The Philip DeFranco Show - 140+ US Troops Injured In Trump’s Iran War As Strikes Are About To Get Worse

Starting point is 00:00:00 The US and Israel just launched their most intense strikes on Iran since the war began. You also have people in Tehran saying that if this keeps up another 10 days, nothing's going to be left to the city. And the president's response to all this has been telling CBS that the war is very complete pretty much. Though the same day his Department of Defense posted that we have only just begun to fight, so you have many wondering, well, which is it? Because while Trump, he keeps contradicting himself and his own officials, the bombs are getting bigger, the death tolls climbing, and there are reports that Israel is trying to inflict maximum damage before Trump randomly decides to pull the plug. And with that, you had Defense Secretary Pete Hegg said, saying this at a press briefing this morning. Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.

Starting point is 00:00:39 The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes. Intelligence, more refined and better than ever. And that tracks with what people are saying on the ground. Residents in Tehran telling reporters that the recent bombardment has been the most intense of the entire war. One person telling the New York Times, it seems like they're striking everywhere, homeschools, mosques, hospitals, saying, if they keep hitting Tehran like this for another 10 days, nothing will remain of the city. As far as why it's ramping up now, there's been no official reason given,

Starting point is 00:01:04 but Iran's ability to defend itself and retaliate, it's been degrading. Though, there's also been a more cynical explanation out there, right? A source familiar with Israel's plans told Reuters that the military has been trying to inflict as much damage as possible before their window closes. Because Trump might taco again and just, you know, put out the mission accomplished banner. And that assumption, it seems kind of justified, because how and when this war ends appears to have nothing to do with the defined military objective and everything to do with the whims of just one person.

Starting point is 00:01:28 It had said it went from three to eight weeks to now refusing to give a timeline at all, instead offering an answer designed to let Trump declare victory whenever he feels like it. From the beginning, from this podium, we haven't stated how long it will take. Our will is endless. Ultimately, the president gets to determine the end state of those objectives, right? But what he's said continually, and I want the American people to understand is this is not endless, it's not protracted, we're not allowing mission creep. The president has set a very specific mission to accomplish. And our job is to unrelentingly deliver that. Now, he gets to control the throttle. He's the one deciding. He's the one elected on behalf of the American people when we're achieving those particular objectives. And so it's not for me to posit whether it's the beginning, the middle, or the end. That's his and he'll continue to communicate that.

Starting point is 00:02:14 And Trump has been all over the place. And again, in a CBS interview yesterday, he said, I think the war is very complete, pretty much. And that same day, the defense department posted, we have only just begun to fight. Which also, notably, sounded a lot like Hegg said just a few days earlier where he told 60 minutes, This is only just the beginning. You then also had Trump at an event with House Republicans in Florida calling it a short-term excursion, while then also saying that the war would continue until Iran is totally indecisively defeated. We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all. And actually at a press conference, you had a reporter finally asking the obvious question.

Starting point is 00:02:50 Mr. President, you've said the war is quote, very complete, but your defense secretary says this is just the beginning, so which is, Is it, and how long should Americans be prepared for this border last for? Well, I think you could say it both. The beginning, it's the beginning of building a new country, but they certainly, they have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no anti-aircraft equipment. It's all been blown up. They have no radar.

Starting point is 00:03:14 They have no telecommunications. And they have no leadership. It's all gone. So, you know, you could look at that statement. We could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here. We leave here, I could call it, or we could go further, and we're gonna go further. So just so we're on the same page, the President of the United States is simultaneously saying that the war is basically over and that it's going to continue until total victory.

Starting point is 00:03:37 And you have his officials toggling between just the beginning and the president decides when it's done. Nobody seems to know what the plan is because it appears that there isn't one. There is just Trump deciding in real time. Now also with that, Trump's suggestion that the war might be winding down, it did help oil prices come down from their peak, because they had actually just hit their highest point since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And there, if you look, he has been somewhat consistent and at least trying to calm the markets down based off of the crazy shit that he's been doing. And actually, at the Florida event, he suggested relaxing certain oil-related sanctions and even saying that some might not be reinstated after the war. And while he didn't name specific countries, Russia is the obvious candidate there, especially since this reportedly came after a call with Putin about both Iran and Ukraine.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And in fact, the US already issued a temporary 30-day waiver last week to put India by Russian oil stranded at sea. Also, regarding the Strait of Hormuzu's who had Trump opening the door to continued military action to keep it open. We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world. You then also add him doubling down on social media, writing that Iran would be hit 20 times harder than it has been so far. And adding, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back as a nation again. Death, fire, and fury will reign upon them. But I hope and pray that it does not happen. But in the face of all of this, Iranian officials do not appear to be backing down.

Starting point is 00:04:53 Read atop, security official appeared to threaten Trump directly writing, even though it was bigger than you couldn't eliminate Iran, be careful not to get eliminated yourself. And Iran's Speaker of Parliament, writing that the country is definitely not looking for a seeswire and adding, we believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson. And then with all this, you had their foreign ministers saying

Starting point is 00:05:09 they're unlikely to return to negotiations because they've had a very bitter experience of talking with Americans after the administration has broken off talks to launch attacks. All while, you have their Revolutionary Guard court claiming they would determine the end of the war themselves and adding that they would not allow one leader of oil to reach the US or its allies while And here, you know, while it might not seem like Iran's in a position to be making threats, you have experts noting that it's not exactly that simple.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Or with many arguing that Iran doesn't need to win militarily. It just needs to outlast the United States or at least hang on long enough that the war becomes too politically and economically costly to continue. And with that you've had sources described as Iranian insiders telling Reuters that the regime is long known that this day would come and they prepared a layered strategy coordinated against the guards sprawling military networks and proxy forces. So you're seeing people like a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics telling Reuters, for them, they're waging an existential fight, saying this is an all-out war. They believe their very survival is at stake. They're willing to bring the temple down on everyone's heads. And you had a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, adding, they're like a bleeding animal wounded, but therefore more dangerous than ever.

Starting point is 00:06:06 But as far as how long Iran can actually sustain, it depends largely on its missile stockpile. And you have American officials saying that a large share has been destroyed now. In fact, Trump claimed yesterday that most of Iran's missiles have been used or destroyed. But also, some reports indicate that Iran may still have more than half of its pre-war arsenal. And if that ends up being true, that's weeks more of continued attacks, which could be a serious problem for Trump, depending on what happens with the Strait of Hormuz and the broader fallout. Which actually on the note of broader moves, you've got France now sending 10 warships to the Middle East, some potentially to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and what Macron described as an unprecedented mobilization.

Starting point is 00:06:37 And that's really just one example of how this is spreading to other countries. But the U.S. and Israel have hit Iran, killing more than 1,200. Israel has also attacked Lebanon, killing more than 500. And Iran has struck at least 10 countries since the war began, killing several dozen people, including seven U.S. service members. And that's also, as the Pentagon revealed today, that, roughly 140 troops have been wounded with eight suffering from life-threatening injuries. And according to Axios' numbers, counting anyone shooting, shielding, or quietly supplying,

Starting point is 00:07:01 the total number of countries directly involved in this conflict is now 20, though it's possibly more. But this is all happening, as China may be preparing to supply Iran with financial assistance, spare parts and missile components, according to U.S. intelligence. And Russia has reportedly already been sharing satellite imagery of American warships and aircraft with Iran helping it target U.S. forces across the region. And then on the other side, Ukraine, which has spent four years defending against the same Iranian-made drones now being used against Gulf countries, they've sent specialists and equipment to help those nations out.

Starting point is 00:07:26 And actually, the war between Russia and Ukraine's being affected here as well. These stocks that were planned for Abu Dhabi, they've been postponed indefinitely. Trump's sanctions waiver could end up also boosting Russia's war economy. And the Pentagon reportedly burned through $5.6 billion in munitions in just the first two days of the assault on Iran. We're eating into stockpiles that were built up over years to deter China and the Pacific. So that ends up raising a very real question of what happens if Beijing makes a move on Taiwan. And one of the interesting ways this was described was a way that Axios put it, saying this isn't World War III, but it may be the closest we've come in decades,

Starting point is 00:07:55 drawing in more countries, more great powers, and more overlapping conflicts in any crisis since the Cold War. And then also, while the scope of this war expands, it's changing how wars are far. Because we're seeing artificial intelligence playing a direct role in this one. According to the Washington Post, a system built by Palantir analyzed classified data from satellites, surveillance, and other intelligence provide real-time targeting and prioritization of military operations in Iran. And as planning was underway, the system reportedly suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise location coordinates and ranked them by importance. With one expert telling the post that the ability to develop targeting packages at machine speed

Starting point is 00:08:26 rather than human speed is the key paradigm shift in combat thanks to AI. But then he also said that the downside is that AI gets it wrong and adding, we need humans to check the output of generative AI when the stakes are life and death. In that comment, it lands very, very hard when you think about the strike on a girl's school that killed 175 people, most of them children. With mounting evidence suggesting that the US was responsible and the military's own investigators are reportedly leaning toward that conclusion as well. And while right now, there's no publicly available evidence that AI was involved in that specific strike,

Starting point is 00:08:53 it is exactly the kind of mistake that people are worried about when algorithms make targeting decisions at a speed that humans can't keep up with. And then also one of the things that stands out here is that the AI system that the military using, you know, it may have been built by Palantir, but embedded reportedly it's clawed, the AI tool developed by Anthropic. But even though the Pentagon is reportedly using Claude to pick targets in Iran, it also just banned every other federal agency and every company with a defense contract from using Anthropics products. And the reason is that Anthropic refused to remove two safety restrictions, no domestic mass surveillance, and no weapons that make kill decisions without humans. For the Pentagon, they said no, they've also now punished the company, and so Anthropic is suing. And the case, you know, it has implications for every AI company, every defense contractor, and every corporation that tries to push back against this administration.

Starting point is 00:09:35 And as far as how we got here, back in January, you would defense secretary Pete Hagsette issuing a memo, instructing all AI companies with Pentagon contracts to remove restrictions on their technology and give the military a blank check to use their products whoever it sees fit. And their argument was that, hey, the military follows the law and companies shouldn't be able to impose additional limits. And while most AI companies agreed to renegotiate Anthropic, which had a $200 million pilot contract with the Pentagon, they didn't. Instead, they insisted that the DOD agreed to two conditions. Again, no domestic mass surveillance and no autonomous weapons that may kill decisions without a human in the loop. Two things, I think most people would think are fairly

Starting point is 00:10:06 reasonable asks. But the Pentagon was not one of those with that opinion. Instead, you had Hegsat threatening that if Anthropic did not fall in line, he'd designate the company a supply chain risk. And that essentially puts it on a government blacklist. When the company gets that label, it's cut off from future contracts and the government's typically required to stop using its products. But Anthropic, they held their ground and they missed the compliance deadline. Which is why you then had Trump posting on Truth Social that he was directing every federal agency in the United States government to immediately cease all use of Anthropics technology. But then also, two sentences later, he appeared to contradict himself by adding that there

Starting point is 00:10:35 would be a six-month phase-out for agencies like the Department of Defense that are currently using Anthropics products. And then shortly after you at Hegg Seth confirming the supply chain risk designation writing, that no contractor supplier or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic. And with that, he said that they would be transitioning to a more patriotic service. Right, a big thing to understand is that the supply chain risk label, that's a huge deal. I mean, it's completely unprecedented here.

Starting point is 00:10:58 It is a designation that's only ever been applied to foreign adversaries like Chinese and Russian firms suspected of aiding foreign intelligence. Anthropics is that it's literally the first time in history that has been publicly applied to an American company. The ripple effects here, they're massive. Tons of major companies with military contracts use Anthropics products. We're talking Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin. And Hexeth's demand that all of those companies stop using Anthropic, it would hit some of the biggest corporate interests in the world.

Starting point is 00:11:21 And so with all this, you've had Anthropic filing two lawsuits, one in California and one in DC, and they're asking the federal courts to strike down the designation. The first argument being that the Trump administration exceeded the legal scope of the statute that gives it the power to designate supply chain risks. Anthropics saying that the law is narrow and intended for foreign adversaries who pose a national security risk, and arguing that the administration hasn't explained how an American AI company that the Pentagon is still actively using in combat fits that description. With that, they're also arguing that the law doesn't give Trump the power to ban all federal agencies. agencies from using Anthropic and it doesn't give Hegseth the authority to ban private companies from using its products for non-defense purposes. And they say Hegseth failed to follow the required government procedures, including notifying Congress, consulting relevant authorities, and ensuring the designation was the least restrictive option available. And then their second argument is that the whole thing violates the First Amendment.

Starting point is 00:12:02 Anthropics says that the administration is misusing a law designed for foreign supply chain threats to punish an American company for exercising protected speech, specifically its public position on AI safety guardrails. And it's this one that you have legal experts saying is very, very strong. Arguing, this is clearly not what the supply chain risk law was intended for. Especially given that the Pentagon has repeatedly sought to obtain Anthropics services for national defense. Also, others have pointed out that Hegset almost certainly can't ban companies from using Claude for non-defense purposes. In fact, major players like Microsoft and Google have publicly said that they're going to continue using

Starting point is 00:12:30 Anthropics products outside of their defense contracts. One of the things that tells you how serious this is, is that you've also had a few dozen employees from Open AI and Google, right? Anthropics' main competitors, filing a legal brief supporting the lawsuit. And they argued that if the Pentagon wins, they would undoubtedly have consequences for the United states as industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence and beyond and dadding. By silencing one lab, the government reduces the industry's potential to innovate solutions. And then also you had a group representing some of the world's biggest tech companies

Starting point is 00:12:56 sending a letter to Hegset accusing him of misusing a law that exists for genuine emergencies. And so you're seeing, like, Anthropics rivals going to bat for it in court. But you know, is very notable because the tech industry at large has kissed the ring in a lot of areas under this administration. The fact that they're digging in here publicly, legally, on the record, It tells you how seriously they take the right to set their own guardrails on AI. And then there's more we've got to dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, if your weeks moving so fast, you're basically eating whatever's closest, which let's face it, for me, it's usually something like Dorito's not the best choice. This is for you.

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Starting point is 00:14:10 DeFranco 50 off to get 50% off and a free breakfast for a year. Then, diving right back into the news, the FBI just subpoenaed the 2020 election audit records from Maricopa County, Arizona, which is the largest county and the most important swing state in the country. Right, and this is that audit that was funded by MAGA organizations, the claims that have produced were debunked, and when the recount was actually done, they found more votes for Biden. And that was five years ago, but here we are again. With a federal grand jury issuing the subpoena to the Arizona Senate for records related to its 2020 audit, and you had Arizona Senate president, Warren Peterson confirming yesterday that they

Starting point is 00:14:39 They received it and complied. And of course, important context here is that Maricopa County was pivotal in 2020. It helps swing Arizona for Biden, making it the first time that a Democrat won the state since Bill Clinton in 1996. And Trump, you know, ever since he's been obsessed with it. He's definitely not alone after the election.

Starting point is 00:14:53 The Arizona Senate oversaw that audit, largely funded by groups that were openly MAGA and they peddled conspiracy theories. More than $5.7 million came from organizations like America's future, chaired by a former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn and a nonprofit run by Sidney Powell, Trump's former lawyer who pled guilty in connection

Starting point is 00:15:08 with her efforts to overturn his lawsuit. Georgia. And the auditor submitted claims about deleted files, faulty internet connections, and questionable signature verifications, though none of it was substantiated and Maricopa County pushed back hard. This board is done explaining anything to these people who are playing investigator with our constituents ballots and equipment paid for with real people's tax dollars. The county was literally fact-checking the audit's claims in real-time on social media. I'm making clear that most of the accusations were coming from either people who were just lying or it was like an inexperienced

Starting point is 00:15:39 experienced seemingly clumsy operation. And again, one of the wild things is that when the audit was finally completed, they found additional votes for Biden. Now with all this, Arizona state law requires paper ballots to be destroyed two years after election, so the originals are gone. But according to former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, the audit team made digital copies of the 2020 ballots. Now, whether those copies were included and what was turned over, that hasn't been confirmed, but also I think we need to talk about is this is not happening in isolation. Less than two months ago, the FBI seized an election office in Atlanta, also in connection to the 2020 election. Because Georgia, led in par by Stacey Abrams, organizing, went blue in 2020 for the first time since 1992.

Starting point is 00:16:11 And just like Arizona, it was immediately under Maga Fire for allegedly rigging the election. If we could just go over some of the numbers, I think it's pretty clear that we won. We won very substantially, Georgia. It never made sense. Much of that had to do with Fulton County. So Arizona and Georgia, the two states that flipped in 2020, both are now under federal investigation for elections that have already been audited, litigated, and found to be legitimate. And as far as Trump with all this, he was predictably thrilled. We're posting on truth social that the subpoena was great, which is an odd reaction from someone who still hasn't found a single piece of evidence of rigging after five years of looking.

Starting point is 00:16:45 Right, and then, connected to all this, you have Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes raising the alarm, calling this part of a broader effort to undermine the electoral process. Rainy's also spoken out against Trump's idea about nationalizing elections. There's nothing more un-American. That's just not how this country was built. That's not what the Constitution says. Newt Fonte is releasing a statement saying that these efforts are founded on conspiracy theories and raised serious as concerns and warning that prolonged disputes and conflicting claims risk creating unnecessary chaos and undermining public confidence in our election system.

Starting point is 00:17:13 With them calling the subpoena a move by the DOJ to undermine the legal process. So you also had Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays being more blunt, calling it the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies. And all of this, it's connected because relitigating 2020, it's not just about the past, but it's about building the justification to change the rules for the future. We've watched this playbook develop over years now. When organizers like Stacey Abrams were building movements against voters' surprise, and actually increasing turnout, some of Trump's biggest supporters were pushing back against the idea of more people voting.

Starting point is 00:17:40 A power grab that's smelling more and more like exactly what it is. And they were spewing that rhetoric while there were also real verifiable reports of voter suppression. Among other things, things like long wait times and closed polling locations, creating the exact kind of power imbalances that McConnell was projecting onto the other side. We know voter suppression is real, but we never talk about it. We take it for granted. And now you've got Trump trying to push to end mail-in voting entirely. We're going to end mail-in voting. It's so. It's a fraud. It's time that the Republicans get tough and stop it.

Starting point is 00:18:10 Because the Democrats want it, it's the only way they can get elected. Or you got Trump pushing the SAVE Act, which he already said is meant to guarantee the midterms fall in Republicans favor. The SAVE Act would in effect take away your right to vote. He's also pushed states to redraw congressional maps to lean further right. He's battered election offices and voters with political bullying. And just today you had the DNC suing the Trump administration to get a straight answer on whether armed federal agents or military personnel are going to be at the polls in the midterm.

Starting point is 00:18:35 And so with all of this, one of the reasons that it's important that we talk about it is it's important to remember and Project out there that this is not actually about election integrity Right, if it were they would have found something by now This is about Trump and his people using the machinery of the federal government to cast doubt on any election result that doesn't go his way and To make the process of voting harder for the people who are most likely to vote against him And this is ultimately part of the Trump playbook we've seen over and over again right the conspiracy theories around voter fraud have been repeated so many times from him and his people and with so much energy that a lot of people just they treat it like it's fact But it is not. It never has been. You know, looking at the situation, maybe Stacey Abrams said it best. We've been practicing at democracy for a really long time. America gets it right most of the time,

Starting point is 00:19:13 but when we stumble, it is really bad. And so you know, we'll see where all this lands with the FBI, but also, I believe that the subpoena is not fully the point, that the doubt that it creates is, the doubt is the weapon. And then actually on the note of doubt and uncertainty, let's talk about what's going on with the Supreme Court. Because two Supreme Court justices just went at it in public over whether the court's basically letting the Trump administration skip the line. With Justice Kavanaugh saying that they don't have a choice, Justice Jackson saying that they're the ones who created the problem and the numbers They actually appear to back her up. The Trump administration has won 80% of the emergency cases that it's brought to court, which is a crazy number But also first, let's get into some background because since coming back into office the Trump administration has flooded the Supreme Court with emergency applications

Starting point is 00:19:50 These quick requests to green light policies while lower courts are still debating whether they're even legal So we're talking immigration, federal funding banning trans athletes firing independent agency leaders things like that And with that you've had a whole chunk of the Trump agenda just fast track and how it works As you know, on the court's normal docket, justices choose which cases to take, they receive extensive written briefs, hear oral arguments, deliberate for months, and then they publish an opinion laying out

Starting point is 00:20:11 how each justice voted and why. But on the emergency docket, what people call the shadow docket, you have cases typically decided without oral argument, without full briefing, sometimes in a matter of days. No vote count, no reasoning published, just a decision. In the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority, they've allowed many of Trump's policies to just take effect through this process,

Starting point is 00:20:27 even as lower courts are still actively questioning their legality. And again, the Trump administration has won 80% of its shadow docket cases. That is, leaps and bounds beyond what the Biden administration ever achieved. And understandably, it's drawn straight up contempt from Democrats who are accusing the conservative majority of loading the scale in Trump's favor. And all of that, it brought us to yesterday where you had Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Kintanji Brown Jackson, making a rare public appearance together at an annual lecture honoring former federal judge Thomas Flannery. Right, and they gave us a back and forth exactly on this issue, or as he did, I guess, as Supreme Court

Starting point is 00:20:55 justices can get, with Kavanaugh making the case that the uptick in emergency applications is in a Trump exclusive thing. Kavanaugh arguing that the gridlock in Congress is led to more executive orders from presidents across the board, which leads to more court challenges, saying there's a more aggressive executive branch over the years because it's difficult to get legislation through Congress. And with this, he pointed specifically to the Biden administration's emergency request to maintain access to the abortion drug myth of Pristone while a lower court challenge played out. We're saying that that is proof that this is not one-sided, but you had Jackson really not having that. Jackson said it's very different. Biden was asking the court to maintain the status quo,

Starting point is 00:21:25 keep access to something that already existed. Whereas Trump, he's doing something fundamentally different. Saying what is happening now is the administration is making new policy, but then insisting that the new policy take effect immediately before a challenge about its lawfulness is determined. But also Jackson didn't just blame Trump. She put it on the court itself. Specifically, the conservative justices like Kavanaugh who keep agreeing to hear these emergency motions. And her argument is that by signaling a willingness to take these cases before they work through the lower courts, the conservative majority has just emboldened the administration to keep doing it. She called it a warped kind of proceeding and the lack of written opinions and shadow docket decisions, it's a big part of what bothers her. Because when she writes a dissent on a normal case, she's speaking to the public, saying when I am writing a dissent, I am speaking to the American people probably more so than anybody.

Starting point is 00:22:06 Hope is that at some point, in the future, there will be enough people who are agreeing with the way I am viewing this particular issue. With then adding that this whole approach to the shadow docket, it's not serving the court and it's not serving our country well at this point. Well, Kavanaugh, to his credit, he didn't entirely disagree. Instead, he said that the speed at which they have to respond to these emergency cases is frustrating. Saying none of us enjoys this, but then he also said he doesn't feel the court has a choice. Which, hey, this is just my opinion. That's just words. Right, his actions are that of someone being complicit,

Starting point is 00:22:33 and, you know, you can kind of complain about it, but he's still doing what he's doing. You know, with all this, well, obviously a big part of the question is, what is going to happen for the rest of Trump's term? I think having a longer vision on this, asking the question of what is the court system going to look like at the end of Trump's second term? That might be the bigger thing.

Starting point is 00:22:47 Right, because what happens if and when you get a Democratic president in there who looks at the Trump playbook, looks at how they've handled things, and go, oh, okay, so that's what we're allowed to do. Because unfortunately, it feels, like things have been used, abused, and broken to such a degree that if someone goes in there, that's not a Republican and they try and do something that is like old school normal, they're not going to be able to accomplish anything and the people that voted them in are going to resent them. And while I think that a lot of people, they crave some normalcy, the path back to normal

Starting point is 00:23:14 probably involves a lot of non-normal things, at least based off a reason, historic precedent. Though again, this is going to be a longstanding question, not even maybe the next four to 10 years because there is a conservative supermajority there right now. And then there's more we've got to dive into in just a minute, but first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, paying $60 to $100 a month for wireless in 2026, it's equivalent to paying for dial-up on purpose. Today's sponsor, Mint Mobile, was essentially built to save you money on your phone bill. They give you premium wireless without the premium price and you can sign up online without dealing with a store chaos. Right now, they're offering y' all 50% off unlimited wireless plans, locking in Mint's lowest price ever, $15 a month on a $3,6, or 12-month plan. It's $15 a month for unlimited, which is less than what some of you are paying in random fees alone.

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Starting point is 00:24:26 Then, diving right back into the news. New Mexico's Department of Justice is searching Jeffrey Epstein's Zoro Ranch right now as part of a criminal probe into the property. But the files accuse Epstein of abusing women and girls there, and there's even an allegation that he ordered the bodies of two girls to be buried nearby. But despite all that, the property was never fully investigated the way that Epstein's other homes were. That is until now, but also you have officials being upbron about what they're up against. Where you're the state's attorney general, recently writing an op-ed, laying it out.

Starting point is 00:24:50 I want to be honest about the challenges ahead. Epstein has been dead for years. Zoro Ranch has changed ownership. Physical evidence may no longer exist and the statute of limitations is likely run on many potential offenses. These are real obstacles and survivors deserve to hear them stated plainly. But then adding, we will follow the evidence wherever it leads and leave no credible question unexplored. With them also promising to release a public report of all the findings and you had the DOJ asking the public to stay away from the area and ground any drones nearby to avoid interfering with the operation.

Starting point is 00:25:15 Now as far as the ownership changed, the estate sold back in 2023. And this year we actually learned it's now in the hands of a Texas real estate mogul who's actually just won the Republican primary for Texas comp troller. And he's promised full cooperation calling the search a welcome step toward truth and justice, but also since the property changed hands years after Epstein's death, you have the question of, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:33 what evidence is actually going to still be there? You also have state lawmakers urging that no stone be left unturned, and they've even shared a tip line for anyone with information on crimes at Epstein and his associates committed in New Mexico. Now also with this situation over the weekend, you had a major rally being held outside of the ranch

Starting point is 00:25:46 to coincide with International Women's Day. And among those who showed up, you had the brothers of Virginia, Robert Schuphrey, one of the most vocal Epstein survivors until she died of a reported suicide last year. And they demanded that the DOJ released the full files, including the names of the men that Virginia alleged abused her in New Mexico.

Starting point is 00:25:59 And there's this growing sense among survivors and advocates that these state-level investigations might actually be the real turning point in the Epstein case. Especially because a lot of people have lost faith in how the federal government's handling. I mean, many other, they believe that the DOJ is running a cover up. And actually on that note, after enormous public pressure, the DOJ did end up releasing previously withheld documents containing allegations against Trump. In a series of FBI interviews from 2019, you had a woman claiming that she was sexually assaulted by Epstein,

Starting point is 00:26:22 and Trump when she was a teenager. She also claimed that Epstein blackmailed her mother for years after the alleged abuse. But also the documents don't say whether the FBI found the claims credible or what they did to verify them. And so, well, understandably, a lot of the focus right now has been on Iran and there are massive implications there. Between these allegations, the New Mexico search and the constant stream of headlines that are still happening, along with Iran at the same time, it still seems like there's a lot of energy to finding out more from this, and there are a lot of paths for lawmakers and investigators to go down in this case. And actually with all this, you had Representative Burr-O-Connor writing last night, I will not relent until the files are release and we have investigations and prosecutions.

Starting point is 00:26:55 Look, here's why people shouldn't give up hope because when people cover it, when people journalists make a big deal of it, then suddenly Pambati relents and they would get 10,000 more files, 40,000 more files. So we need to just be on this until we can get a judge to order the release of the rest of the files. And that's really the core of it, right? The OJ didn't release those Trump documents because they suddenly decided transparency was a priority. They released them because public pressure got too loud to ignore. Public outcry, it works.

Starting point is 00:27:24 Media coverage, it works. It could be slow, it could be frustrating, it can feel like slamming your head against a wall. Then sometimes you shake something loose. Then sometimes you crack it, and all of a sudden you start seeing a little bit of a spotlight breaking through. And so one of the questions with everything,

Starting point is 00:27:39 but especially this, is whether people keep their focus on it long enough for it to actually matter. Or does, you know, the next news cycle just bury? Because every week that goes by, without full transparency, it's another week that the people, not the survivors, but all the other people who were in those files get to live like nothing ever happened. You know, I think people are just sick and tired of living in a world where there's no accountability.

Starting point is 00:27:58 But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Tuesday, Philip DeFranco show. And while there's more that you can watch right now, including my brand new podcast with John Favro, or maybe you missed last night's Philip DeFranco show, you can check out either those here or in the links in the description. But no matter what, I'll see you right back here tomorrow for another dive into the Daily News.

The Philip DeFranco Show - 140+ US Troops Injured In Trump’s Iran War As Strikes Are About To Get Worse

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