Breaking News from Pod Save America - Trump TRAPPED as MAGA Rages Over Broken Promise

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Tommy Vietor and Jon Favreau discuss MAGA influencers revolting over the Trump Administration's Jeffrey Epstein announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John, the MAGA firestorm over Jeffrey Epstein is not dying down, not even a little bit. So we're here to cover it all for you and to ask the question, does this really matter? Is this actually damaging to Donald Trump or is this a momentary blip? In our daily installment of a show we're calling Listless, the story of Pam Bondi's tenure as Attorney General. For those of you who are catching up and don't know what we're talking about earlier this week, Trump's Department of Justice put out a memo saying that disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself and they did not have a client list. This led to an eruption in the conservative world

who have taken as an article of faith that in Epstein's files, there's basically a list of Democrats who did evil things who were part of a secret cabal controlling the world and that Trump was going to prosecute them. But what's interesting to me about this backlash on is that it's in every pocket of the MAGA coalition.

It is Normie Fox Republicans. It's like the Manosphere podcast space and the far right. It's not just like a couple crazy people. Yeah, it's everywhere. They're all angry. I mean, look, people have talked about this before, but the way that the coalitions have changed in the Trump era,

it's now the institutionalists versus the cranks. And unfortunately, we're the institutionalists. Yeah. And it helped them a lot. But if you have a bunch of cranks in your coalition, then when the crank theory, du jour, which is one of their favorite crank theories, one of the ones they're most passionate about,

which is that someone is covering up Jeffrey Epstein's, you know, death and potential list, they're going to be pretty mad about it. Yeah, they're pretty pissed. All right, well, let's start with the Normie Republican backlash. Here is former Fox News star Megan Kelly on her podcast, The Megan Kelly Show. Here's a clip. Okay. Trump himself promised full transparency on the Jeffrey Epstein case when he was running for president.

This has been a big issue on the right. My friend Dan Bongino was one of the people who made it a big issue. So did Cash Patel. talking about it over and over and over again, it is just not real for Trump to pretend he's shocked. This is still an issue. Nothing's been resolved. Nothing's been released.

He promised transparency, as did his attorney general. And then they release a memo saying, you're not getting anything. It's over. Just trust us. And that was not real, Trump pretending he's shocked that people are still interested in it. Speaking of creepy cranks, talking to Mark Halper. conversation for another day. So Megan Kelly also demanded that Pam Bondi,

the Attorney General, Cash Patel, the FBI director, Dan Bungee, the deputy, sit down with her for a two-hour, no-hold barred interview. Which Tommy would watch every second of. I'd watch it on .75X. So, John, I mean, look, a conservative media tracking site said Megan has the third largest right-wing podcast audience

in the entire industry. I feel like that's pretty harsh criticism of Trump there. Can I just tell you, why this is so perfect and enjoyable because the administration, they are just so trapped right now. Because, you know, and they've been on the other side of this demanding this kind of shit. But they're base now and Megan Kelly and all these journalists. They're asking for a list that either doesn't exist, which means they can be asking for it forever. And they will never get the answers they want.

Or a list that does exist but is so damning. that the Trump administration has decided to bury it. And either way, these questions will continue forever. Like someone, Elijah was asking me, this morning, we were talking about, like, would Pam Bondi, do we think she's toast? Like, is he ever going to fire her? He can't. Because the litmus test for the next attorney general, the only litmus test would be, can you provide the list? And they know that they can't do that.

That's a really good point. Yeah, I mean, Tom Fitton from Judicial Watch, you've probably seen him on TV. He goes on Fox all the time. He's a guy who looks like he's taking a lot of HGH. And then it's a conservative organization that just like FOIAs or puts in lawsuits to try to get documents. He went on Laura Ingram's show earlier this week and said, quote, they decided for political purposes they didn't want to include the individuals who are on these lists and put them in the public domain. Then he goes on to say there is a list. They admit it, but now claim there's no incriminating client list.

Well, where's the non-incriminating one? Where are the contacts? Where are the associates? Sounds like a cover-up. It's a good question. Good question from Tom Fenton. It's a really good question. And so the way in the midst of all of this, it is notable that Fox News got the scoop that former CIA director John Brennan, who's a friend of collie of ours, and former FBI director, Jim Comey, who's a profoundly annoying person, who's arguably responsible for all the bad things happening in the world.

Yeah, that's about right. Like some fucking play with shells on the beach. Him and Anthony Wiener. Yep. That's another one. that they're being investigated by the FBI over like the 2016 Mueller probe somehow. I don't even get it. But look, I'm not a big conspiracy guy, but I'm 100% confident that this is only happening

because Cash Patel and DiMagito need to throw the base of bone and want to chum the water in the middle of this Epstein firestorm. And like, I don't know if it's going to work. I mean, Fox News, we have Fox News on in our office. They've been covering it kind of roadblocked. But like, I don't think this is going to distract everybody away. It's hard to tell because it's Fox and people are just going to watch and maybe they'll forget. but I don't think so either

and it's also you know it doesn't help the administration that the case against Comey and Brennan is fucking flimsy and old and who is still like in a froth over like John Brennan

only Donald Trump right exactly really it's only about absolving one guy well and you said that you know Cash Patel and Dan Bunginio to throw Trump in the water I actually I wouldn't be surprised if Trump himself like I

we were saying before we recorded like I don't I'm sure the investigations of Comey and Brennan were like put in motion before the Epstein thing. But I would not be surprised at all if the administration decided, oh, let's leak this now, that this investigation's happening, which, by the way, you don't do with the fucking ongoing investigation. Right.

You're 100% right that this has been in the works for a while because there was this kind of like CIA assessment that was put out. And I think then the CIA referred to DOJ, something about Brennan's conduct. But yeah, the timing is suspicious, to say the least. What they're accusing Brennan up is insane. We could do a whole other episode on that, but it's like it's about the steel dossier that was included in the Intel assessment that went to Barack Obama towards the end of our administration after Trump won. And Brennan had argued to include the assess the steel dossier, steel dossier in the assessment. And then other people in the CIA said, no, no, no.

They said, okay, we'll put it in the index and the appendix. Yeah. And that was it. And then in Congress, Brennan said, yeah, like, no, I didn't. interfere with that and we put it in the index and they say, no, you're lying in Congress because there's email saying that Brennan did want it included, but didn't get his way. So that's the entire

basis of the, now they're going to try to charge John Brennan with lying to Congress. They do this all the time. They're just trying to like criminalize policy debates. It's insane. Anyway, okay, so this is another clip. This is from the Flagrant podcast. It's a podcast hosted by comedians, Andrew Schultz, and Akash Singh.

It's very popular. You know, it's sort of like, I wouldn't call them Republican per se, but they were definitely very Trump curious. and influential and have a big audience. Let's watch. Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?

We have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? So we're stupid. Yeah. We're the fucking idiots,

guys. That is, I think, what is enraging people right now is it's insulting our intelligence. Like, obviously the intelligence community is trying to cover it up. Obviously,

Trump administration is trying to cover up. Something changed because they ran on this idea of exposing it all. All these guys had great ideas, cocky, eye, cash. He had clips, dog. He had bars. He was ready to tear it all down.

He was ready to tear down the entire FBI office. Shut down the Hoover building, day one. Day one. Them bitch, still standing. And then he goes on Joe Rogan, and he's like, listen, do you think if I had it, I wouldn't share it with you? I do. Yeah.

I do believe that. 100%, especially when you're staring at me like, this, telling me that. Once you protect pedophiles, you are the most cocky person in the world. So one of two things, in my mind, is it possible. you're covering it up or two nothing really happened and you exploited the of thousands of children to get your man elected so which one do you want here two I'll take two yeah I think it's two also first of all I did laugh at cockide cash I'm sorry I just did I think that that's funny this narrative is the simplest and most damaging don't insult our

intelligence stop lying the hypocrisy don't call us crazy like there's no way out of this one Yeah, and look, the people who want to believe the first one that they're all covering something up, we talked about this in our last installment. Who knows, right? I'm more likely to believe that they just exploited this whole situation to help get their guy elected. And I hope that for all the people who are upset about that now, they look back and be like, okay, if they exploited this and lied about this to get him elected, what else did they lie about? What other conspiracies did they peddle that we might have believed that now are suspect because we think they're fucking full of shit? Now, the one sort of like data point that kind of speaks to Akash Singh's like scenario one or the Tom Fitten demand for, you know, records is that in the DOJ memo, they now say that Epstein abused, had a thousand victims. And were all of those victims only abused by him?

That seems impossible. Like, Tucker Carlson really was seizing on this, too. There's just a bunch of factual things that are part of this memo in the argument that just makes no sense. Yeah, I was wondering that too. Like, maybe they just got him for trafficking and they didn't have enough evidence to bring against anyone else. And so, like, it just, I think, I don't know, it depends on what the case was. It could be, like, downloaded images and that as a victim. Exactly.

Certainly would qualify. Again, we don't know. But, like, they created this problem for themselves by putting that statistic in that memo. 100%. Okay. So our final two clips come from Candace Owens, who is a hugely influential commentator. She used to work at the Daily Wire. Now she's on her own. She kind of exists in a weird parallel universe at times. For example, she did a five-part series on her belief that Brigitte McCrone, the first lady of France, is actually a man. And you know this must be a big deal for her if she's taking a break from talking about that to focus on Epstein. Yeah, she's been on the Macron beat. Okay. Here is the first. You know this must be a big deal for her if she's taking a break from talking about that. Yeah. To focus on Epstein. Yeah. She's, she's been on the Macron beat. Okay. Okay. Okay. Here is the first. Okay. Okay. Okay. clip from Candice's show that we wanted to play. We have flight logs. We have information, names that will come out.

Is it going to be shocking? I don't see how it's not shocking, that there were so many individuals that were hidden and kept secret and not been held accountable. Let's talk about the reverse. I believe in accountability. So you have to now go through your process. Now, I won't say they're guilty until they go through their time. in court. But again, now it's time for accountability. We have seen for so many years,

Pierce in this country, many investigations, subpoenas, testimonies, in Congress, et cetera, et cetera. But there's a general frustration with accountability. We take it halfway. We don't take it home. And I really believe that now with Cash and Pam, there will be accountability. A text says, you're on my mind. A bouquet from 1-800-flowers says, you're my everything. Heartfelt moments belong in the real world, not just your phone. For 50 years, 1-800-flores. has helped millions of people make memories that'll last a lifetime, with gifts they'll cherish forever. Their expertly curated arrangements and gift baskets shipped nationwide with a 100% satisfaction

guarantee. Don't wait for the next big moment. Make it when you visit 1800flowers.com slash Spotify today. That's 1800flowers.com slash Spotify. Okay, so now what I'm going to do is I'm going to take out my little men and black tool, my little men and black tool and just wipe your memory real quick. She didn't say any of that. She's got a point.

How do you square that circle? I don't know. It is Trump's lawyer. Shoes full of shit. Now the in-term fucking acting attorney, U.S. attorneys in New Jersey. Yeah. Great.

So here's a question for you. Do you think Democrats should be making a big deal of this? Because I have been persuaded, yes. Like, I was trying to think about how we might do that. I kind of, I think yes too. I think. Have you listened to our friends at the bulwark recently? JVL was like, honestly, what would Donald Trump do in this situation?

He's like, you could have Democrats out there at a press conference with big pictures of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein behind him and Delane Maxwell and all the kind of like, just make it as fucking ridiculous as possible. I'm like, you know what? I love that idea. I do love that. Look, we have no power so we can't subpoena records. We can't really do anything real. Jamie Raskins worked on some things in the House. I was talking to someone in the U.S. Senate today, and they were sort of thinking, like,

should there be sort of a sense of the Senate resolution and try to get Republicans to say it's the sense of the Senate that Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself or something? Right. Like, you can imagine a much of purely performed to things. I absolutely think we should lean into this. We should make this as painful for Donald Trump as possible. Right. And also just like speak to these voters and say, look, we don't think you're crazy,

right? Actually, you know what I mean? Like, this is weird to us too. We agree. And we don't have to play conspiracy, right? We've been very clear. I think I don't believe. Right now I don't believe that there is a conspiracy and they're covering up anything.

And I do believe that they were just bullshitting during the campaign. But again, I don't know because we can't trust these people because they've lied to us from day one. About everything. Right before we recorded, the DNC posted this. The American people deserve the truth. Follow at Trump Epstein bot for a daily update on if the Trump administration has released the Epstein files. and it's a new Twitter account and it just basically

every day it's just going to say has Trump released the Epstein files and every day just says no. Okay, well, I think it's good for them. Okay, I like it. That's a piece of the puzzle. Okay, so with all things, Candice, John, this is where it goes off the rails

in a way that it's not at all surprising for Candice if you know Candice, but it's indicative, though, of a widespread belief on the right that we've talked about on this show which is that Candice owns is convinced that Jeffrey Epstein is tied to Israeli intelligence somehow. A lot of people believe that, frankly, across the political spectrum.

Let's watch. Anyways, yes, obviously the entire world knows that Jeffrey Epstein was their asset. He was working for them, obviously, okay? From Galane Maxwell and her father's involvement with the Maasad and who attended his funeral, Leslie Wexner look up everything that he donates to. I mean, he's essentially, you know, he works for Israel. This is like a known fact. But you guys want you to be calm.

It's all good. Because now the Department of Justice has come out, and they say that Jeffrey Epstein, he had no list. So, again, she's suggesting that Epstein was, you know, a Mossad asset or Aachen or whatever, and that's why this is. And we should know she does have a problem with the Jews. Yeah. So, yeah, Candice has done or said some extremely,

anti-Semitic stuff. She has dabbled in Holocaust denial or at least downplayed it. She was like questioned whether Mangala really performed the experiments he did like crazy shit. But like but just you know but what the argument she's making and a lot of people are making that there is some sort of intelligence

tie is it is based in some facts like Galane Maxwell's dad had there's a lot of allegations that he had ties to the Mossad. Alex Acosta then the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida is the guy who gave Epstein the sweetheart deal that basically got him off without any real accountability back in 2008.

Acosta reportedly said his hand was forced because he was told Epstein had some intelligence ties. Again, a lot of reasons to question Candace's motives when she turns and blames the Jews because she does that a lot. But I think the bigger picture point that jumps out of me is at a time when Democrats are increasingly less supportive of Israel because of Gaza, if I were Netanyahu or if I were A-PAC. I would be worried about this narrative that's currently exploding on the right in how it could

impact Republican support for Israel. Unless he's pretty happy that this is being covered up because he was massed. This is, yeah, maybe this is the plane all along. So how deep does it go, Tommy? Oh, man, deep. So the most important question is, to voters care about this? Is this a Twitter thing? Is this a podcast thing that people who are bored in July because there's no sports?

on are talking about. I was just thinking about this. Also this week, Biden's doctor, you would plead the fifth and, you know, patient client confidentiality when he was in Congress. Yeah, we actually yell HIPAA for once. Right. You're going to yell HIPAA. And, you know, they've been doing their best on Fox to run segments on that. But the fact that this is grabbing the attention of MAGA World more than even more Joe Biden health revelations, which they have harped on for years and years should tell you something about what a big deal it is. Like, it is not, you're right.

Fox is doing their best, but they're like the, they're the top of the funnel at this point. And let's say, the bottom is, they're pretty mad. Yeah, look, I think the answer to my own question is, I don't know, we'll find out. But Donald Trump rode the tiger of this new, like, distributed media world

very effectively, and it got him elected, but he can't control it. And these people are all as high, talking about Jeffrey Epstein right now. And there, I don't, you can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. Everyone in power is, you know, in some conspiracy and covering up the truth until you're in power and then you can't don't have anyone else to blame. Yeah, that's right. And that's why he's fucked now. Yeah. Well, that's what conspiracy theories got you. Well, Mr. Trump, uh, enjoy the bed that Cash Patel and Dan Bungino made for you. I hope it goes great.

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