The Philip DeFranco Show - The Trump Epstein Files Situation is So Bad

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

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Hey, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news. It is Monday, February 2nd. I hope you having a good one. There's a lot. We've got to dive into today. But first, an announcement. Your first beautiful bastard drop at 2026 just went live and I listen to you. A lot of you said that you wanted pieces I felt kind of more rooted in everything that we're experiencing right now. So that's exactly what we did. You get nine new pieces across T's and long-sleeved Cruz, police state of America. Honesty before loyalty, because that's really what we need more of. Stay rooted, resist. America in distress. Truth is a lone. Road, better a weed than a trained rose, and more and more and more, including if you just

want to say I'm about to fucking lose my sanity. All now available for you at Beautifulbatch.com, top links in the description and comments, but that's said, we have so much we've got to break down today, starting with this. Trump's DOJ is exposing victims, protecting the perpetrators, possibly including Donald Trump himself, and still failing to meet its legal obligation to release all of the Epstein files. That's what you have so many people saying right now after the department has released another three and a half million pages of documents, along with 2,000 videos, and 180,000. thousand images more than one month after the December 19th deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. While Trump officials claim that they have now fully complied with the law,

survivors, lawmakers, and watchdog groups say that they're withholding roughly half of the records being held by the government. Right, and that it's not even the only way that the law may have been broken. The Epstein Files Transparency Act tasks the government with releasing the files, but also with protecting the victims, right, which was also one of the DOJ's original excuses for refusing to release the files even as survivors called for their release. And when the department published this new batch of files on Friday, they claimed that more than 500 attorneys and reviewers had contributed to this effort. But those files, when they were released, they contained the full names of dozens of victims, as well as nearly 40 unredacted nude images of young women and possibly teenagers. Those photos appearing to be part of a personal photo collection,

some seeming to have been taken on Epstein's private island, and the bodies and faces of people in them, they were fully visible. And then as far as the names, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, several women's full names appeared more than a hundred times in the files, including more than two dozen who were minors when they were abused.

You also have some files hiding someone's name but then a duplicate file is somewhere else making the name public. And some, they had personally identifying details such as bank information and home addresses posted without redactions as well. Right. And overall, you had lawyers representing more than 200 victims saying that they reported thousands of redaction failures on behalf of nearly 100 individual survivors whose lives have been turned upside down by the DOJ's latest release. Right. And they actually had to ask federal judges to order the immediate take down of the Justice Department's entire Epstein files website, writing a letter saying the DOJ committed what may be the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one

day in United States history and saying it is no longer ethical, moral, or responsible to attempt to remedy these violations through DOJ's torturously tedious game, saying this was never a complex undertaking. DOJ has possessed the names of victims that it promised to redact for months. There is no conceivable degree of institutional incompetence sufficient to explain the scale, consistency, and persistence of the failures that occurred. Now, with all that, it does seem that many, if not most of these mistakes have been corrected. Of course, you know, that's not all that reassuring to those whose privacy has already been so flagrantly violated, especially when the department did in fact take a lot of time to heavily redact many of the files. I mean, there's even one image where a redaction box appears over the face of Donald

Trump, even though it just seems to be a shot of him giving a public speech, which then, of course, makes a lot of people wonder who the Trump DOJ is really trying to protect here. There, you had deputy attorney General Todd Blanche, otherwise known as Trump's former personal defense lawyer saying, we did not protect President Trump, we didn't protect or not protect anybody. I mean, I think that we, that there's a hunger or a thirst for information that I I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. Lance also appeared both confused and angry when a reporter asked if the public might learn the identities of men who abused young women with the help of Epstein.

Is the public going to learn about men that abused these girls? Like, what does that mean? If we had information, we meeting the Department of Justice, about men who abused women, we would, we would prosecute them. There's this built-in assumption that somehow there's this hidden trance of information of men that we know about, that we're covering up or that we're not, we're choosing not to prosecute, that is not the case. I don't know whether there are men out there that abuse these women. Right, in the area of many saying that that's an insane thing for him to say.

Right, because as much as we don't know exactly who and to what extent others were involved in Epstein's abuse, there is ample reason to believe that there are others who need to face consequences, either for being directly involved in abuse or having knowledge of it and doing nothing. You know, one of the biggest questions for many is whether President Donald J. Trump is one of them. Especially as you had the New York Times identifying more than 5,300 files containing over 38,000 references to Trump, Melania, Mar-a-Lago Club, and other related words and phrases. Right, a big jump from the previously released Epstein files that included only 130 files with Trump-related references. Now, that said, some of the new files are copies of emails and other records at the DOJ or the House Oversight Committee released late last year.

And then many of the others are just news articles and other publicly available materials that landed on Epstein's inbox. And notably, none of these files included any direct communication between Trump and Epstein. As far as what's new, you did have one file showing that a man who worked for Epstein told investigators that Trump, along with high-profile figures, including the former Prince Andrew and Robert Kennedy had visited Epstein's home. Also, another contains handwritten notes from an interview conducted back in 2019 about one month after Epstein died in a cell. And they say that a victim whose name's been redacted remembers being driven to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump, and that Epstein said to Trump at the time, this is a good one, huh? Then you have another file showing that Epstein emailed a private investigator in 2001,

suggesting that he had plans to call Trump to talk about Virginia Joufrey. Orwood Jufray being one of Epstein's most well-known victims with her dying from suicide last year, and she said that she had been lured into Epstein's web when she worked at Mar-a-Lago. There are then also multiple documents, including allegations that Trump raped a child in these new files, but many of these are based on unverified tips received by the FBI. And so some outlets are actually not publishing those at all due to doubts about their credibility. But with all that, you have many arguing that, no, we do need to show them, we do need to talk about them because they concern the president of the United States.

We're saying that, you know, this is a man who had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, He's been found civilly liable for sexual abuse. And you know, you can hear him on tape talking about you just grab women by the pussy because you're famous. Right, and that is some of these allegations, mirror ones made by a Jane Doe in a lawsuit that was filed against Trump back in 2016.

And there it was alleged that he and Epstein raped this girl when she was 13 years old, although he denied the claims and the suit was later dropped. And this includes one complaint made by phone in July 2016, which seems to have been made by the same lawyer who represented the Jane Doe. Then there's another document which now appears

to have been taken down, which includes a complaint summary from an FBI tip claiming that her female friend was forced to perform oral sex on President Trump approximately 35 years ago saying she was approximately 13 to 14 years old when this occurred and the friend allegedly bit President Trump while performing oral sex. In quote, the friend was allegedly hit in the face after she laughed about biting him. The friend said she was also abused by Epstein. File also says that the investigators quote spoke with caller who identified redacted his friend, adding

quote, lead was sent to Washington office to conduct interview. But it's unclear what if anything came from this. Also another tip summarized in the same now deleted file claim that Trump held quote calendar girl parties at Marlago where Epstein would bring in children and Trump would auction them off. The claiming that guests included Elon Musk, Trump's eldest children, and Alan Dershowitz. The document also references Bill Clinton, alleging that he attended Epstein parties and that he, Trump, and others appear in videos of what they call criminal activity. But unlike some of the others, no contact information was provided for this tip, and there's no

evidence, timeline, or other verification attached. But that, of course, it hasn't stopped them from going viral online, and it's even attracted the attention of politicians, with, for example, Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego writing, there needs to be a thorough investigation of each and every one of these claims. And that said, in Trump's defense, who had the Trump DOJ releasing a statement saying, some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election, adding, to be clear, that claims are unfounded and false,

and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already. But with that statement, hitting a lot of people kind of odd, for a number of reasons, including it sounds like literally Donald Trump's own personal defense in the past. But then also, of course, besides Trump, there are lots of other rich and powerful people who come up in these files, some also in connection to direct allegations of sexual abuse. And so for example, there are documents describing claims against convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein. One slide deck appearing to be an FBI presentation

of Jeffrey Epstein investigations describing an allegation that Epstein, quote, told her to give Weinstein a massage during which Weinstein told her to take off her shirt and saying that when she refused, Weinstein threatened to, quote, get women to come force her to. That same slide includes allegations that Epstein told an accuser to give Wall Street billionaire Leon Black a massage while Black was naked and that Black made another female perform oral sex. It also mentioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, although it didn't accuse him of sexual abuse. Instead, it described how one source reported that Lutnik made his money through Ponzi schemes and money laundering. Where with Lutnik also coming up elsewhere in the files with emails appearing to show Commerce Secretary Lutnik and his wife accepting

an invitation to Epstein's Island in December of 2012 and they planned to arrive by yacht with their children. And very notably, that is several years after Lutnik previously said that he had broke contact with Epstein. Email is also appear to show that Elon Musk has lied about his past dealings with Epstein. Right, Mosk has famously claimed that Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I refused. But one file that appears to show that he emailed with Epstein to try and plan a visit to Epstein's island in late 2013 and early 2014, asking one email, what day slash night will be the wildest party on your island? So with that, I'll say it isn't clear if the island visits actually took place. And as far as Moske, he's continued to defend himself,

claiming Epstein hounded him relentlessly to go to his petto island. So for many you have them saying that his denials, they continue to sound like an admission that he knew that something fucked up was actually happening there. But then also as far as other big names, we've got to mention Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates. Or there's one new email in which Epstein suggests that he helped Gates get drugs to, quote, deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls and that he helped facilitate illicit trists with married women. Also another name worth noting is Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner. He hasn't been the busiest since he was accused of sexual assault, though he did just direct the newly released Melania documentary. But in the new files, it includes a series of

photos of Epstein's New York townhouse with Ratner, setting with Epstein and a woman who's been redacted, as well as a modeling agent who was associated with Epstein and who also died by apparent suicide in 2022 in prison, waiting trial and sex trafficking charges. Also others who came up in the files with some apparent ties to Epstein or billionaire, Richard Branson, Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, New York Giants co-owner, Steve Tisch, chairman of the 28 L.A. Olympics, Casey Wasserman, and former White House counsel under Barack Obama, Catherine Rumler. And actually, on the subject of Democrats, you had Bill Clinton's name appearing in the new files several times, mostly communications between his staff and Galane Maxwell about travel and

dining plans in the early 2000s before Epstein was convicted in 2008. And all of that as, you know, the Clintons, they've denied any wrongdoing and they've also refused to comply with subpoenas from the House Oversight Committee, meaning that there will be a vote soon to hold them in contempt. Also, you're seeing things like right-wing outlets like Fox News trying to link Zoron Mamdani to Epstein, sharing what's been described as a resurfaced photo linking him to an Epstein-connected publicist. Or with the image showing Mumdani at a luncheon for the movie Get Out, hosted by Petty Siegel, a Hollywood publicist who's already faced backlash for her relationship with Epstein. But anyway, you know, in the photo is also Mumdani's mother, filmmaker Mira Nair.

And as Fox News and other right-wing outlets have noted, she is in the files. Right in a 2009 email, Seagal wrote to Epstein about an after party at Galane Maxwell's townhouse that Nair attended for a film that she had directed. But that appears to be the extent of any connection so far, though you've also had fake AI-generated images going around online, claiming to show Mumdani as a child with his mother, Epstein and others, even as there are those who do actually have very well-established links to Epstein. And so outside of the United States, one of the most well-known associates of Epstein, is the UK's former Prince Andrew, whose title was stripped because of all this,

and he also appears in this new batch of the files at least several hundred times. And that includes in the form of these kinds of disturbing photos of him kneeling over a woman on the floor and placing his hand on her stomach. The files also show that his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, emailed Epstein for his advice just two months after she told London's evening standard newspaper that she would have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again. And so actually, with all that, you've now had British Prime Minister Kier Starrmer and several other officials calling on Andrew to testify before Congress. And this is you also have a guy named Lord Peter Mandelson already announcing his resignation from Starmor's party after the new file suggested he was paid $75,000 by Epstein in the early 2000s.

Meanwhile abroad, you're seeing a top official in Slovakia resigning his position after photos and emails revealed that he had met with Epstein in the years after Epstein was released from jail. Also, the Crown Princess of Norway has now had to publicly apologize for keeping ties with Epstein. And ultimately, the fallout from this, it's been global and the extent of Epstein's connections, it seems to just keep growing. But of course, you know, some of the questions that still remain is which of these connections knew or were involved and will they ever face real consequences? So that's a question I'll say that Trump's DOJ no longer appears interested in. Or with Blanche continuing to just push back on this idea that there is anything more to be found out. There's a lot of correspondence. There's a lot of emails. There's a lot of photographs. There's a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or were people around him.

but that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody. But with this, you have Democrats slamming the Trump DOJ for still keeping around half of the files locked away, and with that, you had Representative Robert Garcia adding, this is outrageous and incredibly concerned, saying they are in violation of the law. We are demanding the names of Epstein co-conspirators and the men and pedophiles who abused women and girls.

Also other lawmakers have been concerned by Trump's repeated mentions and said, what we've seen is sickening with serious allegations involving the president himself. If this is what they're willing to release, Imagine what they're still hiding. Our investigation is just getting started. And then you also had Bro Kana announcing that he and his Republican colleague, Thomas Massey, requested to meet with the DOJ to learn more about the heavy redactions and see portions of the files without these blackouts.

And he would Kana also threatening Pambandi with impeachment. But it is not good enough. If we don't get the remaining files, if we do not get the remaining 302 forms, the remaining prosecution memo from 2019, and if the survivors are not happy, then Thomas Massey and I are prepared to move on impeachment. or contempt. You know, words or words, actions or actions and we're going to have to wait to see what happens from here. Are there some real consequences? Do we get more? Will the day ever actually come where it feels like those in power actually want to hold people accountable?

You know, with all these recent developments, everything that you've seen and heard, what are your thoughts here? 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, there is a very specific adult panic that happens when you realize the only person responsible for your health care is you. And that's why today's sponsor Zoc Doc has become one of the most useful apps on my phone. Right, Zocdoc is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality in-network doctors. So you can find someone you love. I'm talking primary care, dentist, dermatologist, therapist, eye doctors, over 200 specialties all in one place.

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to ZockDoc.com.com slash fill to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's Zocdocs dot dot dot dot. Dot dot. This message is sponsored by ZockDoc doc. But then jumping back into the news, we need to talk about who murdered Alex Prattie. Because you had ProPublica revealing their identities as 43-year-old Border Patrol agent, Jesus Ochoa, who goes by Jesse, and 35-year-old Customs and Border Protection Officer Ramundo Gutierrez. These photos that apparently show their faces been spreading like wildfire, though, ProPublica itself only reported their name, so we're still waiting on official confirmation

that these are really them. Both men are from South Texas, and neither are actually new hires, right? Gutierrez joined back in 2014, and Ochoa joined in 2018. With Gutierrez reportedly working on a special response team, which conducts high-risk operations like those of police SWAT units. And as for what we know about Ochoa, his ex-wife said that he graduated from the University of Texas, Pan American with a degree in criminal justice and had for years dreamed of working for the Border Patrol. With their adding, by the time that they had split apart in 2021, he had become a gun enthusiast with about 25 rifles, pistols, and shotguns.

Now, in response to this, you had Trump's DHS, accusing ProPublica of doxing its officers and putting their lives and their families' lives in serious danger. View at the outlet, countering that concealing the identities of mass law enforcement agents is highly unusual, if not illegal, prevents them from being held accountable for their actions. And to have critics the agency saying, hey, let's make these people famous. Their names are Jesus, Sochoa, Remundo Gutierrez, and Jonathan Ross, right, the one who shot Renee and Good.

And the resistance, they're not lent up. We saw protests in dozens of cities over the weekend, including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland. You also have federal judges pushing back, ordering the feds to release unlawfully detained immigrants, or at the very least, give them a bond hearing in countless cases. And that actually brings us to a very positive update in the case of Liam Ramos, right, the five-year-old boy allegedly used as bait by federal agents

to lure his family out of their home. And that's because on Saturday you had a court ordering ICE to release him from the Texas detention facility where he's been holed up with his father for weeks reportedly getting very, very sick. And you saw the next day ICE actually complying, releasing both a boy and his father who were then personally escorted back to Minneapolis by Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro. Though also, that's not to say that Liam's family is in the clear, right? You had Deputy AG Todd Blanche actually suggesting quite the opposite on ABC. The immigration law, the body of immigration law, is much different than our typical criminal process because of the administrative nature of, of what we do every day. And so to the extent that we need to appeal

that judge's decision, I promise we will. But also with the situation, Liam, he's just one kid, right? His school district, while celebrating his release, noted that there are still four more of his fellow students stuck at the same detention facility. In fact, you were the Marshall Project saying back in December that at least 3,800 kids under the age of 18,

including 20 infants, had been booked since Trump took office. You were the director of the Immigrants Rights Clinic at Columbia writing in an op-ed for the New York Times. The children at Dilley, with whom I've worked over the past year, range in age from two to 16 years old. A two-year-old boy was breastfeeding in detention. One six-year-old boy at leukemia, an eight-year-old girl began wetting the bed. A 14-year-old girl engaged in self-harm. And doubting all of these children and their parents were detained despite being eligible for release. ICE has the authority to release these families who are not

flight risks on parole and while seeking asylum and other humanitarian protections in the United States. None of these children or their parents had a criminal history anywhere in the world. And that's numerous reports have detailed the facility's awful conditions, dirty water, worms, and food, inadequate medical care, a lack of meaningful educational services, lights kept on 24 hours a day, guards threatening to separate families. In fact, it's just been reported that two people there have active measles cases with DHS and quarantining anyone suspected of having contact with them and barring all movement within the facility. And with all this, you had Senator Chris Murphy responding. This is the facility I was denied entry to a week ago, even though I'm the top

Democrat on the committee that funds DHS and I gave them plenty of notice. I told you they were hiding something. They were. Meanwhile, you're also seeing a ton of scrutiny in another ice facility in Baltimore. With immigrant advocates long claiming that detainees had little to no contact with loved ones or their lawyers, little access to food and water, and they were denied access to medication. Now, a video has been circulating that reportedly shows a severely overcrowded holding room with some people on the floor. Then, Maryland Representative April McLean Delaney, managing to get inside to see for herself, and this is what she described. It was a not a large room, not much bigger than the room that we are currently in, with probably 50 people, concrete floors, a bench around the perimeter. and a makeshift kind of bathroom in the middle that had minimal privacy.

It's really only meant to hold people for 12 hours. And it is being used to hold people for 24, 48, 72 hours or longer. Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, at least 32 people have died in ICE custody since Trump took office, which is even more than Biden's entire four-year term. Rather than trying to tamp things down, you have Trump ramping them up. With DHS, you know, they're just looking to use all that big, beautiful bill money. And so as of December, ICE was reportedly planning to buy industrial warehouses in 23 towns and convert them into detention facilities that would hold some 80,000 people at a time. Now, since then, they faced political resistance and public boycotts with warehouse sales in Oklahoma and Virginia falling apart after the owners backed out of the deals.

But warehouses are not, Trump's determined to bring the Minnesota model to other states, right, with several hundred federal immigration agents arriving in Maine last week to arrest Somali immigrants. And that has then led to many hunkering down inside their homes, avoiding work, school, and stores and fear of being snatched up off the street. by mass men and buried off to Texas or some other state. Also, according to ICE, they've arrested some 200 people, some of whom are reportedly just asylum seekers with no criminal history. And then, after barely a week, you had Republican Senator Susan Collins, announcing that DHS Secretary Christine Noem had told her that the surge of ice activity in Maine had ended.

Though saying that so-called normal operations would continue so it's unclear how safe immigrants there actually are. And then even if ICE has left Maine, it looks like they're just going to be moving to Ohio next. Because according to MS now, that Trump administration is eyeing Springfield. And yes, that's Springfield. They're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. Right last year, Christy Noem revoked temporary protected status for over 330,000 Haitians nationwide, setting

the expiration date for midnight tomorrow. In Springfield, it's home to an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians. So they're reacting the same way that Maine Somalis are with a local pastor telling 10 TV. They're making preparations to stay inside, not to come out of their homes. They are afraid for their children. Just yesterday, I had some Haitians in our church, give me power of attorney in case they become separated from the children so we can take care of them. And over the weekend, you had historian Timothy Snyder sounding the alarm, writing on a

substact. So all appearances, and according to local sources, the city is two or three days away from a federal ethnic cleansing, rounded in a hate campaign organized by the vice president and American Nazis. And then you had him describing the playbook here, writing. Mental chaos has been created where there was none before, and then that mental chaos becomes the justification for physical chaos, Trump's large deportations, ice raids that will, in fact, wreck in improving local economy.

And then adding, once that physical chaos has been created, it will be blamed on the immigrants who are no longer there. At that point, so to speak, the lie is supposed to become true. You even have Ohio's Republican governor, Mike DeWine, coming to the defense of his Haitian residents saying, these people are working and they are hard workers. So I think from a public policy point of view, it is a mistake. It is not in the best interest of Ohio for these individuals who are working and who are workers to lose their status. Having said that, this is not my decision. This is a decision for the federal government for the president of the United States.

But they're also not totally helpless against Trump's onslau because any day now, Now a district judge is expected to rule on whether Nome's revocation of TPS for the Haitians was legal. Plus, you're seeing Democrats in Congress trying, but struggling to rein ice in using what... The scorebed app here with trusted stats and real-time sports news. Yeah, hey, who should I take in the Boston game? Well, statistically speaking. Nah, no more statistically speaking. I want hot takes. I want knee-jerk reactions. That's not really what I do.

Is that because you don't have any knees? Or... Ah. The score bet. Trusted sports content, seamless sports betting, download today. 19 plus, Ontario only. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to conixontario.ca. A little leverage they have. Or with their fight to limit ICE's sweeping power, now officially causing a partial government shutdown. A shutdown that you saw start Friday at midnight after Democrats refused to vote for a broader funding bill, which included over $64 billion for DHS and less there were reforms

for ICE. Because while a group of bipartisan lawmakers had announced they had reached a deal, and while seven Democrats vowed to vote against a bill that funded ICE in the wake of the Renate good killing, the measure ultimately passed the Republican-controlled House. But then, two days later, you had Alex Pretti being shot and killed, and that prompted massive outrage in Washington. And Senate Democrats, they demanded that Republicans separate the DHS funding from the larger package so that they can negotiate their demands for ICE while funding other key parts of the government. And also, I'll say, you know, for some quick context here, usually the way that spending bills work is that lawmakers will write a bunch of smaller appropriations bills that will fund different

departments, and then they'll kind of smush those bills together and they'll pass them in larger packages. And in fact, six of the 12 smaller appropriations bills have already been signed into law, ensuring that the shutdown would only be partial. And on Friday, you had the Senate approving a deal backed by Trump that would pass five of the remaining appropriations bills to fund huge chunks of the government. But instead of approving new dollars for DHS, the measure just extended its current funding levels for two weeks so that lawmakers could negotiate ice reforms. And while the bill successfully passed in the Senate 71 to 29, the House lawmakers, they already left Washington. And so they were unable to vote, and because of that, it triggered the current partial shutdown. The Walsall say, even though

it's partial, the package it's being held up, it funds enormous chunks of the government. In fact, departments that are impacted here, they make up a majority of discharacterial. discretionary funding and include some of the largest federal agencies. In addition to DHS, the funding that's been put on hold includes over $838 billion in defense spending as well as money for the departments of labor, education, health and human services, transportation, and state. But as far as, you know, what's going to happen next, you had House Speaker Mike Johnson telling reporters yesterday that the House will aim to pass a Senate bill when lawmakers return and Johnson expressing optimism that the lower chamber is going to be able to end the shutdown at least by Tuesday. But also, that could prove to be an uphill battle because you have many House dams opposing the short-term extension passed by the Senate with some saying they just

don't think Trump and Republicans will negotiate in good faith or agree to bold enough changes to ice. Because among other things, you have Democrats wanting to enact provisions that would bar agents from wearing masks, require body cameras, ban random sweeps and searches without warrants, and prevent kids from being taken from their families. But also beyond that, some Democrats just don't want to vote for any bill that includes any money for DHS, even just an extension of current funding levels. And so in order to pass this bill, Johnson's going to likely need a near unanimous vote from his razor-thin majority. And you know, that could also be hard because many Republicans, including Johnson himself have said that they oppose placing new restrictions on ICE or other immigration

enforcement concessions. But then also, even if Johnson is able to get enough votes to pass this measure, there's no guarantee that Democrats and Republicans are going to be able to come to any kind of agreement on ICE reforms and funding in the short extension window. Because if the spill, it does go through while the other agencies would get the necessary funding, lawmakers would only have until February 13th to reach some kind of deal for the future of DHS. And if they can't reach an agreement, DHS could shut down starting on February 14th, though I'll say put an asterisk on that. Because notably here, while other key parts of the department would be shuttered, like, for example, FEMA, ICE would still be able to continue operating because of Trump's big, beautiful bill, allocating $75 billion to the agency.

But then also, let's say there is a world where Democrats and Republicans, they come to an agreement and they go, okay, these are the concessions we're going to do. You would then also have to count on Donald Trump to go, yeah, I'm fine with those concessions on what I've essentially been using as my private army. And actually, on the note of Donald Trump himself, we should talk about him accepting what some are calling an obvious bribe from a foreign government just days before his inauguration. Because you're seeing the Wall Street Journal just uncovering a half a billion dollar deal between an Abu Dhabi Prince and the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture. And the specific prints that we're talking about is the Sheikh Tanun, Zayed, Al-Nayan, or the spy sheik.

This guy is the brother of the United Arab Emirates president, the government's national security advisor, as well as the leader of the UAE's largest wealth fund. He oversees an empire valued it more than a trillion dollars, making him one of the most powerful single investors in the world. And for a while now, he's been pushing the US to allow the UAE to access tightly guarded AI chips. And under the Biden administration, he was shot down time and time again. The UAE was only allowed a limited number of chips over concerns that those chips could find their way to China. And in fact, a major area of concern was one of Tanoon's own companies, the AI firm G-42, and its close ties to sanction Chinese tech giants. And those concerns, they lingered despite the companies saying that they severed ties with China a couple of years ago.

Especially considering that the UAE and other companies under the spy sheikh's umbrella hadn't yet done the same. But anyway, right, this door was firmly closed for the UAE under Biden. But then, when Trump won the election, that door opened again, and Tanoon immediately jumped on it. Ready held several meetings with Trump and other U.S. officials in the months following the election. That then led to a meeting last March at the White House with Tanoon reportedly telling U.S. officials that he was very excited to work with the United States on AI as well as a number of other issues. And then you flash forward two months after that meeting and that Trump administration committed to giving the UAE access to around half a million of the most advanced AI chips per year. We're making Tanoon's vision of one of the world's largest AI data center clusters significantly more attainable.

And you had supporters of this deal calling it the key to opening the floodgates of investment into the United States and helping elevate American technology to the global standard. But that is you had many others calling us a major coup by the ruling family saying they hurtled over longstanding U.S. national security concerns and positioned themselves to compete with the most powerful economies in the world. And so already you had red flags waving. But then the Wall Street Journal took it a step further and they made this whole thing just stink of tried and true corruption. Because what hadn't been previously reported is that months before the chip deal was made in the days leading up to Trump's second and non-examination. the spy sheikh's emissary signed a half a billion dollar deal with a trump family crypto venture. And see what a crypto company called world liberty financial and a to noon-backed investment firm named ariam investment one purchasing a 49% stake in it. And the quarter of a billion dollars

that ariam paid up front was reportedly split three different ways and the biggest chunk of it or in 187 million dollars to be specific it's slated to flow into trump family entity. And so you can see how this revelation it starts to cause some concern. Also along with the money the purchase gave Ariam two seats on the world liberty board. And the reason that's worth mention, is because those same two executives on the World Liberty border also on the board of a Tanoon-backed investment firm named MGX. Right, and that firm would later go on to use World Liberty's stable coin to complete a two billion dollar investment in Binance. And that deal it made World Liberty one of the world's largest issuers of stable coins and

reportedly set them up to generate tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue. Now that said, Team Trump, they were very quick to jump in saying that there is no conflict of interest for anyone involved here. And you would a spokesman for World Liberty saying that Trump has not been involved in World Liberties and is taking on office and that this deal doesn't grant anyone any sort of access to government decision-making or influence over policy. The White House saying President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public, saying there are no conflicts of interest. But those assurances, they haven't stopped experts from raising the alarm. And so you're seeing people like Kathleen Clark, a law professor and

former ethics lawyer saying that even just the deal between world liberty and Ariam, that could violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution. With Clark saying that the clause is intended to make sure that no U.S. government official is, quote, in the pocket of a foreign government. And then added, This short looks like a violation to the Foreign Emoluments Clause, and more to the point, it looks like a bribe. But they're then going on to say that this, quote, should be a five-alarm fire about the federal government being for sale. And that is you had a former top White House attorney adding, my advice as an ethics lawyer, would have been clear. You don't do business deals with the families of the leaders of foreign countries. It taints American foreign policy.

You then also had prominent Democrats speaking out against this, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who said that the Trump family and their business partners, quote, sold out American national security in order to benefit the president's crypto company. added, this is corruption, plain and simple. Congress needs to grow a spine and put a stop to Trump's crypto corruption. But that, of course, seems very unlikely with the current makeup of Congress and the relationship between Trump and the UAE, it doesn't appear like it's going to be slowing down anytime soon. Right. I mean, we just saw MGX become one of the handful of investors selected to operate TikTok in the United States. Right. And we know that members of the Trump administration were back in Abu Dhabi just a couple of months ago to discuss Gaza and Trump's plan for his so-called

Board of Peace. But then, next step from that today, it's completely unrelated, but I think it's amazing. We need to talk about how Markiplier's independent horror film could change Hollywood. Because if you don't know, Markiplier, he's a huge YouTuber, he's kind of one of the OGs. And his new movie, Iron Lung, which is based on a video game, just released over the weekend, and it made around $18 million domestically, putting it in second place behind Sam Ramey's send health. And this is absolutely huge, right? Because he did this himself. There's no studio, no distributor behind the film. He pulled this off alone. And in fact, initially, Iron Lung wasn't even going to get a very wide release, but based on fan demand, it wound up

on 4,000 screens. Markiplier just told fans, hey, call your local theaters, requests they play it, it would be great, and that turned into a massive campaign and eventually a massive release. With Mark later explaining, they just went to town on it. That's what makes me tear up. They leapt at an opportunity to help me,

and that's what I'll never forget. That's why I'll always swear by YouTube and internet content creation as a platform. I don't care about making a profit on the things that I do for this. I'm able to afford to take these chances that a lot of people aren't able to take. I was perfectly content if it never got past 50 theaters,

which for an independent release is not bad. If it went to 100, I thought maybe I could get it to 200. I'd be happy with that. And then obviously, it ended up playing in many, many more theaters. And actually, for a second there, Iron Long even seemed like it was going to come in at the top spot because at the Friday box office, he led on that day with a $9 million home. But then, I'll say, it ended up getting weird, right?

His stats became temporarily harder to track as some box office charts just stopped listing his film, with Markiplier even saying on Instagram. So this Saturday, right? I swear I was on this list, but Iron Long isn't here anymore. There's no numbers for Iron Loll. They took me off the chart. And I thought, hey, maybe that's a fluke. Maybe there's something wrong, but you're Sunday, wake up this morning, which reports

the day before his numbers, I'm just, I'm gone. I'm not even, I'm not even above Hamlet. Why'd you take me off the chart? I don't feel like I deserve to be on the chart. And so that actually turned into a lot of backlash and conversation from people who thought, you know, an independent creator was being snubbed and iced out by the mainstream. But also you had Forbes saying that it was likely that it was maybe some sort of glitch. Or because Iron Lung is now back on the charts and on box office mojo, which is the most used chart, it apparently never left in the first place.

And last night, while it seemed like it was a neck and neck race for the weekend top spot between the two films, he really tried to push people to keep the momentum on. Sam Ramey chasing me up my own ass. It's the final hour. So if you've got some free time tonight and you want to see Iron Lung, tonight would be the night to make it count. And then Disney won't have have the number one movie for the 10th week in a row. You know, in the end, Sennelpe beat Ireland and both domestic and international sales, which Markiplier said, you know, he kind of knew it was coming.

I milked it a lot. I said it. It was very funny. I knew the Sam Ramey's movie was going to pass me eventually by the end of the weekend. But still, you know, for tons of reasons, you could argue that Markiplier is still the bigger success story here. I mean, for one, Mark didn't have 20th century studios behind him. Also, too, when you bring in the international sales, he made nearly $22 million on a $3 million

budget, which is just crazy. And so far, it looks like the fans are loving it, right? It has an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. And while some have compared that to its 50% critic score, you've had people including Mr. Beast himself noting the sample size is too small and why I think the popcorn score is a better metric if you're trying to see if something is worth watching, in my opinion, which I'll say, you know, for what it's worth it, it isn't unusual for smaller films to have a more limited pool of critic reviews for a tomato score. Though I will say with this pop a success, we should expect more reviews for Iron Long to start rolling in that aren't listed on Rotten Tomatoes right now. Right now, because this movie is being seen as such a success

story, you have outlets like Forbes saying, this may represent a future of filmmaking where more creators dabble in the space and drag their fan bases along with them. You also have Mark, hoping that it serves as a push for indie filmmaking in general, that it shows that there is an audience for it, and even critics adding, hoping that Iron Long is the final nail in the coffin of that whole young people don't want to go to the movies, Mishigas. If anything, it proves that next-gen gen audiences would rather think of YouTube as a pipeline for movie theaters than a potential replacement for them. But then, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is where you Monday, Philip DeFranes. Franco Show dive into the news is going to end.

So one, remember, grab what you want while you can over a beautiful bastard.com. We got a fantastic new drop, nine new designs. And two, I'll see you right back here tomorrow for another daily dive into the news.