Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - 5/26/26: Trump Goes To War For Prediction Markets, Hasan Piker Subpoenaed By Feds Over Cuba Trip

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

Krystal and Saagar discuss Trump goes to war for prediction markets, Hasan Piker reportedly subpoenaed by feds over Cuba trip. Professor Marandi: https://x.com/s_m_marandi?s=20    To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.com    Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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and all put together for you every morning. in your inbox. We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at breaking points.com. Turning now to prediction markets under potential legal threat, but definitely getting a major assist from the U.S. government. Let's put this up here on the screen. Minnesota has now become the first state to ban prediction markets. The governor signed the nation's first law operating in the state, and in response, the Trump administration has sued. This will now tee up a massive legal battle over the crackdown on Kalshi. and Polymarket. The new state law makes it a crime to host or advertise a prediction market,

which defines as a system that lets consumers place a wager on future outcomes like sports, elections, live entertainment, someone's word choice, and world affairs. Why do we have markets on those anyways? The prohibition extends to services supporting prediction markets like VPNs that would allow consumers to disguise their location and get around the ban, and it would force a prediction market site like Calci and Polam Market to leave the state or face felony charges. The law takes effect in August. So here is what the person who introduced the measure said. We as a state should decide how best and what regulations we think should attach to gambling, to protect public safety, to protect our kids. The law has a carve-out for event contracts that serve as an

insurance policy in the event of harm or loss sustained and for the purchase of securities and other commodities. Now, here's where the Trump administration comes in, and this gets technical, so everybody stick with us. D-2. Let's put it up. here on the screen. The Trump administration is now suing Minnesota over the prediction market ban. They say, here's the DOJ, Minnesota's attempt to criminalize derivatives contracts is precisely what Congress sought to prevent. If Minnesota's law is permitted to go into effect, the exchanges that offer these long-standing contracts as well as those who partner with them can be prosecuted as felons. This is a flagrant and unprecedented,

into the commission's exclusive regulatory sphere must be preliminarily and permanently enjoined. That means the Trump administration is that prediction markets are only in the federal domain and must be only regulated by the CFTC. However, don't forget, the CFTC is not just suing Minnesota. They are suing even red states, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, many with Republican governors or state legislators and others which had advanced these measures, trying to ban these prediction markets because they allege that it is gambling while the CFTC that says that it is a derivatives market which is long held. Now, I just want everybody to ask a very basic question. Have you been able to trade on what 60 minutes is going to say for a longstanding time, yes or no question?

Have you been able to trade on what color the dildo is that will be thrown on a WNBA? The most lurid example. But there are many. Have you been able to trade on whether the Ayatollah is going to be, Removed or not. Whether Taylor Swift is going to get pregnant. Yeah. Or whether Taylor Swift is going to get pregnant.

I mean, I could go on forever. The Bad Bunny halftime performances. The Maduro rate. Yeah, when a particular special operations rate is going to happen. What was the one that we covered here, the guy with the weather hot air? Oh, yeah, at the Paris airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport, where he was betting on the temperature there. And then was using a hairdryer to heat up the sensor so that he could win. Yeah.

So this is what the CFTC wants us to believe. They want us to believe that these prediction markets are an extension of longstanding derivatives and commodity trades. And, you know, I actually went and did a lot of research, CFTC. Why does it exist? What is the basis for it? The entire basis for the CFTC and for regulation period on financial derivatives is that we allow, always have derivatives markets on things that we believe are important to the

public good. So the history of the CFTC and of commodities are things like oil or things like corn, meat, futures contract, coffee, any of these consumable goods. Now, why do we allow that? Because it leads to a lot of wild speculation. It allows market price and lock-in contracts for producers to be able to produce their goods that they bring to market, which we all agree generally as a society. We need a meat contract. We need an oil contract. We need corn contracts. We have lived for centuries without prediction markets on what I'm going to say on this show. Or who's going to beat the spread? Or 18 leg parli. Yes, these are real things. They're offered by Kalshi. 18 leg parles on how the Knicks were going to perform last night. And not just are they going to win or not,

are they going to win by X amount of points? Are you going to shoot, you know, is this particular player? Right. How many free throws? You know, what the halftime, you know, whatever is going to look like. Who gets X amount of playing time? Massive insider trading risk. But more importantly, for this whole discussion, it's gambling. And why have we always separated legally and even rhetorically gambling from commodities markets? Now, often they resemble each other. But what is the difference?

Gambling is not about social utility, which we allow. We allow this legalized form of commodities future trading because it's important to us as a society to be able to function. There is no, what societal good? Comes from trading on these damn markets. Nothing. Yeah. Literally nothing. Farmers came to them and said, hey, we like to bet on weather as a hedge against if there's issues with the crops or whatever.

Okay, Boba put a caravan in. Like, got it. Social utility. I see it. All right, we'll do that. And that's the version that's passed. Of course, the Trump administration is still claiming, oh, this is bad for farmers, blah, blah, blah. But, I mean, just think about it logically.

80 plus percent of the bets that are made on polymarket and cali are sports bets. It's blatant gambling. And for, you know, forever, states have had the right to decide when and how and whether they're going to permit that type of gambling in their state. And so what the Trump administration here is saying is you don't get to have that right anymore. You don't get to have that say at the state level.

And this is the party that's supposed to be those, you know, small government, local control party. They're saying, no, as a federal government, we have decided that we are going to open the floodgates to gambling on Taylor Swift's pregnancy date and dildos at the WNBA game in every state. And it really doesn't matter what you or your citizens, what their elected representatives think about any of it because we are profiting from it. I mean, that's the bottom line is, you know, both with the, and we can put this tear sheet from the New York Times up on the screen, D3, which is a fantastic deep dive into the, the CFTC and the way they say how prediction markets and crypto firms steamrolled a watchdog agency. And at every turn, the reason why the floodgates have been open for crypto, which is rife with all sorts of scams and schemes and rug polls, including rug polls pulled by the president and the

first lady of the United States, and prediction markets is because there is a financial benefit for the Trump family directly. And there are financial benefits for Trump allies directly. Remember, Trump was originally opposed to crypto. He thought it was bad for the U.S. dollar. He was like, no, it's a competitor to the U.S. dollar. I don't like it. And then what happened?

Then he got a bunch of crypto money and he got sold on, hey, you can have your own crypto coin. And now the vast bulk of his wealth comes from crypto. And so, lo and behold, you know, not only do they really not regulate it whatsoever, but a bunch of people who had been previously indicted for various fraudulent. activities regarding crypto had been let off the hook by Trump. You know, if you look at the, you know, the ties here, they have a great chart, but we can put this in post in this New York Times piece where you've got, okay, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and then you've

got some actions that they've taken. So they fast-track the application of an offshoot of Gemini, this is the Winklevoss twins, who were Trump allies, whose founders backed American Bitcoin, which is tied to Eric Trump. They sidelined staff who questioned crypto.com, a business partner of Trump media and technology, and of course those companies are all connected to the Trump family, they approved a request by Polymarket after investment by 1789 capital, which is who, Don Jr. Don Jr. is involved with both Polymarket and with Couchy. So of course they're going to go to bat for them. Of course they're going to let them do whatever they want, wherever they want. And so while white collar fraud enforcement is at an all-time low with this administration,

they will draw the line and where they will go in and fight and where they will try to push back is any state, any political entity that says we actually want to draw some boundaries here. We actually don't want to submit to this anywhere, anytime, anything, anything gambling on demand, which has proven to be extremely deleterious to the financial status, especially of young men, or the group that has been preyed upon the most and most susceptible. And look, this belies even the basic statistics. If you are gambling on these platforms, which is what they are, you're going to lose. Like the vast majority of the winner, the vast majority of the profits go to an extremely

select small group of traders. I was reading recently, in fact, one of my friends even told me, like, Susquehanna, one of those, like, high, you know, like very sophisticated trading desk. They have a sports desk now, specifically as sharp betters to go in and to find, like, inefficiencies in various different lines, to hammer them and to basically take your money. So, look, remember in Kalshi, this is one of the most nefarious. things about it. One of the things that they say is that the reason why they're better than draft kings. And this is a fair argument, so let's interrogate it a little bit, is that they don't

set the line, is that they're the market makers, right? On both sides of the trade, they take a small percentage of the fee. Now, remember, though, that because if you take a percentage of the trade, that means how do they make money? They want you to trade a lot, so that's number one. In fact, they want you to get basically addicted to trading. Now, second, though, is that while a casino will set the line, like plus or minus whatever on a game, minus 110 or something like that for the spread and then move that to hedge their own risk. The CalShe is sitting there and offering the ability for a market to be able to take your line as well.

Well, what that means is that with these two people on the other side of the trade is that there's a heavy amount of like influence and market making that happens for the people who are taking the action. And from, again, I know this sounds complicated and I'm still a relative layman on how this all works, it's very complicated. But what it means is, from what I understand, is it gives these sharps the ability to not only hedge a lot of their own betting risk from the traders, but also to offer different odds based upon the amount that you are betting in terms of a trade, which is not necessarily the same as a sports bet or a casino. So anyways, what I have seen

generally is that with all of this amount of influence, the vast majority of the retail normal trader is losing on these prediction markets. And while, you know, their argument is, well, the vast majority of day traders lose money. Yeah, that's true. That's one reason I opposed the Trump administration lowering the threshold for $25,000 for day trading because most people who are doing it are fucking idiots and are losing all their money. But, you know, there is no such thing as there is, let's say, with the S&P 500 or Vanguard or any of that, like with prediction markets, where if you are, you know, just a passive investor in these index funds, you'll make money over the long run. There is no, there is no like even artifice for the average person to invest or trade on a

prediction market where they're going to make money in the long run. It literally doesn't exist. It exists purely to siphon off gains from desperate people, basically, who are on there. What was that article that we had where the guy took out a loan and then bet it all on CalShe? I mean, first of all, what an idiot. But second, like, okay, we recognize we have a lot of idiots in our society, so we have to protect them. At least I do. That's what I think.

And so what do we do? We're like, hey, you can't have payday loans. Because that was the argument for it. The argument for payday loans was, well, if people are willing to take it, then why shouldn't they be able to offer that service? And we're all like, yeah, I don't know. It's usury. It's a Lindy thing that even though it may exist

and even supported supposedly by the free market. market, we all think that's bad. And so we don't want people to be exploited that way, because we recognize the power imbalance. Well, why can't we recognize it here? And it's basically corruption. There's just no other, there's no other story behind it. That's exactly right. Yeah, and this is kind of Grim, let's put D6 up on the screen. So Axios did this poll of like what companies people trust. And, oh yeah, this is great. Polymarket and Fandul and Kalshene, whatever, like, they did decently well. So they found they had a lot. So they found they had a lot of, and they had a higher reputation ranking at number 45, polymarket specifically, than companies like Verizon,

Ford, Target, Uber, Disney, and Bank of America. Now, I mean, I might say none of the above in terms of trusting any of these companies, you know, so I'm not sure how indicative this is. But they had this quote here. They said, 64% of Gen Zian millennials say, the only realistic way to build significant wealth is, quote, alternative methods like crypto, gambling, or retail stocks. That's what they're poll found. Two-thirds of basically people under the age of 44 said, the only chance I have is gambling. That's it. That is my shot. And that's what we've been talking about. I mean, you talk about they're praying on desperate people. Well, the whole generation is desperate. Or that's all we have is desperate people, basically. And they're working slaving away. Things are getting more expensive.

Housing prices are out of control. Never going to be able to own anything. And they're like, what have I got to lose? I'm going to take out that loan. I'm going to a bet it on cali on some sports team that I know something about. And I'm going to hope for the best because it's my only freaking shot. Like that's what we're talking about here. It is this dystopian as it. That is the American dream today. That's it. There's no work hard, play by the rules, go to college. No, it's hope that you have some insider knowledge on some bet that you can leverage so that you don't have to suffer and struggle and never own anything in your entire life. That is the American dream today. That's the reality. This is what, you know, people are like,

Oh, why do you do so many segments? Because I know. I know the truth. I'm like, look, people, we talk about it all the time, desperation, et cetera. I understand that. There's still some personal agent. We've got to spread the word, all right? They're like, how can we live in a society where people are trusted polymarket,

Calci, and draft kings as much as Verizon Target. Like, listen, I get it. All right. I've had bad experiences with all of these major companies. But, you know, Bank of America is a very highly regulated enterprise. Yes, they will rip you off, et cetera. And there's a lot of structural reasons. but they're not explicitly rooting for you to lose

or creating the entire thing. You can still get, you know, decently wealthy by just using one of these random stock, you know, exchanges and just putting your money passively into the S&P 500. And yet, oh, Robin Hood and day trading and draft kings and, you know, it's, I understand it at a sociological level, but it is sick, like it's beyond sick

that we even have this level of trust in these companies. And this is also where, you know, predatory advertising comes into play. Cal sheet run in ads for teenagers or has in the past, just allegedly, you know, from what I've seen, which I know that they've denied and they're saying that they're not running them anymore, being like, oh, it's an easy way for you to make money. Draft Kings and Fandul have the most expensive advertising money can buy for every sports season about the various pickums and how they'll go free $100 if you bet $5, you win $200. You're like, really? You're going to give you $200 for free?

You think a multi-billion-dollar company just made all that money by giving you $200 after you win five, or maybe they know what they're doing. But everybody falls for it. And it's because, like you said, they're desperate. They're just beyond desperate. So I don't know. I just know that I think in the long run, I hope it gets banned. And I think eventually it will, maybe 10 years or so from now. But the gap of the damage that will be wrought in the interim, it's immense.

I think it already is if you look at the amount of bankruptcies and other. other things that happen, the amount of domestic violence that happens as a result of legalization of gambling. It's statistically proven. Look it up if you want to. You can look at domestic violence, alcohol consumption, bankruptcies. The aggregate, I think, borrowing rate, like debt goes up in every state that's legalized gambling. The vast, again, the vast, vast majority of people who bet on these platforms, you will lose. If you've been betting for more than six months and you're not limited, That means you're a loser. Congratulations.

They're telling you, you are a loser. Thank you for continuing to bet with us. But that's how the rules are written as of right now. Yeah. And I don't know the legal ins and ounce, but it would not surprise me if the Trump administration succeeds in the suit to block Minnesota. Sorry, I should have clarified that as well. They're going to win from what I understand.

Because of the way that they have defined, the CFTC gets a broad amount of deference whenever it comes to derivatives, contracts, regulation, especially with the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court. You've got a very libertarian Supreme Court on the side of money. And then after that, it's over. Gambling is now legal. Like, the idea of the states had any influence at all.

After the court rules, it will be legal in all 50 states. So all these tribal casino, remember, they beat the sports books in California. Not enough people talk about that. It went to the referendum, and California is actually went against sports gambling, which is crazy. Texas as well. So two of the most populous states in the union do not have legal sports gambling. They're like the white whale of the gambling industry and of Cal's shabling. and Draft Kings actually like it that way,

or sorry, Kalshi and Polly Market like it that way because they want to be the only option. Soon, it will be legal nationwide after the Supreme Court rules, and then we'll really see what gambling America looks like. Okay, let's talk about Hassan Parker. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide.

range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally

calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas.

and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fox News Digital has what they're claiming is a scoop that hits a little bit close to home here for us. So we can put this up on the screen. They are claiming that Hassan Piker, who they described as Marxist political influencer and Code Pink co-founder, Susan, Medea Benjamin, have been subpoenaed as part of a wider investigation into whether U.S. organizations and leaders violated U.S. laws and sanctions in supporting Cuba's communist regime.

Again, this is according to Fox News Digital. They also published some like paparazzi style photos of Hassan, like walking his dog for some reason. In any case, what they point to here is allegations that they stayed at a banned or sanctioned hotel that Americans are not allowed to stay at. But we happen to know because our own Ryan Grimm was also on that trip that that is not remotely the case. So joining us now to talk about all of this is, of course, Ryan Grimm. Great to see you, Ryan.

Good to see you, Ryan. How are you guys doing? Good, man. Have you been subpoenaed? I have not been subpoenaed. But Hassan and Dea Benjamin have actually also not been subpoenaed here. So what are we thinking about this news? Right, yeah.

I talked to both of them. Neither has been subpoenaed. And so the Fox News report is just factually incorrect. Like, if you're going to subpoena somebody, you spina them. Right. So you have not been served by the federal government. They have not been served by the federal government. Hassan reacted to this Ryan saying it's bullshit.

And then actually they didn't stay. You guys didn't stay in the wrong hotel. Let's take a listen. We'll get your reaction. I'm not going to lie to you guys. It's not great. The news is not great. Okay.

I mean, it's bullshit. We didn't actually stay at the wrong hotel. That was just. something that people made up on Twitter, except for an American citizen who recently did violate OFAC and stayed at a hotel that America does not allow American citizens to stay in.

It wasn't me, though. It was Nick Shirley. Literally, the hotel that Nick Shirley was in was actually on the state sponsor of terrorism list. Okay? Okay, so Ryan, the basis, as I understand, God, I never thought I'd know so much about Cuban hotels

is you guys stayed in the hotel, which is allowed. Right. Right? Yeah. Nick Shirley stayed in a luxury hotel, quote unquote, which is under OFAC sanction. OFAC sanctioned, OFAC being office or not just that. It's a famous, I forget exactly what hotel he's stayed in, but it's famously sanctioned. Okay. Famously sanctioned. It's like a very well-known Cuban government-owned hotel.

Okay. That has been around for many decades and is quite explicitly listed as one you cannot stay in. Cannot stay there. And so, Shirley, from his room at this hotel put out the broadcast about how he was staying there. Right.

And it's like, bro, you, like, I don't agree with these rules. I think they're silly. I think it's called Hotel Nassianel. Yes. It's like literally like the government hotel of Cuba. Wait, Hotel Nacional is seriously the name. Yeah.

That's why it was so obvious to everybody. Like, oh my God, dude, I don't even have to check the list. Like this one's absolutely. We were working with an ADAQ, we might have put two and two together. But, I mean, there's no risk to him. Yeah. He's not going to be subpoena.

There's not going to be any problem for him. What's the statute of limitations? Oh, good point. Good point. If it's more than three years. President Plattenor, I need you to look into those. Okay, so Ryan. So we stayed, and I can even tell you, it's called the...

What hotel does you say? A barrow star Marquez de la Torre. So go ahead out. Go ahead. Go ahead. Look it up. Look it up. All right. Go ahead. And so where did this come from, do you think?

There was somebody who tweeted that we stayed at a different. that we stayed at a different hotel than we did stay at. Uh-huh. And that tweet went viral. And we were not, we didn't have much internet connection. So there wasn't any, we weren't, nobody was responding to it. So for two days or so, this tweet went viral saying that Hassan and this, this, this convoy stayed at this illegal sanctioned hotel. And so therefore they're breaking sanctions and it's criminal.

And then when we got back, we're like, actually no. Because it became this big thing. Like, you stayed at a five-star hotel. And we're like, well, the reason we stayed there is because there's a very, small list of legal hotels that you can stay at that can handle several hundred people in a group. And this is one of them. That's why we stayed there. So we talked about that a lot. I remember you, I think went on with Pierce Morgan. Yeah.

Explained all of this. Like, here's the reason we stayed in this hotel because you're only allowed, which is not a policy we agree with, but you're only allowed to stay in these certain hotels. So we wanted to abide by the policy and that's what we did. Right. I think this one is like managed by a Spanish company or something. So that makes it legal because then you're not giving money. So the other accusation was that you were funded by the Cubans to go there. Well, that's like completely preposterous. Well, going to it because it's a matter.

Yeah. Yeah. So that, that I don't, that doesn't withstand any scrutiny at all. Okay. They did not. The second charge is that this American citizen and now lives in China, Roy Singham, who funds a bunch of like left wing causes that he funded it. It is true that he funds Code Pink or he has funded Code Pink.

in the past. Okay. Everybody who went on this trip, though, had to pay. Mm-hmm. Like, so I paid, sound paid. Right. Like, you pay for the flight and the hotel.

Right. And to food. So there's no violation here. So there's no. Because I can go to Cuba, can I? If I want to. You can go. You can go to Cuba.

Anybody can go to Cuba. And there are, you know, under Biden, under Obama, anybody could go. Right. Biden and Trump moved it back to, you have to have these various exceptions. Sure. One of them is journalism. And it's, so it's not even close. whether or not I was allowed to go on this.

Yeah, of course. I would argue Hassan, too. Well, Hassan made an entire documentary about history. Yeah, he did journalism. Yeah. And he's paid, and you can't be a fake journalist. You have to have a demonstrated career of doing freelance or regular journalism. And Hassan, obviously.

Who decides that, the government, the U.S. government or the Cuban government? It's just if you get challenged, you'd have to be like, here, I'm not a fake. I don't even accept that. That's bullshit. It is bullshit. But then the other one is a humanitarian aid for the benefit of the Cuban people. Like, that is one of the exceptions that allows. travel. The plane that we went on had tons of aid that was organized by a group that this is what

they do. They work with OFAC. They collect aid and they deliver it to, an OFAC is like the sanctions list, and they deliver it to groups on the island that are cleared by OFAC to be able to receive the aid. So people going on that mission are, have gotten approval ahead of time. Like it's It's not something, they're not winging it like Nick Shirley. Right. So Medea Benjamin would presumably fall easily into that. She goes multiple times a year probably to Cuba, like in bringing aid there. Like, it's what, it's one of the things.

It's like, if you ever notice she's not in Congress yelling at people, she's probably in Cuba, like, delivering aid. Yeah. And she's been doing this for decades. And so they know what they know what the laws are. And so they got it. So what do you make of this? Is this like, okay, they're moving forward with NSPM 7. They're trying to crack down on any left-wing groups, journalists, anyone aligned with the left?

Is this Fox News Digital just being led down some rabbit hole and it's not serious? Like, how seriously are you taking this? And it says in the article, oh, they're looking at what, some 40 other people who were on this trip for potential, you know, criminal sanctions as well. So it definitely touches on you directly. How seriously are you taking them? But it's the most powerful government in the world probably. So you've got to take their threats seriously. I think it's an attempt to chill dissent against war with Cuba.

I think that is because I think Trump very clearly and Rubio definitely. They want to go to war. They want to like or do some type of Venezuela style military action. I think they're also being led down a rabbit hole because the Fox News report said that investigators had information that they stayed in an illegal hotel. And it's like, oh my God. Investigators, some random person on Twitter. Well, wait, Ron, why don't you? sue them for defamation? Well, they didn't mention me. Okay, well, why doesn't

Assam sue them for defamation or anybody mentioned inside of it? That's blatantly false. He could. You have an instance declare. Right. And also it's a... It actually would be malicious intent in my opinion. Right, because it's a specific, yeah, the way that Malas can work, it's a specific claim, they have been subpoenaed. Right. So you can check that fact, hey, Medea, hey, Hassan, have you been subpoenaed? No, I have not. Like, it's a black and white question. I have not, should they be subpoenaed? Should they not? Like, that's a separate judgment question. Have they been subpoenaed? No. I mean, I wonder. Did Fox News Digital reach out to them for comment before running with us?

That's a good question. That's important. They probably did, but the fact that it's incorrect, and I doubt they've updated it. So now they know that it's not true. Right. And if they haven't updated their story, they're continuing to publish something false that is obviously quite damaging to, you know, to Median Hassan, which would qualify as defamation. I'm looking at this right here. March 23rd, 26, so exactly two months ago, New York Times, Mr. Piker and other activists stayed at the Ibrostar Marquez de la Tora in Havana. So this is an established record of fact. Yeah, it isn't known. No, we shouldn't go too deep in the woods. But I mean, I do think this type of stuff matters. You can't be rolling around saying that you violated U.S. sanctions when you obviously didn't, at least from what we see right now, especially when you have an additional person who actually did violate sanctions and nothing is happening.

I'm sorry, I can't get over a hotel Nassi and Al. You didn't put to... It's so good. You didn't put to any... I'll tell you. I'll tell you what. I would say there. You know, it sounds nice, Nick, yeah. I always... But would you broadcast from there? Huh? Would you broadcast from there?

Fuck, fuck the government. Why could... I could stay wherever I want to stay. All right? Why should they tell me where... Not if you... I absolutely agree with you. Yeah. Absolutely. It's my money. Why can't I stay wherever I want to stay? I wonder if you get a jury trial because I think a jury would be like, Hotel National looks cool. Why can't he stay there?

Right. But it would be against the law. You'd have to challenge the constitutionality of the law. Yeah. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about. what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

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Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking. criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

When Jacob met Levant this went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you take it also, though, as an indication that this trip, like, it bothered them. They didn't like that there were Americans there who were saying this is what's going on and drawing attention to it. It wasn't lost on me that shortly after that trip, Trump did allow this one Russian oil tanker to go to the island because I think there was a sense of pressure that came from just being there and saying, look, this is what's happening at the hospitals. Like when the lights go out, this is what they have to do for these babies that are on ventilators or in incubators in order for them to survive. So I do think it is a sign that, you know, this had some power, had some impact. I think that's exactly right. Because I think in particular on our Cuba policy, it cannot withstand five seconds of scrutiny.

Like, it can only survive as a political winner if the only people that care about it are in South Florida. Right. And nobody else is paying attention to it. because once you start paying attention, like, okay, what is the argument here? They said they're, now they have drones that are going to attack Key West. It's like, okay, nobody believes that.

You know, they have Russian and Chinese spy bases on there. It's like, the Russians and Chinese, they're all in our phones. Like, what do you? They're a Mar-a-Lago. They need a base on Cuba. And then it's like, we're going to punish them by perpetuating blackouts, like blackouts on the island.

Like what? Like none of it stands up. And I don't remember which politician it was, but was basically pressed on the cruelty of this. And she was effectively like, yeah, some people, some babies may die, but it's worth it. Yeah, I think Maria Salazar was like. Oh, of course it was. And it was my guess before you. Yeah.

She said it hurts all of us when a mother has to watch her child starve. But we have to understand that their freedom is more important. than that. Right. It's like, yeah. Wow. So that that what does it say though, Ryan, about the fact that she keeps getting elected, man. And you know what? A lot of the Cuban diaspora probably agree. Not all of them. I would not speak for all of them, but they agree with that. I mean, that's the reality of this. I have never, these, these, you know, these, the Cubans and the Venezuelans who are down in South Florida, they're like the Iranian Pahlavi people. Their capacity for wanting to save their people by forcing them to suffer and potentially be invading,

is unbelievable. And they have such a hold on our government, including the Secretary of State of the United States of America, who's apparently what was his father's dying wish was to free Cuba? I'm not making this up. These are in books that they've written.

And the South Floridaans in particular are deeply funded by taxpayers. Yes. So it's one thing with APAC, which organizes kind of its own money. And then we send a lot of money to Israel. Great point. But we spend hundreds of millions of dollars

that we send to South Florida propping up this anti-Cuban government movement that then lobbies gives that money back to politicians who then support the thing who then pass more laws that send more money to South Florida so that they can continue to do this

they fund they do actual like paramilitary terrorist operations they have since the 1950s they took down they took down a Cuban airplane civilian passenger airplane they bombed actually I think it was Hotel National

in the 1990s. Like, you could check, check that one out. That was my favorite part of our segment with Juan. When Ryan and I were doing this segment with Juan, and we were talking about this humanitarian group where the, he goes, well, you know, they were also like a paramilitary terrorist organization. I was like, what was that part about the bombing and the paramount?

And that whole network is funded by American tax dollars. It'd be like, imagine if the Somalians in Minneapolis developed a lot of political power and started lobbying Washington. No, I know. It's crazy. To get a bunch of taxpayer dollars sent. to Minneapolis so that they could then work out whatever grudges they have back in Somalia. Like Al-Shabaab or something. Yeah, and then we just have to start bombing, like, only parts of Somalia because, you know,

we're trying to help one faction over another. American people are like, yeah, no, I don't think so. How about we worry about Minnesota? Would they be because they don't seem to be? I think with Somalia, we would, like, the public would be like, no, we're not doing that for you. Yeah, I mean, it really, somehow it's okay. It really does come back to money because if you have, you do have all these different diaspora groups that do have these various, you know, ideological views about whatever is going back in their, you know, country of origination. But the reason it becomes a problem is when they are organized and have lots of money behind them.

That's what's, you know, it's a problem with Israel, problem with Iran, problem with Cuba. That's, and then you also have these like ideological factions, Rubio being a primary example of it, that tie in with that in the whole neocon worldview where the number of, you know, stop fighting the Cold War, that leads it to being such a potent combination. And the funny thing is both Rubio and Cruz, their parents left under the gangster government, but that Al Castro overthrew. Doesn't Rubio lie about that, too? He fudges it very deeply. He said something like he fled Cuba.

Yes, but it's like, Lunders. Yeah, yeah. And Cruz has this, Cruz had this incredible moment. I think it was on Tucker where he was like, and my father was tortured by the Cubans. And he's like, it was by Batiste's actually. But still. Because he knew Tucker would call it out of it. Right, yes.

Yeah, wow. Incredible. Oh, okay. You acknowledge it. I mean, it's funny, especially in the next Shirley part, is funny. But it's also not because, like you said, this is one of the most powerful, I don't think it is the most powerful government on the planet. But they still imagine themselves to be that.

And they have a lot of power and can throw their weight around and have, you know, the courts in their pockets and all that stuff. So it has to be taken seriously. And the through line is incredible, yeah, is New York gangsters who ran Cuba kind of basically on behalf of American intelligence operations, setting up drug trafficking operations, where all the heroin was flowing through. Castro overthrows that. Those same mafia gangsters and, you know, allied with the South Florida terrorists are now just trying to take back over. Yeah. It's incredible.

All right. Well, here we are. But here we are. But he's the one that's going to investigate. That's the, he's the real problem. Yeah. That's the issue and all of them. We should investigate these Cubans who were on it all this stuff.

They just did a little bit. They just tried to raid it with a boat, stacked with weapons. Yeah, right, I forgot about that. It was like two weeks ago. And they fired a bunch of weapons, exactly. Totally covered up, man, all right, I'm about to get hot, right?

All right, thank you to everybody who's been watching. We appreciate it. We have a great show with Ryan and Emily for everybody tomorrow. See you then. Hey guys, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin, and I'm Nick.

And guess what? We created our own podcast. called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests. from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hippocrat, I'll be changing lives,

helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. psych, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me.

This is Help From a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.