The David Pakman Show - 1/24/25: Trump's birthright citizenship ban struck down, White House scandals begin

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

-- On the Show: -- Brittany Page, host of the Page Perspective, fills in for David. Subscribe to her channel at http://www.youtube.com/@brittanyepage -- An aide to Mike Johnson discouraged subpoenaing former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's text messages out of fear they would reveal sexually explicit texts from Republican lawmakers -- Donald Trump keeps signing executive orders without being aware of what they'll do -- New details emerge from Pete Hegseth's accuser right before the Senate readies a vote on whether to confirm him as Defense Secretary -- Elizabeth Warren sends Elon Musk and DOGE thirty ideas on how to cut government spending -- Donald Trump's ICE is already detaining the wrong people, including American citizens and veterans -- Less than a week into the second Trump presidency, there's already a scandal concerning White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt -- The father of a newly-pardoned January 6th Capitol rioter warns about his son's behavior -- Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin criticizes DEI even though his dad gave him a multi-million dollar business -- A Republican judge strikes down Trump's executive order against birthright citizenship -- A Washington DC judge calls January 6th rioters "poor losers" -- On the Bonus Show: Jesse Dollemore joins Brittany, MAGA granny turns down Trump pardon, Catholic Church responds to Trump orders, and much more... ⚠️ Ground News: Get 50% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman ✉️ StartMail: Get 50% OFF a year subscription at https://startmail.com/pakman 🩳 SHEATH Underwear: Code PAKMAN for 20% OFF at https://sheathunderwear.com/pakman 💻 Sponsored by Aura: Try it free for 2 weeks! See if your data is safe at https://aura.com/pakman 🥄 Use code PAKMAN for $5 off Magic Spoon at https://magicspoon.com/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/davidpakmanshow -- TDPS Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmanshow -- Pakman Discord: https://davidpakman.com/discord -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave a Voicemail: (219)-2DAVIDP

Happy Friday and welcome to the David Pakman show. My name is Brittany Page and I host the Page Perspective here on YouTube. Today is my final day guest hosting for David and I want to thank him for generously giving me this opportunity again. It is always wonderful to work with David and his team and to go through the day's headlines with you all. So let's get into it. The big question today is, did Republican lawmakers text sexually explicit threats to Cassidy Hutchinson? Do you remember Cassidy Hutchinson? Maybe you haven't heard the name in a while. I know I haven't. She is the woman who testified to the January 6th committee

about her experience in the days surrounding the insurrection on January 6th, 2021. Her experiences were particularly relevant because she was the White House aide who worked as an assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at that time. During the January 6th committee hearings in 2022, her testimony was powerful and it gave us a firsthand account of how Donald Trump and the people closest to him behaved during the insurrection and afterward. This time she is back in the news because new reporting from the Washington Post has revealed that there are apparently fears among Republicans that if Hutchinson is subpoenaed for future January 6th investigations from Republicans, sexual texts sent to her from Republican lawmakers

will be revealed. Yeah. Let's look at this reporting. Quote, an aide to House Speaker Mike Johnson advised Republican colleagues against subpoenaing former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson as part of their investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack in an effort to prevent the release of sexually explicit texts that lawmakers sent her, according to written correspondence reviewed by the Post and a person familiar with the effort. The aide intervened last June, citing concerns that a subpoena could expose the texts, according to the correspondence and the person who requested anonymity, to speak candidly about private conversations.

And if you watched the show yesterday, you will remember that I covered Speaker Mike Johnson's press release announcing the new select subcommittee to continue the investigation of the events proceeding and following January 6th. What I didn't share yesterday was what Mike Johnson wrote on the press release announcing the new select subcommittee quote house Republicans are proud of our work so far in exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated January six select committee during the 117th Congress. But there is still more work to be done. We are establishing this select subcommittee to continue our efforts to uncover the full truth that is owed to the American people. The composition and other details regarding the select subcommittee will be announced soon.

The full truth, huh, Mike? Well, I'll tell you what full truth I'd like to hear. Let's hear which Republican lawmakers were sending sexually explicit text messages to Cassidy Hutchinson. How about that full truth? Something tells me they might not want to reveal that, especially given this odd phrasing in the Washington Post reporting, quote, in a meeting following the June conversation, Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, and senior aides also conveyed to Representative Barry Loudermilk, Republican from Georgia, and members of his staff that issuing a

subpoena to Hutchinson and asking her to testify under oath would serve as another opportunity for her to retell her story and potentially embarrass the Trump White House, according to two people present for the meeting. Before that meeting, a Johnson aide told Loudermilk's staff that multiple colleagues had raised concerns with the Speaker's office public disclosure of, quote, sexual texts from members who were trying to engage in sexual favors with Hutchinson, according to correspondence produced at the time that detailed the conversation. The odd phrase I'm referring to is sexual favors. What does that mean? If you think back to this time, Republicans were not supportive of Cassidy Hutchinson and her testimony. In fact, her testimony was so explosive and controversial among Republicans that she had to go into hiding after testifying. Here's a brief

clip of her talking about that with CBS. So my life changed in the way that I was living my life for a while. You couldn't go back to your apartment. I could not go back to my apartment. I ended up moving down to Atlanta for several months. They didn't even think it was safe for you to stay in DC? No, no. So it wasn't even safe for her to stay in DC. Republican lawmakers have continued to try to discredit her testimony as well. In March 2024, they released a report with details suggesting previously unreleased information contradicted Hutchinson's testimony. They've continued to fight back against her testimony.

So this was not, and it has not been, friendly territory for Hutchinson among Republicans. Put all of that into the context of these, as the Washington Post describes them, sexual favors. And I don't know about you, but I am wondering if that actually means sexual threats from Republican lawmakers. Cassidy Hutchinson was 26 at the time of her testimony. She's 28 now. How old is the average Republican lawmaker? If you know, drop it in the comments. The Washington Post did note that they reviewed some documentation here. Quote, the Washington Post reviewed documentation reflecting the speaker's office's concerns ahead of the June meeting between him and Loudermilk that corroborated the person's account, but has not seen the purported sexually explicit messages nor

identified who sent them or whether Hutchinson responded, end quote. They also provided a statement from Hutchinson's lawyer, which did not at all address the text messages. So I'm sure that Cassidy Hutchinson is not super eager to open herself up to a flood of threats and, I guess, sexually explicit text messages, which may or may not contain sexual threats from elected Republicans. I'm sure she is not interested in continuing to be in the headlines for this, but it is important that we know which Republican lawmakers were sending these text messages, especially if they were threats. If the Republicans are all about finding the truth, then let's have that. Do you remember when conservatives were losing their minds about Biden's cognition during the end of his presidency? There were accusations that he wasn't actually the one in charge. He

wasn't actually the one running the show. Of course, we know Joe Biden is old and he was certainly showing his age, but they're acting like his staff was pulling a Weekend at Bernie's. Is Weekend at Bernie's a dated reference at this point? I don't know. I don't know the average age of David's audience, although maybe the Weekend at Bernie's thing has been referenced so many times in this exact context that it's no longer a dated reference. It's just a tired one. But I think those same conservatives should be paying special attention to Donald Trump. Donald Trump signed a new series of executive orders with the press watching in the Oval Office. And afterward, he took questions.

During this process, though, he seems to not at all be aware of what he's signing. In fact, for each executive order he signs, he needs to ask the man next to him, who in the first two clips is going to be David Sachs. He has to ask him to explain what he is signing for people. David Sachs, by the way, is a tech entrepreneur and the White House czar for AI and cryptocurrency. Yeah, horrifying stuff. So here is Donald Trump signing an executive order that David Sachs will explain to you. Oh, sorry. This is an executive order on AI. We're basically announcing the administration's policy to make America the world capital in artificial intelligence

and to dominate and to lead the world in AI. Do you want to say your name, your full name? Yeah, David Sachs, AI and Cryptozor. David is one of the greatest in the world at AI. Most respected, probably, there is. Okay, I'm going to have to stop and start this audio because, as you could hear, that was him signing the executive order with his giant marker. And then he takes the executive order and he holds it up and shows it to everyone for several seconds.

And in this next clip, this next clip will start as he actually picks up the next executive order to sign. And you'll note that he has to ask David Sachs again what this executive order is that he's signing. And this, David, is? Yeah, this is the crypto EO. We're going to be forming an internal working group to make America the world capital in crypto under your leadership. Which is really going up, right? Absolutely. Okay, now you might be thinking, Donald Trump is just ensuring that David Sachs is involved in the process of signing the executive orders related to AI and cryptocurrency, given that he's the White House czar for AI and cryptocurrency.

It's not that Donald Trump doesn't know what he's signing. He's just trying to be inclusive of this dude. Well, I would be more sympathetic to that argument if a new dude didn't immediately step forward to tell Donald Trump about the next executive order he's signing. This time, Donald Trump doesn't even ask. This man walks up, Trump opens the executive order, and this man tells Trump what he's signing. And this time there's going to be a little bit more silence from the pen, but I am leaving it in because you'll notice that Donald Trump's actually, he prompts the man next to him to tell us more because he's uncomfortable in that silence. This is an executive order establishing a presidential commission,

an advisory commission on science and technology. Good. Do you want to explain that a little bit? The basic idea is to get together top people from government, the private sector, technology, industry, as well as educational institutions to make sure that America maintains its leadership position with respect to science and technology development in the years ahead. Okay, why isn't Donald Trump telling us more about these executive orders? I mean, who is running the show here? And listen, I'm not, I am not reassured either way. It's either Donald Trump or the people who are in positions of power

around him because they have no moral compass and agree with the radical agenda set forth in project 2025. Either way, I am not comfortable. Let me just say that. But can we accept that this man has no clue what he's doing? And here's the most significant part of this. And this is the last one that I will play. This one really exposes just how little Donald Trump is aware of what is going on. Next, we have a set of pardons for peaceful pro-life protesters who were prosecuted by the Biden administration for exercising their First Amendment rights. Do you know how many? I believe it's 23, sir. 23 people were prosecuted.

They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this. He had to ask how many people were included for the pardons. And then he starts talking about the injustice of what they went through. Does he even know anything about the case? I mean, it's a great honor to sign it, he says. You had to ask how many people were receiving the pardon. They called them peaceful protesters, by the way.

Prosecuted for protesting. If you don't know the case, like Donald Trump doesn't seem to, let's see if that's true. Reading from Politico, quote, Trump described the group as peaceful protesters, yet many of them were charged with barricading the doors of clinics with bicycle locks and other implements, pushing, and in some cases, injuring clinic workers and preventing patients from accessing health services. Among the pardoned is Bevelyn Williams, a Tennessee woman sentenced to 41 months in prison for, quote, interference, including by threats and force with individuals seeking to obtain and provide lawful reproductive health services. Williams, according to the DOJ, crushed a clinic staff member's hand in a door while attempting to

block access to a New York City facility in 2020. She also participated in a separate demonstration at a Florida clinic in 2022, which federal authorities said caused delays, quote, in treating at least a dozen patients, three of whom were scheduled for time-sensitive procedures that could have resulted in bleeding, infection, or significant pain without timely treatment. Doesn't sound so peaceful, does it? They were convicted of violating the FACE Act, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Pro-life organizations are celebrating this, but also asking that Donald Trump continue to follow through on his pro-life promises. Donald Trump is scheduled to appear at the March for Life today by video, by the way. We still don't know what's in store related to

Mifepristone and the Comstock Act, which I talk a lot about on my own YouTube channel. And since I paused that last clip of Trump signing the executive order, let's pick up after he signs the executive order, giving the pardons, and finishes showing his signature to the press. They'll be very happy. So they're all in prison now. Some are, some are out of custody. Ridiculous. Yeah, that thing that I just learned about, ridiculous.

He knew nothing about these people. He knows nothing about what he's signing. The worst, most radical, most right-wing people you can imagine are running the show over there. And Donald Trump is happy to play along as long as he's viewed as the big, strong president. As Donald Trump was releasing his cabinet picks weeks ago, it seemed like the top qualification that he was seeking was accused sex pest. And I want you to think back to the first story today, the Washington Post reporting on the Republican lawmakers reportedly sending sexually explicit and seemingly, based on

the context of the article, sexually explicit threats to Cassidy Hutchinson. This sex pest issue may very well be a broader party issue. And don't come for me in the comments. I'm well aware of the fact that this problem exists in the Democratic Party as well. But we're learning more about Pete Hexeth, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of the Department of Defense. And listen, I don't know when Republicans are going to vote on this. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen is tweeting about 2.30 a.m. votes, writing, quote, Be ready for 2.30 a.m. votes at Senate Dems. We'll do this the easy way or the hard way. They know the truth is inevitable.

At POTUS is getting his cabinet confirmed. So I guess even if they're alleged sex pests, am I right? Republicans could pull something where they vote for this at an odd hour, and by the time you're watching this, Pete has already made it through. But it's important to know who they're pushing through. Republicans seem determined to push through his nomination despite continued reports that allege misconduct that should be disqualifying for this position in our government.

One new piece of the puzzle we're learning is that Pete Hegseth paid the woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 $50,000 to be exact. Reading reporting from the Associated Press here, quote, Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary, paid $50,000 to the woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017, according to answers he provided to a senator during his confirmation process that the Associated Press has obtained. The written answers were provided to Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, in response to additional questions she had for Hegseth as part of the vetting process. His attorney, Timothy Parlatori, declined to comment Thursday on the dollar figure, which was previously unknown. So shout out to Elizabeth Warren for getting this additional piece of information, but I'm not sure it will matter. Take note of which Republicans decide to push him through, which Republicans cannot bring themselves to vote for him. It's going to tell us just how complicit Republicans will be in supporting everything Donald Trump has planned.

My name is Brittany Page, and I host The Page Perspective on YouTube. I'm happy to be David's guest host for today and look forward to continuing to go through the headlines with you all. Once again, we're seeing big tech blur the lines between private industry and public government. Zuckerberg, Bezos, even Sam Altman at OpenAI are donating millions to Trump's inaugural fund because they say he'll lead our country

into the age of AI, despite these same tech CEOs warning about how dangerous AI can be. Algorithms control what we see every day to serve corporate and political interests, which is why I've trusted ground news for years to help me find the truth. Ground news doesn't tell you what to think. They show you each news outlets, biases, credibility, financial incentives. So, you know, who's benefiting from the way each news outlet spins each story. You can even filter out certain sources you don't want and stay informed without getting buried in the noise. Stay engaged with Ground News,

who is fixing what is breaking right in front of us, trust and transparency in the noise. Stay engaged with ground news who is fixing what is breaking right in front of us, trust and transparency in the media. Ground news is giving my audience 50% off the same vantage plan that I use. Go to ground dot news slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. If you're still using a free email service, your emails are often being scanned and tracked even after you delete them. Companies use the data to know everything about you and show you ads, even your most personal communications. That's why I recommend you check out start mail.

Unlike free email services, our sponsor start mail never scans or tracks your emails. It also blocks tracking pixels, which companies and hackers use to capture your IP address. We'll be right back. Thank you, David. with the David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. for the American people. certainly appreciate the opportunity to be here with you all. I would love it if you would join me over on my YouTube channel, where I am so very close to 100,000 subscribers. You could help me get there by checking the link in the description below and clicking subscribe. Thank you. Now, since Donald Trump's returned to the Oval Office, we've not been feeling like ourselves, right? Everything feels heavier. We're worried about our vulnerable loved ones, maybe our vulnerable selves, depending on whether we're being targeted based on our identity or membership in a marginalized group. People are looking for answers and resources, and they are also looking for Democratic leaders who are acting as the true opposition to Donald Trump. There have been very poor examples of this opposition, and there have

been some great examples. Yesterday, I talked about AOC, Jamie Raskin. I'd love to hear who else you've seen that you feel is a good representative of the opposition. But it looks like we can also count Elizabeth Warren on that team as well. She has sent a letter to Elon Musk offering her assistance in helping him save taxpayers $2 trillion over the next decade because, you know, that's what he's all about, right? Elon is, of course, the man who doesn't know when to leave, who is just hanging around the Oval Office constantly, but he's also apparently supposed to be running

the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. Elon Musk originally said he wanted to cut $2 trillion in spending, but recently apparently dropped that, saying if they could cut half of that, but recently apparently dropped that, saying if they could cut half of that, it would be, quote, epic. I wish I were joking, but that is a quote. Now Elizabeth Warren's letter is 21 pages long. She is offering 30 recommendations for cutting $2 trillion in 10 years. I have a feeling Elon Musk isn't going to go for a lot of this, though, because in true Elizabeth Warren fashion,

she is prioritizing protecting the working class. Some of the ideas that she offers claw back tax expenditures and close loopholes for the wealthy, fully fund the Internal Revenue Service, the IRS, specifically to catch wealthy people cheating on their taxes. These ideas are probably not of interest to the richest man, Elon Musk. Most of Elizabeth Warren's suggestions actually involve the Department of Defense. And I want to read from a Time article on this part here. Quote, The biggest cost-saving idea in Warren's letter is to preserve $200 billion by renegotiating defense contracts.

She points to an Inspector General report from 2011 that found contractors regularly hike prices for the military. One egregious example includes the Air Force overpaying 7,943% on soap dispensers. To rectify the problem, she urged passing legislation she'd previously introduced with Mike Braun, the former Republican senator from Indiana. That would close loopholes to prevent defense contractors from price gouging the DOD. Quote, there is a huge problem of the government being able to supervise these contractors carefully enough to be able to make sure we're getting our money's worth, said Don Kettle, an expert on government administration and former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. Kettle recently wrote an essay in the Washington Monthly arguing that the federal government needs more and better skilled civil servants to oversee contractors, and that Musk and Trump's plans to massively reduce the federal workforce will perversely lead to higher, not lower, government spending.

The argument is that the market can do the government's work better and cheaper, Kettle says. The problem is that is not always the case, and contractors often get higher wages. So I think we know none of this interests Elon Musk, but it does make him look like an unserious person. There are answers here for how to reduce spending, laid out in meticulous fashion by Elizabeth Warren. He would take her up on the offer to work on this if he was serious, but he's not. All of this is just about him wanting proximity to the president because he enjoys the additional access it provides. That and the ego boost. It is also, of course, about Musk overseeing the agencies that oversee his companies, that regulate his companies, and those companies' contracts with the government.

But I do appreciate Elizabeth Warren for making noise and ensuring that we know just how unserious Elon Musk is. One of the things that most concerned me about Donald Trump's return to power was his plans for mass deportations. Before he took office, a lot of the discourse focused on the economic impact of mass deportations. And while that is relevant politically, I don't think it should be the focus. At the heart of Trump's mass deportations are human rights violations. Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Holman, has made it clear that he is heartless

and determined to carry out Trump's racist deportations as quickly as possible. I'll never forget when he was asked on 60 Minutes what he plans to do with families of mixed status, how he would avoid separating families so as to not deport a member of the family and leave the rest of the family here. And he said it was simple. You deport everyone together. That, combined with Donald Trump's attack on birthright citizenship? Well, it only took four days of Donald Trump as president before Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE,

conducted a raid and detained undocumented people and citizens without a warrant. Let's read from this press release from the mayor of Newark. Quote, today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, agents raided a local establishment in the city of Newark. Quote, today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, agents raided a local establishment in the city of Newark, detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens without producing a warrant. One of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned. The egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment

of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized. I will be holding a press conference in alliance with partners ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights. Details to come. And so what will conservatives have to say about this? A U.S. military veteran was detained, his military documentation questioned,

and they won't say a thing because they're falling in line behind Donald Trump. And there aren't enough details to confirm this, but what are the odds that this person is white? It's just not possible, right? Add to this the National Guard troops who are worried that Trump will deploy them for mass deportations. And I want you to see this quote in Politico. Quote, Trump has said he would bring in the military to help with mass deportations, but he has not specified whether he means state-based National Guard members or active duty troops. Quote, I don't want to be seen as the Gestapo, said one former senior military official who is in close contact with

current Guard members and was granted anonymity to speak about a legally precarious situation. Quote, it's important that everybody understands who they are and what they're doing. But the confusion within the Guard hasn't stopped Republican governors from pledging quick support to Trump's immigration plans. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said earlier this month he would use the I don't want to be seen as the Gestapo. A former senior military official said this. What are we doing here? And by the way, this reporting is a little dated because Donald Trump is sending active duty troops to the border. Reading from the Associated Press, quote,

The Pentagon said Wednesday it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration. This is why I keep talking about opposition. We don't need Democrats who are fooled by the Republicans' claims that they want to work on immigration, who flock to Republicans to support the Lincoln-Riley Act. We need Democrats who are speaking directly about the human rights violations here. And we

all need to be contacting our elected officials about our policy priorities constantly. They need to feel the pressure. And I want to, again, leave resources for people as I did on the previous episode. So I'm going to put this up on the screen about knowing your rights should you come into contact with ICE. This is from the National Immigrant Center. Please take care of yourselves. Please take care of your neighbors. Please stay engaged because there is a lot on the line here. My name is Brittany Page from the Page Perspective on YouTube,

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notes. We've seen many high profile data breaches this year, raising serious concerns about personal information security and most alarming national public data announced a major breach potentially impacting nearly every American. It exposed 2.9 billion records, including names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, social security numbers, and hackers released all of this online for free. But I feel secure thanks to aura. One of our sponsors aura monitors your personal data. This includes your social across billions of data points, including dark web and public records. It will let you know if there's an identity theft risk

and they provide up to $5 million in identity theft insurance. Aura offers additional safety features like real time breach alerts, a password manager, and much more. I don't want to leave myself or my family vulnerable to these data breaches. If you don't want to either, go to aura.com slash Pacman to try two weeks free. That's enough time to see if your personal data is already exposed. That's A-U-R-A dot com slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. Welcome back to the David Pakman Show. My name is Brittany Page from The Page Perspective on YouTube. And today is my final day guest hosting for David. I hope that he is getting some rest given that he is the hardest working man in online progressive political commentary.

Seriously, how hard does that guy work? It is still just the first week of Donald Trump being back in the Oval Office, and so much has happened. And even though it's the first week, we're already learning some concerning things about Donald Trump's White House press secretary, Caroline Lovett. And before we get to that, one of Donald Trump's first acts when he got into the White House was to repeal Joe Biden's executive order codifying ethics commitments for executive branch personnel. This meant that employees would sign an ethics pledge to agree not to take bribes or gifts from lobbyists, you know, things that seem pretty straightforward.

Not for Donald Trump. He wanted to get rid of it. So we are in store for more corruption, more self-dealing. We already know that part of the reason that Donald Trump wanted so desperately to win the election was for all of his criminal cases to fall away, as they did. Who knows what plans he and his family have now. This is why it is going to be so crucial for investigative reporters to stay on top of the corruption in the Donald Trump White House. If the first week of work is any indication, we're off to a good start. We're learning today that Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, failed to disclose illicit campaign

contributions, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign contributions. Let's dive into this reporting from notice. Quote, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt revealed in amended campaign filings on Thursday that her unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign owes more than $300,000 in unpaid debts, with Levitt failing to disclose for years that her campaign took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in inappropriate donations and never paid the money back. The vast majority of that debt, about $200,000, is owed as refunds to contributors who appear to have donated above the legal limits.

Those excessive contributions went unreported for years until Thursday, when Levitt's campaign amended every campaign filing she has ever made with the Federal Election Commission. Congressional candidates can technically accept campaign donations exceeding contribution limits. As long as they refund the contributor or redesignate the funds within 60 days, according to federal campaign finance law, Levitt's campaign committee appears to have done neither. The reporting goes on to note that her campaign committee amended 17 campaign finance reports, And the timing feels a little convenient, right? I mean, as soon as she's safe in the White House, safe in the administration, and this reporting shows that this actually isn't new.

This is a pattern of behavior. Notice also raises the question of, well, how is she going to pay this money back? Reading again from the reporting, quote, as End Citizens United noted in its statement to notice, the situation creates a glaring conflict of interest for Levitt in her role as press secretary. Quote, she still needs to raise money to refund those contributions, potentially opening the door for wealthy donors and corporate special interests to curry favor with her, the administration, or the president. So we started this week with an end to the ethics pledge,

and we're ending the week with concerns over how the White House press secretary is going to raise money to refund contributions and what conflicts of interest this may invite. It's really been just a week. Yesterday I talked a lot about the pardons for January 6th insurrectionists issued by Donald Trump and how some of those insurrectionists reacted with plans to buy guns, calling into Alex Jones to discuss their plans for retribution, and straight up showing up to the Capitol. I don't think I actually talked about that one, but Stuart Rhodes did that,

the founder of the Oath Keepers. He showed up to the Capitol. Truly disturbing stuff. As these insurrectionists continue to be processed and released from jail, we're learning more about them and their intentions. A lot of this is happening right here in D.C. Many of the insurrectionists were being held in the D.C. jail, and family members of those insurrectionists would gather outside the jail to live stream and sing songs, even before the pardons. Well, Alex Wagner from MSNBC was on the ground in front of the D.C. jail to talk to family members who were awaiting updates about the release of their family members. And she spoke to one man who seems unwell.

He has two children in the D.C. jail convicted on charges that he won't describe. But watch how this goes with Alex Wagner. OK, so you have how many children? I got two. I got a son and a daughter. What were they convicted of? They were convicted about everything that any other J6 or was convicted of. I've been crying for four years over every every one of those men are my friends are every one of them are my children and i've been praying that god's been breaking my heart

for four years over this whole situation because these men are true heroes because they stood up for what's right are you worried that there are people that are going to be really upset about this i know that you guys talk about a time i healing. I'm not worried about that. They've been trying to kill it. They've been trying to kill Donald Trump. God's protected him. God's protected my family. Donald Trump said today he thinks he was sent by God to do this work. Do you think that's true? God is so much behind this revival in America, and this is a revival. Do you think now that he's pardoned everybody, he can count on this group of people again? Oh, absolutely. I would die for the man. I would have died for him that day. This is alarming and also tragic. He would die for Donald Trump.

He would die for Donald Trump. A man who only has contempt for him. A man who genuinely does not care about his well-being. And some would say, of course Donald Trump cares. He's pardoning his son and daughter and putting his family back together. That would be true if the pardons were about them. But they're actually about Donald Trump. Donald Trump can't even be bothered to learn about the cases, the people that he's pardoning. We've already seen that today, but it was illustrated earlier this week when Peter Alexander was asking Trump about

the specific violent acts committed against police officers, and Donald Trump didn't seem to believe that people who did those things were part of this deal. But also, think of this element that is alarming. People feel they would die for Trump. Alex Wagner, after this clip, says that she heard the sentiment from other freed insurrectionists who were released from other DC or other jails and came to DC. This is genuinely scary stuff. And I think it's important to continue to talk about the fallout here because we don't know what these people are capable of or what they plan to do moving forward. One thing Republicans seem to absolutely love is bootstrap mythology. They love to talk about being self-made, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, coming from nothing and building something. What happens when you start to

interrogate these claims oftentimes is that they're lies. And I'm really happy that Senator Mark Wayne Mullen from Oklahoma is giving me such a great example of this. Republicans have long been attacking DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. They attack DEI because of racism, certainly, but also because of their dedication to their bootstrap mythology, to the myth of meritocracy. Since taking office, Donald Trump has centered these attacks on DEI, specifically by issuing an executive order ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing. The goal with this is to terminate, quote, illegal DEI and diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility, DEIA mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the federal government under whatever name they appear. And Republicans are making the rounds to defend these DEI attacks. Enter Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, who posted this on Twitter, quote, let's talk about DEI. I grew up in Indian country, living on the same land my ancestors were forced

to move to. I was born with bowed knees and a bad speech impediment. I lived in a barn. I never let that be an excuse. Today we all have equal opportunity in America. And the post ends with an American flag emoji. He attached a video to this post too, and we'll get to that. But first, I want to hear more about this barn. What happened there? You were in a barn? More information is needed, Mark Wayne. But this is so typical of the bootstrap mythology.

It often becomes this sort of tragedy off where people list these obstacles that they have overcome in order to say, see, I did it. So can you, but how self-centered, how lacking in creativity and the ability to see beyond one's own experiences. Yeah. We do not have equal opportunity in America and Mark Wayne Mullen is about to prove it to you. Let's see what he has to say in this video. So are you worried that by eliminating those programs that certain people in our society

are going to not have a fair shot? Who are those people that start behind? Because I grew up in Indian country. I live on the same place that my family got forced to move to before 1840. I'm the first one in my family to ever be in politics. I started business when I was 20 years old from necessity. I didn't get handed anything other than an opportunity because the family needed help and I took advantage of it. Let's pause here because that's not true. And you can hear his hesitation because he knows he's misrepresenting his history. He says he started a business when he was 20 years old from necessity, that he didn't get handed anything. Mark Wayne, you inherited your father's plumbing company. Is that not being handed something?

Let's look at the Mullen Plumbing website here. Mullen Plumbing Inc. has been serving the plumbing needs of Oklahoma residents since 1973. And I'll just note here quickly that Mark Wayne was not even alive at this time. Continuing with the website. The company was founded by Jim Mullen as a drain and septic service provider. In the early 1990s, Jim's son, Mark Wayne Mullen, took over the family business and expanded it into a full service plumbing company, offering installation, repair, and maintenance services. So when Mark Wayne says he didn't get handed anything, but then adds an addendum and says,

other than an opportunity, what he means is he inherited a company from his father. So we're not starting off on the best foot here as far as the bootstrap narrative goes. Didn't I tell you that it always falls apart? Let's hear more from Mark Wayne though. Let's see how Mark Wayne's personal experiences of adversity should somehow be generalized to the entire population as an explanation for why people don't deserve assistance. I had a bad speech impediment. I was never supposed to even be able to play sports because my feet were turned in and my hips were out of place. But I didn't allow it to use it as an excuse. I just took every opportunity that came to me and I gave 100%.

So tell me who you're talking about, because we have civil rights already in the United States where we're not able to discriminate against anyone, regardless of their race, regardless of their religion, regardless of their skin color, or their sexual preference. So explain to me who you say that's at a disadvantage inside the United States, because we all had the same opportunity. Only in America we can grow up and be here. We can talk about the red line that went on for decades, that the federal government actually sponsored,

that forced black people, wouldn't allow them to live in the same neighborhood. I'm talking about today, Alex. I'm talking about today. I'm talking about what's happening in my lifetime. I can't control what happened in the 60s. No one is asking you to control what happened in the 60s, Mark Wayne. They are asking you to understand that the 60s weren't that long ago and that the racist policies that created disparities

between black people and white people should be acknowledged as a factor in those existing disparities today. This isn't complicated. And I love when he says that we have civil rights with Donald Trump's executive orders. I'm sitting here wondering for how much longer. But he says you can't discriminate. Yeah?

Maybe a better phrase is that, you know, you're not supposed to discriminate. As we know, people continue to discriminate. But let's give him one more chance to make his case. Today, we all have equal opportunity. I can't control the way we're raised. We all have a different path that we're raised. We all have a different background. And I've said that multiple times.

We make decisions on the way we're raised and our life experiences. But we all, everybody in America right now has an opportunity. Just what are you going to do with that opportunity? It may not be a great opportunity today, but each day you take advantage of the opportunity that's in front of you. The next opportunity will be a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger. It's just, are you willing to keep walking through those doors and being uncomfortable, or are you going to let your past or your circumstances hold you back?

I find this line of thinking so disturbing. One thing I thought of was a book I just finished reading. I'm going to interview the author on my channel next month. His book comes out in March. It's called There Is No Place For Us, Working and Homeless in America. And it's by the author Brian Goldstone. And it's such an important read. I hope you'll either watch that interview when it comes out or get the book and read it, ideally both. But in the book, he follows five families in Atlanta who are teetering on the edge of homelessness and who are ultimately pushed into it. And you see how that can happen to people who are working as hard as they can to prevent it from happening. And I think about the

kids in those families. And I think about how Mark Wayne Mullen telling them that they have equal opportunity and that they just need to make the right choices when they are homeless, worried about their younger siblings, worried about their stomachs growling at night, unable to focus because all they can think about is whether they will have somewhere safe and warm and stable to live. They have equal opportunity, Mark Wayne. When obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, including racism, yes, is thrown in their way. And maybe the reason this is so frustrating to me is that I could be this person. I could be a person who says,

hey, I was born to two parents who dropped out of high school. My dad got his GED in prison the same year I graduated high school. He died by suicide after a 16-year prison sentence. All these things are true, by the way. Both of my parents struggled with substance abuse, mental illness. My mom struggled all the time to provide for four kids on her own. I grew up on welfare, getting handouts from the church constantly. But look at me.

I have a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology, and I have found my way to stability. Why can't everyone else? But that would be grotesque. Instead, what I say is I was forever changed by public assistance, food stamps, Pell Grants, Medicaid. I was lucky that people cared about me and tried to help me. Not everyone has that. I could never tell someone, follow my path because so much of it is luck rather than the choices I made. Based on those experiences, I support government assistance because I know it is an investment we make in people, just as that investment was made in me. And I'm not pulling that ladder up behind me.

People like Mark Wayne Mullen, they started a few rungs up on the ladder and they still want to pull it up. It's time we refuse to accept the cruelty of the bootstrap mythology and face reality. Some people need help and we should seek to create a society that offers that help because it's the right thing to do. My name is Brittany Page and I host The Page Perspective on YouTube. And I would love it if you could help me to 100,000 subscribers by heading to my channel to subscribe. The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. Magic Spoon has turned their super popular cereal into high protein treats that are light, crispy and crunchy and taste just like the classic crunchy cereal bars. Magic Spoon treats have become a favorite go to snack because it's an easy way to get

11 grams of protein on the go. And for the first time ever, Magic Spoon treats are available in grocery stores with delicious flavors like marshmallow and chocolatey peanut butter. The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. Thank you, David. details from these lists. And that's why you get the text messages on the calls and the emails. But you can stop it. Our sponsor, Incogni, will send removal requests to data brokers who are legally obligated to comply. If any of your information remains online, Incogni will follow up and ensure that it's taken down. Incogni keeps you informed every step of the way, and it just saves you countless hours of work that would be nearly impossible to do on your own. I use incognito and what they've managed to do is remarkable. Go to incognito.com slash Pacman and use the code Pacman for 60 percent off. That's I.N.C.O.G.N.I.com slash Pacman

for a huge 60 percent discount. The link is in the podcast notes. Welcome back to the David Pacman show. My name is Brittany page from the page perspective, and this is my final day as guest host. I'm grateful to David who has given me this opportunity several times. Now it's always a pleasure to be here with David's audience. You are all so passionate about these very important issues that we're facing, and I appreciate you joining me today. Don't forget that I will be on the bonus show with my I Doubt It podcast co-host, Jesse Dollimore. So if you are a member, you have that to look forward to. If you've been following the show for the past two

days, listening to me talk about the news, you're probably picking up on my priorities and general themes that I like to highlight. One of those themes that I hope you're picking up on is that Donald Trump is not a god king, and the Democratic Party needs to believe that they can slow or stop Donald Trump's agenda, period. We cannot give in to hopelessness. And this isn't a false, toxic, positivity thing. It's just about survival. Too many people have too much to lose here. Yes, things are very bad, but we can't give up.

And we're starting to see some pushback already. And Donald Trump got another temporary defeat when a judge blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the executive order to end birthright citizenship. The judge who took this action went all in on this. According to reporting from the Seattle Times, this is how things went down with senior U.S. District Judge John Coffinor. Quote, I've been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional

order. Coffinor, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, said from the bench, quote, there are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say, where were the judges? Where were the lawyers? Coffiner, speaking to a standing room only courtroom in downtown Seattle, interrupted before a Justice Department attorney could even complete his first sentence. Quote, in your opinion, is this executive order constitutional? He asked. The response, it absolutely is. The judge, quote, frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order, Koffner said, quote, it just boggles my mind. Oof. I used to work in a court mandated treatment program as a therapist, so I've spent a decent amount of time in courtrooms, and if I witnessed this exchange, I would be sweating.

Trump's executive order will stay blocked for at least 14 days, and that's just as the lawsuits move forward. There are several other lawsuits that have been filed across the country because people are stepping up to fight against the Trump administration. And we need more of this. The DC judges who handled the January 6th insurrectionist cases are using forceful language to rebuke Donald Trump's decision to give pardons. One judge in particular responded directly to Donald Trump's claims that he was ending a, quote, grave national injustice by giving the pardons to begin, quote, a process of national reconciliation. Here's what the judge said, quote, can begin when poor losers whose preferred candidate loses an election are glorified for disrupting a constitutionally mandated proceeding in Congress and doing so with impunity. The judge wrote on Wednesday, quote, no national injustice occurred here, just as no outcome determinative election fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election. That merely

raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines the rule of law, the judge added. Judge Chukin, you may remember, also had some choice words when dismissing her cases. Quote, dismissing the case, Chucken wrote, quote, cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake, and it cannot repair the jagged breach in America's sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.

Evidently, judges on the federal bench here in D.C. can delay the dismissal of some of the still 300 pending insurrectionist cases with this reporting actually noting that Donald Trump doesn't have the sole authority to dismiss cases where insurrectionists are still awaiting trial or sentencing so it's nice to know that even though Republicans are daily plotting ways to rewrite the history of what happened on January 6th, many of us will never forget and will keep reinforcing what is true so that the Republicans do not get their way on this issue. Kudos to these judges for standing strong. Well, that's it for me. I want to give a shout out to David again and his team for all of the hard work that

they do to produce the show for you all. They do very, very important work and we are all better for it. I appreciate you all joining me here and I would love it if you would follow me over to my own YouTube channel where I host my own show, The Page Perspective. I talk a lot about the issues that you've heard me talk about here. And I also interview authors and scholars and people whose voices I think need to be amplified. If you would like to take part in that, please join me over there. Thank you so much.

As a reminder, my name is Brittany Page. And you can find the links to follow me on social media below. Take care. And I will hopefully see you here next time.