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- [00:01]
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- [00:47]
Podcast Host
I started Ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify. Start your free trial on shopify.com it's not every day you see true moments of courage. I certainly don't. Reporting the news sometimes is very difficult because oftentimes you see people say one thing and then do another. But today the country saw a moment of true courage. Epstein survivor Danielle Bensky took to the United States Senate at the mercy of the senators who questioned her and shared her story. She testified in front of the Senate, I believe the first Epstein survivor to ever do so. Share her story and share how the Department of Justice's failures in the Epstein files to this day have compounded her trauma and have compounded the trauma of the over a thousand survivors who have yet to get any justice or accountability. You may not have seen this on Fox or other mainstream media channels because they weren't showing it, but this is something that I think the world needs to see and it's already swayed the minds of at least one Republican senator who now says he will not vote to confirm Todd Blanche until Todd Blanche sits down with the survivors. Now tonight, Donald Trump is going to give his big election speech and I'm going to watch it so that you don't have to. I will have updates for you probably after the speech. I'll fact check it in real time. If he says something really significant you'll have that update tonight. As always, make sure to like, comment, share and if you can subscribe to support my work and keep me caffeinated. Keep me going today. It's a long day. It's a busy day. And it started off with the moment that I think the world needs to see. Because Danielle Bensky, a survivor who I've spoken to on numerous occasions, I've gotten to know her over the past year. Plus that we've been advocating for the release of the files and that I've been reporting on the files. She went in front of the United States Senate during Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing and she shared her story. I want you to watch it right now.
- [03:09]
Danielle Bensky
Actions are not the only problem with Todd Blanche's nomination. Todd Blanche has never attempted to listen to us. The crime victims survivors in this room repeatedly asked to meet with Todd Blanche through multiple. He never responded. Yesterday he said he would meet with us, with our attorneys if they were present. But let's be clear, that was the first time that that was ever communicated to us. Before yesterday, he simply ignored us. For the last eight months, he's been radio silent and the silence was deafening. Crime victims deserve better from the nation's highest level of law enforcement officials. We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored. There are numerous investigative leads that must be followed despite Mr. Blanche's claim that there are none. Epstein and Maxwell did not abuse women and children alone. They did not build their operation alone. Others enabled these crimes, exploited victims and avoided accountability for decades. You do not have to take my word for it. Several weeks ago, after examining the evidence, Chairman James Comer directed Todd Blanche to open investigations into two men connected to Epstein. The Epstein files are not merely a collection of embarrassingly damaging associations. They are records connected to the sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls and young women. They contain information about how Epstein's network worked, who assisted him, and whether additional crimes can still be investigated. The Department of Justice should pursue every credible lead. Not just tirelessly. Tirelessly work tirelessly. Not just to shut down the investigations. The survivors in this room know there are investigative leads because they are our stories. Mr. Blanch knows it too. Yet he has chosen not to pursue them. Mr. Blanche's actions have have destroyed survivors trust. According to public reporting, Mr. Blanche spent approximately nine hours meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell. He did not even spend nine minutes meeting with a survivor.
- [05:28]
Podcast Host
And Danny Bensky's testimony, It's had major impacts already. She was asked by Senator Hirono from Hawaii about how she believes what she believes Todd Blanche thinks of her and her fellow survivor sisters. Take a listen.
- [05:42]
Danielle Bensky
That stood out yesterday was that he had said that immediately when things were misredacted, that they were taken down and they fixed them, and within 24 hours, they were put back up. That is entirely not true. There are still things that need to be redacted, and there's still survivor information in there, even today, from my awareness that, I mean, my information just came down in April, and that was after begging.
- [06:06]
Podcast Host
Would you say that Mr. Blanche exhibits
- [06:09]
Josh Turek
a rather dismissive attitude toward all of
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Podcast Host
you and the Epstein crimes?
- [06:15]
Danielle Bensky
1,000%, yes.
- [06:17]
Shannon Maldonado
Thank you.
- [06:18]
Podcast Host
And when I say Danny Bensky has had a major impact, this is what I mean. Because the first Republican senator has come out saying he will not vote for Todd Blanche before Todd Blanche meet with survivors. That's significant. Todd Blanche has refused to meet with the Epstein survivors. He has refused to allow them to come to his office to speak with him. And now Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, says he's not willing to vote to confirm Blanche until he meets with survivors. And that's what Senator Dick Durbin made clear today as well.
- [06:52]
Senator Dick Durbin
Yesterday's hearing I can't easily forget in this room because I asked a question, Mr. Todd Blanche, about the opportunity he had to meet with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. I asked him the same question the night before in my office, and he said, I'll meet with anybody to talk about this. So I thought it was an easy question. Will you meet with those who are here today? There were 10 or 12 survivors at Jeffrey Epstein. And he said no, he wouldn't meet with him. And I asked why. I couldn't understand whether he thought they had a lawyer or needed a lawyer, but he wouldn't meet with them. It's incredible. After the hearing, I met with him. I'll never forget that meeting. You can imagine. And some are here today, and one will testify a little later. Before this panel, try to imagine, if you will, one of these young women saying to me, jeffrey Epstein abused me when I was 13 years old. 13 years old. Visualize in your own family a daughter, a granddaughter, 13 years of age, who is a victim of this sexual predator. Should she at least have a moment with the attorney General to tell her story? Is that too much to ask? Apparently it was. This is what I'll tell you. I don't believe a single member of the United States Senate would vote for this nominee. After meeting with these survivors, to think that he turned down the opportunity to even meet with them. He went on to say, well, President Trump signed this law which required us to disclose the Epstein file.
- [08:37]
Podcast Host
Dick Durbin's right. And Republican senators on Capitol Hill have been very hesitant to meet with these survivors. But maybe, maybe the tide is turning. It has already turned for Thom Tillis. They can afford to lose only one vote. I predict they could lose many more. Now there is other news regarding the war in Iran. As we continue to strike Iran, Trump is extending that war. He's going to give his major election related speech tonight. Now, I spoke with Josh Turek, a candidate, the Democrat running for Senate in Iowa today. Iowa apparently could be winnable. I want you to hear what Josh Turek had to say. But before I do, make sure to like, comment, share and subscribe to my substack link below to support. And I'll see you soon for more. Super excited again to be back with Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Iowa. Josh, I gotta ask you, right now, we're seeing this on again, off again war in Iran. I mean, it's just complete chaos. A lot of folks don't really know where we stand. You're running to be a senator who will arguably vote on whether or not we should send America's troops into war. How do you feel about the current state of the war and also how is it impacting residents in your state fundamentally?
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Josh Turek
Well, first, thanks for having me. It's great to be back with you. And again, congratulations on the child. I'm really happy for you. Look, I'm fundamentally against these unnecessary wars. And this war in Iran has really been devastating for Iowa. We've already lost three Iowans in the conflict. And we're spending a billion dollars a day over in that conflict for what? No strategy whatsoever. We shouldn't be there to begin with. Meanwhile, we're closing schools and roads and hospitals here in Iowa. It's just fundamentally wrong. And this, this war, additionally in Iowa, it's leading to fuel costs going up, diesel costs going up, which is hurting our farmers. We are already leading the nation in farm foreclosures because of these ridiculous chaotic tariffs. And so it's hurting people in a very real way.
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Podcast Host
Now, your father was a U.S. service member in the U.S. navy. How does it feel as a son of a service member, seeing America's men and women being sent to war? How did it feel when you were seeing your father away from the house and how does it feel now?
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Josh Turek
Yeah, well, yeah, my father, you know, I was born with a disability. I was born with a condition called spina bifida. This was due to my father's exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. My father spent 22 months over there in Vietnam, had no idea that he was being exposed to Agent Orange. And I say that in these unnecessary wars that we have seen, these forever wars, we spent a trillion dollars in Afghanistan, spent trillion dollars in Iraq, for what? And in my time in adaptive sports as well, playing with so many of these brave men and women coming back, missing arms, missing legs. And I say that I'm. I'm an example of the generational consequences to these, to these forever wars that when the, when the bombs stop, the consequences do not. And my. My pledge to every single person out there is in the United States Senate, you have my pledge that I will be doing everything I can to prevent us from going into these forever wars.
- [11:56]
Podcast Host
I got to ask you, what can we do? Say we're in this war in perpetuity through 2028. You're in the Senate. What can we do to bring down costs, for example, for fertilizer for farmers in Iowa if we're still in this war abroad?
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Senator Dick Durbin
Yeah.
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Josh Turek
It's, you know, our farmers are hurting. And what I would say is the one thing we've got to do is we've got to take back the power of the tariffs. It was never meant to. To be in the hands of the executive branch. And we've got to end these chaotic tariffs. It is decimated. We lead the nation in farm foreclosures, and we're seeing farm suicide rates skyrocketing. And so I would say we need to break up monopolies on fertilizer cost. We need to ban vertical integration. We need to pass right to repair so that farmers can actually repair their equipment in a timely manner. We need to have mandatory country of origin labeling on our beef, because we've lost about 90% of our beef producers, and we need to ban foreign ownership of hogs. We've lost around 90% of our hog farmers as well. These are some of the places to start. We absolutely need to pass a farm bill. And my pledge to every single person out there is if I'm in the United States Senate, I want to put a provision in place that would prevent members of Congress from leaving without passing a farm bill. But I can tell you that one of the worst problems of this conflict in Iran is we're seeing a further increasing of fertilizer costs. And it's. What it's leading to is a second farm crisis, what I've been calling a farmageddon. And it's going to get even worse next year. But I can tell you that everywhere that we're going, across these rural communities that have been decimated, these rural communities, they've lost their pharmacies, they've lost their grocery stores, they've lost their health care clinics because the cuts to Medicaid that people like Ashley Hinson voted for. And now we're leading the nation in farm foreclosures. Iowans are ready for change. And in the rural communities and amongst farmers, the word that we hear the most is betrayal. Trump administration gives $20 billion to Argentina to bail them out so that the Chinese can buy their soybeans. Meanwhile, Iowa soybean farmers are upside down with their commodities prices. And everywhere that we're going, we're hearing Iowans saying we're ready for change and we're ready for a common sense prey populace like you that is not going to be up there fighting for billionaires and large corporations and donors and lobbyists, but actually fighting for the middle class and for our small family farms that are being decimated.
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Podcast Host
Now, I want to ask you about the state of race before I do. The term farm bill is thrown around by folks in Washington. The average everyday person may not know what a farm bill is. Just break it down, bare bones. If I know nothing, why should I care?
- [14:38]
Josh Turek
Yeah, every, basically every five years, we pass a farm bill. It's provisions in place in terms of actually a significant amount of it is what we're going to do on SNAP benefits, you know, food assistance for poor and individuals. It also covers, you know, crop liabilities and crop insurance and subsidies. And so you need that to be in place and, you know, to have stable markets and commodities. And we're actually three, nearly three years overdue on passing a farm bill, which is really hurting, you know, Iowa, it's an ag state. It's a farmer state. We produce more corn and soybeans and have more hog farmers than any other state in the nation. And in these bad federal policies like nap, passing a farm bill in a timely manner is really, really decimating our economy. I mean, we are an economy that has really hit the bottom. We are basically dead last for economic growth here in our state, we're 48th for personal income growth. And we're one of three states already seeing our economy contract. And then you add that into what we're seeing with cuts to, you know, like the big beautiful bill, Medicaid cuts. We're an older, poorer state, and so We've already closed 250 more healthcare clinics and we've opened looking at because of votes like what Ashley Hinton has taken on, not continuing the ACAs, not continuing Medicaid, we're looking at 110,000 Iowans losing their health care, thousands more losing their losing food assistance, and 119,000 Iowans seeing their health care premiums double, triple or quadruple. It's a horrible situation right now in my state.
- [16:08]
Podcast Host
What's the current state of play between you and Ashley Henson? Do you actually have a shot at flipping Iowa Blue? And I ask it seriously, given the fact that we've seen polling out of Iowa, the an Seltzer poll famously last year, and then Trump wins by 10 plus points. So give me the state of race right now.
- [16:25]
Josh Turek
Well, Iowans are hurting. The one thing that I can tell you is every single place that we are going, it doesn't matter urban areas or rural areas. What Iowans are telling us is they're struggling just to keep food on the table, a roof above their head, pay their electric bill, and now because of this unnecessary war in Iran that Ashley Hinson has voted for in favor of five times, looking at not being able to even put gas in their tank. Yes, to answer your question directly, this is a winnable war. This is a winnable race is right now we're showing polling, most recent polling us up by two. We had a Fox News poll showing us up by four. And it's not just because we're a state that is basically bottomed out. This is all the stars have really aligned here. This is the first time since 1968 here in Iowa. No power of incumbency. We've got an open governor's race along with an open Senate race. And I know a lot of your viewers will be out there and you'll say, oh, well, Iowa's a red state, but we are not. We are a common sense state that is masqueraded more red than what we actually are. We are a state that for 30 years, we elected Senator Tom Harkin, my political hero, the father of the American with Disabilities Act. We're a state that twice voted for Obama, three times for Trump. We have more Obama, Trump counties than any other state in the Nation. And in 2022, the last midterm that we had, we were only 1.5% away from having three of our six statewide officials being Democrats and a terrible, terrible year for Democrats, meaning your average Iowa voter is going and voting for three Rs and 3Ds in Trump's last midterm, three of the four congressional races we win. So here in Iowa, I really believe we're going to be the center of the political universe. We're looking at a situation where we can legitimately see flipping three congressional races. We're polling ahead in the governor's race, and we are polling ahead in this U.S. senate race. And so if there ever was a time to donate, I really believe the best place to invest this year to make change in the country is Iowa. And if we're able to win this U.S. senate race here in Iowa, I think we're going to be able to get to 51 and we're going to be able to not just make a generational change to the state of Iowa, we are going to be able to change this country. And that should be exciting to everybody out there.
- [18:30]
Podcast Host
Josh Turek, thanks so much for the time. Hey folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow subscribe. See you soon for more.
- [18:46]
Shannon Maldonado
My name is Shannon Maldonado. I'm the founder of Yaoi, a gift shop from the lens of artists and handmade objects. I chose Shopify because when I was testing other platforms, it was definitely one of the most user friendly. It was important to me to think about where we would be in the future. All of the tools for reading your sales, like planning inventory, they're just right there on your dashboard. For anyone starting a small business, the biggest thing I can tell you, it doesn't have to be perfect. Shopify can help you build upon it. Start your free trial on shopify.com.