The MeidasTouch Podcast - All Hell Breaks Loose in GOP Hearings on Live TV

Episode Date: June 14, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Republican madness on Capitol Hill as the GOP mimic their dear leader in Congressional hearings where they subpoenaed Democratic Governors as witnesses. True Classic: Upgrade your wardrobe and save on @trueclassic at https://trueclassic.com/MEIDAS! #trueclassicpod Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hope you're enjoying your Air Canada flight. Rocky's Vacation, here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet! Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation.

Nice. On behalf of Air Canada, nice travels. Wifi available to Airplane members on equipped flights sponsored by Bell Condition Supply, sieracanada.com. Whether it's a family member, friend or furry companion joining your summer road trip, enjoy the peace of mind that comes with Volvo's legendary safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets from now until June 30th. Lisa 2025 Volvo XC 60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000 condition supply.

This is your GTA Volvo retailer or go to Volvo cars.ca for full details. Breaking news coming in from bet three, six, five, where every nail biting overtime win breakaway pick six three shot, underdog win, buzzer beater, shootout, walk off, and absolutely every play in between is amazing. From football to basketball and hockey to baseball, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca. Why do fintechs like Float choose Visa? As a more trusted, more secure payments network,

Visa provides scale expertise and innovative payment solutions. Learn more at visa.ca slash fintech. Wow, all hell has broken loose in the House of Representatives and the Senate at the same time that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security serving as Donald Trump's Gestapo was beating, attacking, detaining United States Senator Alex Padilla. We saw the MAGA Republicans in the House call a hearing with sitting Democratic governors.

And then you saw members, the MAGA Republican members yelling at the Democrats and saying, just shut up, shut up. There was screaming, there was cursing. It was going down. It is a total mess. Trump has turned all of DC with the MAGA Republicans leading it into absolute chaos. Watch what goes down here when MAGA Republican Congress member James Comer in the Oversight Committee just starts yelling at Democratic Congress member Frost play this

clip. Will you shut up? Will you shut up? No, you don't know. You're not going to tell me to shut up. Let's what it Like that he's he's been out of order six times he's trying to get on this NBC you probably not I get it somebody else Who's a former Tifa member? Me?

Yeah, you. I ask that these words be taken down. No, Ms. Green. Thank you. You're right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There's a governor. Governor Green is recognized.

You stated that you're a proud Democrat, proud registered. We got to suspend. There's been a parliamentary. And then you had, again, I said there was a hearing involving democratic governors. You then had New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul there. And then Marjorie Taylor Greene said, are you smiling at me? Stop smiling at me. Play this clip. Five to $10 million a day to feed and house. Are you smiling at me about this? You look like you got quite a smile on your face.

No, because I can generally will not. This is my time reclaiming my time. I'm thinking about don't you dare. Don't talk about the murder of her parents. The third time. How I look, Jose, my heart is breaking for my time. Governor Huckle. The third time he was arrested was in the same. Then you had Nancy Mace demanding to know of the governors what a woman is. Do you know what a woman is? Am I a woman? She says here play this clip. Okay.

What is a woman? What is a woman is the question. I'm not sure I understand the question here. That. What do you want me to say? I want you to say that a woman like me is an adult human female. That men can't become women. You guys are the party of violence and you're the party erasing women.

You don't respect us. You're a bigot. You're a misogynist. You're a sexist. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Congresswoman. Good lady, you're back. Mr. Chairman, I recognize you.

Mr. Acasio-Cortez from New York. All right, well, that was some kind of bingo going on over there. I don't know what's going on. Anyways. Oh, I know what's going on. Thank you. So thank you.

Then Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to yell at Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hockel and says the Department of Justice must prosecute you for murder. Play this clip. You are responsible for the murder of this little girl, Lakin Riley, and the Department of Justice should prosecute you for her murder. Objection. Objection. I don't care how much you object. And if you support it to you're responsible for her murder objection objection. I don't care how much you object and if you support it

Responsible for her murder On a point of order your lady point of order your ladies times expired stage point So chairman these witnesses have been here for over four hours They've all voluntarily have been engaging with our members with with respect They've all treated our members with respect. Lakin Reilly is dead forever. Forever. Forever.

Forever. They can sit there all day. I'm reclaiming my time. Hold on. I don't know. I mean, state your point. I'm trying to. State your point.

No, no. Let me go without interruption. It's a point of inquiry, not a debate. Our rules. You've had your time. Our rules, if you would let me speak, our rules of decorum dictate that our witnesses should be treated with respect and I ask you to enforce decorum and remind committee members

to treat our witnesses with respect. Our members are treated with respect. That was a common theme. The MAGA Republicans in full fascist mode were basically looking at the Democratic governors and just yelling at them and saying, you need to be prosecuted. Charges should be brought here. You have Democratic Congresswoman AOC pushing back against the MAGA Republicans and saying, you're just witness intimidation. Like you're just threatening witnesses with arrest. Here, play this clip. And charges should be for obstruction, should be brought against each one of you for doing this.

I'll leave that up to the Department of Justice. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Chair, now recognizes Ms. Crockett from Texas. Mr. Chairman, point of order. That was intimidation of the witness. Do you have a point of inquiry? Yes, I have a point of inquiry. That's your point. Raising the prospect of charges against witnesses is a form of intimidation, is it not? Thank you. I thank you. I and I withdraw the question. I appreciate it.

Chair recognize, Mr. Crockett. Thank you. Then you had MAGA Republican Congressmember Mike Lawler from New York almost trying to troll the Democrats by staying on their side and just like standing on their side of the House floor and then you have a Democratic Congress member like just screaming I'm like dude just get the f out of here y'all are just a bunch of fascist menaces get the f out Watch what went down on the house floor. Play this clip. I'm in New York just like you. This country's fallen apart! Then you had this moment right here where Illinois Democratic Governor Pritzker said

to Mary, to said to MAGA Republican Congress member Mary Miller, I'm not going to be lectured by someone who quote extols the virtues of Hitler like you. Here play this clip. Do you stand by your policy of tying the hands of Illinois law enforcement? Yes or no, sir. You know, Congresswoman Miller, I am not going to be lectured to by somebody who exposes virtue of Adolf Hitler, of somebody who has allowed the pardoning of January 6th. See, ever put on a shirt and instantly feel like you've got your whole life together? That's exactly what happened when I tried True Classic. These

shirts fit, and I mean actually fit. They're snug in the chest and shoulders, looser in the midsection and the fabric, soft, breathable, zero stiffness. I'm wearing mine right now. I wear True Classic running errands, even out to dinner. They are that versatile, and I'm not the only one. True Classic is blowing up for a reason. You're getting premium quality without that designer price tag. Plus, they're doing good, giving back to underserved communities and helping guys show up with confidence

and purpose. You can feel that in the mission and the fit. Forget fast fashion, this is gear that's built to last and built with intention. It's why I upgraded my wardrobe with a bunch of their shirts. So go upgrade your wardrobe now and grab them at Target, Costco, or head to trueclassic.com slash mitis and get hooked up today. That's trueclassic.com slash mitis. M-E-I-D-A-S. And wow, this was quite the moment where you had GOP representative Mike Turner trying to help out Hegseth by getting

him to confirm that the Pentagon does not have plans to invade Greenland, but apparently they do have plans to invade Greenland. Play this clip. Lawyer here, I just want to help you out because people try to twist your words. You are not confirming in your testimony today that at the Pentagon there are plans for invading or taking by force Greenland, correct? That is not your testimony today. All my testimony is that the Pentagon has plans for any number of contingencies. It is not your testimony today that there are plans at the Pentagon for taking by force or invading Greenland, correct? Because I've sure as hell hope that that is not your

testimony. We look forward to working with Greenland to ensure that it is secured from any potential threats. Excellent. I get back. You have more issues where the MAGA Republicans tell Pritzker that women don't want him in their bathrooms. Play this clip.

And I'm asking you, have you ever considered that women don't want you in their bathrooms? That that's a private space that they don't want you or any other man in? Congressman, let's talk about your failure to vote for Medicaid, like you wanna take Medicaid away and SNAP and veterans services. You apparently want people to die in the United States because you wanna take health care away.

...underage girls. Do you think that's appropriate? Sir, if we're gonna politicize this, let's talk about what you're doing to people in this country by virtue of your vote with President Trump. And you have Democratic Congress member Carbohal to Hegseth over here saying that you're an embarrassment to the country. Play this clip.

You know what? I'm not gonna waste my time anymore. You're not worthy of my attention or my question. to Hegsith over here saying that you're an embarrassment to the country. Play this clip. You know what? I'm not going to waste my time anymore. You're not worthy of my attention or my questions. You're an embarrassment to this country. You're unfit to lead. And there's been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation. You should just get the hell out

and let somebody competently lead this department. Here we have Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Let's play it. ... to that. I know that there's been some conversations about what's going on in LA and they want to say that it's riots because they didn't want people to keep talking about, say, the Epstein files or whatever other drama was popping off between the president and his little friend. So they wanted to change the conversation to immigration

because they feel like, well, the polling is in our benefit, but let me tell you something. If they cared about making sure we were gonna be fiscally responsible, they would tell the American people that it cost them $134 million to send the National Guard to LA for the quote-unquote riots that the governor didn't ask for, nor did the mayor of LA ask for, and they sent them over there and they say that

they care about our service members, yet they sent them and they were laying on the floor. They did not provide for food. So I don't know why we would believe that number one, they want to fix this. They don't want to fix this because the brokenness is a feature, not a flaw of the system because it is beneficial to them when it comes to campaigning. If they can't stoke fear, then why are they going to say have anybody vote for them? Because that's what people are doing. They're voting out of fear. Then we have Democratic Congress member Smith to Hagseth play this clip.

Yeah, and I'm sincerely concerned about this. Is it the policy of the Department of Defense that we need to be prepared to take Greenland and Panama by force if necessary? Is this a policy that you have within the Department of Defense in accordance with the president's wishes? I heard what you said about those two countries and saying we need to worry about China. We are worried about China. That wasn't my concern. China's malign influence in Panama. I was concerned with us saying that using military force to take another side of the

country's territory. We should pay attention to that. Right. So Panama is very key terrain that we've focused on and we've been willing to focus on. So we should take it. As is Greenland. We should take it by military force. They're important. I'm not going to argue with that. The Arctic is incredibly important. I'm arguing with using our military to take it by force. Our job at the DOD is to have plans. Do you have a plan for that? Our job at the Defense Department is to have plans for any particular contingency. Including the contingency of basically invading Denmark. Any contingency you need, we've got it. We've got a building full of planners and we're prepared to give recommendations whenever

needed. So just be clear, you do, you have plans to take Panama and Greenland by force if necessary. I think the American people would want the Pentagon to have plans for any particular contingency. Not for that. Thankfully, we are in the planning business. Speaking on behalf of the American people, I don't think the American people voted for President Trump

because they were hoping we would invade Greenland. I'm gonna go out and live on that one. I yield back. Governor Tim Walz from Minnesota was in attendance. Here was AOC's questioning with him. Play this clip. I have to say, I know you're getting a lot of grief from the majority here, but, you know, this, we are talking about individuals who have cheered on in individual who issued a Nazi salute

from behind the presidential seal of the United States of America, who have cheered on the pardoning of individuals who attacked the United States Capitol and flew a Nazi flag and the flag of the Confederacy, traitors to the United States, sworn enemies of the United States of America through the capital of this nation.

And now they want to act offended because someone has the courage to say, if it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck, maybe it's a duck. So I want to thank you for not wavering to their bullying, which is unconscionable and sad to see. So, I just wanted to let you know that, Governor. Thank you.

Thank you, Congresswoman. More of Pritzker and MAGA Republican Perry play this clip. Can you cite which laws he's, which law in this regard he's broken? Well, there have been congressionally approved appropriations that this president has cut off and we've had to go to court that that's illegal. We've had to go to court to have it reinstated. It's illegal. It is. Yeah, if you have to go to court, it's illegal and it's still working its way through the courts, right? Yes, but things have been ruled on already. It's not illegal yet, it's your opinion.

But regarding, regarding. When a judge rules on it, that's the law, OK? It's the law at that moment until the next judge rules on it, OK? Right? Because you understand the court judge. And you're the attorney here, I'm not. But you're not saying he broke the law regarding the riots

in Los Angeles right now, Or are you saying that? That hasn't been ruled upon yet. But are you saying he broke the law in that regard or not? But that is not what I'm referring to. OK, you're not referring to it. And again, while all of this was going down, you had Democratic California Senator Alex Padilla getting tackled and thrown to the floor by the Trump Gestapo.

Play this clip. on your on your ground on your back on your back Other hand, sir. Other hand. There's no recording allowed out here. There's no recording allowed out here for up guy rights. For what, I'm sorry? There's no recording allowed out here. That's my boss. There's no recording allowed out here. There's no recording allowed out here. You have Democratic Congresswoman Ansari. Here's what she says. Mr. Perry just mocked us for referring to Donald Trump as a dictator.

So let's let's run through the list. Donald Trump has since he was inaugurated, pardoned, violent, January 6th insurrectionists. Dictator defied Supreme Court orders and attacked the judiciary. Dictator unilaterally abolished congressionally chartered federal agencies. Dictator attacked the free press. Sounds like a dictator. Kidnapped people off of the streets and deported them to foreign prisons without due process. Sounds like a dictator.

Defunded higher education. Dictator. Threaten law firms and the legal profession. Dictator. This weekend, he is spending tens of millions of dollars to host a massive military parade for his birthday. Is this North Korea? On top of all of that, our twice-impeached president with a 34-count convicted felony president

who is not a king has has deployed the active duty military in American cities and he has spent $134 million to do so. He has their guns trained on American citizens without the consent of local authorities or the state's governor to purposefully generate chaos and provoke a reaction. Meanwhile, we have Republicans on this side of the aisle asking governors of states about bathrooms. Like, this is the most dystopian, horrific episode of Black Mirror that I have ever seen.

To our wit... Here's another clip of AOC. Apologies, I just have 10 seconds left. But when they say illegal versus legal immigration, they are trying to end legal status in the United States as well. Correct, Governor Pritzker, with the end of TPS and making people undocumented by removing legal status, ending legal status, and then having the audacity to call them illegal when they were here documented. Correct? Taking students' visas away from people, taking their legal right to be in the United States away from them when they've been granted maybe years earlier to stay.

So I don't want to hear about how this is about illegal versus legal immigration. They are attacking legal status and removing legal status. The Republican majority is anti legal immigration in the United States. I want to make that very clear. And I yield back. Another clip of Democratic Congresswoman Ansari. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to finish the title of the article that I was trying to read into unanimous consent.

OK. Stunning. Senator Alex Padilla, California was just forcefully removed from the news conference being held by DHS Christy Noem in Westwood. Senator attempted to interrupt Noem. That's the battle. He was handcuffed in the hallway. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, for the record, he rushed the podium. He was being disruptive.

And that is not conducive to a member of elected body. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right. Order. Chair, recognize Mr. Min from California. And then over here, you have Christy Noem saying that Alex Padilla was not actually detained and he was not cuffed as soon as he identified himself, which is false. Play this clip. Secretary. Well, he was never arrested.

He was never arrested and he, um, nobody knew who he was when he came into the room creating a scene. He was removed from the room and yes, they started to put handc who he was when he came into the room creating a scene. He was removed from the room and yes, they started to put handcuffs on him when he finally identified himself and then that was stopped. And we then, I, he, they said he wants to talk to us. Sure, I'd love to sit down and visit. So we- So that's what's happening on Capitol Hill right now. It's a mess. It is a Trump mess and madness. And let's be clear, it's not a both sides thing. It's these MAGAs who are not normal Republicans, although the Republicans have now become all MAGA.

Chaos, destruction, fascism. It's all right there. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas Plus sub stack for ad free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski and more. Sign up for free now at MidasPlus.com.