The MeidasTouch Podcast - Tuesday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben — 1/20/26

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on breaking news from the day. 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 Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan 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 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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come avocado green mattress.com. Welcome to breaking news with Ben Mycelis. It's great to be here with everyone. Before we go into all the madness that's taking place right now in the Oval Office and the threats by Donald Trump against Greenland and the rest of the world and what's taking place in Davos as we see Europe and the rest of the world, standing up to Donald Trump. Trump in this regime. Let me just at the outset address. Obviously, there's somebody missing on the show today. And while we put out a statement about it over the weekend and move swiftly, even though our editor-in-chief, Ron Filipkowski, put out a statement as well on Substack. I know a lot of people

just wanted to hear from me. So I will be brief. And then we'll get into the news, which is what I want to focus on. So I think obviously when certain statements were made about New York Attorney General Letitia James and district attorney Alvin Bragg that didn't represent the values and principles of the Midas Touch Network or what I myself believe to be the truth about what happened. I just could no longer continue to do political beatdown and I could no longer continue to host the Maya Colpa show on this network. I personally know New York Attorney General Letitia James and District Attorney Alvin Bragg

to be admirable people who conducted the prosecutions against Trump with the highest integrity and statements to the contrary were not just things that I disagreed with, but strongly disagreed with. And I felt compromise the ability of the network if it continued to platform statements like that. We acted swiftly within hours.

Our editor-in-chief addressed it within hours. And I think that's important in terms of keeping the trust of this network that we heard you and we moved very, very quickly. Okay. If you know me now for the past five to six years of hosting this show and being a part of this network, you know that I don't like to get into gossip, you know that I don't like to get into innuendo, you know that at a personal level, I sometimes will share my emotions. I'm not some you know, stoic detached newscaster who doesn't feel. And so, you know, to be doing a show with

someone and not doing a show, obviously, you know, saddens me. But ultimately, you know, the Midas Touch is a network that needs to be focused on a singular mission of protecting, preserving, and defending democracy. And I can't have the network be involved also in other distractions and in other areas and in other things that are centered around personalities when I need this network to be centered around the survival of our democracy and our country and pushing back against fascism. And so if that mission is ever compromised, I'm going to take swift action. This network is going to take swift action, which is what took place.

I want to be clear also that the Midas Touch network is not about. Ben Myceles. It's not about Brett Myceles. It's not about Jordy Myceles. It's not about the brothers, although we were part of becoming founders of this network. Of course, with all of you who watch this,

this network is not about any specific host or any specific person. This network is about the people. This network is about you. This network is about our country. This network is about the pro-democracy community in the world. And that is what is most important.

And I want this network to live on far beyond me or my brothers. Every day, obviously, we have to address the news, the breaking news, the legal news, everything that's going on. That's what we do. but what is most important for me as well, and you know from listening to me on this network, is that I talk about principles and values, and I have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, and generational, generational change is what is needed.

And so what I am most proud about this network doing is inspiring a cadre, of other independent media who I don't view as competitors. As long as they're supporting and defending democracy, I welcome everybody into this space. And to see other YouTube channel starts, other substacks start,

to see other people leave corporate news where they felt compromised to either join the Midas Touch Network or start their own independent news. Regardless of the route that they take, The Midas Touch Network has always been there for people who want to support and defend democracy to uplift them and to do our best to help them build their platforms. And so beyond the network and you know all of the YouTube channels that we've worked with

and we work with, it's also about uplifting lots of people who may not have a direct connection to this network. So with that said, I know you all wanted to hear from me. and given that this is the time slot where beat down would otherwise be, I thought it was important to address it with you. I hope you understand. Of course it was as a human being, it saddens me, just at the human level.

But I'm confident that as a fiduciary to this network, we took the right course of action swiftly. and now we can focus on what I want to focus on, which is the news. That's what I want to do every single day. When I wake up, when I go to sleep, that's why I became a lawyer. That's why I was a civil rights litigator. That's why I marched with families in Bakersfield and Kern County and Fresno for seven years of my life, basically living in a Marriott in Truxton Avenue,

Bakersfield. Shout out to all the Bakersfield families who I worked with in terms of my life representing Colin Kaepernick and helping Colin with his career and standing up as he did in the face of great adversity, 2017 through 2021. And that's what I bring to this network. And that's what I mean when I talk about values and principles. So with that said, let's get into the news. Let's talk about what went down today. Let's talk about Donald Trump's disastrous presser. Even people who liked Trump, even people who thought that Donald Trump, even people who were on his team were like, what the hell was this today?

The ranting and raving about Greenland, Panama Canal. whining about the Nobel Prize, flipping through papers, and lots of paper here. Look at all this paper. And then there would be like a large paper clip. And he'd go, whoa, that paper clip almost got my thumb. That would have caused a lot of people pain, but I wouldn't feel pain.

And I'm watching this. And I'm like, this is someone who is ill. This is someone who is demented and deranged. This is someone who should not be anywhere near the proximity of power, yet alone in this position. And I just think about how we got here, a broken corporate news apparatus, propaganda, state regime news, and leaders normalizing this behavior when they, need to stand up and say, this is not normal. This is not okay. And put yourself out there. Because if you don't, he's still coming for you. That's the thing. Even if you're super selfish, he's coming for you. So your option is either to protect yourself now by fighting back strongly

or compromising your ability to fight him later when he comes for you. So even if you were purely selfish, you should be fighting back because it's in your interest. But you shouldn't be purely selfish because why do you exist if it's just to exist to be selfish and live a miserable, lonely existence when there are others who occupy and inhabit this place together? the press conference. Donald Trump in the White House, at the same time you have world leaders in Davos.

So let's do this. Let me show you Trump's press conference. Then let me compare it to Prime Minister Carney at the speech he gave in Davos. So Donald Trump saying, oh, I'm glad my finger wasn't in that sucker. Okay, here, play this clip. The book on accomplishments, and this is something,

ooh, I'm glad my finger wasn't in that sucker. They could have done some damage, but you know what? I wouldn't have shown the pain. I would have gone back. Boy, did you hear that? That was nasty. But I would not have shown the pain. I would have acted like nothing happened as my finger fell off.

That was nasty. I think somebody did that. I think it was him. It was my man. How were you? You didn't do it. I know you didn't. I know you didn't. So, what are we even talking about? Then when Donald Trump mentions affordability, he says it's solved. Everything's great. Let's play it.

They created the affordability problem, and we are solving it. We have solved a lot of it. Again, everybody agrees in this room, I think. Gasoline prices have come per gallon way down. when that happens, everything else comes down, but they've come down way down. Many of the groceries have come way down. It's all happening and it's happening strong. It's not true. Not true. In December, grocery prices were basically the highest they've ever been since

2022 when inflation was up. You go to grocery stores, right? You know what your health care costs are, right? You see them right now. You know what your home. energy prices are right now. You see them, right? You go to grocery stores and you see the prices on things, whether you buy beef or whatever, spaghetti, whatever, whatever it is. You check out. And as I've described it, the beep, beep, beep that takes place when they scan the groceries.

I know Donald Trump's never had this experience before because other people shop for him or the groceries magically appear, it seems like a heart monitor, beep, peep, you know, and you're there, and you go, whoa, I picked out like 16 items. How is it $312 and 13 cents? Are you sure my rewards card isn't lowering it? And then you go, you know what? I don't need this. I don't need that. That's the experience of most Americans right now at this specific time. Not everything is great. Spike the football. Things are amazing. Next, it relates to Jack Smith, who's testifying before Congress on Thursday, by the way. We're going to be streaming the Jack Smith deposition or live testimony, rather, right here on the Midas Touch Network,

so make sure you're here on Thursday. Here's what Donald Trump says about Jack Smith during this presser today. Let's play it. It's like deranged Jack Sixth. He's a sick son of a bitch. They gave me the worst of the worst. And here I am. How did that happen? How did that happen?

Yeah, how did that happen? Then a reporter asks him. So like, how is whining about the Nobel Prize improving the lives of average everyday America? because you promised that your second term at your inaugural address, you promised that you put America first, but now you're whining about Nobel Peace Prizes. Here to play this clip.

Go ahead. I'll take your question. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. You promised during your second inaugural to always put America first. I'm curious, how would you winning the Nobel Peace Prize improve the lives of average everyday Americans? Why is this prize so important?

It wouldn't improve the lives of any, What improved the lives of people are people that are living. I saved probably tens of millions of lives in the wars. Just making stuff up. Then he praises the leader of Syria, Al Jalani, who used to be one of the biggest terrorists. And now the Jalani government forces have basically completely destroyed the semi-autonomous region of the Kurds, right?

The multi-ethnic Kurd forces that run it in a democratic way in northern Syria. The Syrian government forces have basically destroyed Kurdish, semi-autonomous control of the region. Trump basically threw the Kurds under the bus. And now, by the way, the same way he threw under the bus, the Iranian protesters. Remember Donald Trump said, go out and protest. I got your back. If the Ayatollah kills a single protester, we're coming in, guns of blazing. So people took to the streets and then Donald Trump did not have their back and there were mass casualties.

And as it relates to the Ayatollah, Donald Trump said mission accomplished. I stopped the Ayatollah from hanging 800 people according to the Ayatoll. He was going to hang 800, but he stopped. I think that that was a sign of great respect. I don't know. Has Donald Trump invited? the Ayatollah to his board of peace yet. He's invited Putin. He's invited Lukashenko. Lukashenko from Belarus accepted the invitation. And by the way, he invites Zelensky as though Zelensky wants to be on a

board with Vladimir Putin called a board of peace. And with Lukashenko, when Lukashenko and Putin are attacking Ukraine and invading it. And Trump wants to call that a board of peace that gets rid of the United Nations and NATO. And by the way, take the money. I think he's charging like a billion dollars if you want to join his board of peace and move that money to Katari bank accounts. That's also where the Venezuelan oil money is going. So Trump is himself selling oil from Venezuela to his right-wing oligarch friends taking the proceeds. This is like public knowledge. And he's putting him in a bank account in Qatar with no oversight from Congress. And these supine Congress members are all like, that's normal. Okay. Okay, Donald, that's America first right there. That's America

first right there. And by the way, especially as we start talking more and more about appropriations, any Democrat who's not talking about defunding or abolishing ICE at this point, and Border Patrol based on what they're doing right now, I don't know how you can support funding ICE and Border Patrol right now and giving them more money. What the hell are we talking about there? I mean, have you seen some of these appropriations bills and people like, well, actually, it's part of a, we're going to put $25 million for body cams

and accountability training. accountability for the SS. These are Gestapo. What are we talking about? These people are invading and terrorizing cities. You think they're going to listen to you if you give them 25 million while you give them billions of dollars in weapons of war to terrorize communities like Minneapolis and St. Paul and the rest of this country? What are we talking about there? Anyway, Donald Trump right here talking about how the leader of Syria, very tough guy. This is the guy who Donald Trump sprayed with Cologne and sniffed. It's what Donald Trump says here, play this clip.

The Syrian government, the last two weeks, had to use some force to implement its force on specific areas. To keep the prisoners, the terrorist prisoners, which are some of the worst in the world at bay. So they were able to keep that. He's working very hard, the president of. Syria is working very, very hard, strong guy, tough guy, pretty rough resume. But you're not going to put a choir boy in there and, you know, get the job done. I spoke with him yesterday because we were talking about the prisons and, you know, what was going. We have some of the worst terrorists in the world in those prisons.

And he's watching it. What are you talking about? Rough resume. The guy was the leader of Al-Qaeda. It's not like, oh, he did some rough work before. I was literally the leader of al-Qaeda. He had a $25 million or $50 million bounty on his head. And what Donald Trump said there is inconsistent with what's even taking place.

What's taking place is that the Syrian government forces have been attacking and massacring the Syrian Democratic forces, the SDF, as well as those incredible women groups that were helping to take out ISIS. and what you saw a lot of the Syrian forces doing was actually opening up the prisons and releasing the ISIS terrorists. That's what was happening. But the reporters don't push back on that. We move on to the next question. Because let me show you what's going on in this room. This is to show with you what corporate news looks like.

And you'll see Donald Trump there and Donald Trump asks the people who are asking him questions, is this a celebration of the first year? Is this a celebration? Then you have reporters like, yeah, yeah, like as though their access in proximity to power is more important than actually reporting on news. Here, play this clip. Thank you so much, Mr. President. I've never seen this room like this. Is this a celebration of the first year?

Have you ever seen it? I've never seen this. Many? I hope we have a very good, I hope we have a very good structural floor. You know, this used to be a swimming pool. You're sitting over a swimming pool. I could see that happen. But this, we need a good structure here, don't I have?

Yeah. Everybody raises their hand. Raise their hand. raising their hand to what the guy the guy's demented the guy is a demented you are we watching this demented human being like what the hell is this and again i think part of all of our frustration everybody watching this it's like we're watching this and it feels like we're in this Twilight Zone until I think independent media came along because everybody's like treating this like this is some normal like this is some normal behavior. And you know, and I just remember the time

where it would be like Obama wearing a tan suit. Oh, he wore the tan suit. How unpresidential, right? Was it Dan Quayle spelled potato the wrong way? Right. John Kerry, oh my God, he was like, surfboarding and he looked weird. Oh, could, whoa, whoa, how out of touch? How out of touch are you? And by the way, when the George W. Bush people swiftboated John Kerry and attacked his service. Remember that? And people like, oh, my God. Like, you were in Vietnam and you were not courageous enough in Vietnam, you know, was a bullshit story. But I mean, you've got Donald Trump out there. there who says the most heinous things about our troops and our military, you know, frequently. And then people like are like, well, you know, that's, he didn't really mean it.

He was joking. He didn't really say these things. Just like. So then during that press conference, he was flipping through pages and, uh, and trying to say that these were that these were his accomplishments. Here, let's play this clip. Here's the book. These are all, things. I'm going to read a few of the samples, but look at this. Each line is something that we did. Nobody did that before. And it's big stuff, too. Look, we have the hottest country in the world. The hell's going on there. And then he starts talking about his mom saying he should be a major league baseball player. Let's play this clip.

We had in my area in Queens. I grew up in Queens. We had a place called Creedmoor. Creedmore. Did anybody know that? Cretemore. It was a big, I said, mom, why are those bars on the building? I used to play Little League baseball there at the place called Cunningham Park, who's quite the baseball player, you wouldn't believe. But I said to my mother, Mom, she would be there always there for me. She said, son, you could be a professional baseball player. I said, thanks, Mom. I said, why are those bars on the windows? Big building, big, powerful building. It loomed over the park, actually.

She said, well, people that are very sicker in that building. I said, boy, I used to always look at that building, and I'd see big building, big tall building. It loomed over the park. It was sort of, now that I think it was a pretty unfriendly sight. But I'll never forget, I don't know if it's still there. Because they got rid of most of them, you know, the Democrats in New York, they took them down, and the people live on the streets now.

That's why you have a lot of the people in California and other places, they live in the streets. They took the mental institutions down. They're expensive. But I'd say, why does that building up those bars, boy. That's what he did today. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health, from the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today

and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan. Live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. You know, like contrast this to Prime Minister Carney in Davos in Switzerland

at the world economic form, right? Prime Minister Carney, who I think right now is basically the leader of the free world. It's not the United States anymore. And Prime Minister Carney's been making deals across the world, you know, Canada saw what was happening in the United States. And they were like, Pierre Poliyev, no way, that's just going to be like Trump number two. We ain't, we ain't doing that. And then like Canada picked like the best person imaginable for the, for the, this moment. Not to say I agree with Carney on everything, you know, but he's got a lot of constituencies that he's got to deal with. But, I mean, in terms of picking the perfect person for the moment, hard to think of a more perfect person in the entire world than the, then Carney

versus Trump and like the exact opposite human beings in terms of everything their entire life. So here's Prime Minister Carney talking about Canada standing firmly behind Greenland, On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland's future. Our commitment to NATO's Article 5 is unwavering. So we're working with our NATO allies, including the Nordic Baltic Gate, to further secure the alliance's northern and western flanks, including through Canada's unprecedented investments in over-the-horizon radar, in submarines, in aircraft, and boots on the ground. Boots on the ice.

Canada strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland and calls for focus talks to achieve our shared objectives of security and prosperity in the Arctic. On plurilateral trade, we're championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the European Union, which would create a new training block of 1.5 billion people. Let's show you this next clip of Prime Minister Carney, where he talks about America's abuse of its power, basically, and how we need a new way forward. Let's play the second Carney clip.

We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade would. rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful. An American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for frameworks for resolving disputes.

So we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration. But more recently, great powers have begun using

economic integration as weapons. Tariffs is leverage. Financial infrastructure is coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination. One more clip of Prime Minister Carney I'd like to share with you. Let's play that last clip, Jeremy.

Multilateral institutions on which the middle powers have relied, the WTO, the UN, the COP, the architecture, the very architecture of collective problem-solving are under threat. And as a result, many countries are drawing the same conclusions that they must develop greater strategic autonomy in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance and supply chains. And this impulse is understandable. A country that can't feed itself, fuel itself, or defend itself has fueled itself. options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself. But let's be clear-eyed about where this leads. A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile, and less sustainable. And there's another truth. If great powers abandon even the pretense of

rules and values for the unhindered pursuit of their power and interests, the gains from transactionalism will become harder to replicate. Hegemon's cannot continually monetize their relationships. Allies will diversify to hedge against uncertainty. They'll buy insurance, increase options in order to rebuild sovereignty, sovereignty that was once grounded in rules but will increasingly be anchored in the ability to withstand pressure. Now, I want you to compare that to Howard Ludnik, Donald Trump.

I know you're like, oh, don't show me a Ludnik clip, Ben. Don't show me, don't show me a Ludnik clip. I got to show you a Latin clip because I got to make a point here, okay, which is the differences that exist, the options that exist, you know, in the world. And with Prime Minister Carney forcefully asserting himself the way he did. And you contrast that to like Howard Lutnik when Howard Lutnik was on a panel. Like he he's voluntarily on a panel. And the moderator says, well, I want to go back and talk about Greenland, Howard Lutnik.

You're in Donald Trump's cabinet. Can we talk about Greenland? And Lutnik goes, no, no. And then he goes on to say, this is our hemisphere. I'm going to leave it to the foreign policy phone. but it's our hemisphere and we're going to do what we want in our hemisphere. Watch the Leibnick. Let's play this clip of Leibnick. Can I bring you back to Greenland?

No. It's unnecessary. The Western Hemisphere is vital for the United States of America. Our national security people are on it and they care about it. And I'm going to leave it to them to address with our allies, with our friends, and with everyone how they work it out. But the Western Hemisphere matters to the United States of America. and the United States of America, as I've just articulated, really, really matters to the world.

When America shines, the world shines, because they all need to make sure America is strong and powerful to take care of them, God forbid. And so I think America and the Western Hemisphere are vital to America, and I'm going to leave that to my national security people to address. Right. The rest of us, I think, are finding it harder to make that kind of separation clearly. everybody in the world is like, what the hell are you doing?

But they need to channel that. What the hell are you doing energy? You know, into action. And, you know, you see the goodwill, if you will, that the United States had built since World War II, how meaningful that was historically that America's gotten to pass for a long time, even where its actions were inconsistent with its rhetoric. And I think what Prime Minister Carney was actually talking about there, smart is a very smart speech. And it was deeper than Trump, right?

What he was saying is because of the post-World War II order, we accepted things that probably we shouldn't have even back then. I think, you know, they talk about how, you know, whether it's the United States taking what took place after 9-11 and then this broader war on terror that then resulted in a destabilization of the Middle East and that then resulted in the United States engaging in things having nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks and just in general, America foreign policy. and again, not just unique to Trump, but just more broadly as well. But obviously, Trump being the most blatant example of saying, you know what, F you, F you, we're going to take you over. You are our 51st state. I'm going to tariff you.

I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. We have this clip, Jeremy. Just give you an example. How ridiculous this is. Last night, Donald Trump was asked by a reporter on the tarmac in Miami, are you going to let Putin be on your board of peace? Which is just a crazy con. You're going to let Putin be on the board of peace? What are we, what are we even doing here

if you're going to let Putin be on the war of peace? And Trump's like, yeah, of course I will. And then the reporter says, well, what about the fact that French president Emmanuel Macron then doesn't want to join your board of peace? Because why wouldn't you want to be on a board that Putin's on? And, you know, a democracy, you know, even if a democracy has its own challenges, that it faces is not going to just give you a billion dollars just because for you to put in a Katari bank account for yourself. And by the way, this is why, though, Donald Trump loves the authoritarian leaders because there's no accountability structure. Donald Trump loves Delsi Rodriguez in Venezuela because she's an authoritarian. That's not an accident. He feels, well,

if I have to deal with Maria Karina Machado as the leader, she'll probably do business deals with other European countries. There'll be transparency and at least the implementation of democratic norms. And then no one will accept just giving billions of dollars to Trump individually in Qatari bank accounts. But Delci will do it. Deidados Cabo Maduro's enforcer, they'll go and do it. Right? That's the through line throughout all of this. Here, let's take a look first right now, though, on the tarmac. And then we'll, then we'll do that other clip, Jeremy. But first, on the tarmac, Donald Trump, answering about Putin and then Macron and then saying,

I'm going to tariff Macron, 200 percent. Their champagne and their wine is going to be tariffed. Here, play this clip. Have you invited President Putin to be a member of the Board of Peace? Yeah, he's been invited. Did you give any response to President Macron think he will not join the board of the meeting? Oh, did you say that? Well, nobody wants it because he's going to be out of office very soon.

So, you know, that's all right. What I'll do is if they feel like costo, I'll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champains, and he'll join. But he doesn't have to join. If he said that, you're probably giving it to me a little bit differently. But if he actually did say that, but as you know, he's going to be out of office in a few months. All right. Contrast to California Governor Gavin Newsom, who's in Davos right now. I got to interview Newsom. I got to interview Newsom. And I got to ask Newsom. I'm going to, when I interview Newsom next, I'm going to ask him the question about ICE, by the way, as well. You know, you saw the Newsom Ben Shapiro interview. I got to I got to ask Newsom because, right, the issue there was Newsome social media account. said that basically ICE is engaged in terrorism.

And I think when Shapiro gave that to Newsom, Newsom was like, I think that went a little too far. I didn't go too far. ICE is involved in terrorism. It is. It is what it is. That's what happened. ICE and Border Patrol are terrorizing communities.

They are the Gestapo. That's who they are. Minneapolis and St. Paul were peaceful communities and are peaceful communities, inclusive, diverse, they want to go about their lives and their thriving cities, metropolitan areas. Then ice comes in and terrorizes it. So that's the language, you know, that, you know, that, that we need that I think we need to use. But look, I think that what Newsom did with Prop 50, I think that there were other points that Newsom made in the interview that were, that were fine and good. But like the Newsom here in Davos, that's the, that's the Newsom. I think when my very first, I think

my very first interview I did with Newsom, and I've done probably 10 interviews, maybe 12 interviews with Newsom since then. I said, I said that the Newsom here is the one that everybody that galvanizes people. And that's why you're the frontrunner right now for the presidency. Because like this Newsom in Davos, this is the Newsom right here. This is the leader basically of the free war. You see it here. Let's let's play this clip of Newsom. Time to buck up. It's time to get serious and stop being complicit. It's time to stand tall and firm, have a backbone. I've seen this in the United States.

The Supreme Congress playing both sides, you know, say one thing on a text or a tweet, another publicly. Should you respond to have principles? It's time to stand tall, small and strong. Does that mean responding with tariffs? I'm not going to stand united. You make that determination. I don't make that determination. But when you say standing tall?

What do you mean? Just I can't take this complicity. People rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders. I mean, handing out crowns and handing out, I mean, this is pathetic. Nobel Prizes they are being given away. I mean, it's just pathetic. And I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage.

I mean, at least from an American perspective, it's embarrassing. So what should Europe be doing? They should decide. The Europeans should decide for themselves what to do. But one thing they can't do is what they've been doing and they've been played. This guy is playing folks for fools. And it's embarrassing. Look at the latest UGov poll amongst independent voters. Do you support abolishing ICE? Independent voters. Forty-eight percent yes. 36 percent no. It's very, first off, this. This is where the people are at, but setting aside where the people are at, this is the moral thing to do. The moral thing to do is to abolish ICE. It's not doing immigration enforcement. It's doing terrorism.

Same thing. Border Patrol ain't doing border. Okay. And there was a comprehensive immigration plan that was on a bipartisan basis that Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans destroyed before the 2024 election during the Biden term. the MAGA Republicans wanted to create the, I don't want us to forget about that, that the MAGA Republicans wanted to create the chaos. They wanted to create the problem

so that they can terrorize communities and then run on it in elections. That's just a fact. It's an objective reality. There was a bipartisan bill. I think we all want strong borders. Sure, we all think that there should be, we also should believe in an asylum process.

we all should believe as well that hardworking people and people who are here for asylum or people who are here contributing to society, that there should be a pathway to citizenship. We should be empathetic. We should be understanding. But if there's anybody involved in criminal behavior, if anyone's actually involved in fraud or abuses the system, you have zero tolerance for that. We should come up with common sense bipartisan solutions to figure this. this out. But of course the MAGA Republicans don't want that to happen. Let me show you here.

This is the police chief over here in Minneapolis. And the police chief in Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park police chief, Mark Bruley. He talks about what ICE and Border Patrol were doing to the community and racially profiling, but also racially profiling the undercover officers. And the undercover officers who were minorities, were explaining what was happening to them. Here, play this clip of that. Recently, as the last two weeks, we as law enforcement community

have been receiving endless complaints about civil rights violations and our streets from U.S. citizens. What we're hearing is they're being stopped in traffic stops or on the street with no cause and being forced to demand paperwork to determine if they are here legally. By the way, while I have everybody here as well, big audience today, just a reminder,

subscribe to our YouTube channel. You may think that you're subscribed, but you may not actually be subscribed. For those who are joining late, who were wondering if I was going to make a statement about political beatdown no longer being on the network or Mayacolpa, I did. you can go back and rewind it and watch the beginning of the video if you want to hear it as i said i've addressed it and um you know we've given multiple statements now and i addressed it at the beginning so you can go back and you could watch it make sure you hit subscribe to this youtube channel also if you want to subscribe to our substack go to midas plus dot com m-e-d-a-s-l-u-s dot com do we still got more show left

But I think you've seen the expansion as well of the Midas Touch Network just this year. I think it's important that we fulfilled the promises that we made, opening up a Washington, D.C. Bureau. Shout out to Pablo Monriquez, who joined our team. Should be making more announcements out of D.C. soon and some big names there. So I'm excited about that. Our partnership with status coup, they're on the ground reporting in Minneapolis. and St. Paul, we've been able to bring you on the ground coverage there. So hat tip to them, subscribe to the status coup YouTube. They do great work as well. We're trying to get them a million

subscribers. Midas Canada's been expanding rapidly as well. Katie Fang's channel has been growing exponentially also. So a lot of great growth in bringing you the truth and bringing you the facts here that I'm very, very proud about. Some legal updates as well. Judge Novak, that's the Trump appointed Judge. Trump appointed Judge Novak to the Eastern District of Virginia in 2019. Judge Novak formally responded, issued an order after Lindsey Halligan, Donald Trump's federal prosecutor from the Eastern District of Virginia, who's no longer a United States attorney, no longer the top federal prosecutor, but she keeps calling herself the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Remember, Judge Novak issued an order to show cause, basically why Halligan should not lose her law license or should not face discipline for lying that she's currently the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in pleadings.

And she responded by signing the document as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. and she and Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche all filed. They briefed together attacking Judge Novak. And so Judge Novak struck the pleadings, removed Hallikins' name from it, and said, you do this one more time on any filing that I become aware of. I will refer you to the state bar for you to lose your legal license. And Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, if you are on the pleadings, with her, I refer you also. You get referred as well because you are now aiding and abetting a fraud

on this court. I don't care if you're the attorney general. I don't care that Trump appointed me. It doesn't matter. I will make sure you lose your legal license. He put that basically in the order, in judicial terms, but that was the thrust of what he said. A few other points I want to make and I want to conclude by talking about Trump's cover up of a child sex trafficking ring because he wants us to be distracted about that. And I think it is important that we cover it. But the Globe and Mail report that there are now military models being made in Canada to war plan hypothetical American invasions of Canada and how Canada would respond with drones,

with other forms of military resistance, what that would look at. like. So Canada is actually now preparing for an American invasion. Just let that sit in. Let's think about that. Same thing in Greenland. Greenland's prime minister also said, we must prepare for an American invasion. Be ready. I hope it doesn't come to that. The prime minister or premier Greenland said, but we must be prepared for an American invasion. and they're getting ready for that as well. That was a speech that he gave to the people there. Now let's talk about Epstein.

I'm not sure if you saw this article, but now you have all of these MAGA Republicans are all acting like, oh, well, we don't care about the Epstein files anymore. There's so many other things that we need to be focused on other than the Epstein files right now. And so you have, what's that, Lauren, Bobert right there. She goes, I don't give a rip about Epstein, Lauren Bobert said last week when she was asked to take stock of the fact that it's been a month and the DOJ's only produced 1% of the documents.

Like there's so many other things we need to be working on, she added. I've done what I had to with Epstein. Talk to somebody else about that. It's no longer in my hands. I just want you to think about that being their attitude. We don't care about it. We don't care about it. that anymore. I want to give a hat tip. Did y'all see this clip of Lee McGowan? And of course, you know, Lee is on the Midas Touch Network. So I'm extra proud, but she's incredible. And when Scott Jennings was basically like, well, why do we really care about this? Like, let's not get all worked up. And then she was like, over child sex trap, what are you talking? Why are you talking like this? Why are, why are you saying these things? And by the way, Lee McGowan's show is on the

Midas Dutch network today at 4 p.m. So if you want to support her show as well, come back at 4 p.m. and watch her show. But she's incredible. And maybe we should just do a show where Lee just basically goes after we could just show her Jennings clips and then be like, respond, respond, respond. And and then make that the whole show. But let's watch this clip. Let's play it. They should follow the law, but let's not get our knickers in a twist here. Yeah, let's not get our knickers in a twist over child rape.

Why are you talking like that? It's insane. Like, it's insane. The Epstein Files is a multinational, multi-generational child and woman sex trafficking ring. So your attitude right now, you're sort of like, well, Shucks Devil Be Gone is just horrifying to me. Every woman in the world that is watching this, why are you acting like you have no idea what's happening here?

Scott, this is... He asked me a question about following the law. I said they should follow the law. And what I'm saying to you is your attitude. Yes, and they're not following the law. They're 30 days late on following law, and they didn't explain why they redacted the first things in the first place, which they were also supposed to do.

I know. You have a strong opinion about it. I have a strong opinion about it because it is a disgusting policy that they are doing this. They are hiding it. It is not the behavior of innocent people. And everything that is in these files is, it could bring an entire house down. And if it has to, it has to.

If it brings down Democrats, bring them down. If it brings down Republicans, bring them down. If it brings down princes, world leaders, Hollywood people, bring them down. But what it feels like right now is that there's a giant cabal of people that do not have to listen to the law, do not have to oppose the law. And they were supposed to do something. Then they didn't do something. And now they're trying to have a new law that says we don't even have to do it. And what's really?

It's almost like Trump and Maga were saying that there was this cabal. ball out there that was engaged in all of this conduct and it was them the entire time. It's almost like it's always projection from these people. This is just coming in over the wire right now. And Jeremy, I'll try to get this for you right now so we can show everybody as well. But Rokana and Thomas Massey have just filed their response in federal court to the government to the Department of Justice saying that courts. don't have any jurisdiction at all to enforce the Epstein Transparency Act and where they've

resisted an independent monitor, Jeremy, I'm going to send it to you right now. And so let's pull this. Let's pull the exhibit also because while I was watching that clip, I was trying to read as much as I could about this filing. But they do something great here that I just want to share with everybody. Let's pull this open here. So they attach to their filing. to the federal judge because the DOJ's position,

the judges have no authority to enforce the Epstein Transparency Act. The DOJ argues because the Epstein Transparency Act has no private cause of action in it. It doesn't specifically say, here's how you go about suing. Just so you know, statutes don't need to specifically say that. It certainly helps to create procedural certainty if it doesn't. but if you have something called the Epstein Transparency Act, you can't basically be like, well, it doesn't actually mean transparency and we don't have to follow it. So there's something called implied cause of actions, but I won't make this a law lecture.

But what Kana and Massey say is that we don't even have to get to private cause of actions. Because judge, the DOJ invoked your jurisdiction and asked you to amend. protective orders because they promised you they were going to release the Epstein files. But what they've done instead while you've amended your protective orders, Judge, they're now blaming you for their delay. And they're saying you're the reason why they can't produce the records. So what they did in requesting that you amend the protective orders so that they can released the files was a ruse to blame you. And now that Kana and Massey have gone to you, Judge, we're saying you don't have jurisdiction after we invoked your jurisdiction. Does everybody

see that? And I think Massey and Kana brilliantly have just told the judge, take a look at this fact sheet. Take a look at this fact sheet. Fact sheet. Epstein files release. Here it is right here. This is what the deal. OJ posted. They said, prior to Trump's enactment, Trump's enactment, they call it, prior to Trump's enactment of the Epstein Transparency Act, various judges had declined the Trump Department of Justice's request to unseal Epstein-related material. The enactment of the new law gave the judges the legal predicate they found sufficient for granting the Trump administration's standing request before the court to unseal the files. How much more material can we expect to be released?

The Department of Justice has hundreds of thousands of pages of materials to release, including material that must comply with the court orders. These court orders can slow the Department of Justice's ability to review and redact material, but will not prevent the release of this material. Folks, Kana and Massey in attaching that, I think was absolutely, was absolutely brilliant right there, was absolutely brilliant right there. And do you all see why? Because they just exposed that the DOJ was setting up the judge. And so I just saw that come across the court docket. So I am very pleased to be able to share that with you. Jeremy, are you saying the politics girl is at 6.30 p.m. tonight and not correct. Okay. It's at 630 p. Where was I getting,

where was I even getting four from today? Was I just making up a number? Oh, you know, you said her show was at 4 p.m. You see what you see what happens right there. Shout out to Jeremy, though and shout out to the entire Midas touch team. And you know, what began as a project with me and my brother six years ago has become a media network that is about far more than me and my brothers, as I said at the outset. That's something that I zealously guard. It's something I zealously protect. It's your, your trust matters. It's all the world, you know, to me. And this network should exist on its values and principles. Frankly, with me here, I love being here. I'm not going anywhere. It's going to be clear any time in the near future. But this network should be set up in a way.

is that different hosts who reflect the values and principles can speak to you. And that might as touch is a concept. It is aspirational. It is a fight for our democracy. And it means that to you. And that's very, very, very, very important. It's very important to me. And so I hear you all very, very loud and clearly again. For those just joining at the end, if you wanted to hear in a statement that I made about the programming changes, go back and watch the beginning. As I noted, lots of people wanted me to address it. And I hope you felt that I've addressed it in a thoughtful and a meaningful and a respectful way, you know, with a very respectful tone and with also a thoughtful and meaningful explanation directly directly to you. And so I'm grateful for, again, all of your support.

We need to focus right now on the existential threats that are confronting our country. The side quests generally, and I would make a broader plea or a broader statement generally to people stepping into the independent media space to reflect on the fact that we are doing this and you should want to do this because we're fighting for the people and we should center everything that we do around the people and fighting for the people and listening to the people, delivering for the people. And that's, it is a people-powered, people-centered movement and network. And anybody else who's getting involved, I would, in this space or growing their platforms or whatever, I would just, I would just always make

sure to emphasize that we should always be doing this for the people out there. So I'm, I'm grateful for all of you. Thanks for watching, you know, and as we do, these, you know, breaking news, which will take place on the, on the Tuesday and Thursday time slots, I'll try to bring in, you know, interesting guests. But I think we'll do it the way we did it today. And, you know, I'll lead. We'll bring in guests occasionally. But most importantly, just to bring you the breaking news, that's what, when I work these 18 or 20-hour days, days on some days. You know, I want to report on the news. I want to use my legal background as much as possible to educate and inform and do my part. That's what I want to do every day. So again,

thank you from the bottom of my heart. We're grateful for you. Make sure you're subscribe. Subscribe to our substack at Midasplus.com. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. And again, thank you everybody for watching. Have a good day. substack at Midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at Midasplus.com.