The Philip DeFranco Show - The $200K LEGO Scandal Just Got Worse

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Starting point is 00:00:53 Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for Calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. The $200,000 Lego scandal, it just got so much worse. Hassan Piker just got banned from traveling to the UK over Hamas and Israel comments. But Spencer Pratt's exposing about L.A., and Graham Platner's sexting controversy, has the internet divided. We're talking about all of that and even more. On today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news, so buckle up,

Starting point is 00:01:18 hit that like button and let's just jump into it, starting with this. The United Kingdom just brought down the banhammer on two of America's most prominent, controversial progressive pundance. Hassan Piker and his uncle, Jank Yucer. Right, and they were both scheduled to speak at the Oxford Union and the South by Southwest Festival in London this week, but then the UK's home office was like, nope. Saying their entry would, quote,

Starting point is 00:01:36 not be conducive to the public good, and so their permission to travel there has been revoked, though they can still apply for a visa. And at least, according to the government, decisions like this are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk in individual may pose to UK society. And actually, since April, other figures have been refused entry on the same grounds,

Starting point is 00:01:52 including Kanye West and 11 far-right activists. But when it comes to Hassan and Jenk, Specifically, while the Home Office didn't give a specific reason for their ban, you've got these two, saying it's Israel. Or with Hassan pointing to reports that a member of parliament and a Jewish charity have been pushing for him to get banned over some of his past comments. But probably most notably what's been reported as his lesser evil arguments that Hamas is a, quote, thousand times better than Israel and that he would quote, vote for Hamas

Starting point is 00:02:13 over Israel every single time. With the Labor MP, David Taylor, arguing, it's shocking that South by Southwest would invite someone who has openly supported a prescribed terrorist organization and spouted these kinds of vile anti-Semitic rands to speak at their festival. And adding with the unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism on our streets, leaving British Jews in a constant state of anxiety, Hassan Piker is clearly not conducive to the public good. And so then with all this, you had Hassan reacting to the news on his stream. Dear Hassan-Dawm-Pyker, your UK ETA has been cancelled. This means you cannot travel to the UK without a visa. This is because your presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good. You cannot appeal this decision.

Starting point is 00:02:46 This is straight up, straight up fascism. Israel is a fascist country and it gets to enforce its bidding, upon other countries. I can't believe it. I cannot believe how much motion Israel has over other countries. Like, what the f... Like, all the stuff I said prior.

Starting point is 00:03:07 The things that they're, like, complaining about were things that I had said already, and they didn't have any issues with my travel into the UK. If you're an avowed anti-Zionist, your travel will be restricted. It's totally ridiculous, dude.

Starting point is 00:03:20 Like, you're also arguing that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are not the same thing, and he's actually explicitly condemned the latter, even doing so during his previous speech at the Oxford Union last year. Anti-Semitism is a canary in the coal mine of fascism. It's one of the oldest bigotries that has caused those of the Jewish faith a tremendous amount of pain. From pogroms to the Holocaust,

Starting point is 00:03:38 Jews have always been singled out by those in power as a scapegoat for instability and economic volatility people in power cause. Now, as her other reactions to this, you had many on Hassan's side of the spectrum calling out the UK's labor government, but the response from South by Southwest was much more muted. Where with it saying, decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the home office and the individual's concern. Saying London's role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives, we remain focused on delivering a program this week, fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists, and screenings. And so then in response to that, you had Hassan saying, South by Southwest was a minor part of my trip to the UK. They totally didn't defend me or Jank at all.

Starting point is 00:04:17 They're actual fucking losers and I will never work with them for the rest of my life. If you bought a ticket expecting to see me, you should demand a refund. And then as far as what got Jank banned, you were the Times of London reporting that it was for, quote, repeating classic anti-Semitic tropes such as the claim that Israel controls America. But as far as how Jank reacted, you got this. Who's in charge here? If you don't think that's a legitimate question, if you think that's like an anti-Semitic question, well, brother, I didn't ban me for disagreeing with Israel. You banned me for disagreeing with Israel. And you're not Israel. This is really Kafka-esque. We're in some sort of alternate to Allison Wonderland place, because apparently if I coming into the UK, you guys are all going to go

Starting point is 00:04:54 nuts. Like the minute I step off the plane or off the tube and I'm in the middle of London, the place is going to go haywire apparently. Ah, it's right to the public order. And who else will get banned? I mean, if you're banning people for criticizing Israel, you'll have to ban literally billions of people across the world. Apparently, you're all anti-Semites and the numbers themselves are anti-Semitic and the facts are anti-Semitic. And you'll all be banned. I don't know if facts will be banned from the United Kingdom. Maybe that's next. And then actually, the timing here was kind of interesting because you had people pointing to Jen's co-host Anna Kasparian because she just went on Candace Owens' podcast. The fact that you were

Starting point is 00:05:30 willing to put everything on the line to speak out against the genocide in Gaza made me realize that you are actually good faith on other political views you have. Well, this conversation took place before the news about Jane's travel ban broke. You had people pointing out that they kind of hit on the same theme in relations to Owens. Suddenly, it was you're an anti-Semite. You deserve to have nothing. You shouldn't even be allowed to travel to Australia. So Australia banned you after you said that it's a genocide? Um, yeah, that was the beginning of every, I mean, I was temporarily banned for ads from YouTube. And to be clear here, according to reports, Owens wasn't just banned for calling it a genocide. A lot of people have called it a genocide pointed to the war crimes that are

Starting point is 00:06:06 happening. And as far as specifics, you had the Australian High Court citing a slew of unambiguously anti-Semitic comments, such as denying Nazi medical experiments on Jews and calling Judaism a pedophile-centric religion. And that was in addition to other conspiracy theories and comments about Muslims, black people and queer folk as well. But also, while we're talking about people getting banned from different countries, I want to give an update on someone who isn't banned per se, but apparently exiled himself from the United States to avoid prosecution. Because that whole reckless ban, bricks and minifigs, Lego scandal that we talked about, it's just gotten crazier and crazy. And also if you missed the coverage last week and so you're like, what words just came out of your

Starting point is 00:06:38 face, Phil? We did a whole thing on this last week. I'm just going to link to it. It's too much to go through again. But the TLDR is you have YouTuber Ben Schneider, aka Reckless Ben, who's kind of known for long-form investigative projects. And Ben's latest investigation focused on a man by the name of Brian Mansell, who, he says, entered into a consignment agreement with an Oregon branch of a franchise reseller called Bricks and Minifigs for his father's collection of Star Wars Lego sets. And it's not just whatever Legos. It was one of the largest and most valuable in the world, with an estimated worth of over $200,000.

Starting point is 00:07:03 And under that agreement, Brian retained ownership of the various sets until Bricks and mini-figs sold them, at which point he would receive 65% of the proceeds and monthly payments. But after about a year, Bricks and Minifigs corporate seized the Oregon franchise and an ownership dispute. In the store, it was sold to new owners by the name of Brandon Best and Josh Johnson. And during that time, Brian's remaining unsold Lego sets somehow just mysteriously disappeared and we still actually don't know where they are. Right in his videos, Rickless Ben claims that some combination of bricks and minifigs corporate and the new owners stole the collection.

Starting point is 00:07:29 An allegation that corporate is publicly denied while also claiming the consignment deal Brian had entered into went against corporate policy. And see of Ben launching into a whole bunch of wild and let's call them zainy tactics to either get the Legos back or figure out where they are, all of which culminated in Ben trying to personally sue Brandon Best and Josh Johnson. in Utah where they both live. But throughout the process of trying to get in contact with the two men and serve them papers, Ben had a ton of run-ins with the police department in American Fork, Utah.

Starting point is 00:07:52 Right, among these, there was a traffic stop, Ben says, was bogus, and his car was erroneously searched for heroin. Though eventually he gets arrested twice for stalking, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct, among other charges, and the second time around, his entire crew was also arrested. With Ben claiming that the cops and Mormon Church are essentially colluding to protect each other because both Josh and Brandon are Mormons and the police are also part of the Mormon community. And so the whole initial saga, it ends with Ben fleeing to Mexico, because the Utah police have an active warrant for his arrest, and he's been listed as a physical threat to Josh Johnson,

Starting point is 00:08:19 though he's also said that police will not tell him what crime he's committed. But also very notably here, I'll add that the American Fork Police Department said in a news release that they aren't currently seeking Benjamin Schneider and there are no active warrants. So at least right now, it's unclear where the warrant might have come from.

Starting point is 00:08:31 But then, last Wednesday, Bricks and Mini Figs filed its own civil lawsuit accusing Ben and Brian and others of a coordinated harassment and extortion campaign. Right and Ben appeared to address the lawsuit in a video where he claimed that he obtained a leaked email that Bricks and Minifigs sent to their franchises with Ben and,

Starting point is 00:08:44 and accusing the company of suing him and his team to try to silence them. And on the note of Bricks and Minifix corporate, over the weekend the company's CEO, Amon McNeff, appeared on a Lego podcast where he apologized to his family has had to face and said that he was willing to undergo professional mediation to resolve the situation. But also McNeff maintained his claim that the company's franchises are not authorized to enter into consignment deals. And while Brian doesn't appear to have responded, at least as of recording this video, you had been reacting to the interview in a live stream where he argued that the franchise contract explicitly allows consignments while also heading back at a number of other claims that McNeff made.

Starting point is 00:09:14 But that's also really a whole other can of worms, and both the interview and Ben's stream, mostly just reiterated points that have already been made. But that's also not even the most notable update that's happened since we covered the whole chaotic situation. First up, you have the American Fork Police Department addressing Ben's video in a media release. And there, you've got Police Chief Cameron Paul saying that on March 8th, Josh Johnson called his department to report that a person he believed was Ben had shown up at his door with a fake UPS hat and delivered a suspicious package, which contained rubber ducks and adding. Mr. Johnson further explained that civil proceedings were occurring in Oregon and stated that he believed Snyder,

Starting point is 00:09:44 was sending individuals to his home to harass him. Josh also allegedly told the police that two women were walking around his property, and when they arrived on the scene, they identified another man who had been filming the house from a nearby car. After that, police pulled over Ben and his team at a traffic stop, and he denied delivering the package. And while you had an officer, determining that they had not violated any criminal laws, he informed them that they had trespass and could not return to Josh's property.

Starting point is 00:10:05 But then the next day, you had Josh calling the cops again, claiming a local man who he claimed to be helping Ben, had banged on his door, opened the screen door, and looked into his windows in an attempt to make contact. When the police arrived, they followed that man to a car that contained Ben and another member of his team by the name of Tyler Shaw. And they reported that Shaw's eyes appeared glossy in their words, and so they made him perform a sobriety test that he passed and added that a police dog had smelled controlled substances, so they didn't find anything. With Paul, then going on to claim that Ben admitted that he and Shaw had delivered the package of ducks to get Josh to sign it so they could use his signature to forge a document saying that Ben couldn't be trespassed from the property for five years. But they also informed the officer that they were just trying to get in contact with Josh because their lawsuit couldn't proceed without an attempt at verbal recognition.

Starting point is 00:10:44 So the officer warned them that they were approaching conduct that could constitute stalking or harassment. But then a few days later, you had Josh calling the police to say that his wife had seen a woman in a wig, standing near the front door, taking pictures and claim that Ben and his team had approached the house, frightening his wife and children. With the police responding immediately after Josh threatened to shoot someone, and actually when they got there, he told the police about the whole Lego situation, and then he made this very serious allegation. Mr. Johnson alleged that Mansell had hired Benjamin Snyder to harass, stalk, vandalize the store, threatened to murder the manager of the store, and forged signatures.

Starting point is 00:11:16 But then when the cops spoke to Ben, he told him that he was just trying to follow the government's directions for proceeding with this suit and needed to provide Josh with paperwork, but Josh kept calling the cops on him to have a weight accountability. Despite Josh's claims that the paperwork was fake, officers were able to verify with the court that it was legitimate, though the court also said that the papers had already been served. With Paul then playing body cam footage that appears to show cops trying to take the paperwork to Josh and then later returning it to Ben saying that Josh refused to sign and adding, Based on the totality of the known facts at the time, officers established probable cause

Starting point is 00:11:45 that Snyder had committed the offenses of stalking and targeted residential picketing under Utah law. Schneider was subsequently arrested and transported to the Utah County Jail. But then, two days later, Josh called the police for a fourth time to report that Ben and his team were in the area again, placing signs with his photograph and speaking with his neighbors. While the police determined that Ben wasn't there, they discovered that he was face-timing with one of the people, so they established that there was probable cause to arrest him for a third count of stalking. And then after that, you had a local resident informing officers that several YouTubers were staying at an Airbnb that they operated with Paul adding. The homeowner also disclosed that he could hear multiple individuals inside the residents speaking about possibly stolen Lego toys they had taken.

Starting point is 00:12:28 Based on that information, officers added a request within the search warrant affidavit seeking authorization to also search for and seize possible stolen property. including Lego merchandise. And after a judge signed the warrant, police went to the Airbnb and arrested Ben and multiple members of his team, with Paul also disputing Ben's claim that a cop had dislocated his shoulder during the raid. But very notably here, Paul didn't say whether they found any Legos in the Airbnb. And according to Dixirto, a copy of the warrant returned after the raid explicitly stated that, quote, no item seized.

Starting point is 00:12:57 With Paul then going on to address the allegations that police were colluding to protect Josh and Brandon, saying that he understands that people may feel like justice hasn't been served in the bricks and mini-figs dispute in Oregon, but adding, Those concerns are understandable. I understand them and I'm empathetic to them. And nothing in the actions taken by the American Fork Police Department should be interpreted as validating, supporting, or defending anyone involved in that separate civil or criminal dispute.

Starting point is 00:13:24 Our responsibility in Utah was not to determine who was morally right or wrong in a business disagreement originating in another state. Our responsibility was to respond to conduct reported here in our community, evaluate the facts available to our officers at the time, and enforce Utah law as officers established probable cause that a crime had occurred. So that's where that video ends. But then in his video that he uploaded this morning, you had Ben responding to the police.

Starting point is 00:13:54 And there you've got Ben doubling down on a number of points, including that police dislocated his shoulder, that the traffic stop was legal, and that someone sent a fake tip to the cops that his team had harassed. He also showed footage of a phone call between a police officer and court officials that appear to contradict Paul's claim that Josh had already been served the papers at the time of his second arrest. And then also goes on to dispute the stalking charges brought against him, claiming that his attempts to track Josh down were required by the court, so he was just following the legal process. He also accused the police of swatting his house because they believed that he had the Legos, despite what he says is overwhelming evidence that Josh actually had them. Claiming that the officers redacted any mention of the Legos from their reports and the body camera footage of the raid because they said it was necessary to protect Josh, but according to Ben's version of events. However, we can clearly see that the police are looking for Legos and they saw no Legos. And they redacted this because they were embarrassed that they made such a stupid decision to swat the wrong person.

Starting point is 00:14:44 They were so embarrassed of swatting my house for stealing the Legos that in all the police reports, it is completely redacted. The police department wants this information hidden so bad that they're willing to break the law to hide this from everyone. So as a result, you had been demanding that the police unredact the footage with him repeatedly calling on his viewers to pressure the American Fork Police Department to release it so that everyone can see for themselves what really happened. And then tying the whole thing back together to Paul's revelation that Johnson called them, threatening to shoot someone as a result of the harassment. Josh was so scared of going to court that he would rather shoot us than accept these court papers.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Josh's logic here is that if he can murder the process server and if he can murder me, then he can get away with his crimes because there'll be no one to sue him in court. However, sadly for Josh, murder is illegal. And now he just admitted his plans to the police officers. The American Fork Police should at least be arresting Josh for trying to use murder as a way to get out of court. But sadly, for some reason, they arrested me instead. Am I being arrested? Really?

Starting point is 00:15:50 Something about this seems off, and all of the answers are in the body cam footage. However, they redacted all the body cam footage. So this is where I think if we all come together as a community, we can somehow convince the American Fork Police Department to unredact this footage so we can find out why they arrested me and not the guy who threatened to murder me. Right, and so this news, this story, which began with recovering stolen Legos, is now very quickly escalated to accusations of killing someone. And that's as the situation seems like it is far from over.

Starting point is 00:16:18 And actually, also with that, I want you to keep something in mind. Because I still want to get to the full news of the day, I'm not giving every single detail here. There's too much content that's being generated around this. So I want you to essentially treat this as a highlight reel, even if it is still massive and I'm gonna link to the core videos and content in the description. But with all that said, I think I've got to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Have they also, have they changed or have you doubled down since the first video? Let me know in those comments

Starting point is 00:16:43 down below. And then there's more we've got to dive into in just a minute, but first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, nothing makes you feel more alive than Google in a symptom and being told that you either need water or maybe it died three days ago. So maybe we should stop letting the internet be our primary care provider because WebMD panic, it's not a health care strategy. But also, pretending that it's in a magically go away, that rarely helped. And in fact, it's why I used today's sponsor ZockDocDoc, because they made booking a doctor way easier. Because ZocDocs a free app and website that helps you find

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Starting point is 00:17:41 Say, hey, stop putting off those doctor's appointments and scan that QR code or go to Zock.com slash Phil to find it instantly book a top-rated doctor today. That is ZOCDOC.com slash Phil. This message is sponsored by Zock Doc. Then, I'm right back into the news. L.A. has its mayoral primary tomorrow, And the big question is will former reality TV star Spencer Pratt advance to the November elections? Because while it's a crowded field, it really comes down to three main candidates.

Starting point is 00:18:08 You've got current mayor, Karen Bass, who's running for re-election and has actually led in the polling, even though she's had a pretty rough term. You've got a lot of people upset over how she handled the fires and a lot of other issues. You then have Councilwoman Nithia Rahman, who leans left of Bass. And then you have Pratt, who before this is kind of best known for being the villain on the hills back in the 2000s. So he's also been kind of a fame-chasing tabloid figure ever since then, The where he really got a lot of attention was a situation that happened to him, and that was when he lost his home in the Palisades fire.

Starting point is 00:18:33 Right, and that's actually been one of the focuses of his campaign. But his rise in this race, especially among people who haven't been paying attention about what's been happening in LA, it has a lot of people wondering how. How is someone that many have labeled a Republican has been reality TV star actually running to lead one of the biggest and bluest cities in the country? Especially one that has a support of Donald Trump and tons of other right-wing figures. While I think it's definitely multi-prong, you have some noting that Pratt's campaign strategy has kind of mirrored his reality TV provocateur persona. He's made headlines for saying that he's

Starting point is 00:18:59 he'll move out of LA if he loses the election. Yoss frequently calls the city's homeless population zombies, painting them all his drug addicts. He's claimed that as mayor, he'll unplug them and send them to Seattle. And he, directly, or through his fans, has stayed on top of the news cycle. But he's been pumping out ads, his fans have also made AI-generated videos of him,

Starting point is 00:19:14 as Batman defending crime-ridden LA by defeating Karen Bass, who's depicted as the Joker. You've got videos where California Democrats are Star Wars villains that Pratt defeats in a lightsaber battle behind the Hollywood sign. And even though it's some of the videos that pop, you know, Pratt didn't make them himself. He's really leaned into them and reposted them. It's made them a major talking point in the race.

Starting point is 00:19:29 It's the way that you're seeing Republicans across the country like Ted Cruz, Matt Gates, and Jeb Bush, sharing them and applauding this kind of content. But then of course, also, he's gotten a ton of attention for one of his own campaign ads, highlighting the fires. This is where I live. They let my home burn down. I know what the consequences of failed leadership are.

Starting point is 00:19:44 In there, he's standing in front of an airstream trailer on his property, though then there was this whole controversy, a TMZ report revealed that he doesn't actually live in that trailer and instead lives in an expensive hotel in Bel-Air. With Pratt telling the outlet that he passed a stay at the hotel because he's got death threats and needs the security that it provides. He also said that he never told anyone he lived in that trailer, but also you just watch the ad, he literally stands in front of it and says,

Starting point is 00:20:05 this is where I live. So with this, it really so much more, you have a lot of people comparing his run to Trump's back in 2015. With that, some saying like Trump, Pratt often accuses opponents of corruption and fraud. But with all this, it does seem like Pratt is trying to ride a certain line. Because L.A. generally does not like Trump. It would be very hard for a fully maga-Trump candidate to become the city's mayor. So actually with that, when NBC News asked Pratt about this a few days ago,

Starting point is 00:20:26 he tried to insist that most of his supporters are actually Democrats. I don't need anyone's endorsement but mothers. That's who's getting me elected. People keep forgetting it's democratic moms that do not feel safe that are putting me in office in five days. And then when he was pressed on his opinions on Trump there, he really wouldn't give one. Do you think President Trump is a good president?

Starting point is 00:20:45 I again, the only prism I see anything is what I live. My town burning down is what got me in the race. I'm in a local race. You're not afraid of anything. You're not afraid of giving your opinion or anything, but you won't give me an opinion on president. President Trump, and I get it that his endorsement, his blessing may not be good for you, likely isn't good for you in LA.

Starting point is 00:21:02 That's your opinion. But if you're fearless, but if you're fearless, what do you think of President Trump? You're Republican, right? Again, this is, this right here where you're doing. I'm just asking. You know, this conversation is what's destroyed local elections. But with all that, you have many noting that the mayor of Los Angeles is going to have to work with the president, at least to some extent.

Starting point is 00:21:20 We're both on regular initiatives that need federal support and on major events like the upcoming Olympics. And with all this, like, depending on what your algorithm, them is, you might have a very different opinion on what's happening right now. Because even though Pratt's campaign has sparked tons of backlash, he also has a very serious following. With that, between mid-April and mid-May, he raised $2.7 million, which is millions ahead of Bass and Rahman. And as far as the most recent polling, it's pretty tight. With UC Berkeley and the LA Times, finding that Mayor Bass is in the lead with just 26% followed by Rahman at 25%, and Pratt at 22%, meaning the leading three candidates all sit within

Starting point is 00:21:51 four points of each other. With that, I really wouldn't be surprised if we were looking at a 2016 situation where people were maybe embarrassed to say that they were going to vote for Pratt, and his polling is actually higher. And it's not to say that he could win the entire thing, but it is to say that he could make it to the runoff. But also with the polling so close, I mean, Bass has led the polls and generally been considered that candidate that's most likely going to move to November. But who really knows, we could have any combination of these three. And here's what Joseer warned, if he does make it to the runoff, do not immediately write him off as someone who is definitely going to lose. There are a number of factors that are going to matter,

Starting point is 00:22:19 like who the other candidates going to be, are there other disasters, how does the news cycle change? But I will warn, as someone who lived in LA until about a year and a half ago, and this is anecdotal, the current polling with all the different candidates, it does not really hit on how unpopular Karen Bass is. And I'm not saying it could get to 50%, but there is a very large, fuck-it vote out there. Right, and all of this is, this is not the only major race in California that feels up in the air right now. You also have the governor's race. A Democrat and former HHS secretary, Javier Becerra, he's led a good chunk of recent polling, but also Republican Steve Hilton.

Starting point is 00:22:48 He's also shown up at the top as well. Then you've got Democratic billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, who's not far behind, polling in third or sometimes even second behind one of those two. So again, right now, it doesn't seem 100% certain which of the two were going to advance in November. If one of the Democratic candidates ends up against Hilton, the Democrats are going to most likely win. Really, the only way we'd expect a close race in November is if the two Democrats that lead, they get through the general.

Starting point is 00:23:08 But then, for our final block today, some more news you need to know, Democrats, they're scared that they could lose their chance to take back the Senate because Graham Platner was just caught sexting several different women. Right? And reportedly, it was actually his wife, Amy Gertner, who brought this all to light when she told his now ex-political director Genevieve McDonald that he had sent a explicit messages to as many as a dozen women. But McDonald's saying that they were handling

Starting point is 00:23:26 the sexting as an election vulnerability. But then, late last year, you had Platner's old Reddit post dismissing military sexual assault and using homophobic slurs reservicing. And that is when McDonald left the campaign, reportedly being offered a $15,000 severance at the time that required her to sign an NDA, though she rejected it. Now that said, McDonald claims that she wasn't the person

Starting point is 00:23:43 who initially leaked the sexting story, but by this weekend, news of it kind of was all over the media anyway. You had McDonald's saying on Facebook that the Wall Street Journal had contacted her about a story they had verified through multiple other sources as a courtesy. saying she might receive some blowback from the article whether she was involved or not. But reportedly, when they also told Plattener's team about the article, Morris Katz,

Starting point is 00:23:59 one of Plattener's advisors, told McDonald to call the journal back, deny the sexting claims, and record herself doing it so that she could send it to their campaign. And then McDonald said that Katz started threatening her. With them sending a text saying, If the story goes in its current iteration, we'll communicate directly on the record, and by name that McDonald violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham and shared explicit falsehoods to sabotage the campaign. With them also going off about it on Twitter saying,

Starting point is 00:24:21 It's no one's fucking business would happen in Graham and Amy's marriage before he was ever a candidate for office, saying there should be no place in our politics for incompetent opportunistic operatives who violate privacy, betray trust, and prioritize vengeance over decency. And that's what you had McDonald going on the record to confirm with the New York Times that she knew about these affairs. And with all this, you had Plattner's wife saying that McDonald betrayed them, and they shared with her deeply personal details about their marriage to someone she considered a friend. And she actually had even more to say in a video that she posted on Instagram. It makes me really angry, disappointed.

Starting point is 00:24:49 and I find it really shameful that there's a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on. I think it's shameful behavior to spend time and energy and resources on negative. ads and negative stories on Graham when all he's trying to do is improve the lives of people who work for a living. So now with all this, you've got everyone wondering, how is this going to affect Platner's campaign? Remain especially has been under a microscope as Democrats have been fighting for more seats in the Senate. And now you're seeing a number of them worried that they're adding another scandal to kind of this list that could make it easier for Susan Collins to keep her seat.

Starting point is 00:25:41 But as far as is this actually going to hurt him come November, we'll have to wait and see. He's kind of been Teflon. Previous scandals, whether it be the stuff on Reddit or his tattoos, they've kind of done In fact, he went up in the polling after those, and it seems like a lot of the main voters seem to be more focused on the issues, but who knows? Time will tell, and we are really only six months away now. Then we also have to talk about how a federal judge just decided that the Kennedy Center has to remove Trump's name from the building and all of its branding. Right with Judge, Christopher R. Cooper saying that the board's decision to add Trump's name was a violation of the law. In adding, Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it. So the Senate's board now has two weeks to take his name down. All while, the center was also set to close down for two years for renovations, but this ruling's going to put that on hold as well. With a judge saying none of the board members had sufficient information in advance of the March 16th meeting to make a well-considered decision to close the center. Now, that doesn't mean that it can't be closed in the future, but the judge said that the board should only push for that after they have sufficient information to make a considered independent decision.

Starting point is 00:26:33 So with all this, you've got people like Representative Joyce Beatty, who was actually the one who filed the lawsuit, pretty happy. I think we will see our donors coming back. I think performers will be coming back because this is a win for the American people. It's a win for the arts and it's a win for the rule of law. But then on the other side, of course, you have Trump pissed. Saying Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself, unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into Never, Neverland.

Starting point is 00:27:05 And he added that he told the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of the center, giving them the responsibility for its operation, maintenance, and management. And what we're going to have to wait to see what that transfer of power looks like. Until then, you have a spokesperson for the center already saying, that they're going to be appealing Judge Cooper's decision. And saying there, we are confident that, on appeal, the court will uphold the board's will

Starting point is 00:27:25 to recognize President Trump's historic contributions to our nation's cultural center. And then finally, a bunch of people just climbed out of two different manholes in Brooklyn, and nobody knows why. Surveillance footage captured in the middle of the night shows seven men crawling into oncoming traffic on McDonald Avenue and Gravesend.

Starting point is 00:27:38 Some are in waiters and heavy-duty boots. They're wearing gloves. A few of them are carrying shovels. One guy's standing watched by the curb the whole time acting as a lookout. Also, a different video of them shows them changing clothes on the sidewalk, a couple of them shirtless before disappearing into waiting cars.

Starting point is 00:27:51 The police believed that they were down there for about two hours, and to make everything even weirder, that same night, another group of A people, went into a different manhole in Williamsburg around 1 a.m., came out at around 3.40 a.m. and fled the scene in a car before police could get there. And so now, police are trying to figure out if these two events are related and what all those men were actually doing down there. Now, they've ruled out terrorism, also the individuals, if identified, they could face burglary charges, which okay.

Starting point is 00:28:10 But also, weirdly, this isn't even the first time this has happened. There was a similar situation in Brooklyn last year that ended with three men charged with burglary and criminal mischief after pulling almost the exact same thing. So for now, the investigation's ongoing, so follow to stay in the loop. But then, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Monday, Philip DeFranco show. Thank you for watching, hitting that like button, subscribing to the channel, diving into those comments, let me know what you're thinking. I'll see you right back here tomorrow for another dive into your daily news.

The Philip DeFranco Show - The $200K LEGO Scandal Just Got Worse

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