Pod Save America - D.C. Reacts to Biden's Cancer News

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

President Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer—news that lands in the middle of a media cycle already consumed with questions about Biden's decline thanks to a buzzy new book and the release and of the audio from Biden's special counsel interview. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy unpack the fallout: the questions, conspiracies, criticisms, and some truly disgusting reactions. Plus: Trump's "excellent call" with Putin, his new attacks on the media and Kamala Harris's celebrity endorsers, and Kash Patel and Dan Bongino disappoint MAGA's conspiracist base. For tickets to Free Andry: A Crooked/The Bulwark Fundraiser At WorldPride, visit https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/150062AFA79E3227.

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I'm Tommy Detor. Lots to get through today. Trump's call with Putin, America's credit downgrade, Republicans making even deeper Medicaid cuts, another Supreme Court ruling against Trump, Cash Patel and Dan Bongino being compromised by the deep state, and Trump lashing out at everyone from Bob Iger and Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce. But we should start with the very sad news that Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. In a normal world, everyone would react to this news

by sending thoughts and prayers to President Biden and his family, and that would be that. That is obviously not the world we live in. Biden's diagnosis comes in the middle of a news cycle about the extent of his decline in office and his decision to run for reelection in 2024, which is chronicled in Original Sin, the new book

by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that is now out today. On Friday, the Trump administration also released the full audio of Biden's interview with special prosecutor Robert Herr as part of the investigation into his handling of classified material. And even though we didn't learn anything new that wasn't already in the transcript, it is striking to hear how frail and tired and sometimes confused Biden sounded. All of this is to say that when the news broke about Biden's cancer, it led to all sorts of questions,

conspiracies, criticisms, and some pretty gross reactions. Don Jr. and plenty of other MAGA pundits have accused Biden and the First Lady of covering up the diagnosis while he was in the White House. Our old pal Dean Phillips, the Democrat who mounted a late primary challenge to Biden, told the New York Times that he doesn't think it's, quote, coincidental that this was announced the week that Jake and Alex's book dropped. And Donald Trump, who posted an uncharacteristically supportive message, quote, wishing Joe a fast

and successful recovery, end quote, right after the news broke, changed his tune when asked about it on Monday. I think it's very sad, actually. I'm surprised that it wasn't, you know, the public wasn't notified a long time ago, because to get to stage nine, that's a long time. I just had my physical, you saw that, you saw the results of that particular test. I think that test is standard to pretty much anybody getting a physical, good physical. We had the doctors at the White House and over at Walter Reed, which is a fantastic hospital. I do it, I did a very complete physical, including cognitive tests, I'm proud to announce. I aced it, I got them all right.

The auto pen is becoming a very big deal. The auto pen is becoming a big deal because it seems like that maybe was the president who ever operated the auto pen. But when they say that that was not good, they also, you have to look and you have to say that the test was not so good either. In other words, there are things going on that the public wasn't informed and I think somebody is gonna have to speak to his doctor, if it's the same, or even if it's two separate doctors,

why wasn't the cognitive ability, why wasn't that discussed? Just a great topic to riff on there. Just sad and terrible all around. Do you think you get hazard pay for being the military doctor who has to put a finger in Trump's butt? That's how complete the physical is.

Wow. It would be part of it. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. There is of course, stage nine, it's stage four. It was a Gleason score of nine, but we won't nitpick Trump's statement there. Details. All right, guys, what are your reactions

to both the news and the fallout so far? Yeah, obviously it's scary and awful for his family and I hope the treatment's effective. And I also hope the story pushes other men to get prostate exams because it's very important. I think days like this are when you wish social media never existed and didn't currently exist, right? You get the narcissist sort of saying the shittiest things

they can imagine to make it about themselves and then argue with people. You have the instant experts, We got half a Twitter. We have the amateur oncologists who are certain they know how to interpret the diagnosis. And then you have the conspiracy folks who I would include our president, I guess, who are trying to decide if the diagnosis was covering up the Her report or the Tapper book or but they're positive it's a cover up of something. And you know, obviously the lack of trust here

around the diagnosis and with president Biden talking about his health is self-inflicted because people feel like there was a lack of candor around his health going into the reelection. One good that could come from this, I'm trying to think of something good that could come from this would be if there was some sort of reform or law that was passed that mandates

some sort of independent disclosure law that was passed that mandates some sort of independent disclosure from the president's position. Like it's a joke that we are relying on these letters from Trump's doctor that say he has the height and weight of an NFL wide receiver. Right. Like, yeah, I know that there's a lot of sensitivity here about a president's relationship

with their physician. Would that create, um, disincentives to get care if you thought it had to be released? But I don't know. There should be a form that is standardized that it goes out that tells us the health of our president or maybe even major party nominees. Yeah, there's sort of two kinds of reactions that you see now. One is a kind of performative offense and saying this diagnosis means that anyone that

was critical of Biden's decision to stay in the race or anyone who believes that the conversation we need to have is being ghoulish and disgusting, which is a performance of empathy and claiming something is disgusting because you are showing that you are disgusted. And then you have on the other side, a kind of, I don't know, like a way of proving your bona fides by demonstrating you don't have compassion as if compassion is some kind of concession to Joe Biden's politics or policies. I think that's what you see with JD Vance, who it is a part of his view that the left uses emotion and empathy as a cudgel and as a weapon.

And so you demonstrate your seriousness by proving that even now, even in this first 48 hours after learning this information, we need to have this conversation about Joe Biden's fitness. And to me, it's like, okay, like, is it that hard to just sort of step back and say, this is a sad moment and this is a debate

we still have to have, but you can also reflect on the fact that there's a human being and a family and it's a serious thing. A lot of people are going through cancer and they will see themselves in the coverage of this story and there's nothing wrong with taking a moment to be kind of circumspect about that without allowing the fact that there is a real person involved

to mean we can't in the coming days, weeks and months, make sure that we are learning the lessons of what happened in 2024. Yeah, I think it's also important just to go through what we know and what we've been told by oncologists and experts in the Biden family, just to, because, you know, there are all these conspiracies out there. Was, did he have the cancer? Did they know about this diagnosis while he was in the White House? Right? That is a question a lot of people are asking.

And some people have just decided that he obviously did, right, on the right. Zeke Emanuel, who's Rahm's brother and was a Obama-Biden administration official and is a, it specializes in breast cancer. So he's an oncologist, I'm not prostate. He said, he's like, oh, there's no doubt that a cancer this aggressive has been there for a while and Joe Biden had it while he was in the White House. Well, that can be true, but also he could not have known about the diagnosis. And in fact, men who are over 70 sometimes don't get the prostate exam.

They just don't test them for that, partly because they're getting up in age and if they find one cancer, then they might have to treatment and the treatment may be worse. There's this whole series of medical explanations. Benjamin Mazur, who's a physician, wrote in the Atlantic today,

it's not surprising, he said, that this happened because many cancers are just discovered out of the blue. We talked to someone, our producer has a friend who's an oncologist at Sloan Kettering, who said, yeah, they just wouldn't have tested for that. Now, you can ask, well, he's the president of the United States, why wouldn't they have tested him for that? But it's not completely surprising. My view on's the president of the United States. Why wouldn't they have tested him for that? But it's not completely surprising.

My view on all the discussion of the diagnosis is I'll pass. I don't know. And I'm not going to judge. And I'm not asking you to take the White House's word for it. And I'm not asking you to, I'm not trying to disabuse anyone. I just think if Biden was trying to spin away damaging reports about his health, I'm not sure releasing a cancer diagnosis would be the most effective tactic.

I think people should just investigate that theory of the case. Yeah, I'm not sure releasing a cancer diagnosis would be the most effective tactic. I think people should just investigate that theory of the case. Yeah, I want to say, I have no idea either, right? Like nothing at this point would surprise me about anything, but you just have to like think to yourself. It's a little illogical. Yeah, so the nodule was found six days ago, there were reports about that.

It was last week that there was a nodule and they were going to test further, right? So they released the information that there was a nodule found in an exam. Then six days later, they had the biopsy and they gave us the results. Also, remember, I forgot about this, but in February of 23, he had a cancerous lesion on his chest. He had a basal cell carcinoma that was removed, and that was immediately, you know, released and told everyone. So it just, I don't know why you would cover up your cancer diagnosis to keep serving as opposed to just getting treatment right away for your aggressive cancer.

Yeah, I would want treatment. It also sounds like the White House is trying to use this as a pretext to invalidate things that Joe Biden did, because they're suggesting that having undiagnosed or diagnosed prostate cancer means you thus use the auto pen more often. He's just using it as a hook. Exactly.

He's using it as a hook to get back to his claim that, you know, that worst case, right, let's say we learn actually Joe Biden was diagnosed with cancer and didn't tell anybody and that's terrible. That doesn't make him more or less fit to do the job while, I mean, it would certainly be an indictment on his decision to run again, but it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not he was Copas Mentis in signing the documents. Right. But this is why you have to just dig like an inch

into this before you're like, the prostate, no one is suggesting that the prostate cancer has anything to do with decline or making you unable to like, that's not what people are suggesting, right? It's just flailing. Yeah, it's just, I think, look. There's an entirely separate conversation that people were having before this diagnosis

about his decision to run again and potential decline over the last couple of years in the White House, for sure, but like, not everything has to be connected. Not everything has to be connected and not everything has to be about the set of issues or topics you're interested in and talking about every single day. And you know, and I just like this idea that like you,

that you prove how assured you are and powerful and strong you are in your views by like saying like, you know, I'm gonna piss on Joe Biden's grave. That's how much I care about Gaza. It's like, what are you fucking talking about? Like, what does that prove? What does that prove to anybody? Right.

And again, like there is a, especially as when we head towards 2028 and we're trying to nominate other presidential candidate, there is a, especially as when we head towards 2028, and we're trying to nominate other presidential candidate, there is a whole conversation to be had about how 2024 was handled. We've had it before, we can have it again. It's okay not to have it the day after the guy gets a cancer diagnosis. There's no rush. Yes, I think that's right. Also, there is a like a certain kind of like, it reminds me of when whenever there were like mass shootings, there would be this kind of clutch of conservatives that would be like, how dare you talk about gun control?

The bodies are not yet buried, you ghouls. And there was a strain of that on the left of like trying to basically like silence views they already disagreed with that have been kind of beating their chest about for weeks before this. Yeah, I have no, the like, why are we talking about this when we should be talking about that? Takes driving me crazy.

It's like we can do both. There's unlimited tweets. Doesn't come with a cap, a governor. But also it does bring out the performative edgelords like you were referencing there, I love it. And it's usually from people who are trying to build an audience on the back of their self-righteous preening about a cause that is very important,

but will in no way be advanced by whatever it is they're actually saying in that moment. And I'm not trying to tone police anyone, like say what you want about politicians. We certainly do. But like the people who live on the internet, I think get used to speaking about other human beings in a way that is dehumanizing and detached from reality and that they would never say in person. And you end up saying things that I think chip away at your soul and your humanity.

And I would just ask, like, look inward. Say whatever the fuck you want. I don't care. You do you. But like, come on. Humans are complicated and life is complicated and it is completely okay to say that you are genuinely sorry for someone and hope that they recover and are wishing them the best and have deep disagreements with their policies

or their behavior. That's okay, it's possible to do all of those things. Yeah, by the way, I feel that conflict, like I have made just, I have made some pretty awful jokes today, but just to get them out before we start recording. Jesus Christ. I have, I'm just gonna deal with it.

You heard him, you laughed, it's all right. I'm not gonna share him, just for us. Now you get the downside of people knowing you make jokes without the upside of them hearing the funny parts of it. That's for the best, that's for the best. I don't know how big that upside is. Unbelievable, unbelievable. I had headphones in most of the day.

Same, same, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh yeah. All right, let's talk about Biden's successor, who is the president. He had a Newsy Monday, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he just concluded a two hour phone call with Vladimir Putin and that the result was that Russia and Ukraine will now begin peace negotiations, though he didn't offer any real details.

He just went on about the US doing lots of business in Russia and in Ukraine once the war is over. That's what's important. Ending the post, let the process begin. Tommy, what's your sense of how real this is? I mean, I mean, my takeaway was that he was just kind of wiping his hands of the whole thing, being like, all right, you guys, he's gone from

I will end the war in 24 hours to you guys figure it out. Maybe the Vatican can help. Maybe JD will come over again. I don't really care what he's up to, but do you? Then if you read the Putin readout, he is talking about the need to, quote, eliminate the root causes of this crisis, which is code for him regurgitating all his maximalist demands,

like denazification of the Ukrainian government, territorial demands. I mean, he wants to, the Russians attended at a much lower level a set of peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul last week. And basically, they're saying saying we want to continue to occupy and fully control 20% of Ukrainian territory. So, you know, it's just, it's just worth noting that like

Trump has not ended the war in Ukraine. Things are actually worse because we've not sent them additional military funding. The Russians are, you know, launching these barrages of missiles and drones every single night. They're killing civilians every single night. We look at Gaza, things are as bad there, if not worse than they've ever been.

Gaza's been under siege for two months. The airstrikes are relentless. The IDF is now starting a ground invasion. So he solved none of the international problems he told us he would solve within hours of taking office. It's, you know, you're Pope Leo. You're still figuring out how your email works. Still figuring out which is the best bathroom to use when you're on your way to taking office. It's, you know, you're Pope Leo, you're still figuring out how your email works, still figuring out which is the best bathroom to use

when you're on your way to the office, and you get, you're like, I'm sorry, what am I supposed to solve for you now? It is amazing, right? He said, I can solve this in 24 hours. Then he said, oh, that was just hyperbole, but I'm still the one to solve it. He does a two hour phone call, two hour phone call.

He comes out of, he's like, geez, this is fucking complicated. He actually says, like, honestly, they need to work comes out of, he's like, "'Jeez, this is fucking complicated.'" He actually says, like, "'Honestly, they need to work it out themselves "'cause some of this stuff is so complicated, "'only they know the details.'" And maybe the Vatican can handle it, just throw it, like, that is wild.

It's like when he, you know, the only pressure Putin has gotten from Trump is, "'Vladimir, stop!' Yeah, one tweet. Yeah, in a true social post from a couple weeks ago. So that, I don't know why Putin would really change his behavior. Yes, dark.

And just the other part of it too, is that right? There's a war that Vladimir Putin started. The only reason Ukraine has been able to survive is because of US backing. Donald Trump is not saying that the US will continue to support Ukraine until there's peace. He's not saying anything to show that he would have Ukraine's back. That's a great sign for Putin, who's now making these outrageous demands.

So he's just giving up the game and walking away. Do we think the fact that Zelensky and JD Vance met without JD Vance screaming at him at the Pope's inaugural mass is a good sign? Maybe, I kind of doubt it though. I mean, I do think they're gonna walk away. I mean, Marco Rubio's been saying this for a couple of days. It's like, they won't get serious and start these talks

and we're just gonna move on to things that are more important. It's like, well, have you tried pressuring both sides and not just the Ukrainian side? That might help things. Vance also called it, I think he's on a plane today, he called it Biden's war, which is I think a really dispiriting sign.

Yes, certainly one thing you can't pin on Biden. Pots of America is brought to you by Tommy John. Our dads deserve the best more than one day a year, but especially on father's day. And you know what your dad wants you to think about one day a year? Him and his underwear. How good he looks, how good he feels, how breezy, how silky and luxurious the proprietary Tommy John fabrics are. I know it's a good day when I have my Tommy Johns on. I feel confident all day long in underwear that are breathable, lightweight, and comfortable.

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On Friday, Moody's became the last of the big three credit firms to downgrade the U S's credit rating, citing our country's rising deficit. Collect them all. Fitch, we got the Fitch downgrade. We got the, uh, what was the other one? Anyway, there's one more rating agency that I'm forgetting. Anyway, all three. We have all three have downgraded us. Nice. This news followed the comments from Walmart CEO in an earnings call that Trump's tariffs would force the retail chain to raise prices. That did not go over so well with

Trump who demanded that Walmart quote,, eat the tariffs in a true social screed where he warned the company, quote, I'll be watching and so will your customers. All of which sounded very much like a threat Trump has made against companies like Amazon and Mattel. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hit a couple of the Sunday shows to try and clean things up. Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs, some may get passed on to consumers. We go back to your initial question on the Moody's downgrades.

Who cares? Qatar doesn't, Saudi doesn't, UAE doesn't. That's Standard & Poor's is the third one. Standard & Poor's. Thank you, Tommy. Thank you, Tommy. Anyone wanna wade into whether any of these credit ratings are in fact a big deal? We've obviously revealed ourselves to be experts.

Go on, sorry. We went through something similar in the Obama administration in 2011. Yeah, I think we've revealed ourselves to be experts on it. Look, it's what the impact is of a specific ratings downgrade. Like it's not a surprise that the House Republicans are on a path to dramatically increase the deficit or that the United States has become the world's richest basket case.

So it's like, are they really telling people anything they didn't know about whether or not the US is a reliable country to lend money to? But I do think it's part of a bigger problem, which is Donald Trump is just spending our credibility. He's just spending it. And we have some protection from the fact that we are an incredibly wealthy country, that we have a lot of goodwill,

that we have a lot of countries that have trusted us for a long time, and it's very difficult to unwind a relationship with the United States in a variety of ways, whether you're a business or a country, but it's imperiling us in the long term. And I think we talk a lot about the chaos that Donald Trump has caused and the volatility that Donald Trump has caused, but what we're seeing Republicans do right now is the same thing that they've done for decades, which is clamor about deficits, clamor about debt. Well, but when they get into power, they pass massive tax cuts. They don't want to pay for them and they leave the mess for others to clean up in the hopes

that it forces cuts to government spending by more responsible people that'll come later. And what this downgrade says, what a lot of experts say is there's only so long you can do that. You can't do that forever. We are not in a financial crisis right now. We are not in a moment where we need the government to spend a vast amount of money to prop up the economy in an emergency. But that could come, that could come and it'll be harder and worse if we are living in a

deficit created by massive tax cuts for the rich. And the other part of it that I do think is important is it's another, we are, like Republicans took this information and started lying about it. So you have Steve Scalise, who's right now one of the people running point to pass this massive reconciliation bill that will balloon the deficit by $3 trillion and he's saying this Moody's downgrade is a reminder about why we have to pass this bill.

We have to get our fiscal house in order, which is exactly what we're trying to do. And so he is just going out to the cameras and fucking lying about what they're doing. Yeah, I mean, I'm personally a Fitch guy. So, I mean, what Moody's is doing is they're looking at the credit worthiness of the US government to pay back debt. And I guess Scott Besson doesn't think the slide from AAA to AA1 is a big deal. But in practice, riskier bonds have to pay higher yields, which means they cost us more to issue. I think the 30-year treasury is now over 5%, so it'll cost the United States more to borrow

money and that also pushes up the benchmark that is used for banks when they issue mortgages or car loans, which is going to make everything more expensive for everyone. Certain financial institutions or pension funds can only invest in the lowest risk assets and that can have a ripple effect. I think right now, the annual cost of servicing the US debt, like the interest payments we pay on our debt is $952 billion in 2025. Our debt is really expensive right now.

Yeah, it is a very, very bad situation, I think. Right, the downgrade itself, what's the impact of that? Who knows, but it reflects a growing problem, which is we are gonna borrow more money and it's gonna cost us more to borrow more money as people doubt whether or not in the long run they can trust us to be a country that repays our debts, especially when you have all of these sort of right wing

kind of intellectuals running around claiming there's a secret method to Donald Trump's madness and there's gonna be something like the Mar-a-Lago records and he's gonna try to downgrade, you know, get a deal on our debt and downgrade our debt to kind of do this massive realignment and all this crap and all of it adds up to mortgage rates being higher.

So on the Walmart thing, it seems like Trump's strategy to deal with the higher prices that are directly related to his trade war is gonna be to just blame US companies. How well do you think that'll work? It's a lot of phone calls. So I think there's like two, so there's the just sort of like kind of obscene

like hypocrisy of Republicans claiming that Democrats are gonna do price controls and then Donald Trump trying to kind of browbeaten, buttonhole these companies into keeping their prices lower. But this is the kind of thing where if Walmart does pass on the price to consumers, that's terrible for consumers. That's just a terrible thing.

It's a self-inflicted wound. It makes life worse for the American people. It raises costs when he promised a lower cost. But let's say it works. Let's say he does successfully bully some giant companies into eating some of the costs because they can afford to do it. Great.

What about the small companies that can't do that? What about all the companies that are going to deal with the rising cost of tariffs that don't have the market power of a Walmart or an Amazon to go to the suppliers and kind of force them to eat the cost? They'll just be at a greater disadvantage to the big companies than what they already were kind of dealing with for years, if not decades decades. So to me this is just like there's no winning. They do what he says we lose, they don't do what he says we lose. It just seems completely impractical. I mean you can't do this every time. Someone has

to increase the price of something because of tariff. Like what are you talking about? Also I saw people suggesting that what Trump is doing here is the same as what Democrats were saying during COVID about companies price gouging. I was waiting for someone to make that point. I hadn't suggesting that what Trump is doing here is the same as what Democrats were saying during COVID about companies price gouging. I was waiting for someone to make that point. I hadn't seen that. I saw it everywhere. I was waiting for that. Except guys, in this case, the government took an action,

in this case, tariffs, that is causing prices to go up. And Trump is saying, okay, you eat the costs, Walmart or whatever. Whereas during COVID, prices went up because of supply chain disruptions. And then the supply chain disruptions went away, but the prices stayed up. So Democrats said, you're price gouging.

They're very different things in my view. Yeah, and the big difference in the first one was it happened everywhere in the world. Right. And this is just solely due to Donald Trump, who by the way, I remember hearing from him and everyone in the administration that tariffs are not taxes

on anyone in the US. Tariffs are just about hitting China with tariffs, or hitting other countries that are ripping us off, and they're going to have to pay, and these other countries are paying us so much. But I guess now Trump is acknowledging that it is a tax on US companies, and when you raise taxes on US companies, they're either going gonna respond by cutting into their profits, not hiring as many people or raising prices. Or probably some combination of all three of those things.

Yeah, the suppliers will bear some of the costs, the companies like Walmart will bear some of the costs, and consumers will bear some of the costs. What's the ratio gonna be? I don't know, that's what Bevin's basically admitting, that that's the only way that this can go. And we don't know how it will shake out. Do I think it's probably a little bit effective

for Donald Trump to kind of yell at these companies? Probably, but somebody's gonna pay, like it's just, it's gonna happen. Yeah, and I think for like, in terms of voters, I don't think that voters are suddenly gonna be like, oh yeah, Walmart's really screwing us right now. Like everyone knows about the trade war. Trump has made it his signature economic policy

and he has the power to lower the prices by ending the tariffs. I don't remember Joe Biden getting a lot of largesse when prices were up because of a once in a generation, once in a century global pandemic. People hold the administration accountable for the economy full stop. Well, also I think this became public

because the CEO or someone at the company said it during an earnings call. Yeah, the CEO did. Right, so the CEO has to disclose this on a quarterly earnings call. Donald Trump calls, yells at him, he says, oh yes sir, of course sir, no problem sir. And then a week or two later, he just quietly raised prices.

Right. Don't announce it, like, give me a break. Yeah. They're a corporation. One thing that certainly won't help bring down deficits or prices, Trump's big, beautiful bill that finally passed the House Budget Committee after Republicans made it worse in order to appease the hardliners in their caucus who had blocked the bill from moving forward last week.

Basically the changes are they moved up the timeline to kick people off Medicaid, they increased some fees for people on Medicaid, and they cut even more clean energy investments that Biden had passed and Democrats. Of course the hardliners say they're still not happy so negotiations are continuing though the House is still aiming to pass this thing by Memorial Day. Trump's apparently gonna be meeting with congressional Republicans at the Capitol on Tuesday as you're listening to this. So I want to know what happened to all those House Republicans and competitive districts who are worried about Medicaid cuts.

They just going to swallow all these changes now? They should remain worried. I mean there's a CNN poll the other day that 76% opposed major spending cuts in Medicaid. That includes 79% of independents and 55% of Republicans. And the reason is 62% of Democrats and Republicans were on Medicaid or knew someone close to them who were on Medicaid. It's a very personal thing for people. Yeah.

Four Republicans voted present, which would be enough Republicans to sink it. Those are the hardliners, but those would be enough to sink it on the House floor. Right now, it is a, like you had Massey posting earlier today about just how much this adds to the debt. He's saying it adds, I think he said 10 trillion. It's like, that's like a, that's double even what the estimates would be if you fully extended it, but whatever.

The fact that it's $3.3 trillion in deficits. Before you add, what happens if you extend the provisions they sunset, which means they've written this bill to claim it only adds over three trillion to the debt over years. But in reality, they have a bunch of stuff that just goes away after three or four years because they assume political pressure will force it

to be extended in the future, just like what they're trying to do now. If you add that, it's I think over $6 trillion in deficit, all of which basically is extending the Trump tax cuts paid for in part by cutting Medicaid dramatically and accelerating the cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act, which are a bunch of clean energy projects, many of which are actually already happening, right? They're coming in to say, to stop projects that are, or to disincentivize projects that

are already happening. It's such a farce because say they get this through the House, they're going to get it over to the Senate. Senate Republicans are not going to be able to pass a bill that's as crazy as this one because they have people like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski in their caucus. And so I think the real question comes when whatever the Senate passes, they're gonna send it back to the House and try to jam the House. And then are you gonna get people like Chip Roy and some of these hardliners to just say,

sure, I'll take it because Donald Trump yells at them or are they gonna be like, no, fuck off? I mean, if I was betting, I bet on them passing something because I just, the risk of catastrophic failure of getting nothing done legislatively of Donald Trump being on the hook for the tax breaks expiring and thus everyone getting a tax increase.

I don't, I just, he seemed a little bit disengaged so far. I would imagine he will go ham on these guys at some point in the near future. Here's what I don't know how you square. Like the Chip Roys of the world, they've been extremely clear about what they want. Like they have never wavered. They have been honest and direct about what they expect.

They've never said otherwise. And this bill dramatically increases the deficit without enough cuts. Then you have the salt people that- Oh no. I'm sorry, but you do- You got the Roy boys and the salt people. You got the Roy boys and the salt people.

And the salt people know that if the Trump tax cuts expire, the salt credits go back up. So it really is like a impossible political situation that I guess they get to yes on by just creating a- Ramming it down the throats. Yeah, ramming down their throats. But I don't, I like, what I don't understand is I can see how you can get yeses from the moderates

by basically having it balloon the deficit more, right? Like that's how you get them. You get rid of some of the negative politics around Medicaid and some of these other cuts and you can get them back. I just don't know how you get enough of the right-wingers back. That these other cuts, and you can get them back. I just don't know how you get enough of the right-wingers back. That's what I don't understand.

Yeah, I don't either. And they're just gonna be taking heat from a bunch of people on the right who are saying, this is gonna add trillions to the deficit. And then Democrats who are gonna rightly be saying, millions of people are gonna lose their health insurance so that you can give, you know, make sure that people with estates over $30 million can pass on their estate tax-free to their heirs.

So, I mean, and give like an average of a million dollars of tax cut to small business owners who are doing pass-throughs. I mean, it's- You have Holly, by the way, saying he's against any Medicaid cuts. He's on the record. I mean, he'll do whatever, he'll say anything,

but like, I don't know how you get to a yes on him. And the other part of it too, is it is amazing how much it is just pure greed, because they could just extend the middle-class Trump tax cuts. Like there is a popular version, I mean, it would still be unpopular because of the cuts, but there is a less egregious version of this

on the politics and on the merits, but they just will not entertain it. They will not change the truth of the talking point that they are going to give a trillion dollars in tax cuts just to the top 1% of people in this country, people who make over a million dollars. A trillion dollars goes to them while they kick over 10 million people

off their health insurance? That's fucking nuts. The CBO says by 2034, it could kick between 9.7 and 14.4 million people off of their healthcare. So that's pretty terrible. And also this bill, like these guys, when they get a tax bill in front of them, they just can't help larding it up

with whatever special interest bullshit came before them. So only 10% of tax filers actually itemize their deductions, but they're loading this thing up with new deductions, including a billion dollar tax break for gun silencers, very important. There's up to $10,000 deduction for car loan interest payments available to people who buy cars, vans, campers, RVs, ATVs, and motorcycles.

And then there's a- They're gonna get ATVs in there. This was a Trump campaign promise, I remember. And then there's a multinational corporations could get an $800 million tax cut on income in the Virgin Islands. So lots of good stuff in here for everybody. Well if you want to help put pressure on those Republicans with tough races in 26 who will be voting on the bill, sign up for Vote Save America and go to the website. We have

plenty of opportunities for people to get involved. Very important. Pods of America is brought to you by Zbiotics Pre-Alcohol. Let's face it, after a night with drinks, I don't bounce back the next day like I used to. Gotta make a choice. Either have a great night or a great next day. That is, until I found pre-alcohol. Zbiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking.

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refund your money no questions asked remember to head to zbiotics.com slash cricket and use the code cricketed checkout for 15% off. Alright quick update on Trump's war on the Constitution and due process. On Friday the Supreme Court extended its hold on the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people

without them being able to challenge their removal. Only Thomas and Alito dissented on process grounds, but the decision affirmed that even undocumented immigrants have due process rights. And one of those rights is being given sufficient warning. Here's a key quote from the ruling. Quote, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster. Trump responded with a truth social post in all caps saying,

the Supreme Court won't allow us to get criminals out of our country. He also reposted a suggestion from one of his advisors, Mike Davis, saying that the Supreme Court's ruling is quote, illegal, and that the president should quote, house these foreign terrorists near the Chevy Chase Country Club with daytime release. That is a country club in Maryland where both John Roberts

and Brett Kavanaugh belong. So the court is- No bad ideas in the brain. The court isn't stopping Trump from deporting criminals or deporting any non-citizens so long as the administration follows the law and provides due process. Why do you think that Trump and Stephen Miller and Mike Davis and the rest of the goons just continue to lie about that? So the Cato Institute, not a bunch of squishy libs over there, pretty conservative organization,

they published a review of the 240 or so Venezuelans the US sent to prison in El Salvador. They found 50 of them came to the US legally, never violated any immigration law, but were sent there anyway. And I think that speaks to the reality of the MAGA immigration project, which is to get rid of legal immigrants,

people welcomed here as refugees, people seeking asylum, people granted TPS, because it's not about gangs, it's not about bad apples, it's not about people who broke the law. The policy is that white people from South Africa can come and be refugees and everyone else has to go home. And all of this rhetoric is an extension of that. Yeah, it's the fact that like they could pursue under what the court has already said, what every district and circuit court has already said, a plan of mass deportations.

They wanna force this specific issue. They want, Steve Bannon has been talking about this, all these guys are talking about, they wanna force the constitutional crisis, they want an opportunity to violate a supreme court order. I Who knows but it seems to me to be in service of some kind of a round of deportations that allows them to grab Tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of people, uh without them ever seeing a judge without them ever having to deal with the ramifications of it uh without them ever seeing a judge, without them ever having to deal with the ramifications of it, that I don't know how else you can make sense of it other than to think that that's where they want to take us.

Yeah, there were a lot of calls again for what Stephen Miller suggested last week, two weeks ago, I can't remember, suspending habeas corpus. Mike Davis was tweeting about this because he was on the war room with Steve Bannon and they were both talking about specifically they should do it. The administration's got to do it right at the end of June when the Supreme Court justices after they go home for a couple months. And let's,

you know, let's spend habe corpus in this country. Did you guys see that LA Times story that had more details about the people who are going to get sent to Libya. So there was a Vietnamese construction worker who has lived in LA for decades with his wife and teenage daughter. I think he had years and years and years ago some criminal conviction on his record. Same thing, there was another Filipino who was told he was gonna go back to the Philippines

and be deported there. He was in detention as well. And these people were, so the construction worker, he showed up at his immigration check-in, as he regularly does, because he wants to follow the rules and the laws that are here. And he goes there, they detain him, they send him to Texas, and then they tell him,

wake up, you're gonna go to Libya. And he's like, what? The lawyer was like so confused. Even one of the correction officers when the lawyer called was like, that can't be. That's that can't be Libya. And they were going to send all of these people. Most of them Asian nationals, Cambodia, Philippines, uh, Vietnamese to Libya for, to just rot away in some detention center run by a warlord in Eastern Libya.

Yeah, it's as if they just sit around and they think, what is the cruelest thing we could possibly do? What's the scary, I mean, I think a lot of it is that this is their idea of a deterrent. I was gonna say- That we're gonna send people to Libya. But Libya is not really a nation governed by any political entity right now.

It's like split in half. There's competing warlords. There's weapons everywhere. There's extremist groups. Like these people would all get killed. And to that study that you talked about, Tommy, like those people came here via a port of entry, which you're supposed to do when you claim asylum. You come, you see the officers say, I'm here to claim asylum,

or they had an appointment, or they already had refugee status. In some cases, they were already approved to be refugees, or somewhat one of them at least was here on a tourist visa. Right. These are the people that got sent to CICOT. The people showing up for their appointments and then being grabbed, being ruled so dangerous,

they can't be let out again, even though they were free and in between appointments they'd already had, they already touched the federal government. And then not just being deported, but sent to a foreign jail of some kind or prison or detention facility. I think the Supreme Court acknowledged this, and the fact that they are being sent to foreign prisons from which the government by its own admission has no ability to kind of seek any recourse raises the stakes even further. Donald Trump is claiming that he has secured the border,

that the border is now, we have locked it up, Joe Biden left it open, I've locked it up, and they were under the threat of- And he's right about that, by the way. Yeah. There's zero border crossings happening basically. And we're in the middle of an invasion, despite the fact that the border is closed.

And there are people that are so dangerous that even though we know who they are and they are free in our country, once they come and talk to us, we will grab them and ship them off to a foreign prison without recourse, even though they no longer have the ability to get back in the country

because the border is closed if we deport them. It's in one of these cases that we deport people and then the court rules, they need to be brought back and they can fly back. You can go and buy a plane ticket and you can fly back where the government can fly you back. The idea that these people that may have been here undocumented or may have been seeking some kind of refugee or asylum status are then not just being deported, not just being deported to a country that is not their

own, but being deported to some kind of a foreign prison for a sentence without end. That is what they just skip right over that. Oh, look, all these right wingers, all these Trump goons, they're all like, oh, we can't have a country anymore because the court is stopping us from enforcing our immigration laws. Nobody's stopping them from enforcing our immigration laws. Nobody. They have created something so heinous that every court is forcing them to stop and then claiming that is preventing them from doing anything beneath that legally to address what

they view as an undocumented immigration crisis. These prisons, by the way, like the people are tortured, beaten, sexually assaulted. It's like, it's horrific. Also remember that we're also apparently the Trump administration's plan is to send one million Palestinians in Gaza to Libya. Right, oh yeah, I saw that.

And relocate like the entire Gaza Strip. So I saw a report that that, in terms of like population proportion, that would be like relocating 40 or 45 million people to the United States. Like it's completely unworkable. There's no infrastructure. There's no way to take care of that number of people. But this is a serious plan that's being considered. Now, it's been rejected by, there's two, there's like a Western government in Tripoli and then there's an Eastern government run by this warlord. They're both like, no, this is crazy. We're rejecting this idea, but the Israelis seem down to do it.

And all the people that they're sending to these prisons from here, you know, the right wing is like, well, but they're all terrorists or gang members. It's like, says you, says the Trump administration without ever proving it in a court of law. They do not offer any evidence. They do not go see a judge.

They don't do any of these things. They just say, we say that they're terrorists. We say that they're gang members. And of course, there are some gang members. There are some criminals. There are some violent people that they are deporting in this country. And they use those deportations and those stories to say like, well, that means it's everyone. And of course it's not.

And they've just been caught in so many fucking lies. Like the spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, a job that in many cases would be one where, in a serious crisis, would need to tell you information about what is happening is a fucking liar. She just lies all the time from that podium. She, we've been caught over and over again. They've lied about Andres Hernandez Romero.

They have lied about all these people. So you can't take them, forget not proving it. They are lying about it. They don't care about the truth Romero. They have lied about all of these people. So you can't take them, forget not proving it. They are lying about it. They don't care about the truth. Yeah, the Supreme Court did rule in Trump's favor on another immigration issue Monday. The administration can proceed for now with revoking a temporary protected status, TPS,

for Venezuelans here legally putting nearly 350,000 more migrants at risk of deportation. Only Katanji Brown Jackson dissented on that one. But the administration's rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to quickly remove Venezuelans who the government says belong to the Tren de Aragua gang is really falling apart. Last week, Tulsi Gabbard fired the two members of the National Intelligence Council who wrote a report that concluded the government of Venezuela is not directing the activities of Tren de

Aragua, meaning it's not an invasion, meaning Trump can't invoke the Alien Enemies Act. The New York Times reported that after the report was leaked, one of Tulsi Gabbard's top aides asked the National Intelligence Council to, quote, rethink its analysis and issue a new assessment. But their assessment didn't change. So Gabbard fired the two top members of the National Intelligence Council with the stated reason being that she's trying to end

the quote, weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community. That's where she nailed that one. That's an interesting way to stop weaponization. Yeah, and this is some of those brazen politicization interference in the intelligence community since the Iraq war. I mean, remember, the rock was Dick Cheney

and his goons cherry picking intelligence that fit the narrative. They wanted to sell about Iraq having WMD or whatever. And that meant elevating intelligence that we believe with low confidence and presenting it as dispositive while downplaying dissenting opinions. This is her having a person be like,

hey, I know you said you think this, but what if you thought that? And when they disagreed, they fired them? Like that is, I don't know. It's like a new level of shocking. And also, Laura Loomer was behind this one. Laura Loomer tweeted on April 20, the NIC senior official should be fired.

And then it happened. Remember Laura Loomer is this right-wing freak who chained herself to the Twitter offices in New York City and was wearing a star of David because she said she was being persecuted like the Jews during the Holocaust. I just, the United States is not currently under invasion

by Venezuela. I just think that's a kind of, the words have meaning. Like, the Tren de Agua, I don't think, I think any, if we have gang members that are committing violent and terrible crimes in our country and are here, illegally they should be arrested and deported, of course. But the word invasion has meaning. We're not being invaded.

America's, we're not being invaded. Like dancing on the head of a pin here, like, well, technically if we can prove that someone in the Venezuelan government is in contact with someone from Tren de Rigo, then we can call it an invasion, it's ridiculous. The Supreme Court hasn't yet ruled on the, whether it's appropriate, whether it's lawful

for Trump to invoke alien enemies, they keep pushing that off. In the latest ruling, they basically kicked it back to the Fifth Circuit to tell them to rule, and then it will come back to the Supreme Court at some point. This Tulsi stuff, the intelligence, this is, their case wasn't great before the administration's case on Alien Enemies Act,

but this is gonna really fuck it. But also, like, in the near term, this means it justifies the deportations of these Venezuelan migrants. What if Trump decides, you know what, we gotta take the fight to Maduro? This invasion,. What if Trump decides, you know what, we gotta take the fight to Maduro. This invasion, we gotta cut it off, you know,

we're at the head and invade them, right? Because remember in the first Trump term, John Bolton famously went to the press briefing room with like a little note that was visible on his folder that said 5,000 US troops to Colombia where he was trying to like beat the drum of war with the Venezuelans. Like Marco Rubio is very much on board with this sort of hard line anti-Maduro, anti-Venezuela

worldview. I don't know. Like it just, this is, it could get so much worse than this. And it's setting a precedent that no one in Congress seems to care about on the Republican side. Also, it may be lawful, at least that's what the Supreme Court rules, that Trump can revoke temporary protected status for 350,000 Venezuelans, but it is a horrific policy. Imagine if you're in this country legally and you've been settling here because you

were granted protected status and you have legal status in your Venezuela and you wake up today and you realize like, now I could be, and it's not just deported back to Venezuela, which would be bad enough. Who knows what these people will do with you? Who knows if you get to sent to CICOT or you get sent to fucking Libya or wherever else. You have it, you had a DUI and suddenly you're in a detention facility without end.

It's a revoking, like, I mean, it is bad enough just from a human standpoint to revoke the status from people that are desperately fleeing political instability and violence. Revoking the status from Afghan refugees who were allies, who by many accounts would be basically facing death if they go back to Afghanistan, revoking the status of

those people who worked with special forces, who worked with American troops, who risked their lives and helped our military. You're going to send them back while bringing in a bunch of fucking white South African refugees to kind of stoke the erogenous zone of your right wing racist base is disgusting. And as with the US government policy in Venezuela is like just to destroy their economy with as many sanctions that we can possibly layer on. So we're sending people back. There's no life you can build from yourself in Venezuela if you're trying to get a job.

If you're an asylum seeker, if you're seen as a political dissident, you will face persecution, violence, or just economic destitution. This podcast sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to elevate your online presence and drive your success. Squarespace provides all the tools you need to promote and get paid for your services in one platform. Create a professional website to showcase your offerings and attract clients.

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invest in your dream domain today. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash crooked to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain that's squarespace.com slash crooked. Speaking of people whose job it is to keep us all safe, Wairspace.com slash crooked. Speaking of people whose job it is to keep us all safe, FBI director Cash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino,

what a duo, sat down on Sunday for a Fox interview where they made clear that they've been compromised by the deep state. When asked about the truth behind the Trump assassination attempts and the death of Jeffrey Epstein, here's what they said. In some of these cases, the there you're looking for is not there. And I know people, I get it. I understand. It's not there. If it was there, we would have told you.

As someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor, who's been in that prison system, who's been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who's been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was. He killed himself. Again, you want me to get, I've seen the whole file. He killed himself. Who got to them? Maybe they were already, look, who better to protect the deep state than two people

that had claimed to be outsiders all along. Two people that these, that the conspiracy theorists thought they could trust who now once finally in their position to do the ultimate coverup. It's incredible work. It's incredible work by the Jews. I thought you were going to say Hillary Clinton. Yeah, and Hillary Clinton. Yeah.

Someone tweeted the other day, why does Cash Patel always look like he just shit his pants? It's really spot on. Isn't it a little bit strange? Like I was talking about this with Tim because we did a short YouTube thing about this, but they seem to be acting almost responsible in this conversation.

Like it's weird. Well, they're getting attacked. Yeah, yeah, the MAGA people are very upset with them. But you know, I've had this thought and this interview really brought it back up for me, which is there are a lot of just awful, awful people in the cabinet, but I thought that Cash Patel and Dan Bongino

would be at the very top of the list. And there's still plenty of time. I don't wanna count my chickens here. But they are not, they're not the worst ones so far. It's, it's, it's so strange. Like we have no idea what they're pursuing. We have no idea what kind of unholy investigations they're launching, planning to launch

what's going on behind the scenes. But the fact that- Yeah, maybe they're like, we got the last two years. This is like- We're gonna go nuts on the last two years. We're two hours into an eight hour drive. Exactly. And you're like, I can't believe there's no traffic. This is gonna, we're going to go, we're going to go nuts on the last two years. We're two hours into an eight hour drive. Exactly. And you're like, I can't believe there's no traffic.

This is going to end a disaster, man. Well, yeah. I would just also point out like, these are clearly guys who went from being like right wing podcasters who would just spew conspiracy theories and service of building an audience. Like January 6th was an inside job. Cash Patel played footsie with QAnon.

He did, he was, you know, threatened to prosecute the media for reporting on January 6th was an inside job. Cash Patel played footsie with QAnon. He did. He threatened to prosecute the media for reporting on January 6th. He talked about selling supplements that can detoxify you from the COVID vaccine. So every conspiracy theory was just an opportunity to grift and build an audience. Now they have responsibility.

They're getting attacked for not releasing the Epstein files. And I think clearly they're flailing a bit. But what is remarkable from that interview is like, this is the shit they're spending most of their time on. You can just tell. They are like managing right-wing fever dreams. And you have to wonder, what does the opportunity cost here?

What is the FBI not doing? What are we like, what like espionage case are the Chinese just like fulfilling to their wildest dreams? Yeah, they can't believe their luck. They cannot believe their luck. Yeah, I also like the, I find, cause I had the other reaction to this,

which is what are they hearing? What are they seeing that makes them feel so chastened by this role, like the seriousness of this role that they feel like they need to go out there and basically defend the Bureau. Maybe they're just straight shooters, you know, like you. Calling feel like they need to go out there and basically defend the Bureau. Maybe they're just straight shooters, you know, like you. Calling them like they see it. They're awful.

I would not have imagined that, like if you had heard that Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem would be making headlines for doing more evil shit so far in the Trump administration than Dan Bongino and Cash Patel, like I wouldn't have taken that bet. Yeah, I just think the nature of the job. I mean, like when do you hear from the deputy FBI director normally? Never.

It's weird that they're doing these interviews in the first place. And they're also kind of mopping up shit that Pam Bondi spilled on the ground. Cause she went out there and gave all these right wing influencers these folders. Phase one binder. That was supposed to be a surprise for everyone.

Right, it was a big surprise. Very nice. Well, it's... Like even Marco Rubio has done some horrible shit Horrible. Compared to these days. Yeah, it's turtles all the way down with these people. But the, so Trump over the weekend

just reposted this conspiracy video from 2016. Oh, you have the Clinton body count? Of the Clinton body count of all the different, Hillary Clinton, I don't know if your dear listeners are surprised to me as it might be to you, one of the most prol count of all the different, Hillary Clinton, I don't know if you're a dear listener, is as surprised to me as it might be to you, one of the most prolific serial killers basically, just a spree for decades. And I wonder if he posted that.

It's like the conspiracy theory version of his Medicare EO where he's like, he knows he's about to see, he knew that Dan Bongino and Cash Patel were about to say that Epstein killed himself. so he needed to get out in front of it and put out some fucking fringe conspiracy content about Hillary Clinton because there's just no there there. He's doing interviews where he's talking about how I'm putting out the RFK file, I'm putting out the JFK file,

I'm putting out the MLK file, I'm putting out the alien file, but there's no there there anywhere. None of this is leading to the kind of grand, they're not coming to completion. The right wing conspiracy theories, they're not finishing. And Trump has just kind of been edging these people for fucking a decade. And I think he genuinely doesn't know what to do. Right?

Yeah. Isn't that right, Tommy? I couldn't have said it better myself. He also has siloed communication channels where he's allowed to just chum the water over on Tooth Social and then be like semi-normal and public. Yeah.

No, I think that's another point too. I mean, I think there's still hope for a Cash Patel and Dan Bongino from some of the mega base if they're disappointed because they were also asked about January 6th and specifically whether there were undercover FBI agents in the crowd egging people on, something that Cash Patel has mused about in the past. He seemed really excited to tell Maria Bartiromo that the Bureau is sending documents to Congress right now full of new answers on this.

And then Bongino stepped in to kind of throw a little cold water on that, saying that when we do get information, everyone needs to remember the difference between an FBI agent and an FBI source. Just Dan Bongino, voice of reason again. Deputy Dan kind of bigfoot in his boss there. Well, it's funny because when Bongino was being,

yeah, when Bongino was, I know it was during the hearing or when he was being interviewed about whether, about like his different role, he talked about how, when you're a podcaster, it's one role and I've had other, I've had serious roles in my, and it does like genuinely seem like he views them as like fundamentally Distinct what a world well, I mean they do have a workforce, right?

They have to go wake up the next day and work with a bunch of FBI officials and look them in the eye in meetings And those are serious fucking guys that like don't suffer fools that are probably pretty intimidating Yeah, and you know you I think everyone kind of gets captured by the building you work in to some extent. You go a little bit native in these jobs. And so what I think they're setting up is the fact that there were probably people in the crowd on January 6th who had been FBI sources. Yeah, there were.

And the right-wing conspiracy theory has always been that the FBI sent those people out into the crowd and they told them, like, let's go do it, let's storm the Capitol. And they were kind of like fomenting the violent part of the day, and the FBI is directly responsible for it in some way. And that's obviously not true, and it's never been the case, but they're kind of clearly alluding to that,

and what they're trying to tell the audience is, be satisfied when what we tell you is that there were FBI sources in the crowd that day and not necessarily undercover agents. Yeah. Well, there was a, I think there was an IG report, an inspector general's report in 2024 about this. And I think there were around like 20 sources, FBI sources who were in or in and around the Capitol that day. Including like the Proud Boy leadership.

Right. But there was only, but they were, and they were like three or four that the FBI had asked to go there to monitor domestic terrorism. So I am sure that there are going to be things that had been in that report already that will be revealed as like it's suddenly new information and all that kind of shit. It's also so fucking stupid. It's not far from the Tren de Agua thing. Like, oh, they're trying to find a connection to Tren de Agua.

We haven't been embedded by Venezuela. No report can change that. Okay, let's say there was, let's say there was an FBI informant somewhere there on January 6th. If an FBI informant is standing next to you and he's like, Hey, you want to go rob this fucking bank? You're not like, there's no, you're still robbing a bank. You still have to say no. If all your, if all your FBI enforcements were to jump off a bridge, would you do that too? It's not, it's not, it's not an absolution. I mean, just apparently today they decided the Trump administration is gonna give Ashley Babbitt's family $5 billion.

They're gonna settle that. Taxpayer money, that's your money, going to the family of someone who tried to break into the Capitol and injure police officers. Yeah, I suspect this will be similar to the Epstein case in that a lot of this information's in the public domain already and they're gonna repackage it. Like if you talk to really the smart journalists

who have really covered Jeffrey Epstein and his various horrific crimes and prosecutions, et cetera, over the decades, they'll tell you like, there's not a little black book waiting to be released by the FBI. Like a lot of this information has been in the public domain, it's been in court filings, it's been reported out by journalists

and people are waiting for a smoking gun that probably does not exist. Trump also spent a good chunk of his weekend posting time, threatening a variety of public figures. He called Bob Iger and ABC News sleazebags and gave them a quote, fair warning that quote, they must not say that Qatar is giving me a free plane because it's actually a gift to the Defense Department

that Trump is taking with him when he leaves office. Yeah, it's actually, Frankenstein was the doctor. That's what we're talking about here. Then on Monday, the president of CBS News, one of Trump's other targets, became the latest to resign from the network as CBS's parent company, Paramount, is moving towards a settlement with Trump over 60 minutes,

editing an interview with Kamala Harris. Trump's also threatening to investigate Kamala's celebrity endorsements, believe it or not. His claim is that Harris paid millions of dollars to Springsteen, Beyonce, Oprah, Bono, and others for their endorsements, which she did not, but Trump said he's calling for a quote major investigation and that the endorsements represent quote, an illegal election scam at the highest level. This all started last week after Trump posted on the way home from the Middle East, quote, has anyone noticed that since I said I hate Taylor Swift, she's no longer hot?

Then, then after Bruce Springsteen criticized Trump from the stage during a concert in England, Trump called the boss a quote, dried out prune of a rocker. Springsteen responded the next night with this. But in America, my home, they're persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. A majority of our elected representatives have utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a role

government. The America I've sung to you about for 50 years is real and regardless of its many faults It's a great country with a great people and we will survive this moment Yeah, verdict still out on that Just checking guys. Is it illegal to say that Trump got a free plane? From Qatar or to run for office with celebrity endorsements. You think those are illegal? Good question I wish I knew that before we did the Cash Patel segment. It's the, it's, Trump is doing, he's trying to intimidate people

because if ABC was willing to settle with Donald Trump over what George Stephanopoulos said, which was completely and eminently defensible, he thinks he can threaten people into not referring to this as a gift to Donald Trump because it's technically a gift to his library. A library at this point, which would I think would be a plane. I don't know what else exists.

Not any books, as for sure. Are they going to put the books in the plane? The flying library. It's going to be all over the world. No, I don't have a lot of document retention over there either. The location is going to be wherever Trump is. It's also interesting that he's back to threatening ABC because he does these deals with the law firms and then he starts kind these deals with the law firms

and then he starts kind of demanding that the law firms represent his kind of skeezy friends. He does this deal with Columbia, then he tries to put Columbia under receivership. He's now back to threatening Disney, even though he did this sort of filthy deal with Disney. But at the same time, when he was in Abu Dhabi, he was talking about a great meeting he had with Bob Iger

where Bob Iger showed him the plans for Disney Emirates. I don't know what they're gonna call it. So it seems to be like a carrot and stick thing with Disney. I like that he says Taylor Swift is no longer hot after she just wrapped up a $2 billion tour and had people turning into the Super Bowl to see her. That doesn't seem like a track. He really is just the most casual news consumer.

Whatever's just... I haven't heard much about Taylor Swift lately. Everyone must not like her. It's like whatever pops into his mind. He just wraps up this whole trip in the Middle East. He's on the plane home. This is what he's posting. And then he's like, I'm going to investigate. Why is he, who cares? Why is he investigating Kyle Harris?

You beat her. You beat her. What was Beyonce worth? Not enough. Not enough. Yeah, he turns on the television in Palm Beach and he sees a, he sees a, he sees Cleen Eastwood and escape from Alcatraz.

Next thing we know, we're sending federal officials back to Alcatraz to kind of reopen that bad boy. He's just, he's just, he's just riffing. He's just having a good time. Okay, before we go, just a few quick things. Mark your calendars on June 6th. Love it. In the Bulwark's, Tim Miller and Sarah Longwell

are hosting a big gay live show and fundraiser at the Lincoln Theater in DC. Love it, you guys. Tell us a little bit about the fundraiser. It's at World Pride. We'll be at the Lincoln Theater. We're raising money for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which represents Andrea Hernandez Romero,

who we talked about and a bunch of the other people being held in El Salvador. All the proceeds will go to that organization. It's a serious cause. It's gonna be a very fun show. It'll be me, it'll be Tim, it'll be Sarah. You know, it'll be a real test for her to see how many words can a lesbian get in Edgewise.

That's sort of the theme of the show. Drink every time Sarah gets to finish a sentence. But it's gonna be really fun. We're lining up some great guests. If Tim and I can share a stage, and if a lesbian can share a stage with us, you know, what can't we do? You know, what can't we do together?

And- It's moving. You know that Tommy and Dan and I and JVL are gonna do counter programming. Oh really? You're gonna do a straight Pride? We're doing the straight Pride. It's a straight Pride.

That's great. It's gonna be us, we're gonna have some of the Afrikaners on. Oh, the refugees. Well, it sounds like a really fun event. We're doing an immigrant event too. Outside of a PGA event. That's great. Rounding up some straights.

That's gonna be a really nice time. Anyway, crooked.com slash events. That's the tickets, right? Everyone go, get some tickets. I think I wanna fly across the country just to go. Also, the Crooked Store has a bunch of great new merch, including new designs for our classic Friend of the Pod T. This is part of a big upgrade at the Crooked Store. Ooh, all great new merch, including new designs for our classic Friend of the Pod T.

This is part of a big upgrade at the Crooked Store. Ooh, all Crooked merch is now made from higher quality, more durable materials with updated fits and more sustainable manufacturing practices. The site got an upgrade too. See the new site and grab a new Friend of the Pod T at the same old URL, crooked.com slash store. That's our show for today.

Dan and I will be back with a new show on Friday. If you wanna listen to Pod Save America ad free or get access to our subscriber discord and exclusive podcasts, consider joining our friends of the pod community at crooked.com slash friends or subscribe on Apple podcasts directly from the Pod Save America feed. Also be sure to follow Pod Save America on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for full episodes, bonus content, and more. And before you hit that next button, you can help boost this episode by leaving us a review

and by sharing it with friends and family. Podsave America is a Crooked Media production. Our producers are David Toledo and Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farah Safari. Reid Cherlin is our executive editor, and Adrian Hill is our executive producer. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Cantor is our sound engineer with audio support from Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis.

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