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- [00:00]
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- [00:27]
Tara Palmeri
Welcome to the Tara Palmieri Show. There's something in the air in Washington. It's not just the government shutdown funk. Pete Hegseth paranoia is stinking up the Pentagon. His so called press pledge was rejected by nearly every major news outlet, including Fox News, his former employer. And it's bound to backfire, believe me, when these frustrated journalists suddenly have more time on their hands to dig into his house of cards. Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene's heel turn continues. The MAGA firebrand who once swore undying loyalty to Trump is now blasting her own party. She's railing against deportations, attacking the House boys clubs, and sounding more like a populist Democrat. Every day I've got the inside scoop on what's driving it all and what finally caused Marjorie Taylor Greene to snap. Everyone's on edge this weekend too, about the no kings parades where the resistance will meet Trump's military show of force and anything can happen to unpack it all. The paranoia, the politics, the pure performance of it all. I'm joined by Dean Blundell, a Canadian political commentator, media critic and cultural shit stirrer in the best possible way. Take a listen here.
- [01:39]
Dean Blundell
Welcome to the show. My name is Dean. Everybody knows that if you're here and I need no introduction and neither does my guest today. This is really exciting for me because I'm a big fan. I was introduced to my guest today, Tara Palmeri, through a mutual friend of ours, Steve Schmidt, who just can't stop singing your praises. And that's high praise from a guy like Schmidt, is it not?
- [02:01]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, it is. And it's so great to meet you in person too. He speaks so highly of you, so it feels like a good endorsement, great stamp of approval. And I'm sure so many of you also follow the warning. And that's how you found us as well. Since he is like the king of Substack, I think he's probably got one of the most followers on Substack besides very wise.
- [02:23]
Dean Blundell
Yeah, yeah, no, no kidding. He's. And he's relentless too. You know, there's days where I feel like I don't know about you with the substack thing. It's a bit of a bug, right? And you feel like You've got a. A job to do and you got a social responsibility, moral responsibility to sort of, you know, act like a Sherpa when it comes to information and affirmation. But I like to take Saturdays and Sundays off. Steve never does. He's ubiquitous. Kind of like you, by the way. You do such a great job. The Red letter, which is on substack, everybody, please. Tara Palmary Dot. That's her red letter. She's on substack going. Subscribe to her. Your work has been incredible, by the way. And I want to talk about a couple of things that you're really good at. You're deep into the Epstein stuff. We'll get to that. Marjorie Taylor Greene. We'll get to that. Yeah. Yeah. I read your stuff this morning and put it back out. I had no idea you ran into her at an inauguration ball. That's incredible. But. But I know she's mad. Marge is big mad. We'll cover why Marge is big mad. And your insights are truly, absolutely awesome from this last piece. But I want to talk real quick because I don't know where you're located. Hi, from Canada. Nice to see you. Chris Chan. Hi, from Canada, everybody. Hi. We got Canada American in the house. I'm in Toronto. Where are you right now?
- [03:32]
Tara Palmeri
I'm in Brooklyn.
- [03:34]
Dean Blundell
Okay.
- [03:35]
Tara Palmeri
Probably will soon to be occupied. Yeah.
- [03:40]
Dean Blundell
How are you feeling? Are you going to be doing any no King stuff this weekend or.
- [03:44]
Tara Palmeri
You know, I did the no Kings in a few months ago. I covered it. You know, I'd still. I still come at it as like a straight news journalist. So I walked through and I was in, you know, I started, I guess, on Fifth Avenue. We went all the way down to Madison Square Park. It was amazing. And it was really, really, really interesting just to see all the people out there and the enthusiasm. It was raining, so just to see the number of people out there in the rain. I mean, I always assume when there's a washout, people aren't going to show up, but now people are mad as hell. It was the first no Kings march, so I assume that there'll be even more or who knows? But it was also, I think, coinciding with the military parade at the same time, counter programming Trump's military parade, which was also rainy.
- [04:34]
Dean Blundell
Yeah, yeah, it was, if you remember. But they're doing the same thing in la, which is why I wanted to ask where you were, knowing that you're not in la. I just assumed you were, because I just assume that's the heartbeat of, you know, Democratic journalism, or at least fact based journalism. But you being in New York, a little bit different. You were going to get the same military parade the same day tomorrow in California. I don't know if you've seen this. Midas started reporting on it. They're conducting military exercises at Camp Pendleton. As I understand, they've expanded those military exercises. So they're going to close down I5 anybody's familiar with LA. It's a major artery. It's also earmarked to be one of the routes for the no Kings protest. And to your point, yeah, there I think there were 2,000 protests across the country. This is very global. We've got our own coming up here in Toronto and I'll be attending that this weekend. We'll be covering that this weekend. But I gotta Wonder, you know, 2500 people or 2,500 different locations for this version of the no Kings protest. I gotta wonder if this is going to be a different vibe because of the rhetoric that we're seeing coming out of the White House, knowing what they're doing in Chicago, what they're doing in LA and across the United States, you know, if they're willing to throw a monkey wrench into a peaceful protest, attack peaceful protesters. You know, this no Kings protest on the 18th is a bonanza for Donald Trump and his new ice goons.
- [05:52]
Tara Palmeri
You know, it, the, the last Snow Kings that I covered, I've got to think it was in the springtime because it was kind of cold and, and I was wearing a coat. I'm just blanking on the time frame. Everything just moves so quickly. And if I remember correctly, he, he hadn't started his ICE raids yet. They hadn't sent out the, the military to, to clean up these dangerous cities. So the temperature on the streets wasn't quite as high. And I think now it'll be a different atmosphere because of this military presence, because of the ICE raids, because of what people have seen in their communities. I think there is going to be a stronger reaction and I'm concerned, I'm worried, frankly. But I also think it's interesting that they're cutting off the arteries of the city. Like you said. I mean, if you want to mess with people, if you want to piss them off, traffic, it, it will destroy you politically as well. I mean, just ask Chris Christie. God can never run for president after, after Bridgegate. You know, people will never forgive you for traffic. But Trump doesn't want to be forgiven by California because he doesn't care. He thinks they're not his people, he doesn't believe that this is the United States. There are his states, and then there are the rest of the states. And the rest of the states, he will punish them and try to bend them to his will, but that's just not how it works.
- [07:09]
Dean Blundell
Yeah, such a good point. You know, and going back to your point, and my dad used to say it all the time, it's easier to catch flies with honey than poop. And every, Every, every protest is a pain in my ass because if it presents me, prevents me from getting home to my family, prevents me from getting to where I need to go or earning a living so that my family can eat and we can have a roof over our head. I've never been a fan of these protests, but this is a different time, right? You know, we. We live in a time now where, you know, it's. It's democracy or bust, right? And so watching the courage that's coming out of the people in the United States, and far be it for me, I know there's a little tension between Canada, the United States. Far be it for me. Not to mention as well, the fact that Canada is deeply, deeply involved in supporting the United States of America. Having our own rally up here, no tyrants. You can go to dean blundell.substack.com and check out the details. But this is. This is a global thing this year, right? Geneva, Paris, London, England. So, you know, do you. Do you feel like this might be a little different because of the rhetoric. Rhetoric that we're seeing and because of some of the violence that we're seeing, you know, with these ice raids, the loss of free speech, you know, the attempt to turn blue cities, blue states into war zones. Because I do, I feel like, you know, it's. The rest of the world has America's back, but America's got to have its back this weekend, too.
- [08:30]
Tara Palmeri
It just feels like it's a recipe for violence. It feels like it's a tinderbox, especially when you know that some people are coming to the fight with. With weapons. And so it. And people are so angry, and it's just like everyone needs to put down the sword. This is a scary situation that we're in right now. And at the same time, I feel like people should have the right to express themselves and to protest, and we want it to be peaceful. But the show of force on the other side, you know, suggests that there, this is, this is, this is. This might escalate. And I can only imagine. Listen, like I said, where I live, it hasn't been occupied yet. But that's not to say that that's going to happen to my neighborhood one day and then I'll really fully understand the extent of this and what it's like to have people, you know, your neighbors, suddenly be arrested and asked to just hand over their documentation at all time. Like, I don't walk around with my id. Sometimes I go into bars and restaurants and I don't, they don't ask me for id. They, I haven't been asked for ID in a long time. It's like, you know, suddenly you have to walk around and show proof of citizenship everywhere you go. I mean, that's a terrifying experience to have. And I just, I, I fear, I fear for what it does to the psyche of our country. It really, I, I, I'm out of loss for words. Yeah, I think that's there. It's a loss for words because I, I, I, I haven't experienced it personally, and I don't want to say the wrong thing about what it's like, but just hearing about these children being, you know, shaken from their beds and, and drawn out in the middle of the night and in ice raids in Chicago at gunpoint, gunpoint, I mean, they'll never forget that for the rest of their lives. Like, they're going to have to go to deep therapy. And when they talk about the trauma that they experienced in their lives, that is going to be one of the moments that they are going to talk about for a long time. Some of them are going to have a hard time bonding with people for a very long time because of that. They're going to be shaken. They're going to have anxiety. You know, they're going to look over their shoulder in a way that they shouldn't have to. Yeah.
- [10:49]
Dean Blundell
You know, and we, we forget about that part of it. LA just declared a state of emergency the other day so they could access funding to give counseling to people whose families have been through this. By the way, you know, that. And that's, that's one of those lost conversations we're not having is the trauma. And if anybody understands addiction, understands anxiety, understands ptsd, what it can do to you in your later years as a victim of those things, I can truthfully tell you I've never been held at gunpoint at the age of six and had that scar me for the rest of my life. I've never watched my family arrested in front of me as we were playing Parcheesi or Yahtzee after some pasta. You know what I Mean and, and, and, and not just talking about the damage that they're doing to these children. But you know, the fact that you're afraid, people are afraid to go out questioning whether or not I should bring my id. I mean, this is a new time. I was watching yesterday too, and I'd love your thoughts being the venerable reporter and journalist that you are. Did you see the White House press or, sorry, the Pentagon press corps walk. Get walked out of the Pentagon yesterday? You see that?
- [11:52]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, it was an amazing moment and honestly I commend them and know what I hope they do with that free time when they are not having to deal with his BS pressers in which probably all garbage because everybody knows that the way it works in the Pentagon is that, you know, press secretary, they give out their side of the story, the spin, their background. But if you talk to anyone on the ground, it's usually a very different story. And you know what? They're just not going to call the press secretaries anymore. They're not going to bother with them. They're going to use their sources inside of that building on the ground. You're going to see a lot more leaks. And what I am seeing right now in ptag, Seth, a very paranoid man. Because you only do this if you are very paranoid and you, you don't think that you have your, that, that you don't have the ranks in, in line. You would only do that for this reason. People that complain about leaks cannot control their, like they, they're out, they're feeling threatened.
- [12:50]
Dean Blundell
He's a shitty boss.
- [12:51]
Tara Palmeri
Paranoid.
- [12:52]
Dean Blundell
Yeah.
- [12:52]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, exactly. And so, but for me personally, like I've, I've always believed investigative journalism is the most important journalism. I think having access to a building is in so many ways because when you try to get that access, you have to give up things. There's a trade, it's a, it's a contract in a weird way, an implicit contract to have access. You know, there's a line to get that access.
- [13:17]
Dean Blundell
Like an agency line to me. Like, you know, you do you now report for the agency. Your agency is gone for the agency.
- [13:24]
Tara Palmeri
But there's like a certain level of decorum. You have to deal with them in a way. And you know, if those people, if those journalists now do not have to sit through a presser, a briefing, this or that, and they are able to get, hit the phones and call their sources and go maybe on trips to be on the ground to see what's actually going on. Bravo. I hope that they break tons of stories. I Hope they tear apart the Pentagon. I hope they. They uncover things that we never even knew existed because they had that time. Use turn these DoD reporters, many of whom already do investigations, into investigative defense reporters, and then they'll really be struggling.
- [14:06]
Dean Blundell
Yeah. If you thought Pete Hegseth was angry about leaks before, look what he just did. Oan's the only entity that decided to sign that loyalty pledge, and I'm not even too sure what was in it. I don't know if you've heard from anybody in the White House press corps, if you've kind of understood what was in this NDA or loyalty oath. But. But my understanding was that it criminalized reporting that wasn't sanctioned or signed off on by Pete Hegseth and the Department of War. Is that correct?
- [14:34]
Tara Palmeri
I believe that's right. I don't. I think that's a violation of the First Amendment, and I think that that would very quickly be shot down in the Supreme Court. But again, they are pushing the boundaries of our Constitution of democracy and. Listen, bring it. This is exactly how the relationship with the press should be. It should be an antagonistic relationship with everyone in power. The point of being a journalist is to hold truth to power. It is to be an antagonizer. It is to be a nudge to. It is to not. It is to never carry water of even the side that you support. You should be a pain in the ass to them, too, because any. Any group that gets power, they are always corrupted by it. Absolutely. And so this is a moment for the press corps to drop this earth's spine the way they have and to say, sure, okay, you don't want us here. We will go underneath and come right up from. We will dig under this building and rise up and blow it up. All the truth will come out of it. That is what I hope will happen. I hope they pursue all those leads, all those tips that they had, they didn't have time to pursue because they were too busy dealing with the DoD press team. So, yeah, almost like they've been set free.
- [16:02]
Dean Blundell
Almost like they've been set free. Right. I mean, you know, you're talking about getting. Yeah, yeah. That's such a fucking positive way to. Sorry, I'm swearing. I don't know if you're allowed to swear on Red Letter or the Tara Palmeri show, but. Yeah, all right, all right, all right. Great. Friends already.
- [16:16]
Tara Palmeri
But.
- [16:16]
Dean Blundell
But it's almost like they set them free. And that's kind of how I read it, Tara. It was, you know, in. In listening to People like, I listened to John Carl talk about it, talk to Steve about it, and he's like, dude, if they think this is a bad thing, they thought they could get away with it. They thought they could get away with plugging leaks. They thought they could get away with mandating certain pieces of information and creating a sim, a military sim, out of the fucking Pentagon. These people walked out of there. If you watch the video of this yesterday, with boxes, laughing, yeah, yeah, they were like, cool.
- [16:46]
Tara Palmeri
You know what? My numbers can be burning up. The best part of when I was a White House correspondent under Trump's first term, and Trump complained about leaks and plugging leaks and plugging leaks. The more that he complained about plugging leaks, the more phone calls you got, the more leaks there were. It was, you can't plug the leaks. It's just not a fact. It just doesn't happen. And any good reporter, I mean, you know, they will, they will find a way. I never found it to be that useful to even be in the White House, to be on the grounds of the White House, because you can't make a lot of calls.
- [17:17]
Dean Blundell
Yeah.
- [17:18]
Tara Palmeri
You know, like, you can't be outside the whole time. You want privacy, you want, you want to talk to the sources that don't want to be seen with you. Those are the best sources, the ones that just would like to say, I've never met her before. Who's she? You know, that those are the good sources. And so that you don't want, you don't want to be the one who's in the press office all day long. Just take a note. Oh, yeah, you're just your stenographer. So I, I'm excited to see what kind of journalism we see come out of this. And I hope all of their employees with employers, which is the most important thing, support them and that they don't just think about their shareholders and that they actually think about democracy and what's most important and that they support them, because that's the scary part. I mean, we're very lucky to be independent journalists, to be on our own platforms, but a lot of times the shareholders, they get skittish, they get nervous in these major media companies, and they don't support their employer, their employees. And so I only hope that they will support their employees. They're probably going to have to understand, they'll, they'll understand that, yeah, they're, they're going to pay a bit in legal coverage or fees if he tries to pursue these journalists. And I hope the journalists have the stomach for it. But I think it would make them big stars, honestly.
- [18:37]
Dean Blundell
Oh, I do too.
- [18:38]
Tara Palmeri
You know, I think it could, it could heighten them. But yeah. Pete, Pete Hagseff. What a joke. Even Fox wouldn't, wouldn't sign on to it. Seriously.
- [18:49]
Dean Blundell
I know. It made me laugh. And you know what? It's, it's funny because you've seen, you know, at least I have specifically, and I want to pivot a little bit to your Marjorie Taylor Greene piece that you put in there. It's a woman scorned, you know, she's taking bullets from. It's almost like it's upside down world sometimes where, you know, they're, they're trying to get reporters to sign oil loyalty oaths. And Marjorie Taylor, you're like, what the fuck? Fox News is like, yeah, we side with cnn. And I'm like, what the fuck? You know, like, which is nice to see. And then, you know, in bizarro land that sometimes pops up, we're seeing Marjorie Taylor Greene literally make a split, literally separate herself, create daylight between. And this is like the mega bulldog. This is the QAnon cheerleader. This is the woman that felt up that, that, that stand up poster of Donald Trump, if you remember. I mean, she liked the guy.
- [19:40]
Tara Palmeri
I was trying to forget that.
- [19:41]
Dean Blundell
Sorry, I don't mean to. I apologize. I got a real kick out of it too, because it was 2D. But anyway, so she's, she's now completely broken away from maga. And you know, we talked about it a couple times this last week, talked about it with Lev and Zev and our substack live the other day, how there are two competing narratives. One, and yours is new. And I want to get to it in just a second. Everybody should go subscribe to Tara Palmeri's substack right now and read this. But we all thought that Marjorie Taylor Greene was smart enough to kind of be reading the Epstein room knowing that the Epstein files are probably coming. Obviously another conversation I want to have with you at a later date. We got more time. But your, your suggestion in your piece is that it's, it's, it's much simpler than that.
- [20:28]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, no, I've done some reporting. Like I've called sources familiar with her and her relationship with the White House and Capitol Hill. And I've been sort of following her for a while on this. And she had a break with Trump when they didn't support her to run statewide. She wanted to take on Ossoff, John Ossoff for Senate or run for governor. In Georgia. And they. They told her in March, marjorie doesn't look great for you. You can't do this. You can't run. And I think that was another heartbreak for her because she feels like she was. She's been a bulldog. She has been, you know, with him since January 6th. She has supported him through and through. She feels like she made concessions with Mike Johnson with the motion to vacate, not. Not following through with that a number of other times. She feels like she's been playing the game with them, and she just feels like she's been getting burned. And I used an anecdote from when I saw her at Trump's primary. Election. Election. Primary.
- [21:30]
Dean Blundell
Yeah. You're the first person I've ever met that's been to Mar a Lago, by the way. So there you go.
- [21:33]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, well, part of the. When you're part of the press corps, you have to go there. It's kind of part of the. And they put you in behind a roped area, yada, yada, yad. When I'm there, I like to. I like to cause some trouble. You know, I can't just.
- [21:45]
Dean Blundell
I love the line in there where you're like, ah. So I feel a little mischievous. And I decided to approach Marge.
- [21:51]
Tara Palmeri
I was like, is that just Marjorie Taylor Green just milling about and basically empty ballroom hours.
- [21:57]
Dean Blundell
Is she by herself?
- [21:58]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, because it was like six hours before the party started.
- [22:01]
Dean Blundell
Oh, she was a super keener. Yeah. This is back when she was full.
- [22:04]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she really. She wanted a job in the administration. I'm certain of it. And I figured, you know, just a day earlier, Katie Britt, the senator from Alabama, she's a freshman, you know, was a staffer. She's young, she's cute, she gets to give the rebuttal to the State of the Union. And I could just tell that Marjorie probably felt like that that should have been hers, you know, like, you just get that vibe. So I asked her, what do you think of Katie Britt for VP? And she goes, her heritage score is 81. Not conservative enough. The base wouldn't like her. Not concerned who carries around off top of head. Someone's heritage score. Sorry, Heritage action score.
- [22:46]
Dean Blundell
I don't even know what it is.
- [22:47]
Tara Palmeri
And I started asking her about, like, dhs. And she's like, I could do dhs, of course I'd serve as vice president. Is not so. And then you see some quotes from, like, she'd asked about later on after Trump won. She said openly, I think that these new people have come along and they don't deserve to get jobs. Why are they being considered like Vivek Ramaswamy at the time was being considered for position. And she said, I've been here all along. I've been loyal all along. This is a lot about loyalty too, for her. Now, there is a. There is one more piece to this. You know, she broke. She's breaking with Trump on deportations. She thinks that they are. This is a woman who constantly tweeted about wanting to remove illegal immigrants from the country, and she is turned around on this. She thinks they've gone too far on deportations because she works in the construction business. I mean, she bought her parent constructions company and she sees the effect it has on the business she owns, which I kind of think is a bit of a conflict of interest as well, by the way. But there's the Epstein files. I do think that's a MAGA base thing. And I think she gets at the MAGA base, wants that. And I, And I. Here's the thing. People are like, she needs. She's. She's doing this because her district has changed. Her district has not changed at all. Her district is not a suburb. Okay. It is an excerpt. It is very blue collar. She is very blue collar. They are ruby red. She has a lot of bandwidth to take these sort of anti establishment, anti corruption bends and she can do these sorts of things. Like she can. But by the way, every time she disagrees with Trump, she says, I love President Trump. But also, the other reason I know that this has some sort of personal grudge to it is because she complained that not enough women get leadership posts in the gop, which is true. There's only one woman who leads a committee. But to me, that smells of grievance and gripe and feeling like she has been passed over.
- [24:47]
Dean Blundell
So she's just loading up her grievance bucket. Right?
- [24:49]
Tara Palmeri
Let's just leave. Loading up her grievance bucket. And, um, and. And she's never, you know, from the people that I spoke to that know her well, she's not a calculating person. It. She acts at a raw emotion. She. That's how she. She does not think that far ahead. It. She doesn't know when to not speak. This is not some sort of.
- [25:09]
Dean Blundell
Well, you know, listen, I, I gotta. I gotta interject here. Just, just for a quick second here. Ms. Ms. Palmieri.
- [25:15]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah.
- [25:16]
Dean Blundell
Is. Is. I've listened to Marjorie Taylor Greene talk about Jewish space lasers. I watched her present Hunter Biden's penis in the house. I don't think this is a woman that thinks too far ahead in general, not just about her political career. So to watch her do this now, to watch her publicly break and go against the grain of MAGA when she was maga's pit bull, and for you to give some insight into that is fascinating because it sounds like it is part personal, you know, like it. You know, Trump's cuts, Trump's ideology. What he's doing right now is hurting her personal pocketbook. Right. It's hurting her chances to possibly get reelected. She may or may not know, or. I don't know anything about the state of Georgia and her riding or constituency, but it also looks like she is still pissed that she didn't get any oversight leadership position. She didn't get named the Secretary of fucking War, or she wasn't. You know what I mean? Like, and. And it just. It. It blows my mind because it always comes back to the same impetus of grievance for every single person in MAGA when we're out there screaming, marjorie Taylor Greene has seen the Lord. She's come around. She's a Democrat. She's asking for the Epstein files. But with your reporting that you do such an incredible job at. Again, please subscribe to Tara Palmeri Substack. Your reporting dictates. It's. Hey, listen, it's not, you know, the.
- [26:47]
Tara Palmeri
She.
- [26:47]
Dean Blundell
She's not like some kind of political light.
- [26:50]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah. She's not a political savant. This is like. This is just pure, like, animalistic reaction.
- [26:58]
Dean Blundell
Sure.
- [26:58]
Tara Palmeri
To feeling like these people haven't been paying attention to me. I've done everything right. You know, this is it. This is a reaction. This is purely animalistic. And this is. This is. This is the true mtg. But, you know, I gotta respect her for the Epstein stuff. I really do. She is not. She's dealing with a lot of pressure. Yeah.
- [27:20]
Dean Blundell
Do you think that's authentic? I know we only got a couple of minutes left, and you gotta run. You've got another substack live after this, but do you. Do you think that part of this is authentic? Is her? You know, because I have got a problem with authenticity and MAGA like you wouldn't believe. I got the same thing with the Maple Magaz up here. The things they champion when they turn on a dime, as they did with her making the Epstein files. That. That thing, you know her. Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert. I mean, these are. These are. I know they're females. I know they're strong women. You know, I know they've achieved a lot. And you don't have to agree with me out there. If you're talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene, I'm not giving her credit, but I want to know about the authenticity because, you know, there's, there's kind of a rumor narrative out there that she's, you know, kind of a Trojan horse in the Epstein rooms. A Trojan horse in trying to get these files released. Or do you think that, hey, listen, it's again, not that, not, not, not that hard. It's not like she's dreaming in Technicolor here. It's not like she's got a great strategy. She really, truly does want justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
- [28:20]
Tara Palmeri
I actually think she does want justice for them. Like hearing her on the Capitol lawn with them, she seems sincere about that. I think that's an easy one. No one is. If you defy the President on wanting the Epstein files, no voter is going to say, oh, that was a bad choice. I mean, 80% of people want the Epstein files or even higher than that, according to a cbs. But people. I don't think that's a losing position. I think you could. I think it's a losing position to vote against them and that's why they're not swearing this Democratic congresswoman in so that she can be the 218th vote to force the petitions.
- [28:56]
Dean Blundell
How about Maga, Mike? Right. Megami. Just like, I don't know, I don't see her anywhere. I've been trying to get her sworn in for weeks.
- [29:01]
Tara Palmeri
She's like, here I am. No, no, no. But this is, this is not a losing issue for her. I think standing firm is, is, is totally consistent with her brand. I think it's a good thing for her. It's a uni party issue. It's corruption, it's a class story. It's about sticking it to the elites, looking out for the young people, you know, looking out for children. This is a great issue for her. It's a great issue for Boebert. It's a great issue for Nancy Mace and Tom Massey. Now, Nancy Mace also wants to be governor of South Carolina and she needs Trump's endorsement and she's the only one. I'm like, will she bend? But, you know, she did walk out of that meeting with the survivors, that closed door meeting, and she was sobbing, she was emotional. If she turned, and I think it would be seen as too political and too opportunistic. But I think she's the only one that I think could be perhaps moved otherwise into another position. But if she was the deciding vote. And everyone knew that the endorsement of Trump was on the line for her governorship. I don't know. I just think that the Epstein. I don't. I think it's gonna be really hard for the members to vote against this when it gets the House or Republican members.
- [30:18]
Dean Blundell
Yeah. Swalwell said the same thing that he's. You know, he put out a tweet a couple of weeks ago where he's like, don't worry, guys. It's going to be over soon. There's going to be a jailbreak from the gop. They're all going to leave Trump because no one wants to be known as a pedophile protector. You've done some of the most incredible work when it comes to getting underneath it. You're. You're report on Lisa Murkowski was. Was incredible. Do you think that we're going to see the Epstein files? Do you think that 218 happens or. And, and the last question is, do you think this is just the Epstein shutdown? Because I do.
- [30:49]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, I've thought about that. I don't know. I think it's really about the health care issue. I don't think it's. Epstein shut down. Epstein is always going to be there. Here's what I think. You can sign, you can vote on this. You can bring it over to the Senate, which I think they may get the votes between Ron Paul. Sorry, Rand Paul. And I think Lisa will eventually will flip. I actually think that my report put pressure on her because now it's exposed that she has a relationship with Glenn Maxwell's husband, who, by the way, no one knew that Glenn Maxwell had a husband. Right. That she stole at a conference that Lisa Murkowski also stole. Spoke at. At least that time. She just beamed in my video. But the other, the next year, they were all there together.
- [31:33]
Dean Blundell
I had no idea she was married until I read your story. I had no clue.
- [31:36]
Tara Palmeri
All this guy, he had three kids. Crazy, right? Or two kids. Excuse me. And I think that they'll get enough votes in the Senate. And then you do. Yeah, and then I'll end up on Trump's death and I think he'll veto it or just sign it or put it aside or just never touch it. I don't know if. Is there a certain period of time in which a president has to. To sign?
- [31:58]
Dean Blundell
I have no idea.
- [31:59]
Tara Palmeri
I mean, you know, find that out.
- [32:01]
Dean Blundell
I don't think he can step around a discharge petition, though. I don't think he can.
- [32:05]
Tara Palmeri
The discharge petition is it Only puts it before. It's a way to bypass the speaker so that you can vote on a bill, but it doesn't, like, affect the president. And so that's one thing. Here's the other thing. The dhs. Just because you compel the DHS to release the files, I. What I believe will happen is the DHS will do exactly what they've done so far in terms of releasing the files. And what you see on the FBI vault when you look for Epstein files, just black lines, black lines, black lines. Redactions, redactions, Redactions. In the name of protecting the victims.
- [32:40]
Dean Blundell
You mean in the name of protecting Donald Trump and his buddies.
- [32:44]
Tara Palmeri
Question mark. You. I think you can all answer that one. Because so many of the victims had. Please, we don't need protection. We're women now. We're adult women. Like, let this out there. Let this be out there. Let our suffering be worth something. So, yes, that is, that's your prognostication. My prognostication is that the dh, The, The DOJ is not very good at. It's not really anything. Policing itself. I would use the word policing.
- [33:16]
Dean Blundell
No. Especially right now with Mr. Patel and Ms. Bondi. I mean, I, I can't open up my TW feed and see a Pam Bondi comment and not just shake my head and wonder how they were able to find a parking lot lawyer who sounds like a Valley girl to be the Attorney General. Cash Patel is just this absolute embarrassment. The perjury he committed on, on in that oversight hearing, both in the House and in the Senate, was what, you know. And I'm an outsider, like you're an outsider, but you're an insider because you talk to these people you've interviewed, you know, victims of Jeffrey Epstein. You. You understand what's going on here. You know the truth. So I can't imagine, you know, as a pundit, not. You're an investigative reporter, like the real deal, that has been involved with and understands these people and knows these people. I cannot imagine the frustration and how you continue to do what you do where you cover the Epstein files as, as intensely as personally for the victims to try to get justice for these women who were abused for decades. I mean, we're talking about thousands, thousands of women who were young girls that were part of this, this routine, you know, and, and, and so thank you for the work that you do, and I want to thank you for joining me today. I really appreciate. I know it's not. I knew you.
- [34:30]
Tara Palmeri
No, it's about that. No, but truly, they actually haven't really. They have inspired me. They've made me a better journalist. They've helped me find my voice. Sometimes when you just see such plain injustice, it, it's hard not to feel like you have purpose like we. As a journalist, I've, you know, there are times in everybody's career. I mean, what drove me to be a journalist was I always wanted to be a muckraker. I liked the idea of being an investigative reporter, that caused change. And when I worked at the New York Post, which I know is a conservative paper, but it's a populist paper at heart, whenever I would report on anything in the city and it would change something, whatever it would be, could be something about the subway station, it could be something about this or that. We get a little dinkus that said post get action. And it made me feel like what we were doing was causing positive change. Right. And you know, you know about the muckrakers during the turn of the 19th century and their impact on the meatpacking industry, the mental asylums, Nellie Bly going underground to the jungle. And it just, it really inspired me. And it's very rare that you find a story with so much injustice and so much out there that inspires you in that way and reminds you of who you were when you first realized that you wanted to do this. Like when I was, you know, 16 or 15 years old in history class being like, wow, you could do that for a living. You could be a journalist. You could. Because I didn't grow up around those types. I didn't grow up around a lot of professionals, honestly. Like I, I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood and I'm the first person in my family to go to college. So it wasn't, that was too glamorous to be a journalist. But when I read that, like, you could use the power of the pen to enact change, to hold truth to power, I was like, this is, this is incredible. And only every, it doesn't happen all the time that you have these stories that make you feel like you have purpose again. And this, this one does. And I hope that we do. I don't believe that the DHS is going to give us the answers. I'm sorry, the doj. I don't believe the DOJ is.
- [36:40]
Dean Blundell
You think it's going to come from somewhere else.
- [36:42]
Tara Palmeri
Yeah, it's going to come from leaks, going to come from journalists, and it's going to come from the survivors. And that is how we're going to know how this all ends. The DOJ is not going to hand us the Epstein piles. And if they do, it will be long after everything is in them, that everything that is in them is out in the public. And then it will just be just an affirmation of what we already know. I hope that there are whistleblowers inside of there who have seen these files, FBI agents that. That come forward. I know what these. So many of these victims have filed in their own depositions, and it's horrific. And I. I'd love for their unredacted files to be something that everyone can read.
- [37:24]
Dean Blundell
Tara, it was my pleasure to talk to you today. Thank you so much for taking some time. You came highly recommended by our mutual friend Steve Schmidt. The warning, you did not disappoint. And I would encourage everybody. You know, there are very few kind of people that I follow. There are very few people that I follow because I like to have a mind that's fresh. And the people that I do follow or people I can trust. Tara Palmeri is one of those people, you know, in a world full of information as opposed to affirmation, you know, people don't follow brands anymore. They follow people. So if you're one of my followers, one of my subscribers, and you're looking for a. The best source when it comes to what's underneath the Epstein files, prognostications and any information in context, it's Tara Palmeri, the red letter on substack as well. Tara Palmeri on substack. And if you're looking for information on Marjorie Taylor Greene, this. This young lady. Yeah, it is a spectacular write up and I would encourage everybody to go and subscribe. Paid subscribers, as always, they keep us in the game and they keep us doing this job and they also keep us in connection with. You can't thank everybody, you know, for joining us today. You can take my shit. You just can't take my time. So I know how important everybody's time is. No Larry Davidism, but Tara Palmeri, thanks for doing this. Will you come back again? Can we do this again and talk about some other stuff?
- [38:47]
Tara Palmeri
I love to do it regularly. Dean, I'm a huge fan of your work. I love the way you synthesize things. And I know we didn't get to talk about those turds in those turds that were saying all those racist, nasty, sexist, anti Semitic, you know, the young.
- [39:03]
Dean Blundell
Republican Nazis, by the way, the body shaming on behalf of that crew.
- [39:09]
Tara Palmeri
You were so brutal. It was like. It was epic. I. That was probably the Best write up. I read about what happened, by the way. Everyone needs to go and read Dean's latest piece on those young Republican turds, as I call them. But he said he had a line in there which I think was absolutely brilliant. And I pulled it because I just had to actually write it down for myself. For the future. It's easier to bind a group together with shared transgression than with shared policy. And that was a really great reminder of just how these groups filled with hateful people are formed. They're all on a shared group chat, sharing embarrassing things that they acknowledge could ruin their careers. And it was this shared hatred and that something we need to fight against, and we need to make people feel ashamed to be bound by that. And.
- [40:09]
Dean Blundell
Couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. And watching J.D. vance kind of strut around going, everybody's been part of those chat groups. I put my hand up and I'm like, not this guy. Not this guy. I've never been part of the. I have never, ever, ever typed the n word. Nonetheless, 251 times.
- [40:25]
Tara Palmeri
That word, actually.
- [40:26]
Dean Blundell
No, me neither.
- [40:26]
Tara Palmeri
It's never come out of my mouth, so I don't even think it's, like. It's disgusting. Yeah, it's all disgusting.
- [40:32]
Dean Blundell
Well, we'll have you back and we'll talk about it another time, because that whole culture needs to be uprooted and. And held accountable. And for people like you. I've got Muckraker in my. In my Twitter profile, by the way. I just want you to know that. Also in my substack profile. So we'll muckrake again another time, very, very soon, if you don't mind. Thanks, Tara.
- [40:50]
Tara Palmeri
I love that. Okay, maybe I'll join the DOD Let you know how that goes.
- [40:56]
Dean Blundell
Hey, I'll sign a loyalty pledge. I'll do it right now.
- [41:01]
Tara Palmeri
All right.
- [41:02]
Dean Blundell
Thanks, Tara. You have a great day. Okay, Bye. Bye. Tara Palmeri, Ladies and gentlemen, the Red Letter.
- [41:07]
Tara Palmeri
That was another episode of the Tara Palmieri Show. Thanks so much for tuning in to support my independent journalism. Please go to Tara Palmerie.com and sign up for the Red Letter. That is where you can get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox. And it's a way to support my independent journalism. I want to thank my producer, Eric Abenate, Adam Stewart, who does my graphics, and Abby Baker, who is on research and social media. If you like this show, please subscribe, Rate it, share it with all your friends. That's how we keep this going. I'll be back again this week.