The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.10 Trump’s Newsom LA Protests Problem is Getting Worse, RFK Fired Entire CDC Vaccine Panel, & More

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

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Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Trump is now threatening protesters, not rioters, with heavy forces. We're also getting big LA protest updates and his Gavin Newsom problems getting bigger and bigger. RFK just fired an entire CDC vaccine advisory panel, and why public health experts are calling it one of the darkest days in modern medical history with severe consequences incoming. Trump just made it easier for convicted felons to get their hands on deadly weapons. And why a judge just threw out Justin Baldoni's $400 million bombshell lawsuit against Blake Lively, but the legal war between them is far from over. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news starting with this.
Starting point is 00:00:34 We need to talk about these huge updates around the LA protests. Starting with those Marines they deployed to the city with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying, "'Due to increased threats to federal law enforcement officers in federal buildings, approximately 700 active duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order, saying, we have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers, even if Gavin Newsom will not. But just to start with a quick correction there, for some reason, Hegseth continues to say that the Marines are coming from Camp Pendleton, which is a massive base near San Diego.
Starting point is 00:01:02 But then looking into it, they're actually coming from the middle of the desert out in 29 palms. But regardless, right, other officials have added that the Marines won't have the ability to arrest people and instead they're there just to guard federal buildings and personnel. And as of this morning, they arrived in LA and they're awaiting deployment to specific locations
Starting point is 00:01:17 throughout the city. But then also separate from the specifics, just the idea of American troops being deployed on American soil, it's continued to be an extremely controversial issue. Some even comparing the US now to Russia, China, North Korea, and other totalitarian regimes that regularly use troops to quell civil unrest.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Now with this whole situation, one thing that local law enforcement and the National Guard are probably gonna have to be dealing with are a number of looters. And that not because the protests or protesters in general are going around looting the city, but instead it ends up being part of a common pattern that we see when large scale protests happen
Starting point is 00:01:45 where people take advantage at night to cause some chaos. Such as in downtown LA, where you had places like the large Apple store being broken into last night. And with that you had city officials condemning those acts with for example, Mayor Karen Bass writing, "'Let me be clear, anyone who vandalized downtown or looted stores does not care
Starting point is 00:02:00 about our immigrant communities. You will be held accountable.'" But then also being a sentiment that was echoed by Governor Gavin Newsom online. And actually I spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about this immigrant communities. You will be held accountable. But then also being a sentiment that was echoed by Governor Gavin Newsom online. And actually I spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about this as well. And he told me. We can't allow bad actors to infiltrate those movements
Starting point is 00:02:14 and to engage in provocations on the ground that then will delegitimize the ability of those righteous movements to persuade the American people that we need change. But Jeffrey's also saying destruction of property is never acceptable, assaulting law enforcement officers is never acceptable and anyone who engages in it should be held accountable.
Starting point is 00:02:33 But then he also added, we also don't want to see this type of executive branch overreach where Donald Trump is perhaps trying to intentionally inflame the situation and cause more chaos on the ground than might otherwise exist. You know, that last thing that he said, it's a major talking point surrounding these protests.
Starting point is 00:02:46 Is the Trump administration purposefully trying to make them worse? Because beyond just Jeffries making that claim, we saw Mayor Bass telling reporters yesterday. We need to stop the raids. There should not be happening in our city. It is not warranted and it does any, the only thing it does is contribute to chaos.
Starting point is 00:03:05 This was chaos that was started in Washington DC. On Thursday, the city was peaceful. On Friday, it was not because of the intervention of the federal government. And notably, Newsom's been making similar claims since at least Friday when he wrote, inciting and provoking violence, creating mass chaos, militarizing cities,
Starting point is 00:03:25 arresting opponents. These are the acts of a dictator, not a president. Which he then essentially restated in a reply to White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller. Which speaking of Miller, he's been in the trenches online defending the Trump administration's handling of all this
Starting point is 00:03:36 with for example, him tweeting, what does Governor Newsom mean when he keeps saying the presence of ICE officers and the troops necessary to protect their lives and duties are inciting riots? He's adopting the argument of the insurrectionists, enforcing federal immigration law in our city is not allowed and we will riot if you do.
Starting point is 00:03:51 Newsom isn't trying to suppress the anti-American revolt, he's encouraging it. With that in general, the two have a lot of back and forth with Miller and other MAGA stands, claiming that the protests in California and the state government's alleged lack of a response is an insurrection, which Newsom and many others said that really the only people defending a modern insurrection
Starting point is 00:04:07 is a lot of MAGA and Trump after he pardoned 1500 Jan Sixers, which is also notably something Jeffries touched on in our conversation, essentially saying that this is hypocrisy or projection. Donald Trump and the Republicans have zero credibility, zero on the issue of law and order. We will not let them lecture America on this subject. When Donald Trump, on his first day in office, he didn't lower health care costs or lower
Starting point is 00:04:33 the high cost of living as he promised on day one. And on his first day in office, he pardoned hundreds of violent felons who brutally beat police officers on January 6th. That's what he did. And now wants to turn around and lecture America as if he's standing up for law and order, get lost. These people are phony in that regard. Right, and if you've watched yesterday and today, it's probably become clear that Newsom is consistently
Starting point is 00:04:57 at the center of the story. You know, it makes sense. He's the governor where the protests are happening and he's kind of long been a boogeyman for conservatives. In fact, so much so that you have figures like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson saying some questionable things about it. With the most recently today being asked if Newsom should be arrested, which is a whole thing we talked about yesterday, and you had Johnson saying, That's not my lane. I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should
Starting point is 00:05:18 be arrested, but he ought to be tart and feathered, I'll say that. With Newsom using the opportunity to bash the GOP as a whole by claiming that it was on brand that they would want to use an 18th century punishment. And he's actually just been going off against the Trump administration and their allies. It's been pointed out that the cost of deploying troops in the National Guard is gonna be enormous at around $134 million.
Starting point is 00:05:37 With Newsom then using that stat to ask whether that money would be better spent on vet nutrition assistance. He also called out Republicans who claim that LA and California is full of violence and pointed out that many red states have far worse murder and violent crime rates. Also, one of the weirdest things that happened
Starting point is 00:05:50 was Trump claimed that he spoke to Newsom last night, which Newsom replied, there was no call, not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a president deploying Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to. But then John Roberts of Fox News saying, here's the call log,
Starting point is 00:06:03 while also, I guess, not realizing that it was from one o'clock in the morning on June 7th. Which notably, it wasn't yesterday, it wasn't the day before yesterday, it was the day before that. So seemingly Trump lied or confused three days ago with yesterday. With that also just being a small taste of the swings
Starting point is 00:06:17 that Newsom's been making online. But then to go back to the protest, one of the debates that we've actually seen pop up have been about masks. Specifically about whether protesters and ICE agents should be able to conceal their identities. And notably the use of masks among officers is something that Jeffries has chimed in on with him
Starting point is 00:06:31 arguing that America is a democracy, not the Soviet Union and he pledged to identify officers who try to hide their faces. And while you have many agreeing with that take, there's also many pushing back on it. And there are people arguing that they're masking to protect themselves and that includes Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director
Starting point is 00:06:45 So a lot of agencies were invited to come out two weeks ago in Los Angeles We ran an operation where ICE officers were doxxed. So let's just say that again People are out there taking photos of the names their faces and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves. So I'm sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I'm not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line and their family on the line because people don't like what immigration enforcement is.
Starting point is 00:07:17 They are wearing those masks because we were in an operation with the Secret Service where we arrested someone that was going online, taking their photos, posting their families, their kids' Instagram, their kids' Facebooks, and targeting them. So let me ask, is that the issue here that we're just upset about the masks, or is anyone upset with the fact that ICE officers' families were labeled terrorists? And so I wanted to know what your reaction is to that. Of course, anybody who unlawfully targets the families of ICE agents should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Starting point is 00:07:53 That's not what we're talking about in this particular instance. Does an ICE agent really need to wear a mask to snatch a two or three year old American citizen who's battling cancer away from their families and from their communities? Is that what needs to happen? That doesn't have anything to do with a legitimate threat
Starting point is 00:08:15 to the safety and security of that particular enforcement action. And then separately, as far as whether protestors should be allowed to wear masks, you had Jeffrey saying that, you know, that should be a decision made at the state and local level with him then noting that he actually backs such a policy in his home State of New York then when it comes to ICE agency argued that this is a matter of safety and security not just for the American people but
Starting point is 00:08:35 Also of law enforcement officers themselves I'm saying one in terms of the homeland security officials who are snatching people off the streets and masks that violates everything that we know About how law enforcement should be conducting themselves openly and honestly in the United States of America. But then he also added too, that it sets up a very dangerous situation where you again allow for bad actors to potentially pretend to be
Starting point is 00:08:53 or imitate Homeland Security officials. I'm saying at some point in time, you may have a circumstance where someone actually gets kidnapped thinking that they're being apprehended by a so-called ICE agent when it turns out to be a bad actor. But then another aspect of this whole situation
Starting point is 00:09:05 is you have DHS claiming that these raids, they're to get criminals off the street. And they even had a thread that showed the huge number of criminals that were taken off the street, which is sarcasm, it was like five. That low number, it just fueled anger and criticism that these raids, they're targeting everyday people who are just trying to make a living to feed
Starting point is 00:09:20 and house their families. Which actually brings us back around to the protest because DHS also tried to prove that protesters were violent and chose the worst clips ever. There were people saying in the nearly two minute compilation there was maybe one violent moment where it looked like someone threw an object at police. Also Customs and Border Patrol had their own proof
Starting point is 00:09:35 which showed a firework going off near police. And their fireworks have definitely been used and pointed at police on occasion during these protests. And without a doubt fireworks can be dangerous and please don't throw them at police. But in general, the protests have largely continued to be extremely peaceful and more unborn. Really the only violence that we've seen happen are in areas where protesters are confronted by ICE agents and police, which for many it fuels the allegations that this is a manufactured crisis.
Starting point is 00:09:57 And then finally with this situation, it may end up just being the tip of the iceberg, right? Because similar protests have now popped up in cities all over the country. With the Singh, for example, NBC News, counting at least 25 rallies. Some that had small turnouts and others that drew hundreds or thousands. I mean, just at the California coast, there were anti-ice protests in San Francisco,
Starting point is 00:10:13 drawing an estimated 9,000 people. And that came as there were already protests in the city over the weekend, which led to dozens of arrests and two officers reportedly getting injured. And then if you hop to the other side of the country, you had around two dozen people arrested in New York City at a protest outside of Trump Tower.
Starting point is 00:10:25 And with that, you had people like Florida's Republican representative, Anna Paulina Luna, tweeting, "'Notice how these riots never happen in red states. California can blame Trump all at once, but this chaos is the direct result of years of soft on crime pro-criminal policy. This would never happen under real law
Starting point is 00:10:39 and order leadership.' But plot twist, it is also happening in red states, starting with several cities in Texas. For example, in the capital city of Austin, you had some local outlets saying the demonstrations began peacefully, but there was eventually a standoff between protesters and the Texas Department of Public Safety
Starting point is 00:10:52 who deployed tear gas. In the area, the state's governor, Greg Abbott, writing, between the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, more than a dozen protesters were arrested in Austin. Peaceful protesting is legal, but once you cross the line, you will be arrested. Fuck around, find out. There was then also at least one person reportedly arrested in Dallas. Peaceful protesting is legal, but once you cross the line, you will be arrested. Fuck around, find out.
Starting point is 00:11:05 There was then also at least one person reportedly arrested in Dallas during a protest with reports again, saying that it started out peaceful, but eventually declared unlawful. And according to CBS News, a firework exploded near police officers and some people threw bottles at police. And like I said, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:17 there are dozens of protests happening all over. So this is just a small example of what we're seeing. And again, it is worth noting that a lot of these events have been peaceful. And even in cities where there were arrests, you have some officials noting that most events were peaceful. But with that, I will say we're likely gonna see
Starting point is 00:11:30 how crazy everything might get this weekend as groups are planning mass protests on June 14th. So with all that, one, I'd really love to know your thoughts and reactions to the updates and the news that we're seeing. So leave those comments down below. And two, if you wanna watch the full Hakeem Jeffries interview, I think it comes in
Starting point is 00:11:44 at around just over 25 minutes. I've got a link for you in the description and it's over on the PDS news clips YouTube channel. And then you've got even more news we got to talk about in just a minute. But first, you know, it is official. It is time for cold brew. And you know, if you haven't made your own at home yet, what are you doing? Personally, I've been on this for weeks and it tastes way better than anything I've gotten at some cafe. Plus I'm in full control. No weird syrups or mystery milk, just pure coffee goodness made exactly how I like it. And with that, I gotta say shout out to today's sponsor, Trade Coffee, making cold brew easier
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Starting point is 00:12:53 Cause your mornings are going to be that much better. But then to shift gears from that to a very different kind of news, we got to talk about this Justin Baldoni Blake Lively situation. Cause we just got a huge update. Because Baldoni, he just took a huge L in his legal battle against Lively, but understand the case is still far from update. Because Baldoni, he just took a huge L in his legal battle against Lively, but understand the case is still far from over.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Because yesterday you had a judge dismissing the $400 million lawsuit that Justin had filed against Blake where he accused her and her husband Ryan Reynolds of defamation and extortion. Which to give you just enough background for those that haven't lived and read this story. Well, Blake and Justin starred in the film, it ends with us, which Justin also directed.
Starting point is 00:13:21 With the two not walking off that set as friends, to say the least. In December, you had Blake filing a civil complaint and then eventually a lawsuit where she claimed she was sexually harassed and then retaliated against during production. Then in January you had Justin and his production company filing his lawsuit where he accused Blake, Ryan and their publicist of trying to destroy his career and take over control of the film. And then actually he also sued the New York Times which was the first outlet to report on Blake's allegations. So then all of that bringing us to yesterday where you had a judge tossing out his complaints
Starting point is 00:13:46 ruling that the allegations that Blake made in her suit are exempt from libel claims and that Justin's assertions that Blake stole creative control of the movie, they don't count as extortion. With the judge writing that the complaint did not adequately state that Blake's quote, threats were wrongful extortion
Starting point is 00:13:59 rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions. And a very big thing that a number of people have really missed is that the judge left the door open for Justin Scamp to pursue different claims related to Blake potentially breaching her contract. But still overall, right? This is considered a massive win for Blake.
Starting point is 00:14:14 And so you had her team celebrating the news and calling the judge's decision a total victory and complete vindication. Adding, as we have said from day one, this $400 million lawsuit was a sham and the court saw right through it. We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorney's fees,
Starting point is 00:14:27 treble damages, impunitive damages against Valdoni, Sarowitz, Nathan, and the other wayfarer parties who perpetrated this abusive litigation. You then also had Blake Lively addressing the news herself on Instagram, sharing resources and organizations that provide legal help to women who need it, and writing, like so many others,
Starting point is 00:14:42 I felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us. Well, the suit against me was defeated. So many don't have the resources to fight back. And adding a more resolved than ever to continue to stand for every woman's right to have a voice in protecting themselves, including their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their story.
Starting point is 00:14:59 And then on top of all of that, you had the judge also dismissing the claims that Justin levied against the New York Times as well, which is why you then had a spokesperson for the Times saying, we are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was. A meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting. Our journalists went out and covered carefully
Starting point is 00:15:14 and fairly a story of public importance and the court recognized the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism. But then with that, as far as where does that leave the case, I mean, well, Blake's lawsuit, that's still ongoing. Last week, she ended up dropping two of her emotional distress claims against Justin with her lawyers there saying they were simply streamlining and focusing the case
Starting point is 00:15:31 with that trial still set for spring of next year. But then separate from that, it looks like Justin's team might still be fighting back. And that because today his attorney, Brian Friedman, gave a statement to TMZ saying, "'While the court dismissed the defamation related claims, the court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively,
Starting point is 00:15:46 which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations. And adding Ms. Lively's own claims are no truer today than they were yesterday. And with the facts on our side, we marched forward with the same confidence that we had when Ms. Lively and her cohorts initiated this battle and look forward to her forthcoming deposition,
Starting point is 00:16:00 which I will be taking. So really, this story isn't gonna be going anywhere anytime soon. And then as far as the public reaction to the news, depending on where you go, very different reactions. So I will say if you go to Blake's Instagram comments, you'll see tons of people accusing her of paying the judge off, others on Twitter continuing to slam her.
Starting point is 00:16:16 But then on the other side, you have people saying that they're glad that Justin is facing consequences for trying to use the courts to run a smear campaign. And some overall calling this a victory for women. But even that camp isn't universal because you have those who you know seem to support Blake saying this doesn't actually look like a loss for Justin right now because even if the case was dismissed they believe that he's going for the court of public opinion anyway. So a lot of different takes, a lot of different opinions, a lot of different reactions, and while
Starting point is 00:16:38 we wait to see what happens here I'd love to hear your thoughts in those comments down below. But then from that next up today we've got to talk about how over a dozen states are now desperately trying to stop Trump from giving what some people call machine guns to convicted felons in their communities. Which I know just sounds like a crazy sentence, but let me explain. So machine guns are heavily regulated under federal law.
Starting point is 00:16:55 They have been for decades. But then along came these things called bump stocks, which effectively makes semi-automatic rifles more closely mirror fully automatic machine guns by bumping the rifle back and forth, rapidly pulling the trigger. You know, we saw the carnage that it could do in the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas,
Starting point is 00:17:12 where you would have gunmen firing over a thousand rounds in just 11 minutes, killing 60 people and wounding hundreds more. And actually in response to that, you would president Trump banning bump stocks in 2018. But then what you saw is that in 2020, this company called Rare Breed Triggers started selling a new product
Starting point is 00:17:26 they called a forced reset trigger. And like the bump stock, it effectively makes semi-automatic weapons mirror fully automatic ones by snapping the trigger forward every time it's pulled back. But then in 2022, you had the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determining
Starting point is 00:17:40 that the forced reset trigger was illegal. With them arguing that because constant finger pressure on the trigger keeps the gun firing, it essentially is indistinguishable from a machine gun, even if the internal firing mechanism is semi-automatic. So Biden's DOJ took rare breed triggers and its dealers to court, and they seized more than 12,000 triggers
Starting point is 00:17:54 from gun stores and individuals. But then fast forward to last year, you have the Supreme Court striking down Trump's bump stock ban. With Clarence Thomas arguing that since technically the bump stock does not make the gun fire more than one bullet per squeeze of the trigger, it just lets the user pull the trigger
Starting point is 00:18:06 over and over really fast. It doesn't meet the definition of a machine gun. Or in other words, a bump stock does not convert a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun any more than a shooter with a lightning fast trigger finger does. So then the gun rights groups were like, well, if that's the case for bump stocks,
Starting point is 00:18:20 why shouldn't it be true for forced reset triggers as well? And later in the year, you had a federal judge agreeing, ordering that the ATF return any triggers that it sees from the parties to the lawsuit. But then you had the Biden administration being like, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. First of all, we're appealing. And secondly, if we're gonna return these dangerous weapons,
Starting point is 00:18:34 we're gonna do it carefully and legally, namely by conducting background checks on anyone who asked for their triggers back and exempting states where the triggers were banned. And that is also the position that the ATF maintained until Trump got his people in in April. Then the White House in May settling the lawsuit and effectively handing a free win to the gun industry.
Starting point is 00:18:49 Which may or may not have to do with the fact that David Warrington, lawyer who's now Trump's White House counsel, previously represented rare breed triggers. But anyway, in this settlement, you had the company agreeing not to make forced reset triggers for handguns, but only on the condition that the ATF stop enforcing
Starting point is 00:19:03 the ban on forced reset triggers as a whole. And then on top of that, the ATF would return triggers not only to the plaintiffs in the suit, but to anyone whose trigger was seized or voluntarily handed over. With that, even including convicted felons who were barred from owning guns and to people in states that banned them.
Starting point is 00:19:16 With Bondi saying at the time, the Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second class right. We are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety. And this is you, the president of rare breed triggers celebrating. If I seem a little bit lighter today
Starting point is 00:19:29 with a little less anger in my eyes and a little less stress on my face, it's not because my wife has me on an amazing skincare regimen, it's because we did it. We beat the ATF. But now the update is that 15 states in DC are suing the federal government and seeking a preliminary injunction
Starting point is 00:19:46 to prevent the triggers from going back out there. With them arguing that not only does the settlement go far beyond what the federal judge mandated last year and constitute an obvious threat to public safety, he said it also subjects the states to significant added law enforcement and healthcare costs because of the massive carnage the devices are capable of. New Jersey's attorney general speaking for many
Starting point is 00:20:03 when he said, Public reporting on this issue has suggested that the US Department of Justice forced this settlement over the objections of not only career ATF officials, but even the president's own political appointees at the agency. I wish they would actually stop and think about the carnage that could ensue
Starting point is 00:20:23 if you put 12,000 machine guns on the street, irrespective of whose hands they fall into. So we'll have to wait to see what happens here, whether those triggers go back into private hands or they stay with the feds. Then you've got even more news in just a minute, but first, you know, you might be savvy enough to spot a scam, but is everyone in your life?
Starting point is 00:20:39 But also, I mean, to be honest, are you really? Because I mean, fake websites are popping up that look so real they could win design awards and still steal your information. They've gotten so sophisticated, even the most skeptical people I know have been fooled. You know, with me, my biggest concern isn't just my own information,
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Starting point is 00:21:44 Then next up from that, we got to talk about how RFK Jr. just fired every single member of a CDC advisory panel that's been shaping the nation's vaccine policy for decades. Right in his head of the Department of Health and Human Services, he does have the power to appoint and dismiss members, but removing the entire panel at once,
Starting point is 00:22:00 that's one, obviously unprecedented, and two, you have experts warning that it could be the latest disaster for public health in the US. And in fact, one of the dismissed committee members said, "'I've never seen anything this damaging "'to public health happen in my lifetime. "'I'm shocked, it's pretty brazen. "'This will fundamentally destabilize vaccination
Starting point is 00:22:16 "'in America.'" Right, and as far as the panel in question, it's officially called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP for short. It's made up of epidemiologists, infectious disease physicians, pediatricians, and other experts. And their job is to carefully review vaccine data,
Starting point is 00:22:29 debate the evidence, and ultimately decide who should get what shots and when. With a huge key consideration here being that insurance companies and government programs like Medicaid, they're required to cover the vaccines recommended by the panel, a panel that has long been considered a nonpartisan entity, with its members serving four year overlapping terms,
Starting point is 00:22:45 which also means that the Biden administration just happened to appoint all 17 of the members who have just been let go. And that including 13 who were only appointed to the panel last year. With Kennedy writing in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece announcing what he called the retiring of the committee members that a clean sweep is needed
Starting point is 00:22:58 to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science. And then with that, you had him trying to justify the move by claiming the committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine. Though notably, that's something that many experts have pushed back on.
Starting point is 00:23:12 Arguing for one, committee members can't hold stocks or serve on advisory boards or bureaus affiliated with vaccine manufacturers. And saying that while it is true that some members may have ties to the pharmaceutical or vaccine industry, experts say that those often exist for legitimate reasons having to do with their research. And in any case, if ACIP members do have this type
Starting point is 00:23:28 of conflict of interest, for example, if an institution that they work at receives money from a drug manufacturer, they disclose it and then recuse themselves from related votes. And in fact, if you go to the CDC's webpage for conflicts of interest, it shows that one current member had recused herself from votes on a handful of vaccines
Starting point is 00:23:42 because she had worked on clinical trials for their manufacturers. And so you had that, well, you also had Kennedy who didn't provide any specific evidence to support his claim saying that most of ACIP's members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines.
Starting point is 00:23:55 But he actually seemingly had to go back to 1997 to find a specific example that he said showed conflicts of interest resulting in the approval of a vaccine that shouldn't have been. With him also pointing to a 2009 HHS inspector general report, which he said showed 97% of committee members failed to complete full conflict of interest forms, but that's misleading.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Or because in addition to being just from so, so long ago, that report, it covers all 17 CDC advisory committees that existed at the time, not just ACIP. And it didn't find serious conflicts among most members. It is found that 97% of the financial disclosure forms filed contained errors or omissions like putting information in the wrong section or forgetting the initial and date amendments to the pages. But of course that's also not the only thing that Kennedy said that faced resistance. For example, you also had him
Starting point is 00:24:36 claiming that the committee quote has never recommended against a vaccine even though it was later withdrawn for safety reasons and that quote, it has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women and adding, to make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency, crucial to maintaining public trust.
Starting point is 00:24:54 But you know, with all that, while individual work groups may meet in private, the meetings of the committee, as well as materials presented to the members, they're public. And similarly, while it's true that the committee doesn't really straight up recommend against vaccines, it's important to note that its role is to come up for guidance
Starting point is 00:25:08 for vaccines already licensed or authorized by the FDA. And then finally, contrary to what Kennedy has argued, ACIP hasn't always just acted as a rubber stamp. With, for example, in certain cases, it recommending more restricted use of vaccines and their approval under the FDA would permit. And notably, the committee is scheduled to meet from June 25th to the 27th to discuss vaccinations
Starting point is 00:25:25 for COVID-19, RSV, influenza and more. And with that, you have the HHS saying that meeting is still gonna happen and they've given the agency roughly two weeks to fill its advisory panel. A move that had at least one law professor specialized in public health law saying, appointing people this fast means
Starting point is 00:25:39 they were not properly vetted and there is no real time to check conflict of interest issues. And adding this will not restore trust in vaccines and is not designed to do so. And that is we've been seeing similar and even far harsher criticism from doctors, professors, former officials, and virtually every reputable health
Starting point is 00:25:54 organization in the country. For example, one former director of the CDC saying, we'll look back at this as a grave mistake that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor, undermined public trust, and opened the door for fringe theories rather than facts. And adding, if this leads to vaccines not being recommended, millions of people could lose access,
Starting point is 00:26:10 pay more for vaccines and for preventable illnesses, and children will be at greater risk of diseases we haven't faced in decades. And that is, you're the president of the American Medical Association saying, this upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives. And the chair of the Infectious Disease Committee
Starting point is 00:26:24 for the American Academy of Pediatrics claimed, this is an unmitigated public health disaster. With him adding, Mr. Kennedy has no interest in science or saving lives. We have entered into a dangerous time for the health of the country. But of course, with all of this, we have to combine it with the context
Starting point is 00:26:37 of everything else that's happened. Because before this, Kennedy already took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the committee. He's also cut billions of dollars to state health agencies, including funds needed to modernize state programs for child immunization. And he's done things like halted funding
Starting point is 00:26:51 for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and canceled programs intended to discover new vaccines to prevent future pandemics. So obviously a lot of people have been concerned and worried about the direction we're heading, but I mean, what we're seeing here, it's been described as one of the most troubling moves yet. But then from that, as we begin winding down today's show,
Starting point is 00:27:08 I wanted to talk about a different kind of news. It's a human interest piece, and it's centered on Glenn Edwards. So it starts all the way back in November of 2023, when a massive fire broke out at the Station Hill development site in Reading in the UK. And at the peak of the blaze, more than 50 firefighters were on the scene
Starting point is 00:27:21 from fire stations across the country, with video then capturing a crane operator rescuing a guy trapped on top of a burning building. And that crane operator, it was Glenn Edwards. And it certainly wasn't easy. With Glenn saying, you couldn't see anything because of the smoke and he relied on radio communication in order to position the rescue cage correctly.
Starting point is 00:27:36 With Glenn adding, I had so much noise up there with the alarms, it was quite buzzy. When I landed the rescue cradle as he just touched down, I could feel the weight, I could hear the crowd, but I couldn't see him. I was 100% blind. As the smoke cleared, both literally and figuratively, Glenn was hailed a hero.
Starting point is 00:27:50 The chief fire officer at Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue saying that without Glenn's quote, incredibly skillful rescue, this could have turned out to be an entirely different situation. With Glenn then getting called the Bruce Willis of Reading, and he was honored with a string of awards, including the Commendation Medal by the British Fire Services Association.
Starting point is 00:28:05 But all of this is he's not quite on board with the title of hero with him saying in an interview with BBC. Do you feel like a hero? No, not one bit. I've done what I had to do. You know, I was there, I was in the crane. I got the man, you know, he went home
Starting point is 00:28:19 to his friends and family. Yeah, and happy days, you know, that's the main thing at the end of the day. Right in the months following the rescue of GoFundMe was launched to thank Glenn for his service and it raised thousands of pounds. But that also wasn't the only time that Glenn was in the news because the next time he made headlines
Starting point is 00:28:35 for a much less positive reason and that was, he was diagnosed with cancer. With Glenn telling the BBC, I had cancer in the tongue in February when I rescued the guy. I got that cleared up with radiotherapy, but then in the next breath, after I had a full body scan, the consultant told me that I rescued the guy. I got that cleared up with radiotherapy, but then in the next breath, after I had a full body scan,
Starting point is 00:28:47 the consultant told me that I had cancer in my spine in five places. I've been undergoing chemotherapy, but it has grown to cut a long story short. And that is actually where the second half of this story comes in, because upon learning of Glenn's diagnosis, you had a local charity by the name
Starting point is 00:28:58 of Bucket List Wishes stepping in. And they're this charity that grants wishes for terminally ill adults that live around Berkshire. It was founded by a woman by the name of Jeannie Hackett after her mother received a terminal diagnosis and Jeannie's continued making the wishes of other adults come true in her mother's memory. And so for Glenn, you know,
Starting point is 00:29:12 rather than having a lavish vacation or some bougie cruise, his wish was just some help moving house, maybe some new floors. And that it's exactly what Bucket List Wishes did, organizing the whole move for him, getting Glenn and his wife new floors, blinds, an oven, a new shed, and even some vouchers or groceries and bedding.
Starting point is 00:29:27 We've even thrown in a fishing expedition for Glenn. And so you had Jeannie saying, we found this humbling, but also we've been emotional about this because we know how much of a hero Glenn is. Hopefully we have gone over and above and made a quite simple, but stressful thing of moving a lot easier for him.
Starting point is 00:29:41 And it appears it's done exactly that with Glenn calling Jeannie and Angel and saying, what she has done for us has been unbelievable. She has taken so much pressure off us. And so with that, while obviously this deals with a sad situation, I just wanted to take the time to say that Glenn and Jeannie and bucket list wishes, you are our Banffs of the day.
Starting point is 00:29:57 Bad things happen in this world and that's where our attention naturally gravitates to and it's what we're fed every day. And I think it's important to also take a moment for those that try to do something in the face of all that. But that my friends is the end of today's show. Thank you for watching and remember I'll see you tomorrow because I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern 3 p.m. Pacific. Love you, mean it, bye.

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