The Philip DeFranco Show - The Story AntiVax Groups Don’t Want You Asking About

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

https://youtu.be/Utqx6ihLL_w?si=6voZMfS3gHhXhYNz  SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL10 use my code PHIL10 for 10% off tickets and to be entered in the weekly $500 giveaway Go to ht...tp://zbiotics.com/DEFRANCO and use code DEFRANCO at checkout to get up to 15% off your first order. - Get Early Tickets to Join Us on Tour! https://linktr.ee/crashingouttour  - BEAUTIFUL BASTARD Premium blanks, signature fits, and the new tie dye drop. Go get your new favorite shirt! 👉 https://beautifulbastard.com LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2VWATCH CRASHING OUT w/ PHILIP & ALEX Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCergKLoy-Yv9zlPk3XQYK7Q?sub_confirmation=1 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DkU87umhGH9mH1z24Bi9w?si=6sSdjhVNQjyVeBQDLiXcyg Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crashing-out-with-philip-defranco-and-alex-pearlman/id1843429519 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📸Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco  🐦Twitter: https://twitter.com/phillyd  🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco TODAY’S STORIES 00:00 - Mom Accused of Murdering Kids & Blaming Vaccines Has Bond Revoked 04:18 - Canada Wildfires Force Evacuations as Smoke Engulfs the U.S. 06:55 - Elon Musk Likely Violated Bribery Law 11:52 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 12:54 - Blanche Grilled About Epstein, Jan. 6 & More During Senate Confirmation Hearing 20:27 - Trump’s Intelligence Director Pick Jay Clayton Faces Trump Loyalty Test 25:16 - Sponsored by ZBiotics  26:20 - Democrats Block Defense Bill in Protest of Iran War 29:26 - Trump Says ICE Should Continue Traffic Stops After Fatal Shootings THE TEAM Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino, Victor Sledge   ———————————— #News #ToddBlanche #Trump Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 We've got to talk about how you have this mom who's blaming vaccines for what happened to her twin toddlers, but now she's being charged with murder as a group co-founded by RFK Jr. is still supporting her. Also, this Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, Jay Clayton, situation's insane and why it's going to get worse Thursday night. You've got a massive Canadian wildfire crisis that's turning into an air quality nightmare here in the States. And why you have Democrats derailing a must-pass defense bill around an unprecedented military partnership between the U.S. and Israel. We're talking about all of that even more on today's brand-new Philip DeFranco's show you daily dive into the news, starting with this. We need to talk about the situation around a woman that you've never heard of by the name of Andrea Shaw. She's a now 23-year-old mother in Idaho, and on May 1st, 2025, she said that she found her 18-month-old twins, Tyson and Dallas, face down and dead in their shared bed.
Starting point is 00:00:42 And then just a few days later, Sean her husband sat down with an interview with the children's health defense, that controversial anti-vaccine nonprofit, co-founded by R of K Jr. And during that interview, Shaw said that the vaccines had killed her babies. Because about a week before their deaths, the twins had been given several standard childhood vaccines, including hepatitis A, flu, flu, tetanus, and a few more. And she claimed that during that appointment, she had raised questions with her pediatrician about the flu vaccine, in particular, because members of her husband's family,
Starting point is 00:01:06 they had reactions to it in the past. Shaw, she says that the doctor is convinced her that the twins should still get the shot, and then two days later, she took them to the hospital after they started experiencing diarrhea and lethargy. And according to the hospital records,
Starting point is 00:01:16 one of the kids did have a temperature of 99 degrees, but the doctor said that they were having a simple post-immunization reaction, which was treated with Tylenol and ice pops. And it was then a few days after that visit that Shaw found her twins dead, and when asked about her stance on vaccines during the interview with children's health defense, she said,
Starting point is 00:01:31 I feel that I wish I was anti-vaccine now. So, unsurprisingly, this organization embraced Shaw with arms wide open. They heavily pushed that interview, setting up a give-send-go fundraiser that brought in more than $11,000, and they named her as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is the top society of pediatricians in the country. And even, that lawsuit specifically accusing the AAP of racketeering.
Starting point is 00:01:50 They alleged that they falsely claimed that the vaccines were saving, that the deaths of Dallas and Tyson proved that they were wrong. But then, fast forward to last month, Over a year after the twins's death, and Andrea Shaw was arrested for murdering her own children. And this happened literally just five days after giving birth to a new baby. And what you saw specifically is that the Grand Juran diving claims that Shaw suffocated her babies in an act that was either premeditated or taken in the course of aggravated battery. Shaw, she still claims that it was actually the vaccines that killed her kids and children's health defense, they've stood by her. Right, in that first interview they did, just days after the twins died,
Starting point is 00:02:20 Shaw literally said that the police believed her children were suffocated. And, quote, that I had supposedly had a postpartum overwhelming blackout and done it to my children. But you had children's health defense repeatedly dismissing both the criminal investigation into Shaw and the charges that are now levied against her. And you've got the group's chief executives saying that they will continue to back her claims following the arrest and adding they're messing with the wrong people. And we stand for the truth and the truth is that vaccines can cause death and there's zero evidence so far that this woman killed her children. Zero. As far as the actual case here, you have Shaw's lawyers telling multiple media outlets that
Starting point is 00:02:49 they plan to argue that it was actually the vaccines that caused the suffocation. But then with that you have experts saying that's not a thing with one doctor and vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine explaining, I'm not aware of any vaccine that would be able to cause suffocation. If that were the case, you'd expect to see other cases appearing in the community. And you also had them adding, in this specific case, it is even more unlikely because both kids died at the same time, right? And it happened a week after they received the vaccination. And then beyond that, Shaw's lawyer failed to provide any evidence to support his claim when asked by reporters. And actually, during a court hearing yesterday, you had the judge overseeing the
Starting point is 00:03:20 case noting that the defense has not identified any experts to testify on their behalf. And also during that same hearing, the judge revoked Shaw's bond. Initially, the bond had been set at $2 million, but Shaw's lawyer asked the judge to drop it to $100,000, arguing that she needed to be at home to breastfeed her new baby and wasn't a public safety threat. But state prosecutors, they hit back arguing that her bond should actually be revoked entirely because this is a case where the death penalty, it's possible. And also, because Shaw, she could pose a risk to her newborn baby.
Starting point is 00:03:45 That child is the most at-risk individual as a result of this case. and as a result of the defendant's actions and behavior, and that is the single highest risk factor that the state result in the protect. We do not think she should be allowed to be able to gain where any children, read alone her own children to take care. And ultimately what you saw was the judge agreeing,
Starting point is 00:04:06 ruling that the prosecution had strong evidence and that Shaw should remain in jail as the case plays out. So we're going to have to wait to see how all this developed, especially because you had Shaw's lawyer declining to enter a plea during yesterday's proceedings, claiming that he needed more time to review the prosecution's discovery. But then also today, we should talk about a very different kind of threat
Starting point is 00:04:21 on a much larger scale. And that's that you have tens of millions of people in the path of just crazy smoke from these wildfires in Canada and Minnesota. Because if you didn't know, there are hundreds of fires raging across Ontario and northern Minnesota with dozens still out of control.
Starting point is 00:04:33 Thousands of people have been evacuated with several more towns on standby and one entire community has been wiped out. You've got roads shut down, national parks like boundary waters getting closed to visitors. Minnesota Governor Tim Walls, he declared a peacetime emergency
Starting point is 00:04:44 and mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to respond because the flames are moving so fast. And you can even see how crazy it is. this viral video now of a freight train in Canada being overtaken by the flames. This could potentially overtake us here. This has gotten a little scary. Yeah. Holy shit. Okay, yeah, this is... Okay, y'all need to hurry up here. Like, seriously, we're encased in flames now.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Right, well, understandably, everyone's talking about the fire, the heat and the smoke. I mean, those are also incredibly dangerous. So you've got Environment Canada meteorologist warning about it, especially because the smoke, it can cause shortness of breath, coughing, dizziness or fatigue. That's before even mentioning aggravating heart and lung diseases and other chronic health issues. I mean, you had one study earlier this year finding that the chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires,
Starting point is 00:05:28 it's been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States. And so while you have experts, you know, warning for people to stay inside, keep the windows closed, my synoglass is like, yes, you should do that, but also for as far as the government's involvement, it feels like policy by shrug. Especially for some, because like in much of southwestern Ontario,
Starting point is 00:05:45 they have a heat advisory right now. If you're someone that doesn't have AC, open windows to stay cool. But again, this is not just a Canada problem. These fires are once again sending plumes of smoke hundreds of miles away over the Midwest, the Great Lakes region, and towards the Northeast U.S. Starting in Minnesota, you've got the Twin Cities, along with Alexandria and two harbors getting hit with an air quality alert so to last all the way through Friday. And it's at hazardous levels, which means that it's unsafe for everybody, not just a few people. You then also have the entire state of Michigan under the air quality alert, and the smoke, it just keeps moving east.
Starting point is 00:06:12 You get the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warning about the air quality in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, I mean, it's impacting tens of millions of people through the end of the week. Right, and if you're getting this sense of deja vu, yeah. You might remember that Canada had some extreme wildfires back in 23 that resulted in the sky of New York City turning orange as the smoke moved over the U.S. The air quality reached the most hazardous levels on record. But this time around, if you want to call it a silver lining, you've got the New York City Emergency Management, releasing a statement saying they aren't expecting a repeat of 2023. Though they did still note that New Yorkers, especially those with heart and lung conditions, should be careful. Right,
Starting point is 00:06:42 and actually, thanks to the wildfires in Canada starting later this year, being more contained overall and that the smoke largely staying higher up in the atmosphere, we're likely not going to see a repeat of 2023. Though also in 2026, I would not hold your breath on that, or maybe do with this specific situation. But from there, we should talk about a very different story where Elon Musk could potentially face charges for bribing voters in Wisconsin. Right, because you have the state's bipartisan election commission referring two cases to the
Starting point is 00:07:05 Brown County District Attorney's Office after finding probable cause that Musk broke the law when he gave million dollar checks to voters last year. Right, I know it feels, again, like a million years ago, but it was just last year. There was that major Supreme Court election in Wisconsin. It ended up being the most expensive judicial race in American history with over $100 million spent total from both sides. And 20 million of that alone came from Elon Musk.
Starting point is 00:07:23 And you had him back in conservative Brad Schimel who ended up losing to the liberal candidate. And what specifically gets Musk in hot water is a now deleted tweet from March of 2025 where he wrote, on Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin. Entrance is limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election.
Starting point is 00:07:37 I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars, each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important. Well, I ended up taking that post down. If you look for it, There's actually a tweet that further explains the promise that's still online. With the saying to clarify a previous post,
Starting point is 00:07:50 entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges. I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to two people to be spokesmen for the petition. And reports say that in the end, three voters actually received a million bucks, with some even getting massive checks on stage during a rally. You even had his America pack offering $100 to others who signed this anti-activist judge petition. It was all this very similar move to the playbook that he ran during the 2024 presidential election, which was again incredibly controversial and faced tons of legal challenges. And actually in the Wisconsin case, in addition to all the flack that he got, it included two complaints from voters in Green Bay and Milwaukee.
Starting point is 00:08:20 We've now just learned that the state's election commission voted five to one to send those complaints to the DA, who now has 40 days to decide whether or not he'll move forward with prosecution. Now that said, the DA there is a Republican, so many don't know where this is going to go. But I will say this does come at a crucial time for elections. And actually staying focused on Elon Musk for a minute, after the whole Wisconsin thing where he just threw millions of dollars at this candidate that lost, he actually vowed to cut back on his election spending. But like with a lot of things Elon Musk said, that hasn't really happened. Just today, we learned that he is giving $5 million to back the Vec Ramoswamy's effort to become governor of Ohio.
Starting point is 00:08:51 And actually, according to the New York Times, he's now given $90 million this election cycle. And while Elon Musk, he is a particularly bad actor, if you look at the state of America right now, and I'm not just being cynical, I mean, it's just the state of affairs right now. If you don't see that we've, at least to some degree, turned into an oligarchy, I don't know what would convince you. There was this recent analysis. You can find this for yourself that found that 300 billionaires and their immediate family members they donated over $3 billion in federal elections in 2024, which is nearly 20% of all contributions.
Starting point is 00:09:20 Just to put that into perspective for how like normal people donate, it would take 100,000 typical political donors to equal the average donation of a single billionaire family, which was $10 million. And I know that things have felt broken for a long time, but this specifically, this is pretty new. Five presidential elections ago, billionaire spending was basically non-existent. It was under 1%. And the money, it is enough to actually change the course of elections. It's why you've got people like John Tester who held a Senate seat for three terms until recently losing to a billionaire back candidate saying It's a form of prostitution, quite frankly. It's one of the worst parts of the job and then also like a billionaires buying candidates wasn't concerning enough Right now there's a lot of concern about federal intervention and voter intimidation under the Trump administration
Starting point is 00:09:57 And something that we're gonna have to keep her eyes on is that Trump might be ramping those efforts up this week Because he's delivering a major prime time address on Thursday On Thursday where he's expected to touch on multiple issues and one of them is elections and actually Set an alarm or a remind of her 830 p.m. Thursday night Eastern time we're gonna be live streaming it on the channel reacting, breaking things down, just getting through it all together with you. I mean, I actually also have my wife, Lindsay, join me. She's writing for a state house seat this year. Very likely what Trump's going to be talking about is Georgia.
Starting point is 00:10:22 And that's because you have reports saying that he might revisit conspiracy theories about 2020. And PR adding, Trump has used the power of the primetime presidential address, typically reserved for milestones to deliver politically charged speeches before. But adding Thursday's address seems poised to go even further, using the moment to amplify election lies, but for an audience of millions in an effort to boost Republican prospects before midterms that threatened to hobble Trump for the remainder of his term.
Starting point is 00:10:42 And as far as what he might say, you have an administration official telling Reuters that Trump plans to address newly declassified intelligence on investigations into U.S. elections and voting machine vulnerability. Something that's widely seen as laying the groundwork for him to challenge Republican losses in Congress. And you also have the report saying
Starting point is 00:10:56 that he's going to focus on Georgia's 20-20 Senate race specifically. And even though he had a Trump advisor also pushing back on that Georgia claim specifically, there's already a ton of backlash to this speech even prior to it being delivered. And so you've got the likes of Senator John Alsiff saying, Donald Trump's spiral continues. The failed president,
Starting point is 00:11:09 as he drives up prices is afraid to lose the midterms. So he will reheat debunked election conspiracy theories and tell bizarre new lies to deny his 2020 defeat and attack voting rights. But also, you know, the unfortunate thing is that we live in a country where Trump's lies, they're just facts to people. At least some people. Polling, I mean, just a month ago, I found that 50% of Republicans still believe that the 2020 election was rigged. And now 72% of them believe his more recent unsupported claims of fraud in California's primaries. And on top of that, in recent days, he's fired members of the bipartisan election assistance commission, is federal agencies threatening to withhold funds
Starting point is 00:11:40 if states do not change how they conduct elections and the list just goes on and on. So you know, be prepped for it, because honestly, whether it's Trump or a literal rat being pushed into a corner, you don't know what's gonna happen next. Whatever it is, it will very likely be messy. And then there's more we're gonna dive into for you in just a minute,
Starting point is 00:11:55 but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, Josh V, you're gonna be going to see Bill Murray and all you had to do was enter our weekly $500 Seek giveaway. Because today's sponsor, Seekkeek, they've told out nearly $60,000, do beautiful bastards to get you off the couch and into the comedy club, the stadium, or concert hall since 2024, and it's been really awesome to watch. And it will always be wild to me that there are still some who haven't signed up.
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Starting point is 00:12:58 situation because you had Trump's nominee for Attorney General at his confirmation hearing today, and it was something special. How long do you intend to put up with that Cash Patel character? Are you good with his airplane jaunts? Are you confident he's not drinking on the job? Are you sure none of his travel is a pretext for vacation activities like snorkeling Olympics and visiting girlfriends?
Starting point is 00:13:18 Are you sure he knows what he's doing? Do you vouch for him? Are you willing to look at whether he lied to this committee? That's an extraordinarily obnoxious question. In Blanche, actually, he's been acting Attorney General since Pam Bondi got the boot back in April, which honestly, for some reason feels like three years ago. But actually, the day before this hearing,
Starting point is 00:13:35 the New York Times publishing just this trove of justice. the department emails that gave some insight into Blanche's role at the DOJ. And you had it showing that he actually wrestled control over the so-called weaponization working group away from its former head, Ed Martin. Right, and that's the task force that, among other things, investigated the prosecutions of Jan 6 rioters and Biden's use of an auto pet. And also, reportedly Blanche's deputies were responsible for probing stuff like an FBI memo that targeted a conservative Catholic group in Richmond, prosecutions of anti-abortion activists
Starting point is 00:13:59 and federal scrutiny of conservative school board members. Actually, one really interesting one, is that one team led by one of Blanche's aides reportedly focused on a single person, Tina Peters, that's a Colorado elections official that was convicted, imprisoned, and later release for election-related crimes. So basically, at Blanche's office, appearing to be directly involved in many of the most high-profile efforts to rectify Trump's personal and political grievances. So when you had this hearing start today, one of the biggest issues was about the DOJ's independence from White House pressure.
Starting point is 00:14:21 And actually, when he was asked whether he considers Donald Trump his friend, Blanche led out this awkward little Freudian slip. I'm his lawyer. Was his lawyer. Right, and that's just one of the many reasons a lot of people have an issue with him, but also even his intentional comments didn't give more reason for confidence. Is the Department of Justice that you're running independent from the White House? The Department of Justice, like every single department in the executive, is part of the executive.
Starting point is 00:14:45 I mean, Article 2 of the Constitution gives the power of the executive to President Trump. So we certainly operate with integrity. We certainly operate in the single mindset to serve the American people and do the right thing. But I am a member, if confirmed, I will be a member of the cabinet. And then also when Blanche was given specific questions, about what he would do for the president, he still gave these very dodgy, ambiguous answers. Will you commit to following clear federal law and not deploying federal agents to polling locations? I will commit to following the law center, of course.
Starting point is 00:15:18 Does that include not deploying federal agents to polling places? I will absolutely follow the law no matter what it includes, so yes. Also, another point of contention that you had was the infamous anti-weaponization fund, which stemmed from Trump suing his own IRS for failing to protect his tax returns from getting leaked years ago with the agency then settling. Was this very weird in what many considered corrupt I'm suing myself situation. And as part of that settlement, Trump, his family, and his businesses,
Starting point is 00:15:42 they're shielded from any IRS audits or past tax returns. And then on top of that, you had the DOJ creating a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund that critics really just called a slush fund for Trump's allies. And those allies included Jan 6 defendants. So you then also had a judge the other day ruling that both sides of the IRS case colluded to get this outcome, sanctioning Trump's lawyers, and suggesting that Blanche should be disciplined as well. And for his part, Blanche in this hearing, he said,
Starting point is 00:16:03 hey, that fund is dead, it's done, it's not moving forward. Basically, just forget about it. But then when Senator John Cornyn, he pointed out that, hey, the settlement's still on the table, regardless of whether the DOJ is acting on it right now, he seemed to admit that it could come back to life. Is the settlement agreement enforceable as a contract by the parties? Well, yes, it's an enforceable document. So I suppose if President Trump's counsel sought to enforce it, they potentially could. They could potentially say that, I suppose,
Starting point is 00:16:33 that we breached by not moving forward. They haven't done that, and I'm not aware that they're planning on doing that. But even if we were litigating it, there's no fund. So the results of such litigation, whatever it would be, wouldn't be a revival of the fund. Also a big thing with that is that fund connects to a larger question about Blanche's attitude towards January 6th. Because you have this guy.
Starting point is 00:16:53 He keeps insisting, hey, the rule of law is the most important thing. But then you had Democrats hitting back with the obvious retort. Well, what about the rioters? How many people were convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers? officers on January 6th? I believe around 120 approximately, but I could be off a few more. You are. The answer is more than 200, and how many of those individuals had their sentences commuted or were pardoned by President Trump?
Starting point is 00:17:22 President Trump either commuted or pardoned every defendant from the January 6 events. So you saw multiple times being asked as Trump's top lawyer, how in the world can you defend this? answer, kind of more or less was, I don't. I have never said that any sort of violence against law enforcement is appropriate. I talk about what President Trump did. He adds the absolute right to pardon anybody for any reason he sees fit. And every one of them got pardoned or commuted. I am not celebrating that.
Starting point is 00:17:51 It is a fact. And if that feels like wishy-washy bullshit to you, you definitely aren't alone because Senator Chris Coon, he hit him with his own quote from an interview that he gave during CPEC. If you look at what happened to the men and women. convicted because of January 6th. By 5 p.m. on January 20th, every one of them was either pardoned or had their sentence commuted, okay?
Starting point is 00:18:10 So when folks say you've done nothing, I say you have a very short memory. And so yeah, as Coons pointed out, that sure as fuck sounded like celebrating the pardons, but Blanche, yet I'm just doubling down. I wasn't celebrating it. I was merely stating a fact, which is that the January 6 defendants did receive a very generous pardon or commutation from President Trump. But then also another topic that Blanche kind of kept stumbling over was, of course, the Epstein files. Because he also had 10 victims actually showing up to the hearing,
Starting point is 00:18:43 and they sat there the whole time staring Blanche right in the face. You had were Democrats repeatedly pressing him on his department's bungling of the files, the way it redacted tons of embarrassing information and didn't redact some of the victim's names. And Blanche, he apologized, though, I will let you judge how sincere it was. Any mistake that was made is not appropriate. And so, yes, I am sorry that And about 1% of the documents mistakes were made. But what I will say on top of that is we put tons of resources to rectifying those mistakes immediately.
Starting point is 00:19:13 But even as you had him admitting in the passive voice that mistakes were made, he also pretended like Trump did not spend the better part of a year, desperately flailing to keep the files from getting released. In Blanche's retelling of history, Trump's DOJ, they wanted just so badly to release the files because it's the most transparent DOJ ever. They were just barred by law from releasing them. And we can actually thank Trump for signing the law that made them public. Even though now several of the Republicans that pushed to make those files getting released possible
Starting point is 00:19:39 are no longer going to be in Congress because they became personal enemies of Donald Trump. And even now, after the files are out, you have Blanche still not committing to personally meeting with the victims who were present and hearing their stories. Chairman, I appreciate them being here today. I also have somebody from my office who's spent her entire career working on cases like Mr. Epstein. She's available to talk to them. Will you meet with these 10 survivors? If they are represented by council, we will work with their counsel. If they don't have a lawyer, I will certainly make arrangements to make sure the right people at the Department of Justice meet with them.
Starting point is 00:20:11 Absolutely. I'm not allowed to meet with them directly, as you know. But then later, you had Blanche seeming to contradict himself. I never said I can't meet with them. I said if they were represented, I had to meet through counsel. But of course, I can meet with them. I'm the acting attorney general of the United States, so yes, I can. But then also, you know, today was not just about Blanche.
Starting point is 00:20:30 Because you also had Jay Clayton having his confirmation hearing, and he's yet another Trump nominee who refused to admit that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. And that becomes especially concerning because the office that he might soon lead is responsible for, among many other important duties, identifying and countering foreign influence and interference in U.S. elections. Because Clayton is Trump's pick to replace Tulsi Gabbard as director as director who announced a resignation back in May. And when Trump, he actually first named Bill Pulte, a loyalist who has no national security experience and has launched mortgage fraud investigations against Trump's enemies, as head of the federal housing finance agency, his acting director, that immediately, He immediately sparked pushback and Trump announced that his permanent pick for the role would be Clayton. And as far as some of Clayton's background after making millions of dollars, working as a Wall Street attorney, he served his head of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the first Trump administration. He's also now serving as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Starting point is 00:21:14 And ultimately, he wasn't really seen as all that controversial of a figure, at least by the standards we kind of come to expect under Trump. Because while like Polity, Clayton doesn't actually have any experience serving in any intelligence agency in any capacity. Not to mention a few days before winning Trump's nomination, he publicly questioned the integrity of American elections. We're doing an absolutely terrible job, and the American people are right to question it. But still, despite the very obvious concerns, you had some lawmakers kind of eager to keep Pulte away from taking over entirely. In fact, so much so, they moved to suspend Senate rules to hold Clayton's confirmation hearing and secure a vote as quickly as possible. But then you had Trump abruptly delaying the confirmation proceedings, ordering Clayton not to appear at the initial hearing in an effort to force Congress to pass a Act, or which is that voter ID bill that rights groups say would disenfranchise millions of Americans who don't have access to have passports or can't easily access their birth certificates.
Starting point is 00:21:59 Not to mention that it's kind of a big bailed effort to essentially kill mail-in voting. And that move led to Democrats pulling their support for a bill reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is another controversial program allowing intelligence agencies to carry out mass warrantless surveillance under certain conditions. So that delay, it also cleared the way for Pultzzi to take over as acting director. And just in his short time in that role, he already fired some intelligence officials, while also working on the declassification and potential release of documents related to election security or interference. With that, tomorrow night, he's expected to appear alongside Trump for that televised or drive. we talked about earlier, where he's expected to make claims about election fraud, possibly focused
Starting point is 00:22:33 around voting machines. And so now you've got Democrats, some of whom, you know, they may have been willing to accept Clayton, wondering, is he going to be any different than Palti? Especially since just last week, he also authorized subpoenas for a group of New York Times reporters who reported on security issues relating to the new version of Air Force One that was gifted to Trump by the Qatari government. So what you had were a number of Democratic senators pouncing on that today, with Ron Wyden of Oregon, for example, asking Clayton, who directed him to issue those subpoenas? But Clayton, he mostly sidestepped the question, saying that he, them in connection with an ongoing national security investigation and added,
Starting point is 00:23:03 I'm absolutely committed to and respect our First Amendment and the role of the press. Right, but the election issue, like it really came to dominate the hearing as Clayton time and time again danced around, you know, just one simple question. You deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Then Clayton notably added, We have substantial work to do, and I've made it in improving our electoral processes. It's part of national security, and I feel strongly about that. an answer that ended up not inspiring a lot of confidence. And so then you had Angus King and
Starting point is 00:23:33 independent from Maine really laying into Clay. Who won the 2020 election? I've answered that question. I'm not going to get into to that. You have not answered that question. Could you answer the question? Who won the 2020 election? Pretty simple question. I'm just asking a really simple question. Who won the 2020 election? As I said to you, we went through our processes and Joe Biden became the president of the United States. I'm here to talk about my qualifications One of your qualifications is you told us you're going to tell the truth to power, and you won't answer a very simple question. I think I've answered it many times.
Starting point is 00:24:07 You have not answered it. Right. And with all that, probably I would say the closest he came to answering was with Arizona Senator Mark Kelly when he acknowledged it Biden had the most electoral votes. But still, he just wouldn't say Biden won. And so you had Kelly arguing at this show that Clayton, he doesn't have what it takes for this job. You're going to be in a room with him many times. And at times, you should have a difference of opinion. And if you can't disagree with him when he's not in the room, are you gonna be able to disagree with him
Starting point is 00:24:37 when you're sitting across from him in the Oval Office or the Situation Room? And then finally, John Osop going through the motions as well, Grilling Clayton about the 2020 election and slamming him for his response. And so with all this, if next week all eight Democrats oppose his nomination, then he's gonna need unanimous support
Starting point is 00:24:54 from the panel's nine Republicans, and then there's gonna be a full vote in the Senate. But of course, in the meantime, you still have acting director Bill Pulte already hard at work, exploit in the office to do Trump's bidding. And that speech tomorrow, it's going to be something we have to keep our eyes on because it's not just possibly Trump being a sore loser again. If he does hit on this, if the reporting is true, this is laying the groundwork to challenge
Starting point is 00:25:12 any future results that he does not like. And Clayton, he said very little to suggest that he would actually stand in the way. And then there's even more that we've got to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, the older I get, the more I realize a great night, it's not worth sacrificing the next day. And with my crashing out tour about to kick off where I'm going to get to see all beautiful faces and you should definitely buy tickets if you haven't already. I've got a lot of mornings where I need to be at 100%. And that's why today's sponsor, Zbiotics, pre-alcohol and probiotic,
Starting point is 00:25:37 it's earned a permanent spot in my travel bag. Zbiotics pre-alcohol probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. And how it works is that when you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. And it's a buildup of this byproduct, not just dehydration, that's to blame for rough days after drinking. And pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to break that byproduct down. So just remember to make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow. And I've personally already started packing these for the tour, because I'd rather enjoy the show, hang out afterward, and still wake up, ready for the next city.
Starting point is 00:26:06 And for you, with July bringing barbecues, lake, weekends, fireworks, and nights out with friends, it's an easy thing to keep on hands. So keep the good times rolling into the next day by making pre-alcohol your first drink of the night. Just head to Zbiotics.com slash DeFranco and use code DeFranco for 15% off your first order. Or, hey, just scan that QR code to get started. And then for your final block on today's show, we've got more news you need to know, starting with the fact that for the first time in over 15 years, you have Senate Democrats completely derailing a must-pass defense bill. This is that massive $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization
Starting point is 00:26:35 Act, which normally passes every single year with massive bipartisan support. It funds the military, it gives the troops a pay raise. It's kind of the ultimate golden goose. But this time, you had every single Democrat voting no, and it really boils down to two reasons. They obviously hate America. No, one, you've got the ongoing war with Iran, and two, because of a highly controversial provision that would explicitly mandate much closer unprecedented defense and military integration between the United States and Israel. While some they were painting it as the uniting of two militaries, which definitely isn't the case It could coordinate researching and integrating defense technology between the two all of which for many is still a bridge too far Considering how controversial Israel's action in Gaza and Lebanon have been
Starting point is 00:27:11 Actions at a time had been called genocide by many experts and also I mean it's all been so bad U.S support like just the population of Israel or is the Israeli government Horrible now only 12% of 18 to 29 year olds that lean left support the Israeli government and even for young Republicans, it's 28%. And also this vote? It just happened a day after the White House notified Congress that the temporary ceasefire collapsed and US airstrikes alongside Israel had officially resumed.
Starting point is 00:27:36 A move that arguably reset the 60-day war powers clock, though also it made Democrats furious and they argued that Trump, he's just bypassing Congress entirely. You even had Chuck Schumer blasting the bill saying that the NDAA cannot become a permission slip for what he called recklessness in Iran. You'd people like veteran Senator Tammy Duckworth warning that throwing more money at an unauthorized operation
Starting point is 00:27:53 is just a recipe for a forever war. You also had Republican Majority Leader John Thune hidden Democrats, accusing them of putting partisan politics over national security and leaving troops out dry during an active crisis. But this also is a crisis that is entirely self-inflicted by Trump, so does it really count as a crisis? Isn't it Trump and his lackeys who are enabling all this, pushing this forward that are responsible for any of the negative effects? And actually, why not? Maybe it's just one of those days. I'm gonna go a step further. We should stop funding Israel entirely. I know that's not what this bill is about. And actually, I've got an unlikely ally with this proposal. Benjamin Netanyahu himself. Because while he seemingly is not gonna do that a clavicular get pumped stream. After Lindsey Graham died, Netanyahu, he went on Fox News to share a story where he
Starting point is 00:28:29 essentially said, we don't need America's money. The last conversation I had with him, I said, Lindsay, we've come of age. We have a robust economy. We can take care of our own, financing our own weapons for the defense of Israel and defense of our common interests with America. So I'm going to phase out the support, the military support for Israel over. a period of years and bring it down to zero. We can do it. And he went ballistic. He said, no way, you can't do that because he was so concerned with our security, which he believed was your security, that he actually fought the prime minister of Israel on keeping America's aid or actually increasing it. You know what? That entirely believable story about a thing that
Starting point is 00:29:20 definitely happened, it made me think, yeah, we shouldn't fund Israel anymore. They don't even want the money. It's actually rude, disrespectful to give it to them. Yeah, just throwing that out there. And then your final piece of news today is that you've got two men who have been shot dead. One was killed by a semi-truck and ice. They're at the center of all of it. Right yesterday, you had four men who were in a car in St. Augustine, Florida, when they reportedly encountered a team of ICE. Right now, we're not sure if the agents were pursuing them or if there was really any interaction there. But you had DHS just saying that they were conducting an operation when it all happened. Whatever the case, all four men, they ended up getting out of the car,
Starting point is 00:29:50 running away. And that is when one of them reportedly ran across a road and got hit by a tractor trailer. And while the Florida Highway Patrol said the driver immediately stopped, they tried to help them in. He died at the scene. So now there's this open investigation, and this comes right after the shootings we saw at traffic stops in Texas and Maine here recently. Where neither of the men who were killed were even ICE's intended targets. Any of those sparking protests in both states. And so then with all that, yesterday you had Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen actually sending out a directive for ICE to put a hold on any non-urgent traffic stops. It's a temporary pause. Look, the last couple of shootings, ICE leadership along with DHS believes they want to look at these
Starting point is 00:30:23 last a couple of incidents and look, is there something that could have been done better? Or it's simply, I was doing a job and bad things happen when people don't comply with law enforcement officers. So I think it's gonna be a short pause. But then, all of a sudden, first thing in the morning you have Trump posting, we cannot give up one of ICE's most important
Starting point is 00:30:42 and effective crime fighting tools, the traffic stop. Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands. The radical left Democrats would like to see this done, but it won't happen on my watch. And right now, there are reports saying that the White House did confirm that he's officially overturning the directive. And you had DHS also announcing that every ice team has to have at least one agent with a body cam when they carry out their operations.
Starting point is 00:31:01 So the way that they framed this was that this is especially needed because the media and sanctuary politicians consistently spread smears about our law enforcement. Well for many that framing is bullshit, also for a lot of people as long as they actually implement the body cam rules sooner than later That is some progress. So in the meantime you have more families grieving and with all the immigration chaos I mean you have leaders like New York mayors Orr and Mumdani speaking out this week week saying, ice is killing our neighbors. They cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE. But then, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Wednesday show, but you've got more you can dive into or get filled in by because there's two more videos. One is an extra bit of news that didn't fit into the show just because of the timing of the edit. And the other is, of course, my Wednesday
Starting point is 00:31:40 crashing out podcast. It's a great one. I think you'll love it. And we're almost at 100,000 subscribers, so thank you. But hey, whatever you do, my name's been Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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