The Daily Beast Podcast - Melania Delivers Stunning Snub to Desperate Trump

Episode Date: September 5, 2026

Sarah Ewall-Wice joins Hugh Dougherty for a jaw-dropping tour through the latest scandals engulfing Trump’s Washington, from Fox News star Maria Bartiromo’s sudden firing after allegedly sharing internal network communications with the White House, to the extraordinary leaks exposing a growing revolt against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth inside the Pentagon. They reveal Hegseth’s brutal new nickname, the military brass openly pushing back against his orders, and why the chaos could spell trouble for one of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks. Then comes Trump’s very own “Trumpapalooza” midterm spectacle, where vulnerable Republicans are scrambling to stay away—and Melania Trump’ snub to said event. Sarah also brings the latest on Mitch McConnell’s mysterious absence, the growing questions surrounding Susan Collins and John Fetterman, and the revelations about Fetterman blowing off veterans and a children’s hospital while making time for Fox News. And just when the scandals seem impossible to top, Hugh and Sarah turn to the Inspector General’s explosive findings about former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, involving a strip club, taxpayer-funded security, alleged drinking on the job, and an alleged affair that takes Trump-era Cabinet chaos to an entirely new level. #ad Go to https://leesa.com and use promo code DAILYBEAST for 30% off select mattresses plus an extra $50 off, exclusive for The Daily Beast Podcast listeners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So we are learning that Melania Trump is not going to be at the convention and is snubbing her husband on this front. It comes as a surprise when you talk about tradition and the fact that first ladies are typically at party conventions with their husbands, the presidents. But Melania has over it and is not showing up for this one. It'll be interesting if she even acknowledges it on social media in some way. The first lady is not paying attention and not engaged when it comes to the upcoming election in any way. Welcome to the Daily Beast podcast. I'm Hugh Doherty. I'm executive editor of the Daily Beast, and I'm in for Joanna Coles. We have got so much to talk about. We have a packed show. We have scandal after scandal from the world of MAGA, which is burning up the Daily Beast website. Before we get into that with Sarah Yule Weiss, who is live and direct from Washington, D.C.

If you are not already a subscriber, please smash that subscribe button. It helps us reach more people. It helps us reach more people with our independent journalism that is fearless, and we are closing in on one million subscribers. Now, Sarah, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining me from the nation's capital, which is alive with crazy scandals. It has been absolutely wild here. It's a pleasure to be here to share with you guys.

Well, let me just say we are going to go through. We have got scandals about secret leaks to the White House. We've got scandals about the defense secretary and an absolutely jaw-dropping leak that our own Michael Daley is revealing this morning on The Daily Beast. And we've got, I mean, I don't know how many other scandals, but let's see, we've got the senator who would rather be going on Fox News than meeting disabled veterans. That's a crazy story. We'll tell you who and what party he represents and you will not believe what party he represents after I've said he loves going in Fox News. And we've got questions about the health of other senators. And on top of all that, we've got an absolutely jaw-dropping snub from the first lady to the president himself. Sarah, I was going to say where should we start? But let's be honest, we can only start with one thing. Maria Bataromo. It's a wild and crazy story. I'll just set it up by saying we were all absolutely stunned on Thursday that Maria Barteromo, the Fox News and Fox Business Network anchor, was abruptly exited from that network. But then it got crazier.

Tell us what's been going on. So Maria Barteromo is a long time top Fox News anchor. She has had interviews with the president on multiple occasions, top administration officials. She really is one of their top people. on this network. And it was abruptly announced that she was going to no longer be with the network effective immediately. Fox News put out a vague statement that wished her well in her future endeavors, and thanked her for her more than 12 years of time at the network, but didn't go into any details, leaving everyone just surprised and confused on what happened with this number one news anchor for Fox News.

And then we learned that what was going on behinds the scenes is absolutely wild and shocking. And it turns out that this anchor who we knew was close with the White House, we knew was close with President Donald Trump, had actually been sharing texts with the White House after Fox News put out that the network should not be spreading the president's wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. And this came after or around the time the president was pushing these conspiracy theories in July. He was going to make this large primetime address that we saw on July 16th. And the network was very concerned about taking it. So she was sharing with the White House officials, the executives directive, not to lean in on these conspiracy theories. She has actually

been off air since August 9th. We learned, of course, yesterday, Thursday, that she had been let go from Fox News. And everything coming out about this has just been jaw-dropping. Though, if you think about how close she was with the White House, maybe not surprising in the end. Yeah, right. So let's just set up Maria Bartaromo, crazy loyalist to Donald Trump. And I think most people will remember that being busted for election denial, that's kind of her trade. She was the last person at Fox News who was still being sued by Smartmatic, one of the voting machine manufacturers, and already Fox News paid out $787.5 million to dominion the other election machine makers for their platforming, their use of crazy election denial. And Maria was revealed to be one of the people that was really pushing that. So it shouldn't. be a surprise that she's an election denier, but should we be surprised that she's texting confidential Fox details to the White House? The fact that she was an election denier,

you're right, is not a surprise. Fox News has been walking a very fine line when it comes to the president's election conspiracy theories. One, because the president and his team have not provided any concrete evidence in any way to back up the claims that they've been making since going into the 2020 election. You mentioned Fox News had to settle a defamation lawsuit to the tune of $787 million. That's not Trump change. So they have been really trying to navigate this in a way where they don't tick off the MAGA base, their viewership and Donald Trump and the White House, but also they're facing reality. And the reality, and the reality, when you're going to court is providing evidence and the Trump administration echoing what they're

saying has not led to strong results or any results that prove their case. And so when the president was going to make this prime time address, I think the concerns were growing that you can't just echo what the president is saying. And that is a real challenge for these right-leaning networks, these MAGA networks, if you will. And so it isn't so surprising in terms of, of trying to navigate the challenges, I think what is interesting here is we know that she took text, she showed text to an official at the White House. Can I just jump in and say, we don't know who this official was, but we've got some suspicions that this might be a very, very, very, very, very senior official, right, Sarah?

That's the thing is it could be so many people and yet it could also just be directly to the president of the United States. She has a close relationship with the president who she sat down and interviewed multiple times. She does personal functions with him. We see them mingling outside of politics. They mingle inside the White House. She's been invited to state dinners. She is a very close MAGA ally.

So it could have been to the president. She could have taken this directly to the president of the United States launching this entire spiral. She could also have taken it to a number of cabinet officials who she's extremely close with. She has direct access to the top cabinet members, and she, of course, has direct access to the top members of the communication team and other officials who work more behind the scenes, including the communications director, Stephen Chung, the former White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt, and a number of others. But the idea that she could just be screenshoting internal communications at Fox News and showing them directly to Donald Trump is not out of the realm of possibility. We spend, in theory, about a third of our lives sleeping, some of us spend more, but a lot of us don't think very much about what's actually making that sleep better or worse. That's one of the reasons Lisa has become such a popular choice.

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$50 off. Support our show and let them know we sent you to the survey after checkout. Lisa.com promo code Daily Beast. Now, we should say that Fox have been, the Fox are not answering any of our questions on this. And they're sticking with what you rightly said was a very terse statement. I mean, it's pretty chilling. We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 and a half years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.

She has hired a heavyweight lawyer, Brian Friesland. He's a big showbiz and media lawyer. And this is a kind of bizarre twist. He is also representing Don Lemon, a man who you cannot think of as any, you know, he could not be further. from the Trumpy world that Maria lives in. And now, I don't know, this is going to be a very uncomfortable Christmas party if Brian Friedland does all his clients round to celebrate their representation. But this is going to be a big headache for Fox by the looks of it, isn't it?

And maybe for the White House. I mean, normally the White House leaks to the media. That's what happens. People inside the administration, like deep throat all those years ago, are leaking. But have we ever heard of a media network's biggest star leaking to the White House? It seems unprecedented. It really does. Nothing of this nature does come to mind.

In this case, in reality, you do have communications going back and forth behind the scenes on a daily basis, but that's a part of the reality of getting TV, getting the people from the administration on TV. So there's always ongoing communications behind the scenes. Sharing internal communications about how you're going to report on something with a White House that is not based in fact and sending it into this back and forth fight with a MAGA, a pro MAGA network is really unprecedented. And yes, you're right, leaking the other direction from a White House that is constantly leaking really every topic. Only in Trump world can the leaks go in both directions. Now, I think it's worth saying there is an absolute outpouring of MAGA grief. So if you're watching and you are from the world of MAGA, I know I want to help you out here.

We can offer you a minute's silence. We can offer you counselling. People have been tweeting, posting, truiting their grief. Obviously, the mourner-in-chief on Friday morning was Donald J. Trump himself. a serial, as you say, Maria Bartaromo fan. They're both, there's kind of similar, there's biographical similarities, aren't there, Sarah? They're both, they're both from the New York outer boroughs. They both have found themselves in big houses in Manhattan. Maria is married to a very, very wealthy Wall Street figure called John Steinberg. His father, Saul Steinberg,

was a notorious, and it has to be said, slightly shady, 1980s corporate raider. And they have been friends of Trump on the social scene for many years, but they're both slightly outsiders to this Manhattan social scene, and they both kind of bonded. So we've got, in fact, this tribute, which we can show on screen right now from Donald J. Trump, but we've got so many others. Like, the whole of MAGA is exploding with grief and with the sort of tributes that make you think that, I don't know, something really bad has happened. Why so many MAGA tears? I think part of this is they just want people to trumpet and echo what the president is saying, and that's one less person who is available to do that. But members of the MAGA universe have been hailing her a hero for wanting to focus on these conspiracy theories and are shocked and angered that Fox News fired her for specifically leaking in turtle communications.

And it's kind of like just blown up the internet in that MAGA influencer world where they're talking about how professional she was and how good she was at her job. Right. And she was fired for misconduct. Yes. So they're ignoring the reason she was fired and speaking towards the fact that she was part of a serious propaganda machine and a voice piece for the president. And it really goes to show that even in the most conservative news network, there are questions that need to be obviously addressed when it comes specifically to the president's conspiracy theories and election interference accusations and lies when it comes to both the 2020 election, but now moving forward because we've seen 2024 and he's still making up stories about what's he won in 2024, battleground states that he did win, but also throwing in states that he clearly did not win like Minnesota. And now we're going into a 2026 midterm election. And they have to struggle with giving accurate information where they can or facing lawsuits. And when they have someone like Maria Barnaromo wanting to echo what the president said and going to the White House when she's not allowed. And Mago World is very upset with that. And they've made their voices known.

and some of the posts themselves are quite comical. For those who are on YouTube, you can see some of the cringiest on screen, but I just want to highlight a couple of them for those who are listening. One MAGA influencer who's called Liz Churchill. I doubt she's related to the Winston Churchill, but you never know. Maria Bataromo is a hero. She told President Trump that Fox News was burying the 2020-Stolen election story, and they filed her for it.

That's courage. Real reporters don't take orders to stay silent. And from inside the White House, there's this anonymous troll account called Johnny Maga, which was actually unmasked as a paid-for government official. It's still out there on Twitter, or X, I should say, for those who have followed its rebranding. Maria Barteromo chose loyalty to Donald Trump over Fox Corporation, Total Patriot. And they have a picture of Maria, which I think is taken at the Kennedy Center. And we were talking about how close she is to Trump.

Of course, she is on the board of the Kennedy Center. and she voted for this bogus renaming attempt to try and call it the Trump Kennedy Center. And now she is involved in a lawsuit as a member of that board in which they're saying they could knock it down. I mean, there's the levels of crazy that we have to excavate here, Sarah. We don't have enough time. Maybe I should give the final word to Fox News as fill in. They have turned to Cheryl Kassoni, who is a veteran financial Fox Business Network. anchor and let's see how she coped this morning with the end of Maria Barteroma's show.

Special coverage of the August Jobs Report. We were just talking about it with Kelly. We've got the breaking data on deck next hour. You're watching Mornings with Maria. Fox Business. We'll be right back. I'm sorry, Cheryl. It is in fact now Mornings with Fox Business. Goodbye, Maria. You have been scrubbed from history. But I think we are going to hear a lot more about this scandal, are we not? Oh, there's no way they let this go, especially not going into the 2026 election. They're going to continue to echo these conspiracy theories and lies. And they're going to point to Maria Bardo and say that she had been a victim of this effort to silence the story about the 2020 election and conspiracy theories. So I don't expect this to go away for the White House.

I don't expect the headache to go away for Fox News, both coming from MAGA and also from Maria Barteromo. And I don't expect this to go away for the viewership at large who are going into an election with deep concerns about how the Trump administration it might try to interfere come November. All right. So we've talked about there's so many scandals. The other big scandal in D.C. this week is about another former member of the Fox anchor cast Pete Heggseth. Pete Hexeth, for those who do. not remember, before he was Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth was the weekend co-anchor on Fox and Friends, and we've got some pretty remarkable pictures of him there, which if you're watching on YouTube, you can see now. Looks like a sober anchor, maybe not. Looks like a bit of a crazy run he had as an anchor at Fox News. But we have an astonishing series of leaks that have been battering Pete Hegseth at the top of the Pentagon this week.

And this morning in The Daily Beast, we are breaking a new leak that in some ways is even more jaw dropping. It's from our veteran colonists, Pulitzer nominated Michael Daly. And it comes from inside the heart of the Army's special forces. Tell us more, Sarah. So I think it is really interesting that this has been the one person who is supposed to run the entire military. He's on top. And from within the military, it is just been one league after another. And now we're learning about the absolutely devastating nickname from within the Pentagon

that has been given to Pete Hegsef, who is a veteran, but maybe has not come up the ranks in any way, shape, or form close to the number of top generals and officials he has fired since taking the job. And so we know his nickname in the Pentagon is No Tab Pete. And that's because he has had no patches on his uniform from Ranger or other significant combat skills. So we're hearing about that. And then I would like to just focus on what is coming out specifically from the first

special forces operation detachment, which is Delta. The Delta Force is basically just the secret low-profile commando outfit. It's basically SEAL Team 6, but without the shiny book deals and spotlight movies. This leak about no tabs. Let's just explain the significance. And I know you actually come from a military family. And I think everybody will say, we'd want to say thank you to your family for their service. but when Westchette first took flight in 1996,

the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when Westjet welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96.

Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. When you are in branches of the military, you get recognition. for very specific combat skills, particularly. And Pete Higgseth did see combat, but he was not a member of any of these specialist outfits, was he? No, he was not.

He did serve overseas. He did serve in combat. He was a member of the National Guard. And that has come back to haunt him in some ways, not to dismiss the service of anyone who puts on the Univor form and is assigned to a different region of the world or different service that has really ticked off those who have served at the highest levels in the military and have spent decades reaching into the or getting to where they have been in the military. And so he shows up

after the fact as now the defense secretary and has not done well. And it's turned out that the only thing that matters to Pete Hegseth is loyalty. And so we are continually seeing reports on him forcing out multiple members of the military, of military

leadership, as he has since the beginning of this administration from the Joint Chiefs Chairman now to just this week where we saw the Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, who for months, there reports of simmering tension with Pete Hegsef eventually

getting to the point where this week he resigned from his position. And so it has been an ongoing challenge. But this actually brings me back, frankly, to almost one year ago where Pete Hegseth had invited all of these top military generals to Quantico that happened in September 2025 and then focused on fat troops and shaving beards. And after that, I was hearing directly that it was just the most belittling and disgraceful action by this defense secretary to go in and speak down on all these top generals and to do so about something as silly as wanting physical fitness as his top priority and taking them out of where they were serving overseas with their men and women in uniform and taking the focus away. And so it comes as the latest,

revelation about the belittling behind the scenes of Pete Hegsep comes as we've had more than a year of just ongoing challenges for this defense secretary who has none of the qualifications that most members of the military believe he needs to lead the most powerful Army Navy in the world. I just want to give it some flavor of what Michael Daley is revealing on the Daily Beasts or just say go to the Daily Beast.com. This article is right up at the top. People, you know, are, it's echoing around DC. And it's an astonishing leak from inside what is the armies, I think, most secretive, most effective special forces unit. Inside the army, it's known as the unit or Delta. We know it as Delta Force. People, I think, will probably have heard of that.

And they're based, they are the first special forces operational detachment. I'm reading to make I get that title right. And they're part of Fort Bragg in North Carolina. And what we have learned is that last Thursday, they held a special ceremony of retirement for General Christopher Donahue. And he had been, until he was fired in a 15 second call by Pete Hegesith, in charge of the army's land command, and in charge of the army in Europe and Africa, and he was pushing its modernization to deal with the drone threat, which we have seen is what now defines the war in Ukraine. He was fired in 15 seconds, and what's astonishing is that we now learned

that there was a gathering at the Delta Force headquarters because he had served in Delta Force at a time when Pete Hegesith was a national guardsman. This general was in Delta Force up, you know, on missions that we do not know about because they are held so secretly. And he then went on to command them. He went on to command the 82nd Airborne.

He was the last man out of Afghanistan. they got together current and former people who had served in Delta Falls to give him a send-off a really, really brazen, naked defiance of Pete Hegesith and there's a very telling

quote from somebody who was there that was given to Michael Daly and it was, he said that Pete Hexs was a little disgust during the official retirement and then the bourbon got opened. So we know that there is a serious

serious, serious problem of trust between the military and Pete Hexas now. In fact, we had another devastating leak just days earlier that the top generals had given non-concurs to his orders. Yes. It is interesting because essentially what that means is they don't agree with the orders. They're going to carry out orders, but they don't agree. And the fact that the public is learning about this means people are concerned enough. to leak it from the military. And this is something that I find interesting in that there's nothing more important in the military from those who I have spoken to than the chain of command. And so they have to go through this process and they have to tell the person above them their thoughts,

when asked, they have to go through this. And at the end of the day, it comes down to Pete Heggsets. And so they're not agreeing. They're telling the defense secretary they don't agree. The defense secretary that many believe is not qualified for the job. And then he overrides their concerns. And so that is really disturbing. I think something else is interesting in this is when the secretary of the army resign, there are reports that he took his concerns directly to the president of the United States.

So he also thought this was concerning enough to break that chain of command to share concerns about Pete Hegeseth with President Donald Trump. And in some of the reporting on that, it was also interesting because it turns out that the president in the bubble that he lives in might not have known there were so many concerns. And some of the things that were revealed to him by Dan Driscoll were revelations to him

that the public had been hearing for some time, but Donald Trump had not been in terms of promotions and the firing of generals or the early rediskels. And so that raises questions on what the president himself knows about what's going on within his own military when it comes to Pete Hegseth. The president's highest duty is most important title as Commander-in-Chief. Shouldn't he know? Isn't that the most basic thing that we could expect of Donald Trump? And doesn't we we also we we you know, we're getting a picture here of a president whose information is limited, is is dubious and is being presented to him. and we should say by Natalie Harp, the human printer. Are Pete Hegson's stuff not in her printout pile?

Is she just not, she's not printing it for him? It's clearly not getting to the president, according to the fact that he didn't know about these things when approached directly by Driscoll. It also says something because the president spends so much time watching Fox News where Pete Hegseth used to be a morning show anchor, and it's not getting to him that way either. So it's not making it through those MAGA channels to him.

It's not making it specifically through Natalie Harp to him. And the person who's most often in the room with the president when it comes to the military is Pete Hengseth as defense secretary. And obviously he's not going to be focused on the things that are turning heads within the military when he talks to the president. Because the president continually praises Pete Hegseth, though I'm hearing that he may be one of the first folks to go after. the midterm elections. We've also seen a number of Republican lawmakers from senators to House members start to share some of their concerns specifically about Pete Hegset. Well, I believe we had Tom Tillis. Tom Tillis, the man who found a spine after he had voted for Pete Hexeth, right? He was the critical vote. He said he wasn't even sure. He was a former

management consultant. Pete Hexeth, it is rather well known, was forced out of two. two, not one, two military non-profits after he had served. He was part of these sort of military campaign groups forced out from two of them from mismanagement, which is, he is denied, but, you know, there's not much, there's not much doubt that he was forced out. Tom Tillis said, oh, basically said, I'll give the guy a chance. And that was the critical vote. And now he's had some sort of damaskine conversion.

Well, he's not running for re-election and not running for re-election has allowed him to speak out more often, though in many ways he still remains lock and step with much of what Republicans have been voting for on Capitol Hill. But no, Pete Higeth is one of the people he has come out against. He was very upset about the exit of Dan Driscoll. I will say on Capitol Hill, many senators, many House members from Both parties, Democrats and Republicans, did have a deep respect for Driscoll. They thought he was a competent secretary and that he was a smart secretary. And they're not seeing that, obviously, at the very top in many ways. So he got a lot of praise. He earned a lot of respect over there. And Pete Heggseth is one of these people where I find it comical. Tom Tillis, when he voted for him, essentially tried to walk it back later and say, well, it was a probationary period.

Right. You don't get a take back, do you? You don't have probationary periods in the cabinet. You confirm people who you think are qualified for the job, that you don't get to remove them after the fact in the way that he was saying. Just to go back to this nickname that we have learned, thanks to the brilliant reporting from Michael Daly, Dan Driscoll does have a Ranger tab.

He is a Ranger. And Pete Higgseth does not. So there we are. Now, you just mentioned re-election and the midterms. I know you are personally excited. you are packing your bags and heading to Dallas to the American Airlines Center. Tell us why and when? Well, next week, Republicans are going to be holding a midterms convention in Dallas, Texas.

And this is something that usually does not happen specifically during the midterms. Can I just stop you there? You said Republicans are going to be holding this. do you want to rephrase slightly because I've held a nickname. Trump a Palooza. Yes. Trump. I was getting there, but, yes. I just want to be up front with our viewers and listeners.

It's not really the Republicans that are holding this. I'll grant you that. Trump is the top of the Republican Party, but no, this is all about President Donald Trump. He wanted it. He's raving about it. He's pushing it. He's making it happen. Republicans rank and file are not happy about this for the most part.

It's become actually a real chaotic nightmare for them to navigate this midterm extravaganza with Donald Trump and actually reaching voters who are very upset in their districts with the state of the world. And so next week, it'll be something to see. I have been speaking to campaigns and folks who are trying to decide whether they show up or not. And it's been extremely mixed, I will say, among those who are in these toss-up districts, I think the challenge is the greatest, where voters are not happy with Trump and they are coming down and saying, well, we got to be meeting with our voters. We don't want to be with the president

in Dallas for this extravagant Maga Shindig. But there are others who are perhaps running and have been trying to navigate Maga World and are newer faces and are just coming up, and they are deciding whether they should be there or not. And some of them are choosing to go based on rallying the base and at least getting some name recognition. But for those in these battleground districts, I mean, it is bad because they do not need to be, one, paying $25,000. They don't have this kind of money to be a part of this shindig. in Dallas when they need to be on the ground.

And also, if you look at the president, his polling numbers are abysmal. And they're trying to run away from some of the things he has done and said in recent months. I mean, they are trying to stay on the ground and kind of put blinders on and focus on the few things that they've been able to accomplish, which voters are still not happy with, like, his jobs and tax cuts legislation. And so he's really put some of these people. There's no jobs and there's a load of tax. But let's just focus on who's going to be there.

We know some of the people that are not going to be there. We know, for example, that James Comer, who is in an incredibly safe, I believe, a Trump plus 30 seat. He said, oh, do you know what? I've checked my diary. I'm watching television. He didn't quite say that. He said that I've got other things on and we don't know what they are. But clearly they're not traveling to Dallas.

Another high profile name who is not attending. Jim Burchett, he is like as Trumpy as you get. Again, Trump plus 30 seat. And he said, well, I'm not spending $25,000 on that. Trump himself is going to be there. J.D. Vance is going to be there. I think we've all come to, this is, you know, if this is a convention and let's be clear, it's probably not. But let's go with it's a convention for a minute. You expect to get a speech from the president, right? I believe, in fact, We're getting two. So this is Trump making all things about Trump, and it's a two-day convention, and the understanding was the president would speak on the second day, the 9th and 10th, and the 10th is Thursday, and it was expected he would be speaking on Thursday.

Turns out he's also going there and speaking on the 9th. And so this is two nights of Donald Trump. Also, unfortunate for them, they're competing with NFL football, which kicks off. Yes. not going to get the viewership that they want for this. Another reason why Republicans, like, why spend the money if I'm not going to be getting the attention that I want or need? And so it's going to be all Trump all night for two nights when he is seeing record

low approval. I've been speaking specifically. You mentioned some of the guys in big Trump districts that are not going and are more prominent names. But this House majority is going to come down to just over a handful of battleground districts. And I am told that folks like Gabe Evans in Colorado, who is in this one of these serious battlegrounds, the Democrats are confident they can flip, he is not going to this because he needs to be on the ground meeting with voters. And also the optics of seeing him with Donald Trump probably aren't going to go over great there.

And another person who's not going is Tom Barrett out of Michigan, another battleground state, other battleground district Republican that Democrats have been targeting when they need very few seats to flip the house. He's not going also saying they're going to be focused on being on the ground, meeting constituents where they are hearing their concerns. And so we've got big MAGA names, but also the folks who have the most important races. Those all sound like really good reasons not to go. I mean, the other reason not to go is, as you say, you could be watching the 49ers playing the Rams. But what do we know about the, you know, we've talked about the optics of what happens.

The normal optics are that we have the president talking or the leader of the party, if it's, you know, the nominee at a convention. And usually he has been gazed on adoringly by his wife. Is that going to be happening, Sarah? So we're learning that Melania Trump is not going to. to be at the convention and is snubbing her husband on this front. I guess it comes as a surprise when you talk about tradition and the fact that First Ladies are typically at party conventions with their husbands, the presidents. We've seen Melania show up at past conventions, but Melania has over it and is not showing up for this one. It comes after she did show up for the Republican

national convention in 2024 in Milwaukee, but also broke with tradition because she didn't speak. Yes. This was the first time in, certainly the first time this millennium, and I would imagine further back that we have not heard from a first lady at a convention. Or in this case, a former and putative, it's complicated to get these titles right. At the time, she was the former first lady and the candidate's wife. Yeah. So in 2024, she was seen that. She was seen there. I was on the floor when she walked out and she waved and Maga gave her the biggest welcome. And then she wandered over to the box with her husband, but did not give a speech, which is shocking. And also, we've seen former first ladies, while they often give speeches, some of them are the most memorable speeches of the conventions.

I mean, Michelle Obama, obviously, great order. When they go low, we go high, became one of the main lines from that convention. but Melania opted not to speak. She also opted not to speak just it came days after an attempted assassination on her husband in Butler, Pennsylvania. And so she had been quiet for the most part. She put out a statement on that. She wouldn't even wear an ear bandage in solidarity as many of the other people at that convention did. No, she chose a different fashion. Not available from Hermes, apparently.

It remains to be seen if the fashion houses would have even made one had she requested, especially made one for that occasion. But she did not speak there. And this time she's not even showing up, which kind of is in character for her these days because she has shown up all of two times this entire summer, really. We saw her at her husband's birthday. We saw her one time in July. And we saw her recently for the racing in Washington, D.C. after a month's absence from the White House and from all public viewing. So not going to be there next week, not going to speak next week. It'll be interesting if she even acknowledges it on social media in some way.

But at this point, the first lady is not paying attention and not in. engaged when it comes to the upcoming election in any way. Advertising on Spotify puts your brand in the moments where Gen Z fandom takes shape. They're 35% of our audience and spend two hours building rituals and shaping culture with every stream. Download the Culture Next Report to discover trends and insights that will inspire your next campaign. On the subject to people who are MIA, it was a big landmark this week for Mitch McConnell. Yes. Senator Mitch McConnell has now been missing for more than 80 days. We hit the 80 days mark on Wednesday. And his team has provided no additional information about his recovery. As you'll recall, he had been hospitalized on June 14th after being found unconscious and rushed to the hospital. And we learned all of this new information from the dispatch record. after the fact about the state and that there was a CPR administered on the scene and that

they were responding to a cardiac arrest. But they've done nothing to disclose information on his recovery in almost a month. The last update was that he had left a rehab center, but we've seen no public appearances from him. It remains that there are only two photos that have been released by his team of the senator smiling with his. wife and obviously a lot of questions over those photos. Critics and people on social media have been pointing out that that is not proof of life and that this could be AI generated. And so it's really the way this has been handled from the start until now has raised so much speculation and questions on top of the fact that he's missed 60 votes in the Senate. The Senate is currently on a long

recess, but we'll be back in mid-September. And at this point in time, when I ask Senate leaders or McConnell's office about whether he will be returning with the Senate on September 14th when they come back from their weeks long August recess, I am not getting confident answers that he will return. And other lawmakers who've been saying, we expect him return, are attributing that speculation that they're hopeful that he will return to his team and not to the fact that they've actually directly spoken with Senator McConnell, most of them have not or aren't saying anything about it. There was 20 minute calls that we heard so much about. It just seems to, I don't know, Mitch, what are you doing? Maybe he's very busy. He might be very busy. He might be prepping. He might be

helping out with the speech making for Donald Trump's event. I mean, there's so many things he could be doing. But what he is not doing is being transparent. And those around him, I think, we should say, are not being transparent. And I just want to say, the Daily Beast, we have been following this story relentlessly. It's because people subscribe to us that we've been able to talk about Mitch McConnell's health when the rest of the media, the legacy media does not want to talk about Mitch McConnell and the MAGA elite do not want to talk about health at all because they don't want to talk about the president's health. And other senators' health as well. We had an amazing example this week, Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine. She is running for her

sixth term, she's 73, and we got some video footage from an interview, which is just astonishing. We are learning from this footage, which you can, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see now that this is a 73-year-old lady. I'm not going to say elderly. I think it's unfair to say elderly for a 73-year-old, but certainly a lady who has a health condition, which we should know more about. She is shaking, her hand is shaking badly as she tries to eat some soup in this, in a very cozy interview with the most elite DC insider outlet political. And it's really, it's astonishing. We have asked her office, has her condition worsened? She has what is known, she admitted in May that she has what is known as an essential tremor. And it turned out she'd had it for 30 years

and she had never, ever disclosed it to her voters. I mean, this seems like a problem, Sarah. It is a problem. And the fact is, when you see her on Capitol Hill, she's able to walk through the halls of Congress with no problem navigating, typically a large gaggle of reporters. Right, which, by the way, some of them literally can't walk. Exactly. So by comparison, she's not in a wheelchair the way we've seen Mitch McConnell. She's not escorted by AIDS in the same way we've seen some other senators in recent years. But she does have this shake that has raised some questions but had not been addressed.

And it seems like it is definitely getting worse based on this video we saw this week of her interview. And it probably was highlighted by the fact that she was trying to eat while she was doing the interview. And the reality is that brought the focus to this specific tremor that she's had and has now acknowledged she's had for some time. time. But the questions about health and age are just so, the focus on health and age are so front and center right now because of so many issues we've seen. One, we have Mitch McConnell, who has been gone for 80 days. And now we see this with another senator raising questions when the staff for Mitch McConnell has been so not forthcoming about his condition. And she's running for re-election, which means should she win, she'd be approaching 80 at the end of her next

term. And it comes as we're also raising questions at the Daily Beast about the president himself and how his health is. And those questions have not been addressed by the White House or have been pushed back on in some cases by the White House with nasty responses. But don't get at the heart of what's happening with the president who is 80 years old, who's falling asleep in public during his meetings. And so her health issues add to this ongoing question about age and health in Washington, D.C. that's been largely ignored, largely sweeped under the rug, but is definitely a problem for many voters who just want honesty and people to be forthcoming about it. It's not to say she couldn't serve with this tremor. It's...

But we don't know. There's been such a tight-lipped response to it. that raises even further concerns. I just want to say, it's not just the governing class in D.C. is it that doesn't want to talk about health? Susan Collins did this interview as political. She sat down with him for 50 minutes. And she was, it's quite remarkable scene. Those who've seen it on YouTube might be wondering, what's going on? They're sitting on a lobster dock in the beautiful, the great state of Maine.

I was just there last week. It was a fantastic state. If you are watching in Maine, cannot tell you how beautiful your state is. and if you've not been to Maine, I'd rather you don't go because it's lovely that it's quiet, but it's just, it's fantastic. She's sitting outside,

is they're on a lobster dock, the weather is perfect, they're on the Blue Hill Peninsula, and she is eating clam chowder, again, a delicious product for the great state of Maine, and they then brought a lobster, and the lobster sat there,

like Chekhov's lobster, through the whole interview, and she couldn't touch it, and she clearly didn't touch it because the tremor is a problem. She could barely, drink from her iced tea. Yet, we sat through this 50 minutes and the only question about health was about whether there should be more transparency about Senators' health generally, and she

blamed, you wouldn't believe this, Joe Biden. It's all Joe Biden's fault. There's a very cozy consensus in D.C. isn't there, Sarah, that the elite don't want to talk about it. The media don't want to talk about it. The legacy media that is happy to, you know, give Donald Trump airtime isn't willing to talk about his health, isn't willing to talk about Senator's health. No, they do not want to talk about health. I think it's potentially in some ways because the story about Biden and his health was botched terribly and we're now seeing it even more in focus with Donald Trump. Thank you to Sarah. colleagues, David Gardner and Farah Thomas in down D.C., because you are asking those questions

all the time. It's continuing to spiral. But no, it is something that Washington, D.C. doesn't want to talk about so much. But when I am not in Washington, D.C., and I am speaking to Americans who are voters, who are constituents in many of these states, that is the first thing they want to know. They want to know what is going on with the senator from Kentucky. Is the president okay? He seems to be falling asleep. those are the things that they are paying attention to going into this midterm. And being able to provide answers is my job. I ask the questions and the lack of response and the finger pointing and the attempts to deflect are very obvious and not helpful to anyone in this situation when it comes to the president's health, the senator's health, and a number of growingly older members of Congress, as we've seen in recent. years. And there's other questions this morning about another senator, a much younger senator,

John Fetterman. John Fetterman, the Democratic senior senator from Pennsylvania, he has become a figure, I think, of fascination for everybody. And certainly, you know, there is a tragic back, or an unfortunate background here that he suffered a stroke while he was campaigning to get, to gain that Senate seat, very, very tight race against Dr. Mechman Oz, who, was also running for Pennsylvania, but kind of didn't live there. Kind of a flawed. If you're going to run for a Senate seat, try to live in the state that you're running for. But this morning, we are learning absolutely jaw-dropping details about what's going on with John Fetterman.

Yeah, the Wall Street Journal had a remarkable report that showed behind the scenes what is going on between John Fetterman and his staff. And some of the exchanges between John Federman, specifically in the form of communications between him and his aides, have been jaw-dropping. In one instance, we saw Federman basically blowing off a meeting with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and essentially dismissing their concerns. A staffer said they were worried about vaccines and Medicaid cuts. And his response was, well, I'm not. And then went so far as to suggest they just wanted free trips to Washington, D.C. That is one of multiple wild revelations from this. These leaked texts are, they're wild.

I mean, I think, you know, wild doesn't even begin to capture it. It's an understatement. Yeah. It really is. And he, he is, these texts obviously are between him and AIDS. That's not good news for him, is it? if we're reading them? No, I mean, we've been seeing a slow drip of concern from his staff since he took office.

There was questions about his mental state. Obviously, he had been treated. He checked into a hospital and was treated for depression. And so he's had a series of challenges. You mentioned the stroke before he got into office. Then his mental health once he did get into office. And so he's had a number of health concerns. People who knew him before he had that stroke when he was running for the Senate in Pennsylvania

have described him as a completely different person from who he is now. And it's not clear specifically how that has come to be, but it is believed his health has been the driver of that. One of the things that jumps out from these leaks from his office is that, as you said, he didn't want to speak to people. from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, one of the nations, I mean, probably the nation's leading research children's hospital

an absolutely astonishing facility. They wanted to talk about vaccines, something that you cannot underestimate the importance of. But then also on the subject of health, he blew off three paralyzed veterans saying that he was himself unwell. And then he went... He went on Fox News.

Right. That is something that was. another one that just is mind-boggling. Yes, he canceled on three paralyzed veterans who had traveled to Washington, D.C. to talk about their care. It's not like you can just skip across the river from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. That is a trip. And these three paralyzed veterans had traveled to the nation's capital, and instead, Donald, or excuse me, John Federman blew them off and went on Fox News, which is the network that has come to really embrace this one Democratic lawmaker.

Let's remember he's a member of the Democratic Party and has been going on Fox News, Donald Trump's favorite place to go and watch TV, to essentially focus largely on bashing members of his own party who are far left and to focus on support for Israel, which is just such a shift for him from where he was when he was running for Senate in 2022. Yeah, I can't believe that we've run through these scandals. And this is the third one that's got Fox News in it. It's a crazy theme of the week. I want to just add one more crazy thing that happened because, like I mentioned,

the paralyzed veterans, the Children's Hospital, but also he didn't want to attend a funeral for fallen police officers because it was three hours. long and he called it a quote non-starter. He was also being asked to dress formally. And of course, we all know he's usually seen in a hoodie. But these three fallen officers had been killed, been murdered, I should say, very close to his own hometown. So these are people that are at the absolute heart of the people that he has been serving. And yet he described it as a non-star. It was a non-starter to attend the funeral of fallen police officers. What are Democrats saying to you this morning?

I'm hearing from Democrats that they believe John Federman is a one-term senator and that he actually only wants to be a one-term senator. And the questions now really remain, well, what happens should Democrats in the Senate, and that's where some of the concern is right now, retake the majority in November because they need to retake the majority and then they're at a plus one to that because they don't trust John Federman anymore to be an ally and to focus on the policies that Democrats want to focus on should they be in control of the Senate. And so a lot of what I'm hearing is about how John Federman has abandoned the party. They expect him to be a one-term senator. Also, I think there's also the reality that he's very likely, even if he did decide to run, which they don't believe he will, of being challenged by someone else in Pennsylvania who has a line closer with the Democratic Party than he has in recent years. So they're basically hoping he'll go away? Yes. But in the meantime, they have to focus on the fact that they need, they have 47 seats. They need to flip three to get to 50. They need to flip a fourth to have the majority.

so that Vance is not a tiebreaker. And then they need to flip a fifth because of John Fetterman. And that's where most of my conversations come in is we don't need four seats. We need five seats. John Fetterman is a problem for us as a party. And all he's doing is focusing on attacking the farthest left part of the party, which is not where most of the party is. And so that's where I'm hearing a lot of the concerns from my sources on that front when it comes to him. And many have flagged this article specifically just the shocking revelations that it shows and where his actual focus is and where his lack of focus is, which in many ways this exhibits is lack of focus on the people of Pennsylvania he represents. Right. You cannot get a tougher hole to get out of,

I think, as a senator if you're running for re-election, then ignoring paralyzed veterans to go on Fox News. There's one more scandal we've got to talk about. And I think maybe I can set this up by saying the thing about the Trump era is that there are so many scandals that you know you you close your eyes for a second and the sort of scandal that would have taken down a president has just happened it's just gone past and you go oh I didn't even notice that one but there's been a bubbling scandal around a woman who was I think possibly the most obscure member of his cabinet Laurie Chavez de Riemer and she was she was the Labor Secretary. She resigned. I'm going to say that most people didn't really notice. And sorry, if you're watching Laurie Chavez-Darima, I appreciate that you've got time on your hands now.

That was not the highest profile person. But we're learning this morning about what happened, but before she resigned, and it's, well, it's Trump Cabinet Secretary's gone wild. That is the best way to put it. cabinet secretary's gone wild to the point where we're talking about strippers. Just have a content warning. If you have young years at home with you now, now is the time to usher them from the room because we are going after dark. Yes, the Labor Secretary has apparently

been held a while she was in office and she resigned in April. She served just over a year. But we now have this inspector general report from the labor department looking back into some of the accusations. There were internal accusations made against her. There were issues with how she treated staff and inappropriately treated staff misconduct. And one of the many details from this report on her time was she in April 2025, just of barely a month in public office, having been sworn in. She had her team drive up to a club with strippers and taking her staff to a strip club.

And not only that, but that she, according to this report, gave bills to her driver and had her driver giving money to new dancers. We've got to, I've got to have a reading here from this Inspector General's I think we've all, as journalists read, some Inspector General reports, they are usually extremely sober and they are extremely factual.

They carry, you know, they carry huge official weight. And the Inspector General for the Department of Labor has had quite a time doing this report. His report reveals that they went to Angels PDX. It's on the outskirts of Portland. it's basically it's not even on a strip mall although it is full of strippers and the promise it offers is

more than just a gentleman's club we're everyone's club and it turned out as far as Lowy Chavez de Riemer who is a married 58 year old grandmother was concerned it really was for everyone

when she went to this partially nude establishment she took money from her purse gave the money to the driver from her security detail, and directed him to give it to the performer who was partially nude. When the agent resisted and sought guidance from a colleague, the colleague instructed him to comply with Chavez de Riemer's requests. Shavez-Durimer then took additional money from her purse and asked the agent to drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman.

The agent complied against his wishes. So Trump's Labour Secretary was a month into office and she was taking her security detail and her aides to make it rain, as I believe the expression is, on a partially nude stripper in suburban Portland. That doesn't sound great. But Sarah, that's not even the wildest accusation in this. It is completely mind-boggling, and that she made it also an entire year. And that is what's absolutely crazy about this entire thing, is we heard accusations of

misconduct made against her. There were staffers that were slowly coming forward with their allegations. But then there were claims she had an affair with a bodyguard. She drank on the job. And then we find out the Stroop Club to go on top of that. The inspector general had a lot of investigation to do. This chief bodyguard called Brian Sloan has, she has denied that she has an affair with them. And the inspector general said that they could not find affirmative evidence that there was a sexual relationship. But they also detail some of their investigation and the investigation included surveillance of Laurie Chavez-Durreemar's house. They saw the bodyguard go in and then they didn't see him leave before the surveillance ended. I'm sure it may have been

completely innocent and they may just have been discussing whatever you discussed with your bodyguard. The bodyguard, Brian Sloan, also referred to her by her first name rather than ma'am. kind of unusual. And I don't imagine this will go down well with Donald Trump and his associates. She was keen that her bodyguards generally were not too MAGA. She obviously wanted them to be fairly open-minded, but is there a way back for Laurie Shaft Hesda Reamer? I don't see how there is. I mean, she's post-Maga now. She left the administration in April, although we're just getting this Inspector General report. I will say that bodyguard also quit before she left the administration.

So, I mean, I don't know what she does next after this scandal. But, you know, we have seen many of Trump individuals bounce back from scandal. And so while I don't see her being able to run for office in the future with this kind of baggage or have a top high profile position in any other type of administration. She could become a member of the MAGAverse that we see in the future because it's not outside the realm where scandal has actually helped people in the post-Trump White House. Well, she's certainly, she's got the votes stitched up at Angel's PDX. There you go.

I mean, there might be something there. There might be something in Oregon, though. Oregon is typically a bluer state. So we'll see what comes next, but I'm enjoying the read. This report was pretty blue. So, you know, maybe, maybe the blue wave meant something different to her. Sarah, you all vice. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for bringing your expertise and your knowledge and your insider reporting from Washington, D.C. It's because of you subscribing to us that we are able to bring you interviews with people like Sarah to bring you the facts that the elites and particularly the Magaboolies do not want you to know. Thank you to everybody who's been watching. Thank you to those of you who subscribe. And thank you, of course, to our production team. John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passer, Heather Pissarro and Neil Rosenhaus. So the good news is we have so many Bee Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.

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