The Philip DeFranco Show - The ICE CBP Problem is Insane

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to conicsonterio.ca. With people now shot dead by federal agents in our streets, dozens more dead in detention centers, and who knows how many others beaten or abused, there is still no indication that Trump's secret police are slowing down. Because our world's so chaotic, there are a million things happening all at once. A lot of people, they've missed some things. And so Democrats organized a forum with three people who were brutalized by immigration agents

while driving in their cars, all of whom are U.S. citizens. And you know, it's very important we hear and talk about these things, especially as a number of platforms seem to be suppressing things. And so with that in mind, you can hear from the first witness, Alia Ramon, who experienced what she's about to describe just three weeks ago. For some additional context, she is autism and a traumatic brain injury, and while she was on her way to an appointment at TBI Treatment Center, she says that she came upon a traffic jam with ICE vehicles.

I had not wanted to pull into a blocked, chaotic intersection, but verbally agreed to do so and rolled down my window after an agent yelled, move! I will break your effing window! Agents on all sides of my vehicle yelled conflicting threats and instructions that I could not process while watching for pedestrians. Then the glass of the passenger side window flew across my face. I yelled, I'm disabled at the hands grabbing at me, and an agent said, too late. An agent pulled a large combat knife in front of my face, which I thought was for cutting me,

and later learned was used to cut off my seatbelt. Shooting pain went through my head, neck, and wrists. When I hit the ground face first, and people leaned on my back, I now cannot lift my arms normally. You then also had her saying that as they dragged her away, she was never asked for ID, never told she was under arrest, never read her rights, and never even charged with a crime. And then she added that when she was taken into detention, she got no medical screening, no phone call, and no lawyer. I was denied a communication navigator when my speech began to slur. Agents laughed as I tried to immobilize my own neck.

I asked for my cane and was told no, pulled up my... arms and prodded forward and leg irons by agents laughing and saying, walk, you can do it, walk. When I was finally placed in one to be taken to interrogation, an agent taunted, you were driving, right? So your legs do work. I pleaded for emergency medical care for over an hour after my vision had become blurry, my heart rate went through the roof and the pain in my neck and head became unbearable. It was denied. She then also went on to say that she lost her ability to speak, so her cellmate began pleading with the guards on her behalf.

The last sounds I remember before I blacked out on the cell floor were my cellmate banging on the door pleading for a medic and a voice outside saying, we don't want to step on ice's toes. And then she testified that the next thing that she knew, she was at a hospital where doctors told her that she had suffered a concussion, which is, you know, bad enough for anyone, but fucking terrible to hear if you already have a traumatic brain injury. And that, of course, is not where it ends because we then heard from our second witness, Daniel Ruscom. And with Daniel, he says that last August, when he was running an errand with his future father-in-law, Francisco and his future brother-in-law, Jonathan, all of a sudden, two unmarked trucks boxed in their car. I looked up thinking, we must be at a red light or in a traffic jam. But to my surprise,

I was instead of met with four men in face masks, sunglasses, and baseball caps, and guns drawn pointing straight at us. And so these men who we said weren't wearing uniforms, tried pulling open the car doors, all while refusing to identify themselves. And then he says that they smashed the driver's side window, punch Francisco in the face, and then broke the past. passenger side window and reached inside. Hey! Yeah! You can't do that!

Terrified for our lives, Francisco brave... Excuse me. Francisco bravely drove straight through the only open pathway down the street, hoping to be driving towards safety. When we were instead met with gunfire,

one of the four men attempted to murder us after we passed by, as he fired and made contact with the passenger side of our car multiple times. We narrowly escaped as pieces of glass fell on our heads. Daniel saying that they made it home in a car riddled with bullet holes and called 911, and when local police came, they handcuffed Francisco and question everyone else. The officers then allowed the same four men who had just attacked us to come to our home.

Those four men were asked to identify who they were looking for, but they had zero idea as to who they were even targeting. Then two weeks later, at four in the morning, Daniel says that he woke up to law enforcement surrounding his home with assault rifles and an armored truck, with every and then the men breaching the front door and they began yelling at them to come out with their hands up. The agents pointed the bright lasers attached to their rifles at each of us inside the home. They even pointed their weapon at my fiancee who was pregnant at the time.

But then again, that is not where this ends because we have to hear from our third witness, Marimar Martinez. And Ms. Martinez, she shared how last November she packed a bag of clothing to donate to our local church and started driving there, but eventually she came upon a border patrol vehicle. For the next 15 to 20 minutes, I followed these Border Patrol agents through my neighborhood, honking my horn, shouting out La Migra, to warn my neighbors about the presence of these agents who have been terrorizing our community over the past few weeks. I made eye contact with the driver of the Border Patrol vehicle and watched as he turned the steering wheel once again to his left,

and sigh swept my vehicle. Martina is then saying that she immediately hit the brakes, as did the Border Patrol just ahead of her, and so she tried to escape for her own safety. I drove forward and went around the border patrol agents who jumped out of his car and pointed his gun at me. The then saying that she drove into the far left lane, striking the curb, and then... The next thing I knew, I felt a burning sensation in my arms, legs, and that I had been shot by pepper balls. I could hear my back passenger window shattered, and I felt bullets continue to pierce my body. I looked down and I noticed blood gushing out of my arms and legs, and I realized I've been shot multiple times.

Yet despite all of that, somehow she says that she drove another mile then pulled over and called 911, but the horror, it only continued from there. At the hospital, I remember seeing multiple agents standing around. I remember the agents rushing the nurses to finish up so they could take me with them. It's after less than three hours there. She says that she was discharged and delivered into the hands of Border Patrol. One of the agents came out to me with his cell phone and took a photograph of me. I told them I did not consent.

Was this the agent that shot me? Was this a trophy for him? And actually on that note, Democratic representative Robert Garcia read aloud the text messages that he says were written by the agent who shot Martinez. The agent linked an article about your shooting and texted, read it. Five shots, seven holes. I fired five rounds and she had seven holes. Put that in your book, boys. Oh, well, it is what it is.

Shit happens. Put that in your book, boys. But yet, getting back to the story, Martinez says that she started bleeding through her bandages and So an FBI agent had to redress her wounds and bring her to a second hospital before taking her back into custody again. Meanwhile, federal agents took the Border Patrol vehicle that allegedly hit Martinez's car out of the FBI secure evidence garage, drove it to Maine and had a Border Patrol mechanic repair it. So you have Martinez arguing that that amounts to the destruction of evidence, especially since her lawyers hadn't been able to inspect the vehicle yet.

But there you had the agent who shot her testifying that he believed that the vehicle had no remaining evidentiary value after it was processed and released by the FBI. And adding, I was told to pick it up, so I picked it up. Also with us, the government accuser of trying to ram federal agents with her car, charged her for assault with a deadly weapon, and labeled her a domestic terrorist. And although the charges were dropped back in November, the government still refers to her as a domestic terrorist on its website. And you know, her story, it sounds oddly familiar. You're not alone there with Martinez herself making the connection.

I am Renee Good. I am Alex Predi. I am Silberio Villegger Gonzalez. I am Keith Porter. They should all be here today. Also, I'll say, speaking of Good and Prattie, we're now learning more about the men who killed them with Wired reporting that two agents belong to highly militarized and notoriously aggressive special response teams or SRTs.

Right, Jonathan Ross, who shot Renee Good was an ICE SRT agent, and Remundo Gutierrez, who's one of the guys who shot Alex Prady, was a CBP SRT agent. And as their names suggest, these units are meant for special high-risk missions, and so they're patterned off of the US military special forces teams, not regular police. Right, which is why many are saying that behave not like regular police, but like soldiers with the outlet writing. They use explosives to breach the doors of homes. team members are equipped with full tactical gear, military-style helmets, assault rifles,

and heavy-duty crowd-control weapons like pepperballs, foam launchers, and flashbang grenades. They have deployed less lethal munitions and chemical dispersons with little or no warning. Betterl agents have charged into crowds without dispersal orders, dogpiling people who often are doing nothing more than observing or yelling their disapproval at the feds. And I'll also say it's not just SRTs, we're also seeing the Border Patrol Tactical Unit or Bortac on city streets, which a former CBP commissioner likened to using a chainsaw to mow your lawn. Because they're an offensive tactical team traditionally used for drug raids, counterterrorism missions, and other operations on the border.

And so when you've got these guys facing off against middle-aged mom blowing whistles and yelling, shame, you can only imagine what the outcome's going to be. And now, I mean, you're getting reports that these brutal tactics or these special units they're spreading into ICE and CBP as a whole. And that to a certain degree may explain a lot of what we've seen over the past year and why judges are just so fed up with the outrageous cases that have been piling on their dockets. And actually, while we're talking about that, this is just a nuts situation. You would have a judge, suppending the Justice Department's lawyers for the District of Minnesota,

to explain why DHS had ignored so many court orders, including not releasing several immigrant detainees that he had ordered them to release. But then, when a DHS attorney entered the courtroom, she ended up giving an answer, nobody was expecting. She reportedly told the judge, the system sucks, this job sucks. I wish you could hold me in contempt so that I could get 24 hours of sleep. With her then describing how it's like pulling teeth to get DHS, ICE, and the DOJ to follow court orders and explaining. It takes 10 emails for me for a release condition to be corrected. It takes me threatening to walk out for something else to be corrected.

And all of that is you at NBC reporting that, she picked up 88 cases in less than a month, so that also may explain some of her exhaustion. But also, in no way, is she alone? We've seen numerous attorneys now quitting the DOJ's Minnesota office because of just how political and insane things have become. And then there's more that we're going to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me say, you know, big shout out to today's sponsor, Incognic. Because your personal information, it's being exposed by companies that you've never even heard of.

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Dot com slash DeFranco, code DeFranco because scammers can't steal what's not there. But then diving right back into the news, more news you need to know, Nick Shirley, the pro-Trump influencer whose viral claims around fraud involving Smalley run daycares, which, you know, fueled weeks of chaos in Minnesota. he has now set his sights on California. Right, he's actually just one of several right-wing content creators and even administration officials who have descended onto the state with similar allegations,

possibly set on the stage for another Minnesota-style crackdown. Because before you had an army of federal agents wreaking havoc in the Twin Cities, you had Democratic Governor Tim Walls at the helm while you had broadsters making off with hundreds of millions of dollars and state money meant to help people in need during the pandemic. That is in fact something that has happened in many states, although the scale was especially shocking in Minnesota.

And what ended up actually happening is you had the Trump administration now zeroing in on a year's, old case that federal prosecutors had even started charging people for way back in 2022 under Joe Biden. And the current admin, they really emphasize the involvement of dozens of Somali Americans, even though there are tens of thousands of them in the state. You know, the fact that a handful of them were engaged in fraud, it's not a reason to believe that many, many others have. But either way, this case, it was most likely a matter for criminal investigators, not immigration enforcement, especially since 87% of Minnesota's foreign war in Somali population are already American citizens.

But still, what you had was Trump calling Somali's garbage and low IQ, suggesting, that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar should be deported and allegations of widespread fraud among Somali and other immigrant communities, it became part of the implied justification for this massive surge of immigration agents to the state in early December. And that was especially true after Nick Shirley claimed to have uncovered a $100 million fraud scheme involving Somali child care centers in Minnesota, although he did so without providing any real or at least conclusive evidence. And in fact, the Minnesota Department of Children, youth, and families reported carrying out checks on nine child care centers accused of fraud in Shirley's video and found that all were operating as expected. Though notably,

you also had the agency revealing ongoing investigations at or the centers on the list, and in total, it is 55 open investigations involving providers that are getting government funding. And so I say that because the point isn't to say that there are not any issues and that there isn't any fraud at all. In fact, going back years, news outlets have published multiple stories covering child care fraud and several people, like I said, have been prosecuted. But you would surely implying that this had never been discussed, and he manufactured outrage on unsubstantiated and overblown allegations.

And it was then after his video that the Trump administration moved to send another roughly 2,000 federal agents to the city. With it then being just two more days until ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good. Right, and since then, we've just seen an absolute flood of videos appearing to show federal agents violently arresting immigrants and citizens brutally cracking down on protesters and shooting and killing American citizen, Alex Preddy.

And then in addition to the chaos on the ground, you had the White House moving to freeze federal child care funding for Minnesota and five other Democratic-led states, although you had a federal judge temporarily blocking that effort. And now today, we're seeing Borders R. Tom Homan saying that 700 agents will be leaving the state, but of course, that brings us to the question of where will they go next? Because you have some saying that the Trump administration and the MAGA influencer machine, they may be planning to follow the same playbook elsewhere. And in fact, to that point, you reportedly had a senior White House official telling Wired as far back as last month, the fraud is so

blatant and widespread in Minnesota that it's a good place to start, but it's only the beginning, California and New York next. You also had Trump claiming in early January that California, under Governor Gavin Nuscombe is more corrupt than Minnesota, and adding, investigation of California has begun. Right, and then last week, he created a filled a brand new position at the Justice Department, Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement. And while we haven't heard much from him yet, what we do know is that Shirley is on the ground in San Diego, and again, appears to be targeting Smalley-run Child Care Centers. He's also reportedly been working with a woman named Amy Raker, a failed politician turned private investigator who's been showing him around. She's also now posted a picture with Shirley on Twitter,

right in California, here we come. When Nick Shirley drops the video, it's going to be fire. With that, Shirley appears to be investigating fraud in California, the same way that he investigated fraud in Minnesota, which was by showing up to daycares and just asking to see the children, at least based on the videos posted online. It says there's 14 children enrolled here. You don't care. This is my daycare. And where are the children?

You don't care. Where are the children out? It's not enough from Minnesota, you come here? And it seems like he's not the only one, right? You had a San Diego Somali daycare workers first describing incidents of harassment and unwanted visitors in early January. Some are reporting that they've had strangers showing up and peering through their windows, asking questions,

and hurling false accusations, and ultimately saying that they're fearing for their safety, One, for example, told AP reporters that she watched someone come out from a car that had been circling the building and take a shit near the center's entrance. And that same day, someone drove by and yelled that the center was a fake daycare. And so these types of incidents, they led to her coming up with new lockdown procedures to start budgeting for increased security. And she also said that she now keeps the blinds closed to protect the children from people looking in as well as to keep them from looking out and witnessing potentially scarring scenes of immigration enforcement in action. And also, I'll say a huge thing here while we're talking about California, this trend that surely started, it seems to have gone nationwide. The cities with large Somali communities in Washington and Ohio, for example, they've also reported incidents.

And in Ohio, you actually had the Republican governor holding a news conference to debunk a right-wing influencers claims about fraud tied to a child care center in Columbus. Or with the governor saying, and I don't know why this does need to be said, a child care provider refusing to let a stranger into the building and look at the children should not be seen as a sign of fraud. But also, that hasn't stopped Republicans in the state legislature from actually introducing legislation to more closely monitor child care centers. And that includes one that would require those that take public money to provide live video feeds of their classrooms to state officials. But getting back to California, the fraud allegations have also gone beyond daycare facilities. You're also seeing pro-Trump influencer

Benny Johnson, for example, publishing his own documentary this weekend with him claiming to have uncovered a $100 million fraud scheme in California tied to what he called the homeless industrial complex. He then also claimed that the state was using these federal dollars to rig national elections, although notably you had California Governor Gavin Newsom's office responding to that video with a detailed fact check writing. We watched Betty Johnson's video so you didn't have have to lose brain cells. As expected, lies, rage bait straight from his Russia paid influencer's starter kit. And as an example, Johnson's video tries to claim that California's homeless shelters

are mostly filled with undocumented immigrants, but his main piece of evidence, it's a phone call with a purported whistleblower whose identity was kept hidden. And you had Newsom's office slamming the claim as being as real as our free unicorn for all undocumented people program. We've also recently had Meh-Az getting in on the action, right? He's part of the Trump administration. He's the administrator for the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. So also, I guess, possibly relevant to a conversation about fraud, he rose to fame in the eyes of many is something of a modern-day snake oil salesman,

right with Oz touting his medical background while promoting unsound scientific theories, unproven treatments, and bogus supplements sometimes sold by companies that he had financial ties to. In any case, last month, he said that CMS would withhold around $300 million in funding from California because, according to him, it was using the funds on non-emergency health care for illegals. And then last week, he published his own documentary-style video on an alleged health care fraud in California, involving phony hospices that he suggested were run by the Russian Armenian mafia. Also, I'll say notably neither Oz nor CMS have publicly shared details that confirm the fraud. And then the whole thing for many becomes especially problematic because Oz's parents came from Turkey, which, like Oz himself, in fact, has refused to acknowledge the history of the Armenian genocide.

And so you actually had Governor Gavin Newsom's office filing a civil rights complaint against Oz after the video was published, saying that Oz spewed baseless and racially charged allegation. Also, funny enough, you had Newsom's office pointing to the fact that Trump himself has actually halted a federal effort to increase oversight on hospice care and root out fraud and abuse in the industry. And all of this is, notably, he did not deny that fraud happens, but he insisted that the state was taking action. And actually with that, you had the California Attorney General's office saying that it has filed criminal charges against 109 individuals over hospice fraud-related offenses and launched dozens of civil investigations. And as far as fraud tied to services for

unhoused people, just last month, a man was arrested for getting away with $23 million dollars from LA County funds. And so again, the argument is not that no fraud is happening. Anywhere or that fraud is fake, fraud is real. There's fraud happening here and there, and there's a debate to be had about whether California or any other state or the federal government is doing enough to combat. But also, there are reasons to be skeptical about a number of the things that are being claimed, and there's reason to doubt that Trump and his supporters are coming at the issue in good faith. Right, especially as there's a question about whether the issue is going to be used again to justify some sort of action against California or other states opposed to Trump's agenda. Although, you know, one big question there is whether Democratic lawmakers will actually stand in his way, which we may find out soon, because Congress is now standing on the edge of a Cliff named DHS funding despite just ending a shutdown. Where because yesterday, Trump signed a $1.2 trillion funding package of five spending bills

to end the partial government shutdown that started on Saturday. And that, after the package was signed by the Senate on Friday and the House cleared it yesterday at a narrow 217 to 214 margin. And that means that most government agencies are funded through the end of the fiscal year in September. But also, there is a big, glaring exception, the Department of Homeland Security. This package actually only provided funding to DHS to the end of next week as a compromise to get the rest of the funding pass.

Where with Democrats still demanding changes in ICE operations and including that agents wear body cams and identify themselves, get warrants for arrest and adhere to a code of conduct similar to state and local law enforcement. But there, you're already seeing Republicans pushing back against some of those requests, with, for example, Speaker Mike Johnson saying that the right isn't going to agree

to require judicial warrants for arrest by immigration officers. Claiming that administrative warrants are, quote, sufficient legal authority to go and apprehend, undocumented immigrants, and adding, if someone is going to be apprehended and they run behind a closed door and lock the door, what is I supposed to do at that point? Oh, gee whiz, a locked door?

Though you also have some Republicans taking a stronger stance against Democrats generally, right? With Representative Lisa McLean, Chair of the House Republican Conference saying that they had no intention of bending to the Democrats' demands, saying they're like a spoiled child that's not getting what they want

and throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, you don't reward them with giving them a candy bar. And see, you know, the partisan gap, it's pretty wide here, and there's only a few days to close it before the February 13th deadline. And if they don't, DHS is gonna face a lapse in funding,

which includes ICE, customs and board protection, the Secret Service, and the Coast Guard. The width is you have some having more hope than others, including Representative Rosa DeLora, from Connecticut who was among the Democrats who voted for the short-term solution, with Doloro saying, I believe this is an opportunity to isolate DHS and go at it. Hammer and tongs, tooth, and nail, whatever phrase you want to use, rather than having to figure out what the heck is going to happen to five other bills and all those departments.

But also, there are those taking a stronger stance, including Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, who said, I refuse to send another scent to Stephen Miller or Christy Noem. They are undermining our Constitution, and the department they run is murdering American citizens in the streets. You then also had Representative Pete Aguilaw from California saying we have a list that we want done and we aren't settling for half measures. And adding that if Republicans don't want to come to the table and negotiate real reform, quote, then they're going to have to explain to the American public why they're shutting down agencies. Right. And then, and hearing

all this, you're probably not going to be surprised to hear that there are those that are less confident that a solution is going to be found in this short amount of time that Congress has. And so you have some on the right suggesting that, you know, the can can be kicked down the road even further, maybe to March 1st. But with that, you have House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffrey saying that option is off the table, saying that a deal will only be possible if Republicans come to the table in good faith and saying we've indicated the types of bold and transformative changes that are necessary. The ball is now in the court of the Republicans. But as we've talked about in other videos, Republicans may drag their feet here because, you know, ICE, they're still sitting on the big,

beautiful bills gift of $75 billion. So that, it could keep them afloat for the year. All while, though, you have the Republicans battling pressure from within their own party coming straight from the top guy himself. When Trump's recent declaration that he wants to nationalize elections, it's throwing the party into absolute chaos as they try to spin the president's words into not an authoritarian attempt to exert control over the outcome of future elections. Because we talked about it yesterday. You had Trump calling into the Dan Bongino show, where he claimed that Democrats are bringing in

illegal immigrants so they can win elections, and then he made this call to Republicans. The Republicans should say, we wanna take over, we should take over the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. But then, after that clip went viral, you had White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt

trying to walk it back. What the president was referring to is the SAVE Act, which is a huge, common sense piece of legislation that Republicans have supported that President Trump is committed to signing into law during his term. And he spoke with the speaker directly about that yesterday, about the need to get that bill on the floor for a vote because it provides very common sense measures for voting in our country, such as voter ID. I don't think any rational person who's being honest with themselves would disagree with the idea of requiring citizens of this country to present

an ID before casting a ballot in a federal election or frankly in any election. And that's something the president wants to see happen. So that's what he was referring to. Okay. So a few things to break down. To really pick apart here. First of all, the save act that Levitt is talking about, it would require people to prove that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote.

It is literally nothing to do with federalizing elections. And Trump, I mean, you can double check for yourself. If you want to do that to yourself, fucking listen to Dan Bongino for an extended period time. He never once mentioned that specific legislation during his interview with Bongino. Yes, he was throwing out claims about non-citizen. but he also said verbatim. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.

We all heard it. And then after you would love it making those comments, you had Trump doubling down and literally repeating his call to nationalized elections during a press briefing at the Oval Office. What exactly did you mean when you said that you should nationalize elections and which 15 states are you talking about? I want to see elections be honest. And if a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something

about it. Because if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections. I don't know why the federal government doesn't do them anyway. With Trump then going on to repeat his false claims about the 2020 election being rigged and crooked, specifically mentioning Detroit, Pennsylvania, and Atlanta as places he said had horrible corruption in adding.

And the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take home. And so you know, it seems like the guys making it pretty damn clear

that he wants to nationalize at least some elections. a desire that apparently has nothing to do with the SAVE Act because he also never mentioned it once during that briefing either. Then, even after Trump doubled down and clearly contradicted Leavitt, we still saw some Republicans trying to spin those comments to make it sound less, I don't know,

like he's fully drunk the authoritarian cooling. So you had Senate Majority Leader John Foon, reiterating the SAVE Act story after Trump's briefing. With respect to nationalizing elections, I think the president has clarified what he meant by that, and that is that he supports the SAVE Act. But then also, you had Speaker Johnson just taking a completely different approach,

just fully committing Trump's story about the elections and blue states being rigged or fraudulent. Ray Johnson specifically mentioning California and the recent Republican loss there. I mean, they hold the elections open for weeks after election day. That's just one thing that bothers so many people. We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on election day in the last election cycle. And every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost. It looks on its face to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No.

So from here, it's just about waiting to see what these next 10 days will bring. but in the meantime, you know, let me know your thoughts in those comments down below. And then there's even more that we're going to dive into in just a minute, but let me take a second to thank a sponsor and say, you know, I've never once left the grocery store thinking, nailed it. But thankfully, I stumbled on today's sponsor, Hungry Root,

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Just scan that QR code or go to HungryRoot.com and use code DeFranco. It's 40% off at a free item for life at HungryRoot.com, Code de Franco. But then diving right back into the news. It's the golden moment. Triumph on the podium, golden hand. But with Corona Serro, golden moments go beyond the Winter Olympics. They're enjoying sunsets, time outside, reconnecting with nature, and laughs shared with friends.

For every golden moment at the Winter Olympic Games, enjoy your own with Corona Cero, 0% alcohol and a source of vitamin D. Corona Cerro, the official non-alcoholic beer of Milano Cortina, 2026. You've got Trump answering questions about the Epstein files by dismissing them as a Democrat problem and claiming he's barely even in him. Which of course we know that that's not at all true. He's all over them in various capacities, as are others in his administration. But what ended up kind of getting the most attention in this situation was when Trump snapped at CNN's Caitlin Collins as she tried to ask about justice for survivors. What would you say to people feel like they have to justice, Mr. President? something that people care about.

You know, what did you say? What would you say to the survivors who feel like they haven't gotten justice? You are the worst reporter. No one to see. CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for 10 years.

I don't think I've ever seen a smile. I'm asking you about survivors. You know why you're not smiling? Because you know you're not telling the truth. And you're a very dishonest organization. And they should be ashamed of you. Right. Trump, ridiculing, Collins.

and then the room just moved on to discuss healthcare. And so among all the different reactions, you had a ton of outrage that none of the other journalists in the room really said anything to defend her. There, I will say since it happened, CNN's defended her, and other reporters have spoken out online saying things like. A reporter asked President Trump a question he doesn't like, and instead of answering, he attacks her character.

No moments of contrition for those harmed by Epstein. Instead, he has called the files a hoax. Also, Collins' CNN colleague, Jake Tapper, noted that this subject, it really causes Trump to lash out because that, you know, that quiet piggy remark he made to a female reporter before, It was also in response to an Epstein question. And then Caitlin herself, she actually kind of responded just by sharing a video showing her face

while Trump railed against her and you see her just keeping her cool and remaining professional. Also with us, I think it is worth noting that, you know, his little tirade came after Collins had asked other questions about Epstein, which Trump did answer, but it was clear that he wanted to move on to a new subject. On the Epstein files, you talked about Democrats who were in there. Elon Musk was also in there, and so was your Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik and correspondence that he had with him. Did you read those new files that were published by the Department of Justice?

I have a lot of things I'm doing, you know, a lot of things I don't know. You mentioned two names. I'm sure they're fine. I think it's really time for the country to get onto something else, really. Now that nothing came out about me other than there was a conspiracy against me, literally, by Epstein and other people. But I think it's time now for the country to maybe get onto something else. But of course, with the way that Trump and all his people, they were fighting against the Epstein files, how they're releasing and messing things up now, how they're speaking and also how Trump is responding when Epstein questions come up,

it's making it so that people aren't going to be able to move on. Though also the Epstein files, while it's kind of like a pain in his side, for pretty much anyone else, it would be career ending. And actually what we're seeing in places where dorms have not been completely destroyed are some other politicians. It's actually messing up their careers. Over in the UK, Peter Mandelson just resigned from the Labor Party and House of Lords over revelations in the Epstein files claiming that he doesn't want to cause further embarrassment for his party. Because some of the communications showed that Mandelson gave Epstein's sensitive financial and political information, with some of that happening in 2009 after Epstein became a convicted

sex offender. He also allegedly sent Epstein a confidential document intended for the prime minister and accepted tens of thousands of dollars in payments from Epstein. Then there was also a photo that appears to be of Mandelson depicting him in underwear alongside a redacted woman or girl. So now he's actually under investigation in the UK for misconduct while in public office. So you have a lot of people looking at that going, how novel of a concept that a politician resign and face real political consequences for being implicated in this massive scandal. Though also, going back to the United States, I will say some people are feeling some pressure here. For example, you had Melinda French Gates discussing the mentions of her ex-husband, Bill Gates,

and saying, whatever questions remain there of what I can't even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me. And I am so happy to be away from all the muck. No girl. No girl. should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein. I remember being those ages, those girls were. I remember my daughters being those ages. Now Gates, he's denied any wrongdoing, but politicians on both sides of the aisle,

they responded to this interview by kind of echoing that call saying, yes, Bill Gates and others, they need to face questioning. And you actually have Nancy May seeking to subpoena him. You know, whether or not Epstein's associates, those who participated in or knew of his crimes, or were just connected to him in some way will actually answer these questions, that remains to be seen, even though I will say this topic doesn't appear to be going anywhere, and Justice also seems so far out of reach. But that right there, my friends, you beautiful bastards,

is where your Wednesday, Philip DeFranco show is going to end. Thank you, as always, for being a part of another daily dive into the news. Of course, I'll see you right back here tomorrow, and in fact, there's even more you can watch right now. Alex Perlman, you're not in the Epstein files. I just had to double check. Did you just Epstein files search me, Phil? It's illegal to have a good hang. Oh, wow, who would have thought that Steve would get addicted to pills?

Lie to yourself at first. That's not great advice, but that's where my head's at. Oh, fuck, we burn the building down. Shit.