#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Nolan Wells Family Meets Prosecutors. MAGA Vs. Smithsonian. DA Blames Black Parents for Arrest

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

7.15.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Nolan Wells Family Meets Prosecutors. MAGA Vs. Smithsonian. DA Blames Black Parents for Arrest _ For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial [phone] to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/roland Paid Partnership _ Download the Kalshi app and use code Soccer10 to get $10 when you trade $10. You can also sign up at kalshi.com/r/soccer10, which auto-applies the code at checkout. Kalshi. Trade What's Next _   The family of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old found dead after a 4th of July boat party, announces plans for his funeral and meets with prosecutors. We'll bring you the latest from Mississippi MAGA Republicans have continue their attack on the Smithsonian -- demanding that the director of the American History Museum testify by next Tuesday. A Pennsylvania District Attorney is under fire after responding to a viral video of one of his officers forcibly stopping a Black teenager by...by blaming Black parents. Wait to see this one The twice-impeached, criminally convicted Donald the Conman Trump announces he intends to keep National Guard troops in DC for another 2 years -- until after the 2029 Inauguration Black Star Network Partner: Chapter Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. ____ Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We'll bring the latest from Mississippi. Niagara Republicans have continued their attack on the Smithsonian demanding, yeah, literally demanding the director of the American History Museum testify by next Tuesday before Congress. Okay. Pennsylvania DA is under fire after responding to a viral video one of his officers forcibly stopping a black teenager by blaming the black parents.

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who can't even answer the basic question who won the 2020 election. And Congresswoman Summer Lee, she continues to demand accountability and equity for African-Americans. All of that is time to bring the funk. I'm rolling back unfiltered. On the Black Stud Network, let's go.

Folks, attorneys for the family of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old black teen who died after the July 4th boating trip in Mississippi, as well as their legal team, met with Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers-Mackalath. After the meeting, Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump was joined by attorneys Eric Hertz and Nolan's parents for a news conference.

Here's some of what was said. We've just had an opportunity to meet with district attorney Angel McAgraph and some members of her team. We had a very respectful meeting. The thing I assume some of you may know, the thing to announce, she shared with the family that there will be a grand jury that she will turn this case over to once they have collected all the information and finished their investigation. We also agreed that we will have a mutual inspection of the cell phone with our experts and their experts. Attorney Eric Hertz is helping leave the investigation team will

former law enforcement experts who are going to help us with the cell phone download. So everybody will be able to see at the same time what the cell phone has. We also talked about trying to make sure we doubt every eye and cross every T. I know that we're getting about 50 calls a date to 100 calls a date. from people who were there on Horn Island, people who are familiar with individuals that were there on Horn Island. And so we continue to be steadfast and trying to get to the truth of why Nolan Wells is dead. Right now there's a lot of unanswered questions. We appreciate the district attorney meeting with us, but because of certain types of confidentiality that even the victims,

are not allowed to know. We did not get all the answers we want. We have an independent investigation going on that involves former law enforcement federal agents that are going to be looking into all the different information we got. The calls are coming in and we're getting a lot of information. Some of the people that I spoke to are not talking with the law enforcement here. We're going to be trying to get them to cooperate with each other because we want to make sure the narrative, which has been put out that is false, is going to be corrected.

So at this point, we just ask everybody to keep calling in if you have any information and let us know. And I personally, if we validate your legitimate call, we'll call you and talk to you. We want to celebrate Nolan. And he would not want us to be sitting around crying and eating. And so what we're going to do is kind of have a party to celebrate him. And that will be held at the Jackson County Fairgrounds. So we really do want to keep it for family and friends. We are going to allow media to come in as well.

And lastly, I just... His teammates. Oh, absolutely. Teammates. We've already contacted Coach Les George, because we want to be. make sure that those guys are there. Former teammates from high school, middle school, teams that he played against, you guys are all welcome. But of course, you know, we want to

make sure that our families for sure and close friends get there. So I do want to just say, for those of you again, if you are having protests, even the day of his service, I am asking you guys to just keep it peaceful. Nolan would never want any time. type of violence or anything like that. He was not that kind of person. So if you guys would, again, just be peaceful and to the community. Thank you so much. Just the outpouring of love, support. We've had some local officials. Mayor Casey Vaughan from Gosey has reached out to us. Oh, my gosh, I can't even tell you. It's almost been every day. He's been texting. to check on us. Also, Jeffrey Hullum, thank you so much. He's been texting pretty much every day.

Receiving a lot of stories from Nolan's teachers, which just warms my heart, his classmates, teammates. So again, for those of you have donated to the GoFundMe, once again, I stress, if you are not financially able to, we're not begging for that money, okay? If you're not financially able to, we understand. We thank you for whatever you can give, but if you cannot, if you would, just keep us in your prayers. And to his friends, stay strong and please just take care of your mental health because I know this is a lot. It's a lot for us, and I know you guys are filling some of that too. So thank you all. Folks, the funeral for Nolan Wells would take place at Center Point Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

On Monday, July 20th, visitation will be 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the funeral will be 11 a.m. And we'll be carrying that life right here on the Black Star Network. Bringing my panel right now. Joining us today is Dr. Derek Jackson, State Representative out of the Georgia District, out of Atlanta. Also, Reverend Shonda Nicole Glatton, CEO of Good to the Soul, also a pastor, at Laplata, AME Church in Charles County, Maryland. Also on the show, Ryan Basham, political analysts, LGBTQ, and activists, and content creative

out of loss analysts. Glad to have all three of you here. You heard the attorneys there, Derek, and they're absolutely right. Listen, it's a lot that we don't know. Investigation is ongoing. And the worst thing in the world are to see these people on social media just throwing up all sorts of nonsense that can't be corroborated. That just simply makes this worse.

Yes, it does. First off, my condolences to Nolan's parents and their family and friends. But there's a lot of unknown. And why is that, Roland, when you think about all the unknowns, and then you have local police officers on social, media. They're adding fuel to this fire too. And so from time and time again, this is another example, unfortunately, when it comes to black and brown communities that we can't get access to the information. You've already heard Attorney McCrump said they're still waiting on an independent

autopsy. They want the facts. They want the figures so that way they can get justice for Nolan and his family, they can make sure that they can inform the media and platforms such as yourself to get the truth out. And so that's the reason why we're still dealing with all these unknowns. And for this length of time, we're talking about July 4th, Roland. Think about this for a second. Over 11 days, this story has continued to drag on and on and on. So the social media would do one thing, but we, as elected officials, at law enforcement, we have a a responsibility. And that's to provide justice to Nolan and his family to make sure we get the facts out and not drag our feet on these kind of issues such as an autopsy, such as getting the

facts and the data. FBI is just finally looking at the data. FBI? And so that's the reason why, unfortunately, Roland, that you see in all these stories taking on itself organically. And that's unfortunate. And listen, the thing that I've got to remind people, Shonda is that when people are spouting off on social media, this is a family. This is a family that is grieving. They lost their son. And to listen to these idiots on social media,

blaming the parents for what took place. Oh, you should let your kid hang up with some white folks. It's just nonsensical. And it's just pathetic because, again, they're dealing with the death. The rest of these people are just yapping and being keyboard. the Warriors on social media. Shana, you're

on mute. Thank you so much. Again, as a pastor, as a pastor and a parent, it is heartbreaking to listen to how this family is not only trying to get answers through this autopsy,

but also planning a celebration of Nolan's life. We heard his mom, and I believe I heard his heart as a mom, her heart as a mom, that this is a tough time, but she still wants to have this experience of black joy as resistance. There is something to be said of that, but at the same time, we need answers. We need for the Department of Justice, for the autopsy to be done, and for the funds that

the parents are raising to take care of this autopsy to be enough. It's sad that they even have to be raising money to do their own investigation, but this the country in which we live. And these are the times, these are the times in which we are. It's heartbreaking. It absolutely is. And Ryan, listen, I get it. We're talking Mississippi.

And so I totally understand people being concerned about a fair investigation here. But again, authorities have to do their work. It's a lot to sort through. I just think that people, when they spread malicious nonsense on social media, they actually make this story worse. You know, I agree. And one of the things you discover when you become a political content creator is that the crazy people, those anonymous keyboard warriors, come out of the woodwork.

And it's always surprised, I'm always surprised daily in some of the comments on my posts because I think, is this actually a human? Some of these things that these folks say are cruel. But one of the things that we know now is that to keep a story alive and alive in the right way, you got to flood the zone. And so, you know, political content creators, social justice content creators, it's uncommon upon us to continue to make content about this. And something that just sticks out for me is, you know, it's harder to uphold the negative narrative that some folks are trying to paint around this family and what's happened here. When a mother shows up with such dignity and grace, it becomes impossible for some of the worst things that people say on social media to be substantiated.

So I think the only way to keep this in the news is to flood the zone and in the right way flood the zone with actual facts, as you were saying. And I hope that this leads to eventually something conclusive. But we are in this post-fact world where sometimes the truth never really comes out or it does and we don't know if it is the truth. And that's, I think, what worries me the most. Well, and to your point about content creators, and this is no shade at them, but most of them are not journalists. And the problem that I have is there are people who are making content and all they're doing is reading the work of other journalists.

The issue that I have is when people are providing unsubstantiated information, pushing it out there. And then what they don't understand is the algorithms, whether you're talking threads, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever, it's all about driving the negative. And so then stuff gets spread. It could be a lie and that people believe the lie. And all of a sudden, that thing begins to become uncontrollable.

And so that's really, to me, I think, what is the danger here? And so we're going to keep covering this story and certainly demanding answers as well. Got to go to break. We come back. Crocket Chronicles. Also, a couple of other members of Congress, Congressman Christian Menofy, as well as Summer Lee. They challenge Canada.

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Or wherever you get your podcast Bill, why is my eye twitching? Does this mean I'm in perimenopause? Maybe I have adult ADHD I need to look this up Where's my phone? Juliana, your phone is hot to the touch I think it's asking you for a break

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Like, is it normal to sleep in separate bedrooms? We do that. How about this one? Is bribing your kids bad parenting or just negotiating? Oh, and I still do need to know why was my poop green that one time? Hypothetically, right? Okay, well, instead of letting the internet guess, we've got actual people answering these exact questions. And laughing with us has got to be better than spending three hours down a rabbit hole online.

Listen to Bill and Juliana. The podcast. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. When it comes to the attacks on Black America, we got all of that for you, folks. Lots of the breakdown right here. Roll them out and unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Back at a moment. All right, folks, let me tell you about chapter.

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a lot of action on capitol hill today we've got a number of videos to show you first up is texas congressman jasmine crockett who chatt what she calls Congress's misplaced priorities, arguing that lawmakers are spending more time fueling political fights and addressing the issues families are actually facing. Watch. It seems like we are at a point

where we have a solution in search of a problem. Unfortunately, for the American people, when they send us to D.C., they want us to solve problems. And so while I hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claiming that this is about protecting children. Let's talk about the fact that children are not protected in so many ways right now. We can talk about gun violence, which I'll never want to talk about because our kids are being killed. And frankly, if you look at the numbers, if I was to ask you and you decided you wanted to be honest about whether or not more children are killed

in their schools because of gun violence versus children dying because of issues like this, If you tell the truth, you'll know that gun violence is killing our children. You'd also understand the importance of making investments into things such as mental health. And when we look at the actual numbers as relates to mental health and what these types of bills do to our children, let me give you some facts because I don't want to operate on feelings. I want to operate on facts. Trans youth face some of the highest suicide risk of any other youth groups. in this country. Nearly half of trans and non-binary young people seriously consider attempting suicide each year. The actual number is 46%, but I don't see y'all trying to propose anything

to make sure that we can assist these children. Suicide actual attempts, we know that a study showed that one in five trans or non-binary youth have attempted suicide just in the past year. Over their lifetimes, up to 40% of transgender individuals report suicide attempts. And states that pass laws banning gender affirming care saw suicide attempts by transgender youth increased by up to 72%. So if you want to protect children and youth, maybe consider what is actually happening. You are absolutely not protecting their mental health and you're absolutely not providing mental health resources

because we know that Republicans hate to put money into mental health, but they blame every travesty that we see on mental health. We also know that measles, which unfortunately have started to kill children in this country, because it's back on the rise, y'all haven't decided to have a hearing or pass a bill to make sure that we could eradicate measles, which was eradicated before the Republicans got back in control. TB is up. Whooping cough is up.

Listen, Pamela asked earlier, why are we doing this? I can tell you, we're doing this because the midterms are coming. And you don't want to talk about the actual problems because you guys are the ones that have caused the vast majority of the problems that we're dealing right now. If some people don't want to talk about measles or whooping cough, we can just talk about the fact that the vast majority of the country right now is scared to eat lettuce because they believe that they may start pooping and can't stop. Now, I didn't even know that this existed, but this is where we are. We are at the point that y'all are so careless with who it is that runs the CDC and y'all are so

reckless that from our farmers and ranchers not knowing whether or not their cattle is going to survive or literally people saying, I can't eat the berries and in the salad because I may not be able to get off the toilet. I think it's actually very symbolic of kind of how most Americans feel. We are in a very pooing place right now in this country. In all seriousness, though, we got a lot of things that we could be solving. And I can guarantee you, if you go knock a door right now and ask your constituents whether or not they want to be concerned about Ebola,

which has come back around again, or whether they want to be concerned about the fact because of Elon and his recklessness as it relates to USAID, we know that there is an increase in HIV globally right now. I can tell you that there are some medical conditions that people care about in this moment, the fact that cancer research dollars have been cut.

There's a lot that we could be doing, and I would really want to engage. in a real conversation, but going after trans children is just a campaign spiel for you because it has worked in the past, but I can tell you right now that the American people understand that y'all are not serious people in this moment, and therefore the midterms are coming. The Democrats, we're going to talk about this poohy situation that y'all got us into. Shonda, her point is critically important, and that is it is the election year, and we're Republicans. Republicans do is they push the buttons.

They push the buttons on the issues that's going to appeal to their largely white conservative voters. And in the last several years, transgender is one of those issues. Yeah, absolutely. I'm hearing Ms. Crockett's point. I'm also hearing your point. But I want to push back that when we think about trans children, non-binary children, children in general, children are never at the issue.

It's the adults who have failed the children that cause the issues. So the fact that we have trans and non-binary kiddos trying to commit suicide on a regular basis because the adults have failed them in protecting them and providing access to care and legislating against their ability and their right to simply be little kids, regardless of how we call those kids and how those kids name themselves, the adults have a responsibility to take care of them. And this is what Ms. Crockett is talking about. We absolutely are not doing that.

And this is the travesty of our country in this moment. But the issue, Ryan, is it deals with care. It deals with whether or not folks should get treatment or surgery. And again, it is a political issue. And whether folks like it or not, it is a potent issue. It speaks to different constituencies. And Republicans, what their goal is, is to pick off a percentage of black voters, Latino voters, and others is to anger their base. And so when they talk about, look, the Supreme Court has already ruled when it comes to banning transgender athletes from sports.

This is a political issue, and what she's laying out is we're not solving problems. They're holding hearings in order to rile up their base. Yeah, you know, and I think it's more insidious than that. You know, the fact that more people are contracting and dying from HIV AIDS in Africa now is a feature, not a bug. The fact that trans people are being attacked so aggressively and it's working so much is a feature, not a bug. You know, I think people don't want to face this reality, but the truth is that all of this is Project 2025 quality material. This was all part of the plan. The long-term goals of the people who are driving this agenda

are to disappear people from every other minority group in the country, little by little, until there are too few of us as a whole to do anything about it. That's the plan. And the other thing I want to point out about this, about things like care for trans youth is most legislation about the care for children is based on the not necessarily factually informed emotional reactions of parents who are legislators. They're not basing it usually on what major medical associations say,

and the evidence of that is that every major medical association in America is aggressively, proactively against all of this. And yet legislators keep doing it because it pings their own feelings and it riles up the emotions of people that they want to get out to vote. They want to get those voters outside of their logical brain and into their feelings, into their fears, and get them to vote their way. And then, of course, if they win, they'll go right back to making it harder and harder for poor people to feed their kids and harder and harder for small farm owners and black farm owners to keep their business upright.

This is all part of the plan. None of this is an accident. And I think we have to stop pretending that these are just little issues here and there that are happening. This is an across-the-board strategy to tear everybody down who could stand in their way. Derek, the thing here, again, there are two things that are going on. And again, what you heard from a congresswoman there, you heard her talk about, how do we solve these issues that people are talking about? Affordability is a dominant issue. That's number one.

But she also laid out what the political reality is. And the political reality is midterms are coming up. The Republicans are concerned they're going to lose the House and possibly lose the Senate. And so what they have to do is press the very buttons that will rile people up. What people have to do is not fall for the okey-doke. That's exactly right, because cultural issues, they love to create this red meat. They love to create this boogeyman, right? If it wasn't critical race theory or DEI, it now is trans or something else.

And Jasmine Crockett, and to your point as well, Roland, we do have some real issues right now. I mean, I was just looking at the stats today. 12 children per day are dying from gun violence. 12 per day are dying from gun violence. Also, six children are dealing with mumps and measles per day right now. And I just learned also today how the federal government just fired an onslaught of FDA inspectors. Now we have this problem with diarrhea

because our fruits and our vegetables are being contaminated by parasites. And so if we have these real issues that impacts our children, working families, and everyone, meanwhile, they're manufacturing this red meat because they realize they've got to do something to rev up their base because the midterms are coming

and they do not like the polls or what the polls are saying. The polls are saying, we want you to focus on grocery costs, gas prices, affordability, minimum wage, housing, all of these other things that the administration continues to say, no, we're not going to do that. We're not going to pass this housing bill. We're not going to do all these other things. Meanwhile, they're seeing their government spending a billion dollars on a barroom that we don't need and billions and billions of dollars on a war.

that was created by them instead of focusing on children, keeping our children alive and keeping our families safe from a public health and public safety standpoint. Yeah, I mean, so that's what's going on. So we just have to recognize that that's the deal, and they don't want to address the issues. And listen, speaking Mike Johnson, don't be shot. They're going to be on another vacation real soon

because this is truly the least, the least working Congress you've ever seen. Now, freshman Congressman Christian Menofy of Houston, he also, let's just say, tangle a bit with the Trump administration over the continuing war on Black America. Watch. You know, we've heard a lot today about y'all's views on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. You know, my take is these are about leveling out of playing field that has historically not been leveled, where there are folks in this country who are all running the same race. but for some people, their lane has obstacles in it. It has hurdles, it has water pits, and that is because of discrimination that was pushed, instituted, and facilitated by government at every single level.

So I want to start with you, Dr. Shires. You've written much about how DEI programs fuel racial stereotypes. You've talked here a little bit today about your opposition to these programs, And I think that's consistent what we've heard from our Republican colleagues as well as Vice President Vance, who I believe called them a deliberate program of discrimination against white men. So let me ask you this. Take a random white person in America today and a random black person. When they go apply for jobs, when they apply for a home loan, when they're getting their home appraise, when they're seeking higher wages.

Would you say that those two people are more likely than I have to be on the same playing field? legally, yes. I have no clue what that means. In practice, are they likely to be on the same playing field? I guess what I'm trying to understand is what playing field are you comparing them on. I mean, in your metaphor, you talk about how some lanes on the track have obstacles and others don't. The solution to that is to remove the obstacles. It's not to change the finish line.

And DEI changes the finish line, whereas the federal law, it's against the table. discrimination are there to remove the obstacles. So if you're asking, if the question is, how do I get to the situation where both of the... Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together. I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, Wolf Parades, I'll Believe in Anything, and tattoos all the things she said, and how they all became a... part of this global phenomenon.

Stream encore on IHeart Radio, crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you.

Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'ma play you. Join Yomaniqa Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on our new podcast. You're the problem with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday

is part of my new network, the dear Chelsea network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out.

Listen to you're the problem with Yomeneka. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast, Disgraceland, I tell the stories behind music's biggest names, the moments, rumors, and real-life events that help shape their legacy. Like the story behind Sonic Youth, that starts with downtown New York cool and ends with album art inspired by a true crime. Sonic Youth was not fronted by a groupie hustling alpha like David Lee Roth. No, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore was an artist in love with a fellow artist who just

happened to play bass in the same band with him and his other artist friends. Her name was Kim Gordon. And Thurston and Kim were every bit as cool as the couple on the cover of Goo. The same couple involved in one of the UK's darkest true crimes. Disgraceland is part of the exactly right network. Listen to new episodes every Tuesday, bonus episodes Thursday, and Reindeer. Rewinds on Sunday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bill, why is my eye twitching?

Does this mean I'm in perimenopause? Maybe I have adult ADHD. I need to look this up. Where's my phone? Juliana, your phone is hot to the touch. I think it's asking you for a break. You know what? Maybe I should just ask chat GPT.

Or maybe we can ask an actual human. Yes, like a couple sex therapist. Whoa, that escalated quickly, but okay. Because I have questions. We have questions. And I bet. Everyone has questions. Like, is it normal to sleep in separate bedrooms?

We do that. How about this one? Is bribing your kids bad parenting or just negotiating? Oh, and I still do need to know why was my poop green that one time? Hypothetically, right? Okay, well, instead of letting the internet guess, we've got actual people answering these exact questions. And laughing with us has got to be better than spending three hours down a rabbit hole online.

Listen to Bill and Juliana. The podcast. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Them have the same access. The answer is removing the obstacles and enforcing the law. It's not changing the finish line. Well, there are also DEI programs that remove the obstacles that the president has removed from the federal government. But my question to you is if a random white person in this country and a random black person in this country go to get their home appraised, right?

Why is it that the black person is much more likely to get a lower value in their home appraisal? because they live in a different neighborhood. Okay, great. We'll get to that in a second because that's wrong. Black people in this country were enslaved for at least 240 years. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay, and after slavery ended, you had about 100 more years at least of Jim Crow

and legal segregation where government at the federal state and local level blocked black people from owning land, from getting bank loans, from living in certain neighborhoods, from attending certain schools. All of that happened too, right? Yes. Okay, so my question, you is simple. Name the year that the playing field became completely even. I want you to give me a

date. Again, it depends on what playing field you're talking about. I mean, if you're looking at for home loans, you brought, I think we talked about home loans and appraisals for home loans. What year did it become equal? Well, according to the DEI movement in 1991 when they imposed disparate impact. So you're telling me today that if a black person goes and applies for a home loan, they have the same likelihood of getting accepted for that loan as a white person does. I'm saying under the DEI rules, yes, that would be the case. We know in practicality that people have different income profiles and experiences. If you're asking me a person that lives next door to another person, if one is white and

one is black and they go both apply for a loan, do I expect different outcomes? No. And if there are, then it should be enforced under discrimination laws. So you're talking about rules. I'm talking about outcomes. So let's play a game of true and false. And let's start with wealth disparities. The media net worth of a white household in this country is $285,000.

The media network of a black household is about $45,000. True or false? I don't know. Okay. You came here as an expert today in a DEI hearing. You don't know that? Basic facts about wealth accumulation in this country? All right, let's go to the next one.

For every $100 in wealth held by white families, black families hold about $15. True or false? Again, I don't know those specific numbers. Okay, well, I have data here. It's true. So we know that the answer here isn't just that black people believe in saving less than white people do, right? It's that government in this country has put one set of

folks in a better position to succeed than other people, and it was the law for a very, very long time, and it became ingrained in our institutions. Government was part of the problem, and so it has to now be part of the solution. So let's do this true or false game again for employment and wages. Black workers are far more likely to be unemployed as white workers at almost every education level, true or false? That is true. So do you just believe that black people are more lazy or aren't as good at applications? Why do you think that data is the way it is? I think the data is that way it is because our educational system has dramatically failed the black community. And instead of solving it, we just let him into college where they then have

a higher rate of failure because they... I wasn't aware that there's a black education system and a white education system. In my district, we have schools that are represented all races in there in the same outcomes. The same school has different outcomes for black kids and white kids. My time is up. but in short, if the government was part of the problem, the government now has to be part of the solution. Okay, y'all, so Meneffi was talking, I saw the reaction to all three of y'all, which was wild. Meneffi was talking to Dr. Michael Shires,

who is vice chair of education, opportunity, higher education, and senior policy officer for the America First Policy Institute. here's why what he said was absolutely positively undeniably bullshit. Okay. And we've covered this story. Under the Biden Harris administration, they specifically targeted this very issue of home appraisals. Now, I remember when I was on Patrick Bet David's podcast and he was just like, oh my God, I don't

What are you talking about? I don't believe this home appraisal stuff. He just thought it was just a one-off. When in fact, no, it is consistent. This is the New York Times story dated August 25th, 2020. Headline, black homeowners face discrimination in appraisals. Companies that value homes for sale or refinancing or bound by law not to discriminate. Black homeowners say it happens anyway.

Now, we sat here and we listened. to this lion's sack of shit, Dr. Michael Shires, sit there and go, I don't know, maybe the praise, the numbers are different because it's different neighborhoods. Nope, this right here is the story right here that they broke down. They literally looked at the various census tracks, and experts compared the data, and they looked through the whole data,

it showed, it showed consistently, Derek, that black homeowners were having lower appraisals than white homeowners where the homes were very similar in the same damn census track. And so what these bigots like Shire do not want to confront, they don't want to confront the reality of racism in home appraisals. Why is that important? which is what Minifee was getting to when you talked about wealth, it's because again, here right here,

right here. They talked the New York Times, Abena and Alex Horton. They live just minutes from the Otega River in a predominantly white neighborhood of 1950s homes that tend to sell for $350 to $550,000.

They had expected their home to appraise for around $450,000 but the appraiser felt differently assigning a value of $330,000. That means, okay, that's $120,000 less than they were expecting, and on the high end, $220,000 less. The story says the couple's bank agreed that the value was off and ordered a second appraisal. But before the new appraiser could arrive, Ms. Horton, a lawyer, began an experiment.

She took all family photos off the mantle. Instead, she hung up a series of all paintings of Mr. Horton, who is white, and his grandparents that had been in storage. This couple is an interracial couple, white husband, black wife. Books by Zora Neil Hirsch and Tony Morrison were taken off the shelves, and how they photo cards sent by friends were edited so that only those showing white families were left on display. On the day of the appraisal, Ms. Horton took the couple's six-year-old son on a shopping trip to Target and left Mr. Horton alone at home to answer the door. The new appraiser gave their home a value of $465,000, a more than 40% increase from the first appraisal.

And this idiot is testifying before Congress saying, it's all DEI, it's all DEI. No, it's blatant racism in America in 2006. You know, the last time I checked, DEI doesn't spell B-L-A-C-K. I mean, I was listening to this segment, Roland, and I kept hearing him say black. Every time the congressman said DEI,

the other individual kept saying, he was saying black. And that's the reason why he didn't understand. Listen, when I retired from the Navy 20 years ago, Roland, our realtor gave us the same advice. And I was living in a predominantly white neighborhood, along with all the other white officers. Obviously, my wife and I, we were black, and we were told to remove all of our family pictures

and put up some nautical pictures because the first evaluation of our home was $175,000 less than the initial, assessment. We live these experiences. And here's the other thing, rolling, to the congressman's point, the Federal Reserve stated that it would take 288 years for the black, white, wealth gap to close. Let that marinate for a second. 288 years. That means we would have to put policies and programs in place to allow for blacks to get the proper wages and salary that they deserve and let that to be on an equal playing field in order for us to catch up. It would take 288 years.

Here's the other data point that I want to highlight that I was looking up. The average white household median net worth rolling is 1.36 million compared to black household $211,11,000. And that is two parents in each of these households. This is the thing that guys like Shires and these white conservatives do not want to

accept Ryan. Let's go back to my iPad. This is another New York Times story. Two years later, widespread racial bias found in home appraisals. Researchers found evidence of a persistent practice that gives higher values to homes when the occupants are white and devalue them if the owners are people of

color. And it says right here, this change last week, it says despite ongoing accounts of ingrained discrimination over the past two years, researchers exploring racial inequality in the housing market have not had access to appraisals. This changed last week when, following a directive from the Biden administration, the federal housing finance agency released 47 million appraisal reports to the public for the first time. The appraisals, which were compiled between 2013 and 2021, present evidence of a persistent widespread practice in the home appraisal industry to give higher values to homes when the occupants are white and devalue them if the owners are people of color. Analyzing the millions of appraisals by using census tracts

as a proxy for neighborhoods and comparing communities with nearly identical housing stock, two researchers found that the results showed a clear correlation the higher the proportion of white residents in each community the higher the appraised value of individual homes what is under the example that we gave Ryan he was a white man married to a black woman in a white neighborhood and because of the black woman they're like yeah we knocking your appraisal down and these maga bigots

refused to accept the reality because they're the ones who keep yelling oh, there's no systemic racism. This is systemic racism. Racism in the home appraisal system. And that's the arrogance of the majority, right? It's not just that they say things that are wrong. They believe those things are true, and they believe that in part because they're high on their own supply.

They go out into the world and collect information with their confirmation bias in hand. And so, you know, they, I truly believe that that man believes what he's saying. It's not that he knows better. It's that he's too arrogant to know better. He's too arrogant to do well enough to interrogate his own beliefs to be sure that they're accurate. And that's what those folks do a lot. You know, I was just sitting here talking, I know, I have known about this dynamic for a long time, and I'm a white person.

How is it that that I already knew that? and this guy seems to have never heard it. And he is supposed to be more close to the facts and the details than I am. I don't know what that is except arrogance, what it is except an unwillingness to see things other than what you already believe to be true. And I don't know what we can do about those people except remove them from power. And that's why elections matter. That's what we can start doing in November.

And if we don't, we're going to have more people like that getting to call shots and inform policymakers and having the world be more and more crafted the way they think it should be based on what they believe to be true, which is really scary to think about. It is beyond belief, Sean, but this is what we're dealing with. And what I keep trying to explain to people is that these people, they don't want to deal in reality. They don't want to deal in facts. So what they want to do is, oh, I don't have that. Oh, no, I didn't see that.

Oh, no, I haven't heard that. That's one of those things where you say, well, why are your ass sitting in front of us? to me that's where you turn the public because why y'all got this old this lack of knowledge idiot sitting in front of us because if you can't answer the basic-ass questions, why are you here? Yeah, so in my research, I call it

the mythic nostalgic imagination. It's akin to what Tony Morrison also speaks about in Beloved, that they get so beholden to this idea of what has been in terms of the American story that they believe it to be true, much like you just said. It is not accidental, but when it comes to this notion of appraisal bias, it's so sad because it's the theft of generations of equity.

It's why our black kiddos cannot go to college without having to take out loans in so many cases. Because the equity that we should have if the plantation logics and the plantation politics weren't still at play in how our government treats black and brown people, we would have a different scenario. The plan field would be, quote unquote, a little more level. But this notion that we have what I'm again calling plantation politics at work is why he can't see the truth right in front of his own face because he was so used to being in the big house and not expecting his property to ever own things, which is where we are today. Absolutely.

Lots more to break down, folks. We're going to talk about top. Bob Blanche, Trump's pick for Attorney General getting grilled by the United States Senate. Also, we'll talk about the discussion about DEI in the medical space, which is also a huge issue. We're going to show you what Congresswoman Summer Lee had to say about that, plus with our guest as well. And, of course, Senator John Ossoff challenged Trump's pick for the Director of Natural Intelligence, who showed us that he's really not intelligent at all. You're watching Rollo Martin Unfiltered. The Black Star Network.

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The racist policies of Donald Trump's administration, their attack on diversity, equity, inclusion are clear. During a Tuesday hearing combating DEI in American institutions, Virginia Congressman James Walkinshaw addressed the Trump administration's lies that recent firings are restoring merit to the military. Walkinshaw highlighted the dismissal of General C.Q. Brown as an example. He made it clear that General Brown, who was not fired due to a lack of qualifications, or rather as part of an. ideological purge he of course was the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff listen to this General CQ Brown chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the former Chief of Staff of the Air Force a fighter pilot commander of all Air Force operations in the Indo-Pacific recipient of the Defense Distinguished Service

Medal the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal and a bronze star among others fired not for cause not because he lacked the experience or the qualifications to lead. Rather, he was fired by President Trump amid an ideologically motivated purge of military leaders. After, by the way, Secretary Hegsseth suggests... Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show

that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together. I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, Wolf Parades, I'll Believe in Anything, and tattoos all the things she said, and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeart Radio, crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jake Brennan, and on the Disgraceland Podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard,

the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in one of the world's most notorious prisons. Imagine that. You're Paul McCartney. It's 1980. You're an ex-Beal. And you're doing time in one of Japan's worst prisons

right there alongside Yakuza gangsters and for a ridiculous charge. Or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of. Who is the artist Lady Gaga's being accused of doing the unthinkable to after allegedly stealing her music in style to become famous. And what about that time, Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped a serial killer? The man who had given her that ride she barely escaped from was Ted Bundy. Listen to Discrace Land on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week,

the news gets worse. The world gets crazier and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you. Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'm going to play you. Join Yomeneka Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on our new podcast. You're the problem with Yamanika.

Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday is part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to you're the problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Bill, why is my eye twitching? Does this mean I'm in perimenopause? Maybe I have adult ADHD. I need to look this up. my phone. Julianna, your phone is hot to the touch. I think it's asking you for a break. You know what? Maybe I should just ask chat GPT. Or maybe we can ask an actual human. Yes, like a couple sex therapist. Whoa, that escalated quickly, but okay. Because I have questions. We have questions. And I bet everyone has questions. Like, is it normal to sleep in separate bedrooms? We do that.

How about this one? Is bribing your kids bad parenting or just negotiating? Oh, and I still do need to know why was my poop green that one time? Hypothetically, right? Okay, well, instead of letting the internet guess, we've got actual people answering these exact questions. And laughing with us has got to be better than spending three hours down a rabbit hole online. Listen to Bill and Juliana.

The podcast. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. ...vested that he got his job due to race. Kind of ironic from someone who got his job based on being a cable news celebrity. Admiral Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations,

a former surface warfare officer, former commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea, deputy commander of U.S. naval forces Europe and U.S. naval forces Africa, during the 2018 strikes against Syrian chemical weapon facilities, again, fired without cause. My colleagues here today want to spin a false narrative.

They want to claim that diversity efforts, are at odds with merit-based policies. But these firings did nothing to bring or restore merit to our armed forces. President Trump's policies are removing the best of the best from positions of power, not because they lack qualifications or experience, but because this administration is hostile

to seasoned leaders whose views differ from theirs, perhaps, and whose backgrounds don't. fit their specific stereotypes. And when this plays out in the institution of our armed forces, readiness suffers. But don't take my word for it. In the words of Admiral McRaven, the four-star who oversaw the raid that killed bin Laden, there is, quote, no doubt that General Brown and Admiral Franchetti were war fighters committed to the cause through and through. If President Trump and my Republican colleagues and our witnesses here today want to talk about advancement based on merit, they owe the American people an explanation for dismissing two, and I'm just talking about

two here today, exceptionally qualified military leaders while the president is starting wars of choice across the globe. In the words of General Stanley McChrystal, the four star who oversaw the Joint Special Operations Commander in the Iraq War. These efforts are a complete distraction, a waste of time, and in fact run counter to the concept of a meritocracy. What they're really about, as General McChrystal observes, is making the U.S. military an exclusive organization that only values service from people of a certain gender

and of a certain race. Admiral McRaven goes on. These recent firings raise a risk that senior officers will be overly cautious about providing their best advice, and therefore the risk of military miscalculation, and wow, have we had some miscalculations lately, will grow dramatically. So let's call it what it is. Efforts to exclude qualified women and people of color from positions of power.

They're not doing away with DEI. They're just doing racism and sex. And the American people will suffer as a result. Ms. Felcher Stepman, you expressed concern that this administration's, quote, new commitment to meritocracy might be lost in a future administration. Do you agree or disagree with Admiral McRaven, General McChrystal, that these firings had nothing to do with merit? I have no way of doing that, but there are only several bases on which it's illegal and unconstitutional to fire someone. And that's the purpose of the hearing today, right? Do you think these were merit-based firings?

Is there any evidence to suggest they were? The president, we elect a president, not generals, right? So he has to have the legitimacy to choose the people on merit? He can make any decision he wants for the people who are working under him because the American people elected him. Maybe your organization should look into these firings and see whether they were merit-based or race-based or sex-based. Will you do that? If they were race-based or sex-based, they would be illegal. Why don't you look into them?

I don't see any evidence of that. Why don't you do a report on that? I don't see any evidence of the fact that it was race-based or sex-based. And those are the only ways that is illegal to fire someone. The president can fire somebody for disagreeing with him. Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. I yield back. See, it's about exposing these idiots.

The same thing when it comes to what takes place in the medical field. on Tuesday. There was a hearing called training activists, not physicians. Yeah, you know, the right wing actually wrote these headlines. The impact of DEI on medical schools. Republican members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce Greal administrators from the University of California, Los Angeles, and UC San Francisco, as well as the University of Illinois, about whether there are medical schools use DEI-focused policies to inform admissions, hiring, curriculum, and patient care. Dr. Roger Mitchell, Jr., the 126 president, the National Medical Association also attended the hearing. Democratic Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamichi asked him about

the importance of diversity in the medical field. We're at a pretty critical time in American health care right now. I just have had conversations at home about concerns that are across the district I represent in Oregon, particularly about the Medicaid cuts. That's what we should be talking about today. But as we discuss the future of the medical workforce, we should acknowledge at diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical schools, that's not something to be criticized or blamed coursework that focuses on the social determinants of health, including patients' racial backgrounds and socioeconomic status, fully equipped physicians to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

So I want to ask you, Dr. Mitchell, to help set the record straight. What does diversity, equity, and inclusion mean in a clinical setting and in training physicians? Thank you for that question. I'll give an example. I have a colleague. His name is Dr. Ed Chapman. He works here in Washington, D.C., right on Benning Road. He was educated at Howard University,

and he treats those men that are suffering from substance use and abuse. He treats them with buprenorphine. And his treatment model is not just to treat them for their substance use and abuse, but to also stabilize them because invariably they have chronic diseases that they're trying to handle. Hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, diabetes. And so when we talk about training the future physician group,

the future physician group, the new physician, must understand how those substance use and abuse issues connect with the chronic diseases of those individuals, how their homelessness or their imprisonment when they get out, how that affects their future health. And so DEI and having those types of social determinate case studies within schools of higher learning are extremely important. And in that same hearing, Congressman Summerlee, she was on fire. Let me just start by saying it is absurd that in this committee, we're required to defend time and time and time again the humanity of marginalized communities,

our right to education, our right to appropriate and proper medical care. The life expectancy for black people in my district is eight years earlier than white people. Black women are dying three times more during pregnancy than white women. Three and four black adults develop hypertension by age 55. We still have no widespread cure for. for uterine fibroids or sickle cell anemia, we have not solved health disparities in this country. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs exist because marginalized people are more likely to be un or underinsured, unable to get an appointment or be misdiagnosed, to have their pain ignored or to be discarded by the health care system altogether.

Disparities exist at every step of the process. This is just a fact. And conservative's discomfort with facts is not grounds to over. overhaul the medical education system. Let me just say, I have a black doctor and I sought my black doctor out. In fact, black doctors are in high demand because black patients know that culturally competent care can be the difference between care and cure or life and death. That's just what it is. Just really quickly, I don't know if some of my colleagues know some of the history of black care and mistreatment in the medical field. But for instance, gynecology procedures were

developed from unanesthetized, non-consensual experiments performed on enslaved black women. Life-saving vaccines were developed using stolen cells from Henrietta Lacks, a non-consenting black woman. Modern health care was built using black bodies without our consent. And when there is even the mere suggestion that we should invest in cures for diseases, disproportionately affecting black people or that there aren't enough black doctors, Republicans cry, DEI and say it's unfair. They say we should only rely on so-called objective standards for medical competence.

But objective according to who. You cannot standardize test your way into empathy or taking people's pain seriously or cultural competency. MCAT scores don't translate to better care for black people automatically. Having all white male doctors is just as bad for the medical profession as having all white male congressmen is to our government. What if someone who lived in rural Pennsylvania their entire life, for instance, in an all-white town matches to residency at a hospital in Philadelphia

where there is a larger black population? Without training and racial bias or cultural competence, without learning to humanize their patients, that is different from them. That resident will be more likely to misdiagnosed an episode of intense pain, for instance, from a sickle cell flare up as a psychosis. Dr. Mitchell, can you speak to other examples like this and why it would be dangerous for medical schools to disregard training on social and cultural factors or devalued lived experience? There's some recent literature that talks about a study that looked at black concordance with black PCPs in old. over 1,600 counties in the United States. And what they found was that life expectancy in those counties was higher when they had higher black PCPs.

That mortality rates went down because they had higher black PCPs. I went to medical school in New Jersey, in New York, New Jersey, and I sat next to a diverse group of individuals. And I'll tell you, they learned just as much from me and my lived experience and how treat the patients in Norque as I learned from them and their experiences.

Diverse workforce and admissions to medical schools creates a better, better system for this country. Thank you for that answer, and it does beg the question. Do Republicans want black patients to die? Do we want women to die? Do we want trans kids to die? Because we know that a cultural competent education, that cultural competency and diverse in our education system, our medical system,

saves lives. When my life is on the line, the doctor I want in the room isn't the one who got there because their parents were able to afford them on an elite private school education and test prep courses and an admission consultant. It's the doctor who studied for the AP biology test or lunch when they're in high school didn't offer AP courses

or the one who had to work multiple jobs, or the one who had to wake up early to get your siblings on the bus and still made it, the one who recognizes me in my humanity. because actually seeing people for who they are does matter in the medical profession. I have more questions, and there are so many things and so many different avenues that we can go down about how important it is that we have culturally competent education, that we have a culturally competent medical field. But I know that my colleagues already know that. This is another grandstanding attempt to deflect away from black advancement and care and an equitable society.

It's a shame that we do that. Republicans care more about cultural wars than culturally competent care. And as long as they get reelected, they don't care who dies along the way. Dr. Mr. Jones is right now, Doc, let me have you back on the show. I mean, this is real simple. She said it best. These Republicans don't give a damn. I keep saying it's a war on black America.

They don't care that, oh, if you're a black doctor, you're likely getting better care than you do with a white doctor. They don't care that when the opioid crisis happened in the beginning stages, more white people got hooked on opioids because white racist doctor refused to prescribe opioids to black people because they said, oh, they're just here to get high. That's also what's going on here. They don't give a damn about black people, period. Full stop. Well, I mean, the policy that's being set forward definitely says that. I mean, if we know that diversity in medical education, if we know that teaching college,

competencies and meeting patients where they are saves lives and particularly saves lives for those that are marginalized, those that are disenfranchised, disinherited, those that have a historical lack of access to care, those that don't have to drive two hours for care. If the reality of that is, is that by having diverse physicians that understand the patients experience saves lives. And then there's policy that's anti to that. That's anti-Di. That's anti-diversity. That's anti-quiret, quite frankly, that becomes anti-patient quality, anti-patient safety. And that's the issue at the National Medical Association. We've been fighting this fight since 1895, you know, when we needed access to white hospitals to treat our patients. I mean, this is

ongoing and for the general community to come to the conclusion that the politics of the day would rather see death than health. I can't refute that, particularly as a forensic pathologist. Based upon a hearing today, do you believe any of those Republican members heard anything that you said? Well, I mean, they started off the hearing and ended the hearing where the chair said that they don't have a problem with diversity, that they are not fearful of diversity. What they're fearful of is manufactured diversity. Well, what is manufactured diversity in the United States of America when, let's put it in perspective, Roland, there's only 1,500 black medical students that graduate every year out of 28,000.

1,500 black medical students graduate every year out of 28,000. What are we doing? What are we saying that you just don't want any black doctors? Because at the end of the day, those, there's only 28, what, there's only a fraction of those positions available, seats available in any medical school at any given time. There's limited seats. And so you have to have a mission-driven admission policy

that ensures that qualified black, brown, women, Latino medical students actually make it into medical school because left up to their own devices, the 5 to 6% of black physicians that we have now will decrease. And that only affects the communities that need those black and brown physicians. The literature is clear. Black medical students that graduate

are more likely to go back into their communities to provide care, to go back into non-white communities and provide care. And that's the whole point. Our medical workforce needs to be able to be representative of the diversity of this nation. So we shouldn't stop admitting black medical students until never, but at least we need to get to 13 to 14% of the population.

And I'll end it here is that our workforce shortage, which came out into the committee as well, that over 100,000 shortfall we're expected by 2030. My goodness, and we're talking about keeping people out of the physician workforce. We need to be erecting more medical schools. We need to be having more residency positions, not worried about letting black and brown people into medical school. It makes medicine and American medicine better. Questions from our pound?

Derek, you first. Thank you for your work, Dr. Mitchell. And you highlighted a couple of points I wanted for you to address for the audience because when you think about the 5% to 6% of total black doctors, $1,500 per year versus the $28,000. I have two of my family. I have seven children. I got two of them in my family, right?

It's very rare, and it costs a lot of money. They went to Meherry. Here's my question to you, because they want us to believe that diversity lowers standards where we know conversely, diversity strengthened us. We need black doctors in order for me, all my physicians, every specialist I,

have are black. My question to you is not just the general physicians we need to worry about, we need to worry about black cardiologists, black urologists. Here in Georgia, we have a deficit of urologist. I mean, you cannot find a urologist in 110 counties out of 159 counties and black men are dying 5 to 6 percent greater than their white counterpart. What can we do to grow the specialist because that's where my concern is urologist, OBGYN, cardiologists, not just a general physician.

Because that's even a lower than saying when you do with specialists. Well, I mean, you're exactly right. You know, the president of the American Medical Association is a black man, is the only third black man in history to be the president of

our majority counterpart called the American Medical Association. and he's a urologist. And urology, black urologists are very rare. Black cardiologists, there has been initiatives to move black cardiology into place, but those are rare. You know, if you have a system that's set up

and doubling down on making sure that black people do not enter into medical school, then you're not going to get them to become specialist because you don't have enough to even get into the door. I mean, we're talking about a shortage across all specialties. The NMA has all 27 specialties, and that's a way that we are exposing young people. We have our convention coming up in Puerto Rico, and our convention exposes young people, it exposes medical students, exposes residents. This year, we have the Young Doctors Project coming with high school students,

to get them exposed so that we can train up and create the pathway that is required. But last year, we had an 11% increase in applications of black medical students to medical school. But we had an 11% decrease in admissions. So we're doing our job on our side to get medical students ready for medical school, but they're not being admitted, even if they're qualified, they're not being admitted. The liaison committee on medical education no longer requires diversity as part of a retention and recruitment strategy for any medical school. And that's part of the chilling effect that this administration has had.

So we have an uphill battle as long as people think that being different is deficient. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish, right inside the free IHR Radio app. Gets the blood going up. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus. Now with full video.

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and rewinds on Sunday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get. your podcasts. Bill, why is my eye twitching? Does this mean I'm in perimenopause? Maybe I have adult ADHD. I need to look this up. Where's my phone? Juliana, your phone is hot to the touch. I think it's asking you for a break. You know what? Maybe I should just ask chat GPT. Or maybe we can ask an actual human. Yes, like a couple sex therapist. Whoa, that escalated quickly, but okay. Because I have questions. We have questions. And I bet everyone has questions. Like, is it normal to sleep in separate bedrooms. We do that. How about this one? Is bribing your kids bad parenting or just negotiating? Oh, and I still do need to know why was my poop green that one time? Hypothetically, right?

Okay, well, instead of letting the internet guess, we've got actual people answering these exact questions. And laughing with us has got to be better than spending three hours down a rabbit hole online. Listen to Bill and Juliana. The podcast. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Being that equity doesn't mean excellence. I mean excellence, but it is built into equity, excellence built into diversity.

And we can go on and on about the contributions of black physicians to this country, including Charles Drew with the blood bank, including Daniel Hale Williams, with the first open heart surgery, and Patricia Bath, who created the last, laser cataract surgery. I mean, we can go on and on about how we contribute to American medicine.

Shonda? Yeah, thank you so much, Dr. Mitchell. I heard you mention or referred to medicine as a calling, and as a pastor, a woman of faith, that resonates with me. I want to invite you to think about about and perhaps even share with the audience. What is the relationship between faith and medicine that your doctors and others like you would have. And how can people of faith support the work that you are doing at a grassroots level? Well, thank you for that question, because I am a man of faith. I'm actually clergy. I'm an associate pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and an elder in the church, probably the youngest elder you'll meet. I got a little gray in my

beard. But there has historically been a relationship between faith and medicine. Some of the earliest physicians in our culture have also been those that counseled on spirituality. In our, the creation of medicine, there was no disconnect between the spiritual self and the physical self. And so many of our members, whether they have a myriad of faiths, not just the Christian dogma, but often carry faith into their practices. Now, as it relates to what the faith community can do, there's so much you can do. Open your doors and have clinics. Open your doors. Connect with your local national medical association because we have affiliate organizations at every single state,

within the union. And so black doctors are standing by to hold clinics, whether they're clinics that take insurance or they're free clinics. We stand by to partner with the faith community to do screenings, to do invasive screenings, like for PSA testing for diabetes or non-invasive, like high blood pressure. We stand by to be part of the community, but opening your doors and being a conduit for community. You know, this thing is about trust. You trust your physician to take off your clothes in front of them, to tell them your deepest secrets, to tell them what you're struggling with and what you're not struggling with.

And trust becomes extremely important. And where there is what we say concordance, where there's a black physician and a black patient, that trust is heightened. But that trust is not totally based upon race. That's why we believe and can't be because there's not enough black doctors. So we need our white doctors, our Indian doctors, our Asian doctors to also care about black people and black patients. And at the same time, grow our population because trust is and trustworthiness leads to early screening, early diagnosis. Early diagnosis saves lives.

And that's critically important, and there's no more trusted institution in the black community than the faith community. Ryan? Dr. Mitchell, I'm so glad you're here. And I kind of have a similar question in a way. As an organizer, I meet people all the time who have finally woken up and they're ready to do something,

like call their legislator, go to town halls, go to school board meetings, what have you. And I'm wondering if there's one thing that you could say to those folks that they could do to help apply pressure to make change? What would be the place that you would want them to apply pressure the most? Or what would be the first priority that you would give them? Most of these training institutions,

and we're talking about the context of equity and diversity in medical school admissions and physician workforce, because there's so many things that community can do. But in relationship to ensuring a diverse workforce, most institutions and training institutions find themselves in urban centers. I mean, people are training, medical students and residents are training on the bodies of the disenfranchise. Poor, black, brown, rural individuals are finding themselves sick and disease are injured. And so that's who's coming to the hospital, that's going, who's suffering from the chronic disease.

that the physician workforce is training on. And so the local community, where these medical schools live, need to demand a workforce that looks like them. They need to demand a workforce that looks like them. If that medical school is training in communities that have a high propensity of black and brown patients, there's an opportunity to engage with that medical school and say, why are you not admitting qualified, tested medical students that are diverse in race, gender, creed, and religion into your medical schools

so they can represent the community in which they are training and learning? All right. Dot, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. All right, folks. Going to go to a break.

We come back. Senator John Ossov, let's just say he lights into Trump's pick for the head of Director of National Intelligence. And Todd Blanche, Trump's pick for Attorney General, was on the hot seat. And let's just say he and Cory Booker didn't see eye to eye. You're watching Rolla Martin Unfiltered on with Black Star Network.

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So call chapter right now, 724-264-8-281. Hello, we're the Critter Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuned in to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Trump has picked his choice for the director of national intelligence. The previous fool, Bill Pulte, was just too stupid. Even Republicans alike, no, he's dumb.

Well, Trump has chosen other dumb sikofat. And Georgia Senator John Ossov absolutely exposed how stupid he is. Roll it. Sir Nossau. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Clayton, welcome. Congratulations on your nomination. You have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this commitment.

Correct? Yes. And is it the case in the Juan Orlando Hernandez case that the President of the United States pardoned a man who had worked with the Seniloa cartel to facilitate massive narco-trafficking into the United States? I don't remember the specifics of that case. He was convicted in your district. He was convicted.

I just, we convict a lot of people for a lot of drugs. For a lot of drugs. Ficted of narco-trafficking, yes? I believe so. No, so, at massive scale, yes? Well, you're telling me what I know. That's kind of, I believe, look, I'll take your word for it. He was a convicted narco-trafficker.

Did the President of the United States Donald J. Trump pardon a convicted narco-trafficker? I believe we just discussed that. The President provided a pardon, yes. Yes or no. Did the President of the United States pardon a convicted narco-trafficker? Yes. Who won the 2020 election? I'm not going to do this with you.

This is a job interview. We've established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Yes, you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Yes. Who won the 2020 election? Like I said, I'm not going to get into that with you. But you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Is anything that I just said, not honest or forthright?

Yes. you're not being honest or forthright. Who won the 2020 election? I think I've answered the question. We can keep doing this. Well, we're going to keep doing it because you're not being honest and forthright. I'm not going to engage in the theater. It's a simple question, Mr. Clayton. And I've answered. Who won the 2020 presidential election? I've answered it. You're here asking for the support of senators to lead America's intelligence community. We've established that you have an obligation to be honest. and forthright with this committee and with the American public, but you refuse to answer

a simple matter of fact about the 2020 election. Is that right? No, that's not right. Then answer the question. Who won the 2020 election? I have answered the question. Answer it. What is your answer? I've given you my answer. What is your answer?

You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you asked to lead America's intelligence community? Isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president's delusions? We know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question. Why can you not give it? I think I gave you the answer. Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid in Georgia earlier this year? You discussed that with me yesterday in your office.

Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid earlier this year? You brought it to me. What is going on here? You've said at the beginning of this you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. I'm asking a very simple question. Are you aware of a Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid earlier of this year? Yes or no? Are you aware?

I was... You won't answer that question either. I just said I was made aware of it by you yesterday. The first time you learned that Director Gabbard was present that raid was in my office yesterday? It was the first time that in my recollection, I've thought about it recently. Now, was I aware of it before? What? You, I mean, you brought it to my attention yesterday.

I had not thought. So you had not known until... I had not thought about it until you brought it to my attention yesterday. Your answers lack credibility. Your testimony lacks credibility. You're being evasive and you're not being candid or forthright. and everybody across the country is going to watch this and know that. Are you aware that former Director Graber testified that her presence at the raid was, quote, requested by the president?

I'm not aware of that until now. Okay, you are now aware of that? Yeah. Are you aware that members of this committee are already probing Director Gabbard's potential misconduct in this matter? No, I don't. I'm not privy to your probe and to... Are you aware that the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel of your office have already provided testimony to this committee regarding this matter.

No. If the White House chief of staff or the president asks you to travel somewhere across the United States and oversee the execution of a domestic search warrant on a sensitive election facility, will you do it? Is that appropriate? Is that appropriate for the Director of National Intelligence? That's a hypothetical. We all know it's not appropriate.

Senator Oswald your time is expired. Will you answer the question? Your time is expired. Will you give him the opportunity to answer the question? Is this not material right now, sir? Is it appropriate for the Director of National Intelligence to oversee the execution of domestic search warrants at sensitive election facilities? Yes or no? I think you're asking me, as you just said in your first comment to me?

Yes or no, is it appropriate? No. You are asking me to comment on a matter that you just said was under investigation. No, I'm asking you- Okay, Senator Ossoff. Your time is expired. Okay. Senator Mark Kelly, also try to get this idiot to answer question.

Listen to this. So can you tell me why Joe Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 election? I really, I'm going back to my constitutional law here, but I don't want to continue to have debate about this, but I believe he had the most electoral votes. So he won the election. He followed our process, had the most of electoral votes, was declared the winner, and... And who has the most electoral votes? Is it the person that wins or the person that loses?

I think that's your characterization. I really... I'm not going to continue to do this. The reason why we struggle with this, and I think it's especially important in the job you're nominated for, is because it seems that folks have... who are nominated for these positions just fundamentally refuse to disagree with something the president says. And the problem I have with this is he isn't in the room today.

You're going to be in a room with him many times. And at times you should have a difference of opinion. And if you can't disagree with him when he's not in the room, are you going to be able to disagree with him when you're sitting across from him in the Oval Office or the situation room? That's what I struggle with, because this job is different. This job, it's not about softening the edges when the truth is unpleasant. It's about delivering information and making sure the president understands that information.

And by the way, people risk their lives to get this information. And if it's not transmitted to the president, if it's not transmitted to the president, if you're He doesn't understand it. I mean, there's going to be disagreements. We expect that. But I really struggle with this, especially in your position, because you can't disagree with him on this, because he doesn't like the fact that he lost in 2020.

As you said, Joe Biden was certified because he got the most electoral votes. That means he won, but you still refuse to say that. And I was sitting at the SEC when this occurred, and I can tell you that I, maybe people worked harder. I don't think anybody I know worked harder to make an effective transition to my successor at the SEC. Ryan, this guy's the former SEC chair.

He's the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is considered to be the second most powerful position in the U.S. Attorney General. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I hadn't know. I hadn't heard about that. I hadn't know. You want to be to hear the director of national intelligence? You don't know shit? Ryan, your mic. Ryan, you're meeting. I was so excited and unmuted myself. Because this guy, Senate Democrats took him straight to the find-out portion of the exercise, and he couldn't hack it. And it's not like we are surprised at this point that folks that get in front of Senate panels for confirmation that Trump

has appointed our field prepared. But to your point, he already holds a very powerful position, and he's up for another very powerful position. And we have to see if people like Suzanne Collins in the slim Republican majority who are up for reelection this year are actually going to let this guy slide through. And they just may. So I'm watching for whether or not this guy actually gets through or not because the few seats that Democrat need to flip in the Senate this year could flip in part because of situations like this where somebody flounders on TV for minutes at a time the ad rights itself,

this guy could be one of the reasons why Susan Collins goes home. Sean, what is crazy to me is they are so scared to say, yes, Joe Biden won. Because Mr. Poopie Pants, two blocks away from here, it will be in his feelings.

They just, they can't say it, oh, no, no, he got the most electoral, you know, he's like, well, I've got to lean back my constitutional classes. No, you don't. He won. And it's not even a partisan issue. The sad thing is, in my experience, in every faith tradition that I know of in this country, there's a matter of truth. The truth will set us free. This dude is so tethered to and shackled by the lie that this current administration has

told him, and he just can't even allow himself to be fully free and tell the truth. anyone of moral conscience who is sitting in that hall to finalize his appointment needs to understand that there's no way he can tell the truth if given the real test of his allegiance to this current administration. It's sad. How can he sit there for 30 minutes back and forth? You know, Derry, I think what they should say is they should say, question. Did Ronald Reagan win the election in 1980? The Ronald Reagan win in 1984. The George H.W. Bush win in 1992.

1988. The Bill Clinton win in 1992. The George W. Bush win in 2000. The Barack Obama win in 2008. The Barack Obama win in 2012. And then they should say, did Donald Trump win in 2016? then they should say did Joe Biden win in 2024?

I'm sorry, 2020. They should then go, so. Who lost in 2020? I mean, this is just how insane these people are. And for every one of these idiots, I'm talking about this fool,

these people for federal judges, they literally, for history, those videos will be available to show their complete stupidity and bowing down to this... Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Oncour. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak.

Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together. I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, wolf parades, I'll believe in anything, and tattoos all the things she said, and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeartRadio, Crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jake Brennan, and on the Disgraceland podcast,

I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in one of the world's most notorious prisons. Imagine that. You're Paul McCartney. It's 1980. You're an ex-beedal, and you're doing time in one of Japan's worst prisons right there alongside

Yakuza gangsters and for a ridiculous charge. Or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of. Who is the artist Lady Gaga as being accused of doing the unthinkable to, after allegedly stealing her music and style to become famous? And what about that time, Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped a serial killer? The man who had given her that ride she barely escaped from was Ted Bundy. Listen to Discrace Land on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea.

Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you. Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'ma play you. Join Yamanika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast. You're the problem with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was?

New episodes weekly every Wednesday is part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Bill, why is my eye twitching?

Does this mean I'm in perimenopause? Maybe I have adult ADHD. I need to look this up. Where's my phone? Juliana, your phone is hot to the touch. I think it's asking you for a break. You know what? Maybe I should just ask chat GPT.

Or maybe we can ask an actual human. Yes, like a couple sex therapist. Whoa, that escalated quickly, but okay. Because I have questions. We have questions. And I bet everyone has questions. Like, is it normal to sleep in separate bedrooms? We do that.

How about this one? Is bribing your kids bad parenting or just negotiating? Oh, and I still do need to know why was my poop green that one time? Hypothetically, right? Okay, well, instead of letting the internet guess, we've got actual people answering these exact questions. And laughing with us has got to be better than spending three hours down a rabbit hole online. Listen to Bill and Juliana. The podcast.

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tiret who soils his pants. Yeah. Well, think about it, Roland. And for your listening audience, having been part of this structure many moons ago when I was in the Navy, this is the DNI.

I mean, you are the chief intelligence official. you will be the overseer of all 17 agencies. They're not questioning him if he's qualified in national security. They're not questioning him on his national intelligence background qualifications. They're just asking him about the 2020 election. Who won? If you cannot answer that, that's a disqualifier by itself, because the DNI, you require to be a demonstration of trust, you're going to ask men and women in uniform,

out of uniform, in civilian clothing, to go and do things domestically informed areas to risk their lives to capture intelligence. And you want them to report this information to you, and they cannot even look at you and say, who won 2020 election without this. song and dance. Here, here's the bottom line, Roland, because you're exactly right. While we've been talking about DEI, this is another example right here where this administration continues to bring in individuals in our face and expect for everybody that's to rubber stamp them and send them on their way. Meanwhile, our national security is at risk. Our men and women and children

in the United States are at risk because we have the incompetence of these individuals like Robert Kennedy at CDC and Homeland Security and D&I, all these places, and we're at risk. And so that's the reason why this midterm election is so critical. And as you often remind us, voting comes with consequences if we don't get off the couch and make sure our choices on November 3rd are heard, loud and clear to put us back on track. Well, that was one idiot testifying.

Another was Todd Blanche who Trump wants to be Attorney General. And if y'all want to see some craziness, we're going to start with Senator Kennedy with his fake accent from Louisiana asking the basic question. And Blanche even screwed this one up. Are you and President Trump, France? I'm his lawyer, was his lawyer,

and now I'm the Deputy Attorney General. So I met him as his criminal defense attorney. I'm not sure there's very many people who have ever had a criminal defense attorney who calls that person their friend. I now have a... Well, let me put it this way. Are you enemies?

No, we're not enemies at all. No. Have you ever seen a president of the United States appoint an enemy to be attorney general? I have not. Usually they appoint their qualified friends, don't? Blanche first says, I'm his attorney. He goes, oh, no, I used to be his attorney.

No, you're actually his attorney. So let's just go ahead and be real clear in terms of how you answer that. Then, of course, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, critical vote. If Blanche loses just one vote on the committee, he's done. And Corny hasn't made up his mind. Here's talking about that slush fund for Donald Trump in January 6 cronies. I believe you have said that the weaponization fund is a moot issue. Is that your position?

Yes, it is a moot issue, meaning there is no weaponization fund. The web position fund is dead. It's not moving forward. Well, I would refer you to the settlement agreement. Do you have a copy of that in front of you? I do not. Okay, well, you probably know what's in it. I'm familiar with it, yes.

I'm sure you are. On page four, this set. settlement agreement can be modified only upon the written agreement of the parties. Has there been a written agreement of the parties to modify the settlement fund? No, the settlement fund's just not moving forward. There's no modification. It's just it never started. No money went from the treasury to any other account. There's no commissioners. It's not moving forward. Well, so the settlement agreement remains as it was originally, but I hear what you're saying.

Is the settlement agreement enforceable as a contract by the parties? Well, yes, it's an enforceable document. So I suppose if President Trump's counsel sought to enforce it, they potentially could. Including the weaponization fund. Well, they could try to enforce the contract. They can't force the Department of Justice to move forward with the weaponization fund. They could potentially say that, I suppose, that we breached. by not moving forward.

They haven't done that, and I'm not aware that they're planning on doing that. Like I said, Senator, and Senator Durbin talked about this, but I've talked extensively with you and other colleagues about potentially codifying, so there's no weaponization fund, which is certainly something that could be done. And I wasn't meaning to insult this body,

but just in response to questions from senators about whether that could be done, We very much are okay with that. But just to be clear, the President of the United States, who is a plaintiff in this lawsuit, has not agreed in writing to delete the weaponization fund, and there's no guarantee that he or one of the other plaintiffs might raise that issue by way of a lawsuit and a breach of contract lawsuit in the future. Well, Senator, the plaintiffs have no power over the fund. The fund was administered solely by the five commissioners and through the Department of Justice.

So, no, they don't have any power with respect to the fund at all. I suppose they could bring a lawsuit and then we would litigate it. But even if we were litigating it, there's no fund. So the results of such litigation, whatever it would be, wouldn't...

Y'all, he's lie! He's lie! Well, the plaintiffs don't have any power. The plaintiff is Trump. You're a boss. They actually think, He thinks we're stupid. I really hope John Cornyn has the balls to vote no.

Trump screwed him in his reelection, voted for Ken Paxton. John Cornyn, please, for the first time, have some guts and tell Trump go to hell and vote no against Todd Blanche. Here is Blanche and Cory Booker going at it. Good afternoon, Mr. Blanche. Good afternoon. Our president has a very well-documented history of attempting to corruptly influence government officials to advance his own personal interest. He called the Republican Secretary of Georgia asking him to find enough votes to overturn the election. He withheld military aid to pressure Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden's son.

For these things, he has been impeached. He's been criminally convicted in Georgia, indicted in Georgia because he uses his power to unjustly influence. people. When a president routinely pressures public officials for his own personal benefit, the Department of Justice has to remain independent. This brings me really to you, and I think what has you at the center of so much concern, is that you seek to lead the Department of Justice after being the President's personal lawyer. The American people are really entitled to know whether your allegiance to the rule of law is your focus or your allegiance to one man who clearly has an insatiable appetite for revenge, self-enrichment, and the abuse of power.

So I want to talk about your record. Under you, the department has prosecuted people that have caught folks on both sides of the political aisle by surprise. Jim Comey, Letitia James, my colleague, Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, this casts a shadow over your ideas, any ideas of independence. You directed the arrest of Mayor Raz Baraka of my city of Newark. You weren't at Delaney Hall on May 9, 2025, when he was arrested. But yes or no? Did you have a conversation with special agent in charge,

Ricky Patel, ordering him to arrest Mayor Baraka? I had a conversation. I didn't order him to arrest. I authorized the arrest, which is my job. So you were not there, and we have body cameronage footage of him. him then moving and saying, we are arresting the mayor right now per, this is his quote, the deputy attorney general of the United States. I want to put that into the record, your comments there. And the district court assessing all of your conduct admonish the

Department of Justice. This is the, this is the quote of the judge, the federal judge. Your role is not to advance political agendas. Your allegiance is to the impartial application of the law and to uphold due to. process for all. But this is just one example cited by over 1,200 current and former Department of Justice officials appointed under presence of both parties who warned that you should not be in this position because of your inability to be independent from your personal allegiance to Donald Trump over the rule of law. I met yesterday with Epstein survivors. Some of them are here in the room today. Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, passed the Epstein

Files Transparency Act because the American people were demanding justice. Yet you failed to abide by that law and release the files by the deadline established by the law. And when the files were finally released, you failed to protect the survivors that that law was intended to protect. Survivors, personal information, including names, phone numbers, home addresses, and images were released. Powerful people were redacted. Survivors were subjected to retramatization. More than 1,200 victims, yet only two people have ever been prosecuted, Jeffrey Epstein and Galane Maxwell.

Now, I was stunned earlier by your conversation with one of my colleagues that you wouldn't even commit to meeting with the survivors, but you did meet with Galane Maxwell. Your claim that you can't meet with these victims because they're represented by counsel is utter nonsense. Counsel can be present or a client can waive their right to have counsel, but you're a lawyer. You know this.

That was not truthful what you said to my colleague. You said that they should meet with the FBI. All of these women have reported their crimes decades ago, but yet you won't meet with them. What you will do is meet with Galane Maxwell. Over a year ago, you sat with her. And you publicly said you were seeking the truth. So let's talk about what that two-day meeting produced.

Did your interview with Ms. Maxwell lead to a single additional person being charged, yes or no? No. Did it lead to a single new investigation, yes or no? I can't talk about what there's any investigation. I'm not asking you about an ongoing or closed investigation. I'm just asking you about this unusual. Yes or no. Did you or anyone else from the DOJ or a social?

with the president discuss a presidential pardon with Galane Maxwell or her attorneys? No. Did you discuss clemency, yes or no? No. Did you discuss... She was convicted. What do you mean clemency? Did you discuss her transfer to another institution, yes or no? No.

Well, just one week after your meeting, Ms. Maxwell was transferred from a low-security federal institution to a minimum-security prison camp. Were you involved with that transfer? when as I've talked about before in the time leading up to me going down to meet with her we learned that she was receiving threats the turned out I'm going to interrupt you for a matter of time because okay well it's not a question I can answer apparently in the sir I'm going to tell you this because I deal with the issues of criminal justice when people are under threats in a bureau prison facility they're put into solitary confinement or protective they're not more moved to a camp. That's not always true. It is, well, what is true is someone that is accused of child sex trafficking under the Bureau of Prison's own policies is not put in a facility like this that seems clearly

like a reward. The Department of Justice is also responsible that powerful corporations play by the same rules. Let's take a proposed merger between Paramount Warner Brothers and Discovery. This is no ordinary transaction. It was a proposed $11 billion merger involving two of the last remaining legacy Hollywood studios. As Deputy Attorney General and later acting Attorney General, you exercise oversight of the antitrust division. You approved the decision to close the department's investigation into that merger, yes or no?

I was part of the decision. Yes, you were involved in that. You don't even let me answer, man. Did the career attorneys investigated that deal recommend closing that investment? I didn't have a conversation with the career, but as I was saying earlier, I didn't ask you that. I asked you, did the career attorneys who investigate the deal recommend closing the investigation? I have no idea what they were. You were in charge of that department yet you have no idea. Well, this is... I didn't say I had no idea. It's no idea about the question you asked about what the career attorney's view was. You do not know what the career attorney's view was. I'm not sure what the view was respect to closing it or not closing it. Let me tell you why. Ethics laws that bind you about the appearance of propriety. are so, so damning in this case. On the same day that Paramount shareholders voted to approve the merger, David Ellison, the head of the acquiring company,

hosted a dinner that you attended honoring the President of the United States. While you were at that dinner, the DOJ was still investigating a merger. Did you speak with Mr. Ellison on that evening? No. Did you discuss with anyone involved in that organization, that evening, the department's ongoing investigations. No. Well, six weeks later, after that dinner,

that investigation was closed that you're stating you have no idea if the attorney's in charge even finished their investigation. That's not what I said. What did you say? You asked me a question about whether the attorneys recommended that the investigation would be closed, and I said I wasn't sure.

That's different than what you just threw back at me. Do you believe that that creates an appearance of impropriety that you were at a dinner? No. Okay? The Justice Department ethics rules are very clear about avoiding the appearance of impropriety. In a case like this, I don't think that's appearance of impropriety. I think that's improper.

That the connected and the powerful are getting a chance to rub shoulders. It would seem appropriate that you avoid those kind of appearances and dinners like that. every appearance or dinner or speech that I give are cleared by ethics officials. So your attendance at that dinner was cleared by ethics officials? Everything that I do. I didn't ask you everything you do. Was your appearance at that dinner clear? You can ask the questions, but you cannot control my answers.

I'm under oath, and I can answer the questions. I choose to answer them. Were you approved to approve? Yes or no. Were you approved by ethics? When I do things outside of the department, whether it's a speech, whether it's a dinner, whether it's an event, they are approved by ethics officials. You did not answer whether that attendance was approved.

Every time I go out, it's approved, yes. You know, Lincoln said about him that if you want to see the true character of a man, don't view him in adversity, give him power. I believe you've had a lot of power. And so we don't have to speculate about what has been revealed with your time in that office. We don't need to worry about what kind of attorney general. you've already had that power. This isn't a job interview like usually.

You've sat before this committee before. You've made promises time and time again before. You got the job actually to be the number two and the acting director. So this isn't a confirmation hearing. This is more of a performance review. And clearly, when it comes to the treatment of Epstein victims, when it comes to politically motivated prosecutions,

when it comes from avoiding appearance of impropriety with corporations, you failed. You're asking this body for a promotion, and you've spent today making a lot of promises, promises to follow the law, promises to be independent, promises to serve the American people and not the president, but we don't need your promises. We have your record. We have watched you exercise one of the greatest powers entrusted to any public servant, and what have you shown us? 1,200 victims waiting for justice. What have you shown us? there's two prosecutions. While the people involved, the victims, are waiting for action,

one of the people prosecuted gets the most cushy arrangement possible after you visit with her. Again and again, you seem to be favoring the interests of a president and the powerful. You've chosen Trump over truth. You've chosen corporations over the Constitution. and you fail to meet the test. I'll say this in closing.

This is why your nomination should fail. The Attorney General's client is not the president. It's the American people. You've been protecting one man for most of your career for years and years and years. He has demonstrated himself to put undue pressure. This is why he was impeached. This is why he was criminally indicted.

If your record and your testimony today should show us anything. It should show you, in my opinion, that you should not be confirmed to this job. Masterful questioning there and the reality, Derek, it exposes who this man is and how he does not deserve to be Attorney General. North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis, who is not running for re-election, who Trump despises, says he's leaning towards voting for Blanche. I really hope Conan get some guts and says he's not going to support him. I hope not only Cornyn, but a lot of others like Fetterman.

I don't know where Fetterman going to stand with this vote. Neither are rolling. Yeah, but I'm saying, but Republicans have a majority. So the point is, if Cornyn votes no, Blanche's confirmation does not leave committee. That's the point. So Fetterman's vote doesn't mean anything. It's if he loses one Republican vote, he's screwed. Yeah.

No, absolutely. you're exactly right um i was hoping that senator booker was just going to say and let's look at him say you are a liar just call him what he is say you are a liar you've lied that you were not in the room around all of these independent deals he's lying around all the financial personal financial enrichment of this uh of the uh trump administration and his family He was in the room with cryptocurrency, foreign investments. Every single deal, he was in the room because the DOJ was in the room. And he is the DOJ.

He acted second in command. Didn't matter. He was always in the room during this administration. Here's the other point, Roland, just to highlight as well, we got to get to a point where the DOJ is independent and observe the rule of law. If not, cases that we've been talking about tonight from Nolan Wells and all the other cases that we talked about before, unfortunately, we'll not get the proper due diligence from the DOJ. And that's very concerning as a state legislator.

That's very concerning as a dad. That's very concerning as a retired naval officer that we don't have a DOJ is acting on the behalf of the people versus on acting on the behalf of. of this current administration. We need someone that's gonna follow the rule of law and that's gonna act independent and not follow this administration. And this individual has already proven to Cory Booker's point that his performance

and his record has already demonstrated that he's not gonna do those three things that we need for him to do. Ryan, that train is left. Ain't nothing gonna be independent about DOJ under Donald Trump. He's a thug in chief. But Todd Blanche clearly showed he has no business

being the most powerful law enforcement officer in the country. Yeah, this is a man who is a seasoned attorney. He's up in here pretending like he doesn't know how a contract law works. I'm not an attorney, and I know he's full of shit. And that's the thing is, I think this is a man who has succeeded as a bullshit artist in small rooms and maybe courtrooms for years, and it turns out that bullshit doesn't stand up in front of the U.S. Senate or a national audience.

I'm hoping that how obvious that is is enough to get a John Cornyn to vote the right way. But we just don't know. I guess that's one of the scariest parts about watching America crash in slow motion is we see these things unfold in real time, and we won't know until the last possible second if somebody like this jerk is going to get advanced to the floor of the Senate or not. But he shouldn't be. This is a man who clearly gets frustrated when challenged with his own words and his own actions. And I don't see how somebody like that could make a good attorney for anything, let alone attorney general. That's not what we need.

This is the largest, this is the most powerful nation in the history of the earth. Our attorney general needs to be top-notch, not whatever this is. Shonda? Yeah, I don't want to condemn, Tosh, because I don't know the man. But I do want to suggest that in the demonstration of, as Senator Cory Booker did press him on, this appearance of impropriety, that if it looks like a duck and it smells like a duck, it's probably a duck if it wattles as a duck, that as we think about the holy, Hutzpah, as my Jewish colleagues

would say, that this is a time in history that moral courage absolutely matters. And so if you can sit in that room and hear Todd Blanche give this appearance of impropriety and still vote yes, I want to question your moral courage and where

you land in this side of history that you get to have a vote on. Oh, Todd Blanche, and what I do know is his ass is unethical and should not be attorney general. Period. And he's exhibited that. And at the Jolaine Maxwell deal, him

interviewing her, all of a sudden, she'd go into a cushy prison. Oh, I don't know anything about that. He's straight-line. All right, that's it for us. I appreciate it. Derek, thanks a bunch. Shonda, Ryan, your first time on the show. I appreciate you all being here. Thank you so very much being on today's panel. Folks, that is it for us.

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