#RolandMartinUnfiltered - NY's AG Sues Trump for Fraud, LA Black Pageant Judge Agrees w/White Judge, Suns/Mercury Sale

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

9.21.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NY's AG Sues Trump for Fraud, LA Black Pageant Judge Agrees w/White Judge, Suns/Mercury Sale  New York Attorney General Letitia James is not playing with those Trumps!  Today, she announced the massive fraud in a civil lawsuit following a three-year inquiry into the finances of the family business.  We'll break down the allegations.  The Federal Reserve raises interest rates by three-quarters of a point.  I'll tell you who will be impacted the most.  A Georiga judge hands down the maximum sentence to a black man who feared for his life when he shot at some white teens trying to run him off the road.  I'll talk to Marcus Flowers, the U.S. Army Veteran inspired by the Jan. 6th insurrection to run against Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Green.  And the only black judge at that Louisiana Pageant we told you about on Monday has messed up.  She agreed with the white judge who said the black contestant with the afro was not "finished."  Ya'll will not believe what she said and how she tried to clean it up.  In today's Tech Talk, we'll look at an app called Herbpon.  The Groupon for cannabis.    Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms 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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. We'll be right back. Black America rolling. Be black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Thank you. Today is Wednesday, September 21st, 2022.

Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network from Los Angeles, New York State Attorney General Letitia James drops the hammer on Donald Trump, saying that the Trump Organization has fraudulently lied about his wealth, about his properties, and saying it is time to end that fraud. She is targeting him and his children in this civil suit.

We'll show you what she said today and break it down with our legal team. Also on the show, the Fed has raised interest rates in an effort to cool off inflation. We'll tell you who is going to be impacted and what products. Also, we'll talk with Marcus Flowers, the U.S. Army veteran who is running against crazed and deranged Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia. Also, the only black judge at that Louisiana

pageant we told you about on Monday? Hmm. Guess what? She has agreed with the white judge who said the black contestant, the teen girl with the afro, that it wasn't finished. Y'all would not believe what she told us

and then how she then tried to clean it up. On today's Tech Talk 7, we'll look at an app called Herp On, the Group On for Cannabis. Y'all, it's a jam packed show. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Martin on Filter on the Blackstar Network. He's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all.

Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's bunk, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Don't truck. You might want to leave black women alone and America hashtag. Weag, we tried to tell you. We told you this

man was a fraud. We told you he was a con artist. Today, New York State Attorney General Letitia James laid bare how fraudulent Donald Trump has been when it comes to overstating, overvaluing his assets, even lying about the size of his own apartment in Trump Tower. Folks, in a 22-minute speech, A.G. James just laid bare how grossly Donald Trump has essentially stolen from banks when it came to valuing his company. And she wants massive changes with today's announcement of this civil lawsuit. Following a comprehensive three-year investigation by my office, including witnesses, interviews with more than 65 witnesses, and review of millions of documents that were submitted

by Mr. Trump and others. I am announcing that today we are filing a lawsuit against Donald Trump for violating the law as part of his efforts to generate profits for himself, his family, and his company. The complaint demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat this system, thereby cheating all of us. He did this with the help of the other defendants,

his children, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump, and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Trump Organization Comptroller Jeffrey McConney. Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company. To pay lower taxes. To satisfy continuing loan agreements and to induce insurance companies to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums. This conduct was all in violation of Executive Law Section 6312, which gives the Attorney General broad and special powers to go after persistent and repeated fraud and illegality. As part of demonstrating illegality under that section of Law 6312,

we show that they violated several state criminal laws, including falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, and engaging in a conspiracy to commit each of these state law violations. We believe the conduct alleged in this action also violates federal criminal law, including issuing false statements to financial institutions and bank fraud. And we are referring those criminal violations that we've uncovered to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service. As a result of these violations, we are asking the court to, among other things, permanently bar Mr. Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, from serving as an officer or director in any

corporation or similar entity registered and are licensed in New York. To bar Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization from entering into any New York State commercial real estate acquisition or from applying for loans from any financial institution in New York for five years. To pay for the financial benefits obtained as a result of the persistent fraudulent practices at an estimated 250 million dollars and towards the end of my mirok my remarks I will go into the other relief that we are seeking at the

center of this of the year long financial scheme were the center of this, of the year-long financial scheme, were the statements of financial condition that were prepared annually by and for Mr. Trump, specifically from 2011 to 2021. These statements were compiled by the Trump Organization executives and were issued as a compilation report by Mr. Trump's accounting firm. The statements are explicit that the preparation was the responsibility of Mr. Trump. We're starting in 2016 the trustees of his trust, Donald Trump Jr. and Allen Weisselberg, for the sole beneficiary, for the sole benefit of Mr. Donald Trump. Each statement was personally certified as accurate by Mr. Trump or by one of his trustees as part of the loan process with the intent that the information in the statement

would be relied upon by banks and insurers. Mr. Trump and Mr. Weisselberg would meet to review and approve the final statement every year. Mr. Trump made known through Allen Weisselberg that he wanted his net worth reflected on the statements to increase. A desire Mr. Weisselberg and others carried out year after year in their fraudulent preparation of the statements. And when asked about these meetings under oath as part of our deposition, both men, Mr. Trump and Mr. Weisselberg, invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and they refused to answer. When asked under oath if he, Mr. Trump, continued to review and approve the statements after becoming President of the United States in 2017.

Mr. Trump again invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to answer. Over the course of our investigation, we found that Mr. Trump, his children, the Trump Organization created and used more than 200 false and misleading asset valuations on his statement of financial condition over that 10-year period. They issued statements that were in clear violation of general accepted principles in the general accounting principles in the United States, despite representing that these statements were prepared in accordance with these principles. Some of the common tactics they used include representing that Mr. Trump had cash on hand that he did not have, ignoring critical

restrictions that would significantly impact property values when setting valuations, changing the methodology used to value properties from year to year without reason or notice, and using vastly different methods to value different properties even in the same year, and including tangible items such as brand premiums, the Trump premium, when calculating an asset's value, despite the fact that they ignored the advice of outside professionals. They also ignored the advice and appraisals of outside professionals, despite claiming those individuals provided certain figures. For example, they received a series of bank-ordered appraisals for the commercial property at 40 Wall Street in New York City that calculated the value of the

property at $200 million as of August 2010 and $220 million as of November 2012. Yet, in his 2011 statement, Mr. Trump listed 40 Wall Street with a value of $524 million, which increased to $530 million over the next two years, more than twice the value calculated by the professionals. Even more egregious, the $500 million plus valuation was attributed to information from the appraiser who valued the building at just over $200 million. Another deceptive strategy they employed was to use objectively false numbers to calculate property values. Take Mr. Trump's triplex. You know, the triplex apartment in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. Mr. Trump represented that his apartment spanned more than 30,000 square feet, which was the

basis for valuing the apartment. In reality, the apartment had an area of less than 11,000 square feet, something that Mr. Trump was well aware of. And based on that inflated square footage, the value of the apartment in 2015 and 2016 was $327 million. To this date, no apartment in New York City has ever sold for close to that amount. Tripling the size of the apartment for purposes of the valuation was intentional and deliberate fraud. Not an honest mistake. Mr. Trump was intimately familiar with the layout of both the building and the apartment, having personally overseen the construction of both.

Despite his sworn testimony before invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege, Mr. Weisselberg conceded that using the false square footage improperly inflated the value of the apartment almost threefold. Mr. Weisselberg admitted that this amounted to an overstatement of, give or take, $200 million. Misrepresenting the size of the apartment was only one of the many ways that Mr. Trump intentionally misvalued his asset for the purposes of increasing his net worth and inducing banks to offer more favorable terms. Mr. Trump also routinely ignored legal restrictions on development rights and marketability on properties that would significantly decrease property values. For example, let's take Trump Park Avenue in New York. This building contains both commercial and residential space. The unsold

residential condo units owned by Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization represented the lion's share of the reported value for this property. Mr. Trump and his children intentionally ignored legal restrictions on some of the units that would have drastically changed the valuation. Specifically, the 12 of those units were actually rent-stabilized apartments. A professional appraiser valued those 12 units at around $750,000, noting that the rent-stabilized units cannot be marketed as individual units for sale because the current tenants cannot be forced to leave. Despite this professional valuation and Mr. Trump knowing full well the legal restrictions, the 12 rent-stabilized units were valued, he valued them collectively on his statements at $9 million. That is about 65 times the appraised valuation. Mr. Trump also blatantly ignored legal restrictions at Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago was

valued on the false premise that it sat on unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use. However, Mr. Trump knew that Mar-a-Lago was subject to a host of onerous restrictions and limitations. Mr. Trump himself signed deeds sharply restricting changes to the property and donating his residential development rights in an effort to get a tax deduction and later to lower his property taxes on the property. The deeds also require Mr. Trump to donate over 23 percent of Mar-a-Lago's value to the Historic Trust for Historic Preservation if he ever sold it. Despite these significant restrictions, Mr. Trump valued the property based on the false premise that it was an unrestricted residential 18-acre plot of land that could be sold and used as a private home.

In fact, the valuations represent that these restrictions don't even exist. The club generated annual revenues of less than $25 million and should have been valued at more than, valued at about $75 million. However, Mar-a-Lago was valued as high as $739 million. Mr. Trump used inappropriate schemes to inflate the value of his other golf clubs. He valued the clubs based on their fixed assets. them despite being informed by valuation professionals that this practice was inappropriate for a club operating as an ongoing business. He again added a brand premium when determining the value of the club,hips, often by hundreds of thousands of dollars per membership, even in situations where the memberships were given away for free at Mr. Trump's direction. Inflating his reported net worth was just the first part of the scheme.

He then used these false statements of financial condition for his own personal gain. Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization have obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate loans and insurance coverage using these statements. Mr. Trump was able to secure much more favorable loan terms by personally guaranteeing the loans based on his reported net worth, as reflected on his statements of financial condition. These statements were key, integral to Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization's ability to secure loans for a number of properties, including the old post office in Washington, D.C. Mr. Trump's statements were first submitted to the federal government to demonstrate his financial status, his net worth. He then engaged with Deutsche Bank to obtain a loan to redevelop the property. Mr. Trump was able to obtain much more favorable loan terms by personally guaranteeing the loans. So in 2014, he secured a loan from Deutsche Bank for $170 million.

And as you know, in May of 22, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization, they sold the post office, the old post office property, for $375 million, resulting in a $100 million net profit, which was the result of a loan he was able to obtain through the use of false and misleading statements of financial condition. Separately, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization saved an estimated $150 million by receiving favorable interest rates that were only provided based on the false and misleading statements of financial condition. We also believe that he illegally

saved millions of dollars in federal tax benefits, conservation easement donations related to Seven Springs in Westchester and the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles. And his conduct is not the subject of this action, but we are referring it to the IRS and to the Southern District of New York. The examples I laid out just barely scratch the surface of the misconduct that we have uncovered. The complaint, which all of you should have a copy, is more than 280 pages long. It includes examples from 23 assets that were grossly and fraudulently inflated. And those inflated values were used on Mr. Trump's statements almost every year.

All told, we uncovered more than 200 examples of false and misleading asset valuations that were used on his statements. The pattern of fraud and deception that was used by Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization for their own financial benefit is astounding. Inflating the values of assets by whatever means necessary to increase Mr. Trump's purported net worth. And then that net worth was used to further enhance his financial standing, intentionally misrepresenting his financials to obtain incredible economic benefit. It was a scheme that by its very nature became more profitable over time. And it is all in stark violation of the law. As I mentioned earlier, the relief that we are seeking specifically, we are asking the court, again, to permanently bar Mr. Trump, Donald Trump, Eric Trump, Ivanka

Trump from serving as an officer or director in any corporation or similar business entity registered or licensed in New York State. We are barring Mr. Trump and his organization from entering into any New York State commercial real estate acquisition for five years. We are barring Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization from applying for any loans from any financial institution registered with the New York Department of Financial Services for five years. We are requiring Mr. Trump and the Trump organization to disgorge the financial benefits obtained through the persistent fraudulent practices, an estimated baseline at the minimum of $250 million, and to appoint an independent monitor at the Trump organization to oversee compliance, financial reporting, valuations, and disclosures to lenders, insurers, and tax authorities for no less

than five years. We are requiring the Trump Organization to prepare on an annual basis for the next five years a GAAP, a generally accepted accounting practices compliant audited statement of financial condition showing Mr. Trump's net worth to be distributed to all the recipients of his prior statements of financial condition. To replace the current trustees of the Donald J. Trump revocable trusts with new independent trustees or require similar independent governance if a new trust is created and to permanently bar Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey Makani from serving in the financial control of any New York corporation.

And lastly, to cancel any certificate filed under and by virtue of the provisions of section 130 of the General Business Law for the corporate entities named as defendants and any other entity controlled by or beneficially owned by Donald Trump, which participated in or benefited from the ongoing financial scheme. In other words, permanently prohibit any of these companies from doing business in the state of New York. I want to be clear.

White-collar financial crime is not a victimless crime. When the well-connected break the law to take in more money that they are entitled to. It reduces resources to working people, to regular people, to small businesses, and to all taxpayers. Everyday people cannot lie to a bank about how much money they have in order to get a favorable loan to buy a home or to send their kid to college. And if they did, the government would throw the book at them. Why should this be any different? It is a tale of two justice systems one for everyday

working people and one for the elite the rich and the powerful. Mr. Trump and his allies may say that these penalties are too harsh or that this is part of a witch hunt. I will remind everyone that this investigation only started after Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, his former lawyer, testified before Congress and shed light on this misconduct. And the remedies are consistent with what we have sought for other businesses that committed the same misconduct. This investigation revealed that Donald Trump engaged in years of illegal conduct to inflate his net worth, to achieve, to deceive banks and the people of the great state of New York.

Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It's the art of the steal. And there cannot be different rules for different people in this country or in this state. And former presidents are no different. And so today we are making good on that promise, on our commitment. Because no one, no one is above the law. Joining us right now, Robert Petillo. He is the executive director for the rainbow push coalition peach tree street project monique presley be joining us a little bit later legal analyst and host make it make sense with monique presley dr larry j walker assistant professor university

of central florida all right robert let's walk through this um detail specific numerous allegations already of course Donald Trump he's called her racist this is a witch hunt Bill Barr has been on Fox News saying oh my god you know she's she's going after the children this is just so unfair but Robert people need to understand, when you lie on a loan application, you are committing a federal crime. That's why she said she's referred these things to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Absolutely. And just to take the Bill Barr statement first, all of Donald Trump's kids are older than me. Everybody except for Barron. So Ivanka, I think, is 40. Don Jr. is 44. Eric is 38. These are grown-ass people. And this idea, this infantilization of wealthy white people, this idea that they are just kids acting up, they have no idea what is going on,

that is just outside the purview of what I think most Americans understand. I think it's almost a ridiculous argument that former AG Barr was making on the point about the Trump organization. Remember, this is the same president that said we have to have law and order in this country when it came to black protesters. These are the same people who were running around chanting, lock her up, because of emails, when in reality, what we do know is that the millionaire and billionaire class in this country, just as Bernie Sanders and Reverend Jetson have been saying for the last 50 years, they play by a different set of rules than the rest of us. The rest of us, if we lie on a loan application or a credit card application, we can face years in prison. Letitia James isn't even talking about jail time. This is a civil

suit in this case. She's referring it to the federal government for further prosecution for potential criminal charges. But what we have seen is they have been brazen in the nature of this fraud to the point that President Trump, when interviewed, did not even offer a defense. He pled the fifth for four straight hours. He did not answer a single question, meaning, and if he had really thought that he had any ability to counter these charges, these accusations, he could have done so at any point in time. Now, I think this is a point that most people need to understand in regular business. If you're at your job and the CFO either resigns or pleads guilty to a crime, things really bad are about to happen because that's the person in charge of the book. So when we saw Weisselberg be charged and then take a plea deal in the case, we knew that it would not be long until we saw something along those lines coming

down. And Letitia James has been very judicious in trying this outside of the court of public opinion, not making any spectacle about it, going about this work for years on end. There were many calls for this before the 2020 election for them to bring these types of charges to help politically. She did not do that. She went through the process. She interviewed hundreds of witnesses, reviewed thousands of pages of documents, took dozens of depositions in order to reach this conclusion. It's not a conclusion which is reached lightly

because there is this charge that the Trump base, about half, probably 40% of this country, will believe that any sort of accusations against President Trump are politically motivated, which they will believe that any sort of accusations against President Trump are politically motivated, which they will believe that any sorts of prosecution against Trump is about the deep state, the loony liberal, something along those lines. They cannot accept the fact that they support it and still do support a career criminal who has inflated his assets, who has built this cultural personality around the idea of the concept of having a lot of money without actually having a lot of money. I think also if you dive into these documents,

I had a chance to jump into some of the publicly available documents earlier and not do a full deep dive, but at a certain level of wealth in this country, money becomes completely imaginary. You take some money, you take out loans on that money to pay off the next amount of money, you show fake assets on paper to take out additional on that money to pay off the next amount of money. You show fake assets on paper to take out additional loans, which then justifies you getting more loans. So you're basically taking one credit card to pay off the next credit card. And nobody asks you about it because they assume you have money somewhere down the line. And apparently you can pull this hustle off an entire career. And if President Trump had never entered public life, they probably

will still be running this hustle in New York right now. Larry, it is laughable to listen, to look at these Trump supporters. And I'm going, I mean, I said this when he, when, when he had Trump Hotel in D.C. I'm like, you broke ass folks. They wouldn't even let you walk through the lobby. He is the embodiment of a con man. And these folks are defending it. Oh, this is a partisan witch hunt.

No, no, no. They got the goods on them. And the fact of the matter is, it was well known in New York he was a fraud. But the New York tabloids loved him. The media ate it up. And national media ate it up. And people were unwilling to truly look at what he was doing. It was a house of cards. And now it's come crumbling down. And guess what? It's now time to pay the piper. So this is the story of chickens come home to roost. You know, you're right, Roland.

We know for years that, you know, this is he's been running this con for decades. But this kind of reminds me of when you're a kid in elementary, middle school and it's a bully in a cafeteria who's always pushing kids around. And then finally, somebody stands up to him. So this is essentially this is that moment for the corporate death penalty in terms of the fines and the other guidelines she outlined in terms of owning property in the city. So this could very well be the end. Obviously, Roland, we didn't even talk about all the other challenges in Georgia and the federal government investigation on January 6th, all the other challenges that Donald Trump is dealing with. But this is significant because we've been waiting for months to find out what A.J. James was going to do in terms of addressing all these fraudulent claims we know have been reported in The Washington Post, New York Times, etc. So that data is finally here. You hit on a very important point, is that how the media in many

respects have fed this narrative about this bigger-than-life corporate business entity. But we know now, not only, like I said, from some of the articles we talked about, but we know from what AG had to say today that he's all a fraud. Inflating is worth by hundreds of millions of dollars. This is not only in terms of the IRS, but obviously, she referred to it as the DOJ. But these penalties, not only for Trump, but for his family are significant. And this could very well mean the very end to the Trump organization. And I know no one will shed tears about it. I certainly won't. But it's finally, we're seeing people holding Trump accountable for the lies and all the other

ways in which he's manipulated the system over the last several decades because he's getting away from it that long. But finally, once again, chickens have come home to roost. And like I said, this could be the death knell for the Trump organization. Monique, and again, when you look at the critics, when you look at the folks who are saying that, oh, Tish James, she ran on. I'm going after Trump. Yes, she talked about holding accountable. But I think what's also here, she's now applying pressure to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who pulled back on the investigation into Trump basically by saying, hey, player, what you going to do?

And so now by saying to the U.S. attorneys, we uncovered criminal wrongdoing. Here's a referral. And she's saying, I'm going to hand you the evidence. Now what you're going to do? And so now Merrick Garland, now Bragg, now they are going to have to now contend with this because and then the pressure's on them by saying, are you going to let them escape? Right. Well, I mean, she's made criminal referrals. And one of the prior investigations went stale. And now it gets another life. And that is good. She had access to information and they obviously did a deep, deep dive in order to come up with the strength of the filing that went forward today.

So I commend the AG Tish James. Got to say, that's a bison. That's a Howard lawyer for you and a black woman and every good thing. So I support her and the work that she is doing. And it's not like A.G. Garland is not doing probably 10 other investigations of the former president. But, yes, this referral with everything that they have uncovered and the meticulous manner in which it's been put together certainly cannot hurt. The thing also here, I think, as I sat there and listened to her this morning, and again,

this 22-minute opening statement that we played, was that she was so specific in naming this property, this property, this property, Mar-a-Lago, this, this. Now, OK, sure, you got the Trump folks already out here. You got his defenders. They're now going to have to try to defend lies. In fact, I saw a tweet earlier from Geraldo Rivera who goes, oh, well, this was partisan. And, you know, she claimed the Mar-a-Lago is worth this, but it's really worth way more than that. That's not how it works, Geraldo. The reality is this. When she said Mar-a-Lago brought in essentially $25 million in revenue. Well, we know how the game works.

Certain businesses, there's a multiple. There's a multiple. There's a multiple. If you did twenty five million dollars in the media business, typically you can use a multiple of 10, 250 million. This dude was actually trying to say Mar-a-Lago was worth seven hundred and fifty million dollars. And the thing that we also know, Robert, is that what he was doing was when it benefited him to lower the value for tax purposes, he did. But then he would raise the value when it came to getting loans, the exact same property. And that's also that they have that information. You know, it was quite the stunning dichotomy that we saw earlier today, because I was doing a thing a lot of people were doing, doing the picture in picture, where you have

Joe Biden's speech to the U.N. on one screen and then Tish James's presentation on Donald Trump on the other screen. So on the one hand, you have President Biden addressing the world leaders condemning Russia on their invasion of Ukraine, speaking up on the fact that we need to have African, Central American, South American nations on the U.N. Permanent Security Council so that the larger nations can no longer use their veto power to subjugate the remainder of the world. It was a very important speech, one of the most significant speeches in front of the U.N. that any president has ever given. At the same time, you have the other president being credibly accused and detailed point by point every crime that he has committed in connection with this investigation, not to mention the entire scroll of other crimes that

Sean Hannity put up a few days ago. And the fact that nearly 40 percent of this country will still get in line behind the person who did all the crimes and not the one who is trying to reestablish the rule-based authority of law to stop totalitarianism. I'll just tell you exactly where this nation rests at. Donald Trump comes from a long line of hustlers. His dad was a fraud. His granddad was a pimp. We know what this family does. They make their money through corrupt bargains. And I think, as opposed to this being the end of the Trump family corruption, this is just the opportunity for them to transition it. They're going to transition it from being New York real estate based fraud now to being conservative media based fraud. And that will be the new bread and butter of the Trump empire. People will continue sending them money. They'll buy my pillows from them.

They'll send money to build the wall that will never get built. And they'll keep the crime syndicate going because that's what criminal organizations do. And hopefully at some point in time, once these individuals start getting, because more than likely the Trump organization will try to settle this suit against them. I think they said they were seeking $250 million in damages from the Trump organization. They will try to settle that for some amount there under. What will happen with the federal investigation, criminal investigation thereafter will be the major question. But they will take that. They will say that this is a part of the continued liberal fraud against them, and they will keep hustling their people for money. It's never been about elections. It's never been about

winning or losing. It's about continuing the grift, continuing the hustle. And that's what we've seen the Trump family do for now four generations. Again, there is no bottom. There is none. OK. And at some point when you are this when you are this much of a thug, when you're rogue, when someone has to hold you accountable and the reality is whether it's this civil suit, the Trump Trump tried to settle this suit. They knew it. They knew she had the goods. She's like, nah, we good. Nah, we good. And so she's got significant leverage in this case. Donald Trump does not want this to go to trial. That's why he has fought tooth and nail against Congress trying to get his tax returns against Tish James, against the Manhattan's DA office, because he knows when you open up the financial records, they are going to see this is nothing but a fake trash empire, so-called empire built on sand, quicksand. Well, and he's been getting away with this for decades. He's finally being held accountable. And that's why today is so important. And listen,

the bottom line is, and obviously you talked about, you know, the Trump and his colleagues and his friends and supporters accusing A.G. James of partisanship. He better be nice because she's got the goods on him. And that's just the bottom line. And they're going to have to settle there. Like you said, Roland, they can't afford for this to go to court. But he's stuck. And I want to make a connection to politics for a second here. This is one of the reasons why he wants to run in 2024. He only solely cares about being president of the United States and kind of feel like he can get some kind of cover and certainly have some control and power. But the bottom line is, with all these lawsuits, certainly this most recent one today, but

all the other challenges we've unpacked on your show, he's in a lot of trouble. And my colleague mentioned the MyPillow guy, but I think that he should create a pillow for Trump that says, it's a wrap, because I don't see how he can navigate himself out of this particular challenge, the civil suit. And like I said, it's going to the IRS and DOJ. So who knows what terms of the long-term consequences, not only for him, but in terms of his children also. And I'll really quickly roll, and I'm going to talk about the comments you referred to, Bar made earlier today. And once again, like I said, when it comes to how black folks are treated, when they commit minor infractions or none compared to how

powerful white people were treated. And once again, we see an example of that kind of language that is used to compare powerful adults to, you know, even black children who are just walking down the street, how they're treated by law enforcement and the government. So once again, we see how racism works in this country when it comes to race and power. You know, Monique, I listen to these folks talk about, oh my God, this is so partisan. Well, that was a certain gentleman who was a Democrat in Texas. He was the attorney general, okay? And he was a rising star, Latino, and he was conservative and they were loving him. He was the attorney general when George W. Bush was the governor. And folks were just, oh my goodness, I mean,

he is going to be the man, he's going to be the man. Well, he got himself caught up trying to hook up a lawyer to get a piece of the tobacco settlement. But people forget, when Dan Morelos went to prison for four years, because he also filled out applications and he overstated his income in trying to get cars and houses. The moment he signed that document, that was a federal offense.

And he went to prison for four years. He was the attorney general of Texas. So it was a four-year investigation. So for all these people who say, ah, I mean, yeah, I mean, that's what people do. They inflate their income. Okay, but if you get caught, it's gonna be some problems.

And what did Tish James say today? Deutsche Bank, they're cooperating.? Deutsche Bank, they're cooperating. His accountants, they're cooperating. When you start hearing that your folks on your side are cooperating with an investigation, you might want to get a little concerned. Yes, if he wasn't completely detached from reality, perhaps that would be the case. He likely today is more concerned about the image of it. And I think it was Maggie Haberman from the Times. I'll skip my issues with her. but who I believe accurately said that what happened today is the one thing that he has dreaded and tried to avoid the most. exposure of his lack of legitimacy as billionaire, as multi-multi-millionaire, as successful businessman, that all of that was not just brought down by way of accusation, but with

record after record for each and every holding. And so the ego that encompasses that man is the prevailing thoughts. We watched that through a presidency. So I don't think the notion of jail, which he would never think is reality for him, he doesn't live in a reality where that would happen, or even the notion of being without money because he's faked all this time, having money, not having money. And it seems like, you know, he may have been trading significant top secret government information in exchange for what? Maybe a soft landing. Who knows? But for me, looking at it again, I applaud the effort and I believe it is necessary and that it is not partisan in that this is the job that her office does. And when someone escapes the law for this long, they should be being held accountable. And it has nothing to do with the fact that they happen to be a Trumplican.

Well, you're right. It's about accountability. No one is above the law, whether it's a civil lawsuit, whether it's a criminal criminal case as well. And so we'll certainly see what happens. But I think you're absolutely right. The one thing Donald Trump dread dreads. Remember, he sued an author who said he wasn't a billionaire. He has built this facade and it's as the whole, he cares about the media attention. Well, Donald,

we now know you're a liar. But then again, black people, we've known that from day one. Speaking of liars, coming up next, I'm going to talk with a brother, an army veteran who's running against a liar, Marjorie Taylor Greene. He wants to take her congressional seat.

We'll talk to Marcus Flowers next, right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Speaking of that, download the Black Star Network app. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Don't forget to support us in what we do.

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living in during the conversation only on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. Hey, everybody, it's your girl, Luenell. So what's up? This is your boy, Earthquake. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, one of the most shameful people in Congress today is Marjorie Taylor Greene. She's so pathetic, I won't even call her a congresswoman. This woman has lied.

She has brought shame on the House. She has berated other colleagues. Nasty behavior. Just the other day, this fool actually kicked, kicked an activist as they were walking, kicked her multiple times. And my next guest wants her replaced, calls her an embarrassment to her congressional district. He is a U.S. veteran, Army veteran, Marcus Flowers, who is running against her. He won a Democratic nomination for Congress, and they're facing off in November. Glad to have you on the show. Was there anything in particular that caused for you to say,

this woman can't represent me and my people? I've got to run against her. Well, first and foremost, thanks for having me on, Roland. It's a pleasure to be here with you. You're someone that I've been following for a long time now, and I really appreciate the opportunity to come and speak to you and your audience. So a little bit about why I decided to get in the campaign. That's a long story. Now, as you alluded to in your opening, I'm an Army veteran. At 18 years old, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And that's

what I've been doing for the last almost three decades as a soldier, a former defense contractor, and a former government official with the Department of Defense. You know, what got me involved in politics in general, because coming from the world that I come from, I always considered myself apolitical, nonpartisan, you know, never gotten to politics. My job was to accomplish the mission. Now, going back to the summer of 2020, when I watched George Floyd being murdered at the knee of a police officer, you know, that stirred something in me. And, you know, I took that personally because my granddaddy was a sheriff and a farmer and uncles who were police captains, uncles who served in the military. And I knew that's not, you know, who we were as a country. So that kind of got me off the sidelines, so to speak. I started, you know, looking into ways to reach out to people and talk about, you know, what was going on in our country.

Because at that time, we'd seen a string of Black men being murdered at the hand of police. But over the course of that summer, I watched as misinformation and disinformation campaign grew louder and louder. I watched my idol, John Lewis, who also I share a birthplace with, Troy Alabama, I watched him die and C.T. Vivian die on the same day. And I'm wondering who's going to carry on those messages. At that same time, Marjorie Taylor Greene came onto my radar. She'd just come in and won a primary in our district. I started doing a deep dive into her and caught wind of some of the conspiracy theories and, you know, that she said 9-11, a plane didn't hit the Pentagon, you know, and for someone who was actively serving our country overseas on 9-11, you know, I took that personally as well. But then on January 6th,

when I watched the citadel of our democracy being attacked by election deniers, people who had bought in to the big lie that was being pushed by people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. You know, I watched police officers being beaten with an American flag. My friend, who I've gotten to know over the course of this last year, Harry Dunn, and other officers being bear sprayed, you know, a Confederate battle flag being paraded through our Capitol rotunda. You know, having watched all that and paraded through our Capitol Rotunda. You know, having watched all that and seen Marjorie Taylor Greene's part in it, I really took that personal. So I resigned my post as a government official on January 7th, 2021, and decided to run for Congress against Marjorie Taylor Greene to hold her accountable for that.

And so she's continued, hasn't tempered. In fact, she's been stripped of her committee assignments. And so she just freelancing, running around, acting the fool. She's been fined constantly for refusing to wear masks. She's thumbed her nose at authority. And she, frankly, is acting like a spoiled brat. Oh, yeah. If anything, she's definitely gotten worse since then. I mean, you know, even though my campaign was born of what happened on January 6th, and this is coming

from someone who spent a decade in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, lost brothers and sisters in arms in those conflicts, you know, that's what my campaign was born of. But in the past 18 months since I've been, you know, traveling around this district, meeting people where they are, talking to our local elected officials, whether they're mayors, city council members, commissioners, church leaders, boards of education, law enforcement officials, you know, I've come to find out that we have real issues in this district that aren't being addressed. And that's what people want to see. They want to see effective and efficient governance.

They want to see things getting done. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not doing it. We're all well aware of her antics, but that's not doing a damn thing for us here in this district. She's yet to bring any progress to our district, no matter what she says. You know, traveling around the country, campaigning with, you know, far-right extremists, you know, at Trump rallies. That's not doing anything for us. That's not getting the job done that we sent her to Congress to do.

This has been called a very red district. So how do you beat her? Just like I said before, I get out. This campaign has knocked over 60,000 doors. We've built an infrastructure here for a district who, you know, some people would write off and say, oh, yeah, it's a red district. We're not going to bother with that. Well, that's not who I am.

I don't leave anyone left behind. I don't concede any ground. And we built that infrastructure here with, you know, dozens of organizers, field organizers, hundreds of volunteers, you know, hundreds of thousands of donations from around the country, which I'm humbled by, you know, and again, getting out and having those conversations with people, whether it's Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike, to a person almost, they're embarrassed by Marjorie Taylor Greene. I tell you, I get Republicans coming up to me every day, Roland, every day saying that woman is an embarrassment. Please get her out of office. I'm a Republican. I'm a conservative. I'm voting for you every day. And that's not hyperbole. That is the truth. That's how we beat her. All right, Marcus Flowers, well, certainly good luck in the campaign against Marjorie Taylor Greene. And we'll certainly be watching

on election night. Again, thank you for having me, Roland. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Let's go back to my panel. Let's talk politics here, folks. A new poll come out from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that in that state, Republicans are leading ballots up and down, showing that the gap is widened between Stacey Abrams as well as Brian Kemp. Herschel Walker maintains a lead against Senator Raphael Warnock. Republicans are leading in lieutenant governor's races, AG races, and other races as well. We see what is happening nationally where you have a competition here. I saw one report where they're projecting that Republicans are more than likely going to take over the House, and it's going to be very hard for Democrats to hold on to that Senate majority.

They may be able to. There's a possibility of some pickups there. But it's going to have to take a huge, huge voter turnout for that to happen. One of the things, Robert, in Georgia, Biden's approval rating is dragging folks down. What jumped out at me in that poll is that 77% of African-Americans supporting Warnock. What the hell? Well, yeah, I think one thing that we've seen is the Democratic National Committee, the Senate Campaign Committee, got to Georgia late this campaign cycle for some reason. They did not start running as a hard body until after Labor Day. We did not see that early investment and get out the vote that we've seen in previous years.

We did not see the coordinating committee. And also, I think I mentioned this on the show probably a year ago and on other networks months ago, not hiring Georgia-based consultants, people who know the area, who know the district. So the reason that's important is you're bringing people from D.C., you're bringing people from New York and L.A. to run these statewide campaigns, and they're running New York, L.A., and D.C. issues in Georgia. As you spoke with the brother there, his district's in Dalton, Georgia. So the same talking points that work in San Francisco don't work in Dalton, Georgia, and they need to have people on the ground who understand those things. Now, by no means are these races out of reach. Of course, you have the Walker versus Warnock

debate that's coming up on October 14th that I think will be a very big event if Herschel Walker doesn't pull out of it. And I think Stacey Abrams is running behind because in many ways they were counting on the momentum from 2018 to continue. But politics is a day-by-day apparatus. You have to introduce yourself to a new voting base on a daily basis. And we have to put out that compelling narrative about what exactly will be different under Democratic administration in the state, because Brian Kemp is able to run around and say, well, look, the economy is going good. Unemployment rates are low. We navig navigating through COVID, we have a booming movie industry, et cetera. But Stacey Abrams has to make that compelling case as to what exactly will be different under her administration. And I think that's the case that's

still to be made. We are still seven weeks out from election day. Plenty of stuff can change between now and then. But it's going to take a lot of money, it's going to take a lot of organization, it's going to take bringing in the people who know the state best in order to organize these campaigns. And right in that brother's district, we saw Donald Trump do one of his big MAGA rallies right before the primary. We had Vernon Jones and David Perdue and all the rest there, Marjorie Taylor Greene. We need national Democrats here in Georgia doing the exact same thing, not once, but on a weekly basis. We have seven weeks till the election. We need to be doing seven rallies with big national figures. We need

Barack. We need Michelle. We need Joe. We need all the national names and American politics, the Clintons and whoever else to rally that base around. It will not be a swing voter election where you're going to get those middle of the road voters is about motivating your base to turn out in record numbers. That's what has to happen. That's the thing for me, Monique, that I've been looking at. You know, we're now inside of 50 days and you haven't seen that. It's sort of like folks, not just in Georgia, but in other places, they're just waiting till October to go, OK, let's do everything in the month of October. Well, first of all,

you've got early voting taking place. Again, the way I look at elections is, first of all, I need to be getting people ramped up to hit the registration deadlines. And then the next one is the early voting deadline. And then it comes to Election Day. And now you're talking about, OK, it's going to be a sprint towards it. And I just sort of see folks just sort of just creeping along. I was talking to a major black campaign operative yesterday who said they were on a call and many of these black candidates across the country have been complaining that money wasn't coming to the places. They were sending money to places where Biden won by 10, 12 points. And they were like, look, these are potential pickups. But the bottom line is you got to actually pay attention to them. And I'm just

sort of it is very shocking to me with like I said the other day, literally, if you see someone on this show, I haven't had of the five top five or six U.S. Senate races, not one of the campaigns reaching out to actually place surrogates or things along those lines. In fact, I got a tweet. I don't know if it was an automated one from the Beasley campaign digital director saying, hey, we'd love for you to tweet this out where we can also raise money. And I was like, hey, we'd love for you to get your candidate back on my show and also get some surrogates out and know what you're doing.

And so Robert's right. You have to get people in a state of mind that I'm excited for this candidate. You wait till the last second. You're playing with fire. Yeah. First, I had a question. Robert, do you think that bringing national figures, it would be helpful since you're saying the problem is that people have been ignoring the local message? I just wanted to get it straight before I commented. Yeah, at this point, when you're down 8.7 weeks out from the election, it's all hands on deck. So by that, I mean, you need to have the national figures to bring in that national media attention. But at the same time, you need to have grassroots activists who can go down to Houston County

and know which churches are actually going to motivate people and send buses out for early voting. You need to bring people in who know the difference between the Constitution and the old one. Actually, Robert, Robert, Robert, Robert, let me step in to pick up your point and get your thoughts, which is also piggybacking on Monique's question. When you talk about bringing in national figures, here's the reality. What you're saying is if you're bringing in national celebrities and national figures, when they come into those small areas, it's a huge event. It's like it's I mean, it's a major event.

So what you're talking about is utilizing that celebrity to get people excited, get them galvanized. And now, hey, you're here. Go to that table and get registered. Go to that table and get signed up Go to that table and get signed up. Let's double check your registrations. That's what so that's that's what I'm hearing. We talk about these rallies. You're absolutely right. We covered a ton of those. But Ossoff Warnock in that five week period with the in the runoff in 2020, you haven't seen it. And again, OK, maybe it's going to happen in October, but it's like, why are you waiting till then? Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, exactly. So let's say you bring in Kamala Harris, you bring her down to where I'm from, down in Harris County, Waverly Hall, Georgia. So you get people from Pine Mountain, you get people from Hamilton, you get people from Talbot County, all down there for the rally. Then at the same time, you have Helen Butler from the Georgia Coalition of People Agenda grassroots organizers. You have John Jetson. You have Dee Dawkins Hagler. You bring them in to do the grassroots voter registration work that is necessary to do voter mobilization work. You get them in contact with the League of Women Voters, the Rainbow Push Coalition, the SCLC, et cetera, so that they can do the marching orders to make sure that those people are out there, get out to vote on election day. But you have to bring those

national voices in to drum up that type of attention. That's what the Republicans do masterfully. That's why you see Trump showing up in literally every state around the country. I don't care if you're running for dog catcher. If you are a MAGA candidate, President Trump will show up and give you a shout out on stage. And that gives you that juiced up energy that pushes fundraising, that pushes registration, that pushes volunteer work. So you have to address it from all angles. And the fact that they're just getting at this seven weeks out, they put themselves behind the eight ball, but there's still time to catch up. Monique, go ahead, then Larry.

Right. So I was going to, I just really had another question because I know certainly Black Voters Matter Fund is doing its own work, some mammoth work, but also infusing the work of other organizations. And I believe there is another organization that what is it, the Georgia Voters something or another. I hate that I'm messing up their name right now, but I know that they do great work on the ground. And I would just hope. It's the New Georgia Voter Project. You got New Georgia Project with NSEI. You got Fair Fight. You got the League of Women Voters.

You got the Georgia Coalition for the People. There's no dearth of local organizers, which is why I don't understand why you're bringing in people from San Francisco and L.A. instead of talking to folks who, you know, live in Georgia. Well, no, but my point, forget about talking to them, Robert. My point is that they are working. I mean, they are putting out messaging, and we should be supporting the work that they are doing. They don't need anyone to give them a microphone or to convince them to offer their opinions. They daily are on the ground and in our communities. And I believe that the work that they're doing deserves to be amplified, which of course Roland does on this show, but I'm just using my 30 seconds to say,

hey, y'all, please support these organizations that are doing work on the ground if you want to maintain a democracy. Yeah, absolutely. First of all, it is supporting them, but I agree with Robert's points. By bringing in big names, it also helps to amplify the work that they're doing.

Larry, go ahead. Larry, well, first of all, what do you see in Florida with Deming's Rubio? Well, you know, Deming's is holding her own. And one of the things I want to say about Deming's campaign is that I do see them. I'm here in Orlando, and I do see them out and about. And I certainly see her ads all over the place. So we are seeing Deming's on the ground here in Orlando, like Central Florida, and when I'm talking to people statewide. But like I said, I'm seeing her ads, her digital ads, all over the place, whether I'm on Facebook or watching television.

They're prominent everywhere. So I think she's doing a good job. And obviously it's really important to get folks out to vote in November to make sure that she gets that Senate seat. But one of the things I want to say, Roland, in terms of what my colleagues are just talking about, you know, and look, I worked on the Hill and worked on a number of federal campaigns. And this is like Groundhog Day for the Democratic Party. It seems like every cycle, we're having the same conversation for the last several decades. And I think Monique's point is important. There are a lot of Black-oriented organizations in the state of Georgia and nationally who have been

doing the work for years, but there's always seemed to be this disconnect between those organizations, those grassroots organizations, and the DNC and various other Democratic entities. And you would think at some point the Democrats will realize when you have the opportunity suddenly to hold the Senate. And obviously we have challenges relating to the House. But it has some kind of movement in both chambers to make sure that we can continue to get past for, you know, comprehensive, you know, police reform and some of the other things we talked about on your show. But you can't wait until the last minute in terms of what Robert talked about and bringing in some of the heavy hitters, whether it's, you know, President Obama, et cetera. You can't wait to the last minute to do that. The time to actually get, you know, make sure you were doing the work should have been months ago,

but we don't see enough of that. Bomb Blatt is here. We are inside of 50 days, folks. The countdown is on. And so, look, if we want you, first of all, wherever you are, double-check your registration. Make sure you have not been kicked off the voting rolls. We talked about that last year, and there were people who said, thank God they heard that message on this show because they actually have been kicked off of the voting rolls. And so that's why we encourage that. And we also want you to check

your state when there is early voting in your state. Double check that early voting period so you can go ahead and cast your ballot. One thing we have seen, a significant number of people there in Georgia, African-Americans, more than any other group, have requested mail-in ballots. And the number is actually higher. And the numbers of women in Georgia requesting mail-in ballots is higher than it was in 2020. So that is a good sign there. I've got to go to a break. We'll come back. The owner of the Phoenix Sun,

he is making moves to sell his team after he was suspended by the NBA for a year for racist and sexist behavior. But you ought to see even his response, where he's upset because we live in an unforgiving culture. So now I got to sell my team because they won't forgive me for my behavior over the past 17 years. We'll try to talk about the show y'all next. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the past 17 years. We'll try to talk about show y'all next.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing, creating, making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves,

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What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Joy White from Memphis was last seen on August 6th. The 17-year-old is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Joy White should call the Memphis, Tennessee Police Department at 901-545-2677. 901-545-2677. The owner of the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team is making moves to sell them. Robert Sarver announced

today that he has started that process. He was suspended by the NBA for a year after a long investigation revealed troubling behavior. Comments that he made where in conversations he repeated the N-word that was used from

others. Also, his how he, you know, comments made to women, but also inappropriate contact with men. He's on the team for some 17 years. Again, he was fined $10 million, suspended for a year. But I want to read y'all. This is the statement he released today. And this really shows me, I think, the level of arrogance, Monique, Larry and Robert. He goes, as a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness.

I expected that the commissioner's one year suspension would provide the time for me to focus, make amends, and remove my personal controversy from the teens that I and so many fans love. But this is the line that I'm laughing at. But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that this is no longer possible, that whatever good I have done or could still do is outweighed by things I have said in the past. For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury. Now, first of all, one of the minority owners of the Suns wrote an open letter last week calling for him to step down and sell the team. PayPal, which sponsors their logo on the uniforms, said they were suspending their sponsorship until that happened. The National Basketball Players Association executive director, she came out publicly saying he needs to sell the team.

Other NBA players did the same thing. But the thing that gets me there is, Monique, in our unforgiving culture, dude, they busted you for crap you were saying for 17 years. And now all of a sudden, because people are saying, I don't want to be in business with you, now all of a sudden, I'm a man of faith. with you. Now all of a sudden, this, I'm a man of faith. This just

unforgiving culture. Yeah. And what they're saying is, we can forgive you, but take your punk ass on. You can't be the owner of the team. Right. It has nothing to do with forgiveness.

It's whether people want to be in business with you or not. It's whether people want to continue to contribute to the heaping and heaping of wealth that you already have. He's not going to come out of this any kind of loser. And so, of course, the arrogance is boundless. And you think you can say people similarly situated to him think they can say, my bad, and that they will. I mean, whether we're talking about him or talking about Trump or talking about whoever, these megalomines truly believe that they are in a different stratosphere. And for a very long time, they have been. So this whole thing about the chickens coming home to roost is foreign.

And that statement is exactly what I would expect. And Larry, here's the deal. For years, a lot of free agents wouldn't even go to Phoenix because it was a dysfunctional franchise. They made Chris Paul goes there. They made it to the NBA finals, almost won the chip.

But the whole deal here is, hey, Robert, folks don't have to be in business with you. And I said last week on this show, when that minority owner came out with his letter and then PayPal came out with theirs, I said, week on this show, when that minority owner came out with his letter and then PayPal came out with theirs, I said, you're going to see other companies who will say, we want no part of your company. And guess what? When you start losing money,

yeah, you're going to sell. Now, here's the deal. He's not the sole owner. Now, they let the group that bought it, they bought it for $400 million. This franchise is going to sell for $2 billion. He's going to make a boatload of money, but here's the deal. It's only 31 of these, and you know what? He ain't going to have one of them. Yeah, it's an important point, and there's some important layers to this. First of all, the exposé that was written a few months ago that uncovered all this racist behavior over the last 17 years. But I want to, it's important, Roland, to talk about NBA Commissioner Silver's failure when he came and announced what was going to happen last week, that it was a failure to say he was going to be forced to sell his team like Sterling was when he got L.A. Clippers. That was a failure. But it took a combination of, like you said, you talked about PayPal because the bottom line is all these money. Go ahead. But Larry, he couldn't.

No, he couldn't because Adam Silver is an employee. Adam, just like Roger Goodell, the owners, first of all, they're 30, not 31. The owners own the league. So in the case of Sterling, that wasn't Adam Silver said, I'm making a call. That was the owners like, yeah, he got to go. So if there were enough owners who would have told Silver, yo, Sarver got to go, he would have pulled the trigger.

But Adam Silver himself, he is an employee of the NBA. No, you're right. And what I meant to say is the Board of Governors, right? So you're right. If they had the votes to get him out of there, the Board of Governors, which is comprised of the owners, would have voted him, would force him to sell the franchise. But I really want to give a shout out, and certainly not to PayPal, but to LeBron James and Chris Paul, who publicly talked about that they felt like what the NBA did wasn't quite enough. And it wasn't. So you're right. Also, he's going to make a lot of money from selling the team.

But it's also the case that no one said, well, I'm going to be a fan. Nobody wanted to play for the Suns because they knew all the dysfunction was having taken place. One of the great things about the organization besides the owners, they have a black GM. But in the last couple of years, they hadn't had this much success than the last several years, in fact, when they had Charles Barkley. But he's going to make a lot of money. But the bottom line is I'm glad he was being forced behind the scenes to sell the team. And it's in the best interest of the NBA. But also, like I said, I was glad to talk about the Players Association, some of the top stars coming out and saying that something else should be done

and he should not be an owner. So that won't happen. Robert, this also shows you the difference between the NBA and the NFL in terms of the reality is the NBA, smaller number of players, and then when you have your star players and again, remember the Clippers deal. The NBA literally was on the verge of players

saying, we ain't playing in the playoffs. So they knew they had to do something. So what you have here, NBA players are far more, they're able to I don't use, I don't use, they have power. They have leverage and influence that is different than players in the NFL in terms of how the leagues are set up. Go ahead.

Well, you know, you got to look at Chris Paul in this situation. And if you're an owner who has done anything racist, you might not want to sign Chris Paul to your team. Because apparently when he shows up, Donald Sterling got to sell his team, Starver got to sell his team. If you are doing anything even slightly racist, do not trade for Chris Paul. I think that's very important.

But you make an important point, Roland, because the difference between the NBA and the NFL are a couple of things. One, guaranteed contracts. People have a lot more control and legitimacy when you have a guaranteed contract and not a, look, I'll cut you on Wednesday if you say anything contract, which you have in the NFL. Secondarily, celebrity and star power. The fact that NFL players play with a helmet on takes away a large amount of their marketability. This

is why the NBA is a player-driven league. The NFL is very much a brand and a team-based league. College football is very much a coach-based league, if you want to make the comparison. So because of this, the players have far more cachet than the teams. There are people who are LeBron fans. Whatever team LeBron is on, that is the team they are a fan of. They didn't give a damn about Cleveland when LeBron was in Miami. LeBron goes back to Cleveland, they're a Cavs fan. LeBron goes to the Lakers. They're a Lakers fan. That's the way things work,

which gives players a lot more power. They have a lot more ability to speak out against these owners because at the end of the day, third thing, being a salary-capped league, a hard salary-capped, means that if I'm a match player, I can go anywhere in the league and make the exact same amount of money.

There's not really much that you can say if I want to leave the Phoenix Suns. This is DeAndre Aydin just did, where the Suns didn't want to pay him his money. He went to Indiana and said, give me the money. Indiana gave him the money. The Suns had to match the offer just to get his services back. That's the difference in the contractual nature there. But I don't want to throw Starver out completely from society. I think that if he's a person who legitimately wants to make a difference, wants to make a change, wants to redeem himself in the public eye, that there is work that can be done. He can work with community organizations. He can be ensuring that he is focusing on helping minority businesses, helping black colleges. There are things, if he can use that money he's going to get from the cell of this team

to help and enrich minority communities, to help women run organizations, then he can redeem his name in the public eye. So as opposed to simply throwing him out of society, as we did with Donald Sterling, where we haven't heard from him since, I don't think he actually had any interest in redemption thereafter. I think that if he is genuinely committed to doing so. There are organizations he can work with that can help him to understand the wrong that he's done and hopefully change his legacy. Because at the end of the day, he's gotten to a point of money where, you know, you got God levels of money. So that's not the point anymore is how will people remember you here after and do you sincerely want to make the change you say you want to make?

The only pushback I'll say there is he was saying he wanted to change when he was suspended because he's still on the team. Now the question is, is it here? Again,

it's real simple. If you're actually committed to that, let's see what you do. But now if you have to sell the team, it might be, well, hell, I was just saying that for the PR purposes. But we'll see what Solvert does. Well, we'll see. We'll see. But he can do what you're saying, but I'm not quite sure it's going to be the case. All right, y'all, I got to go to a break.

We come back. We're going to tell you one of the cops who was involved in the death of George Floyd. He has been sentenced to prison. We'll talk about that. Also, a young man who tried to use a stand your ground in defense in Georgia. Man, he got the maximum sentence thrown at him. We'll tell you about that as well. Folks, you're watching Rolling Mark Unfiltered.

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that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. One of the former Minneapolis cops involved in the death of George Floyd is headed to prison today. Thomas Lane, he pled guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting in second-degree manslaughter.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the top charge against him of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder. Lane is already serving a federal sentence for violating the civil rights of George Floyd. Lane and two of the former Minneapolis police officers, Thomas Thao and Jay Alexander King, were convicted in February by a federal jury on charges of violating George Floyd's civil rights by failing to intervene or provide medical aid as their senior officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on the back of Floyd's neck while he was handcuffed for more than nine minutes in the May 25th, 2020 incident. Folks, in Georgia, a judge has handed out a maximum sentence to a black Georgia man who shot and killed a white teen claiming the self-defense under the state's stand your ground law. Convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month, Marcus Wilson was spent 10 years in prison for killing one of the teens in a truck who Wilson says yelled racial slurs and tried to run him and his white girlfriend off the road in Statesboro, Georgia, in June 2020. Although the jury acquitted Wilson of the more severe charges, murder and aggravated assault, it found he was not justified in using his legal gun

when he felt threatened by the white teens. You were there in Georgia, Robert. How is this playing? Well, you know, I have some of my friends were the attorneys on the case, Francis Johnson, Malawi Davis. We're hoping that this case, we have a different judgment on appeal. There, of course, will be a motion for a new trial. I'm not quite sure, and I need to read the opinion, how they can rule that there was a meritorious self defense claim against a murder claim, but that that did not go down to the involuntary manslaughter claim. Generally, the way that the law is applied is that it is a complete shield. And if you are deemed to be operating under self defense to the higher charge, it also applies to the lesser

included offenses thereafter. This is, of course, better than being convicted of the main charge of murder. However, this young man very clearly was acting in defense of himself. We saw the witness testimony from the girlfriend. There really was no contradictory information showing that he was operating within the curvature of the law. And particularly, and I want to point this out because we have this conversation often on gun rights in the Second Amendment. I need these white gun organizations to come in and file amicus briefs on his behalf. The NRA, if you want to claim that you are a gun organization and not just a neo-Confederate organization, this is the test case for you. The Georgia gun organizations that are out there, the major white ones that show up at

all the MAGA rallies, if you really say you are standing up for the unfettered constitutional right to self-defense as articulated in the Second Amendment, we need you showing up and providing legal help and legal defense and amicus briefs in the case of this nature, because we have to ensure that if we are going to say that we're going to have these rights, that they apply to all individuals, not just individuals flying a Confederate flag and wearing a MAGA hat. And I think it's an important case. I hope it gets more national attention than it's gotten thus far. And I think that eventually justice will be served in this case.

Also out of Georgia, a white school bus driver gets fired, arrested and charged for pushing two black students during a confrontation. James O'Neill is facing two counts of simple battery over the September 9th incident where he tried to force a six year old boy to sit at the back of the bus. Get back there. What a pain uploaded the video, which went viral. Real simple, Monique. Keep your hands off of folk children. Yeah, I would have caught a charge that day. That's the only thing I've been able to think when I see it, I, I, y'all would have ended up concerned for that, for that poor white man and what happened to him after that.

Um, so I'm glad everybody stayed alive and that the mama is not in jail, which is surely where I would have been. And I am glad that there are now consequences for him because of his blatant disrespect for the people he was supposed to be serving, because that is a service capacity as as the driver of that bus. He has an obligation to be courteous, to keep people safe, to keep his hands off of children and women. And he's very, very fortunate that I was not that woman. Larry, and I know some black daddies who would have been like, hey, man, you might be an old white man, but you're going to get beat.

So let's just keep it real, Roland. You wouldn't have got Dr. Walker, you'd have got Larry from Philly. I'm going to tell you right now, because if you put my hands on my son, it would have been a problem. You would have had to see somebody a little different side. So, but listen, I'm glad, first of all, it was caught on video because all the – frequently when you hear – when these kind of things happen, the person says that's not the way it happened. They're lying, et cetera. But once again, this is the importance in terms of technology when you catch things like this, you know, in black and white, so to speak. But you can't ever put your hands on kids like that, especially someone else's kids.

It would have definitely been a problem for me, and I would have handled it like Monique said. I would have had to handle it a little bit differently. But I'm glad he was fired and he was charged and was handled the way it should have been handled by law enforcement. But you should never put your hands on other people's kids. Or on other people. A couple of things coming out of the Department of Justice. Let me move on to a couple of other stories out of the Department of Justice. An Idaho white supremacist who assaulted a black man is pled guilty to hate crime and false statement charge. Jason Stanley pled guilty to committing a hate crime for his participation in the assault of a black man.

Goes by the initial of T.S. that took place on December 8th, 2018. The DOJ says the defendant, a known white supremacist, single out and attacked a black man because of his race, violent, hate driven conduct. That is no place in our society today. That's Kristen Clark, of course, who is the assistant attorney general who runs the Civil Rights Division. She says the convictions that we have secured in this case make clear the Department of Justice will continue to use every resource in its disposal to fight white supremacist violence. Also coming out of the DOJ, that is four former Georgia correctional officers have been sentenced for assaulting an inmate and covering it up. Lieutenant Gary Staten, Sergeant Patrick Sharp, Deputy Correctional Officer Brian Ford and Jamal Scott,

each sentenced to prison for their roles in the incident. Sharp was also sentenced for beating a different inmate during a separate incident. And one of the things that this DOJ has been doing, they've really been aggressive in going after these corrections officers who have been beating prisoners, who have been violent towards them. And so a great job by Kristen Clark and her team. All right, folks, got to go to a quick break. Go ahead. Well, all I was going to say, Roland, is that that is absolutely crucial, that information, the fact that these kids are being prosecuted. I've had cases like this, particularly in Georgia. I don't know why half the show is in Georgia, but where corrections officers know the exact places in the jail where the camera angles just happen to black out. And they will use those exact

areas and those exact angles to do everything from sexual abuse to physical abuse to inmates. And for years, because that person is incarcerated, they will not be believed and nobody will listen to them. And often the inmates who fight back after being assaulted are charged with additional crimes and then sentenced to longer sentences. So it's very important to have a DOJ that wants to address these issues. All right then. All right, folks, hold tight one second. We come back from this quick break. We told you the story on Monday of a black teen in Louisiana who was in a beauty pageant where a white judge wrote on his sheet that her hair was not finished while she was wearing an afro.

There's a black judge who's defending the white judge. Wait until we read you what she sent us at Roland Martin Unfiltered. That's next on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine.

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we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James. What up? Lana Wells. And you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. Folks, Monday, we have the exclusive story on a black teen who wore her afro in a beauty pageant in Louisiana. Talia Cockburn was a contestant in the beauty pageant. And one of the three judges said that Talia's natural afro, quote, was not finished.

Here's what the judge, here's what Judge 3 said about Talia. Slow down, finish hair, pretty color dress. Well, one of the judges who was judge number two, the black one and the only black judge, her name is Stacy Simeon Dickens. She saw our story on YouTube and posted this comment on our YouTube channel. Hi, I was one of the judges at the pageant in LA. I just saw the video interview of, I am also the current president of the Louisiana Pageant Judges Association, and this was not a race issue.

There is an expectation of grooming among other things in pageants. Her sister competed and was more groomed than she and she placed. It's not about her. The child was not put together as a whole. Please don't make this a race issue because we have plenty of things that are racial issues that need highlighting here in Louisiana, but this is not one of them. She said it looked, let's see here. She said it looked like, I got to switch iPads here because one of them just died on me. She said here, give me one second, y'all. She said it looked like she had been mistreated,

but it's partially her family to blame for putting her up there and not having her completely put together to compete in that type of pageant. Now, y'all keep in mind, the mother and the father said that their younger daughter actually had her hair different. She curled it. It was different. So to say that, well, one was finished. So check this out. It's pretty interesting.

So my producer reached out to Stacey Simeon Dickens and invited her on the show to explain her comments. But Stacey declined, but she did send this statement. I do not wish to be on the show. My career as an assistant principal won't allow it. However, I would like to make a statement. First, I am a black woman and I am the president of the Louisiana Pageant Judges Association, and our judges bring a certain level of expertise as judges to each pageant. At each pageant, there are association judges as well as what we would call pageant experience judges who the pageant directors use their discretion to choose, and that particular judge is not a part of this judges' association,

so does not have the same level of training as someone in our organization. I would like to apologize that this contestant was hurt by the judges' comments, but would like them to understand that there was no feelings of prejudice or racism involving the judge's comments. As judges, association, or not, we believe that it is in the best interest of the contestant if we provide constructive criticism to help our contestants better stand out. The judge, being naive, assumed that she had not finished her hair because in this culture of pageants, most young ladies, as the contestant stated herself,

wear extensions, both white and black girls. I do feel that this incident highlights the need to further the discussion of diversity and ethnicity in our world of pageantry so that future judges will not make this same mistake or assumption that our natural hair is not considered groomed. As a black judge and former title winner of several Louisiana fair and festival pageants, I've seen other black contestants wear their natural hair and it was groomed and styled to glorify our culture. The contestant is a beautiful young lady and I encourage her to continue to compete as her most authentic self in a way that she feels proud in herself and our black heritage. Stacey Simeon is an assistant professor at Jefferson at a Jefferson Davis Pash Elementary School. So, Monique, I'm sorry.

I said sister, but sister principal. Boy, quite the contrast of statements there. I didn't think they were inconsistent. think so. One, one, uh, first of all, I believe her first response was the immediate emotional one to see in the video. Uh, and then the second one is the more, okay, this is gonna be my public comment. Uh, but, but, but, but, uh, the, the whole deal here and see, see, this is the thing that must, when she says, well, you know, the judge was naive, but it's not racist. See, and this is the thing that I keep telling people when we talk about this issue of race. I'm racist, not racist. This issue is not racist, not racist.

It's all those things in between that that that impact here. So to say, well, that judge didn't quite know. But it but it does goes to show when you have someone who is white, who is unaware of culture, how they bring their biases to the table, which has an impact on that particular young lady. And in talking with her parents and her on Monday, they said she's placed in all numerous pageants. But the moment she decided to wear her hair natural, all of a sudden she stopped winning or stop placing. I'm sorry. Yeah. You know,

Roland, we could have this panel of my mama, my, my aunts and two of my cousins, and I won't name anybody's names. And if they were judging a pageant because they all come out of that pageant world, they would have said that and some more stuff because it is a culture and it hasn't moved forward as maybe it should in acceptance of it, of the fact that we don't have to have extensions down our back and portend to be something or someone that we're not or buy into ways of adapting Caucasian mannerisms and culture in order to succeed. I think this judge was saying, I didn't score her well either. And in the first

statement, she said that she felt overall the contestant could have been more put together, that more time was spent on the sister. And then probably knowing, oops, I shouldn't have put my whole name out there, then she had to come up with another statement because here we are sending her name out into the universe. And so I do know that there are other than that white man. The moment you comment on a public YouTube channel, you're going to be in the public. Yes, and I'm sure she probably wanted to pull that back. But I only say that to say that whether it is the other Monique or whether it is my mama and them, there are lots of people who are not white,

not lacking education and culture and not being racist, who believe that even if you wear Afro, the Afro needs to be coiffed and kept well and not the way my daughter sometimes likes to leave school and says that the parts that are sticking out make it legitimate.

You know, like it's part of her personality. I wasn't raised like that because I'm Southern. Very. So I live in that battle in my home. And I do. She goes and does it. She's her own person. But I do frequently say, can't we go to Miss Aisha this weekend and get you a blowout just to make me happy?

So that's my transparency for the evening. But I do wish the young lady well, and I wish the assistant principal, who dared to write a lengthy statement, I wish her well, too. Y'all be easy on her as well. Thank you. I love black women. Larry, go ahead. Black women for the win. So this is...

Well, my mind is, if she deserves criticism, she's going to get criticism. What I say on this show, if you do good, I'll talk about you. If you do bad, I'll talk about you. Then they'll talk about you. That ain't got nothing to do with her being a black woman. Larry, go ahead. Uniquely capable of talking about you. Hold they'll talk about you. That ain't got nothing to do with being a black woman. Larry, go ahead.

Larry, go ahead. It is uniquely capable of talking about you. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Larry, go ahead.

Yeah, Roland, I think we have to talk about anti-blackness, particularly not only in terms of how white people view black aesthetic, hair, et cetera, but also in terms of the black community. Monique highlighted a good point, talking about my grandmother and some other members of my family, but we really do have to have the conversation about how Black people are internalized, how our natural hair, our noses, et cetera.

But like I said, and also pageants, not just pageants, but corporate America, are more focused on Eurocentric hair, et cetera, and not appreciating natural African, you know, in terms of people of African descent in terms of the texture of our hair. But this is an ongoing issue, not only in terms, like I say, of pageants,

but this is an issue and a challenge that's only highlighted within the Black community. But like I said, as a researcher who writes about racism, I call it for what it is, and that's anti-Blackness. I also want to highlight that there are two different, the statements, in my opinion, are distinctly different. She posted how she really felt, and then after she thought about it or heard some feedback from people that she knows, particularly maybe her school district, then she thought about it and realized that the statement that she had initially posted was anti-Black. And so I think it's important to have these conversations.

We talk about—you talk about the Crown rolling in terms of fight nationally to get it passed by members of the CDC, et cetera. But this is an ongoing problem that black folks, particularly black women, have encountered when it comes to the natural texture of their hair and what is viewed as being acceptable in a European society. Robert, I think Larry makes a great point there. The reality is whether we want to accept it or not, in many ways, we take on, you know, this view in terms of how white folks also view us, things along those lines. We take that on. And so, look, I mean, hell, I had black folks, some between me, who were upset. How dare you wear that African outfit on MSNBC? And I was like, first of all, you can kiss my ass. But we do have to recognize that we also have some self-hate in

terms of how we view things. And we have accepted European standards. We have. Well, absolutely. I think you see this throughout the decolonized world. You can go to Vietnam right now and get a delicious croissant because of colonization. You can go to the Caribbean right now and see people still wearing colonial style clothing. But just for a second, I'm going to pull my soapbox out from under the desk and stand on it. All pageants should be banned. Pageants are by their very nature child abuse. You would absolutely never do this to little boys. Hey, Timmy or Todd or whoever, put on this outfit, go out there and look good for the people, smile, arch your back,

and walk around so people can judge you. That's a ridiculous thing to do. These pageants started as ways for royals to parade their teenage and preteen daughters out for older, wealthy men to pick among them to decide who will be their child bride. It's very much a disgusting situation. One of my favorite movies is Truck Turner, R.I.P. to Nichelle Nichols, but she played a pimpstress named Dorinda. And in the movie, she brings her girls out in order to pay the bounty for the death of Gator to Truck Turner. And the girls go out and they shake it and they get judged by the people. That's the exact same thing as the beauty pageants.

So if you are thinking about entering your child into one of these pageants, don't. It's a bad idea. It is a terrible thing that you are doing. These things should be outlawed. And I hope that at some point in the very near future, we stop simply parading young girls out to judge them by their looks and nothing about their character, nothing about their intellect, and then breaking their self-esteem and spirit going forward because some random judge at a county fair in Louisiana didn't like her hair, and that now becomes a national story. Let's make sure that this young girl who's the center of this controversy is being properly supported, being properly loved, being properly given the

help that she needs to get through this. Because guess what? When she goes to school and people are talking about this as a national story, her hair being un-groomed or nappy or whatever else, that can hurt a young girl's self-esteem. And we need to stop this as a society. And I'll put the soapbox back into the desk. That was excellent, Robert. And with that, Monique, you commenting? I was saying that was

excellent, Robert. Thank you. All right. Going to a break. We come back. Tech Talk segment. You looking for some good cannabis? That's an enough for it. I'm in Los Angeles. Trust me.

I'm quite sure our next guest has lots of clients in the Golden Nugget State. Folks, we'll discuss that next. You're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black Star Network. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punching! A real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. Be black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I'm Angie Stone. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Oh, Roland. Oh, God! Hey, Roland. I am so disappointed that you are not here, first of all.

Where's our dance? It's like we get a dance in every time I see you. And so now you're not here for me to dance with, sir. You and your ascot. I need it. I need that in my life right now. Okay. I love you, Roland.

What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Well, there's an app for everything, including cannabis products and services. You've heard of Irpon? That's right. The app is a comprehensive cannabis lifestyle marketplace with discounted coupon offers. It also includes its own social media platform, Irby, which provides an uncensored, safe online community for subscribers to share and discuss all things cannabis. Travis Stocking, a cannabis media entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Irpon, joins from San Diego. So obviously, Irpon is a takeoff of Groupon. Yeah.

How's it going? Doing great. So when did you first see this idea? Actually, I was working in an illegal establishment, and I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to be doing that for the rest of my life. And it just so happened I was on Groupon shopping when I came up with the idea. So you're like, all right, let's do this. And then you begin to assemble it.

And so how does it work? Are folks providing the services and then discounts to you? And you place them on the site. So how does it work? Are folks providing the services and then discounts to you and you place them on the site? So how does it actually work? So, well, Erpon is a multi-third-party cannabis-friendly e-marketing platform. It allows vendors to post and advertise deals to consumers. Okay. And how many various dealers, also users, in terms of, you know, what's your size? In terms of how many companies, how many products, and how many people are now using your app?

So, currently, we just launched two months ago. We launched here in San Diego first. We currently have about 9,000, around 9,000 vendors and also customers. We're looking at us. So right now, we're just now going into LA too also well I'm sure

going to LA is going to be a huge marketplace for you to go to let's see questions from our panel let's see who do I think probably will be on your app probably download right now I'll probably say Robert on your app probably download right now? I'd probably say Robert.

Yeah, that's probably the right call. So question. So when it comes to these businesses, is it just currently San Diego or Southern California-based businesses, or is it nationwide? And if you were planning on expanding nationwide, how do you kind of navigate those different state laws that may exist? So right now, we're planning to go nationwide. Right now, we're releasing state by state. You know, every state has different laws. So we're rolling out state by state, one by one. From San Diego, LA, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, we attack them at the same time. Okay. And just as a follow-up, how do you vet the various businesses when it comes to determining if they can be on the platform? Is it just kind of, you know, buyer beware,

the buyers should do their own research into each individualized business, or is there some sort of vetting process before they can be on the platform? So each business that comes on Irpon, they all have license numbers. So they all have a company number, and we basically verify to make sure that company is legit. All right. Let's see here. Larry. Yeah, so this is a great concept, particularly considering how to

decriminalize and cannabis in states throughout the United States. My question is, you just started. It's a good concept. What are your concerns about people duplicating the idea that you have? Particularly, like I said, you're starting off small and won't be going to expand. What are your thoughts about trying to stop people from just basically duplicating what you're doing and

taking it to more states than you currently are present in right now? I'm really not concerned with any other business. Right now, it's more focused on what we're doing, how we're going to attack those other markets, the plan that we have for ourselves and for our own company. I'm pretty sure, I'm quite sure you're going to have a whole bunch of companies hit the market that's doing the same thing that we're doing. But I always tell people, there's a lot of companies, but they always remember that number one company, the company that did it first.

All right. Monique? Yep. I love that. I know we're talking about your product, but the answer that you just gave to me, I don't know why I'm way over here, is a lesson in entrepreneurship. You can't be worried about all the other people that are doing it. Just keep the main thing the main thing and be the best at it. So I wish you well in your endeavors. And I heard, hey, Robert Petillo, he's a really great business-minded kind of lawyer who may be able to help you make sure your I's are dotted and T's are crossed in exchange for a product. We're straight cash over here, Monique.

Yeah, Monique, we with straight cash on me. Well, uh... Monique, have y'all been smoking the same thing today? Is that where you were late, Monique? Okay, um... No. No. I'm a CBD person. I think it's now time for me to go to the City Party documentary.

Okay. All right. So, first of all, again, yes, yeah, because y'all about to get the munchies, too. So, yeah, we got it. That's the best part. So, Travis, so, yeah, well, Travis, look, I'm good. I can get the munchies without even using any product. So, Travis, I'm good. I can get the munchies without even using any product. So, you're in San Diego.

So, your next expansion area is in Los Angeles. And what other cities are you looking at? Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Anaheim, really the cities that's really close to San Diego. Because San Diego is so close to these other cities. I mean, it'd be easier for me to market to the closer cities than me trying to expand and go far out right away.

All right. Well, man, look, good luck with it. Erpon is the app folks. Y'all check it out. If you're looking for cannabis products and services. Travis, thanks a bunch. Good luck, man. Man, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. All right, folks, that is it for us. Let me thank the Munchie Queen, Monique.

Let me thank the Munchie King, Robert, and Larry. I don't know, Larry. Larry, you got that munchy look too so I mean I'm good yeah you good you good right now but probably about later tonight yeah you gonna be like a little high

alright y'all that's y'all know ain't nothing happening here the closest I'm gonna get is some candles alright y'all that's it again I'm headed out literally about to get dressed and go to the Sidney Poitier documentary screening with Oprah Winfrey. Reggie Hutland is by Apple Films. And looking forward to that.

Reception begins in 15 minutes, and then the doc screening is tonight. So look forward to some of this comment tomorrow. I'm back in D.C. So looking forward to that. So, folks, that is it. I'm back in D.C. So looking forward to that. So, folks, that is it. I appreciate y'all joining us. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, available on all platforms, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV,

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All right, folks, that is it. I'll see you guys tomorrow. I'll be back in D.C. and look forward to be back in the studio. Until then. Ho! Martin! This is an iHeart Podcast.