The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Knew He Was In The Epstein Files, Launches Attack on Obama | Samara Cyn

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

Josh Johnson covers the breaking story that the DOJ informed Trump he was on the Epstein list, newly unearthed photos of Trump's friendship with Epstein, and the president's wild pledge to lower drug prices by 1000%. Plus, Michael Kosta explains why Trump’s Epstein drama is all Obama’s fault. Samara Cyn, a recording artist making her late-night television debut, joins Josh to discuss her new EP, “backroads.” They talk about her raw and real lyrics, why her new EP is more lighthearted than her last release, how her music touches on the “really weird” state of a world going back on immigrant, LGBTQ+, and women’s rights, and her song “hardheaded,” which tackles privilege head-on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show. I'm Josh Johnson. We have got so much to talk about tonight. We got new photos from Trump and Epstein's besties collage. Trump is going to pay you to take drugs. And he says, yes, we can blame Obama.

So let's get into the headlines. -♪ -♪ Let's kick things off with drug prices. They're too damn high. They're so expensive that rappers are bawling out on a full prescription, okay? Singles are dropping like, I gotta drop Top Benz and a month supply Alexa Pro.

Now, President Trump made big promises about lowering drug prices once he got into office. But all the haters said he was never actually going to get it done. Well guess what, haters? His promises just got even bigger. We're going to get the drug prices down, not 30 or 40 percent, which would be great, not 50 or 60. No. would be great, not 50 or 60, no. We're gonna get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500% numbers that are not

even thought to be achievable. Yeah, I also thought it would not be achievable to lower drug prices 1,000% thought it would not be achievable to lower drug prices 1000% Because that's not how percentages work Just just so you understand lowering drug prices 100% means it's free Lowering it past that means they're gonna give you money. Next year's Forbes billionaires list is just gonna be a bunch of dudes with leukemia. On the bright side, on the bright side, we're actually gonna be bankrupting insurance companies

instead the other way around, you know? If Trump... If Trump hadn't acted this sooner, that CEO would have shot Luigi. But look... But look, Trump actually does have a plan here. It's not to put a cap on the drug prices. That'd be too easy and simple.

We're working very hard right now to get the other countries to lift up their prices a little bit and to get the drug companies to put it to them. And if they don't, the drug companies will have a lot of problems and they are mostly agreed to it. And if the countries don't, then as an example, of it's Europe, I'll say, that's okay. You're no longer allowed to sell cars in America. You're no longer allowed to have Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, or any of the other many cars.

And they will say, oh, I love the idea of lower drug prices for America. What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? their cars reducing our choices as consumers and making cars in general more expensive for everybody. And I know it's very confusing, but I've seen this before. This is crackhead logic, all right? All right?

All right? All right? All right? All right? All right? All right? All right? All right?

All right? All right? All right? All right? All right? All right A to B, all right? When I was a kid, I'd see a dude who needed $15, but instead of asking for money, he would try to sell you a tire, which of course he didn't have, but he did have a bike chain. And if you would buy that bike chain from him for $12, he would put that towards the tire and then one day, eventually, buy crack.

And my point is, that's a better drug plan than what Donald Trump is doing. Look, but still, Donald Trump is promising to lower drug prices for America. That's the news for the day. And I'm sure no one is going to talk about anything else. Brand new bombshell reporting from the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal reporting that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told President

Trump back in May that his name appears multiple times in the Epstein files. Your best friends. Your best friends with a pedophile for 10 years one time and the world never forgets it. But yeah, this whole time Trump already knew he was in the Epstein files, which is a good reminder that if someone's acting guilty, they're probably guilty. No one's ever gonna be like, don't look at my browser history, you'll see all the charities I volunteer for.

But the good news for Trump is this is America. We don't read. As long as there's no video coming out, he should be A-okay. Seen an exclusive, newly uncovered photos and video offers a new look at President Trump's past ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Here you see the two, the opening of the Harley Davidson Cafe. Months later, some new photos reveal Epstein walking into the Plaza Hotel to attend Donald Trump's wedding to Marla Maples.

There's also what was found in this review of archival footage from a 1999 Victoria's Secret fashion show which reveals, as you see, the two men chatting, laughing with one another on the sidelines of that event. It's getting to the point where it's harder and harder to find a photo of Donald Trump without Jeffrey Epstein. As Donald Trump, your only hope is to be like, hey, I take pictures with lots of people, all right? I'm in pictures with OJ, Denny.

I'm in pictures with Harvey Weinstein. That's not helping. I'm going pictures with Harvey Weinstein. That's not helping. I'm going to stop. And they're not just in the video. Look at the chemistry they have. And this is genuinely unfortunate and unfair to Trump, but the way the camera highlighted the two of them makes it look like a giant heart on a kiss cam.

What makes me feel terrible is I don't have a friend that I'm as close with as Trump was to Epstein. You know? They're making drawings for each other, laughing, showing up to weddings, going to shows together. The only way my friends hang out with me that much is if we're both holding Xbox controllers. The point is CNN found all this new footage, and Trump didn't really appreciate it. You actually called President Trump directly

to ask him about this story? Yeah, we weren't on the phone very long. It only lasted about 30 seconds. But when I got him on the phone, I asked him about the wedding photos. He kind of paused and then said, you've got to be kidding me. He then called CNN and me fake news a few times

and then he hung up the phone. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. You can just call Donald Trump and he'll just pick up the phone himself? A president shouldn't be that available, you know? This is like pushing the call button for the flight attendant and then the pilot comes out. Like, it's like, aren't you supposed to be busy?

Like, if you're here, then who's in the cockpit? I think this just shows how lonely Trump is. He's answering the phone because he just wants someone to talk to. It's kind of sad. Because remember, his best friend died in prison back in 2019. So, once again, Donald Trump can't shake the Jeffrey Epstein news.

He's going to lower drug prices two billion percent and the media still won't let it go. But old buddy Donnie's got another card to play. President Trump again tried to divert attention from the Epstein files, this time by accusing former President Barack Obama of treason. Obama cheated on the election and we have it cold, hard, blue and it's getting even more so. I'm sorry you can't just say cold, hard, blue, and it's getting even more so. I'm sorry, you can't just say cold, hard, and blue. Like that's a normal phrase about an investigation. There's been 400 seasons of Law and Order,

and no detective has ever said, we got you cold, hard, and blue. DUN DUN. But yeah, Trump is now going after Obama again and this time he's got calls. He gabbered saying she's got documents that prove Obama tampered with the 2016 election, which is treason. But if you see what Obama was doing over the weekend, he doesn't seem too stressed. In my opinion, and this is controversial in my family, you should not eat ketchup after the age of eight. Oh, ho, ho, ho.

Does this man seem worried? You know, he's doing a podcast about ketchup. How is it that Barack Obama, the man Trump hates the most, is the most unbothered during two Trump presidencies. Like I don't know what is pissing Trump off more, the fact that no one is letting go of the Epstein files or that Obama refuses to be the adversary Trump wants him to be. This would be like if you took the movie Lion King and right after Scar took over Pride Rock Simba sang Hakuna Matata for the last 43 minutes of the film.

Also, what an insane take. You're not allowed to have ketchup after the age of eight? Eight years old is too young for rules like that. Like at eight, I'm still wet in the bed, but now I have to be an Aole man. For more, let's go live to Michael Kosta. Kosta. Kosta. Kosta.

Kosta. Kosta. Kosta. Kosta. Kosta. You're at the White House. What's the latest on the Epstein scandal? Sorry, Josh. It's actually pronounced the Obama scandal But you're right. Everyone is talking about it. What's that? Oh, yeah, I'm just telling about how everyone's talking about that Obama thing

See Josh, everyone's talking about that Obama thing including that real guy over there What's that? Oh, I'm just telling about how you're that real guy over there. What's that? Oh, I'm just telling them about how you're a real guy over there. See? No one cares about Jeffrey Epilepsy or whatever. Michael, the Obama thing is not a scandal. Not a scandal. And you call yourself the male Shonda Rhimes. No I don't. Look. Look, ask anyone Mr. Shonda,. I think it's Shonda. No I don't.

Look. Look, ask anyone Mr. Shonda, alright? The Epstein story is boring. It's just a sex scandal involving a billionaire league of pedophiles. What's interesting about that? The Obama scandal's the juicy one. It's a story about a possibly unnecessary reappraisal of intelligence-gathering protocols

concerning election interference. Whoo! Man, I'm getting cold, hard, and blue just thinking about it. What's that? You're getting cold, hard, and blue, too? What about you, Josh? You blue? No, I'm not. I'm neither cold, hard nor blue. Not even a little because I'm a full Papa Smurf right now. Way more than if I found out some new boring detail

about how Trump was on Epstein's plane so much he left a permanent ass-cheek groove on the seat. Hold on, is that true? Like, can you confirm that ass-cheek groove detail? The only thing I can confirm is how truly boring it is, all right? I was losing my blue, but you know what got my blue back? Was Tulsi Gabbard declassifying a draft of a 2017 report arguing for more context for election interference conclusions

released by a previous 2016 report. Now that's hot right there. Not some newly discovered video from 2004 of Trump and Epstein slurping up some same strand of spaghetti till they touch lips. Oh my God, oh boy, I'm so bored, oh my God. Wait, Trump and Epstein did that? Michael, that is the story.

No one gives a shit about the Obama thing. Why are you pushing this so hard? Fine. You know what, Josh? You're right. All right, you're right. You happy now? There's no Obama scandal. Is that what you want me to say? That the Epstein scandal is way more exciting

than the Obama scandal, which is boring and isn't even real? That there's no Obama scandal, which is boring and isn't even real, that there's no Obama scandal. And isn't that kind of a scandal? Why isn't there an Obama scandal? What is he hiding? Josh, we figured it out. You're a genius. You and me are blue as balls right now, Josh. Come on. We got it. No one's blue.

Michael Kosta, everybody. When we come back, Samara Sen will be joining us. Don't go away. CHEERING CHEERING Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a recording artist making her late night television debut, whose new EP is called Backroads. Please welcome Samar Sin. So, first of all, thank you so much for being here.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Like when I found out that I was hosting, you were the first person that I was like, we have to get her as a guest and I want to talk to her. I so appreciate that. I so appreciate that. Me and my mom, we send TikToks back and forth and we're just all up and down throughout your TikTok all the time.

So the fact that you even were familiar with my music beforehand. And when I found out that like we got invited and stuff, it was just like, she was over the moon. I was super ecstatic. So yeah, I'm really happy to be here. Thank you. Yeah. What?

Wow. So I think there's something that happens when an artist comes out and they have incredibly interesting and creative work where everybody's like, oh, this person's like the next big thing. This person is this, this, that, and the other. And I think that I have not come across someone whose work has been more the real deal than yours. When I've been listening to your music and everything, there's something that is so special

about your beat selection, your intention with your lyrics, and the way that you express yourself where, we're just meeting now, but I feel like I know you, like I feel like we're friends from listening to the music over and over again. And I'm sure you're getting that experience all the time. But can you tell me about what process is like for you? Like what leads you to make the work that you make?

Yeah, music was never like a, I wasn't like a kid like, yeah, I'm gonna do music. I'm gonna be this rapper or whatever. Like I wanted to be a little business woman and I wanted to do like the traditional route, you know? And I wanted to wear a pencil skirt. Um.

So, um, it's just something that I kind of stumbled into and it was very therapeutic. And so I try to pull from very raw and real places. And every time I'm going in there, I want to confront something new. A lot of my music is internal conflicts and the ways that I see the world, and trying to figure out how I can communicate that.

And pulling from very honest places is where I try to come from. I think people connect to stuff that's real and like raw. So me pulling from that place, I think that's where the connection is for a lot of people. And I feel connected too when people are like, yeah, when you just said that, I was like, stop it. So.

No, for real, I find like what you do and your work and the way that you think, because I've seen some of your other interviews and stuff, and it is endlessly interesting. Thank you. And it's a type of expression that I think builds on, it makes people more curious about what you're doing. Like when you listen to Magnolia Rain or something, and there's something about, whether it's the video or the music, it makes you be like,

oh, not only do I want to be friends with you, I want me and my friends to have this experience. Because you see you traveling, and you see the growth in everything, you performing and how much fun you're having and everything. And so with this new project, because I remember the drive home, I remember the night the drive home came out

and I listened to it all the way through twice because I was just like every step of it just felt like so seamless to the next thing. When it came to from drive home to back roads, what's your intention with the new EP back roads that you may have differing from the drive home? Yeah, I think with the new one, one I wanted it to be a little bit more lighthearted.

The drive home was very serious, very warm tones, very dark, and it got to me performing it, and I was like, oh, you know, this a little, this dragging a little bit, like, let me, this is a little too serious for me. So with Backroads, I did wanna bring up the Sonics a little bit. I wanted it to sound like you were having a good time when you listened to it, and not like I'm in a therapy session right now.

So with that being said, it was just more lighthearted and eventually the delusional theme kind of came through and backroads was kind of my take on the hyper normalization that's going on in the world right now. And it's kind of like taking the long way around the backroads instead of facing the issues head on and figuring out how to solve them and get through them together.

It's like, instead I'm gonna go to work and I'm gonna drink my coffee I'm gonna pretend like this is not happening and it's really weird. Yeah so it was me confronting why I felt like that, what that was in my own self and where I was doing it in my own life, but then also like kind of seeing where my neighbor was doing it too, or my community or the society that I'm a part of, like how we're all kind of like kind of ignoring what's happening because we don't know what to do. Sure, sure. Yeah.

I mean, do you find that there's one particular thing that you think is the most prevalent in this like hyper normalization, like the thing, like the real elephant in the room? I mean, there's a lot. I mean, the list goes on and on. I think it's our duty as humans to be really like loving to one another and compassionate and accepting and inclusive and respectful. And I feel like we're losing sight of all of that.

So all of the work that we've done over decades and decades to be a country first, you know what I'm saying? That is all of those things is being undone by, you know, the snap of very grubby fingers, and I feel like... Laughter Applause So... As a country, we see it right now with immigration. And we see it right now with even, like, you know, the rights of women in, you know, different communities,

LGBTQ+, and as a country and even the world, we're seeing it right now with the wars that are going on. There's genocide. There's, like, famine. There's extreme, like, levels of poverty, and we're not loving on our neighbors. And I just feel like that's whack. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

100%. I think that... I think that when I'm listening to your music, sometimes it takes me that fifth listen to kind of catch something. And that's one thing that I really love is how intentional you are with everything that you're doing. And does it ever annoy you when that goes over people's heads? No. I choose the cryptic route sometimes. Does it ever annoy you when that goes over people's heads? No.

I choose the cryptic route sometimes. And I kind of like, as a listener of music, I love lyrics first. And not everybody is like that. Normally, it's like, oh, I like the way I feel listening to this or whatever. And then you go back and you listen to it. And it's like, that's why.

Because it's saying, you know exactly what I needed. I kind of like, it makes me feel like a clever girl. Yeah. When somebody goes back and they're like, oh, she says so and so, that's crazy. I'm like, it makes me feel like a clever girl. When somebody goes back and they're like, oh, she says so and so, that's crazy. I'm like, yup. Some people that don't get it though, they be in my comments a little bit like, that don't even make sense.

I'm like, girl, go read a book, baby. Go read a book. Yes, it does. That's what I'm like. Yeah. You got kind of your start in poetry on top of then getting into music. And what is it that you find is the difference between writing your poetry and then knowing that it's going to be put to music?

Because I think you so elegantly put like head to pen to page to put out the idea. Yeah. Yeah, that was interesting. It's not a huge difference. You know, you do have to consider like vocal production and Sonics for sure, because at the same time, like me personally, and I know a lot of people don't want they don't just want to get lyrical miracle through the whole entire record. You know what I'm saying? Like there's there's such thing as being a good rapper

and there's such thing as like making a good song and They're not always they don't always coexist, you know, so you know, I was pulling from a lot of influences to like people that have a good balance of something that has narrative and is has Substance, but also that jams because I don't want to listen to music all the time and be like, lyrical, miracle, da da da da da, spiritual. I'm like, I don't want to hear that all the time. Like I want to be able to move to this and I want it to make me feel good.

So, so yeah, the jump was figuring out where to shut up. You know what I'm saying? Like where to stop talking, where to let there be space, where to let, you know, the song, the actual music come through and, like, shine. Whereas poetry, the goal is to be lyrical, miracle-spiritual, so, you know, you can lead with that. But, yeah, music has to be music, too. You don't have to fill every space with talking, you know?

No, absolutely. As someone who talks a lot, I know exactly what you mean. I love to, yeah. I love to, yeah you're talking about. I love to, yeah. I love to, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I love to, yeah. And you're going to be performing tonight hardheaded. Can you tell us about the track?

Yeah, so hardheaded was on the Backroads EP. That was the one that was like addressing it on a more wider scale for me, like the delusional aspect. We are so privileged to be able to lean on our delusions because it's not right in our face every single day. We're not having to deal with a lot of stuff that people in the world are having to deal with and so we can be delusional

and that's a really like privileged space to be in. So this is me kind of like, I guess, calling that out. And yeah, Delusion is the theme for sure. Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's incredible. This is my first week hosting. And I was so excited to have you on. And like I said, listening to your music over and over again,

I feel like I already know you. I feel like we're already friends. I was wondering, instead of just like a regular handshake and then we have a wave at the camera, if you would mind making like a secret handshake with me now. Oh, my gosh. Be gentle with me, I don't want my nails to pop off. Yeah, no, no, no, you're good, you're good.

I got you, okay, I'm thinking, okay, what if we did like, okay, go in like this and then this. Okay, period, what do you think? And then... Uh, uh, uh, uh, team, team, team, are you ready? Okay, period. What do you think? And then... Team, team, team, are you ready? Okay, ready? All right. Thank you so much for being our guest tonight. Y'all, give it up for Samar Sin. Back rolls is available now. That's our show for the night. Now here it is, the moment of truth.

I'm concerned. I mean, honestly, we've seen the conservatives shut down the house floor routinely. You saw that you had to pull the rule because of fear of Epstein votes. No, we don't have any fear. No, no, hold on. No, Reese, no. There's no fear here. No, there's no fear. There's no fear. Explore more shows from The Daily Show Podcast Universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.

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