The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 11.13 HUGE Monster YouTuber Mom UPDATE, Hong Kong Chaos, & Impeachment Hearing HIGHLIGHTS

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, I hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday. I'm Eugene Lee Yang and this is the Philip DeFranco Show. Let's jump right into it. What bullshit's happening right now on the internet? What motherfucking bullshit's happened over the past week? Did the Paul brothers do some bullshit? And just like that, another week, another host that I have to fire from the Philip DeFranco Show. Eugene cursing in the first 30 seconds of the video,

Starting point is 00:00:22 which pretty much guarantees that this video would be demonetized. I see you sabotaging my show, sir. That said, firing aside, if you'd like to watch my brand new podcast with Eugene Lee Yang, A Conversation With, I actually just uploaded that right before this video. It's over on my brand new channel, youtube.com slash a convo with.

Starting point is 00:00:37 It'll be one of the top links down below. And I invited Eugene on the podcast and I even mentioned this to him because in the past I had hated on him and then the more that I had learned about him, the I was like oh this is a really interesting guy I'd like to talk to and that's exactly what we did we ended up talking for like two hours straight it was a really fun time I highly recommend you check it out but with that said buckle up hit that like button and let's just jump into it the first thing is a quick thing it's also a little bit odd

Starting point is 00:01:00 honestly I hate that I'm even having to say it if there are any stories today that stand out to you you think are a meaningful need to be shared, please share them. Just because some of the content included in the show is of sometimes the kind that get shows like this suppressed. But I also don't want to let that situation be a reason that I do not cover something. The World of Times is an ugly, horrible, polarizing place,

Starting point is 00:01:18 but it's important to look at things and talk about it. But yeah. And then let's talk about an update to a story we covered a while ago. If you don't remember, this is Michelle Hobson. She's a 48-year-old mother from Arizona. And more notably, she was the person behind the YouTube channel Fantastic Adventures,

Starting point is 00:01:33 a channel that featured her seven adopted children whose ages ranged from three to 15, a channel that had accrued over a quarter billion views. And everything seemed fine until police received a tip that there might be abuse in the house. And when police went to this home, they found what has been described as a den of abuse. According to the police report, they appeared malnourished,

Starting point is 00:01:53 had pale complexions, dark rings under their eyes, they were underweight, they were thirsty and hungry. And reportedly when the police talked to the kids, they just heard horror stories. The kids saying they hadn't been in school in years, right? That this mother was using these adopted kids to just make these videos and make money. The children telling police that if they forgot their lines

Starting point is 00:02:10 or they messed up, they would be punished. And the punishments they described, I mean, in some they were beaten, locked in a closet, pepper sprayed. According to the police report, one of the boys said that Hobson on multiple occasions pinched the tip of his penis until it bled. Regarding the pepper spray,

Starting point is 00:02:23 one of the girls said that she was pepper sprayed in the vagina. So the kids were taken out of the girls said that she was pepper sprayed in the vagina. So the kids were taken out of the home. Hobson was arrested and charged. Also two of her biological children, who were adults, were also charged, but later those charges ended up getting dropped. And Hobson herself was charged with child abuse,

Starting point is 00:02:35 molestation, child neglect, and unlawful imprisonment. And then we fast forward to today where the news is not that she's been found guilty or innocent, but rather she's dead. According to reports, you had local media reporting that she had had a brain injury while in jail. She was later declared incompetent to stand trial, but local authorities continue to believe

Starting point is 00:02:51 she would recover enough to be held accountable for her alleged actions. But ultimately we learned thanks to a police spokesman that yesterday she died at the hospital. Cause of death is currently not being shared, but what I will say, and I don't often say this about a story involving someone that died, good. There's a special kind of hatred that I have for child abusers. And for some

Starting point is 00:03:10 reason, it just feels like today the world is just a slightly bit better off. And I guess my final thoughts on this is I just, I hope that the children that were abused in this household, that they're one day able to live normal lives. And the person that's supposed to care for you and love you the most in this world is the person just inflicting pain upon you. That unfortunately has a long term effects. But you can't hurt anyone else now. And I guess that's where this story ends.

Starting point is 00:03:36 And then let's talk about Hong Kong. Obviously these protests have been raging in Hong Kong for about six months now. And you know, we've been covering the situation on and off. I think more recently, you know, you had the whole NBA, Blizzard selling out to mainland China controversy. But we haven't really gone back to what's been happening on the ground in Hong Kong.

Starting point is 00:03:51 I think one of the last times was back in early October, we talked about the situation around a riot police shooting of an 18 year old protester. Also a few days later, a 14 year old ended up getting shot in the leg. And you know, we've talked about the escalating violence in these protests, but now there has been a death. Last Monday, you had protesters demonstrating

Starting point is 00:04:05 at a parking garage. Police tried to break that crowd up, but as they did, reportedly, a student by the name of Alex Chow fell from the structure, sustaining head and pelvis injuries, and then being rushed to the hospital. However, later that week on Friday, Chow ultimately ended up dying from those injuries.

Starting point is 00:04:18 So later that same day, we saw students at Chow's university holding a vigil in an on-campus march for him. There were also other vigils held across the city, including at the parking garage where Chao fell. You also had protesters calling for an investigation into the use of force by riot police, which has actually been one of the five key demands

Starting point is 00:04:32 of these protesters. Also, as some protesters called for revenge because of this, some of the demonstrations that night once again became violent. And just this past Monday, we saw another protester shot several times, this time at point blank range. You had police shouting that the officer who shot him

Starting point is 00:04:45 was a murderer. That officer then doused the crowd with pepper spray. That same day, some protesters ended up setting a different man on fire. This after he reportedly yelled at them, telling them that he lacked patriotism for mainland China. And following these instances, you had hospital officials saying that both of these men

Starting point is 00:05:00 were in critical condition. And all of that then brings us to what happened yesterday afternoon when students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong barricaded themselves on campus. This because you had riot police occupying a bridge near the campus, students set up a barricade on the campus,

Starting point is 00:05:12 and then the two groups clashed. You had what appeared to be students throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails. Police then fired multiple rounds of tear gas at the protesters. They also physically wrestled some of these protesters to the ground. Following that, the protestors then retreated

Starting point is 00:05:25 to an athletic field and locked the gate. We then saw police continuing to fire tear gas over the gate and kind of a recurring image here as we saw that part of the field ended up getting set on fire. All of that then prompted the university's president, Rocky Twan, to try and act as a common ground between police and students.

Starting point is 00:05:39 But also at one point during these negotiations, we saw a man walk down the street, revving a chainsaw. But, and this is just the slight positive to this story, a group of protesters were able to convince that man to put down the chainsaw. We saw those protesters then starting to wrap him with a hug. And then later where there was no man with a chainsaw,

Starting point is 00:05:55 we saw Tuan strike a deal with police, saying that university security would guard the bridge instead of police, but also saying that students would stop throwing objects onto the highway. But immediately you had people asking why police were even on campus. You also had protesters refusing to disperse,

Starting point is 00:06:07 asking if people had been arrested earlier in the day were safe. And so this battle over the bridge continued into the night as we saw more clashes breaking out. People carrying umbrellas, shields, barricades. You had police firing rubber bullets, filling the area with tear gas. You had people throwing Molotovs at police, trying to gain ground. We also ended up seeing reports that some students were practicing firing flaming arrows from bows, more protesters trying to use leaf blowers

Starting point is 00:06:30 to blow away the tear gas. We ended up seeing students start to retreat after police fired a water cannon. However, they then came back and what we ended up seeing were police retreating and students pushing forward, those students building more barriers to hold the ground that they gained. Some of those barriers including golf carts,

Starting point is 00:06:44 a burned out car, notably here, all the debris falling off the side of the bridge also stopped traffic. And ultimately we ended up seeing the protesters remain there throughout the night. Some passing supplies to one another, some people making Molotov cocktails in case police came back.

Starting point is 00:06:57 And this clash isn't just an example of one really, really dramatic event in the city. This actually signals a pretty substantial shift in the clashes between police and protesters. I mean, just this morning, you had the New York Times saying that Hong Kong police had broken an unspoken rule to keep off campuses. Times here noting that universities there

Starting point is 00:07:12 had served as sanctuaries for student protesters. But just this morning, we actually saw the Chinese University of Hong Kong end its semester early. Another school also suspending its on-campus semester, switching to online classes at the same time. Other universities suspended classes for at least a week. Actually, the Hong Kong Education Bureau ended up canceling all schools for Thursday because of transportation and safety concerns. Because universities were canceling classes left and right, we actually ended up seeing a lot of students who were originally from mainland China

Starting point is 00:07:37 fleeing back over the border with the help of police. And reportedly, you had many of those students saying they didn't openly express pro-China views on campus, but they even felt like they should avoid talking loudly in Mandarin, which is the main language in China, right? So there was that, but then also on the other side of the border, we saw hotels offering those students free room. Some of those hotels were even reportedly near capacity with students today, right? And so with all these clashes, the escalation, the fear in the air, it's important to talk about what the government in Hong Kong is doing and what mainland China is doing, right? And as far as the government, last month, the extradition bill that sparked all of these protests

Starting point is 00:08:06 was finally formally withdrawn. But of course, as we've talked about before, this has become something much bigger. You have protesters calling for complete amnesty or retraction of the official characterization of the protests as riots and the resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Which on that note, on November 24th,

Starting point is 00:08:19 Hong Kong is scheduled to hold elections. However, Hong Kong has also barred a prominent pro-democracy activist from running, so even those haven't been without controversy. Other pro-democracy lawmakers and candidates have been arrested. One pro-China lawmaker was actually stabbed. But also because of all of this violence,

Starting point is 00:08:33 there's some talk that these elections might not end up happening. You know, you've had Lam saying that she will do everything possible to ensure that elections are fair and safe, but yesterday she said that the government, quote, "'hopes' that the election can continue as planned." Also yesterday, the pro-China newspaper,

Starting point is 00:08:45 the People's Daily, which has really acted as a mouthpiece for Beijing, said that elections should only proceed if calm is restored to Hong Kong. But ultimately, that is where we are with the situation right now. It'll be interesting to see what continues to happen in the streets, what is going to happen with these elections.

Starting point is 00:08:58 It's a really crazy time. And of course, with a story like this, I would love to know your thoughts on it. And then let's talk about something that it appears that almost every Republican politician is calling boring. Like to the extent that it feels like it's almost a talking point they've been given. Let's talk about the impeachment hearings.

Starting point is 00:09:13 Now a big note here before we move forward is that it is actually still happening as I'm recording this video. It is possible and likely we won't cover all of the highlights because some may happen after I film. But with that said, here we go. So for those who have not yet what Donald Trump said to do, read the transcript, which by the way,

Starting point is 00:09:30 as that unclassified document says on itself, is a memorandum of telephone conversation where it says, caution, this is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room duty officers and NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the conversation in written form

Starting point is 00:09:45 as the conversation takes place. A number of factors can affect the accuracy of the record." Also, even with that noted, what is included in this not verbatim transcript was still enough for people to go, that looks like a problem. And that rough transcript, if you're unfamiliar, it's connected to a July 25th call

Starting point is 00:09:59 between Donald Trump and the President of Ukraine, which was released after an anonymous whistleblower alleged President Donald Trump had held aid from Ukraine on the condition that they conduct requested investigations. That, including ones into Burisma, a Ukrainian company that Joe Biden's son, Hunter, was on the board of, as well as potential interference by Ukraine

Starting point is 00:10:15 into the 2016 election. So the allegation transcript gets released, and after that, you see a large number of Democrats saying that it shows quid pro quo. If you're unfamiliar and you end up getting confused by quid pro quo, it's just a Latin word for this for that. The better way to describe the allegations at hand are abuse of the power of the presidency for personal gain. And in this specific situation, alleged extortion or bribery. Also, before we get to the other people

Starting point is 00:10:37 we're going to talk about today, something I want to mention regarding the whistleblower. We've seen Donald Trump say that this whistleblower, they just disappeared after he released the transcript saying at a rally, the whistleblower disappeared. You haven't heard about the whistleblower. We've seen Donald Trump say that this whistleblower, they just disappeared after he released the transcript. Saying at a rally, the whistleblower disappeared. You haven't heard about the whistleblower after that, have you? Fact check on that is that is just not true. In fact, according to the AP, whistleblower is offering to answer written questions

Starting point is 00:10:54 by GOP lawmakers, but so far Republicans have rebuffed him. Regarding the whistleblower, we've also seen Trump say, he must be brought to testify, written answer is not acceptable. Which I would say, apparently he believes that this whistleblower needs to hit higher standards than himself. Because as you might remember

Starting point is 00:11:07 with the Russia investigation, he refused to provide any answer that was not written. Also regarding exposing the whistleblower, we saw Rand Paul tweet on Tuesday, enshrined in the sixth amendment is the right to confront your accuser, but as noted by the AP, he omitted the other part of the sixth amendment

Starting point is 00:11:20 in all criminal prosecution. This is notable because as is pointed out, Trump is not facing an accuser in a criminal proceeding. The hearings are a political proceeding, which appears to be a thing that the president does not understand or doesn't want other people to understand. Last Thursday, while talking about what he referred to

Starting point is 00:11:33 as a fake hearing, I get no lawyer and no due process. Once again, this is a hearing, not a trial. He has not been charged with anything, so this is not a legal proceeding. As the AP points out, his position is not much different from criminal suspects who are being investigated but haven't been charged, or from past presidents at this stage of impeachment proceedings.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Right, and adding that the public hearings led by the House Intelligence Committee are akin to the investigative phase of criminal cases. Now, if there ends up being a Senate trial, yes, the president's team would be there to defend him. Right, and so those were just some things that I wanted to point out before we got to William Taylor and George Kent today.

Starting point is 00:12:02 Both of these men had testified behind closed doors. You have William Taylor, who's the top US diplomat in Ukraine, George Kent today. Both of these men had testified behind closed doors. You have William Taylor, who's the top US diplomat in Ukraine, George Kent, who is a State Department official. You had Taylor, who's largely supported the idea of quid pro quo, having said, "'That was my clear understanding.' Security assistance money would not come

Starting point is 00:12:15 until the President of Ukraine committed to pursue the investigation." And you had Kent, who didn't really speak much about the idea of Trump holding aid, but accused Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, of leading attacks against both himself and former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. But also notably, he did but accused Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, of leading attacks against both himself and former ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch. But also notably, he did speak about Trump's desire

Starting point is 00:12:29 to have Zelenskyy announce investigations, saying POTUS wanted nothing less than President Zelenskyy to go to the microphone and say, "'Investigations, Biden and Clinton.'" And so we get to the hearings and the questioning today, and you know, as expected, some of what's being said today has already been previously said. Notably though, the setting is different.

Starting point is 00:12:44 You can always expect more people to watch something than read something. And as far as some of the's being said today has already been previously said. Notably though, this setting is different. You can always expect more people to watch something than read something. And as far as some of the things that we've seen, you had Taylor mentioning an overheard phone call between Trump and EU ambassador, Gordon Sondland, who notably has also testified behind closed doors. This overheard phone call pertaining to the investigations, as well as saying that Trump cared more

Starting point is 00:12:59 about the investigation into Biden than he did about Ukraine. The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone asking Ambassador Sondland about the investigations. Ambassador Sondland told President Trump the Ukrainians were ready to move forward. Following the call with President Trump,

Starting point is 00:13:12 the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden. Also on the note of Biden and the allegations from Trump, we saw this moment happen. Now at the time of this call, Vice President Biden was the front runner for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 election. And Mr. Krent, are you familiar, as you indicate in your opening statement, about these allegations related to Vice President Biden?

Starting point is 00:13:39 I am. And to your knowledge, is there any factual basis to support those allegations? None whatsoever. When Vice President Biden acted in Ukraine, did he act in accordance with official U.S. policy? He did. You also had Kent calling the investigations politically motivated, saying that he disagreed with their nature. In mid-August, it became clear to me that Giuliani's efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations were now infecting U.S. engagement with Ukraine. He also later added, As a general principle, I do not believe the United States should ask other countries to engage in selective politically associated investigations or prosecutions against opponents

Starting point is 00:14:18 of those in power because such selective actions undermine the rule of law regardless of the country. He also denied there was any factual basis in the theory that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 election. And to your knowledge, is there any factual basis to support the allegation that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election? To my knowledge, there is no factual basis, no. And in fact, who did interfere in the 2016 election? I think it's amply clear that Russian interference was at the heart of the interference in the 2016 election cycle. We also saw this kind of viral clip where we saw Representative Jim Jordan accusing Schiff of knowing who the

Starting point is 00:14:54 whistleblower is, which Schiff quickly denied. You are the only member who knows who that individual is, and your staff is the only staff of any member of Congress who's had a chance to talk with that individual. We would like that opportunity. When might that happen in this proceeding today? First, as the gentleman knows, that's a false statement. I do not know the identity of the whistleblower, and I'm determined to make sure that identity is protected. Another thing we saw was Republican representative

Starting point is 00:15:17 John Ratcliffe saying, if House Democrats impeach President Trump for a quid pro quo involving military aid, they have to call President Zelensky a liar. This because President Zelensky has said that he did not feel pressured. But also regarding that, you had Taylor saying that it would be a sign of weakness for Zelensky

Starting point is 00:15:30 to acknowledge to Ukrainians that he capitulated to a foreign leader and that the electorate pays very close attention to US-Ukraine relations. Essentially the argument being, why would we expect President Zelensky to say, yeah, Donald Trump was making me his bitch? Ukraine's in this weird and dangerous dance with the United States and Russia.

Starting point is 00:15:46 We also saw Republican representative Will Hurd do what supporters of the president have been doing, trying to associate or label what these testimonies have really identified as specific quid pro quo as a general wider anti-corruption statement. Have we seen whatever this anti-corruption statement we wanted the Ukrainians to make? Are you referring to the statement that was being negotiated between Kurt Volker,

Starting point is 00:16:16 Gordon Sondland, and Andrei Yermak? Yes. That was not an anti-corruption statement, sir. What was the statement? I think if you go back to the back and forth of WhatsApps that were shared by Kurt Volker. They shared a draft with Rudy Giuliani, and Rudy Giuliani said it would not be acceptable if it didn't mention Biden Burisma in 2016. But that statement was never agreed to or was never issued by the Ukrainian officials. Is that correct? No statement of that sort was issued.

Starting point is 00:16:40 Correct. Right, and that last note that he hit on is part of the Trump defense. Ukraine never did the things that were being requested. Right, Ukraine never ended up publicly saying these things. But we've seen the counter argument to that is if you attempt a crime, it is still a crime. Right, you as an American can be found guilty

Starting point is 00:16:53 for things like attempted murder, attempted robbery. And as of recording this video, you know, that's some of the highlights. Once again, this is still developing, which actually on the note of more to come, on Friday, Yovanovitch is set to testify. Also more witnesses are likely to be called. Republicans also want to subpoena the whistleblower

Starting point is 00:17:06 to testify, though reports say a motion for that was tabled today. But for now, I mean, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens next. Most likely the way that this ends, in my opinion, and this isn't an outlier, you know, the House will impeach Trump and he'll survive the Senate. And unless the Senate, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:17:19 incorporates secret voting, I really don't see any way that Trump doesn't survive this. So that's why I think in large part, this is ultimately a show for America. And understand that shouldn't take away from the seriousness and concerning nature of these allegations. But I very much see this because so many people

Starting point is 00:17:33 are already in their own camps as a swing voter theater. And as far as what happens next, if it's effective or not, we'll have to wait and see. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, if you liked today's video, share it with a friend, spread some common sense. Also, if you're new here, be sure to hit that subscribe button.

Starting point is 00:17:49 Definitely tap that bell to turn on notification. Also, if you're not 100% filled in, you're looking for more to watch, I just, I highly, highly, highly recommend you check out that brand new podcast with Eugene Lee Yang. Or hell, maybe you just missed yesterday's show, you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch either of those right now. But with that said, of course, as always,

Starting point is 00:18:04 my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 11.13 HUGE Monster YouTuber Mom UPDATE, Hong Kong Chaos, & Impeachment Hearing HIGHLIGHTS

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