The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.1 What Is Instagram Hiding?! HUGE Debate Sparked, Youtube CEO Responds, & More
Episode Date: May 1, 2019Haven’t done this in a while...here’s a 24-minute show! Go to http://PostDeFranco.com Use coupon code ‘PHILLYD’ for $100 free delivery credit for all new customers! For the personal stuff foll...ow me @ https://instagram.com/phillydefranco/ Watch yesterday’s PDS here: https://youtu.be/YA93h6yRLi0 Watch the latest Morning News Show: https://youtu.be/PUAeWm7OFuE Snag our amazing Pomade, Beard Oil, & More at http://BeautifulBastard.com First come, first served. Support this content w/ a Paid subscription @ http://DeFrancoElite.com ———————————— Follow Me On: ———————————— TWITTER: http://Twitter.com/PhillyD FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/mqpRW7 INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/phillydefranco/ ———————————— Today in Awesome: ———————————— Veronica Mars Teaser: https://youtu.be/wuhCFAtFE-A The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Trailer: https://youtu.be/RcTvQx1Wot0 Lil Dicky - Earth Tutorial: The Problem: https://youtu.be/Qnw-hTYOYbk Largest Female Feet - Guinness World Records: https://youtu.be/QCgxrjTEaG4 Can You Melt Dragonglass to Cast Obsidian Axe?: https://youtu.be/uP3a-BweNUc Honest Trailers: Pokemon: The First Movie: https://youtu.be/ulMgeGS18Ts Subverse Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/990500595/subverse?ref=project_tweet Secret Link: https://youtu.be/nrpIj8xCzDQ ———————————— Today’s Stories: ———————————— Instagram Tests Hiding Likes: https://roguerocket.com/2019/05/01/instagram-tests-hiding-likes-in-canada/ YouTube CEO Addresses Creator Concerns: https://roguerocket.com/2019/05/01/youtube-ceo-addresses-creator-concerns-after-talks-with-shane-dawson-james-charles-and-others/ Hundreds Arrested in Protests in Paris: https://roguerocket.com/2019/05/01/hundreds-arrested-in-paris-may-day-protests/ Controversy Around Barr’s Summary of the Mueller Report: https://roguerocket.com/2019/05/01/mueller-objects-to-barr's-summary-of-report,-says-it-created-"public-confusion"/ Check out what’s happening with Barr’s Testimony: https://www.c-span.org/video/?459922-1/william-barr-testifies-mueller-report-senate-judiciary-committee https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/may/01/william-barr-testimony-mueller-report-donald-trump-live-latest-news https://www.foxnews.com/politics/william-barr-senate-committee-mueller-report-handling-live-blog ———————————— More News Not Included In Show Today: ———————————— Etika Detained By NYPD On Livestream: https://roguerocket.com/?p=9371 Apple Defends Removal of Rival Apps: https://roguerocket.com/2019/04/29/apple-defends-removal-of-rival-apps/ Russian Agent Maria Butina Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison: https://roguerocket.com/2019/04/26/russian-agent-maria-butina-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison/ ———————————— Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg Produced by: Amanda Morones, Cecelia Applegate Art Director: Brian Borst Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton ———————————— #DeFranco #Instagram #Mueller ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday.
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it.
Actually, quick note, for all you beautiful bastards that are constantly like,
man, I love it when you do the really long videos,
you do not hit the like button on this video, I will throat punch you, not really.
But do not let the stress and tears coming from Editor James be for nothing.
And so with that said, let's just jump into it.
The first thing we're going to talk about today in interesting social media news
is we had Instagram announcing a test.
And that test will specifically hide the like count
from photos and videos on Instagram
in an effort to get people to focus on content
rather than the number of likes.
As far as who is going to be a part of this test,
it's going to begin this week
and will only be rolled out in Canada.
And it's really interesting because obviously
the like feature is a core element of the platform.
But you've also had people arguing
that it's actually had a negative impact
on both the quality of the content and users' mental health.
The head of Instagram, Adam Masseri, is saying,
"'We want people to worry a little bit less
"'about how many likes they're getting on Instagram
"'and spend a bit more time connecting
"'with the people they care about.'"
And the thing is, this new move, this new test,
is not completely out of character for Instagram.
If you don't recall, back in November of last year,
they had a different rollout.
In that specific test, we saw Instagram deemphasizing
the follower counts on profiles,
placing them off center in a much smaller font.
And it's interesting looking at what the experts say on this
because it's partly mental health
and then partly content quality.
Right, you have some people saying
the content is less interesting
because there's almost like a formula
for what is likable content.
And so there's kind of this argument
that if you take away the benefit
for just working in a formula,
the content will be more interesting
and it adds to the stickiness of your app.
People are gonna be looking for more and more
rather than going, oh, this is so much of the same thing.
But on the mental health side, the chase for likes
has also been linked to damaging perceptions
of one's self-worth.
According to a 2017 report from the Royal Society
for Public Health in the UK,
Instagram is the most detrimental social networking app
for young people's mental health.
With Matt Caracher, the author of the report,
saying that the app draws women to, quote,
"'compare themselves against unrealistic,
"'largely curated, filtered,
"'and Photoshopped versions of reality.
But there's also a third element here
that has not been talked about as much.
And I mean, it could be devastating to a certain industry.
Right now, the test only hides the number of likes, right?
So there's a question of,
are we looking at a total removal?
Because if this is rolled out more broadly
and likes in general are removed,
I mean, this could massively change
the influencer marketing industry
and social media marketing in general.
So many people out there are buying followers on Instagram and so many other platforms.
Right, they bulk up their numbers whether it be for, you know, perceived self-worth or they're trying to get sponsors,
but because those followers are bought or in cases like mine and many kind of OG creators,
you get a large number over a long period of time.
Right, even here on YouTube we have more than 6 million subscribers.
While yes, around 4 million plus uniques will go to our videos over the course of let's say like 3 to 4 weeks,
our average expected daily audience is 1 to 1.5 million.
That's because we accrued those subscribers over a long period of time and, you know, the real engagement, that is always going to be different.
So if you remove one of the largest indicators of engagement, the like,
it's gonna be so hard for agencies and marketers to feel secure in using a brand new influencer.
And of note, Instagram isn't the only one looking at this kind of idea.
For example, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was on stage back in April and he discussed what he would do differently if he launched Twitter now.
And Dorsey said,
I don't think I would create likes in the first place.
And adding that he also wouldn't make the follower count as prominent.
And in fact, Twitter's prototype app, Twitter, which is just the same word without vowels, is designed for testing new features.
It currently explores the idea of letting people read tweets in a tighter design without being distracted by likes and retweets if they want.
But the main point here is we may be seeing a shift in the online space regarding these kind of numbers.
I want to know your thoughts on this. Obviously, if you're an influencer or a marketer,
I'd be fascinated in your thoughts regarding that angle.
Which actually since the news is now spreading more and more,
we are seeing some massive Instagram influencers like the the Logan Pauls of the world speak out about what they think. They're growing up being taught
how much to love themselves based on what other people think of them. It is so dangerous. Yeah.
And even, even, yo, even me, it's like, yo, a post get gets less likes. I'm like, did I do
something wrong? Am I okay with myself? And I think it'll be so much healthier if people are
more focused on what you're posting
rather than how many likes and comments it's getting. Which of course is meaningful considering
that he has over 15.8 million followers. But I think the far more interesting thing for me
is how kind of everyday people see this shift. For you, when you're using social media, whether
you're posting something or you're consuming something, does the number of likes matter to
you? Does the act of acknowledging kind of a tip of the hat the like button in general does what does that mean to you although?
Maybe part of your reaction is similar to a larger influencer since
Everyone kind of because of the way everything is developed is a content creator in some way
I know interesting weird times and then let's talk about we had the CEO of YouTube back in the news Susan
Wojcicki as we mentioned the last time we talked about her, we were kind of just waiting for a new update
and we have now gotten that.
Yesterday we saw Susan posting to the creator's blog
to address some of the complaints that she's heard
and talk about her focuses in 2019.
She begins by talking about the necessary trade-offs
that YouTube has to weigh and balance when making decisions.
Like back in February when there was a problem
with pedophiles in comment sections,
I was brought into the spotlight.
YouTube responded by removing comments on any video
that included young children.
Wojcicki saying,
We did this to protect children from predatory comments,
with the exception of a small number of channels
that have the manpower needed
to actively moderate their comments
and take additional steps to protect children.
Which as you might remember, we talked about in the past,
specifically around complaints from Colleen Ballinger
and special books by special kids
about the impact this has had on innocent channels.
And Susan says that while she understands
the impact this has had, she adds,
but in the end, that was a trade-off we made
"'because we feel protecting children on our platform
"'should be the most important guiding principle.'"
Another example she brings up
is after the Christchurch shooting
when YouTube tried to keep videos
with violent imagery of the attack off of the platform.
But while removing these videos,
they also removed some videos
that did not violate the community guidelines,
like news and commentary videos,
which were reinstated after an appeal.
Then she addresses supporting creators,
a topic which she says has helped when she sat down
and talked to creators like Korea Grandma,
Mostly Sane, Shane Dawson, James Charles,
Collins and Devin Key, Ethan and Hila Klein,
and Sophia Nygaard.
Here, Susan starts by addressing
one of the most mentioned YouTuber topics,
monetization and what makes something ineligible for it.
And here she says they're hoping to improve this
by making the actual guidelines more detailed
to help creators make decisions
that could affect their chance of getting demonetized.
She then brings up complaints about what makes it to the trending page, which of course is something that is constantly brought up,
but especially when you have like the PewDiePies or the Shane Dawson's of the world putting out a video that just blows up.
Right, sometimes six or twelve times things that are on the trending page, yet somehow it's not on trending itself.
And regarding this, Susan says, One thing to keep in mind is that trending is meant to show content that a wide range of viewers would find interesting.
So we're especially careful about the safety of these videos and we ensure they don't contain profanity or mature content.
Then going on to say, eligible videos are then ranked based on a calculation of their, quote,
temperature, or rather how quickly that video is generating views.
But then going on to say that moving forward they want at least half of the videos on trending to come from a diverse set of YouTubers
and the rest to be kind of your music and traditional media.
She then goes on to talk about manual copyright claims and a complaint that many have had where an entire video will be copyright claimed
for just seconds of content. And here there are just numerous examples, large and small creator alike, someone maybe kind of like sort of sings something in
the background, they get hit with a copyright claim. And sometimes after an appeal that can be reversed,
but I mean you have to think about the number of smaller creators that are probably being preyed on.
And regarding this, Susan says,
"'We were already looking into this issue,
"'but hearing this directly from creators was vital.
"'We are exploring improvements and striking the right
"'balance between copyright owners and creators.'"
And then Wojcicki addressed complaints
that some creators are being harassed by others,
saying, "'While criticism from fellow creators
"'can be constructive, any threats or doxing
"'crosses the line.
"'Such behavior is already prohibited by our policies,
but stay tuned as we will do more to discourage this
from happening on the platform."
Which kind of brings up the question mark of,
are we going to see somewhat of a smackdown
on our existing commentary community,
which has just been blowing up?
And that's not saying that the entire commentary community
is toxic and they're doxing everyone.
Obviously when anything becomes the focus,
there's a big question of, well,
where is YouTube going to say the line is?
We also had Wojcicki addressing the passing of the EUCD
with Article 13, now 17,
specifically how there is still hope to impact the way
that the laws are rolled out,
saying that this is not the end.
And then the final section,
Wojcicki talks about improving communication,
this including adding new features
to the YouTube Studio Beta
and the update to the Community Guideline Strike System
that they rolled out back in February
that includes more details on the reason for each strike.
And ultimately, as far as my opinion on this, one, I do think that it is good back in February that includes more details on the reason for each strike and ultimately as far as my
Opinion on this one
I do think that it is good that Susan is taking a more active role in speaking out to the community
I mean that both with these blogs as well as reaching out to creators
I'm also glad that it appears that she is reaching out to the Ethan and Hila
Clines of the community since I feel like they might go even further and deeper and more critical regarding her last point about
Updates and more details if I were to make a creator request,
I would love if they also had an indicator icon
for when a video is being suppressed.
And when I say suppressed, I mean when a video,
because of the content, it doesn't pop up in recommended,
it doesn't pop up on the front page.
YouTube constantly defends itself by saying that,
you know, if a video gets demonetized,
that doesn't mean we're suppressing it.
And while technically accurate,
because technically there are two different systems,
it is a very weak defense.
And having more details around why a video will not pop up
in the places that so many people now consume that content,
where they've been trained to click that content.
That would be immensely helpful for, I think,
a good number of people,
but then also specifically for this channel,
because it feels like we're often penalized
because we're talking about very serious,
hard to deal with situations.
But that's where I'll leave that one.
Of course, I'd love to know your thoughts
about her reaction and response and her words in general
on any of the topics that she addressed.
Yeah, let me know what you're thinking
in those comments down below.
And then let's talk about
what the hell happened in Paris today.
Before fully diving into it,
we need to talk about the Yellow Vest movement in general,
which of course we've talked about before,
but it has been a while.
So just to give you a quick little refresher,
the Yellow Vest protests started back in November.
They were initially to fight against proposed fuel tax,
and while all of these protests started out peaceful,
some did turn violent, with cars being burned,
windows being shattered, and according to AP,
at least four deaths were linked to the protest.
And after about three weeks of people taking to the streets,
French President Emmanuel Macron caved
and scrapped the fuel tax.
But Yellow Vests are still fighting
Macron's economic policies.
They believe that their president is out of touch with ordinary people and is protecting the wealthy class over lower and
middle class citizens. Specifically saying they want higher taxes on wealthy people, lower taxes
for workers and pensioners, and they want more public spending that would benefit the working
class in France. Some also want Macron to resign and are pushing for the country to hold early
elections so they can be voted out sooner. But with that said, what does the rest of France think?
Well, back when the movement started,
and it was at its peak, around two thirds of French citizens
were in support of the protest.
But support for the movement is declining.
A poll at the end of February said that over half
of French citizens believe that the Yellow Vest protest
should end.
But still, that's not to say that many people in France
do not have problems with Macron.
At the lowest, his approval rating was just 23%,
and right now it is only around 30.
Also, it appears he's still trying to appease the yellow vest.
Just last week he proposed a 5 billion euro tax cut
for lower and working classes, but some protesters
may not see this move as enough,
which actually brings us to today.
We saw thousands of people participate
in May Day demonstrations and protests in Paris.
The French Interior Ministry said about 28,000 people
turned out, but news outlets like France 24
and other labor groups and unions said the number
was as high as 40,000.
And for those who aren't familiar with May Day, May Day demonstrations are common because May 1st is International Workers' Day.
Throughout history, labor and socialist groups have held rallies on May 1st.
And in France specifically, it's actually a public holiday where there are annual marches to defend workers' rights.
Unfortunately, these protests turn violent, which I will note violence at May Day protests in Europe is actually pretty common.
But this year, authorities knew that the situation could be worse than usual.
And that was because in addition to the yellow vests, there were also warnings this year, authorities knew that the situation could be worse than usual.
And that was because in addition to the yellow vests,
there were also warnings that 2,000 black bloc protesters
would be present.
And the black bloc is often described
as a far left anarchist group.
Both the yellow vests and the black blocs
clashed with the police officers.
We saw car windows smashed, small fires started.
We saw protesters throwing rocks
and other objects at police.
7,400 officers were reportedly deployed in Paris.
Right now, at least 200 arrests have been made.
Officers also allegedly used tear gas
to control the large crowds.
Officers also reportedly took preventative measures
before the protest, searching over 12,000 bags.
They ordered 580 local shops and businesses
to close for the day.
Police have also been urging peaceful protesters
to break away from the violence so that they can intervene.
Which I will say is an important note to hit on
because I think that when these things go wrong,
because you can have this
Peaceful protest, but obviously the cameras will go to the people destroying stuff
It becomes very easy even on a subconscious level to just associate the entire thing with damage destruction
Violence also a big note here is that these mayday protests weren't just happening in Paris reportedly there were
230 other protests all around France and except for Paris the rest reportedly remained peaceful also
We saw protests popping up all over Europe and around the globe.
In Sweden we saw reports of protesters allegedly threw cobblestones at police.
Although here, reportedly that was because they were being blocked from a neo-nazi rally,
that they were upset, received approval to have a May Day march.
Then in Russia we saw reports of over 100 people being detained from demonstrations.
68 alone were in St. Petersburg where people were calling for a fairer election process.
Italy we saw two protesters and a police officer being injured.
There you had people demonstrating
against a high-speed railway being built
between Italy and France.
But also a thing to keep in mind,
these are just some examples.
This was far more widespread.
But with all that said,
I'd love to know your thoughts on the May Day demonstration,
specifically what's happening in France.
Also, if you're one of the beautiful bastards,
part of the DeFranco nation,
you live in France or around France,
what's it like there?
What are your personal thoughts on this movement?
Yeah, of course, let me know what you're thinking
in those comments down below.
And then let's try and talk about and consolidate
all this news that we're getting around
Special Counsel Robert Mueller
and Attorney General William Barr.
So, it's been a little while since we talked about this,
but the redacted version of Mueller's two-year investigation
into Russian involvement in the 2016 election
was released to the public on April 18th.
But a large part of what we're gonna be talking about today
actually goes back to March 24th.
And that is when Attorney General William Barr
sent a four page summary of the report to Congress.
And we covered Barr's letter on the show in the past,
but kind of a quick TLDR takeaway.
He wrote that Mueller did not find that Donald Trump
or anyone in his campaign conspired with Russian officials
to interfere in the election.
And two, that Mueller did not reach a conclusion
as to whether or not Trump obstructed justice,
leaving it up to Barr to decide if obstruction happened,
which he concluded it did not
because he believed there was not enough evidence.
And I mention that because yesterday,
the Washington Post reported that they had reviewed
a letter Mueller sent to Barr on March 27th.
Right, and the timing is important
because this is three days after Barr's summary
was sent to Congress.
And this letter reportedly said that Barr's summary
of the report conclusion did not accurately capture
Mueller's work and created public confusion
about the results of the investigation.
And Mueller's letter to Barr was released
to the public this morning, so we're gonna take a look at that.
In the letter to Barr, Mueller writes, aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel to assure full public
confidence in the outcome of the investigation."
Mueller also saying that he sent Barr a redacted version of the introductions and executive summaries of both volumes of his report, the first volume
detailing Russian interference and the second detailing possible obstruction of justice. And writing that while Barr was reviewing the full report,
he should still release the already redacted
introductions and summaries stating that the release of those documents,
quote, would alleviate the misunderstandings
that have arisen and would answer congressional
and public questions about the nature and outcome
of our investigation.
Reportedly, the day after Mueller sent the letter,
he and Barr spoke on the phone regarding the situation.
The Justice Department spokesperson, Kerry Kupik,
describing the call in a statement saying that
Mueller did not believe that anything Barr said was,
quote, inaccurate or misleading,
but saying that Mueller, quote, expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsel's obstruction analysis.
Also saying that Barr and Mueller talked about releasing the introductions and executive summaries,
but Barr ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion.
Reportedly the next day, Barr sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his initial letter was not intended to be a summary of the report and only stated Mueller's main conclusions. Just so we understand here, basically, Mueller's argument isn't that Barr lied,
but rather that Barr created a narrative that didn't provide enough context on the obstruction debate
that was spread around by the media for almost a month before the public saw the report.
And so, you know, now we have kind of three things.
We have the report that was made available to the public, we have Barr as four pages, we now have Mueller's letter.
So we're gonna try to unpack some of the statements that Barr has made that could use some more context per Mueller's letter. As we noted before the first section of the report investigated Russian
interference in the election and as you might have seen Barr gave a press conference before the full report was released. And during that he
repeated many of the things that he said in the four page summary that he put out in March. He said the report had
not proven that the president obstructed justice and that there was no evidence of collusion. Also defending the fact that he had gone farther than
the report does and cleared Trump of obstruction. And this statement is
true. Mueller's report did conclude that Trump and his campaign did not conspire with Russia.
However, Mueller had a more nuanced take on the subject than just quote, no collusion.
And this is partly because collusion is not a legal term. The actual charge is conspiracy,
which Mueller did not find enough evidence of to prosecute. And when you look at the full context of the section on the Trump campaign
ties to Russia, it says, the investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign adding that the investigation
Established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and work to secure that outcome and that the campaign expected it would benefit
electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts
But adding the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election
interference activities which on that note, the investigation also looked
into the hacking of the DNC in the release
of the hacked information through WikiLeaks.
And there it said that Trump asked those close to him
to find Clinton's deleted emails.
Writing after candidate Trump stated on July 27th, 2016
that he hoped Russia would quote,
"'find the 30,000 emails that are missing,'
Trump asked individuals affiliated with his campaign
to find the deleted Clinton emails.
However, Mueller did not find any evidence
that Trump or anyone associated with his campaign
coordinated the release with WikiLeaks.
Mueller also looked at the connections
between people close to Trump and their ties to Russia,
including a detailed rundown of the Trump Tower meeting,
but again, ultimately, could not find enough evidence
to back up a conspiracy charge.
Which brings us to the second part of the report,
focused on whether or not actions taken by the president
towards the Russia investigation
could be considered obstruction of justice.
Barr, of course, said that the report did not come to a final conclusion, and so he took it upon himself to clear the president towards the Russia investigation could be considered obstruction of justice. Barr, of course, said that the report
did not come to a final conclusion,
and so he took it upon himself to clear the president,
which, of course, brings us to the questions,
well, why doesn't the report actually clear him,
and what does it actually say?
In Barr's four-page summary, it included this quote
from the Mueller report,
while this report does not conclude
that the president committed a crime,
it also does not exonerate him.
However, it's been pointed out that Barr did not provide
the full context of this quote.
In Mueller's report, the full excerpt states, justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, which we're gonna touch on in a second,
we are unable to reach that judgment.
Accordingly, while this report does not conclude
that the president committed a crime,
it also does not exonerate him.
And the report itself lays out multiple instances
that could have been obstruction of justice, including
Trump reportedly trying to get former director of the FBI,
James Comey, to drop the investigation,
which Comey did not.
Trump reportedly trying to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions
to reverse his recusal and get him back
on the Russia investigation, which Sessions did not do. Trump firing Comey did not. Trump reportedly trying to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse his recusal and get him back on the Russia investigation, which Sessions did not do.
Trump firing Comey.
Trump reportedly directing former White House Counsel
Don McGahn to fire Mueller,
which he ended up just choosing to resign instead.
Trump reportedly tried to prevent the disclosure
of Trump Jr.'s involvement in the Trump Tower meeting.
And Trump and his team reportedly urging people
not to, quote, flip for the investigation.
And in every instance,
Mueller avoids coming to a conclusion
on whether an action is or is not obstruction of justice,
which gets us closer to one of the key things
that I said we were gonna touch on.
Right, Barr has said multiple times
that because Mueller did not reach a conclusion,
it was up to Barr himself to decide
if Trump committed obstruction of justice.
And during Barr's press conference,
before the full report was released,
he was asked if Mueller had actually intended for Congress
rather than the Attorney General
to determine if Trump had obstructed justice,
to which Barr responded by telling reporters Special Counsel Mueller did not indicate that
his purpose was to leave the decision to Congress. But it turns out that is actually not true. In
fact, Mueller explicitly outlines legal and constitutional arguments explaining that the
power to decide whether or not Trump obstructed justice is left to Congress, with the report
stating that this decision is not the job of either the Special Counsel or Attorney General
Barr. And Mueller makes two key arguments here to back up this claim. First, he points out that Congress has the ability
to apply obstruction laws to sitting presidents
under the constitutional system of checks and balances.
Right, and this is one of the key things
that Mueller hit on.
It's Robert Mueller's belief that because of current
Department of Justice policies, he is prohibited,
he is prevented from charging a sitting president.
And the special counsel dives into this a little more
regarding Congress, writing,
"'We concluded that Congress has authority
"'to prohibit a president's corrupt use of his authority "'in order to protect the integrity "'of the administration of justice.'" And another argument that Mueller makes is, writing, "'We concluded that Congress has authority "'to prohibit a president's corrupt use of his authority
"'in order to protect the integrity
"'of the administration of justice.'"
And another argument that Mueller makes is, quote,
"'The Constitution does not categorically
"'and permanently immunize a president
"'for obstructing justice.'"
And he combines these arguments to say
that giving the president immunity, quote,
"'would seriously impair Congress's power to enact laws.'"
And so what Mueller is saying here
is that it would, in fact, be constitutional
to apply obstruction laws to Trump
if Congress were to find that he did obstruct justice. And that's important to know because
that is a claim that is in direct opposition of Barr. Barr has repeatedly argued during his time
as Attorney General and in fact before his appointment that the Mueller investigation
was overstepping and that Trump could not be charged with obstruction of justice. However,
Mueller's report and findings mean that Barr doesn't actually have the authority to make
this decision. Instead, that goes to Congress, Which brings us to all the updates around this story
that's happening today that we can't even get to.
As of recording this video today,
we had Barr testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Regarding that, I'll link to video of a livestream
as well as just several places where this was being covered.
You know, as far as a final reaction to all of this,
I mean, a big chunk of this for me ultimately boils down
to net result politics.
Like many others, I think we should be incredibly concerned
about Russia's efforts to interfere in our election process.
With the current makeup of Congress,
the level of partisanship that we have seen over,
I mean, the past two years, but really the past 10 years,
makes me think that this situation does not further develop
or get more negative for Trump or his administration.
And so I don't really know where it all goes from here.
But with all that said regarding the comparing
and contrasting what we know now,
I'd love to know your thoughts.
So much of this happened while I was out. I've been really interested to know your thoughts on this.
And also keep in mind due to time limitations, we're not talking about every single aspect of this, but some of the concerning pieces.
Yeah, I'd love to hear from you.
That's where we're going to end today's show.
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But with that said of course as always my name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in
I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow