The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.8 Video Exposes Controversial Florida Raid & Olivia Jade Felony Scandal Redemption Tour

Episode Date: December 8, 2020

Get the best discount of the year on Raycons! Now through the end of December, go to https://buyraycon.com/defranco to get 15% off your order!  John Green Opens Up... : https://youtu.be/I8qjpIiVy_w  WATCH My Podcast: https://youtu.be/T34mowNvSfE  -- WATCH Full “A Convo With” Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/ACW  LISTEN On The Podcast Platform Of Your Choice: http://LinksHole.com WATCH the ACW Clips channel!: https://youtube.com/ACWClips -- 00:00 - Olivia Jade Speaks Out About College Scam 07:24 - Sponsor 08:28 - Florida Data Analyst Shares Video of House Raid -- ✩ SUPPORT THE SHOW ✩ ✭ BUY our GEAR, Support the Show!: http://ShopDeFranco.com ✭ Lemme Touch Your Hair: http://BeautifulBastard.com ✭ Paid Subscription: http://DeFrancoElite.com  ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Olivia Jade Addresses College Admissions Scandal on Red Table Talk: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-12-08/olivia-jade-giannulli-red-table-talk-lori-loughlin-admissions-scandal https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/olivia-jade-lori-loughlin-red-table-talk-college-admissions-1234848220/ Rebekah Jones Home Raided By Florida Law Enforcement: https://roguerocket.com/2020/12/08/florida-data-analyst/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ U.K. Begins Vaccinations: https://roguerocket.com/2020/12/08/first-vaccine-uk/ U.S. Sanctions 14 High-Level Chinese Officials for Ousting Pro-Democracy Hong Kong  Lawmakers https://roguerocket.com/2020/12/08/china-us-pompeo/ ——————————     Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright Produced by: Amanda Morones Art Director: Brian Borst  Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Cory Ray, Neena Pesqueda, Brian Espinoza Production Team: Zack Taylor, Luke Manning  ———————————— #DeFranco #OliviaJade #RebekahJones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Look at it was dabbing, no. The whole video's ruined. We just throw it in the garbage now. I'm sorry. Oh, they won't pay us if we don't do the video. Sup, you beautiful bastards. Hope you have a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show.

A quick thing actually, before we get started. I know not everyone on this channel has seen the newest video on youtube.com slash defrancodosbutt. Thank you for all the love and support on that video. It really, it really does mean the world to me. Also see you more on that channel in the coming weeks. So thank you to everyone that just subscribed. But that said, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show.

Buckle up, hit that like button and let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today is Olivia Jade is back in the news and not to be too much of a cynic, I feel like I'm just being kind of a realist here. It appears that the redemption tour has begun. Right, if you're unfamiliar, she was slash is a popular influencer.

She is the daughter of actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli. And while you might remember her, is she and her family basically became the face of the massive college admissions scandal that first became public back in March of 2019. This because her parents reportedly paid $500,000 to get her and her sister Bella into USC

as fake rowing recruits. And since this was a legal situation, since the story first broke, we've been given more and more information, fully understanding the extent of what happened over a long period of time. Things like we learned that they made fake athletic portfolios for the girls,

even having them pose on rowing machines for photos. Though for the most part, we had never heard from Olivia herself, because once again, it's a legal situation. That makes sense. But as of today, that has changed. With her mother now serving two months in federal prison, her father serving five months,

Olivia Jade decided to go to Red Table Talk. It's a Facebook show hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her mother, Adrienne, and her daughter, Willow. One of the big standouts from this video that was released that is blowing up right now is Adrienne talking about why they should not have her on the show. I just found it really ironic that she chose three black women to reach out to for her redemption story.

I feel like here we are, a white woman coming to black women for support when we don't get the same from them. It's just, it's bothersome to me on so many levels. Her being here is the epitome of white privilege to me. I understand where you're coming from, but let me just be clear. I never want to be the thing that was done to me by white women.

I never want to be that. Okay. I also believe that these are the kind of attitudes that feed the same thing that we're fighting. It's like people look at us, they say you're black and you're female, and they automatically put us in a category. So looking at her as being white, young, and privileged, and then putting her in a category, it's the same thing. So I just see it as this cycle. It's not our responsibility to raise her consciousness.

There's gonna be lots of people that agree with you. 100%. And we gonna get heat. And I mean, Jada was right. We've seen a lot of people debating this online. Many agreeing with Adrienne. Though, as this spread to different audiences, you had some people kind of disappointed

that she was focusing mostly on the race stuff. Though, I would say this is a 30 minute piece of content. Most people are reacting to clips. And Adrienne actually even addresses this later in the episode. I want to take the focus off too a little bit because I put a lot of emphasis on that just for me personally, from the racial point of view, but also just the fact that the measures that were taken to get you into a college or university doesn't have anything to do with race. It's people that have worked hard to earn the right to be in that college and your parents'

decision to pay somebody to alter your, whatever it was that they did. You understand what I'm saying? So that doesn't have anything to do with race. Right. That just has to do with financial privilege and entitlement. But as far as the content of the conversation with Olivia Jade, as far as what transpired, we did see Olivia Jade admit fault, calling it a mistake. I think that what hasn't been super public is that there is no justifying or excusing what happened because what happened was wrong. And I think every single person in my family can be like, that was messed up. That was a big mistake. But I think what's so important to me is like to learn from the mistake, not to now be shamed and punished and never given a second chance. But here, as far as reaction, we also did

see some people take issue with her referring to this kind of as a mistake, as almost an accident, I think, is how some people received it. One of the sticking points for a lot of people, as far as Olivia Jade's involvement, involves those fake rowing pictures. But as far as the public understanding, it seems that she was at least somewhat privy.

And in this interview, she also says that she was kind of led astray. I think that I put a lot of trust into a person that claimed their profession was college counseling. Right. And it led me in a wrong direction. And it's not to shift blame, but it's just to explain like I wasn't aware

of what was going on. Right. But I did work hard and when this did come out, I was a little confused when I saw stuff about what I had written on my application. And I remember writing on my application about my YouTube channel and VidCon, and they were two very different things.

You know? So there was a lot of it that I was like, whoa. And I'm sitting, you know, reading things online. And I'm like, if only people knew how much, how bad I feel that this happened. Also separate from the conversation of the crime itself. One of the things in this scandal where Olivia Jade really took a hit, where people referring to her

as kind of this entitled brat, this because there's that infamous YouTube video where she's talking about going to college, but really not sure if she's actually going to go to classes. She's really only looking forward to game days and partying. Right, she didn't care about school. And that of course, infuriated so many people. People watched that clip and they were like,

wow, you and your family stole this spot from someone that was probably going to be far more deserving that actually needs to go to the classes. But today we saw Olivia addressing that video. Like the fact that you even could say those things just shows how fortunate you were, that you didn't have to worry about that. That you knew you were gonna be okay without it.

And that sits with me and makes me cringe. And it's embarrassing that I ever said those types of things and not only said them, but edited it, uploaded it and then saw their response to realize it was wrong. And that is essentially where we are with the story. These are just some highlights. If you want to watch the whole thing, I'll link to it down below.

But for Olivia Jade and her parents who are serving prison time, the legal situation is done. And now they just have to deal with the court of public opinion. And you know, I think a lot of people are going to watch this interview and have drastically different takeaways because a big part of this is, do you believe her? And I, I personally don't know how to feel about it.

I am a big believer that we should not punish the children for the sins of the parents. I'm a big believer in giving people second chances. While not okay, I understand the argument that you see everyone around you doing something and you also just kind of trust your parents. But there's also, when it comes to Olivia Jade, there's this intangible thing.

It is a thing that I cannot describe and it might be biased, that's the problem. But I have doubts and so like any other time that I've felt like this, ultimately what happens from here is a judgment on action. And hopefully Olivia Jade is sincere in trying to do good from this situation after it brought to light a number of issues

in the world to her. But only time can tell if that is a talking point or an actual motivation moving forward in life. But like I said, where we are now is in the court of public opinion. And so to ye, the jury, what are your thoughts on this matter? And then let's talk about this absolutely wild story

out of Florida and I know when I say that, some of you were like, oh, what did Florida man do today? But this story actually centers around a woman by the name of Rebecca Jones. She's a former employee of the Florida Department of Health who has been widely praised for building and running the state's COVID-19 dashboard before she was fired from her position back in May.

And at that time, Jones told local reporters that she was fired because she had been ordered to censor data, but she refused to, saying she had been ordered to manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen. And in fact, according to emails obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, Jones objected to the removal of records showing people had symptoms or positive tests

before the cases were announced. And adding that, department staff gave the order shortly after reporters requested the same data from the agency on May 5th. Now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded by denying the accusations, calling Jones's firing a non-issue and claiming she was fired because she was insubordinate.

With him also doing a lot of work to undermine her character, downplaying her role in developing the COVID dashboard, casting doubt on her credentials, and painting her as a disruptive employee and a criminal. Pointing to unrelated charges of cyber stalking and cyber sexual harassment, though notably the second charge has been dropped despite DeSantis falsely claiming that it wasn't.

With him also saying that these other fakers were part of the reason that she was fired, but Jones who of course disputed DeSantis' account continued to fight back. In June, for example, she launched her own dashboard of Florida coronavirus data that she bills as a more transparent and independent alternative to the state's tracker in July.

She filed a whistleblower complaint against the health department asking for her job to be reinstated with pay. She has also reportedly been very vocal on social media, posting criticisms of DeSantis and his state agencies. And actually, the reason that we are talking about her today is because yesterday we saw her post this video on Twitter. Come outside, outside.

Who else is in the house ma'am? My two children and my husband. Where's your husband? Calm down, calm down. You want the children down? All of them all down. Mr. Jones, come down the stairs, now! Police, come down now!

Bring your children there! My children! Let me clear my heart. He just pointed a gun at my children! With Jones writing in a series of tweets, there will be no update today. At 8.30 a.m. this morning, state police came into my house

and took all my hardware and tech. They were serving a warrant on my computer after DOH filed a complaint. They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids. They took my phone and the computer I use every day to post the case numbers in Florida and school cases for the entire country.

They took evidence of corruption at the state level. They claimed it was about a security breach. This was DeSantis. He sent the Gestapo. This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power. I tell them my husband and my two children are upstairs, and then one of them draws his gun on my children.

This is DeSantis' Florida. And adding, if DeSantis thought pointing a gun in my face was a good way to get me to shut up, he's about to learn just how wrong he was. I'll have a new computer tomorrow, and then I'm going to get back to work. And shortly after that, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the FDLE,

confirmed in a statement that they seized Jones' computer equipment while executing a search warrant. But the spokesperson also claiming that when the agents arrived, they first knocked on Jones' door and called her in an attempt to minimize disruption to the family, and adding, Ms. Jones refused to come to the door

for 20 minutes and hung up on agents. After several attempts and verbal notifications that law enforcement officers were there to serve a legal search warrant, Ms. Jones eventually came to the door and allowed agents to enter. With the FDLE commissioner also saying in a separate statement that the agents entered the home

in accordance with normal protocols and seized several devices that will be forensically analyzed. Also disputing Jones's claim that the guns were pointed at her and her children, saying at no time were weapons pointed at anyone in the home. But Jones is still stuck by her story

that the officers did point the weapons at her and her children, with her also telling reporters that it is not true that she refused to open the door, and saying the delay was due to the fact that she was taking her time getting dressed because she believed that she was going to be arrested. And as far as why they were serving this warrant,

according to an affidavit by an investigator with the department, it was in connection to an investigation the agency launched after the health department reported that an unauthorized person had illegally accessed a state government emergency management system to send a group text message to government officials, encouraging them to take action saying,

"'It's time to speak up "'before another 17,000 people are dead. "'You know this is wrong. "'You don't have to be part of this. "'Be a hero. "'Speak out before it's too late.'" With that investigator also claiming in that affidavit that he had traced the message to an IP address

associated with Jones's house. But notably as IT experts explained to the Tallahassee Democrat, an IP address identifies a location that an internet connection was made, but doesn't prove that Jones sent the text message. And while speaking to reporters later in the day, Jones denied the allegations,

telling the Tampa Bay Times that she was not a hacker and didn't know how to even do what she was being accused of, adding, DeSantis publicly said, "'I'm not a data scientist. "'I'm not a computer scientist. "'And I wouldn't even know how to even do what she was being accused of. Adding, DeSantis publicly said, "'I'm not a data scientist. "'I'm not a computer scientist, "'and I wouldn't even know what to do if I saw a database, "'and now he's accusing me of hacking one?

"'It's a real 180 there. "'I'm not a hacker. "'I don't hack. "'I don't know shit about computers. "'I know how to do statistics.'" But they're also saying in an interview with CNN that the language in the unauthorized text message was not the way she talked,

and that it had obvious errors that she would not make. Adding the number of deaths that the person used wasn't even right. They were actually under by about 430 deaths. I would never round down 430 deaths. She also said she hasn't had access to any health department systems in six months and that all the information she had was accessed legally

from reports or sent to her from other people still working for the government. And also claiming that some of the drives taken by police contained legal proof that state officials were lying in January about things like internal reports and notices from the CDC, as well as what she described as evidence of illegal activities by the state. With her going on to again claim that this raid was orchestrated by DeSantis, saying, This is what happens when you challenge powerful and corrupt people. If he thinks this is going to scare me into silence, he's wrong.

With Jones' lawyer also doubling down on that sentiment in a statement last night, though he did not directly mention DeSantis, saying, the actions of Florida law enforcement captured on my client's video depicts unnecessarily reckless and aggressive behavior in the execution of a search warrant for computers.

Our client was fully cooperative, yet had guns pointed at her and her family. We are concerned that these actions may be retaliation in response to her whistleblower claim against the Department of Health and her criticism of the governor's COVID-19 response." Now, that said, DeSantis for his part has denied any involvement in this raid

with a spokesperson for his office telling reporters yesterday, "'The governor's office had no involvement, "'no knowledge, no nothing of this investigation.'" Also adding that the FDLE launched the investigation before anyone knew about Jones's alleged involvement. But ultimately, that is where we are with the situation. Obviously, we're gonna keep our eyes on it to see what actually comes from this.

Because as of right now, you know, we have this video, we have a number of claims, but it unfortunately is a situation of who do you believe? And when it comes to Florida, the state government has made it very hard to just trust. There's many eyes on and fingers pointed at DeSantis. For his handling of the pandemic, the reopening that he instituted in spring,

the same one that Jones said that he used false data to support. Reopening that is, you might remember, led to massive spikes in Florida, making it one of the biggest hotspots over the summer. And as the Miami Herald reported earlier in the pandemic, "'The state has consistently resisted "'revealing important data points and public records

"'to the news, media, and taxpayers, "'relenting only in the face of lawsuits. Information that was initially withheld include the number of deaths and infections at nursing homes, medical examiner accounts of COVID-19 fatalities, the extent of Florida's testing backlog, infections and deaths at state prisons, and precisely how early cases began appearing in the state.

But with all that, I then want to pass the question off to you, what are your thoughts on this video that we just saw? What's happening in Florida? Any and everything. I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below. And that is where today's show ends. As always, thank you for being a part of my daily dives in the news.

Thank you for being a part of this. I hope you're doing well. Also, hey, if you're looking for more to watch, maybe you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show. There's a lot to cover there. Or maybe you missed that brand new personal video I shared. You can click or tap right there to watch either of or maybe you missed that brand new personal video I shared. You can click or tap right there

to watch either of those right now, or they're in the description down below. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.