The MeidasTouch Podcast - Major Leaks Cripple Trump as Paranoia Spreads

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump getting crushed by devastating leaks about his administrations unlawful conduct including new leaks about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth having classified communications with his wife and brother. Go to https://Graza.co and use code: MEIDAS to get 10% off your Graza Starter Kit and get to cookin’ your next chef quality meal! 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

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without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Paranoia is engulfing the White House right now. Donald Trump can't stop the leaks. Pete Hegseth can't stop the leaks like the leaks that took place on Easter Sunday where we learned that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has no business being the Secretary of Defense because he has no leadership experience and he was a Fox News host before becoming the Secretary of Defense in any event, that he was involved in more classified communications using the Signal text message app, similar to what we learned about several weeks ago. There was a whole other text message thread, this time involving Pete Hegseth and his wife, his brother, and his lawyer, where they were also talking about F.A. 18 strikes against the Houthis, similar to that other text

message thread where they included the editor-in-chief from The Atlantic. Yep, there were four separate sources. Lots of people want to leak information on you there, Pete Hegseth, who told the New York Times what went down, a blockbuster story on Easter. Here's what the New York Times reported. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15th in a private signal group chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer. According to four people with knowledge of the chat, some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on signal chat included the fights, the flight schedules for the F-A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen, essentially the same attack plans that he shared on a separate signal chat the same day

that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic. Uh-oh, Pete Hegseth, that doesn't sound too good. But also, Pete Hegseth has been firing all of his core staff recently, his chief of staff, senior advisor, deputy chief of staff, the deputy secretary's chief of staff. They were all fired on Friday. Why? Because Hegseth is paranoid. He thinks everybody's leaking. But you fired those people and the leaks keep on happening, Hegseth. What in the world is going on here? Tom Cotton, MAGA Republican Senator, wrote the following on Sunday.

It seems like the leak investigation at the Pentagon needs to continue to find these latest leakers. Secretary Hegseth is busy implementing Trump's America First agenda while these leakers are trying to undermine them both. Shameful. This is what the MAGA Republicans are focusing on. That's what's actually shameful, that they're worried about the leakers versus our classified information being sent out to the Secretary of Defense wife, brother, and personal lawyer. As our editor-in-chief, Ron Filipkowski, correctly points out, what is shameful is that your take is to hunt down more Trump appointees and hires who dare to tell the truth about the debacle happening at the Pentagon because of Hegseth rather than

taking a principal stand against that shit show. But sadly, that would require courage, and you don't have courage. As CNN reported, following a series of leaks about military planning for the Panama Canal and the Middle East and Musk's visit to the Pentagon, Hegseth is beginning to lash out, and he grew suspicious that and Musk's visit to the Pentagon, Hegseth is beginning to lash out. And he grew suspicious that senior military officials, as well as some of his closest advisors, were leaking information to undermine him. These are his people. These are Trump people. These are their appointees. Let's be clear. Although they'll probably say, these are radical leftist deep staters. That goes on to say at one point,

Hegseth even demanded the FBI probe into the leaks, which some of his aides advised against sources said. So more leakers. There was already an active inspector general investigation focusing on Hegseth and bringing the FBI might only invite more scrutiny. Those aides advised. Should also be noted that his own spokesperson who quit last week, John Elliott, John Elliott just wrote an op-ed for Politico, and here's what it's called.

Former top Pentagon spokesperson details the month from hell inside the agency. The total chaos at the Department of Defense is becoming a major distraction, writes John Elliott. And Elliott, again, who was Hegseth's spokesperson, says he expects there to be major, major bombshells that are going to be dropping this week in addition to what we are reporting right here. One of the things I want to point out about Hegseth is that this was always his MO right here, which is to blame leakers and say it's everybody's fault, even during the confirmation hearing of Pete Hegseth, when there was all this information that accused him of sexual assault, that accused him of being drunk on the job, that accused him of going to strip

clubs and doing all of these just, you know, unprofessional things. Remember what he said? Leakers, leakers, leakers. Here, play this clip. Mr. Hanks said, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job. We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. A variety of sources, including your own writings, implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues. I reviewed many of these allegations and find them extremely alarming. Indeed, the totality of your own writings and alleged conduct

would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense. Yeah, so that was always his MO. And by the way, if you go back to what Hegseth had previously said when he was a Fox host about others, when he was saying, you know, if you, if you are leaking, you should be held to the highest standards, you know, when he would spread conspiracies about people. But here's what he would say about like leaking, when he would talk about like Hillary Clinton and others here, play this clip. Well, she's got two problems here. Two words, top secret. Right.

Before it was servers, it was classified. It was sort of this amorphous idea that maybe it was wrong. Everyone knows what top secret means. I've got, I've had a top secret clearance. It's big red flashing letters, top secret. You know, when you're looking at something that's top secret or dealing with it, in this case, the public will resonate with that. Hey, if you're hiding that on a private server, that's a very real problem and likely criminal charges.

And the other thing is perjury. So it's obvious we all know what was going on here. Democratic Congress member Jamie Raskin was on the Midas Touch Network on Sunday. He was with our own Anthony Davis on the weekend show. And here's what Jamie Raskin had to say. Let's play this clip. And Speaker Johnson's chief of staff got into his car and drove at 38 miles per hour and plowed in the back of a police vehicle and staggered out. And the police found him and he was determined to have been drunk. And that was when I realized that they've replaced DEI hires with DUI hires. And you see the Secretary, Hegseth, and a lot of other people who can actually be promoted to the highest levels of this government with the most irresponsible personal behavior. But they all happen to be white guys, so they pass the test of not being DEI. Here's the thing. The Democratic senators during the confirmation hearings were

calling this behavior out about Hegseth in advance. Like here was Mark Kelly in 47 seconds, just completely demolishes Hegseth and makes it clear that Hegseth should be nowhere near any leadership position at all. And the Secretary of Defense play this clip. You say you've had personal issues in your past, yet when asked about those very issues, you blame an anonymous smear campaign, even when many of these claims are not anonymous. Which is it? Have you overcome personal issues? Or are you the target of a smear campaign? It can't be both. It's clear to me that you're not being honest with us or the American people because you know the truth would disqualify you from getting the job. And just as concerning as each of these specific disqualifying accusations

are, what concerns me just as much is the idea of having a Secretary of Defense who is not transparent. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back my... This episode of the Midas Touch podcast is brought to you by Graza. And yes, it's my new favorite olive oil. It's fresh, never blended, and comes from a single type of olive, the Pocual, straight out of high-end Spain, where over half the world's olive oil is made. So what makes Graza so good? First, its single origin, which means no mystery blends, just pure, flavorful oil you could actually trust. And the packaging? Game changer. Squeeze and spray bottles, no drippy mess, no fussy tins, just aim, squeeze, done. They've got three types. Frizzle, the newest one for high heat frying and grilling.

Sizzle, your go-to everyday oil for sauteing or roasting. And drizzle, a bold finishing oil you'll want to put on everything. Yes, even ice cream. Don't knock it till you try it. Personally, I love using Graza. It's perfect for when I'm roasting veggies. Super clean, super flavorful, and way easier than my old olive oil setup. I've also been making some amazing salad dressings with the drizzle oil. It's so good, so convenient, I don't think I could ever go back to anything else. So head to graza.co and use code MIDAS to get 10% off of TRIO, which includes sizzle, frizzle, and drizzle, and get to cooking your next chef quality meal. That's graza.co and use MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S. And here's Democratic Senator Gary Peters during Hegseth's confirmation hearing, where Hegseth was talking about how he wants to go after DEI and that's going to be his main priority. And Senator Peters said, you know, it's interesting that you talk about going

after DEI. You seem to be the least qualified individual to ever come close to the Pentagon, yet alone to be the leader of it. Here, play this clip. that that are essentially threatening both serving officer and a spouse and claiming that they'll lose their pension will have a distraction and detract from the lethality. Senator you mentioned the 40s and 50s and you're precisely right. The military was a forerunner in courageous racial integration in ways no other institutions were willing to do. I served with men and women of all backgrounds because of the courage of people. Do you believe it's incredibly important? However, the DEI policies of today are not the same as what happened back then. They're dividing troops inside formations, causing commanders to walk on eggshells,

not putting meritocracy first. That's the indictment that's made by those serving right now and why we're having this conversation. All of your public comments don't talk about meritocracy. They talk about liberal democratic efforts that are destroying the military, that those people are our enemies. That's not meritocracy. That's a political view. And your goal, as I see emerging, is to politicize the military in favor of your particular positions, which you've outlined extensively, which would be the worst blow to the professionalism of the

United States military. Now, previously, when Donald Trump was asked about Signalgate, remember Donald Trump just said, I don't want to talk about it. We're done. Don't ask me questions like that ever again. This is what Trump said a few weeks back when reporters, you know, were trying to follow up on that story. This is the behavior of people who are unprofessional, who just shut down rather than address actual controversies

and serious problems. Avoidance. Here, play this clip. What could have happened on Pete Hanks' end in this IG investigation? Do you want to weigh in on that? What is it? There's an IG investigation into the Secretary of Defense's use of the Signal app. Oh, is that you bringing that up again don't bring that up again you're editors that's such a wasted story so what uh chinese farmland now as we previously reported the pentagon's acting inspector general is already involved in an investigation into pete hegseth's use of the signal messaging app to disclose the timing and other details of the U.S. fighter

jets airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. The mission of the probe is to determine the extent of these types of communications. So I think one of the things we could probably expect this week, I don't think this is that bold of a prediction. They're going to try to go after that inspector general, right? I bet you they're going to try to accuse the inspector general and all the people that he fired. And they'll probably accuse the former spokesperson of being the sources or facilitating this information to the New York Times. And they'll probably accuse all those people of that. You know, again, when I think about how unqualified Hegseth is, you know, I think about Hegseth's appearance in front of NATO also back in February.

And here's what he said. Remember, he said this play. Well, like President Eisenhower, this administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances. But make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. Thank you. And we're glad to take some questions. Remember, he said President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. Remember, we kept him like drinking the glass too, and it just looked really bizarre as well. I had the opportunity to interview recently Democratic Congress member Jim Himes, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, and I asked him about Pete Hegseth's

statements or Pete Hegseth's post in the first signal chat uh and here's what uh the again ranking member of the intelligence uh committee democratic congress member jim himes here's what he had to say um the oversight task is enormous and then let me say this too i know what was happening here um you know uh you just have to read pete hegseth's uh typed in text about f18s launching accompanied by mq9s weather good you know sent com says go this is pete hegseth's typed in text about F-18s launching accompanied by MQ-9s, weather good, you know, CENTCOM says go. This is Pete Hegseth playing soldier, right? It's just the testosterone upwelling he gets when he gets to type MQ-9s en route is his life right now. You know, he's a guy who is, you know, not even closely qualified to the position he has. And so when he gets to get

on a signal chat with his buddies and say, we're a ghost and calm says all in F-18s, it just makes them feel really, really good. Sadly, of course, it puts our people at risk. And so folks, we'll keep you posted as we learn more here. But clearly, this is going to become a developing story. And one of the things I think we're going to see more of are these types of leaks. You're going to see the attacks on the leaks versus the attacks on the conduct. But this is what happens in authoritarian regimes that go after its people. And one of the things that we've always said that these authoritarian regimes do first is they attack their own people

first, oftentimes. And so now their own people are in self-preservation mode. They're leaking information. So I look forward to what John Elliott's talking about. More bombshells this week. I'm sure there's probably going to be much more communications that we're going to learn about. Probably more people are going to be fired. You know, John Elliott says it's utter madness, total chaos in the Department of Defense right now. And again, these are Trump people who are out there saying it. So we'll keep you posted every step of the way.

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