Ep. 451 - $100 Million Stolen in Ukraine, Republicans FLOP on Censuring Epstein-Collaborator

Summary

The Tony Kinnett Cast – Episode 451 Detailed Summary

Theme Overview:
This episode takes aim at two major news stories: the Republican failure to censure Rep. Stacy Plaskett for her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and explosive investigative reporting about $100 million in corruption in Ukraine – implicating the Zelensky administration. The show blends sharp political commentary, inside baseball on Congressional dealings, and deep-dive journalism with guests Elizabeth Mitchell (White House correspondent) and Steve Cortez (Ukraine corruption investigator).

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1. The Republican “Flop” on Censuring Epstein-Collaborator (Stacy Plaskett)

Background:

• Host Tony Kinnett opens by expressing exasperation over the Republican Party’s inability to secure a censure against Rep. Stacy Plaskett (US Virgin Islands, non-voting member), who was caught coordinating with Jeffrey Epstein—even after his conviction as a child sex offender.
• Kinnett’s Take: This should have been, in his words, “low-hanging fruit, walk in the park easy. How do they possibly mess that up?” (03:15)

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Key Points and Quotes

A. The Plaskett-Epstein Connection:

• Plaskett sent and received texts with Epstein in 2019, taking direct instructions for committee hearings and attacks on Trump.

• Kinnett plays revelatory clips of Plaskett attempting to downplay the relationship:

  • Plaskett on House floor:

    “At the time [Epstein] was my constituent, who was not public knowledge at that time that he was under federal investigation.” – [04:42]

  • Kinnett’s reaction:

    “Aren’t you a member of the freaking Oversight and Judiciary Committee? ... Maybe if you’re buds with the other squad members ... you might let someone know ...” – [05:00]

• Plaskett on CNN:

  • “Having a friendship with him is not something that I would deem to have. And so I’m just looking forward. I’m moving forward.” [05:45]

• Kinnett mocks this evasiveness:

  “He told her to stop chewing. … Goodness gracious.” – [06:03]

B. Republican Opportunity Fumbled:

• Kinnett’s rationale: The Republicans had a “free shot” to take political advantage of Democratic mismanagement (Plaskett’s Epstein collaboration), but failed to deliver.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi’s previous mishandling of the Epstein files is mentioned as context for Republican frustration and lost momentum.

C. How The Censure Got Killed: The Backroom Deal

• Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL) challenges House procedure:
  • “Why [are] leadership on both sides... cutting back end deals to cover up public corruption in the House of Representatives from both Republican and Democrat members?” – [12:28]
• Kinnett’s commentary:

  “Some people had some backroom conversations … and it looks like the votes are changing. May I ask, my good friend, what in the heck is happening?” – [12:55]

D. Rep. Tim Burchett (TN) Explains the Deal:

• “The disgusting thing ... was four Republicans chose not to vote. Three Republicans voted present. And three Republicans voted no. So it failed. And what they did was they cut a deal ... on another ethics vote on a Republican ... [to protect] people on there who are chairman of committees ... It’s bogus, and it stinks.” – [13:38]

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E. Who Was the Deal For?

The Case of Rep. Corey Mills (FL):

• Mills is the subject of multiple allegations: confirmed sextortion, alleged stolen valor, unpaid debts, harassment, and more.

• Kinnett:

  “There’s too many stories … Corey Mills is a scumbag of a human being. … All of this free political capital … traded it all away on a censure vote. Why? For one of the scummiest Republicans currently sitting in Congress, a grifter of grifters.” – [17:00-20:04]

• Rep. Nancy Mace (SC) introduces a resolution to censure Mills:

  “Now Therefore, be it resolved that Representative Corey Mills be censured … and is hereby removed from the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House.” – [22:21]

F. Democratic Fumbles, Too

• Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY, Minority Leader):
  • Offers a vague, evasive defense, justifying bipartisan defeat of the Plaskett censure:

    “…The resolution that was introduced targeting Stacy Plaskett was defeated ... in a bipartisan way. … including the fact that it was a dramatic overreach.” – [23:40]

  • Kinnett: “He doesn’t even understand. … Well done. Way to go. Stellar stuff. Now the momentum’s gone.” – [24:17]

G. Congressional Sound and Fury:

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) derails the discussion by confusing other donors named Jeffrey Epstein (not the Epstein), leading to Kinnett’s sarcastic monologue mocking her misunderstanding and tone. [25:03–27:09]
• Kinnett’s summary:

  “How you somehow fumble political capital … is beyond me.” – [27:33]

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2. H1B Visas and MAGA Discord: White House Insider Analysis

Guest: Elizabeth Mitchell (White House correspondent)

A. Internal Trump Administration Divide:

• After Trump’s remarks on wanting more H1B visa talent, MAGA base angered—sees as undermining American workers.
• Two factions in the administration:
  • Those wanting to eliminate H1Bs.
  • Those favoring reform but continued access to top foreign talent.
• Both sides agree abuse of H1B is rampant; the “how” of reform is disputed. [29:32–30:31]
• Trump is being pulled by “tech people” (e.g., Elon Musk), who praise H1Bs, and “America First” hardliners (e.g., Marjorie Taylor Greene) who oppose them. [31:24]
• Notable Crossover: Left-wingers like Bernie Sanders align with America Firsters in opposition to H1Bs. [33:00]

B. Policy Uncertainty:

• Trump is responsive to polls and base reaction; his final position unclear.
• Mitchell:

  “The President is definitely saying, being pro-H1B, he really likes them. … But there is disagreement within his administration...” – [33:59]

C. Reform Focus:

• J.D. Vance, seen as staunchly pro-Trump, attempts to “bridge” between needing limited, top-tier H1Bs and prioritizing American jobs. [34:59]
• Mitchell:

  “Sometimes we’re going to need H1Bs … but we want very few of those people, only the very best.” – [34:59]

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3. $100 Million Stolen in Ukraine: Operation Midas Exposé with Steve Cortez

Guest: Steve Cortez (Investigative Journalist, cortezinvestigates.com)

A. Massive Corruption Detailed

• $100 million stolen from the Ukrainian treasury in the so-called “Operation Midas” scandal. Evidence includes a literal gold toilet.
• Ringleader: Timur Mindich—very close confidante of President Zelensky (godfathers to each other’s children), part of a “very corrupt cabal that ... runs that country and steals from their own people.”
• Funds fleeced from Department of Energy; used for luxury developments (“Dynasty” housing). [36:18–37:10]
• When Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) tried to investigate, Zelensky used his security (SBU) to raid NABU and arrest lead detective Razoloff under bogus Russia-collusion charges. [40:34–43:20]
• Mindich remains at large in Israel, while honest investigators languish in jail.

Key Quote:

“The scumbag thief Mindich is sitting living in luxury right now in Israel, and the honest cop who was investigating him is sitting in a prison in Ukraine. That’s pretty upside down, I’d say.” – Steve Cortez, [43:20]

B. Context: Why U.S. Should Care

• U.S. aid to Ukraine is “hundreds of billions” of borrowed dollars; with the perpetrators in power, expects theft to continue.
• Cortez makes clear: Criticizing Zelensky does NOT mean supporting Putin; demand accountability from U.S. allies. [44:34]
• Ukrainian citizens suffering: harsh winter, energy shortages, loss of life and livelihood, “villages with no men left”. [44:34–45:00]

Key Quote:

“We cannot have a long-term partnership with a leader who we clearly cannot trust. In Zelensky. ... [He is] thoroughly and systemically corrupt.” – Steve Cortez, [39:45]

C. Peace Deal Negotiation & Political Impact

• Financial Times and Axios report U.S.-Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations; potentially involves Ukraine ceding more territory to Russia in exchange for U.S. security guarantees (a “Marshall Plan” of sorts). [49:24–52:51]
• Cortez’s sources mostly confirm the reporting, noting that Zelensky’s “maximalist” stance is now crumbling because of the scandal’s exposure:
  • “Zelensky has mostly in these negotiations taken a very maximalist approach ... But now that he’s in a very, very weak political position at home ... he is not in a position to take that maximalist approach.” – Steve Cortez, [53:05]
• Kinnett suggests the corruption scandal may force Zelensky to accept a peace deal he previously resisted.
• Zelensky postponing elections is criticized; Cortez demands U.S. use leverage to insist on democratic accountability. [47:35]

Comic Relief:

• Corrupt cabal enforces a “Dynasty” development (after the TV show), has fixers named “Sugar Man” and “Che Guevara.” [49:04]

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4. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tony Kinnett: “All of this free political capital ... traded it all away on a censure vote. Why? For one of the scummiest Republicans currently sitting in Congress, a grifter of grifters.” [20:04]
• Tim Burchett (R-TN): “It’s bogus, and it stinks. ... First opportunity I get to speak to our leadership, I will give them a piece of my mind ... they’re the most sewer-dwelling people ... some of these folks.” [13:38]
• Elizabeth Mitchell: “The one thing that unites both those factions is everyone knows there are way too many abuses of H1B visas.” [29:32]
• Steve Cortez: “We now have the evidence from within [Ukraine] ... just how vast and pernicious this corruption is.” [39:45]
• Steve Cortez: “The scumbag thief Mindich is sitting living in luxury right now in Israel, and the honest cop who was investigating him is sitting in a prison in Ukraine. That’s pretty upside down, I’d say.” [43:20]
• Tony Kinnett (sarcastically on Democratic evasions): “Well done. Way to go. Stellar stuff. Now the momentum's gone. You proud of yourselves? Morons.” [24:17]

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5. Key Timestamps by Segment

• Opening Rant / Plaskett-Epstein Recap: 00:42–08:32
• Republican Censure Failure & Deal-Making: 08:33–15:43
• The Corey Mills Factor: 15:43–23:20
• Democratic Missteps (Jeffries, Crockett): 23:20–27:33
• H1B Visa Internal GOP Fight (Elizabeth Mitchell): 29:32–35:43
• Ukraine $100M Corruption Scandal (Steve Cortez): 36:02–55:33

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Conclusion & Tone

• Style: Combative, sardonic, with moments of detailed investigative insight.
• Overall Message: Both parties are complicit in protecting their own at the expense of accountability; U.S. policy (immigration and foreign aid) is hamstrung by incompetence and cronyism. Only transparency, investigative journalism, and public pressure can change entrenched dysfunction.

End Note:
The episode concludes with Kinnett and Cortez promising follow-up investigations into youth political shifts and more on Ukraine, highlighting the show’s ongoing commitment to exposing corruption and horse-trading on both sides of the aisle.

Transcript

[Tony Kennett]

If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With the all new sleep score, Apple watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions and sleep duration. Then every morning it combines these factors into an easy to understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from good to excellent. Introducing the new sleep score on Apple Watch, iPhone 11 or later required Tony Kinnit Tony Kennett.

Tony Kennett.

Tony Kennett.

Tony Kennett. Tony Kennett.

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Tony Kennett Host of the Tony Kennett cast.

[Tony Kennett]

Let's get down to business.

You're listening to the Tony Kennett cast.

On 93 WIBC on CYTV here on the Daily Signal. Good evening and welcome to the Tony Kenned cast here on the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated. Hear from our swampy nation's capital as we get ready for a rather wild end of the week. And I say that because I'm gonna level with you here actually, you know, cut, cut the music, cut the nonsense, stop all of it. I'm really, really, really tired. And the reason I'm really, really, really tired is that last night after we got done with the show, after we got done with the Top News In 10, I walked into my kitchen and there was producer Nick. And he was standing there looking rather annoyed. Now, a lot of things annoy dear producer Nick, but there are a few things that really, really get under his skin. Throwing away the ball when you are just a few yards from the end zone, when you are just a few yards from that touchdown, giving the ball up then infuriates him and it infuriates me as well. And he looked at me, I looked at him and I asked him what was the matter. I should have gone to bed. I was already in a rough mood. I'd pull the back muscle. I. I wasn't in the best of places anyway. And he looked at me and said, they have failed to censure Plaskett. Stacy Plaskett, the representative with no vote because she's a representative of the US Virgin Islands who is in the middle of a major political scandal. An absolute home run, softball pitch, low hanging fruit. Every analogy for walk in the park easy that you could have imagined. We're talking staples button easy. How do they possibly mess that up? And that sent me down the rabbit hole. And it not only sent me down the rabbit hole, it sent me into texting several of our representatives from congress to reveal one of the dumbest political moves I have ever witnessed in my entire life and I saw every little bit of the Jeb Bush campaign. So I know what I'm talking about when it comes to dumb political moves here right off the top of the bat. To refresh your memory, Representative Stacy Plaskett has been under fire from all kinds of sides and one of the only thing, only times this has ever happened in history. The Washington Post collaborating with members of the House Oversight Committee, including the Republicans, to produce a video showing that Stacy Plaskett In 2019, February of 2019 to be precise, had in fact here, I'll go ahead and start this clip rolling here. Had coordinated with Jeffrey Epstein texting back and forth during an investigation and oversight investigation into the Trump administration and go so far as to take direct instructions, direct instructions from Jeffrey Epstein, not just on questions that should be asked to President Trump's team or you know, what should be asked about certain assistance up to and including griping at her for chewing on camera because it makes her look less credible there at the end of that clip. I gotta say, pretty gross stuff given that he was already a convicted child sexual assaulter. Pretty rough considering what was already known in the situation. Pretty grievous given that the lot of the country did in fact know at that point, though Plasket tries to deny it, that Epstein was being investigated by the federal government at that point. Of course, here's the clip of Plasket suggesting on the floor when there was a censure measure introduced after the Epstein resolution had passed the House and was being passed by the Senate. Here's a clip of her defending herself saying, well he was just like a constituent. Guy is like, come on.

[Stacy Plaskett]

And I got a text from Jeffrey Epstein who at the time was my constituent, who was not public knowledge at that time that he was under federal investigation.

[Tony Kennett]

Now hang on, first of all, aren't you a member of the freaking Oversight and Judiciary Committee? Aren't you one of the Congress women who would have access information regarding whether or not someone was being investigated over things? I'm just going to throw out kind of a little hullabaloo out there, shenanigan filled hypothesis here. Maybe if you are buds with the other squad members and members of Democratic caucuses and committees, you might let someone know, hey, that buddy, that friend of yours in the not too big Virgin Islands, they're being investigated for everything right now. Maybe keep your MySpace chat for another time. No, Plasket of course didn't do any of that. She was pals taking orders from Epstein. And by the way, don't just take my word for it.

Here you go.

On cnn, she was being called out.

[Stacy Plaskett]

Over this today, I believe that Jeffrey Epstein had information, and I was going to get information to get at the truth. Having a friendship with him is not something that I would deem to have. And so I'm just looking forward. I'm moving forward.

[Tony Kennett]

He told her to stop chewing. He told her to stop chewing. Oh, it was a friendship. Oh, I mean, you know, not really a friendship. I mean, you know, he just told me to shut my big yapper and quit shoving down McDonald's apple pies on camera. Goodness gracious. Here, listen to this. More of this nonsense.

[Stacy Plaskett]

And so I'm just looking forward. I'm moving forward. And I think that that's what we as American people should do, is move forward. If individuals are not involved in illegal activity, extending his criminal enterprise or his financial enterprise or all of those things, I think that we need to look at what people are doing moving forward.

[Tony Kennett]

Oh, we need to move forward, guys. Just need a little moving forward. You, me, we'll go to Funky Town, do a little Motown classic, and presto, it's all over. No, no. This is a slam dunk. The Republicans have been desperate for momentum on this. Why? Because again, Attorney General Pam Bondi. I don't care. She goofed in February. She dropped the ball. She not only dropped the ball by botching the initial Epstein release of the files by saying, part one, the Beginnings, Jeffrey Epstein, the Binder, Spaceballs, the Movie. Not only did she goof up there, she goofed up by inviting the biggest Trump era influencers to the White House and then watching them be humiliated. Jack Bosobiak, a friend of mine, a friend that I've gotten closer with in the last year, done a couple of interview hits and shows and things with him. This was humiliating. They were handed a binder, they didn't get to look through it all, and they were told, here you go, these are the Epstein files. And they walked out and they did a bunch of big photo ops and there was nothing in it. And ever since then, Trump has had the attitude, okay, so then this was a big waste of time giving you the job of releasing the Epstein files. So instead, now you actually focus on things that we know you can do correctly, and we're going to leave this alone. And that every single time, the momentum slows down for the Democrats, every single time, the momentum slows down for the Trump administration. Every single time, there's a lull in the Conversation where the Democrats look bad after a shutdown, after a Clinton fire release, after Kilmar Garcia, after all of the disasters around the riots in Los Angeles, et cetera, ad nauseam. The Trump administration would have to hear from all of these individuals from all over the political spectrum who would reply to anything with well, hey, well how.

About those Epstein files?

And as I've already said on prior shows, no matter what came out in these documents, everyone had already made up their mind. Everyone already know. Everyone's already decided whether someone is innocent or guilty or not or hot or cold, whatever. So finally getting through and releasing these files saying, all right, fine, you, you want them? Okay, the Democrats and the oversight committee, they're leaking some emails. The Republicans leak more. And it appeared for a small sliver of a window, a botched job during this administration. Really the one key mistake so far into the first year of the Trump administration. All you had to do was latch onto the Democrats exposing themselves, being far more involved with Jeffrey Epstein. From Harvard professors to Katie Courage, all the way over to a series of Hakeem Jeffries campaign emails and other congressmen and candidates, then over to of course Stacy Plaskett of the Virgin Islands going after Trump. Because it appears again, I haven't seen all the documents. You haven't seen all the documents yet. That there was something that went very sour that got Epstein very, very angry at Donald Trump somewhere in the mid teens and he gets into I must take down Donald Trump mode and starts working hand over fist with the Democrats to get this information that will get Trump taken down. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that it's Epstein who originally started pushing the story on the Stormy Daniels porn star one night affair with Trump. That's where it is likely that came from. It's really the only blackmail it still appears to this day that he really has on him. He couldn't even get his brother to cough up supposed oral favor photos of Trump and Bubba despite the emails asking for them nicely, pretty please with sugar on top. So Republicans had an opportunity here. All you gotta do is censure Plasket. Now in Congress we can censure people if we really put our minds to it. With the Epstein situation right now with a unan a unanimous move forward to actually get the files out of the House and then into the Senate. Unanimous resolution confirmed. Then it goes to Trump's desk. Now you make the Democrats look bad right after Tim Burchett pointed out they're trying to really slow walk this thing by censuring Plasket. And then you're going to have Democrats flake away because you don't punch your own side. And then you would see people that are really okay with defending Epstein, but in the purple states, not to mention outgoing members like the young gentleman from Maine, Golden. Representative golden, who's consistently voted alongside Republicans and flaked away from his party. You really could have gotten her censured. Did any of that happen? No. That's why I'm pissed. The most absolute Charlie Brown kicking it nothing football poll that has ever seen the floor of Congress for no reason. To protect who? Oh, yeah, it's to protect someone. Well, I'll let representative Anna Paulina Luna explain this on the floor of the House in resolution. Here's the clip of her doing that. For what purpose does a gentle lady from Florida seek recognition?

[Anna Paulina Luna]

I have a parliamentary inquiry.

[Tony Kennett]

Parliamentary inquiry is where someone is about to point out things that are going on with the rules that are not normal. Like, let's say there's a censure vote of some sort. Of why the center vote? Well, that doesn't have to be announced. Uh, why is that suddenly off the table? Well, that doesn't have to be announced. You see, if you do things quietly behind the scenes, and yes, there are times when the sausage does unfortunately have to be made. Shout out to the very place that I'm in. D.C. being one of the very first where the sausages made deals in this entire country. Representative Anna Paulina Luna says. Hey, the point of order question here, here. We'll play the rest of that clip.

Florida will state her inquiry.

[Anna Paulina Luna]

I was wondering if the speaker of the House of Representatives can explain why leadership on both sides, both Democrat and Republican, are cutting back end deals to cover up public corruption in the House of Representatives from both Republican and Democrat members of Congress.

[Tony Kennett]

Gentlelady has not stated a proper parliamentary inquiry.

[Anna Paulina Luna]

Thank you very much. But I think the American people know what happened tonight.

[Tony Kennett]

Okay, so she does a little backroom whoopity woo. Hey, you know, the only things that are being taken right now are questions about parliament procedure. She steps up and says, hey, hmm, I happen to notice we were gonna push this central vote and we had all of these votes ready. And then all of a sudden some people had some backroom conversations while we are in session. People are huddled together in little huddles and all of a sudden it looks like the votes are changing. May I ask, my good friend, what in the heck is happening? And Tim Burchett then explains later on in the evening, Tim Burchett of course, just on the show yesterday describing why he ha DC why he despises the sewer as it is. Uh, and he has a very good reason. Here is, is Tim Burett explaining what went down.

[Tim Burchett]

Hey everybody, Tim Burchett, late vote series to censor delegate Stacy Plaskin. She's the one that was received a sizable contribution from Epstein, which apparently is legal. I'm not sure. But she also is the one who was texting with him during a committee hearing, getting instructions on how to better attack Trump from Epstein, sending her the text. And so she's on some pretty powerful committees and that just tells you how corrupt this place is. But the, the disgusting thing about it was four Republicans chose not to vote. Three Republicans voted president. President, excuse me. And three Republicans voted no. So it failed. And what they did was they cut a deal. They cut a deal on another on an ethics vote on a Republican. And that's just wrong. Everybody ought to stand on their own. If it were truly, we don't care whose party these sex offenders and all this other stuff are in when you're going after them. Then we start cutting deals. To me it, it's really disgusting. I get disgusted about some things, but this is one that's really, really bad. You've got some people on there who are chairman of committees and things like that. That's the kind of people we put in leadership. It's bogus and it stinks. And first opportunity I get to speak to our leadership, I will give them a piece of my mind and I doubt it will go anywhere. But they're the most sewer dwelling people, some of these folks. Not all of them, but some of them are. It's just disgusting. It really is.

[Tony Kennett]

There you go. Very aptly put. So who is the person the deals were cut for? Why was a deal cut that resulted in some Republicans voting present, some Republicans not voting, and three Republicans voting against? Well, it all comes down to Representative Corey Mills of Florida. Now, Representative Corey Mills of Florida is an interesting guy. We have had several interviews planned with those from the Blaze staff for quite a while on this matter. The Blaze has had extensive, excellent coverage. I'm going to include a link in the description. If it doesn't air with the show, you can catch it later. Google does not pull this up. If you search Corey Mills and the Blaze, it will not pop up in the initial SEO. I looked for it this afternoon. I pulled it up in an incognito browser. I looked over in Inductgo. It was a mess over there. Theblaze.com/tag tag/corey-mills c o r y dash m I l l s theblaze.com tag slash Corey Mills. There are the articles upon articles that have been written about Corey Mills as a representative. And the absolute scumbag that he is. Not appears to be not is allegedly. Corey Mills is a scumbag of a human being. There are too many stories, there are too many evidences of text messages that he sent sexually extorting a girlfriend. Not his wife. The wife whom he, by the way, originally married in the Al Qaeda mosque. Yes, that. The Al Qaeda mosque who then went overseas and. And has a bunch of different stories from men who serve with him that claim a lot of the crap is very stolen valor oriented. Again, a lot of these stories you can read [e-mail], um, one of their editors, Peter Gidle, has done a phenomenal job of organizing some excellent stuff. Steve Baker as well. There is a lot of weird, goofy nonsense surrounding Corey Mills. Now, I'm not going to get into which of these particular stories are all. He's. He's pushed back on some things about whether or not he likes Islam here or doesn't like Islam there. He's. He's come out in support of Abbott, suggesting that Texas is going to put care as a domestic terror or a foreign terror organization. The Council on American Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood. Corey supposedly supports that from Abbott. Some of his prior history stuff says otherwise. The man's shady. The reason I say that he is a scumbag is because of the sextortion. It is confirmed. Absolutely confirmed. From his phone, he sent messages that tried to sexually extort via threat of sharing nude images of a girlfriend if she did not go his way. It is a kind of blackmail. It is gross. It is disgusting. This is the individual that a deal was cut for because there is an ethics investigation that is pending on Representative Corey Mills of Florida. Now this ethics investigation digs into. Yes, all of it on Corey Mills. All of it. According to an article in the Blaze from Courtney Wheel, Corey Mills allegedly harassed a Miss United States to try to kill a bombshell story. Risky road through Syria, raising eyebrows. Failure to pay $85,000 in rent, Stolen valor. Questions, questions on a bronze star. It goes on and on and on and then some. This is the guy we cut a deal for, apparently. This is the guy, according to several members of the House, some of those personally telling me that this is the guy that we cut a deal for. That is who. All of this free political Capital free. It's right there. Stacey Plaskett made the decision to go with Jeffrey Epstein. She made the decision to use him against Donald Trump. That is how desperate they were. Hakeem Jeffrey's team made the decision to reach out to Jeffrey Epstein right after his initial conviction in Florida and offer a private little special phone number and a personal meeting with Hakeem Jeffries.

Ooh.

All of this free political capital that Republicans could have used every single time Epstein was brought up from here to the end of time for free, right in front of him. And they traded it all away on a central vote. Why? For one of the scummiest Republicans currently sitting in Congress, a grifter of grifters. I better hear a pretty good explanation from this, but why am I saying this to you? And I both know we're not going to get any kind of an explanation for this. Of course we're not. I'm in D.C. right now for other reasons. I am absolutely in the middle of reaching out to various individuals in House leadership. I want more answers on this. This is far more disgusting to me than half of the stuff that Congress has shoved down the American people's throats. Because you might say, well, okay, some things may not be pragmatic, but at least we're doing something good for the party for political reasons. In what possible realm is shielding a guy from an ethics investigation gonna go overall? Remember when they did that with Matt Gaetz?

Oh, yeah.

What amazing win that was. To protect Matt Gaetz from an ethics investigation.

Wow.

We've been reaping the rewards from that ever since. All to protect him. Soliciting sex from a homeless 17 year old so she could pay for her braces.

Wow.

Sure glad the Matt Gaetz stuff went away. Amazing. Now we have Corey Mills. It's stupid. For no reason whatsoever. And, and by the way, again, props. I am more than happy to criticize or to praise any member of the Republican Party at any time. Um, I've been. I've praised John Federmill and the Democrats before. You just heard me praise Representative Jared golden from Maine, a Democrat, for flaking away and voting with Republicans. Nancy Mace, who is currently in a bid for governor of. Is it. Is it north or South Carolina? I think it's North Carolina, right? No, South Carolina. I had that right the first time she got in front of the House. And she did a pretty correct move here. She brought a resolution forward to censure Representative Corey Mills, therefore removing him of committee assignments. Here you go. Here's the clip.

[Nancy Mace]

Now Therefore, be it resolved that Representative Corey Mills be censured. Representative Corey Mills forthwith present himself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure. Representative Corey Mills be censured with a public reading of this resolution by the speaker and Representative Corey Mills be and is hereby removed from the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on On Foreign affairs of the House.

[Tony Kennett]

Thank you. Thank you.

That's correct. That's correct.

[Tim Burchett]

Remove.

[Tony Kennett]

I just don't have time for this. And by the way, in case you were wondering, on the Democrat side of things, Hakeem Jeffries is somehow managing to fumble this all at the same time. Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader of the House. He's out here doing some extra dumb stuff as well. His statement on the whole Plaskett situation just. Just sucks. Here you go. Here's Hakeem in the.

During the high, very high profile. Michael Cohen here. And Stacy Plaskett was in direct communication with Jeffrey Epstein. And this was after he pleaded guilty to sex crimes after the Miami Herald investigation into all these heinous acts. So why is a Democrat, as a Democratic leader, why are you okay with that?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

I expressed my position on the floor yesterday. My statement speaks for itself in a bipartisan way. A bipartisan way. The resolution that was introduced targeting Stacy Plaskett was defeated. And it was defeated for several reasons, including the fact that it was a dramatic overreach related to throwing her off her committees. Democrats, if you're going to ask a question, you got to let me answer. Democrats and Republicans defeated the census. Stacey Plaskett has made clear her position as it relates to Jeffrey Epstein.

[Tony Kennett]

There you go. There you go. For free. Give it to him for free. You can tell even at the beginning, he doesn't even understand. I've made my statement on that very clear. Oh, by the way, Republicans and Democrats voted together to kill the censorship resolution because it was a partisan act of whatever. Where you go. Well done. Way to go. Stellar stuff. Now the momentum's gone. You proud of yourselves? Morons. Speaking of morons, Jasmine Crockett also has at least three IQ points to rub together, and she's using all of them for her Epstein accusations. Really special. Here was Jasmine Crockett on the floor of the House yesterday. Here you go, Jasmine Crockett, folks, who.

[Anna Paulina Luna]

Also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein. As I had my team dig in very quickly. Her team, mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush win. Read. McCain, Palin, Rick Lazio. I just want to Be clear, if this is the standard that we gonna make, just know we gonna expose it all and just know that the FEC filings, they are available for everybody to review. This is absolutely ridiculous. You just.

[Tony Kennett]

I got a little bit of a little bit of a surprise for you, Jasmine Crockett. Um, there's more than one person in this country named Jeffrey Epstein, and Jeffrey Epstein doesn't have a PhD. Uh, Jeffrey Epstein did not make a donation from Pennsylvania because he didn't live in Pennsylvania. If you're gonna be stupid, do so quietly. I had my team Google through the FEC filings and they discovered that, well, you know, there are Mr. Dr. Epstein. Jeffrey. For half of these. Jeffrey isn't even spelled the same. We actually have a G, E, O Jeffrey. You know, the ridiculous stupid way to spell Jeff. Sorry for all those Jeffs out there with. With dumb ways to spell your name. That spelling of Jeffrey Epstein they've included in on this. Ah, yes, because that's what like rich multimillionaire billionaires do. They give $500, $250 donations for president. Yes, excellent, excellent work, Sherlock Holmes. Nobody asks questions quite like you do, so please keep it up. And, and just you go queen. Oh, wait, what's that? She has more. She was on camera more today. Oh, yeah, here she go. More. Jasmine Crockett. Let's go. Open the floodgates.

[Anna Paulina Luna]

I don't understand why they like him so much. Because he clearly don't like them. Because when 42 million people, and I know some of them had to be maga when they needed to line up to get the ebt and it wasn't. It wasn't that Nair.

[Tony Kennett]

It wedding not in there. She grew. She went to a wealthy private school in St. Louis. The reason that I mimic Jasmine Crockett's Eubonics Wonder treatment of the week is, as has been put more acutely by those who actually worked on the staff of such productions, Tyler Perry making fun of different ebonic accents is a better representation of either Chicago inner city Atlanta in the more central black belt of the south, kind of the more drawled out sounds. Texas and Louisiana black accents in the inner city Ebonics. Far more real than anything that Jasmine Crockett learned by watching the movie Friday twice in a row, half stoned. So again, how you somehow fumble political capital. Why her mouth is running is beyond me. There is some other news to dig into today. We're going to get to it. We have Elizabeth Mitchell up here. Next, we're going to be talking a little bit about the H1B immigration fight. Uh, we're gonna have to save the Saudi Arabia business situation, the F35s for another time because after that we've got Steve Cortez with some investigatory findings on Operation Midas out of Ukraine. And hey, is the war coming to a close? And if so, who's the big stinky bad guy that's gonna be blamed at the end for giving it all away? Don't go anywhere. We'll be back with more in a second. It's the Tony Kenned cast here on the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated, first on 93 WIBC. Welcome back to the Tony Kennett cast here at the Daily Signal. And I mean that physically here in our Nation's sewer. Washington, D.C. of course, nationally syndicated, first on 93 WIBC. All that intro to bumper stuff. We're joined by our White House correspondent, Elizabeth Mitchell, who is normally at the White House. Today we pulled her away to talk about not one, but two important updates. Higher education shenanigans, H1B visa shenanigans. Let's start with the H1B visa stuff. Sorry to skip all the nice, lovely beginning things here. Our comment section, our emails have been full to the brim with concern over H1B visa, immigration, labor law stuff. You've got some important info from inside the Trump administration. What can you tell us?

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Ever since President Trump went on Laura Ingraham and said that he wants more H1B visas, of course he's reforming the program, but he said America doesn't have enough talent and so we need to bring in those, those foreign workers. MAGA has been blowing up in outrage saying that this does not prioritize American workers. And so I decided to take a look inside the administration about how people within the Trump administration, from the various departments to the White House, feel about the H1B visa situation. And what I uncovered is that there are two factions in the administration in the various departments where some people want to eliminate H1B visas. So it's very difficult, if not impossible, for foreign workers to get them. Whereas other people think if we reform the program, then we can keep it around and we can benefit from having that talent. But the one thing that unites both those factions is everyone knows there are way too many abuses of H1B visas. So everyone wants to reform those. But how to do it is where the contention lies.

[Tony Kennett]

This is actually a pretty big development. The idea is something that we've expected in the Trump administration for a long time, that there are those who disagree on Policy, much like our tariff and economic issues. Also in immigration and labor law, how H1B visas are transformed. You spoke with individuals inside the administration, some of them on background, some of them off the record, some of them anonymity kind of requirement here. In the first Trump administration, and especially in the Obama administrations, these kind of disagreements could lead to. What's the nicest way to put this? The gallows, perhaps. You might have people that are no longer a part of the administration. You know, things just don't mesh. What are we seeing this time around? I mean, H1B visa and labor stuff? A lot of people are passionate about this. Are we going to see some big flare up, explosive, you know, battles? What's going on?

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

One person who I spoke to said that what's going to happen here is that various people are coming up with what they're going to propose to the president. So the president is hearing different things. He has the tech people on one shoulder, people like Elon Musk, who himself came in on an H1B visa, who really appreciate these foreign workers coming in. Cheaper labor for their companies. They say, very talented people. And then on the other hand, he has the fully America first people, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who says, End H1B visas. She has a bill about that in Congress. And so both those sides are talking to the president. And ultimately, I don't think anyone knows quite yet who's gonna win out.

[Tony Kennett]

Wild to suggest that right now the president may not have made up his mind on this. He floats things to the American people all the time. He pitches an ide, he says, this is what we're gonna do and it's gonna be beautiful that you've never seen before. But then when the people of the United States look at those things, they react to them. He looks at the polls, of course, we know he watches mainstream media. We know he consumes a couple of different publications here and there. To have individuals in the administration trying to pull him one way or the other. This goes down to the state level. So Rebecca Downs, our correspondent in Ohio, has been talking about this in regard to Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign. Anything from inside the Trump administration on communications with other governors. I mean, Trump's currently taking Indiana to task and trying to work with their governor on redistricting. Is Vivek on the Ohio circuit trying to persuade Trump one way or the other on H1BVs?

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Well, it's kind of an interesting thing where the America first people have a point of agreement with far left socialist Bernie Sanders, who is also against H1B visas because he's really supporting workers rights. So I spoke to an expert who says that he sees a world in which Democrats could really exploit that H1B stance that we're seeing from the president right now. Democrats could put it in their campaign ads that the president wants to bring foreign workers in to replace Americans, something like that. And that could help Democrats. But what this person was saying was that also could help the America first people to get what they want on this. If that shows the president, oh, maybe this isn't a position that. That I want to be used against me in midterms. But right now, the President is definitely saying, set being pro H1B, he really likes them. He thinks we need them because we don't have enough talent. That's what he's been saying. And so there is disagreement within his administration, though, about that and about what level of reform is necessary, and that's what it will come down to.

[Tony Kennett]

So the question that becomes, how do you actually go about targeting the fraud that's occurring in H1B? Because, of course, J.D. vance has kind of an entirely different perspective on this. He's been very open about this, even breaking away from some of his prior mentors on ideas of what the H1B V system should look like, what the more genius level visas, the O visas should look like. There's a lot of contention in those issues. So when building out a foreign policy, has there been any concern over not getting behind the president once he decides which direction to steer the ship?

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Throughout this administration, that's been something that I think what everyone is really united on is finding a way to reform this program. And I think this administration has.

[Tony Kennett]

Are we in agreement? That's weird, though. It's weird, though, right? I mean, an administration, you're supposed to get in lockstep behind the president.

Sure.

But there are some wild disparities in opinion here. I mean, to have someone like Vance come out and defend the president's view here, it's really a setting aside yourself and putting your trust in where Trump's taking the country.

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Absolutely. I think that Vance has fallen behind the president on everything and has been really an excellent spokesman for the president's policies because he was able to present the president's view on H1B visas in a way that had a lot of appeal to the people who want to eliminate H1BS and are really concerned about America first, because he was saying that our workers are our priority. We do not want foreign workers taking American jobs. Sometimes we're going to need H1BS to get the most talented people, but we want very few of those people, only the very best. And everything else is going to Americans. We don't want H1BS to be driving down American wages or taking American jobs.

[Tony Kennett]

Well said. Elizabeth Mitchell, our White House correspondent. We'll have to bring you back maybe tomorrow to get some of the other information. It's just that quick of a news day. Thanks very much.

Thank you.

News out of Ukraine of all places, because of course there is. So we're going to go to one of the guy who does the most investigating that just happens to have dug up some real shenanigans over there yet again. Steve Cortez, Cortez investigates.com the man, the bad hombre himself. How's it going, Steve?

Hey, Tony, great. Thanks for having me.

Let's hop right into it. You've got some information on before we even get to the peace deal possibility, magical scoop from whatever. Today I want to get your perspective on this Operation Midas 100 million dollar corruption scandal.

Yes. Yeah. At least $100 million stolen. That's what has been substantiated so far by independent investigators within Ukraine. And thankfully there are still some honest, transparent, independent law enforcement forces there in the country of Ukraine, even though they're under tremendous pressure from the Zelensky administration. But what they have uncovered in this Operation Midas, and part of why they call it that, by the way, is there is a toilet literally made of gold that is part of the evidence of this fleecing of the public treasury, a guy named Timur Mindich. And you'll probably be hearing more about this name Mindich. He is a very connected, very shadowy figure within Ukraine, extremely close to President Zelensky and to Zielinski's number two, Yearmak, who's really effectively the co president. And all together they form a very corrupt cabal that largely runs that country and steals from their own people. Of course, in a time of war, you know, to make it all the worse, regular patriotic Ukrainians right now are dealing with all of the hardships of being at war, worried about being attacked every night, about their power going out regularly as winter worsens over there and temperatures drop, all of the privations of war, the fact that many of them have buried their loved ones in this war and at the same time that the country is fighting for its survival, the leaders of the country or the so called leaders are openly and brazenly stealing from the government coffers, in this case specifically from the Department of Energy, to pay for things like not just that golden toilet, but also an entire housing development that Mindich and other cronies of Zelenskyy are building that they literally call Dynasty, as in the American TV series Dynasty. So these are the kinds of kleptocrats that you're talking about that Zelenskyy is extremely tight with. And that's why the investigative unit, which is known as the naboo, the National Anti Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, that investigative unit, which is. Which is revealing all of these and which is trying to charge these men, they themselves were raided by Zelensky. In other words, he sent his police forces to try to stop them, to try to thwart them, to try to find out what they knew about this investigation, because he realizes how much is tightening around him. He also tried to strip the Naboo of its power. In fact, he went to the rada, which is their parliament, and for a very short period of time, he actually got legislation passed that was going to essentially defang the Naboo. Now, there was a lot of international outrage, especially from Western Europe, so he reversed himself, thankfully, there. But the reality is people extremely close to the president. I mean, these are people for whom, for example, Zelensky and Mindich, they are godfather to each other's children, okay? That's how close they are. They have an almost brotherly kind of relationship, extremely close in business, politics, personally, all of it. We have these people who have not fled the country, by the way, I might also add. So you might say, well, where is Midnich? Is he in jail now? No, he's not in jail, and he was clearly tipped off. Now, we don't know for sure by whom, but I think a reasonable person can suspect that it came from the highest levels of the Ukrainian government that he was tipped off that you're about to get nabbed. So he got out hours before the raids were launched against his by Naboo, against his apartments, including the Gold Toilet apartment. And so he is now safely in Israel and for now at least, living in luxury and, you know, probably not facing at least an imminent extradition back to Ukraine. But the point is, this scandal continues to explode. It is, you know, as you can imagine, it is the talk of the town in Kiev right now and really all across Ukraine. I think a lot of Ukrainians, even ones who have been supportive of Zelensky, now realize that this is a thoroughly corrupt leader. And again, to do this in a time of war, you know, makes it all the worse. And so our Perspective. As Americans, let's remember we are giving hundreds of billions of dollars to this. We have been the primary support for this nation in this time of war because of the weapons, the cash and the intelligence that we have generously showered upon Ukraine in its time of need. And whether you think that's smart policy or not, the point is we can't have a long term partnership with a leader who we clearly cannot trust. In Zelensky. I've been making the case for years that he is thoroughly and systemically corrupt. We now have the evidence from within his own country about just how vast and pernicious this corruption is.

So right off the top of the top of my head here, when you say Zelensky sent in kind of his personal police forces in to target the investigation crew here, Right. Were these like local Kiev police? Were there, Were they kind of like a state police, a. Like an FBI style police? His own secret service? What did he send?

Yeah, it's a bit of all the above, believe it or not. It's called the SBU there. Yes. And so there is a combined security apparatus that he controls. He doesn't control the Naboo, thankfully, but the sbu, it's really our CIA and FBI put together. So it's external security, it's internal security. It's incredibly powerful. And my sources, by the way, who, whom I believe, because I was well informed of this entire investigation before it became public knowledge. So I trust my sources as accurate. And my sources tell me that the head of the SBU is the one who came to Zelensky and your mock to inform them, hey, the NABOO has tapes of Mindich said, I don't know what's on the tapes, but they have been bugging Mindich's apartments. They have evidence and he suggested to them we need to do a raid to try to retrieve those tapes to even if there are copies, let's at least know what's in them. Perhaps there aren't copies and we can seize the evidence and then the case goes away. So the SBU is what rated the Naboo. The sbu, unfortunately, totally controlled by Zelensky. Very, very politicized and corrupted self. I will also add this. They arrested the primary detective. He's still sitting in jail right now. The primary detective for the Naboo who is investigating the Mindage case is a guy named Razoloff. He is sitting in jail right now. He has been charged with sham allegations that he was somehow cooperating with the Russians. This has become Zelensky's kind of default when he wants to harass, intimidate, arrest his political rivals, he accuses all of them of somehow complicity with the Russians. And it's relatively easy to do in Ukraine for this reason. A lot of Americans don't realize how intertwined those two countries are. I mean, the intermarriage rates, I mean, the business ties, all of it. So it's very easy for almost any Ukrainian to come up with ties they have to Russia. Right. You know, they may have been there a lot. They might be married to a Russian. You know, there can be all kinds of family and, you know, and other ties. So it's not a difficult. If you want to be scurrilous and smear people and harass them with the law and, you know, engage in sort of Ukrainian lawfare, unfortunately, it's relatively easy to do. But I'm actually writing another op ed on this topic right now that I'll be posting in Ukraine saying that Razlov needs to be freed and America needs to demand. I mean, think about that. So, you know, the scumbag thief Mindich is sitting living in luxury right now in Israel, and the honest cop who was investigating him is sitting in a prison in Ukraine. That's pretty upside down, I'd say.

Tony, this is one of the things that I was looking up while you were giving me some of the details on that last question. Sorry if the typing noises came through the microphone. I just can't sit still when I get some of this information. I have to look up certain things. One of the questions that I had for you going into this, there's this conversation about if you criticize certain methods in which the Ukrainian government is carrying on during the war, then this must mean you're pro Putin or pro the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that kind of a thing. And that frustrates me. And it frustrates me because I've been outside the United States, and while I haven't had as extensive amount of time in Eastern Europe as, say, our friend Kurt Schlichter, for example, I could say that, yeah, Eastern European nations and corruption, they go hand in hand like America and apple pie. And so stealing from the Department of Energy, though, while Russia is striking power plants in the Eastern Ukrainian regions, my goodness, I'm. I'm not sure I was expecting you to bring up those particular departments as an area for fleecing and corruption.

This is really beyond the pale, isn't it? And literally right now, and again, they have a very harsh winter, you know, in Ukraine and right now, things, of course, in Europe and Russia.

Rather famous for their harsh winters. Exactly.

So it's getting cold. And the Russians, through their drone strikes, have been pretty effective at striking gas lines in Ukraine. Most Ukrainians, like most Americans, get their heat generally from natural gas. Ukraine has a lot of natural gas, but if they can't get it to the houses, it doesn't much matter. And that has increasingly been a problem, a real hardship for Ukrainians. Again, this isn't just, oh, we're uncomfortable. I mean. No, this is dangerous. Right. When you're talking about a Ukrainian winter without proper heat into homes, those. So these are the issues that Ukrainians are facing right now. You have entire villages in Ukraine where there are no men left. All the men are at the front, right. And they're sending men all the way up to the age of 60. And they don't tend to have long lifespans like we do in the United States. So 60 is quite old. It's extremely old to be sending to war. It would be old here to be sending to war. It's certainly old in Ukraine. So, I mean, think of those aspects, right, of what regular Ukrainians are going through to defend their nation. Patriotic people, you know, and you're exactly right. Criticizing Zelensky does not mean that we're praising Putin. Right. It says we need to be realistic, though, about who we are partnering with. And we can. We can say strategically it makes sense to aid Ukraine. And I'm not making that argument, by the way. I'm not sure we should have ever been involved to the level we are. Okay? But putting that aside, even if you believe that it's in the strategic interest of the United States to be deeply involved in this conflict and to be, you know, really the. The primary financial backer and intelligence backer of Ukraine's war effort. Even if you think that's correct, you should still demand partners that we can trust and people who are not going to steal from the very money that we American taxpayers are providing. You know, and let's remember, too, it's not like we're giving this money out of our surplus. We have $38 trillion in debt in the United States. A lot of Americans are having a hard time paying for the staples of life. Let's forget about the Ukrainian hardships for a moment. A lot of Americans right now are struggling to pay for the necessities of life. We're borrowing trillions of dollars every single year. We're sending hundreds of billions of that over to Ukraine, that borrowed money. One thing we damn well, better demand is that they are using our money wisely and that we are not feeding into a giant racket, a scam, a kleptocracy. And unfortunately, the more we learn about Zelensky and his circle of people, Zelensky and Yermak, the more we learn about them, I think, the more it is clear that this is. This is a tyrannical government. It is in no way transparent. It's not honest, not trustworthy, does not have the best interest of Americans at heart. And what I'm submitting, what I wrote in the OP EDS that I already published there in Ukraine, and I'm told by my sources, by the way, that I really get Zelensky's ire. He reads my OP eds, which I'm glad he does. I hope it bothers him and keeps him up. Up a little bit at night. But my point is, it seems as though we're getting close to a piece thanks to President Trump. If we are, then election must be.

That's where I was going to pivot to. No, go ahead.

You go ahead.

Right ahead.

And elections must be held. Okay. Zelensky has put off elections, which I think is totally wrong. Now, technically, by Ukrainian law, he is allowed to do this, but the United States has always held elections during wartime, even during the civil war, even when the war was here on our soil, we still had a presidential election. But regardless, the election is now years overdue, and Zelensky needs to face the people of Ukraine, and ultimately, it will be their judgment that matters more than anything. You clearly know where I stand, where I think sensible Americans should stand regarding Zelensky. But let him face, in a sense, the jury, and the jury will be the people of Ukraine if we have an honest election, and it needs to be scheduled as soon as possible. Again, I think, thanks to President Trump, it looks like peace is imminent over there. That would be a major amazing. But if that happens, as far as restoring and rebuilding Ukraine, we cannot allow the. The. We cannot win the peace in Ukraine if we allow a dishonest tyrant surrounded by scamster mobsters to run that country. Let me add one aspect, too, that. To add some. Some comedy to this, you know, horrific and sad situation. The nicknames that these guys give things, you know, I told you about the Dynasty nickname. The main financier, essentially the CFO for Mindich, and for his criminal enterprise, he goes by Sugar Man. That is his name. The Sugar Sugar Man. Yeah. Another guy in this ring goes by Che Guevara. I don't know why you'd pick a Cuban terrorist as your nickname. But I mean, it's just absurd.

Like is this the 20 year old ladies here in the university campuses at home?

I guess, but you know, is this a, is this a Netflix series? Is it a bad Scorsese knockoff? Or is this supposed to be a country that is, that deserves hundreds of billions of dollars from the United States? You know, I mean, these are honest questions that need to be answered.

So that does. In fact, again, you're knowing exactly where I'm going. Again. One of the good things about being an investigator is seeing, you know, where certain things are headed. Of course. Axios this morning reported that a brand new Russia, Ukraine peace deal proposals being in the works between Russia and the United States. The Financial Times supposedly has confirmed the report. Although I've read the Financial Times report, I haven't seen what it is they're confirming as though they haven't named any additional sources who are like that. This is true. There's what is going on? I'm not seeing any of that. Yeah, they're saying the demands on Ukraine is that it cut its army in half, it gives up certain weapons hands over the rest of the Donetsk region held by Ukraine. I've heard Trump talking about things in the Saudi Arabian kind of summit situation regarding business development today about ending eight wars. I'm not really seeing the validity of this. Am I wrong? What are you seeing as like the US approaching certain peace deals and negotiating in this stead? I know it's kind of a pivot. I'm asking for your hypothesis here, but give us a window into how you're thinking about this one.

Sure. No, happy to. And just too here also, both on the Ukrainian side and in Washington D.C. i've got pretty good sources on this stuff that mostly corroborate the Axios reporting. So I do believe that it's, it's, it's accurate. And also we, by the way, we know from public information, I mean this is publicly known, that much of the President's team, including Wyckoff, the chief negotiator, was just in Miami with some top officials from Ukraine, some, some of the folks that work for Zelensky. That is publicly, you know, confirmed. We know of course that the Pentagon is now sending very senior personnel, both, both military brass as well as civilian people over to Ukraine for high level talks. So I mean, it's clear that something serious here is in the works. And I think the reporting from Axios is, is mostly accurate. Axios, I can't stand their Ideological bias, but they're pretty well sourced into the Trump White House, I will say.

Yeah, and that's, that's what I was going to follow it up with. I mean, I, I, again the, although it looks like some rather jump to it reporting and again, I, I, I don't mean to throw, you know, mud at the Financial Times here, but what it was that they said they had confirmed, I read the article and thought, well, you didn't confirm anything new that Axios hadn't already. Yeah, said in source themselves. But you're right, Axios does have a good on the ground reporting team. They don't usually make up underground, unreserved, you know, nonchalant, non disclosed sources like the New York Times does, for example.

Yeah, I mean, and again, you know, I would caution the, the viewers out there, I mean, believe me, I'm not saying Axios is a reputable source of journalism because their, their bias shows through on almost every single article.

You can say something sounds good without saying therefore I trust everything. Right. There's a difference there.

I'm just saying they're generally pretty well sourced. It comes to Trump administration scoops, they clearly have good White House sourcing in general. So anyway, anyway, I think it's generally true and it seems though, as though the bargain essentially that Trump and, and Russia have come up with for now, in which we need the Ukrainians to buy into, is that Ukraine is actually going to give up additional territory that Russia does not now occupy. And that is obviously a very difficult pill to swallow for most Ukrainians, certainly for Zelensky.

But in return, exit ramp is necessary and a lot of people, given the, the sparse polling that we have in Ukraine, not to mention the rest of Eastern Europe, they do support that off ramp because what else is there?

Correct. And in return, that the United States is going to offer an explicit security guarantee to Ukraine against like a Marshall.

Plan kind of economic security detail along with the military.

Correct. And so, and that is new by the way, I mean, because even Joe Biden was not willing to say, you know, who was as pro Zielinski as they get. He was not willing to say, yes, full security guarantee.

I don't even think he could say full security guarantee. To be fair with you.

Whoever was pulling the strings was unwilling to do that. So no, this, this, it looks like it's going to be a breakthrough. But by the way, the two situations are interrelated. The scandal we've been talking about, the gold toilet scandal and these negotiations. What I mean by that is Zelensky has in these negotiations that Trump forced upon them. Right. I mean, think of that, that there were no negotiations before Trump, no talking between these two countries at war. I mean, that's a absurd. So thank goodness the peace president said, hold on a second, we are going to sit down and Zelensky, you're going to sit down whether you want to or not, because we're paying the tab, we're paying for your war. But the point is here, Zelensky has mostly in these negotiations taken a very maximalist approach of saying, no, no, we want all the territory back, we want Crimea back. I mean, just being ridiculous, right? Something that has been gone for over a decade now and something which, by the way, a territory which clearly wants to be Russian in terms of Crimea. But he's been very maximalist in his approach and his demands. But now that he's in a very, very weak political position at home right now that, that, you know, he's been encircled with this evidence, not just allegations, not just suspicion, but actual evidence of significant corruption by the highest ranking people around him, he is not in a position to take that maximalist approach. And the White House, according to my sources, believes that's one of the reasons that we're going to tell him, you are taking this deal whether you like it or not. This is how we get to peace. And Zelensky's not in a strong position where he can stand up and say, you know, no, the war goes on, you know, I'll somehow carry on without you, which he couldn't, of course. But for those reasons, this is an opportune time, actually, so that the two situations are interconnected. And hey, if this massive scandal actually leads to peace, at least there's some silver lion. I'm never going to justify people stealing $100 million from their country in a time of war, but there may be a silver lining that it might push the Zelensky regime toward peace than it's been resisting.

You know, Steve, that was about one half of the things that we may have had set up to talk about today. So if I could be presumptuous, hopefully if our tech is back, maybe when I'm back home in the studio in Indiana and not in this festering swamp, we can actually talk about the other half and talk about some of the youth shift on everything. Excellent stuff on Ukraine. Your investigatory work, as always, brilliant. Appreciate it more than you know. Steve Cortez, again, you should go to his site. Cortez, that's C O R t e s investigates.com thanks a ton for joining us, Tony.

Thank you. I didn't know you're from Indiana. Go Hoosiers. Into the football playoffs.

That's right, Coach Sig. Let's go. 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. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means half day. Give it a try at Mintmobile. Com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per.

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[Tony Kennett]

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