The Philip DeFranco Show - Pam Bondi’s Epstein Files Meltdown Was CRAZY

Starting point is 00:00:00 Whatever the founding bothers imagined politics would look like 250 years later, I can tell you one thing. This is not it. How many of Epstein's co-conspirators have you indicted? How many perpetrators are you even investigating? First, you showed it. How many have you indicted? Excuse me.

Starting point is 00:00:16 I'm going to answer the question. I answer my question. No, I'm going to answer the question the way. I want to answer the question. Your theatrics are ridiculous. You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch. And I told you about that, Attorney General, before you see. You don't tell me anything.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Yeah, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate. Lawyer, not even a lawyer. You know, with this anti-Semitic culture right now, she voted against a resolution condemning Oh. Oh, oh. Do you want to go there, Attorney General? Do you want to go there? Are you serious?

Starting point is 00:00:49 I belong to the gentleman from South Carolina. To a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust. Really? Really? Really. Pam Bondi taking an absolute beating in front of the House Judiciary Committee today. With her being the head of the Trump Justice Department, the topic that everyone grilled her on was Jeffrey Epstein. Though it seems like that may not be clear to Bondi because almost every time someone asked her about it,

Starting point is 00:01:09 she deflected to something else, be it the Democrats, illegal immigrants, deep fake porn, or that Ukrainian refugees stabbed on a train last August. You know, instead of talking about Gerlaine Maxwell, who hopefully will die in prison, hopefully will die in prison, you should be talking about Irene Zarutka. I have a couple of other questions. Now with that, she tried to make it out like Trump's been the one that's, actually been pushing to release the files. This has been around since the Obama administration,

Starting point is 00:01:34 this administration, released over three million pages of documents, over three million, and Donald Trump signed that law. Though that, of course, it flies in the face of almost an entire year of feet dragging, lies, distractions, and countless deployments of the word hoax that we all witnessed. They think you're stupid, they think you have the memory of a goldfish. Then also you had Bondi arguing that nobody asked all these questions when Biden's attorney general was on the stand, and The Democrats, they actually only care about Epstein now because they want to distract from Trump's stock market.

Starting point is 00:02:03 The Dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader, as I hear Raskin. The Dow is over $50,000 right now. The S&P at almost $7,000. We should be talking about what does a Dow have to do with anything? That's what they just asked. Are you kidding?

Starting point is 00:02:22 Now, that, of course, it flies in the face of numerous economic indicators, inflation, jobs, numbers, debt, health insurance, premiums as well as Trump's dismissal of polling on economic performance. But he's been out there saying that if you don't like the economy, you're essentially crazy, that affordability, it's a democratic hoax. Not that again, any of this is relevant to Epstein. And also, I know we've just collectively forgotten this, but Pam Bondi is not a political operative. She is the attorney general.

Starting point is 00:02:45 Like, I know Trump destroyed, killed, drowned norms in a bathtub, but her role is supposed to be nonpartisan, non-political, independent from the White House. And so for anyone who remembers what American politics was just like a couple of years ago, Seeing America's top lawyer glazed Trump from head to toe is kind of wild. Not surprising, but just wild. So anyway, going back to Epstein, a group of his victims were actually there at the hearing in. Pramilla, Jayapal, had them stand up and then said, And if you are willing, please raise your hands if you have still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Please know for the record that every single survivor has raised their hand. Also at another point after Bondi-Licked Trump's toes on national television a little more and claim that there's no evidence he's committed any crimes, Ted Liu leveled this serious accusation at her. I believe you just lied under oath. There is ample evidence in the Epstein file. Don't you ever accuse me of a crime? I believe you just lied under oath, and this is all in videotape.

Starting point is 00:03:42 You said there's no evidence of crime. I'm showing you here is a witness statement who called into the FUI's threat operation center. He drove Donald Trump around in limo. He overheard what Donald Trump said to Jeffrey on his cell phone. He was so angry, he was going to stop a limo and hurt Donald Trump. And he met a girl who said she was raped by Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. She later had her head blown off, and officers at the scene said that could not have been suicide.

Starting point is 00:04:10 But you also had Thomas Massey, who's been leading the charge on the release of the Epstein files with Rokana, calling her out first for accidentally publishing the names of victims and then for redacting the names of implicated men. To my right is an email that was sent by the victim's lawyers to the DOJ. It was a list of names not true. redact, or sorry, a list of names not to release. What did the DOJ do with this email? They released this email in the document production. Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors. Then you had Massey pulling up another document referring to co-conspirators in sex trafficking and he noted that while billionaire Les Wexner's name was found in other parts of the files, it was redacted there. Right. And while Wexer's name was unredacted after Massey called it out earlier in the week. Today, he got to directly confront Bondi about it. Though she, to

Starting point is 00:04:55 really no one's surprise, just brushed it off. Who in your organization did make this massive failure and released the victim's names? Are you able to track who it was that obscured less Wexner's name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document? Do you have that kind of accountability? I believe Wexner's name was listed more than 4,000 times about I had... Yeah, I already told you that. You're acting like everybody's trying to cover up Wexner's name. Reclaiming my time. I'm going to answer this question.

Starting point is 00:05:27 Reclaiming my time. He was, Mr. Chairman. This isn't how this works. Within 40 minutes, Wexner's name was added back. Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed. Red-hand. There was one redaction out of over 40-7. And so with all this, unsurprisingly, especially if you watched the whole thing, you've had

Starting point is 00:05:46 some slamming Bondi not only for not answering questions, but some even calling for her to be held and contempt of Congress. But also, you know, the DOJ, they're not the only department that has a problem with the abuse of children. Right, because Homeland Security has now been accused of zip-tying dozens of kids during a raid in October on a horse racing track in Idaho. Now, officially, they were targeting an alleged gambling ring with some 300 U.S. citizens and 100 undocumented immigrants getting taken into custody. But only five people were actually arrested for the gambling ring, all on non-violent offenses, and now you have the ACLU alleging in a lawsuit that the whole thing was just a cover for an immigration raid. Describing how, in the process of rounding people up and hurting them onto the racing track, better-laden smash car.

Starting point is 00:06:20 windows where children had taken refuge from a chilly rain. One eight-year-old boy saying that he had to pick tiny shards a glass out of his mouth. Other kids adding that guns were pointed at them, more recalling rubber bullets whizzing over their heads. And according to the lawsuit, multiple kids were zip tied leaving welts and bruises on the wrist, including a 14-year-old girl seen in this photo. Now, both Trump's DHS and the local FBI office had flat-out deny that any kids were zip tied, but later you had some FBI officials clarifying that no young children were zip tied. But then you also had local police acknowledging that, in fact, yes, minors had been zip-tied. And this week, you had CBS News confronting the sheriff who led the raid, and also just to give you an idea of his character, he did the operation on horseback and describes himself as a cowboy. But anyway, he essentially played the playbook, right? At first, he denied it. And when they fact-checked him right there on the spot, he just tried to justify it.

Starting point is 00:07:04 There were kids in there. They weren't zipped. Those little ones were not zip tied. This is a picture of Suhai. We met her this morning. She's 14 years old. Okay. She's a, I would say, a child, a girl who was zipped tied, and these are the bruises from those zip ties. Have you seen that or heard? No, I had not. I had not seen that. But I will tell you this, I've been in this business a long time.

Starting point is 00:07:24 I haven't gone against gang members who are a lot younger than that. She was with her six-year-old brother and eight-year-old sister. But you're taking that out of context. We do not know her. What kind of context do you need? There's a girl with two small children with her. How dangerous could she possibly be?

Starting point is 00:07:40 We don't know. But that's only one of many cases where the authorities were caught lying, which actually speaking on that, we've got to dive into these revelations about Māi-Mari Martinez. Right, we talked about her in depth last week. She's the woman who survived being shot by Border Patrol five times while she was following them in her car. I could hear my back passenger window shattered. I look down and I noticed blood gushing out on my arms and legs. And with that, you had the

Starting point is 00:08:01 agents claiming afterward that she rammed their car and Martinez, she claimed the opposite. She said they side swiped her before getting out and shooting. Well, now we have the body cam footage from that incident and it doesn't appear to back up the agent's story. It starts with them in their vehicle, protesters honking at them and then they say, It's time to get aggressive, get the f*** out, because they're trying to box us in. We're going to make contact, and we're boxed in. Then the driver, Charles Exum, appears to jerk the steering wheel to the left in the direction of Martinez's vehicle, at which point, the video jolts, and then this happens.

Starting point is 00:08:28 All right, out of car. Be advised, we've been struck, we've been struck. Get out. Where that's Exum firing those five shots at Martinez's vehicle, and after she floors it out of there, you can hear bystanders screaming at them. With one agent explaining to another agent on the scene a few minutes later. Vehicle struck us twice. Then when we stepped out, she floored it and tried to run him over.

Starting point is 00:08:48 And then, later in the afternoon, while Martinez was in the hospital being treated for several gunshot wounds, then Border Patrol Commander Greg Bevino sent Exum in email reading. I would like to extend an offer to you to extend your retirement beyond age 57, in light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much left to do. Meanwhile, you had Ex-M texting a group chat with his fellow agents labeled the Posse Chat, where they heap praise on him for a supposed heroism. One writing, you are a legend among agents, you better fucking know that. Beers on me when I see you at training.

Starting point is 00:09:14 As well as another adding, that's awesome, you did real good with a hard eyes emoji. Though also I'll say it's not clear whether they knew what had really happened because Exam said that he fired through Martinez's front windshield, not the back passenger window as she clink, right, which is important because, you know, one would seem to suggest that he was in front of it as it came at him, while the other suggests he was back and off to the side. Also with this, you had Exum sharing a link to a news story headline, federal agents taunted Chicago woman to do something before shooting her attorney claims and then captioning that LMAO.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Then in another message, someone asked him if the bosses had been supportive and he replied, Big time, everyone has been including Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Secretary Nome, and El Hefe himself, according to Bovino. With El Hefe there translating to the boss, which many have interpreted as meaning Donald Trump. And then of course, there's the disgusting text message we saw last week where Exum wrote, I fired five shots and she had seven holes, put that in your book, boys. And you know, for some added context, this guy's not some fresh hire. He's a 23-year-old veteran of the Border Patrol.

Starting point is 00:10:04 And so, you know, you start to think, you know, what else has this guy done throughout his career that we don't know about? And also, for now, he hasn't been charged. In fact, Trump's DHS still maintains that Martinez is a domestic terrorist even though the charges against her were dropped months ago. And of course, this is happening as the agents who shot Renee Good and Alex Prattie are also still free men, though there have been some people arrested. We've now got an Associated Press Review out there, finding at least two dozen ICE employees and contractors who have been charged with crime since 2020. And these are stories that are just crazy.

Starting point is 00:10:29 You've got a detention facility official admitting that he grabbed a handcuffed detainee by the neck and slammed him into a wall last year. There's also another facility official who admitted to sexually abusing a detainee for five months last year while telling other detainees to act as lookouts. An assistant field office supervisor allegedly abused his girlfriend for years, fracturing her hip and nose, causing internal bleeding and attempting to strangle her with the judge calling him a volatile and violent individual. Then another ICE agent was found by local police passed out in a crash car with his agency firearm on him. Then yet another ICE employee went to meet someone he thought was a 17-year-old prostitute and then discovered it was a sting and he told the cops, I'm ice boys. You also had a third agent being pulled over for driving drunk with his two kids in the car and then he demanded to know whether one of the deputies arresting him was Haitian and he threatened.

Starting point is 00:11:08 I'll run him once I get out of here. and if he's not legit, ooh, he's taking a ride back to Haiti. And then lastly, at least for right here, a deportation officer allegedly took cash bribes from bail bondsmen in exchange for removing ICE detainers that ICE had placed on their clients, targeting them for deportation. Now, many of these, they happened over the past year, others go further back, but you have experts warning that this kind of shit,

Starting point is 00:11:26 it's likely just gonna get it worse and worse. Right, arguing that by weakening oversight, shortening, training, doubling its workforce, making its culture more aggressive and arguing that agents have absolute immunity for their actions on duty, the Trump regime, they've just left the door wide open for abuse. And you know, with all this, you had at least one group, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, trying to appeal directly to Donald Trump to end this madness.

Starting point is 00:11:45 Right because you had them saying that they wanted to air a segment during one of Fox and Friends' ad break since the president's known to watch it from the Oval Office. You know, it starts with a voiceover saying federal agents are executing and terrorizing American citizens, detaining and tear gassing children, creating chaos, and then it cuts to Joe Rogan. Are we really gonna be the Gestapo? Where's your papers? Is that what we've come to? And then, the voiceover returns saying ICE are out of control when the government kills Americans and lies about the victims to cover up the crime,

Starting point is 00:12:10 it's not law and order and it's not leadership. Those responsible must be fired. President Trump stop the abuse, investigate the killings, it's gone too far. And while CNN and MS now are running those ads this week, reportedly, Fox refused, offering no explanation to the group as to why. And so with that, you've got Trump just going even deeper into his echo chamber of Fox and Friends,

Starting point is 00:12:28 Truth's social AI slop, and whatever the fuck Stephen Miller is whispering in his ear. 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, have you ever hired someone who looked great on paper and then immediately just reminded you of that Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde scenario. Because hiring's basically like dating,

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Starting point is 00:13:35 But then, diving back into the news, we've got to talk about how the Trump administration just moved to shut down the skies over a major American city for 10 days with zero warning, zero explanation, and then appeared to lie about why it happened. You know, it all enravelled in just a few hours, so let's talk about what happened with El Paso, Texas. Right, because late last night, you had the FAA dropping a bomb show. They issued a temporary flight restriction over El Paso, Texas. So for the next 10 days, everything up to 18,000 feet, and within a 10 nautical mile radius was off limits to all pilots, excluding Mexican airspace. And the accompanying notice to air missions, it did not mince words. It warned pilots. Pilots who do not adhere to the following procedure may be

Starting point is 00:14:08 intercepted, detained, and interviewed by law enforcement slash security personnel. It said violators could face civil penalties or criminal charges, and then came the kicker. They said the United States government may use deadly force against the airborne aircraft if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat. So naturally, people wanted to know, well, okay, what the hell is going on? And then the FAA's answer was just special security reasons. That's it. No other details.

Starting point is 00:14:29 Now, they also issued a second restriction for Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which is a small community about 15 miles northwest of El Paso airport. But the focus, it stayed on El Paso because, you know, it's not just some small town. We're talking about the 23rd most populous city in America with roughly 700,000 residents. And add in Ciudad Juad Juarez just over the border, I mean, you're looking at a metropolitan area of over 2 million people. Opasso's airport alone at nearly 3.5 million passengers last year. So when the airport posted on Instagram that all commercial, cargo and general aviation flights were shut down through February 20th, you'd people understandably confused and pissed off.

Starting point is 00:14:58 You know, to be fair that the FAA does issue temporary flight restrictions all the time for wildfires, hurricanes, a Super Bowl, stuff like that. But shutting down airspace over a major U.S. City for 10 days with no explanation, that's highly unusual. Apparently, it's also pretty uncommon for these notices to go out without carve-outs, for first responders, and military aircraft. So with all this, you had a CNN correspondent covering aviation, putting it bluntly this morning. Saying a ban on all flights over a U.S. City, including Medevac and police helicopters, has no modern precedent. Even the post-9-11 restrictions and the ongoing ones over

Starting point is 00:15:25 D.C. and New York were handled differently. Also, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso, released a statement saying, the highly consequential decision by the FAA to shut down the El Paso airport for 10 days is unprecedented, and resulted in significant concern in the community. Where they're also adding that based on what our office gathered, there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas and that there was no advance notice provided to my office, the city of El Paso or anyone involved in airport operations.

Starting point is 00:15:48 And so she urged the FAA to immediately lift the restrictions, and actually, guess what? Shortly after, they did exactly that. You had the FAA announcing that the temporary closure was lifted, saying there is no threat to commercial aviation, all flights will resume as normal. Right, and then, around the same time, you had an unnamed Trump administration official

Starting point is 00:16:03 telling reporters that the shutdown happened because Mexican cartel drones had reach the airspace, but the military, they dealt with it and everything was safe now. You actually had Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy quickly echoing that version of events on social media, saying the FAA and DOD acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion, the threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. Restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming. And so, you know, interesting story except, it started to unravel almost immediately.

Starting point is 00:16:27 You had Congresswoman Escobar coming out and saying the cartel drones being the reason is not the information that Congress has been given. She also pointed out that there have been drone incursions from Mexico going back to his long as drones existed, saying, so this is nothing new. You know, she's right, back in July, in fact, the deputy director of the Homeland Security Department's counter drone program told Congress that 27,000 drones piloted by organizations hostile law enforcement

Starting point is 00:16:47 had flown within 500 meters of the border over just six months in 2024. 27,000. So if cartel drones were really the issue, why now, why this specific response? And when you see sources, they started telling a very different story. Are you that New York Times reporting that the shutdown had something to do with a test of new counter drone technology by the military at a nearby army base?

Starting point is 00:17:04 Then another person briefed by Trump officials back this up saying that the FAA's decision was prompted by concerns about the risks that this technology could pose to other aircraft in the area. And then other outlets just continued to confirm this account and then add to it. There was some reporting that the weapon being tested was a high energy laser and that because the Pentagon wanted to test it before the FAA was on board, the agency's administrator, Brian Bedford decided to just close the airspace without alerting White House, Pentagon, or Homeland Security officials. And this is there have also been reports that what this anti-drone technology actually ended up being used against may have been a party

Starting point is 00:17:33 balloon that had just been mistaken for a drone. So just a recap, the official story is cartel drones, we stopped them all good, but the actual story appears to be that the military wanted to test anti-drone weapons and they didn't properly coordinate with anyone, and so the FAA panic shut down the entire city's airspace. You know, as far as the fallout, you've got local officials furious El Paso mayor, Renard Johnson not holding back at a news conference. I want to be very, very clear that this should have never happened. You cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership,

Starting point is 00:18:13 that failure to communicate is unacceptable. You know, this wasn't just an inconvenience. The mayor noted that surgical equipment destined for city hospitals just didn't show up. You had medical evacuation flights forced to divert to a city in New Mexico more than 40 miles away. And I mean, this is just from a few hours a shutdown. Imagine if this had gone on for 10 days. Now, with all of that said, I do think it's important that we talk about some of the bigger The military isn't testing anti-drone tech at the border for no reason.

Starting point is 00:18:37 Going back a decade, one of Mexico's major cartels started systematically using drones for surveillance, combat, and transport. Today, officials have documented cartel conflicts where drones are being used to carry and deploy up to 50 kilograms of explosives at once. The US officials are concerned that they might eventually target Americans or law enforcement in the border region, though. So far, it appears that the thousands of drones spotted near the US, they've been used for drug smuggling and surveillance, not attacks yet.

Starting point is 00:18:58 But also, I'll say here is an ironic twist. When it comes to cartel violence, a lot of the weapons come from the United States And in fact this week, Mexico's defense secretary revealed that roughly half of the high-powered 50-caliber cartridges seized from cartels since 2012 can be traced back to an ammunition factory in Missouri, one that's also owned by the U.S. government. It's an investigation by the international consortium of investigative journalists in the New York Times found that the ammo from that plant has become a staple for organized crime in Mexico and has even been used by mass shooters in the United States. The Army has defended this by saying that commercial sales from the plant, they save taxpayers around $50 million annually by lowering the government's costs for ammunition. Also, it's not just ammunition. You also had Mexico's defense secretary saying nearly 80% of weapons seized by the current administration came from the United States.

Starting point is 00:19:40 The Mexican government actually sued major American gunmakers, alleging that their business practices fueled violence in Mexico, though, the Supreme Court threw that case out. But all of this, it brings us back to why this story and the situation matters. It reveals a dangerous pattern. You've got a government taking extreme action with no transparency, no coordination with local officials, and then lying about why it happened. A major American city had its airspace shut down, affecting hospitals, emergency services, and hundreds of thousands of people, because federal agencies couldn't be bothered to communicate properly. And then when caught, they just blamed cartel drones instead of admitting that it was one of their own weapons tests that caused the chaos.

Starting point is 00:20:11 And then there's even more we've got to dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, lean in if your phone bill, it makes you sigh loudly every month, because this is for you. Today's sponsor, Mint Mobile makes so much sense. They've rebuilt wireless to be simpler, online, and more reasonable. No stores, no sales, no awkward up sells. You sign up online and you done. Right now, Mint's offering 50% off their unlimited plans, so you can lock in their lowest

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Starting point is 00:21:06 a month for a three, six or 12 month plan. That's 50% off of an unlimited wireless plan at mintmobile.com slash defranco. That's mintmobile.com slash defranco or scan that QR code. But then, deving, right back into the news, the FBI thought they had their guy in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case. They raided his house. They detained him. The whole nine yards. There's just one problem. He says he has no idea who Nancy Guthrie even is. And now this case just got a whole lot messier. So here's what went down. Yesterday, the Pima County Sheriff's Office detained a suspect during a traffic stop south of Tucson, and they questioned this guy about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of today's show host Savannah Guthrie, who vanished from her home over a week ago.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Shortly after, the FBI launching a search at his home in Rio Rico, Arizona, about an hour south of Tucson right near the Mexican border. And the timing had seemed very significant because all of this happened just hours after the FBI released photos and videos of a potential suspect caught on camera at Nancy's door the night that she disappeared wearing a ski mask. And the footage reportedly generated a massive spike in tips, and so people were genuinely hopeful that this could be the break that investigators needed. But then, things started to unravel. The homeowner, the suspect's mother-in-law, came out and told reporters that her son-in-law had nothing to do with this, saying he's just a delivery driver doing his job.

Starting point is 00:22:09 And she flat out said, no, that's not him. No, I can assure you, that's not him. And then it was confirmed that the guy got released. And as far as his side of things, his name is reportedly Carlos, and he gave an interview to Telemundo where he explained that, yes, the FBI searched his house with a warrant damaging both his front and back doors in the process. He also said that agents told him that he resembled the person in the footage of the FBI release. though he completely disagreed with that assessment. Right, Carlos insisting that he has nothing to do with Nancy's disappearance.

Starting point is 00:22:32 He doesn't watch the Today Show, he doesn't know who Savannah Guthrie is, and he had zero clue her mom was even missing. When they finally told you this was how to do with some kidnapping, like what, what were you thinking? What the fuck am I doing? I didn't do anything, to be honest, like, I'm innocent. I mean, I hope they get the suspect, because I'm not it. They better do their job and find the suspect that did it so they can clear my name.

Starting point is 00:22:51 Right, and Carlos also said he has no idea why the authorities were even interested in him. They gave him no details about whether it was his car, his license plate, what triggered the investigation. Also, he said technically law enforcement didn't pull him over, instead saying that he noticed them following him and pulled over himself. Right, and also claiming that it took hours before his rights were even read to him. And while he said that he does deliver packages in Tucson for work, he can't recall if he's ever made a delivery to Nancy's home. Though for their part, as of this morning, he had county officials saying that he was questioned as, quote, part of follow-up on incoming leads. And so, you know, naturally, this whole situation,

Starting point is 00:23:19 it sparked a lot of criticism of how the FBI's been handling things. Senator Chris Murphy, seeing Carlos's interview and tweeting, the FBI now run by online influencers, hair tonic salesman, talk show hosts has become a shell of its former self. The next president is going to have an enormous job to rebuild it. But then last night you had FBI director, Cash Patel, pushing back on Fox News, suggesting that they were actually making progress. I will say we have made substantial progress in these last 36, 48 hours thanks to the technical capabilities of the FBI and our partnerships. And I do believe we are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest. And today we learned from the FBI that there's a search in the Catalina Foothills area

Starting point is 00:23:53 related to Nancy Guthrie, though we have no other information on that. But then it gets weirder, right? Because this morning, TMZ reported that they received a note from someone claiming to have information about the kidnapper in exchange for one Bitcoin. Now, TMZ, they emphasized here that the legitimacy is unclear, especially since multiple media outlets have already received alleged and unverified ransom notes throughout the case. But this sender claims that they've unsuccessfully tried to reach Savannah and her family. Righte. If they want the name of the individual involved, then I want one Bitcoin to the following wallet. Time is more than relevant. And so now we're waiting to see what happens, also if any other outlets get similar notes and whether any of this is legitimate.

Starting point is 00:24:25 And now, you know, with all this, you have people really focused on the situation for three reasons. One, of course, a woman is still missing and every day that passes it makes finding her safely even more difficult. Two, this botched attention raises serious questions about investigative procedures with Trump's FBI. Right, how someone gets their house rated and detained for hours only to be released with no clear explanation of why they were targeted in the first place. And also now three, the emergence of potential ransom notes, right? Real or fake, it complicates an already tense situation and it can interfere with the actual investigation. But then, next to from that, there's actually two big final things I want to hit on today. Right, and the first of the two is that we need to talk about how a Trump appointed federal judge just delivered a massive blow to one of Trump's most aggressive power grabs yet.

Starting point is 00:25:01 And one, this is the third time that the courts have actually told the administration to back the hell off. And two, this is about way more than just voter rolls. Because last summer, the Trump DOJ began demanding that every state turnover complete voter rolls. And we're not talking about just basic information here. We're talking drivers license numbers, social security numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, party registrations, and full voter participation histories. And the Trump administration claimed that this was all part of a plan to centralize election data in a national voting database. You know, that sounds reasonable enough on the surface, except here is the part they didn't advertise.

Starting point is 00:25:28 According to a draft agreement obtained by the Brennan Center, the DOJ specifically said that it would conduct its own analysis of state's voter files and then order the states to remove specific voters from the roles. And to be very clear here, that has never happened before. States, not the federal government, have the legal authority to add and remove voters. That is how it has always worked, and for good reason. Are you of many experts now raising serious concerns that the Trump administration is trying to improperly purge valid voters from the roles

Starting point is 00:25:52 to suppress Democratic votes and boost Republican chances in the elections. And that becomes even more concerning given that around 11 states have already complied or said that they will comply with these requests to hand over incredibly sensitive voter information. But I'll also say that the majority of states, both Democratic and Republican, have refused. You had the Trump DOJ doing what you'd expect. They sued over 20 states, most of which of Democratic governors, to try and force them to hand over the data. So in the lawsuit against Michigan, you had the Trump DOJ arguing that it was entitled to know the personal information of Michigan voters

Starting point is 00:26:18 to, quote, prevent the inclusion of ineligible voters and combat what it called voter fraud. voter fraud. But then yesterday, a federal judge in Michigan, who was actually appointed by Donald Trump, rejected those claims and dismissed the case. You're the judge ruling that there was no basis to seize these records under the federal laws that the DOJ used to justify its request, and the fact that this happened in Michigan is also especially notable. Michigan is one of Trump's top targets in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and he's made it clear that the state is on his radar again for the upcoming midterms. Right, he's continually spread false claims about voter fraud in Michigan, even though he literally won the state himself in 2024. And in fact, more

Starting point is 00:26:48 recently, he specifically called out Detroit while talking about nationalizing elections, claiming without any evidence that there are high levels of fraud there. But also, one of the things that's very significant here is that Michigan is now the third federal court to shut down the DOJ's voter data grab. Or just last week, a federal judge in Oregon ruled against the DOJ, saying that he didn't trust the Trump administration to keep the sensitive data private. He also just didn't believe the administration's claims that it would only use the voter rolls for election administration, raising concerns that it would weaponize the information for immigration enforcement. Then actually, before that, another federal judge blocked the DOJ's efforts in California last month,

Starting point is 00:27:18 ruling that their request was an unprecedented and illegal power grab meant to disenfranchise voters. You're the judge, writing the foundation upon which American democracy has been built, is the right to vote. Now, it seems, the executive branch of the United States government wants to abridge the right of many Americans to cast their ballots. And see, the fact that a third judge, and no less, a Trump appointee, has now ruled the same way, it shows this isn't a partisan issue. Multiple and politically diverse federal courts are saying the same thing.

Starting point is 00:27:41 This is a legal overreach. And of course, all the while, there are still many other friends. fronts in this battle. And on top of all the other states of the DOJ is sued for refusing to turn over voter data. It's very possible that they're going to appeal these three decisions. And of course, you know, the administration's not just relying on lawsuits. We've also had attorney General Pam Bondi weaponizing other branches of the government to where states in the compliance. I mean, just last month, amid the Minnesota ice takeover, Bondi sent Governor Tim Walls a letter demanding that he turn over voter data if he wanted to restore order in his state. A move that, of course,

Starting point is 00:28:07 drew widespread backlash and some experts described the letter as a ransom note and others calling it blackmail. And so ultimately, this is something we're going to have to keep an eye on, it is a fundamental attack on how American elections work. The federal government has never had the power to unilaterally remove voters from state roles and for good reason, it is a system that is ripe for abuse. If the DOJ, whether it be Trump's DOJ or someone else's DOJ, can force states to hand over sensitive personal data

Starting point is 00:28:29 and then decide who gets purged, that's not protecting election integrity. That is undermining it. But then, with all of that said, it brings us to the final thing that we should talk about today, and that is YouTube's lawyers just stood up in court and said with a straight face, we're not social media. Whether you buy that or not,

Starting point is 00:28:42 this trial could completely reshape the internet as we know it, cost tech giants billions of dollars. Because we're watching the kickoff of a massive landmark trial, centered around a now 20-year-old woman, identified by her initials, KGM, who's accusing Meta and YouTube of building addictive platforms that hooked her at a very young age and destroyed her mental health.

Starting point is 00:28:58 Now, it's also worth noting that this suit originally included Snap and TikTok as well, but they actually managed to avoid trial by reaching settlements under undisclosed terms. So now we're left with Meta and YouTube in the hot seat. As far as the specifics of the lawsuit, it alleges that Meta and YouTube made calculated design choices, infinite scroll,

Starting point is 00:29:13 AutoPlay algorithmic recommendation specifically to make these apps more addictive to kids and boost their own profits. And during the trial, KGM's lawyers did not pull punches, calling meta and YouTube digital casinos intentionally designed to get children and teens addicted. They claim that the platforms of engineered addiction in children's brains and argued that tech executives knew the risks and said, they didn't just build apps, they built traps, they didn't want users, they wanted addicts. It's a pretty damning language, but here's what makes it interesting. Lawyers for the tech companies are claiming that KGM's mental health issues were caused by her difficult family life, not social media. And they're denying that their products intentionally harmed children, pointing to safeguards that they've enacted in recent years, and arguing that there is no scientific evidence proving that their apps cause addiction. They're also notably leaning on federal law, claiming that it shields them from liability for content posted on their platform,

Starting point is 00:29:56 but also maybe the wildest part, YouTube's lawyers are trying to distance themselves from meta by arguing that YouTube isn't even a form of social media. They're claiming that YouTube's actually an entertainment platform that more closely resembles Netflix and Facebook. They say that it's different because people use it for streaming helpful videos, not endless scrolling. Right, and one layer pushed back on claims that YouTube's algorithm, drives addiction by saying it's not trying to get in your brain and rewire it, it's just asking what you like to watch. So with that, you've had many pushing back saying that YouTube has comments, community posts, subscriptions, notifications, and algorithm that absolutely keeps you watching and a shorts feature that literally is designed to compete with TikTok. But also a big factor here is that this isn't just a one-off

Starting point is 00:30:29 lawsuit. This is just the first to go out to trial out of thousands of similar lawsuits alleging that social media platforms deliberately addicted adolescents and cause personal injury or other harms. And all four tech giants, meta, YouTube, Snap, and TikTok, they're named in various combinations across those other cases. And actually, they're all relying on a novel legal claim, that these apps can be as addictive and as harmful as cigarettes. Where these cases are specifically drawn from the legal strategy used against big tobacco in the 1990s, where plaintiffs argued that cigarette makers knew how harmful their products were, but hid that information from the public. And that strategy there, it worked. Those cases totally upended the tobacco market.

Starting point is 00:31:01 Cigarette companies reached a $206 billion master settlement and agreed to stop marketing to minors, which paved the way for strict tobacco regulations and a massive decline in smoking. And now, with KGM's suit being the first, to go to trial, it's being seen as a massive test case that could determine how thousands of other similar cases play out. And so if this case swings in her favor, it could trigger a cascading effect similar to big tobacco, potentially putting tech firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages and forcing them to completely redesign their platforms. I mean, we're talking about potentially revolutionizing or destroying, depending on your point of view, the entire industry.

Starting point is 00:31:29 And all the while, there's a lot of debate happening out there about whether social media is actually as harmful as tobacco. The science is still developing and the comparisons, they're not perfect. What's not debatable is that these platforms are designed to maximize engagement. And that engagement equals profit. But whether that crosses the line into deliberate harm, especially when it comes to children, that is exactly what this trial is trying to determine. And YouTube's claim, you know, that it's not social media. It does feel more like a legal maneuver, more than reality. Where the platform's evolved way beyond just posting videos that the algorithm doesn't just ask what you like to watch it. It learns your patterns. It serves you content based on what keeps you engaged, the longest,

Starting point is 00:32:01 and uses psychological trigger as to keep you coming back. But it seems like someone could easily argue. That's not passive entertainment. That's active engagement optimization. But you know, with all that, this is the Philip DeFranco show. Yes, it's a news show, but it's also a conversation. So in addition to you leaving thoughts, comments, reactions to any of the news that stood out to you today For this news specifically, do you think tech platforms are genuinely addictive in a way that causes harm? Or is this placing too much blame on the companies for individuals and family issues? And also do you agree with you by YouTube's argument that it is not social media? But then my friends, you beautiful bastards brings us to the end of your Wednesday, Philip DeFranco's show another

Starting point is 00:32:31 Daily dive into the news in the books. Well, of course I want to say I love yo faces and of course I'll see you right back here tomorrow There's even more that you can watch right now. A brand new episode of my podcast crashing out just went out today, and it was a ride. Bad Bunny says he's going to wear a dress. Bad boy he's not going to sing in English. He's a foreigner! I love to be like, I hope that I can age like you when it's very obvious that they've had plastic surgery.

Starting point is 00:32:54 She looked in the camera and said, all the cool people are going. I'm like, you should be banned from schools. If you were involved, where you knew and you did nothing, we allow abuse survivors to get a rock and get a throw in.

The Philip DeFranco Show - Pam Bondi’s Epstein Files Meltdown Was CRAZY

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