The MeidasTouch Podcast - Whoa! GOP Hearing Backfires as Dems Expose Witnesses

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on MAGA Republicans in Congress holding a hearing that instantly backfired as Democrats exposed the MAGA witnesses from Minnesota. Visit american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code MEIDAS. 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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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConX Ontario at 1866-531-260 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Total chaos broke out during congressional hearings where Magery, Republicans did not want to focus on the issues that are crushing the American people right now, like affordability, like people are living paycheck to paycheck being psychologically tortured if they're lucky enough to get a paycheck. Instead, what Magger Republicans wanted to focus on was fraud in Minnesota, which was largely being prosecuted by the former Biden DOJ with the key architect of that fraud being a white

lady who was prosecuted. But this is what Maga wanted to focus on. Let me be very clear. Fraud needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But the biggest fraudster is the one living in the White House right now, or Mar-a-Lago, or wherever the hell he's at. He certainly doesn't know where he's living based on the cognitive decline that we're seeing. I think he thinks that he's living in imperial Rome as he tries to destroy our country playing the fiddle like Nero as our country burns. But you'll see as Democrats completely turn the table on the main.

Maga Republicans during this hearing. And so the Maga Republicans call in their fellow Maga Republican colleagues from Minnesota. Mind you on the very same day that Trump's ICE Gestapo murdered a United States citizen in South Minneapolis. Let me show you what goes down when Democratic Congress member Maxwell Frost is cross-examining the Maga Republican representatives from Minnesota who were called by the Maga Republicans in D.C. to try to propagandize and distract the American people from Trump's cover up of the Epstein files and Donald Trump's cover up of the disastrous economy here that he's caused to 99% of the American people. Watch what goes down here, play this clip. That's great. Do you think it's probably for the president of the United States? I am not going to engage in the silly condemnation game. No, no, no, no, no, no. In a context, this is not silly. This is the president. What did you have to say about the assassination of Charlie Kerf? I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time. And the state of Virginia. I'll reclaim my time.

I'll reclaim my time. I will reclaim my time. The gentleman will stop talking on my time. The gentleman will stop talking on my time. Order, order, order. Next up, you have Democratic Congresswoman on Sari. Watch as she cross-examines the MAGA Republican state representative from Minnesota, Christine Robbins, and others, and says,

can people here raise their hand? If you think it's appropriate that Donald Trump is spreading conspiracies, that Governor Walls murdered the Hortmans, Melissa Hortman, the former Speaker of the House in Minnesota and her husband. Do you think that's acceptable behavior? None of the Republicans raised their hands to say that they thought it was unacceptable because they are so fearful of upsetting their dear fearer, their dear leader, their head of the Gestapo who's killing citizens in their states.

Watch what goes down here, play this clip. So I want to start with this question for the law. lawmakers here from Minnesota. As you know, Donald Trump has been posting these conspiracy theories about the linking Governor Walls to the killing of your former speaker and insinuating that Governor Walls had something to do with it. Can you please raise your hand if you think this is an appropriate action by the president of the United States? Raise your hand, please. I'm not doing a raise your hand. I'm happy to comment on it. Sure, is it appropriate for the president to do that? So the person who murdered our colleague, Speaker Melissa Hortman,

her husband, Mark, had in his, in his vehicle, evidence saying he thought Tim Walz was ordering him to do it. I know the facts will come out in the case, and we need to be respectful of the Hortman family, and we need to let this play out in the courts. That is unacceptable. It is inappropriate to the highest degree for the president of the United States to be sharing conspiracy theories that are obviously going to lead to violence directed at Governor Tim Walls. I'll share with the U.S. Democratic Congresswoman Presley also then says, okay, you want to talk about fraud? Let me show you some examples of fraud. So she shows George Santos, for example.

Watch this, play this clip. That is not the standard that is being set by Donald Trump, who was wielding his clemency authority to allow frosters to escape accountability all together. Last month, my office published a clemency report titled Trump's clemency gap, how Trump's pardons are ignoring the people who need them the most. I ask unanimous consent to enter this into the record. Thank you. Now, to the witnesses who serve in the Minnesota State Legislature on the Fraud Prevention Committee, let's walk through these pardons for fraudsters, and we all care about fraud. So, Ms. Robbins, Mr. Hudson, and Ms. Rarick, Donald Trump pardoned George Santos,

who defrauded voters and owed them $370,000 in restitution to victims. Raise your hand if you oppose this pardon. Thank you, Mr. Ballone. Ma'am, I would have to look at the law and the facts of the case. We cannot, we cannot know the facts of all these individual cases. Don't deflect. This is a very public case. You know who George Santos is.

You know exactly what he did. We just agreed that, you know, fraud is unacceptable. And so, and you just talked about accountability. You said, if people commit fraud and exploit the public good, that they should be incarcerated. So this is not a complicated question. So I will give you all one more opportunity, Ms. Robbins, Mr. Hudson, and Ms. Rerick. Raise your hand if you oppose the pardon of George Santos. Not playing this game.

It's not a game. It's real life. It's not a game at all. Okay, but I will take your refusal to go on record, not only as cowardice, but that you do agree with that pardon of that fraudster. Moving on, Donald Trump also gave, and this has never been done before, presidential pardons to corporations that committed fraud. One example is the crypto company Bitmex that violated U.S. law and was fined $100 million.

Now, raise your hand if you oppose Trump's pardon of this crypto company. Not participating. Thank you, Mr. Ballou. Okay, again, I'll take your refusal to raise your hand in opposition. That means that you support this pardon of this corporation that frauded folks to the tune of $100 million. $1. Yesterday, yesterday, reclaiming my time, reclaiming my time. Refusal to participate is not an expression one way or the other. I know that I am here as a member of the public. Reclaiming my time, you are not. Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, that's what I know. You are not in order with the rules of the

committee. This is my time. This is my time. I ask the questions and you answer, but you're too much of a coward to answer. So we're going to move on. Now actually, I should show you that full clip of Congress member Maxwell Frost, cross-examining the these MAGA witnesses. Watch it play this clip. And I have one more thing I want to talk about that Representative Ansari brought up. President Trump reposted conspiracy theories on his truth social account about the murder of Minnesota state legislators Mark and Melissa Hortman that suggests that Minnesota Governor Tim Walls had the Hortman's assassinated. Governor Wall says this behavior will get more innocent people killed. And the Hortman children have come out on the president

and called on the president to take the statements down. I think it is very important. important that we are very clear that we condemn this type of behavior. So I just want to go down the line and hear if you agree with the Hortman children that we should condemn and we ask the president to take down this post. Mr. Bayou? Yes. Representative. So as the longest serving member on this panel of Minnesota, I am so offended that anybody would accuse anybody of the assassination other than Lance Bolter because this was a deep, deep scar in the state of Minnesota and all of us personally. I served with Melissa Horman my entire 13 years. Do you agree? It's just unbelievably beyond the pale. Do you agree that? We should call

the president, take down the post. That's it. I said, but I said, I think that it's beyond the pale that anybody talking about anyone murdering. Okay, you can't come to call the president, take down the post. So it's okay. We'll move on. Representative Hudson, we'll move on. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. We'll move on. You can't call the president, take down this post. We'll move on to Representative Hudson. It's just the yes or no. not deceive the committee by giving it a binary. I have spoken to this many times. I have renounced the content of these ridiculous conspiracy theories and I've called ridiculous under multiple cases. That's great. You think it's probably for the President of the United States? I am not going

to engage in the silly condemnation game. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is not silly. This is the what did you have to say about the assassination of Charlie Kerf? I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim What did you have to say about Jay Jones? I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time. I'll reclaim my time.

I will reclaim my time. The gentlemen will stop talking. I'm not playing this game. The gentleman will stop talking on my time. Order, order. We'll give you a few seconds to close, Mr. Frost. I have to comment on this because this is not silly. It is not silly to expect good behavior from the people at the highest levels of our government.

Do you expect from Jay Jones? Not your time. Do you expect some J. Jones? Not your time, including the president of the United States. I yield back. Then you had Democratic Congresswoman Summer Lee turn the tables on MAGA Republican James Comer. Watch this.

Just yesterday, Trump also froze approximately $10 billion in funding for programs supporting child care, social services, grants, and cash assistance, and not only Minnesota, but in other Democratic-led states of California, Colorado, New York, and Illinois. No matter what party were elected to. we represent the people of our district, Democrat or Republican, we represent as the federal government, all people of all states, irrespective of how they voted. That's the charge that I took and I would like and hope that you all would do the same. When so many of these social service programs are being gutted and defunded, fraud becomes even more harmful as that means even less money is going to

people who need it. People need these programs. This situation should be an opportunity to take a deep look at the programs and improve their oversight abilities, not an excuse to cut them entirely. If we care about the most vulnerable, if we care about the most marginalized, this is an opportunity to do so. And I welcome us to actually do that one day. Thanks, I yield back. Ms. Lee, the IGs are hired to identify fraud. They haven't identified fraud. The IGs have failed. But anyway, you all have failed. No, you all continue to fail. We've done nothing. You have a gavel, Mr. Commer. We barely do hearings on anything that actually affects change. You have to have power here. And yet you don't do it.

anything. Yes, he actually initiated this, sir, but thank you so much for your opinion. You have failed. I yield it back. And look at this incredible moment where Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansberry, you know, we think that she's so great. Both her and Congresswoman Lee are amazing. Here's Congresswoman Stansberry torching James Comer play this clip. And you all are sitting here running legislation on showerheads while millions of Americans health insurance is expiring, while millions of Americans can't even put food on the table right now. And you're over here parading around state officials, demonizing immigrants, talking about cutting basic programs, and you're passing legislation to redefine showerheads in Congress while the president of the United States is illegally invading foreign countries.

Order. General ladies, times expired. So I find it appalling and discuss. Order. Then the Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, who's been doing an incredible job. Congress member Garcia, watch what he says play this clip. We should fight fraud when people rip off programs designed to help working families. And also we should fight fraud when large corporations and wealthy individuals dodge their own taxes and rig the system for their own benefit. And especially we should fight fraud when figures in our government, particularly those in power,

within the White House or agencies get rich and profit from their offices. Fraud is never acceptable, and it undermines public trust, whoever commits it. But let's remember that some of the worst fraud and corruption is actually found at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Republicans like to talk about fraud in states with Democratic governors, oftentimes exclusively. But Republicans also have a president who has pardoned or reduced jail time for 25 criminal convicted of fraud in this year alone. Now, some of these fraud cert have made also huge campaign contributions to Donald Trump. And worst of all, Trump's pardons mean that these criminals can avoid paying back more than

$1 billion, which they owe their victims and dwarfs much of the fraud that the House majority wants to talk about today. This is actually the opposite of accountability. Instead, the House majority wants to excuse and cut programs, which they have done from the start. Now, Donald Trump's signature law cut money for health care and food programs. Medicaid and CHIP help almost half the kids in the United States see a doctor. And that, we lost, of course, a trillion dollars in those programs. Over 10 million people could lose health care. Trump's law also cut 40 million people who use SNAP. And this includes, by the way,

one out of every five kids. And this is happening not just in Minnesota. The president plans to freeze more than $10 billion for child care subsidies, social services, and cash support for low-income families in Minnesota, New York, Colorado, Illinois, and my home state of California. Of course, we know these states have Democratic governors that Donald Trump wants to punish, and we should look at those consequences if we want to talk about fraud. In Minnesota, which we're talking about today, Donald Trump is removing child care funding for the entire state. That frozen funding provides child care for over 18,000 kids. These kids didn't commit fraud. So I want to know why they should be punished.

Last night, he said he's withholding all possibly Medicaid funds from Minnesota, which could harm one in five residents. Now, in New York, another state he's threatening, that's over 66,000 innocent kids, while pardoning, of course, 25 fraudsters and robbing victims of over $1 billion. Donald Trump should have to face the kids and parents who will be hurt. even though they've done nothing wrong. I want to know what the president and the House majority expect the parents of these kids to do. You know that pressure this time of year

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at American-giant.com, Code Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S. In contrast, you have Maga-Republican Congressmember James Comer and the Maga-Republicans calling the Democratic Congresswoman Presley baby. They called her baby. You had Nancy Mace and others, while Congresswoman Presley was asking questions, started to shout at Congresswoman Presley. They just be quiet, baby. Be quiet, baby.

The hell is wrong with these MAGA Republicans play this clip. But really, he's just a criminal. So raise your hand if you oppose Trump's pardon of this Minnesota individual. Ma'am, this grandstanding nonsense. This is not great standing. This is what Minnesotans hate about D.C. This is accountability and you are hypocrites. So again, I will take your refusal.

Thanks for demonstrating my opening statement. She's off the rails. Reclaiming my time. I'm not off the rails, please. You are totally off the rails. Nancy, another of your own time back.

Order, Mr. Chairman. If Republicans I didn't come here, you know, Mr. me, you present not your time.

You have no time. You have no time. You're out of time. You're out of time. You're out of time. We're done here. You got to touch you out of time.

At least. Mr. Chair, she's expired. Out of order and out of time. It's personally. You've already secure your MSNBC. spot tonight.

I'm not, I'm looking for accountability, and you want to run from the home home on MSNBC of your king and this administration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Mr. Chairman, I agree, she's going to be a great host on MSNBC. This is my time. I would want to jump in front of the space if I were you, Ms. Presley. I would claim my time. This is my time.

I wouldn't want to interrupt Ms. Mace. It's her time. Chair recognizes Ms. Oh. Mr. Chair, she did not get all of her time. Ooh. Mr. Chairman, she wants to interrupt. What do we have to do to get this woman in order?

Her time is expired. Chair recognizes Ms. Mays. You're going to be great on TV. You're really good. No, baby, you're not. No, baby, you're not. You are not in order. You're out of order.

Goodbye. You're done. All right. Mr. Chairman is my third minutes. Are we good here? And here's how Nancy Mace, the Mago Republican, wanted to spend her time asking the one normal voice on this panel about whether Somalians who are citizens should be stripped of their citizenship.

Play this clip. First question is this, Mr. Ballew, this afternoon. Should Somalians in Minnesota be required to speak English, their citizens? Yes or no? Should they be required to speak English if they're American citizens? I think that question is really inappropriate. Should they, it's not inappropriate. This is the United States of America.

Do you speak English? Should Americans speak English? citizen speak English, yes or no? Point of inquiry, is English the official language of the United States? I'm just, I said a question. Mr. Chairman, I'm being interrupted again by another. It's not a valid parliamentary inquiry. I would like to reclaim my time, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to reclaim my time. She's asking the witness. She's asking a valid, that's not a valid inquiry. It's a point. Women have a right to speak in this committee. Conservative women have the right to speak here and not be interrupted by my male colleagues. Mr. Chairman, I would like to reclaim my time. I lost like 10 seconds there.

Okay, we'll give you 10 seconds there. Okay, my next question is should Somalians who committed fraud be denaturalized and deported, Mr. Ballew? Again, I'm not sure that's an appropriate question because the majority of Somali are citizens. So if you commit fraud in this country and you are here from Somali, you don't believe they should be denaturalized and deported. How much fraud would it take? for you to want to denaturalize and deport someone who committed fraud in this country? How much? Again, a billion, nine billion, 19 billion. What would it take for you? Most Somali Minnesotans are citizens. Then you had Tom Emmer, the Maga Republican Congress member from Minnesota,

who celebrates the fact that Donald Trump has revoked billions of dollars in child care services, billions of dollars and other essential services for the state of Minnesota. Great job, congressman throwing your own damn state under the bus you despicable grotesque i could just go on and on now i'll stop with the inhibited attacks and just focus more on the clips i apologize sometimes i get so angry from from these people but tom emmer says have you all seen on x all the whistleblowers on x the whistleblowers on on elon musk's bot infested platform okay emmer play this clip mr emmer Thank you, Chairman Comer, for holding this important hearing. As I said on Monday, good riddance to Governor Walls, but he cannot escape accountability for the estimated $9 billion in fraud. How did this happen? And where the hell has the Twin Cities media been? The Star Tribune is complicit. They have had this story for years, if you've just heard, and they've refused to report anything on it. In fact, they continue to try and cover up. demanded answers and accountability for years, but have seen nothing from walls, his administration,

our Democrat colleagues like Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar, Ilhan Omar, and Angie Craig, or the worthless Star Tribune. Thank God for President Donald J. Trump for finally bringing attention to this issue. Representative Rerick, I'm going to begin with you. You've been working on this issue for years. You've spoken to the whistleblowers personally. Is that correct? That is correct. You have an understanding that 1,000 whistleblowers running an account on X have come forward to expose fraud in Minnesota state agencies and they have been entirely ignored by Tim Walls and have even been retaliated against. Is that accurate? That is correct. Even this morning, I got another message. Well, in your experience, are their claims credible or are they politically motivated against Walls? They're completely credible, not politically motivated.

Now, back to the Democrats, Congress member McGovern taking the floor. and here's what he had to say. Republicans found the time to illegally slap Donald Trump's name onto the Kennedy Center, defacing a memorial to a great president in a single day, 24 hours, 24 hours. But a legally required honor for the officers

who defended this democracy? I mean, five years of excuses. Five years of delay, five years of cowardice and disrespect to law enforcement, by Republicans. When all is said and done, history will not look kindly on these Trump Republicans and this Republican majority. And they all know it. They all know it. And at this point, let me say to my Republican friends, it is always the right time to do the decent thing,

the thing the law requires, which is to hang the plaque honoring these brave men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us, to defend this building, and to defend defend this democracy. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the record, along with any extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. Without objection. And I reserve the balance of my time. More from Congress member McGovern right here. Here's what he had to say as well. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I'm going to offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H. Conre's 33, which calls for the plaque honoring the brave police officers that defended this Capitol and our democracy on January

6th to be put up in the Capitol as required by law, as required by law. Mr. Speaker, I am sick and tired of Republicans standing up and proclaiming their unwavering support for law enforcement when they won't even honor the law enforcement that saved them, that saved us and our democracy here on January 6th. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the January 6th attack on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump. Over 140 officers were injured. An officer was killed. Others died by suicide following the trauma of that day. And do you know how the White House marked this anniversary? Do you know how the White House marked this anniversary? They marked it by putting up an Orwellian webpage, rewriting history, and claiming it is the officers who were to blame

for the violence. How disgusting. How despicable. How disgraceful. You know, and I asked my Republican colleagues, do you really believe that crap? When you look in the eyes of the Capitol police that guard this building, do you accuse them of being responsible for the violence of that day how dare the president of the united states say such a thing and how shameful of this republican majority to stay silent in the face of this depravity and rewriting of history and folks i just think the contrast there that i shared with you between the democrats and these magas are night and day night and day the end of the day what i just want to see is people fighting for the american people i want to see people focusing on housing housing

housing. People can't afford homes right now. People can't afford their rent right now. People are psychologically tortured if they're lucky enough to get a paycheck, living paycheck to paycheck in this country. And Donald Trump's out there threatening to invade Greenland and every country in the Western Hemisphere. And he's got his Gestapo, his SS forces on the street murdering U.S. citizens to try to intimidate, harass and distract from a MAGA Republican cover up of a child sex trafficking ring, how utterly, utterly despicable. We'll cover it every step of the way here on the Midas Touch Network. Hit subscribe. Let's get to $6 million. We appreciate you. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack at Midasplus.com. You'll get daily

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