do is 600 billion on its way to a trillion from Saudi that it all accrues to the American people.

Ben Mankiewicz (16:52)

All right, Secretary, Finally Treasury Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is asked, well, what are you going to do? You haven't done 90 deals in 90 days. You really haven't done any deals. You did something with the United Kingdom. It's not a deal. It literally says on the bottom this is not a binding deal. And all you did was give preferential treatment to Jaguar, Land Rover and Rolls Royce. So that's not even a deal. China wasn't a deal. You reached a consensus where America caved and gave up and bent the knee to Xi Jinping and just drop the tariffs from 145% to 30% without getting any concession. So a deal that is not so you haven't done any deals in 90 days. So what are you going to do, Besant? That's how I would have asked the question. Welker didn't ask it that way. But here's what Bessant says anyway. Play this clip.

Kristen Welker (17:37)

President Trump, while he was on the foreign trip, said that countries should expect letters from you, from Secretary Lutnick saying this is what the tariff rate is going to be. Mr. Secretary, does that effectively mean that these negotiations with other countries are over and how high should they expect tariffs to go above 10%.

Scott Besant (17:58)

This means that they're not negotiating in good faith. They are going to get a letter. They are saying here, here is the rate. So I would expect that everyone would come and negotiate in good faith.

Kristen Welker (18:11)

You expect that rate, though, that you would slap on any country that you think is not negotiating in good faith to be a buy above 10%.

Scott Besant (18:17)

Well, I think that it would be the April 2nd level. Some countries were at 10%, some were substantially higher. And the negotiating leverage that President Trump is talking about here is if you don't want to negotiate, then it will spring back to the April 2nd level.

Kristen Welker (18:34)

I have to ask you about the war.

Ben Mankiewicz (18:35)

Oh, so what you're saying is you're going to do what you did on April 2, you're just going to now send letters versus do it in a board and you're just going to impose what the tariffs are going to be on the countries? Doesn't that sound exactly what you did on liquidation or Great Recession Day, which you called Liberation Day? You haven't been able to do any deals yet with anybody. No, nobody wants to do any real deal with you because you don't negotiate in good faith. You've ripped apart existing deals. And all these other countries are like, you know what? We're just, they're a bunch of clowns over there. They're clown negotiators. No offense to clowns. So we'll just, we'll just wait this, we'll just wait this thing out. Take a look. Here's what MAGA Mike Johnson has to say, though, when he's asked about, and this just shows you how sociopathic they are. This was this morning. So MAGA Mike Johnson is asked, well, what do you think about Moody's downgrading America's credit score? What do you think about that? To which MAGA Mike says, oh, I agree. That's why we're doing this big tax bill. Moody's literally downgraded it based on the tax bill, adding $6 trillion to the deficit. But do you see how he's like, no, that's why we're doing this tax bill. The tax bill is the reason why Moody's downgraded it. Play this clip.

Kristen Welker (19:53)

All right, quickly. Want to ask you about Moody's on Friday. For the first time in a century, they downgraded the US Government's AAA rating. They say an increase in government debt and interest payment ratios, quote, that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says it should be a wake up call to your party. He says you're hell bent on a multitrillion dollar tax cut for the ultra wealthy. Your response?

MAGA Mike Johnson (20:18)

It's just utter nonsense. It's just like Chuck Schumer to create a crisis and then point fingers of blame. This is the Biden spending spree that got us in this mess. Moody's is not incorrect, but that's why that emphasizes the very need for the legislation. We're talking about historic stuff, spending cuts. I mean, this will help to change the trajectory for the US Economy and send that message of stability to our allies and even our enemies around the world. America is back. President Trump's one big, beautiful bill will be passed, and that will be the key to turning this thing around. We have to get this done. And it just shows more of the urgency of why we're doing exactly what we're doing with the legislation.

Kristen Welker (20:55)

Well, a rare 10pm and by the.

Ben Mankiewicz (20:57)

Way, Moody's downgraded our credit for the first time since 1917, when the, when the company was formed, when Moody's was first formed. One more clip I want to share with you from this morning. Marco Rubio is asked about the preferential treatment being given to white Africaners under Donald Trump's claim that they're experiencing a genocide. There isn't a genocide taking place in South Africa against white people. But, but Trump says they're all getting massacred. So Marco Rubio was asked, well, why are you giving preferential treatment to white Africaners to come to America versus other groups? And also you're treating the Cubans for Trump and Latinos for Trump and Venezuelans for Trump. You're sending them to concentration camps and back to Maduro or back to Castro. How do you justify that? Here, play this clip.

Kristen Welker (21:51)

The administration has prioritized bringing some white South Africans, Afrikaners to the United States despite the increased restrictions on refugees. President Trump claims there's a genocide underway in South Africa. That's a legal determination. The State Department would make it. Are you trying to determine that now?

Marco Rubio (22:11)

I was determined that these people are having their properties taken from them. They can call it whatever they want, but these are people that, on the basis of their race, are having their properties taken from, away from them and their lives being threatened and in some cases, killed. These are people that applied and made these claims in their applications and seek to come to the United States in search of refuge. We've often been lectured by people all over the place about how the United States needs to continue to be a beacon for those who are oppressed abroad. Well, here's an example where we're doing that. So I don't understand why people are criticizing it. I think people should be celebrating it, and I think people should be supporting it.

Kristen Welker (22:47)

Is there evidence of a genocide that you have?

Marco Rubio (22:51)

I think there's evidence absolutely that people have been murdered, that people have been forcibly removed from their properties, both by the government in some cases because of a law they passed, but also because of independent groups encouraged by political parties inside of South Africa. So listen, to move here from half a world away and leave behind the only homeland you've ever known, that's not something people do lightly. These people are doing it for a reason. So we welcome them to the United States. And I think there may be more coming soon.

Ben Mankiewicz (23:18)

And that's why I said that this is a regime of sociopaths, an idiocracy, sociopathic, malignant, narcissistic mess. There you have it. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers and thanks for watching New Midas Merch Drop. Check out the latest pro democracy sticker packs, T shirts, hats, sweatshirts and more, all@store.midas touch.com.