The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.25 Secret Trump Group Chat Leaks Just Got Worse! Fallout, Denials, & Possibly More Leaked Texts Soon

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

What an absurd trainwreck this is... Let’s talk about it. Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today! Head to https://www.lumen.me/DEFRANCO for 20% off your purchase. Your 5 New Tees & Hoodies Just Dropped! @ https://BeautifulBastard.com Use Code “PDS15” for 15% OFF! Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here: https://youtu.be/Lo0v5xWdIkE?si=RD-kDIN7Dj0zVYRe&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Senate Intelligence Committee Grills Officials About Signal Group Chat 10:06 - FBI Creates Tesla Task Force as Vandalism Continues  13:07 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 14:10 - GOP Efforts to Rein in Federal Judges Grow  21:56 - Sponsored by Lumen 22:55 - 23andme Files for Bankruptcy, Prompting Concerns About Data 24:36 - Man Cured of Sickle Cell Disease in New York Thanks to New Gene Therapy 26:38 - Comment Commentary ——————————   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 #DonaldTrump #JonStewart ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. The secret Trump group chat leak situation just got worse with top officials being grilled, admissions, denials, fallout, and possibly more leaked text to be released soon. Republicans are now moving to cripple the judiciary for standing in Trump's way, but we also need to break it down because it's actually a more complicated war on several fronts.

The FBI just launched an anti-Tesla domestic terrorism task force. And I've also got just a good news story to keep you sane. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news, how it's being covered, and how people are reacting to it, starting with this. The fallout from this Trump signal, secret war plans,

group chat scandal just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Which if you missed yesterday's show, a quick 20 second recap, it appears that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added the Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a signal group chat where the vice president and top cabinet officials discuss Yemen war plans in fine detail.

With defense secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly texting precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing. And you've got legal experts saying the whole thing, it could constitute violations of the Espionage Act and the Federal Records Act, not to mention a breach of national security. And it's not only because Goldberg was added to the chat,

but because the chat existed in the first place. Classified materials are not supposed to be on private messaging platforms like Signal. And so in the wake of all this, everyone involved has been absolutely ridiculed for what's widely being slammed as egregious incompetence and carelessness. With the saying, for example,

Jon Stewart taking a stab at the news on his show yesterday. You know, back in my day, if you were a journalist who wanted leaked war documents, you'd work the sources, meet them in a dark garage, earn the trust, pound the pavement. Now, he just wait for the national security advisor to be distracted by white Lotus

while he's setting up his bomb Yemen group chat. But there's also saying Hillary Clinton herself, who you might remember Donald Trump wanted to put in jail for her use of a private email server as secretary of state reacting to the news with, "'You have got to be kidding me.'" That'll be very clear here. It was not just Trump who called for her to be charged. Pete Hegseth, Margot Rubio, Mike Waltz, and John Ratcliffe,

all of whom were in the signal chat, did the same. With CNN even putting together a compilation of their past comments that have gone viral. If there was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now. Nobody is above the law, not even Hillary Clinton, even though she thinks she is. Mishandling classified information is still a violation of the SB on object. When youling classified information is still a violation of the espionage act. When you have the Clinton emails, on top of the fact that the sitting president of the United States admitted he had documents in his garage, they didn't prosecute, they didn't go after these folks. But also, if these people aren't going to be charged with crimes, at the

very least, you have many critics calling for those officials to resign. With the same here, top Democrats on the House Armed Services, Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees all writing a letter to the White House demanding transparency. And specifically about any other instances in which senior officials discussed national security issues on unauthorized messaging platforms. Now also, with all this, after claiming that I knew nothing about the Signal chat and attacking the Atlantic yesterday, Trump apparently debriefed himself on the story because he later responded telling NBC News, Mike Waltz has learned a lesson and he's a good man. And then when asked how Goldberg got added to the chat,

he said it was one of Michael's people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there. With Trump then expressing confidence in his team and saying he was not frustrated by the events leading up to the Atlantic story. And claiming it was, quote, the only glitch in two months and it turned out not to be a serious one. And then this afternoon, Trump spoke at a press conference

claiming there were no classified materials in the chat, smearing the Atlantic and Goldberg, and arguing that Signal is commonly used in the government. If it was up to me, everybody would be sitting in a room together. The room would have solid lead walls and a lead ceiling and a lead floor. But, you know, life doesn't always let you do that.

We always wanna use the best technology. This was the best technology for the moment. With also House Speaker Mike Johnson downplaying the severity of the mistake at a news briefing. They've acknowledged that there was an error and they're correcting it. And I would have asked the same thing of the Biden administration.

I don't think anyone should have lost their job over that because an errant number, you know, found its way onto a dialogue between leaders. But then interestingly, if the response from the president was kind of, eh, no biggie, the immediate reaction from other officials has been outright denied. With for example, White House Press Secretary,

Caroline Levitt, claiming that war plans were not discussed and quote, no classified material was sent to the thread. With us also seeing Pete Hegseth calling Goldberg a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes and then saying. Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that. But to be very clear,

the National Security Council has confirmed the authenticity of the signal chat, so it's unclear whether he's nitpicking the term war plans or just flatly denying reality. But either way, you had Goldberg responding to that clip on MSNBC. By the standard vernacular understanding of what war plan means,

it was at 145, this is going to happen. At 152, this is going to happen. Then this happens, then that happens. And then we do this and then we do that. He's telling this group, he's letting them know probably more than they need to know. I mean, the Secretary of State, the Chief of Staff of the White House don't actually need to know which weapons packages are being deployed in what way. And so with one side saying one thing and one side saying another, a lot of people are like, hey, why don't you just settle this by releasing the full text?

But notably in an interview this morning with the Bulwark, Goldberg said that while it's possible that he comes up with a plan to publicly vet the messages in the coming days, right now, it appears he's just discussing how to handle it with his lawyers and colleagues explaining. Just because they're irresponsible with material doesn't mean that I'm gonna be irresponsible

with this material. Right, and then this factual dispute was taken straight to the halls of Congress because this morning, the Senate Intelligence Committee held a previously scheduled annual hearing where intelligence officials usually just present their assessment of the global threats

facing the United States. But this time, right, with the breaking news, you had Democratic lawmakers using it as an opportunity to force two of the people reportedly in the signal chat, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director, John the breaking news, you had Democratic lawmakers using it as an opportunity to force two of the people reportedly in the Signal chat, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, to answer for the scandal. For example, Senator Mark Warner grilling Gabbard about one simple question. Were you in the group chat or not? Director Gabbard, did you participate in the group chat with Secretary of Defense and other

Trump senior officials discussing the Yemen war plans? Senator, I don't want to get into the specifics. Ma'am, were you on? You're not going to be willing to address. So you're not, are you denying? Matt, will you answer my question, ma'am? You were not TG on this group chat. I'm not going to get into the specifics. So you refuse to acknowledge whether you were on this group chat?

Senator, I'm not going to get into the specifics. Why are you going to get into the specifics? Is it because it's all classified? Because this is currently under review by the National Security Council. Because it's all classified? If it's not classified, share the text now. There was no classified material that was shared in that signal. So then if there was no classified material, share it with the committee.

You can't have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security. We then saw him jump on Ratcliffe, the CIA director, who had no problem telling Warner that he was a member of the group chat, but then he went on to defend it, saying. So that we're clear, one of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director was Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers. That is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration. I understand. It is permissible to use to communicate and coordinate for work purposes,

provided provided, Senator, that any decisions that are made are also recorded through formal channels. So my communications, to be clear, in a signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information. Well, we also saw Ratcliffe taking a beating from Senator Michael Bennett. Did you know that the president's Middle East advisor was in Moscow on this thread You also notably had Gabbard seemingly denying that detailed war plans would be classified at all. So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don't consider to should have been classified. I defer to the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council on that question. Well, you're the head of you. You're the head of the intelligence community. You're supposed to know about classifications. So also, at another point, both of them deny not only that the information was classified, but that it wasn't even sent at all.

Did this conversation at some point include information on weapons packages, targets, or timing? Not that I'm aware of. Director Gabbard, same question. Same answer and defer to the Department of Defense on that question. Well, those are two different answers. And so with all this, you had John Ossoff just asking Ratcliffe straight up. Director Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct? No.

You know, right now it's looking like this is far from the end of the story, especially since both Gabbard and Ratcliffe said that they are open to being audited for other private message conversations. And this is, you know, Democrats are chomping at the bit for any shred of accountability here with, for example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying,

I am calling for a bipartisan investigation in the Senate of this mishandling. I am also calling for the Defense IG to fully investigate. But also, another big aspect of this is that it's looking like the use of Signal and other encrypted messaging apps in the federal government, they're actually more the rule than the exception. And that, in part, because more than two dozen government workers told the Washington Post that federal bureaucrats have migrated to Signal en masse since Trump took office because it allows them to talk to each other without being scrutinized by higher-ups. With reportedly one fired worker from the U.S. Digital Service who is in eight private Signal groups with current and former federal employees

putting it bluntly, saying, I'm not sure there is any government worker right now who isn't talking to their colleagues on Signal. As well as others saying they worry their digital water cooler talk or questions about agency layoffs, return to office mandates and administration policies could be perceived as disloyal. So in an administration where employees feel like they can't speak freely for fear of losing their jobs, secrecy has become a valuable currency, not just at the top, but at the bottom as well.

Though, to be very clear here, rank and file workers privately discussing their employment or whether to respond to what did you do last week emails, that is massively different, completely different ballpark than what Trump's cabinet has been accused of both practically and legally. But then next up from that,

we got to talk about the FBI launching a Tesla task force to deal with the growing vandalism and threats targeting Tesla locations. Because reportedly in addition to peaceful protests across the country, there have been at least 80 reported cases of vandalism or arson of Tesla vehicles in the US and Canada recently, and at least 10 Tesla centers

have been targeted by vandals. You know, we talked about this trend a little bit last week. It obviously comes as the company's CEO, Elon Musk, has been facing tons of backlash over his government cutting efforts over at Doge. But then yesterday, the New York Post reporting that the FBI created this task force in response to all of this, and that was eventually confirmed by the Bureau's Assistant Director for Public Affairs, who said that the group will work, quote, in conjunction with ATF to coordinate investigative activity and crack down on violent Tesla attacks. And with that, you had FBI Director Kash Patel also writing that the attacks targeting Tesla

are domestic terrorism and those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice. And the latest incident was in Austin, Texas, where the company is headquartered, and police reportedly found incendiary devices at a Tesla dealership in the city. Those devices were reportedly taken into custody without incident, and the bomb squad was called in

to investigate the situation. Now with that, no injuries have been reported and you have the FBI aiding in the investigation with the state's attorney general, Ken Paxton, writing, "'The radical liberals encouraging these politically "'motivated attacks are sick and twisted. "'I stand ready to assist in any way "'to bring these perpetrators to justice.'"

We're also seeing that a protest in Florida is making headlines after a man was arrested for allegedly driving his car into a group of anti-Doge protesters outside of a Tesla dealership, with Palm Beach County police saying that the man drove the car over the curb and onto the sidewalk at a slow speed. And while the demonstrators were able to move out of the way, he did nearly strike several. With then, according to USA Today, the man walked into the dealership to say he supported Tesla before walking out and he's now been held on an assault charge. But also with this situation, like we've talked about before, these anti-Musk sentiments aren't

only widespread in the US, but we're seeing people all over the world not happy about his role in politics in general or American politics specifically, which has prompted boycott calls. And at least in Europe, it seems like those boycotts may have been successful so far. And that because sales of Tesla cars in the region

have dropped over 40% in the first two months of the year. Notably, that's even though there was nearly a 30% overall increase in sales of electric cars. Now with all this, while I'll say the Tesla and the Musk backlash is real, there is one piece of Musk criticism that's making news that is fake. Because if you've been scrolling Twitter or TikTok lately,

you may have come across an audio clip claiming to show JD Vance slamming Elon Musk. He's making us look bad. He's making me look bad. And I'll tell you this, and he wouldn't lie to it if I said it, but he's not even in the bird. He is from South Africa.

And he has the audacity to act like he is an elected official. I am an elected official. But before we grab the popcorn and cheer on that the girls are fighting, I have to tell you that this appears to be some good old-fashioned AI. With one, Vance's communication director writing, the audio is 100% fake and most certainly not the girls are fighting, I have to tell you that this appears to be some good old fashioned AI. With one, Vance's communication director writing,

"'The audio is 100% fake "'and most certainly not the vice president.'" Two, the firm Reality Defender also told 404 Media that its software detected the audio as likely fake. But still, despite that, just one upload of it on TikTok didn't have an AI label and it got over 2 million views and over 8,000 comments. While it appears that that highly viewed video

has been removed, there are of course still re-uploads of it on the platform with some calling BS, but also others seemingly falling for it. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But you know, if you're anything like me, you pushed off going to see a doctor, right? It'll heal on its own. I'm too busy.

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US are getting right now. Because that is what this federal judge just said. So we got to talk about why she said that and more broadly, how the case this is about is fueling a GOP effort to rein in federal judges, putting up roadblocks to Trump's agenda. And so with that, the starting point is that the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport 137 Venezuelan migrants with little or no due process,

accusing them of being gang members, criminals, and terrorists without identifying these individuals or providing evidence. And this is, they didn't send them back to their home country, but instead to a prison in El Salvador where they're being forced to work.

And while that was happening, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order to halt the deportations. With a big legal concern there, besides lack of evidence and due process, being that the deportation power claimed under the Alien Enemies Act is for times of war.

But there, you had the White House arguing that the arrival of dozens of gang members to the U.S. constitutes a state-sponsored invasion or predatory incursion that justifies the law's use without Congress declaring war. Though notably with that, a recent US intelligence assessment recently contradicted Trump's claim

that this gang is committing crimes in the US at the direction of the Venezuelan government. But in any case, the planes were already in the air and the administration seemingly ignored the judge's verbal instruction to have the flights turned around. With it later claiming it hadn't truly defied the judge because his written decision didn't also specify

that planes should be sent back. But then also claiming that the judge lacked the authority in the first place, but with that, it's still trying to fight the decision in court. And this is they notably continue to withhold information demanded by Boasburg to try and determine whether officials willingly violated his order. And in fact, this week, the administration officially said

that it wouldn't disclose any further information about two flights, with them claiming that doing so would jeopardize state secrets, impede future counter-terrorism operations, and harm diplomatic and national security, with the DOJ writing in a court filing, the court has all the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before.

And you know, with that, I will say, the state secrets privilege is an actual legal doctrine that can allow the executive branch to block the use of evidence in court. Notably, however, the executive branch would normally provide a detailed description of the sensitive evidence to a judge to show why it's too sensitive to discuss in open court.

And so with that, you have the New York Times explaining, "'The Trump Administration's move is extraordinary in part "'because it's refusing to provide any information at all, "'even privately and in a secure facility "'for handling classified information.'" Although that said, the administration hasn't even technically claimed the information at issue is classified.

Instead, submitting statements from Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, claiming that sharing the information with the court would jeopardize national security and foreign policy, including by making foreign partners less likely to trust the Trump administration to keep confidential negotiations and operational details secret

and by fueling public speculation about the matter. And then with all that, you had Boasberg yesterday denying the administration's motion to vacate his original order, writing that it should remain in place so the migrants could have the opportunity to challenge accusations that they belong to the gang. And this is also yesterday,

a federal appeals court in Washington held a nearly two-hour hearing on another request by the Trump administration to stay Boesberg's order. With a sing there, one member of the three-judge panel grilling a DOJ lawyer and suggesting that if the Venezuelans could be deported without due process, then anyone, herself included,

could simply be declared a national security threat and flown out of the country. And there, pointing out that even German citizens arrested under the Alien Enemies Act during World War II had the opportunity to argue in hearings that the law didn't apply to them, and saying, Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act. But then, on the other hand, one of the other judges questioned whether the case was in Boesberg's jurisdiction, suggesting that if migrants want to challenge their removal, they should do so in Texas, where they're being held. And this is, the third judge reportedly said almost nothing at the hearing. So we're going to have to wait to see what their decision is and how this will ultimately

end up. But in the meantime, this whole case has been at the center of conservative outrage over the judicial branch's power. Because as you've seen, Trump, Elon Musk, and some hardline conservatives in Congress have been pushing to impeach judges who block the administration's agenda. And Republicans in the House have actually already introduced articles of impeachment against certain judges, most notably, Boesberg. Though with that, as of now at least, it seems extremely unlikely impeaching him or any other judge would win enough Republican support

to reach a majority in the House. And in fact, some have already spoken out against the idea of impeaching judges because of their decisions. For example, Don Bacon of Nebraska telling NBC News, "'If you don't like it, appeal it. "'That's been our tradition since 1789.'" And then, of course, with that,

even if a judge was impeached, 67 votes would be needed for convictions in the Senate where Republicans only have a 53 to 47 majority. And so with that being the reality of the numbers, Republicans have been exploring other options to crack down on what it sees as a rogue judiciary. It's the next week, for example, the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings

on what committee chair Jim Jordan characterized as activist judges who are blocking Trump's agenda, including Boesberg. And then you have Republicans reportedly discussing cutting off funding for the federal district court in Washington and other lower courts, and even bringing up the existing system of district and circuit courts.

And with that, you have Politico reporting that's a fight likely to come to a head in the upcoming funding talks for fiscal 2026, according to three Republicans familiar with the conversations. But the idea that may be getting the most traction, it's a bill that's been put forward by California Republican, Darrell Issa,

entitled the No Rogue Rulings Act to bar district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions. And very notably, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, he's now reportedly thrown his support behind the legislation, speaking about the issue more broadly today and saying, "'We do have authority over the federal courts.

"'We can eliminate an entire district court. "'We do have power over funding over the courts and all these other things, but desperate times call for desperate measures and Congress is going to act. And so with that, the chamber is reportedly set to vote on the no rogue rulings act sometime next week. Though again, even if the bill does make its way through the house, passing the Senate, that's a bigger challenge. Though notably with that, Mike Davis, a close Trump ally who runs a right-wing judicial advocacy group, he has reportedly speculated that the legislation can be part of a broader package of court reforms, even including some that the Democrats have been pushing for in the past. And actually with that, legal scholars from both sides of the aisle have in the past criticized

the rapid rise of nationwide injunctions that, as we'll get to in a bit, actually began before Trump. With one criticism, for example, being that the rise of nationwide injunctions has led to an uptick in what's known as judge shopping. Though of course, there are still questions about the impact all of this could have. One legal scholar from UC Berkeley, for example, being that the rise of nationwide injunctions has led to an uptick in what's known as judge shopping. Though of course, there are still questions about the impact all of this could have. One legal scholar from UC Berkeley, for example, told the LA Times that the bill is a terrible idea that would sow chaos in the system, saying that it would create conflicting rulings

between districts and making Americans subject to different rules in different parts of the country. But on the other hand, you have some experts claiming that in many cases that the bill would have no effect because it carves out an exception for a 1946 law called the Administrative Procedure Act. And that gives federal courts oversight with respect to the actions of federal agencies. And it could mean that many decisions criticized by the Trump administration, including Boasburg's, might not be affected. Though I will say that's

unclear. And of course, the bill is subject to revision. And then also on top of that, Josh Hawley has also announced that he would bring separate legislation in the Senate to limit nationwide injunctions, noting that district court judges have issued record numbers of national injunctions against the Trump administration. And with that being a point that's being made more and more lately to support this claim that the judiciary is somehow being unfair,

we should talk about why it can be misleading. Because first off, yes, it is absolutely true that the courts have blocked Trump's agenda more than any other president. But notably, when district courts issued 12 rulings halting Obama's policies, that was also a record at the time. And so now you have the likes of Steve Vladek,

a Georgetown law professor who consistently cautioned about the increased use of nationwide injunctions, saying there's a completely shameless amount of hypocrisy right now about the issue. But with them pointing to the fact that the same people now decrying out-of-control district courts

celebrated their rulings against Biden. And then of course, on the flip side, Democrats who criticize those rulings against Obama or Biden aren't complaining about them now. Though, to be very clear, the attacks against the judiciary that we're seeing from Republicans

are on a whole new and another level. Now with that, they may say that those attacks are justified because Trump hasn't just surpassed Obama's record, he's absolutely obliterated. But compared to the unprecedented 12 nationwide injunctions against Obama over two terms, there were 64 against Trump just in his first term. And already at least 15 have been issued

against his second term policies. And so that was reportedly a point made by Issa when he presented his bill to the judiciary committee with a chart showing the number of injunctions faced by each president. But of course, as many were quick to point out, maybe the reason it's happening so much under Trump is because he's doing so many more things

that might be illegal. With the seeing, for example, Democrat Jamie Raskin saying, the implication of this chart is that somehow the courts have done something wrong rather than Donald Trump having done something wrong. The reason there are 64 injunctions against him is because he is trampling the lawmaking and spending powers of the Congress of the United States. But for now, we're going to have to continue to see how all these cases play out, what Congress ends up doing, and if and what kind of impact it might have on them.

And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But first, you know, my metabolism has always been a mystery to me. What to eat, when to eat, when to work out. I mean, have you felt this way? Because you know, our metabolism's like our body's engine, converting food and energy, but we're not born with a dashboard. So how can we optimize our health in the dark?

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That's L-U-M-E-N dot me slash defranco for 20% off your purchase. But then switching gears to a different bit of big news, 15 million people are scrambling right now to protect their data after the genetic testing company, 23andMe announced that it was filing for bankruptcy. With the company claiming that it'll still operate during this time, but for most people, the real concern is what is going to happen to their data. Now with that, the company claims that it is still dedicated to privacy,

with a spokesperson saying, for our customers, our focus continues to be on transparency and choice over how they want their data to be managed. Additionally, they promise that the data it does have is anonymized. However, there are some doubts about how effective that is. Because you have privacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation having long warned that it's possible to re-identify such data. Though 23andMe says that this is not possible

with their data, but we'll likely have to wait and see what happens if the data is ever sold due to the bankruptcy proceedings. Which is why you have privacy experts urging users to log into their accounts and delete their data, which 23andMe offers. Although I will say, even with that, the company claims they still retain some data.

We just don't know what. You know, 23andMe going bankrupt, it's not the most surprising when you look at their business model. They have serious issues getting repeat customers with most of the 15 million users just being one and done. That's a pretty hard model to sustain a business. And instead, they've relied on selling

anonymized customer data to medical research firms with 80% of customers agreeing to have this done. But also on top of that, the leadership has had a major falling out over the last few months. The CEO and Wojcicki had wanted to buy out all the shares of the company herself, but the board didn't like that and they resigned en masse. They also didn't like that Wojcicki had promised to reveal a plan for how to move the company forward for months, but never actually produced one. And now as of today, Wojcicki herself has also resigned. And so, you know, all of this has meant that the stock price has steadily plummeted

ever since they went public in 2021. And at the time they peaked at like $300 a share, whereas now the stocks are worth 99% less at under a dollar. And so it's widely expected that 23andMe will be out of business by next year, unless bankruptcy proceedings can slow that down by restructuring the company. But then next up for your daily dose of good news,

I'd like you to meet Sebastian. So Sebastian is 21 years old, and for his entire life, he has struggled with chronic pain from debilitating sickle cell anemia. Which if you don't know what sickle cell is, it's an inherited blood disorder that in the US most commonly affects people of African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent.

You know, it can cause a range of symptoms, including blood clots and strokes, and it can even cut 20 years off your life. And it's caused by inheriting defective copies of a hemoglobin gene, causing red blood cells in the body to be misshapen, which limits the cells ability to carry oxygen. Because they're misshapen, the blood cells are more prone

to clump together and cause blockages to blood vessels, which can lead to severe pain and tissue damage. Normally, sickle cell anemia can be treated with therapies that can control it, but not cure it. And that said, there are some instances of getting bone marrow transplants from external donors, which can cure it, but those procedures don't always work, and they come with a bunch of side effects and even a risk of death In fact, according to the national institutes of health about 1 in 20 children under 16 who have gotten bone marrow transplants for sickle cell anemia

They have died and that number actually jumps up to 1 in 10 for people older than 16 But that wasn't a risk that sebastian had to face and that is because back in december He began treatment with a brand spank new gene therapy called LifeGenia, or which was developed by a biotech company called Bluebird Bio. And it works by extracting the patient's own blood stem cells and then genetically modifying them using a virus to paste copies of functional hemoglobin into the cells.

And then with chemotherapy, the dysfunctional cells are cleared out of the body and the new ones are infused back in, right? And then new totally normal blood cells are produced from the transplanted modified blood stem cells. And since his treatment back in December, Sebastian's had zero symptoms of sickle cell anemia, leading the doctors to believe that he's been cured.

With Sebastian now saying sickle cell was like a blockade for me, but now it's just like a wall that I just jumped over. Also his mom adding, Sebastian's been coming to this hospital since he was two months old. There's not enough words to show you how grateful I am. And all of this is truly a medical history making moment. Because while Sebastian may not be the first person

to have been cured using Life Junior, he is the first person in New York to be cured of sickle cell anemia. So soon he's gonna be able to do things like travel, work out and focus on his education. With him even adding that he wants to go into the medical field saying, "'I can't wait to get back to my day-to-day life

because now I feel unstoppable.'" But then finally today, let's talk about y'all's comments on yesterday's show in some comment commentary brought to you by beautifulbastard.com, where just yesterday I dropped some awesome new gear for you, our premium tees, our premium hoodies, including the emotionally exhausted floral lines, Beautiful Bastard Members Club, Are You Taking Care of Yourself classics, and of course, that's in addition to this year's bestsellers like God Is Testing Me, A Silly Goose, and This Economy, Built Differently, built differently, poorly, clearly thriving,

and we the people are like so over it, and much more. All available at beautifulbastard.com, and you can get 15% off using code PDS15 at checkout. But, you know, that said, diving into those comments yesterday, there was understandably a lot of conversation around the group chat story. Cryo saying, damn,

I thought they were going to deny the chat leak. And this is you had a lot of people wondering why Goldberg left. With Blitzer saying, man, if I was that journalist, I don't think I would have left. I would have just waited until they'd noticed. With some of you also comparing your own group chat experiences, saying things like, I've been in group chats where somebody adds someone by accident and that person gets removed at lightning speed. And it's not even about anything important. And adding, they didn't notice when he got there. They didn't notice when he left and they didn't

notice he'd been there at all until he reported on it. That's genuinely insane and begs the question of how often this must be happening for it to go unnoticed this time and who else has gotten in there before and just never told anyone. Regarding them not noticing if he left, we don't know that for sure. I mean, just this morning, we started seeing reports like NPR's Tom Bowman. He reportedly learned that a Pentagon-wide email went out one week ago warning about the vulnerability of using the messaging app Signal. With the email beginning, a vulnerability has been identified in the Signal Messenger app, right? And that is the same app that was being used. But the whole situation being so ridiculous, you had top comments like, the group chat story is bananas. We are so far beyond parody, it's insane. Though there,

I found myself more agreeing with Zylospring who responded, we are a poorly written fan fiction. Like the whole situation is so ridiculous and stupid. It sounds like someone was like, oh man, imagine if this happened, then people would realize they're dumb. You also had some saying that people are being hypocritical out there. Like just some guy saying, what about our emails crowd is fine

with war plans on an app. This is bizarro world. Which I will say for me, one of the most interesting things is you're seeing all the justifications for what happened. Are we seeing them now outright denying that war plans or confidential information was being shared? But then also you have some on the right saying,

Oh man, no, no, this is 5D chess. They did it to some purpose. This is a media strategy. Saying and asking, these are some of the most competent people in the country and you believe they would just screw up like this? Which I will say, I just love as an argument. They're like, this is so ridiculous and stupid.

Like no one's that ridiculous and stupid. So obviously they're geniuses, which is just some North Korea level, like the emperor has no clothes shit. But then as far as other comments, it was kind of a smattering here and there on the other topics. And then really a lot of praise

around Bernie Sanders and AOC. With some also sharing their own personal experiences saying, I tried going to Bernie's rally in Kenosha and me and at least hundreds of others weren't able to get in due to the venue being at capacity. It sucked to get turned away, but it was still cool knowing I got turned away because so many other people are like-minded.

But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is where your Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning dive into the news is gonna end. And of course, your two final things, one, let me know your thoughts and opinions on any stories that stood out to you today. And two, remember I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.