The Philip DeFranco Show - The Truth Behind the Jelly Roll Drama

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

Go to https://MeUndies.com/philipdefranco and enter promo code philipdefranco for 50% off your first order + free shipping. SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL10 use my code PHIL10 for 10% off tickets and to be entered in the weekly $500 giveaway - 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 - Woman Pushed to Death in Rope Jumping Accident  02:50 - Candace Owens Calls Out Kash Patel’s Travel Schedule Prior to Charlie Kirk’s Death  06:24 - The Jelly Roll & Bunnie Xo Divorce Scandal Explained 12:06 - Sponsored by MeUndies 13:15 - Markwayne Mullin Accused of Pushing Addictive “Gas Station Heroin” Drug Kratom 18:06 - After Declaring Iran War Over, Trump Switches Focus to Ukraine  22:32 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 23:31 - 8 Killed in B-52 Bomber Crash at Edwards Air Force Base in California  24:41 - FBI Says it Thwarted a Multi-Phase Attack at White House UFC Event  26:08 - Gavin Newsom Says the DOJ Is Investigating Him and His Wife  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   ———————————— #DeFranco #JellyRoll #CandaceOwens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. This messy, nasty jelly roll situation is exposed so much, but people also can't seem to agree on what. Candace Owens' FBI scandal is people going crazy. You've got new disturbing details getting revealed about the woman thrown off a bridge without a safety cord. And while you've got the Kratum controversy, getting bigger and bigger. We're talking about all of that and even more. On today's brand new, Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news.

So buckle up. Hit that like button, and let's just jump into it, starting with this. A 21-year-old woman plunged 130 feet to her death after instructors failed to actually attach her to a rope-jumping court before throwing her off of a bridge. Right, and this woman was Maria Eduardo Rodriguez De Freitas, a student, an aspiring physical education teacher who had traveled with her fiance who had abandoned bridge that's famous for extreme sports. And according to reports, she purchased a guided tour from a private company that included a rope jump, which notably is different from bungee jumping. Right, bungee jumping uses elastic rubber cords for a bouncing effect,

whereas, you know, rope jumping uses climbing ropes that create horizontal pendulum-like swings after the initial drop. Or at least that's what's supposed to happen because in footage has now gone viral, you see three men lifting Rodriguez-Zefretas above their heads before a long, her airplane style over the bridge. I'm not gonna show the full video because it's just so incredibly disturbing, but in the footage, you can see that the rope is lying on the ground and clearly not connected to her.

Though it does appear that it might be attached to one of the instructors. It sounds like you can hear someone yell, guise the cord as witnesses realized that this wasn't attached to it. Now, initially, you saw reports saying that a police helicopter had been called to respond, but Rodriguez de Freta, she was declared dead at the scene. But now we're saying that a nurse who is at the scene claims that Rodriguez de Freitas was still alive when she reached her,

saying, I even talked to her. I have a habit of joking and saying, nobody dies on my shift, and I told her, and I told her, nobody dies on my shift, even though I wasn't on my shift there. And as far as who's responsible, what happens next? According to government officials, six people were brought in for questioning, and three people were arrested on charges of homicide with implied malice. Though you also had some outlaws reporting that two of the suspects initially tried to flee

before being ultimately tracked down by a helicopter. And officials have also reportedly initiated an investigation that could lead to murder charges. With that, you had defense attorneys for the defendant arguing that they were very experienced in telling a Brazilian outlet that this was the first fatality that they've had in years of operation. However, a local delegate also told that same paper that the instructor weren't even supposed to be there in the first place. Saying it was a team there that wasn't regulated. They didn't even have authorization to be there.

They ended up organizing this event. And adding that he believed that this death happened due to failure to verify and supervise the placement of the rope on the victim's jump. And since the names of the three instructors have been released, we saw people circulating social media videos posted by one of the men where he could be seen doing incredibly questionable stunts. Right, seemingly off of that same bridge, I mean, in one video from 2023 that's got particular attention,

you can see him rope jumping off the bridge while holding a small child and safety gear who clings to his neck. But also, it doesn't stop there because we're now seeing reports that the local city council is filing a complaint against the Brazilian federal government. But with the mayor is saying the bridge, it's been a problem for a while, arguing it's necessary to determine a responsibility for the lack of access controls with federal area that has presented known risks for years and still lacks the necessary protection measures. And ultimately, that's where we are with just this insane, seemingly very avoidable tragedy. And we're going to have to wait to see how the various cases, the investigations and complaints play out. And then actually, speaking of investigations, Candice Owens has found a new angle in her investigation for the truth behind Charlie Kirk's death. And you've got her search for the man behind the curtain landing on FBI director Cash Patel.

Because we've talked about Candice's previous coverage and theories related to Charlie's assassination. For a while, she suspected France to be involved, and she even accused Charlie's own organization, Turning Point USA, of betraying him to his death. Now it seems like she has her sights on the FBI and Cash Patel. And at the center of all this is a Freedom of Information Act request. If you're not familiar since 1967, the Freedom of Information Act has allowed the public to request access to records from any federal agency. Those agencies are required to disclose any information requested under the FOIA, unless if you're It falls under a few exceptions like personal privacy or national security.

Well, Candace, she files her request for Cash Patel's travel itinerary on the days surrounding Charlie's assassination. With her train of thought here, starting with what she says is an FBI plane flying from Virginia to Salt Lake City, Utah, just a couple of days before Charlie was killed. It's just interesting. That's all. Could be nothing. But it leaves Richmond, Virginia at 9.50 a.m. It gets into Salt Lake at 12 p.m. And then it departs Salt Lake just an hour later.

Really quick trip. Doesn't mean Cash Retel was on the flight. We got Candice saying this is just her pulling threads. doing basic journalism, asking questions. And doubting that her Freedom of Information Act requests included information about things like official calendars, travel itineraries, flight records, reimbursement records, visitor logs, and emails or memoranda

about scheduling or coordinating official travel. Then Kenna says that that got shot down, and she posted on Twitter saying that her team was told, quote, the burden of the request is too great. And then within a matter of hours, the FBI rapid response page hit back and accused her of just making shit up, saying, please show us on the document sent to you

acknowledging your Freedom of Information Act request where we said the burden of the request is too great. were quote, show, just like the fake news media, will be called out when you lie. We hope this helps. And with that, they shared what they said was their response to Candace that read that a request included unusual circumstances

and would take more than 20 days to respond to. With them also appearing to offer the option of reducing the scope of a request, which would accelerate the process and potentially get her answers quicker. And it was actually that chunk there that Candace seemed to fixate on. New Candace hitting back saying,

when you wrote back to us suggesting that we reduce the scope of our request while referring to our request for a mere three day itinerary as substantive, we appropriately paraphrased on for fellow X-U's that our request was too burdensome. Glad to see you are actually capable of responding rapidly to smear people that won't let go of Charlie Kirk's death.

And this idea that she's one of the only people who will not let this go, I mean, it's something that she's brought up again and again on her show. So for example, you had her reading off Charlie Kirk's show producer Blake Neff's response to her initial tweet. Here's what Blik Neff wrote, crashing out. Here we can see the latest thing that Candace will fix it on for the next two weeks as all important,

the key to blowing the case wide open so that she has an excuse to harass more people. Of course, when she gets bored or successfully extract, whatever thing she is looking for, which of course would be a total nothing burger, she'll move on to dismissing it as irrelevant or just stop talking about it entirely and move on to her next fixation. This will continue until people stop falling for it. I'm like the queen of not moving on, Blake. In fact, you guys usually call me obsessed. Obsessed people don't let things go.

And I also want to say, Blake, you're right. I am obsessed with who killed Charlie Kirk. Why aren't you? Then going back to the FBI Rapid Response page, they hit Candace, again, accusing her of lying for clickbait. And that's where things then also got spicy. Or with Candice saying, do you have nothing better to do than be a nitpicking little bitch in front of the world? Are you not embarrassed that other countries can read this account? Do you have a better way to spend our tax dollars and behaving like a boomer who doesn't understand that X is meant to be pithy? Is clickbait a legitimate Department of Justice concern? Who is running this account?

Can we freedom of information act that? So, you know, just a part of the official government and a commentator beef it in public. For now, we'll see where this goes. You had Candice promising on yesterday's video that she's going to keep going, keep filing and keep pushing until she gets to the bottom of this, whatever that means to her. And then actually, on the note of trying to get to the bottom of a very messy situation, let's talk about the Jelly Roll situation. Because on the surface, it's not a story they would naturally gravitate to, though, surprisingly, it was one of the most requested ones over on the text line, which, by the way, you can text

is 813-213-4-24-2. But it's kind of exploded and devolved, and it's centering around Jelly Roll and his wife, Bunny X-O, getting a divorce. And if you don't know one or either of these two, don't worry, we'll get there along the way. Jelly Roll, he's a country singer who's basically built his entire career about being brutally open with his struggles, with addiction and recovery, as well as his very vocal Christian.

And all of that is something that his fans have genuinely connected with. And while he married Bunny in 2016 before his music career really took off, just kind of like the rest of his life, it has been very, very messy. He's had kids from previous relationships and according to TMZ. One of those kids was born right before he and Bunny got married. People have also focused on Bunny's past, right? She used to be a sex worker until she left the industry in 2023. So notably years after they got married.

And then on top of that, Jolly Roll is openly admitted to cheating on her in the past. One of the worst moments of my adulthood was when I had an affair on my wife. because it was the first time that I was like, I really can't get this right at all. And I did a lot of work to repair that relationship. You know what I mean? Like the repair has been special, man. We're stronger than we could have ever been.

There's also a time's been a lot of focus on them because they've had issues trying to have kids together. A few months back, money opened up about her IVF struggle, saying that it was one of the hardest experiences of her life. And also earlier this year, a comedian accused Jellarroll of threatening to kill her over a public feud she was having with his friend and Bunny. And here comes Jellyroll with a group of armed thugs.

I mean like straight out of a movie looking armed thugs with him came right up to me. He pushed me with his stomach, spit in my face. He said he's going to shoot me in the f***ing face for what I did to his friend. I better leave Nashville. I'm not safe there. I'm toxic. He knows what I did. There, police have so far declined to investigate it and people like Candace Owens have worked to discredit her. So there's been a lot going on. They've been together a long time. There have been ups and downs. Also, you're jelly roll going through this major weight loss journey and it seemed like Bunny was incredibly supportive of. of them there. And in fact, when Jelly Roll won a Grammy earlier, the theory, he thanked her for

helping him get his life together. I want to thank my beautiful wife. I would have never changed my life without you. I'd ended up dead or in jail. I'd have killed myself if it wasn't for you and Jesus. So all of that, it gives you some background and it points to how it's really contributed to the public responses regarding their divorce. Right, because as far as what we know, jelly was the one to file back in May, though you had reports saying that it was a mutual decision based on a private family matter. And so people, they have not been shy about trying to fill in those blanks. And so now in part, there's this online conversation playing out

saying that Jellyroll, he left his wife after getting famous and turned in his health around. What's happening here, man? This why you can't let, you can't let motherfucker get skinny. Because this is what happens, man. This is exactly what happens. Others writing, he cheated on her multiple times, or in the relationship, and she forgave him every time and defended him publicly. She's also helped him raise his two kids from previous relationships and treat them as her own. She supported him throughout his entire career and helped him get healthy again, too. Now, he's the one leaving her. Ladies, this is why you need to stop forgiving bum-ass men who don't deserve you. And it's the oldest story in the book. A woman builds a man from the

mud bears his scars and repairs the betrayals. Then the glow up happens, the ring comes off and the narrative changes. Success doesn't change people. It just unmasks what they wanted to do all along. But also there, when it comes to the cheating, it's some pointing to how Bunny previously defended her choice to stay with him. Writing actually takes a stronger woman to face pain, head on, do the work and rebuild with a man she loves instead of running or gossiping. Saying growth isn't weakness, it's grace, but not everyone's built for that kind of strength. But then also with this, you got some cheering Bunny on amid the divorce news, because even though she hasn't spoken about the split, right before it was announced, she posted a photo of herself

and lingerie saying she was getting her sparkle back. So many have seen that as her kind of talking about self-empowerment now that she's not with Jelly Roll. And then also because Jelly Roll is so well known for his religion, you have people bringing that up amid the divorce. Because if there was one person that he thanked more than his wife at the Grammys, it was Jesus. Jesus is for everybody.

Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by no music label. Jesus is Jesus and anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you, Lord. And that was something that you saw kind of rubbing some people the wrong way, some people seeing it as him being MAGA or at least MAGA adjacent. Though that definitely isn't where it ends right back in 2024. He met Trump at a UFC event.

So he had many seeing that as him supporting the president, especially since it was right after the election. You have jelly roll saying he's not political and he would have met any president that was in the room, no matter the party. But then also in 2024, before show in South Dakota, he was seen embracing Christy Gnome. And really, whenever he gets pushed on his politics,

he kind of tries to refuse to say anything, he tries to remain apolitical. But also in this day and age, you have a lot of people saying, if you're trying to be apolitical at this crazy time, it's pretty obvious where you stand. And that's something that's not limited to Jellarroll. I mean, Nate Bargazzi over the last 24 hours,

he's been taking a lot of hits. Right, people saying, how are you apolitical when you're sitting behind the president of the United States outside of the White House at his UFC event? But back to Jellyroll, with him, he was already primed for outrage, especially because of his infidelity, because, as many have noted, this is not an isolated incident. Right, noting that especially over the past few years, there's been outrage stemming from celebrity cheating scandals. And in fact, actually, the New Yorker just did a piece exploring why infidelity elicited

such outrage. Right, noting that after Barry Keogan and Sabrina Carpenter broke up, he and his family dealt with insane, harassment as people speculated that he cheating with the outlet saying celebrities have been chastised less for running people over and that writer claiming that our outrage often has to do with a moral superiority complex that exists especially online arguing perhaps railing in the comments of an alleged philanderer feels good enough for us to believe it and acts a tiny justice and you had dazed running a similar story adding many people genuinely believe that

they are morally superior to these individuals whose relationships they know nothing about yet cast heavy judgment upon they think they are doing the victims i.e. those being cheated on a favor and so at least right now it seems like a lot of different people have a lot of different takeaways from this news. Right? Some saying, you know, the outrage around jelly roll divorcing Bunny, even after he was the one who cheated and after he lost weight and got famous, it kind of follows that same path. And then there's a bunch of different other takeaways all the way to men ain't shit, never going to be shit. And so actually, that's why with this story, I would love to know your thoughts.

Let me see what's in your head in those comments down below. And then there's more that we got to dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know you are officially an adult when a genuinely good pair of underwear can improve your entire day. Like suddenly, you're walking different, standing tall or emotionally stable. It's weird. But it's also why today's sponsor, Mey Undies, caught my attention. You all know that I've been wearing these for years, and I can honestly say they are so ridiculously soft and actually comfortable all day.

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And if you don't love it, you get your money back at meundies. com slash Philip DeFranco. promo code Philip DeFranco. Then jumping right back into the news, my apologies in advance, but we do have to talk a bit about the dumpster fire that is American politics.

Because Trump's new DHS secretary, the one who replaced Christine Noam, Mark Wayne Mullen, it turns out that he contains multitudes. Not only does he have a reputation for these weird insecurities around masculinity and violence. You want to do it now? I'd love to do it right now. Well, stain your butt up then.

You stand your butt up. Oh, hold on. Oh, stop it. Is that your solution every poll. He is also one of the government's biggest defenders of a substance by the name of Kradah. We've talked about it on the show before. It comes from leaves. from this tree in Southeast Asia, it interacts with your brain's opioid receptors, and it's said to

relieve pain, boost energy, and help you focus. However, it's also been linked to liver toxicity, seizures, addiction, and so critics say that it is dangerous, while also supporters argue that it is safe and small doses and has beneficial effects. Right, one of the big things is that it took off in the 2010s at the peak of the opioid epidemic, being sold in corner stores, gas stations, you know, vape shops, tablets, drinks, and gummies. The industry getting a big boost toward the end of the decade from one consumer with one of the largest platforms on Earth. Can you guess, who I am talking about. It felt kind of good. It didn't feel bad. It felt a little, a little uneasy, like a little like, whoa, the world feels a little weird right now. I'm on it right now.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I just took some. Took six of them. See what happens. Wow. Took 10 once. Have people died from this? Yes. I mean, look, water kills people. Now, we can't speak to the number of people who have died drinking too much water, but at least according to the CDC, over 5,200 overdose victims had created them in their system between 2020 and 24. And while it is true that they often had other drugs in their system as well, one study found that people using creatum were six times more likely to die from an overdose. But generally, it's legal, hence why some have called it gas station heroin, and hence why several states have restricted or simply banned it in recent years.

But one of the things that we've seen is that the Trump administration has been very friendly toward the industry, and now we're also getting a clearer picture as to maybe why. Because according to the New York Times, Mark Wayne Mullen, has much as a million dollars invested in a creative company called Botanic Tonics. And Botanic Tonics' founder, Jerry Ross, he is an interesting personality. He used to be a fossil fuel company executive in Oklahoma, right? The state that Mullen represented in the Senate. In fact, he did three years in prison for diverting $10 million from his company.

But what's relevant for this story is that he drank a lot. Like, it was so bad that he got charged for drunk driving three times in the 2000. And so he says that when he got out of prison, he tried all sorts of drugs, legal and illegal to try to satiate that addiction, but nothing worked. Nothing that is except for Kratum, which he then started selling as a drink called Feel Free in 2020. And well, then a few years later, you had a class action lawsuit alleging that Ross's company targeted recovering alcoholics just like himself, with ads casting Feel Free as a safe substitute for the bottle. But even though it's seen as highly addictive, and last year, Botanic Tonics settled.

They agreed to pay nearly $9 million but labels on Feel Free, warning that Cratum can become habit-forming and cause serious adverse health effects. But their troubles also weren't over because FDA inspectors had paid a visit to their warehouse and they did not like what they saw. So the DOJ went to court to seize 250,000 bottles of Feel Free and other Kratum supplements. That's largely where things stood as 2025 rolled around, but in the new Trump administration, Ross spotted an opportunity. and one specifically in RFK Jr., with Ross donating nearly $162,000 to Kennedy's campaign.

And then using both RFK and Mark Wayne Mullen, Ross would make a very sneaky argument in defense of his products. Right, his argument is that cratum is that Kratum is dangerous, but not his cratum, saying his cratum is natural as opposed to the stuff that his competitors sell, which is synthetic and basically gas station heroin. And you know what? That's not entirely wrong. Right, in 2023, a synthetic version of Kratum appeared that's more potent than the naturally occurring substance. It's called 70H. And so Ross's strategy is to aggressively attack this particular kind of cratim, thereby wiping out the competition while also presenting his products is the real thing.

And last year, the FDA held a press conference where both RFK and Mullen endorsed a proposal to federally ban synthetic Kratum. It's an addiction that's truly killing people because it leads them down a road that sometimes they'll never recover from. And according to the Times, Mullen also urged health officials to remove language from the FDA website warning of Kratum's harms and it eventually was taken down. And in the meantime, RFK reportedly asked Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeW to back down from a plan to ban all Kratum products.

Instead, encouraging and just ban 7-0-H. And actually at first, he listened, canceling the plan, but then later DeWine's office announced that it was moving ahead anyway. Though then also in December, the Trump DOJ dropped its entire lawsuit against Botanic Tonics. Then, probably completely unrelated. Just a couple of months later, Ross donated over $440,000 to the Republican National Committee. With then, according to some, in exchange for that money, Ross getting a private meeting with J.D. Vance, ahead of a fundraising dinner, during which he pitched the Vice President on the virtues of natural credum and the dangers of 708. Again, probably completely unrelated, botanic tonics donating a million dollars to the Make America Healthy again

pack, right, accounting for nearly half of the funds raised by the committee between the beginning of last year and the end of April. But also I have to say, you know, while Botanic Tonic is very notable, especially for its ties to Mullen, it is far from the only Kratum company that's been kissing ass to this administration. Right, others have definitely thrown around cash

and hired lobbyists to make their case to federal officials as well. And apparently, they've been successful enough that were to Kratem's supposed benefits. It made its way all the way to the ear of the president. Or because Trump paused during a briefing about maternal health care last month to give this random aside.

We're looking very serious to that natural 70H and getting that approved, natural 70H. But then also, whatever Trump's view is on Kratom, it's not his only opinion that may have life or death consequences. Because the ink's not even dry on his Iran deal, but he is already turning his attention back to Russia's war in Ukraine. Which you might have forgot is the one that he promised on the campaign trail to end

within 24 hours to take an office. But also at the same time, he says that the U.S. has nothing to do with a war that is thousands of miles away. And as far as Ukraine and its allies, they're in a bind. On one hand, after months in which the war there has been overshadowed by the U.S. And Israeli war against Iran, you know, they want to keep Trump's attention. The U.S. is a game changer. They want Trump to make ending their war priority.

But then on the other hand, based on the way that he handled the situation when it was a priority, they're worried that he's just gonna sideline them with negotiations, deal with Russia on his own, and ultimately pressure Ukraine into making a bad deal. That's why you'd one of you,

diplomat, telling Politico, having Trump be distracted was not necessarily a bad thing. That may be especially true because the Iran war, besides distracting Trump, became yet another point of friction between the US and many European countries. But he's clashed with leaders of the UK, France, German, and Italy over his failure

to consult them before launching the Iran war and their decision not to participate. Trump threatening at one point or another to pull American troops from those countries, at least partly because of their lack of support. And just this last Sunday, the same day that he announced the Iran deal, he quickly gave them reason to be concerned

about his approach to Ukraine. Right, because in addition to talking to Zelensky, he spoke at length with Vladimir Putin over the phone, reportedly telling the Russian president that he's ready to help end the war in Ukraine. And then aid to Putin later said that Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner would soon be traveling to Moscow for talks. And then also, the next day, notably ahead of the gathering

of the G7 and France, Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine's biggest cities. Right, killing at least 11 people and setting fire to one of the holiest cathedrals in the Eastern Orthodox Church. And then today, his talks continued, Ukrainian drones targeted an oil refinery in Moscow, roughly 10 miles from the Kremlin. You had Zelensky, who's at the G7 summit, claiming in a statement,

this is just a response to Russian strikes and prolonging the war by the Kremlin. But also with all that, right? Realistically, despite the concerns about what Trump might do, the United States may be the only one with the wait to actually bring Putin back to the negotiating table. And there are also signs so far that he might be willing to take a back seat without pulling back entirely. So for instance, he said that the U.S. would likely reimpose sanctions on Russian oil shipments that were eased to help lower oil prices after the Iran war began. Slensky also said that he had spoken with Trump privately, emphasizing Ukraine's need for air defense missiles capable of countering Russian ballistic missiles.

And you had Trump saying after the meeting that Russia is the one who should make a deal. With Trump also claiming at the summit that Iran will soon be back in the rearview mirror and that he is now going to do whatever he can to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and dadding. Now that this is finished, we are going to be focusing on that and see if we can get that one done. But then also at another point you had I'm arguing, look, we have nothing to do with it. It is no impact on us other than we sell weapons. We're thousands of miles away. So there's just this big hanging question of, of what role the United States is going to play in future talks

and what stance it'll take. Especially as the UK, France, and Germany, they only recently took their first steps toward engaging directly with Russia, sending representatives to speak with Russia's deputy foreign minister last week. Right, and they reportedly reiterated European demands for a complete and immediate ceasefire,

strong security guarantees for Ukraine, and the use of the current front line as a starting point for any talks. So you have European and Ukrainian officials, now we're gonna get the Trump administration on board with this position, especially urging the White House to drop any suggestion that Ukraine should give up any territory.

Right, as all that's been playing out, Ukraine began the first phase of official negotiations to join the European Union. So kicking off a process that's going to require its government to adopt thousands of laws over several years and then in the unanimous approval of all current members. And this notably, as the country has already been criticized for moving so slowly on reforms that agreed to with the EU and a 10-point finalized deal last year, including measures to strengthen the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. And those anti-corruption agencies, they're really a sticking issue right now because Zelensky

once tried to push through reforms to make those agencies less independent. And it's now only been a month since Zelensky's chief of staff was named as a suspect in a massive money laundering operation. Though to be fair, that also has been seen by some as a sign that the country is taking corruption seriously. But ultimately with all this, you know, you have Ukraine kind of just hoping that since NATO membership probably isn't really an option,

EU membership would serve as at least some kind of effective security guarantee once the war ends. But also you have experts arguing that it's not just Ukraine that would benefit with a former advisor to the European Commission on enlargement telling the Guardian. Even that Ukraine is the most serious security and defense player on the continent, the only one with battle-hardened troops

in a serious arsenal of effective weapons on the modern battlefield dominated by drones. The worst thing that could happen for European security is for some future Ukrainian government to turn against the EU and to become Eurosceptic. And adding, they're not going to turn towards Russia, but if they were to become disillusioned with the EU, this would be a disaster for European security. The EU needs Ukraine, at least as much as Ukraine needs the EU, to assure all of our future security. But the big thing here for now is that US focus is shifting and we're going to see what happens in the coming weeks and months and like too much these days. A lot of it is going to center around Donald Trump. And then there's actually even more that we're going to dive.

into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say Julian B is going to a Detroit Tigers game and all they had to do was enter our weekly $500 Seatgeek giveaway. Today's sponsor Seekek, they've sold out nearly $60,000 to you guys since 2024 and it's really been awesome to witness. And it still shocks me that there are people out there that still haven't done it, but I mean, springs here and the events are stacking up. Basketball, baseball, tours for Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, some of your favorite comedians. I mean, get out there. And also with this, it's free to enter and it takes two seconds. All while Seatgeek, they're the number one rated ticketing app with over 28 million downloads and tickets to over seven.

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Add code fill 10 to your account and you're entered. Just scan that QR code or click the link below, add code fill 10, and go make some memories. And then for your last block today, we've got some more news you need to know. starting with the fact that eight people are dead after a U.S. bomber plane crashed yesterday at Edwards Air Force Base in California. But it all reportedly happened during a routine test mission of a B-52 Stratafortress that morning. Air Force officials said that they crashed pretty much immediately after takeoff, and you had radar tracking data from the flight, showing that they had initially traveled northeast and gradually turned farther north before taking a sharp northwest hook and falling from there. While investigators still have announced what caused the crash, what we do know is that there is a mixed crew of military governments,

civilians and government contractors supporting the test mission on board that day. You also had Boeing confirming that two of the people who died in the crash were their employees, saying we extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the eight crew members who lost their lives. You also had military officials speaking out about the tragedy as well. Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy and we lost eight great Americans. And this all comes as the Air Force, they've been fighting to keep up with the pressures to support military operations against Iran. The US official saying that B-52 flights over Iran symbolize American air dominance. But then with that, you've got some saying that the Air Force, it's been stretched too thin

and pointing out that the bomber in this crash was built in the 1960s, arguing today's air Air Force is the oldest and smallest in its entire history and saying America cannot continue to ask an aging, shrinking Air Force to respond to its national security needs without the right resources. You then also have the news that the FBI just claimed that they arrested five people for planning a multi-phase terror attack at the White House UFC event this weekend and they say that over a dozen others might still be out there. Reportedly these people plan to start the attack by flying bomb-strap drones into multiple buildings. Saying they then plan to use the mass panic that followed to their advantage coordinating the explosion so that the crowd was funneled into a straight line of fire for a

sniper team to begin picking them off. Right and then after that saying that there would be a the second wave of attackers storming the White House gate, and the FBI saying that it learned of this plot last Wednesday, making the first arrest in Cincinnati. With the race being on from there saying that they got into the suspect's iPhone, finding at least 23 people using an encrypted signal chat to plan the attack. And that's when they say they realized discussions of the attack actually started in a TikTok group named Vanguard of the old back in March,

with people apparently claiming that they wanted to protect the country from going in the wrong direction. They also said that they found that the people involved split themselves into tears to make a distinction between those who were willing to put themselves in harm's way in the attack, those who would drive getaway cars, drone operators, and other roles like that. Friday with the FBI saying that some of the suspects had already traveled to Virginia to begin making preparations. While the FBI hasn't released the details yet of how it captured those other four people, one of them reportedly said that the goal was to target capitalist elites, billionaires, and any politicians who'd taken money from APEC.

And the potential targets the attack laid out in the court filings included Trump, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, Netanyahu, and more. There's something that was really weird is that Trump was asked about this at the G7 summit this morning. And he said he didn't even know about it. Were you briefed on the attack, the attack plans for the UFC event at the White House? there was the FBI who worded an attack. I haven't heard about it now, but I watched, the attack that I watched were the fighters.

And then for our last bit of quick news that you shouldn't miss, California Governor Gavin Newsome is saying that Trump's DOJ has launched a politically motivated investigation into him and his wife. In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees. Not because they found a crime, because they're simply trying to find one.

Now Newsom he didn't give details about what the potential investigation actually is about, but his office said that, that federal agents had started asking people tied to him and his wife about their businesses, finances, and personal matters. And with that, there is at least one anonymous source saying that there isn't actually an investigation that specifically targets Newsom himself, although officials are looking into multiple people around him, including his wife. And with that, the source said that his wife's probe is related to her taxes, and it started last year

without any push from political leadership. Right, and then also, you have everything that's been going on with Newsom's former chief of staff, Dana Williamson. Right, Williamson pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a plot to steal campaign money from former federal health secretary Bacera. But a big thing there is that Newsom has hasn't been accused of anything in connection with that. And you have him saying that this alleged investigation, it's all just to add him to the DOJ's hit list and heard any plans that they may have

to run for office in 2028. Donald Trump isn't just coming after me because of my mean tweets. He's coming after me because I'm considering running for president. Donald Trump is simply the most corrupt president in American history. He's turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries

to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents. Right, obviously, if there's an official investigation on the way, Newsom would be joining a long list of Trump enemies that have been targeted. I mean, some of the names that come to mind, former FBI director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, former CIA director John Brennan, the list goes on and on. Also, Governor Tim Walz, forgot about that one. And in fact, you had Governor Walls responding to Newsom's video saying, the Justice Department is not a tool for the president to investigate his political opponents. Welcome to the BS Investigations Club, Governor Newsom, you're in good company. And then as far as Newsom's office, they said that they've filed a public records request

looking for messages to or from DOJ officials mentioning the newsoms during Trump's second term. So for now we're kind of left waiting for more information from either side and waiting to see if the Justice Department officially announces any investigation here. But that, my friend, you beautiful bastard, is the end of your Tuesday,

Philip DeFranco Show dive into the news. But also, you got two possible roads to go from here. One, if you miss last night's show, definitely check it out. There are a million reasons that you should check that one out. And or two, YouTube things based off of their magic, you really want to watch this video.

But no matter what you do, you've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back. here tomorrow.