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Brett
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited.
Jordy
To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.
Brett
Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
So that means a half day. Yeah.
Jordy
Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
Brendan Carr
Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow 135 gigabytes of network busy taxes and fees extra.
Brett
See mintmobile.com I think this will be one of the most important videos I've ever done at the Midas Touch Network because it speaks to how corporate news has utterly capitulated to this gangster Trump regime and why we need independent media, independent news, and why I am so humbled for your support with Midas Touch Network leading the way for all independent news. And in fact, our independent news is beating Fox and all other corporate news right now. And so I want to talk about cbs. CBS capitulating to the gangster regime that doesn't just tarnish its reputation, it has destroyed cbs. CBS is done. CBS is dead. CBS is gone. It has utterly been taken over by the gangster Trump regime. And we saw what they did yesterday, which is what I want to highlight right now. So just hours before 60 minutes was set to air a story on deportees who were sent by the Trump administration to to the I call it a concentration camp. They call it a terrorist detention center in El Salvador. Describing the brutal and torturous conditions. 60 Minutes announces that it pulled the segment and it will air it in the future. Maybe so after promoting this segment, CBS posts this editor's note December 21, 2025 the broadcast lineup for tonight's edition of 60 Minutes has been UPD. Our report inside see COT. That's the terrorist detention center. I call it a concentration camp. You can call it what you want to will air in a future broadcast. Now they previously had been showing this promo. You can see the promo right here. Then they took the promo down and here's what the promo said. A group of Venezuelan men thought they were being deported from the US Back to Venezuela. Instead, they were delivered to See cot, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where they were shackled and paraded before cameras. This Sunday, two of those men tell 60 Minutes their story. Now, the atrocities that were committed at Sea cot, that are being committed at Sea cot, but that the United States government has aided and abetted. These are crimes against humanity. Physical torture Sexual abuse, sexual torture, isolation. These people who were sent there, who were kidnapped off the streets and disappeared there many months ago, suffered the most heinous of heinous conditions. And 60 Minutes was going to tell that story until the Trump regime intervened and interfered and shut it down. Now we know that over the past few weeks, the Trump regime has been attacking CBS and 60 Minutes. Remember a few weeks back, Marjorie Taylor Greene had an interview with 60 Minutes where she described the Trump regime's coverup of the Epstein files and how the Trump regime had lost touch with the American people by claiming that everything is affordable and we're in a golden age. And Marjorie Taylor Green says that she's done with this maga, that this MAGA movement is dead, that they're liars. And then Donald Trump responded, demanding that CBS provide an apology to Donald Trump. Here's what Donald Trump wrote. The only reason Marjorie Trader Brown Green turns to Brown went bad is that she was jilted. Wow.
Interviewer
Wow.
Brett
Then he goes on to say, since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten worse. Oh, well, far worse things can happen. P.S. i hereby demand a complete and total apology, though far too late to be meaningful, from Leslie stall in 60 minutes for her incorrect and libelous statements about Hunter Laptop President DJT. And you see 60 Minutes promoting that interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene, December 5, 2025. Now, you will also recall that some of the top CBS executives previously quit after they saw CBS capitulating back in April and May. You'll recall, for example, on April 22, 2025, the head of 60 Minutes 20, Bill Owens, announced his resignation because he said his journalistic independence was compromised. Back then, you had Paramount looking to sell itself to Skydance, which was owned by Larry Ellison's kid who was acquiring Paramount, and it needed the approval of the Trump regime's FCC. Then on May 19, 2025, the CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon, stepped down the network. In a memo to the staff, she cited leadership differences and said, quote, it's become clear that the company and I do not agree on a path forward. Shortly thereafter, on July 2, 2025, CBS and its owner, Paramount, settled that frivolous Trump lawsuit over former Vice President Kamala Harris's October 2024 interview with 60 Minutes that the. That Donald Trump alleged. Oh, they edited in a seque that defame me to. For the. To the tune of billions of dollars and that he suffered emotional distress because they edited the interview in very kind of minor and cosmetic ways. CBS and paramount settled for $16 million and threw 60 minutes under the bus then. And then shortly thereafter, on July 24, 2025, the FCC announces that it would allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle for the deal after Donald Trump gets paid. But Donald Trump has been going after CBS and saying, you are not being nice to me. What's up with these new leaders? You were supposed to do what Trump wants you to do. Why'd you go and show what Marjorie Taylor Green did? And Trump's been relentless about that. So on December 8, 2025, he posted, the only reason Marjorie Trader Brown went bad is that she was jilte and that CBS owes me an apology. Then on December 16, 2025, Donald Trump said, for those people that think I'm close with the New owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so called takeover. And they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I'd hate to see my enemies. And at a recent speech that Donald Trump gave, here is what he says, just play this clip. At his speech, they don't scream, but NBC is really bad and CBS, I mean, I love the new owners of CBS. Something happens to them, though.
Brendan Carr
60 Minutes has treated me worse under the new ownership than they just keep treating me.
Brett
They just keep hitting me.
Brendan Carr
It's crazy.
Brett
And all right, so with that as background, I would normally want to play you the trailer from this 60 Minutes piece. Now, if I play you the trailer, CBS will go after the Midas Touch network on this YouTube channel. They're known for attacking us on this YouTube channel. So I want you to go to Midas plus, that's our substack where we'll be able to provide additional coverage there. So go to Midasplus.com now and subscribe to Midasplus.com while you're at it. Subscribe though to this YouTube channel because independent news is more important than ever and we're seeing what state regime media looks like in real time capitulating to a gangster regime. So make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel and check out Midasplus.com right now and learn more in just a little bit. Okay, so now I want to share with you what Sharon Alphonse, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, sent in an internal email to colleagues stating that the CBS News editor in chief, Barry Weiss spiked our story about the Trump administration and the transfer of deportees to a prison in El Salvador. In the email, which was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, Alphonse, he compares the decision to spike the story to another massive scandal. Um, and it goes on to talk about how Weiss declined to speak with her about this decision. She also says the move was political rather than editorial. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both the CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices, alphonse wrote. It is factually correct, but Barry Weiss intervened. And Barry Weiss was saying, we need to get Stephen Miller on the program and we need to get more of Trump's voices on this program. Well, when 60 Minutes had asked for comment, the Trump regime's Department of Homeland Security and others did not provide any comment. And so this is what Barry Weiss was trying to push for, that she wanted to see Stephen Miller featured and other things people like, we've got a good story here. Let's just tell what's actually happening. You know, it's wild.
Jordy
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Brett
Let's just take a look at the Alfonsi letter so you can see it for Yourself. She again is the 60 Minutes correspondent that was part of this segment that was now killed by the Trump regime. Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned Saturday that Barry Weiss spiked our story inside See Cot, which was supposed to air tonight. We, Ori and I asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy or opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct in my view. Pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision. It is a political one. We requested responses to questions and or interview with dhs, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a veto. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a kill switch for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes, quote, the government must agree to be interviewed, then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the State. These men risk their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenant of journalism. Give voice to the voiceless. And then it goes on to say, we have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading in 50 years of gold standard reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled, canceled without a fight. Signed by Sharon right there. Now, I want to remind you what the FCC chair recently said at a hearing. Uh, this is Brendan Carr. Brendan Carr said that the FCC is no longer independent and that the FCC will work with the Trump regime to attack any network that makes fun of Trump or that reports negatively about the Trump regime. Listen to Brendan call are in his own words. Here, play this clip.
Interviewer
Is yes or no? Is the FCC an independent agency?
Brendan Carr
Senator, thanks for that question.
Interviewer
I think yes or no is all we need, sir. Yes or no, is it independent?
Brendan Carr
Well, there's a test for this in the law, in the key portion of that.
Interviewer
Yes, yes or no, Brendan?
Brendan Carr
The key portion of that test is.
Interviewer
Okay, I'm going to go to commissioner, trustee. So just so you know, Brendan, on your website, it just simply Says man, the FCC is independent. This isn't a trick question.
Brett
Okay.
Brendan Carr
The FCC is not.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Yes or no?
Brendan Carr
Is not.
Interviewer
Okay.
Brendan Carr
Is not.
Interviewer
So is your website wrong? Is your website lying?
Brendan Carr
Possibly. The FCC is not an independent agency.
Interviewer
Okay, Can I read this to you? The FCC's mission on the homepage of the FCC. Man, an independent US government agency overseen by Congress. Is that factual or is that a lie?
Brendan Carr
The FCC is not formally independent.
Interviewer
Is this true or is this a lie?
Brendan Carr
I'm happy to answer your question.
Interviewer
Okay.
Brendan Carr
The synchronic chairman. I'll get back to being removeable by the President.
Interviewer
Chairman, I have a little bit of a time. I'll get back to you.
Brendan Carr
Is not an independent agency, formally speaking.
Interviewer
Appreciate you saying that and being honest with the American people.
Brett
Now this is when Senator Klobuchar cross examined Brendan Carr. Watch what he said here. Play this clip.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Carr, in 2022, you tweeted. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship. Yes or no, do you still agree that political satire should be protected speech?
Brendan Carr
Yes, Senator. And whenever that satire or any other programming is over the public airways for broadcasters, there's a public interest standard. And there's a news distortion rule, A broadcast hoax rule.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
You answered it. You answered it. Yes, and I'm just.
Brendan Carr
Opportunity rule.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
I'm going to go on.
Brendan Carr
That particular instance too had to do with speech on social media where Biden administrations were trying to shut down political speech. Again, an area where there is no license, there's no public interest standard.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
We'll get to that in a minute. I believe too that there is no place in chilling political satire. But after Jimmy Kimmel's monologue, you went on a podcast and suggested that ABC should take Kimmel off the air, saying we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Those were your words. Do you think it is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire?
Brendan Carr
I think any licensee that operates on the public airways has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard. And that's been the case for decades.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
I asked if you should. If you think it's appropriate for you to use your position to threaten companies. And this incident with Kimmel wasn't an isolated event. You've launched investigations into every major broadcast network except Fox, Is that correct?
Brendan Carr
I don't know if that's true or not. We do have investigations going on NPR and pbs. We have a number of investigations that are ongoing. I think if you step back over the years, I think the FCC has walked away from enforcing the public interest standard. And I don't think that's a good thing.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Okay, you brought up social media. So do you think it's appropriate for after a horrific murder and the stabbing, the stabbing of Rob Reiner and his wife, do you think it's appropriate for someone to say that it happened when they know better? Reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome. He was known to have driven people crazy by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights. Do you think that's appropriate for the president of the United States to do that? And if Jimmy Kimmel would have said that, would have you have threatened to take him off the air, Senator?
Brendan Carr
Look, Democrats on this dais are accusing me of engaging in censorship and now you're trying to encourage me to police speech on the Internet. I'm simply not going to. Oh, I'm just asking those kind of words.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
I think they are cruel. I think they hurt President Trump to say that kind of thing. I think it hurts him with trust from the American people. But this is the kind of stuff that's going on right now. And yet you are going after broadcast station.
Brett
Now, just a reminder, Barry Weiss is also a or was a competitor of the Midas Touch Network on substack. That's one of the reasons I'm saying go to midasplus.com subscribe to our substack and send a message now as well to Barry Weiss because she ran the Free Press. They're like she's been doing this since like 2018 on substack. And believe it or not, the Free Press is number one. Midas is right there neck and neck with the the Free Press. But we just started a year ago and she started in 2018. So help us beat her, by the way, because I want to get her off the top. So go to midasplus.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel here. But Bari Weiss was appointed editor in chief and she's a tool of the regime. She's a tool of the Trump regime at this point. And she was in my opinion, I'm giving you my First Amendment right opinions right now put in place to help Donald Trump and to help the regime and to basically turn CBS into Fox News light. And I put News in QUOTES. So let me share with you the stories of the people at seacot that CBS is censoring. This is from Human Rights Watch. You have arrived in hell. Torture and other abuses against Venezuelans in El Salvador's mega prison. The nightmare began the moment they took me off the plane. Gonzalo y 26 year old from Zulia state in Venezuela. The United States removed Gonzalo and 251 other Venezuelans to El Salvador in March and April 2025. When the plane landed, officers forced him and others to kneel with their heads down. He said he told one of them that he had a spine problem and could not keep his head low. But one officer struck him with a baton in the back of a neck on a bus to the maximum security precision known as the center for Terrorism Confinement. Centro de Confanmiento Tel. Guards beat him again. He said. When we arrived at the entrance of guards made us kneel so they could shave our heads. One of the officers hit me on the legs with a baton and I fell to the ground on my knees. Everyone, he said, was subjected to the same treatment. The prison director told us, you have arrived in hell. In seekat. Guards and riot police beat and abused the Venezuelans constantly. The guards beat me many times in the hallways of the prison module and in the punishment cell. They beat us almost every single day. And it goes on to talk about how the United States was complicit in this and how these Venezuelans thought that they were going back to Venezuela, but they were put in this essentially concentration camp. They talk about how they were subject to constant beatings, including sexual violence. Many of these abuses, abuses constitute torture under international human rights law. And this is a story that CBS at first reported on, but now is covering up because the Trump regime is upset. When the Trump regime had every opportunity to participate this, to participate in this in the first instance. So as I said, I think this video is what one of the most important videos we've done at the Midas Touch Network because we're calling out cbs, we're calling out state regime media, and as I reflect as we reach the end of the year, what we've built together. And when I'm saying we, I'm talking about you. I think independent news has been one of the most important sources of getting the truth out. Could you imagine if there was an independent media right now? And one of the things that I'm most proud about is not just the Midas Touch Network and this community helping grow this network. By the way, make sure. You hit subscribe now go to midasplus.com I am probably most proud of inspiring other independent media to rise for corporate news anchors who are fed up to leave and start their own independent news that we can can build this network of pro democracy independent media voices together to stand up against these right wing oligarchs. But we're under attack each and every day. Each and every day. That's why we need your help. Why I keep saying it? Because they've got right wing oligarch billionaires hoisting them up. We need your help. We do. Go to midasplus.com and then also subscribe to this YouTube YouTube channel. So I know that was comprehensive and long, but I wanted to make sure I hit every aspect there. Thank you so much for watching. We'll keep on reporting fearlessly and never bend the knee to this gangster, criminal, fascist regime. Hit subscribe. Hey Midas Mighty. It's been Brett and Jordy and we just want to thank you for being the backbone of this movement.
Jordy
This year tested us more than ever. But together we proved that pro democracy voices don't just come compete.
Brett
We win. We took on the entire MAGA machine, won a webby for podcast of the.
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Year, the Midas Touch podcast.
Brett
And you were with us every step of the way. And trust us, what we're working on next is bigger, bolder and built for 2026.
Jordy
Let's keep this momentum going, spread the word. We are just getting started.
Brett
Shout out to the Midas Mighty Want.
Brendan Carr
A secret to free holiday gifts TikTok slash and free makes it real. Share a link Slash the price to 0 free item free shipping Download and open TikTok search slash free Tap to join and start slashing now.
Date: December 22, 2025
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
This episode centers on the explosive decision by CBS and its flagship newsroom 60 Minutes to pull a hard-hitting story about the Trump administration’s involvement in the deportation of Venezuelan men to a notorious El Salvadorian prison, under pressure from the Trump regime. Brett Meiselas leads a thorough, passionate discussion of why this represents a grave surrender of journalistic independence and how it highlights the growing need for independent news outlets. The brothers provide detailed background on CBS’s recent corporate turmoil, the background of the 60 Minutes segment, and broader concerns about the entanglement of media, government, and political power. The episode uses direct quotes from internal CBS communications, FCC hearings, and Trump’s public comments to illuminate this critical moment for American journalism and democracy.
[00:29–02:50]
Notable Quote:
“CBS is done. CBS is dead. CBS is gone. It has utterly been taken over by the gangster Trump regime.”
— Brett [00:48]
[01:44–02:54]
[03:15–04:12]
“This MAGA movement is dead, that they're liars. And then Donald Trump responded, demanding that CBS provide an apology.”
— Brett [03:57]
Notable Quote:
“The only reason Marjorie Trader Brown [Greene] went bad is that she was jilted. … I hereby demand a complete and total apology…for her incorrect and libelous statements about Hunter Laptop.”
— Quoting Trump [04:14]
[04:50–06:10]
Notable Quote:
“You were supposed to do what Trump wants you to do. Why'd you go and show what Marjorie Taylor Greene did? And Trump's been relentless about that.”
— Brett [06:57]
[07:56–09:13, 11:47–12:52]
Notable Quote:
“Pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision. It is a political one.”
— Sharon Alfonsi [11:57]
“If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a kill switch for any reporting they find inconvenient...” [12:15]
[13:58–14:15, 18:34–19:14]
[14:26–17:27]
Notable Quotes:
“The FCC is not an independent agency.”
— Brendan Carr [14:54]
“Is your website lying?”
— Interviewer [14:56]
“Possibly.” — Carr [14:57]
[19:26–20:32]
Brett shares stories from the Human Rights Watch report being censored by CBS.
Details brutal treatment:
“The nightmare began the moment they took me off the plane.... Officers forced [us] to kneel…one officer struck [me] with a baton..."
— quoting testimony from Gonzalo Y., Venezuelan deportee
Emphasizes the catastrophic human cost and the US’s active role in these abuses.
[21:20–22:17, 22:50–23:46]
“One of the things I’m most proud about is…this community helping grow this network…for corporate news anchors who are fed up to leave and start their own independent news…so we can build this network of pro-democracy independent media voices together to stand up against these right-wing oligarchs. But we’re under attack each and every day.”
This episode delivers a comprehensive, forceful warning about the ease with which powerful interests can derail investigative journalism—particularly when major networks become entangled with government regulators and political figures. The Meiselas brothers reveal the behind-the-scenes pressure, internal resistance, and tragic human costs of the buried 60 Minutes story, using detailed documentation, internal leaks, and firsthand testimony. Their ultimate rallying cry: only a robust ecosystem of independent, pro-democracy media can keep power accountable and give voice to the voiceless in the face of creeping authoritarian control.