The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.2 Hunter Biden Pardon Fallout, What's Next, Crazy Diddy Updates, Shocking Aleppo Takeover Explained, &

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

24 HOURS LEFT! Up to 70% OFF @ https://BeautifulBastard.com plus another 15% OFF with code: OLDMANDEFRANCO Kickstart your passion project with a free trial today: https://www.Squarespace.com/Phil & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase!  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Dentist Charged With Poisoning Wife Accused of Plotting to Kill Case Detective 03:15 - Diddy Accused of Dangling Woman Off 17-Story Balcony  05:44 - President Biden Pardons Son Hunter 09:53 - Sponsored by Squarespace 11:07 - Syrian Rebels Retake Aleppo by Surprise in Largest Offensive in Years  14:10 - Belgian Sex Workers Get Sick Days, Maternity Pay, Pensions Under New Law ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #HunterBiden #Diddy ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Grocer $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show,

your daily dive into the news. We have a lot to talk about today, but today it obviously starts with the most important news. Yesterday was my birthday, so a thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday. Love you faces. And two two, if you're a long timer, you know what is coming. On beautifulbastard.com, right now, link in the description, almost everything on site is one, up to 70% off, and two, if you use code OLDMANDEFRANCO, you will get an additional 15% off. It's my birthday blowout bash. But whether it be our awesome premium graphic tees,

hoodies, crewnecks, crops, and more, or a premium core everyday tee, three packs, crewnecks, crops, and more, or a premium core everyday tee three packs, long sleeve two packs, and a brand new everyday polo and joggers. I'm wearing the black ones right now. Hell, these discounts even work with our brand new 80-hour candles, fuzzy checkered socks, and plush throw checkered blankets.

So just load up that cart and gift yourself some awesome, either for my birthday or for the holidays. So thank you, you're welcome, I love your faces, but like I also said, there's a lot of news to talk about today, so let's jump into it. Starting with, let's talk about our douchebag of the day, James Craig.

And like what feels like an oddly large number of the most cartoonishly evil people in the world, he is a dentist. And he has just been accused of plotting to murder the cop who was already investigating him for murder. But to give you the full scope of this, right? We gotta go back a bit to March of last year when James's wife, Angela died after going into the hospital

for severe headaches and dizziness. Because with that, James was found to be making Google searches like undetectable poisons and how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human at the time. With them then also reportedly ordering arsenic and potassium cyanide online. With this, he had the court documents saying

that James was adding the poison to Angela's protein shakes before they worked out together. She even reportedly texted him at one point after drinking a shake saying she felt drugged, which he responded, just for the record, I didn't drug you. Right then after Angela died, an autopsy was conducted despite James's best efforts to try to prevent one. And wouldn't you know it, it was discovered

that she was poisoned with cyanide and tetrahydrazoline. And with this, James pleaded not guilty for the charges against him for his wife's death. But then right before the trial, we saw his lawyer withdraw from the case saying that there was a professional conflict that prevented him from being able to represent James. And right after that, prosecutors came in with new charges,

specifically solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury. Because as it turns out, James allegedly tried convincing another inmate to kill the police detective investigating his case, though unsuccessfully, or with the would-be hit man reportedly declining. But it also doesn't stop there,

because he was also accused of trying to tamper with the investigations by making fake evidence to prove his innocence. Or like allegedly giving an inmate a letter with instructions to make a fake video showing his wife asking for the poison. Also, he's accused of asking another inmate to forge journal entries suggesting his wife killed herself

and plant them in their home. And it just keeps going. You know, the court documents say that James then also asked yet another fellow inmate to find attractive women that would agree to testify at the trial that they had affairs with him. With apparently the goal being to then say that when his wife found out,

they refused to help her frame him. With obviously none of these working out for him and now he's just got even more charges. Right now as for his trial, that's been delayed indefinitely, but he is supposed to appear in court with a new lawyer on the 16th. So obviously we'll have to wait to see what happens,

but I just, sometimes I just wonder how, how did this man think that he was gonna get away with it? Like how many times on this fucking show do we talk about a person that's being charged with a crime and it was like, oh God. Literally three days before the crime, they Googled how to commit insert crime. Though I guess we should be happy they're this stupid

or they just get away with it. But then, another day, another Diddy accusation. With now news breaking that Diddy allegedly dangled a woman from a balcony 17 stories in the air. With that being detailed in a lawsuit coming from a fashion designer by the name of Brianna Bangala. A woman who claims this alleged incident

happened in September of 2016 at the apartment of Diddy's then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. And if Cassie's name sounds familiar to you, that's because she is the woman that Diddy was seen assaulting in the viral hotel surveillance footage. It was her accusations against Diddy that kind of kicked off this series of lawsuits, and she and Diddy settled her lawsuit last year.

But now we're seeing Brianna claiming that while she was staying at Cassie's apartment in Los Angeles, Diddy approached her on the balcony and groped her. She said she tried to fight back, but Diddy eventually moved his hands from her chest to her armpits and placed her on the banister of the 17 story balcony while shouting, "'Do you know what the fuck you did?''

And according to the lawsuit, Brianna tried to resist, knowing that if she fell, it would likely result in her death, but then claiming Cassie walked into the room and screamed for Diddy to stop. But they're also allegedly warning that Brianna's then girlfriend was present in the apartment. And so Diddy took her back over the balcony and slammed her onto the patio furniture, including a table.

And with that, Brianna claiming she still doesn't know what Diddy believes she did. And of this alleged incident, back over the balcony and slammed her onto the patio furniture, including a table. And with that, Rihanna claiming she still doesn't know what Diddy believes she did. And of this alleged incident, you saw the lawsuit claim, the only purpose of dangling someone over a balcony is to actually kill them or to intentionally terrorize them and rob them of any concept of dominion

over their own bodily autonomy and safety. The suit also claiming that Rihanna witnessed disturbing signs that Diddy was abusing Cassie, claiming she frequently saw Cassie covered in bruises or with a black eye, but she also saw Diddy throw a kitchen knife at Cassie, frequently saw Cassie covered in bruises or with a black eye, and that she also saw Diddy throw a kitchen knife at Cassie, prompting Cassie to throw one back in self-defense. And then Brianna says she first experienced

this alleged violence herself during a photo shoot where Diddy cornered her and told her he was the motherfucking devil and could kill her. So the lawsuit claims that the balcony incident was the culmination of a series of threats, intimidation, and violence that colored many of Brianna's interactions with Mr. Combs from the day she met him. The September 26th assault ultimately proved many of Brianna's interactions with Mr. Combs from the day she met him.

The September 26th assault ultimately proved that Brianna was correct to fear Mr. Combs and has resulted in deep and lasting harm. And so with all of this, she is seeking $10 million in damages for lasting emotional distress. But then, on the other side of this, we are seeing Diddy's denial, with a legal representative telling Rolling Stone,

"'Anyone has the right to file a lawsuit, "'regardless of the evidence they may or may not have.'" Since last year, Brianna has expressed an intention to sue Mr. Combs and has sought legal representation to pursue her claims. Mr. Combs firmly denies these serious allegations and remains confident they will ultimately be proven baseless.

Right, but also, obviously with this, this lawsuit is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to Diddy's mounting legal problems. Right, he's currently in a New York detention center awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. And this after just last week, Diddy was denied bail for a third time with a judge deciding that his freedom

would create a serious risk of witness tampering. So for now, our eyes are on this, right? There's more lawsuits likely to come and the trial is set for spring of next year. But then, let's talk about it. President Biden has issued a full and unconditional pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, after repeatedly vowing he would not do that exact thing.

So that means now Hunter Biden will not be held accountable on the two federal cases that were brought against him. Because back in June, he was convicted on three federal felony counts, relying on a federal forum about his drug addiction when buying a gun. And then in September, he pleaded guilty to nine federal counts

for failing to pay taxes, though he eventually paid those back along with penalties. And notably, both of those cases could have resulted in prison time. I mean, he faced as much as 25 years behind bars for the gun charges, though legal experts say that he would have received a way lighter sentence because he was faced as much as 25 years behind bars for the gun charges, though legal experts say that he would have received a way lighter sentence

because he was a first time offender. But then with the tax charges, those were much more serious. And because he had already been found guilty in the gun case, that made him a felon. So the sentence could have been much harsher there. And notably after both cases as well, as numerous times before Biden either directly

or through representatives said again and again, that he would just accept the outcome of the case and respect the legal process. Vowing that he would not pardon his son or commute his sentences. So as far as why Biden has now made this complete 180 and went back on his word, he explained his reasoning in a lengthy statement.

With him claiming there that Hunter had been selectively and unfairly prosecuted, arguing that without aggravating factors that were not present in Hunter's case, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form, and asserting that people who missed tax payments because of addiction

But eventually paid their taxes back are typically given non-criminal resolutions with then President Biden going on to say that the charges against his son Quote came about only after several of my political opponents and Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election Arguing that Hunter was singled out only because he is my son and adding in trying to break Hunter They've tried to break me. And there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough. With him then ending this by saying that he still believes in the justice system,

but claiming that politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. With him adding that he hopes Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. Though with all that, unsurprisingly, this decision has gotten a ton of backlash from both sides of the aisle. And on one side, you saw conservatives slamming him,

condemning Biden for going against his word, some calling him corrupt, with this including Representative James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee who launched investigations into the Biden family, with him claiming that the charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden

and the Biden crime family have lied about to the American people. And adding, it's unfortunate that rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and the Biden crime family have lied about to the American people. And adding, it's unfortunate that rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability. We also saw Trump himself chiming in on Truth Social, bringing up January 6th, writing,

"'Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter "'include the J6 hostages who have now been imprisoned "'for years? "'Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice.'" But then all of this is we also saw plenty of liberals criticizing the pardon as well. And there we saw some pushing back on President Biden's claim that the prosecution of Hunter Biden

was politically motivated, noting that he was convicted by a jury of his peers. Others also pointing to the fact that the DOJ had previously denied those allegations, pointing to the fact that a special counsel was appointed to oversee the cases and insulate them from politics. You also had a lot of people saying this move

was extremely detrimental for Democrats because it sets a bad precedent and will embolden Trump to use the DOJ for similar purposes, all while making it harder for Democrats to defend the integrity of the agency. There was no shortage of people sounding off on this. We saw the likes of Nate Silver writing, "'I voted for Harris despite feeling like Democrats

"'indulge in a lot of bad behavior "'that voters were rational to publish.'" And then adding, "'After the White House lying about the Hunter pardon, "'I'm not sure how much more I can tolerate.'" But with all this, we've also seen a good chunk of pushback against a lot of the anger. Regarding the argument that this will just embolden Trump, you had people arguing that he was going to do whatever he wanted to do regardless and it doesn't change anything.

With many pointing to people Trump has pardoned in the past, including parts of his last administration and a member of his extended family. And that because, one, just a month before leaving office, Trump pardoned his in-law, Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner's father, for tax evasion and other crimes. And then two, fast forward to this weekend, Trump announced that he had nominated Charles Kushner to be his ambassador to France, which is why if you go online,

there are people that are saying Republicans or Trump supporters are being hypocrites calling this out. And then all of this is you had plenty of people applauding and defending the decision. This very notably including Eric Holder, the former Attorney General under Obama, who said that the pardon was warranted and arguing, "'No US attorney would have charged this case

"'given the underlying facts.' "'After a five-year investigation, "'the facts as discovered only made that clear. "'Had his name been Joe Smith, "'the resolution would have been fundamentally "'and more fairly, a declination.'" Yeah, with all that said, I gotta ask you, where do you land on this?

And I ask because depending on where you go on the internet, drastically different reactions. But then, taking a quick break from the news, how many of you have kicked off 2024 promising to finally turn a passion project into profit? Or launch a business or a lucrative side hustle or hobby? Because for me, I've been wanting to launch a book club for years and that procrastination recently ended

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And don't forget to use code phil for 10% off when you're ready to launch. That's squarespace.com slash phil. Then in huge international news, we need to talk about the Syrian civil war, because we're now seeing Vladimir Putin helping Bashar al-Assad fight back against an ongoing rebel offensive

that has won back the infamous city of Aleppo. Right, and with that, you might remember the last battle for Aleppo, because it wasn't only one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the country's now 13-year civil war. Being described as one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times,

with it ending after years of fighting in 2016, when the Syrian government finally recaptured the city with Russian help. But now this time around, control of the city has shifted in a matter of days, with the same fighters from various armed opposition groups launching a massive surprise offensive just last week.

And in less than a day, they had advanced within a few miles of the city, taking over the largest Syrian government base in the area, seizing weapons and vehicles, and killing and capturing pro-government forces in the process, which is why you had experts describing the attacks as the most notable escalation in the conflict in years.

Right, and that was before they had actually taken control of most of Aleppo with government soldiers, security forces and police officers fleeing the city. And in fact, the rebels now reportedly control a broad stretch of land across three provinces in the West and Northwestern part of the country. Syrian and Russian fighter jets stepping up strikes in the seized areas, reportedly killing dozens of civilians

while doing so. And so with that, there's a lot of concern about where exactly this leads next, especially because this particular conflict is so complex and involves so many players. Right, I mean, for example, these rebels, they're not just one group. It's an alliance of groups

with the main one known as HTS for short. Notably, that group was once linked with al-Qaeda. However, a few years ago, HTS publicly cut ties with al-Qaeda. And also with that, it publicly disavowed international terrorism and now tries to pass itself off as being more moderate. For example, the director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute say, the group has completely turned away from having any kind of global agenda. It has turned national.

But unquestionably, the group retains very conservative religious foundation. Though very notably, and to be clear, the United States still considers HTS a terrorist organization. For example, Biden's national security advisor telling CNN this weekend that the administration has real concerns about the designs and objectives of the group, but also adding, at the same time, of course, we don't cry over the fact that the Assad government backed by Russia, Iran,

and Hezbollah are facing certain kinds of pressure. And on that note, as well as Russia already being involved in the counter offensive, the Iranian government has restated its support for Assad. And in fact, Iranian-backed militias from Iraq have already deployed in Syria to help out the government. But then also on the other side of this, there's Turkey. Right, Turkish-backed rebel groups

have actually been part of the HDS-led offensive. With one researcher even telling NPR that Turkey's support for this group has been crucial, saying one of Turkey's main policy goals in Syria since 2016 is to prevent a further influx of refugees across the border into Turkey. And then also with that, one of the big concerns is that Russia and Turkey could wind up in direct confrontation. Though that's also not even all of it.

The United States also has hundreds of forces stationed on Syrian territory, mostly in Kurdish-controlled areas. Because Kurdish-led forces are backed by the United States, which formed an alliance with them years ago to battle the Islamic State. But notably, in addition to fighting Islamist extremists, the Kurdish forces have been fighting a parallel conflict against Turkey and Turkish-backed fighters. And in fact, as well as helping take territory

for the Syrian government, pro-Turkish fighters have reportedly seized a town from Kurdish forces this weekend. And so with all these different actors involved, it's part of the reason why it's really anyone's guess how all of this is gonna turn out. But for now, for better or worse, we'll have to wait to see. And then, Belgian sex workers

may now have a better gig than you. Right in that, because while a number of countries, including several in Europe, have some form of legal and regulated prostitution, Belgium, they're just ahead of the curve. Right, because in 2022, they actually became the first country in Europe to decriminalize sex work.

And now they've put in place a new law that goes even further. Because now for the first time, sex workers are entitled to sign formal employment contracts. So with that, it gives them labor rights and protections on par with those in other professions. So for Belgium, that includes access to pensions,

unemployment, health insurance, family benefits, annual vacation, and maternity leave. Also more specifically for their profession, under the law, sex workers have the right to refuse sexual partners or to perform specific acts and can stop and act at any time. And notably, they cannot be fired for those refusals. And finally, what we're seeing is that the law

imposes obligations on employers of sex workers, because they'll now be required to obtain authorization and meet background requirements, such as having no prior convictions for sexual assault, human trafficking, or fraud. And this in addition to things like they'll have to make sure that the place of work is clean, sanitary, and equipped with a panic button.

Which is why with all of this, we've seen the Belgian Union of Sex Workers describing this law as a huge step forward, ending legal discrimination against sex workers. So notably, it's also argued that these rules could be instrumentalized to reduce or eliminate sex work, saying we already see certain municipalities hiding behind the words safety and hygiene to promulgate very strict local regulations that make sex work almost impossible on their territory. And all of this is, of course, on the flip side, there are plenty of people opposed to making sex work legal in any way at all. For example one critic a volunteer that helps sex

workers on the streets in Belgium telling the BBC it is dangerous because it normalizes a profession that is always violent at its core. You know with that I gotta pass the question actually questions off to you and that is one what are your thoughts on decriminalizing and or legalizing and or regulating sex work in general and two what are your thoughts on a Belgian sex workers having better benefits than you? That my friends is the end of your Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news. As always, thank you for being a part of this

and also friendly reminder, get in on the beautiful bastard sale today. Most of the site is already up to 70% off. You use code old man to Frank with another 15% off. It's genuinely outrageous. So just take advantage of me, but no matter what you do, just remember my name's Philip DeFranco. another 15% off. It's genuinely outrageous, so just take advantage of me. But no matter what you do, just remember, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in.

I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.