The Philip DeFranco Show - Trump’s Joe Rogan Epstein Problems Got Worse

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

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Trump's Joe Rogan problem just got worse as the president's biggest supporter has now called him out for gaslighting MAGA over Epstein. Glane Maxwell just offered to testify, but it comes with a huge catch. We've got a MAGA civil war raging as Marjorie Taylor Greene joins progressives in calling what Israel's doing in Gaza a genocide.

And what's now starting to come out about that horrifying Manhattan shooting. We're talking about all that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news, starting with this. Trump's Epstein scandal is now growing and in a number of cases getting worse in several very interesting ways that we need to talk about.

Starting with the fact that Trump now wants Rupert Murdoch to be deposed in the Wall Street Journal lawsuit as soon as possible, because well, he's just too damn old. That's essentially what Trump's lawyers just said in the legal filing where they asked Murdoch to provide a deposition in Florida within 15 days. And that because Trump's suing Murdoch in the Wall Street Journal

over an article that had published claiming that Trump signed a birthday card for Epstein that included a drawing of a naked woman and it referenced a secret. With Trump saying that this is liable and seeking $10 billion in damages. Specifically, you had Trump's lawyer saying that Murdoch needed to do this because he is quote,

94 years old has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares and is presumed to live in New York. And saying taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial. And continuing, President Trump is requesting

only to conduct Murdoch's deposition and have him produce documents associated only with his involvement in and any discussions related to the decision to publish the article. Though regarding Murdoch's age, one, I think it could be argued that Murdoch is at least half a demon creature, so a human being's lifespan is really not applicable to him.

But also too, even if that's not true, you had outlets like NPR saying that Trump's demand to get him to be deposed so quickly, it's still unusual. But there you had a former executive from Murdoch's news core telling the outlet, it's classic Trump. He is using lawfare to use his own term to silence people. The problem is he's going after people

who are equally equipped. And in some ways I would say better equipped to navigate this stuff. And then adding that this urgent deposition feels like a gratuitous attempt to poke the bear. With NPR then also saying that this marks a personal turn in the litigation by calling out Murdoch specifically, a man that Trump at least used to consider a friend.

Now with all that, or reportedly Murdoch's lawyer has already indicated that he would oppose this deposition effort, but you know, we're gonna have to see where any of that goes. Especially since that's not the only Epstein update we have today. Because Ghislaine Maxwell is now saying that she has some pretty strict conditions

if Congress wants her to testify. And that of course, after last week, she was subpoenaed by Republican representative James Comer and it initially seemed like she was not going to cooperate. But now in a letter that her lawyer sent to Comer today, it appears that she's open to the idea so long as she can answer questions outside of prison and be granted full immunity.

And claiming that those are quote, non-starters because Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity nor is a prison setting conducive to eliciting truthful and complete testimony. And that is she also demands that Congress provide their questions in advance so that she can prepare and identify relevant documentation

and that any appearance be scheduled after the resolution of a recent Supreme Court appeal. Or they say you could just scratch Ali above as long as she gets clemency and then she would be willing and eager to testify. But if she can't get any of that, her lawyers say that Maxwell will have no choice but to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.

You know, as far as, you know, do those requests stand a chance in hell, you had a spokesperson to the House Oversight Committee telling Axios that it will respond to her lawyers soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony. And so that, you know, is just another thing we're gonna have to keep an eye open for.

But then also this morning, we got reports that had some saying this should 100% immediately put an end to all the conspiracies about that missing minute in the jail video. Because in the hours and hours of footage that the DOJ shared from the detention center that Epstein was being held in,

the minute before midnight was not included, which prompted a ton of questions. But today you had a government official telling CBS News that it's completely fine, there's no missing minute. With the source saying that the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, and DOJ all have a copy of the video where the minute is not cut. So as far as, you know, what does this do

for a public that is increasingly demanding every single detail about the case to be made public, including the missing minute, I'm not sure. Notably, this is not the first time that officials have said that there is nothing to see in that minute. Because you had attorney general, Pam Bondi, previously attributing it to sort of a glitch that results from the camera systems resetting every night.

So every night should have the same missing minute. But then surveillance video and forensics experts told CBS that a reset like this is strange and that it does appear that the video was edited in some capacity and not straight raw footage as officials had promised. And so with that, it probably comes as no surprise to learn that in the headlines today,

you have people still just doubling down on their anger with the administration. With for example, the likes of Joe Rogan, one of the biggest podcasters in the world, with one of the biggest audiences out there. He was also a huge cheerleader for Trump in the weeks before the election, and he's accused Trump of gaslighting the nation

on this issue. There's a line in the sand. This one's a line in the sand. Because this is one where there's a lot of stuff about, when we thought Trump was gonna come in and that a lot of things were gonna be resolved, when we thought Trump was going to come in and a lot of things are going to be resolved. We're going to drain the swamp, we're going to figure everything out. And when you have this one hardcore line in the sand that everybody had been talking about

forever, and then they're trying to gaslight you on that. You can also notably add Megyn Kelly saying yesterday. This is self-inflicted. Now the president's very annoyed that it won't go away. It won't go away because of the way he's handled it. They've really created this own pickle for themselves and we still haven't had a presser by Pam Bondi or even a long form interview.

So it's hard to have a lot of sympathy. Right, and all of that, it reflects general public frustrations. And that's not just echo chamber online only vibes. There's been a decent amount of polling showing that the public just feels like officials are hiding something about this case. In fact, just this morning,

you had the Washington Post reporting that it texted over a thousand Americans about Epstein and Trump. And it showed that over 60% of the country is at least paying some attention to the case. And the majority, they don't approve of Trump's handling of it. There, I will say it is worth noting that even though the big focus has been on MAGA Republicans lashing out

at Trump here, the Post, they found that Democrats are paying the most attention and they're most likely to disapprove of how things are going. That is again, only part of the story because you have reports noting that as Joe Rogan and the Andrew Schultzes and others like that in that space, as they're continuing to bring up

this situation week after week, that's keeping the issue alive and it's thriving in the minds who are more independent or lean right. The CNN even noting that Epstein's name was mentioned more than 40 times in the most recent episode of the Joe Rogan experience.

And saying the outrage is coming from within Trump's normally steadfast circle of conspiracy minded media boosters. And then saying is arguably one of the most, if not the most influential of these figures, Rogan's criticism suggests Trump's headache will only grow from here. And so Trump's Joe Rogan problem,

which is bigger than Joe Rogan, but he is kind of, we'll call it a wind maker. There are a lot of people in this space that kind of just go with the wind. It appears to still be going and even growing, even as the administration has been throwing out distraction after distraction. You know, time will tell if Trump's gonna be able

to dig himself out of this hole that, honestly, they created for themselves. And then next up in the news, we have to talk about this. About an hour ago, I was walking home, going to Grand Central, and then I saw a rush of people come from behind me. I had my headphones on so I couldn't hear, and then somebody said, gunshots.

So last night in Midtown Manhattan, a rapid burst of gunfire rang out from the first floor of a high-rise office building. They said somebody's inside with a gun. It felt like you were in a war zone almost. They saw a worker run out. By the time he got to us, he said, "'Help, help, I've been shot.'"

But there was a guy laying on the floor, they tried to get him a CPR, he didn't get up, they put him in the ambulance. You had widespread panic, people running, some fleeing to the back exit, others hiding in bathrooms and closets. Those attending a networking event, the first floor auditorium hid wherever they could,

the control room, the basement. And on the floor above, you had dozens of people watching a presentation, flooding into a conference room and barricading the doors while shushing each other, calling police and scouring social media for information. I think it was very, very apparent through all this that a lot of us were young. A lot of us went through training in elementary school of what to do in an active shooter situation. We were hiding behind the large monitor. A lot of people were on the ground. We flipped a lot of

the tables up. A lot of people were along the windows. Some people, if they were a bit later getting there, they really unfortunately had to just pull curtains over themselves. I texted people good in my life that I love them. So what happened? Well, as we later find out, a man had parked his car outside

and walked into the building carrying a high powered M4 assault rifle. You then had police saying that he entered the lobby, turned right and immediately opened fire. First shooting a police officer, then a woman who ran for cover behind a pillar, then another man who escaped with injuries. And then according to police,

after spraying the lobby with more gunfire, the gunman entered the elevator bank, shooting a security guard who had ducked under the desk. With the men reportedly calling the elevator and when it arrived and the doors opened, a presumably startled woman was inside. But inexplicably police say that the gunman led her exit and passed by him unharmed.

Then he went up to the 33rd floor where the offices of Rudin management are located, walked through it, reportedly shooting another person. And then finally he walked down a hallway where he apparently took his own life. And so in total, not including the shooter himself, he had four people reportedly killed and one critically injured, but stabilized this morning.

But the dead, including Deedarul Islam, an NYPD officer who was a husband, a father of two and had a third child on the way. He put himself in harm's way. He made the ultimate sacrifice, shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city. He died as he lived. A hero. You also with this had Donald Trump commenting

on the news, calling it a tragedy, giving his condolences to the victim's families and adding, I trust our law enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence. And as for that question of motive, we've learned a lot that does seem to point in one direction though,

there's still a lot that's unclear. Right, so first off, the gunman appears to be 27 year old Shane Tamura, a man from Las Vegas where according to sources who spoke to ABC, he had two mental health crisis holds, one in 2022 and another in 2024. Meaning that he may have been detained in the past after someone deemed him a danger to himself or others.

Also, he reportedly had a concealed carry license from 2022. And then as far as we got from Vegas to New York City, it appears that he just drove himself. With police saying that his BMW traveled through Nevada and Colorado on Saturday, Nebraska and Iowa on Sunday, and then New Jersey and finally New York on Monday, arriving there about two hours before the shoot.

Which then of course brings us to the question of, well, why did he travel so far to shoot up this specific building? Well, with that, if you look at the businesses there, the answer seems to emerge. Where you've got the accounting firm, KPMG, the real estate investment firm, Blackstone, and perhaps most notably the NFL.

Which is significant because one, Tamora played football during high school in LA in 2015, according to former classmates, and two, authorities reportedly found a three-page note in his wallet that references chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is the brain condition caused by repeated head trauma, typically associated with people

like veterans and football players. And reportedly, in his note, Tamora wrote, CTE study my brain, please, I'm sorry. As well as the reportedly being a line claiming that the NFL concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits and adding, they failed us. And then warning against going against the NFL claiming that it will squash you.

And to be clear with that police right now say they have found no evidence so far that he suffered a traumatic brain injury or had CTE, nor did it appear that he had any connection to the NFL. But regardless, he had New York mayor, Eric Adams, saying that he believes the man was targeting the NFL and he went to the 33rd floor because he took the wrong elevator.

With Adams then taking the opportunity to highlight gun violence, as did Governor Kathy Hochul, who said, "'The killer used an AR-15 style assault rifle, "'the same weapon of war used "'in mass shootings across America. "'New York has some of the strongest gun laws "'in the nation.

"'We banned assault weapons. "'We strengthened our red flag law. "'We closed dangerous loopholes, "'but our laws only go so far "'when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder. And adding, the American people are tired

of thoughts and prayers. Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen. But right now, that is where we are. We have our eyes on it and we'll wait to see what happens from here.

And then, we've got more news you need to know in just a minute, but first, are you still paying overdraft fees? Right, because if I was to guess, your banks live in the past and you know it's 2025 and you deserve better. And well today's sponsor, Current, they're here to make sure that you keep more

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current is built for real life, not Wall Street. So scan that QR code or head to current.com slash Phil and use code Phil50 for $50 on us. Terms and conditions apply. And then next up in the news, Marjorie Taylor Greene just became the first Republican lawmaker in Congress to call the crisis in Gaza a genocide. And specifically, her comment was made

in reaction to a social media post last week from her colleague, Republican representative, Randy Fine. And there you had Fine responding to an article about how 15 people, including four children, had died of starvation in Gaza over the previous 24 hours. And you had him writing, "'Release the hostages. Until then, starve away.' This is all a lie anyway.

It amazes me that the media continues to regurgitate Muslim terror propaganda. And then yesterday you had Green making her own post responding to an article alleging that the powerful pro-Israel lobby aid packet removed Fine from their list of endorsed candidates. With Green noting that Fine had barely won his seat in a deep red Florida district and writing,

I can only imagine how Florida's sixth district feels now that their representative that they were told to vote for openly calls for starving, innocent people and children. And then adding, it's the most truthful and easiest thing to say that October 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned. But so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis and starvation happening in Gaza.

Whether they're continuing, but a Jewish US representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful. His awful statement will actually cause more anti-Semitism. And so her comments, they're notable for a number of different reasons. Because not only is she reportedly the first Republican in Congress to call what's happening in Gaza a genocide,

she's one of the few lawmakers to do so at all. If you look into it, only a handful of other progressives have actually used that label, and most of them are her sworn enemies in the squad. Though that, as of course I have to mention, that that claim has been backed up by numerous leading human rights organizations, including most recently, a top Israeli rights group. But also in addition to that, as of course I have to mention, that that claim has been backed up by numerous leading human rights organizations,

including most recently, a top Israeli rights group. But also in addition to that, it's notable because it marks a dramatic shift for Greene. Not only did Greene follow the party line on Gaza, she went out of her way to try to punish those who spoke out against Israel. Right back in November of 2023, she led a failed attempt in Congress

to formally reprimand representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member, for comments that she made at a pro-Palestine protest outside of Congress. Comments that key thing here included describing Israel's actions as genocide. With Green explicitly accusing Tlaib of anti-Semitic activity and sympathizing with terrorist organizations.

But now in recent weeks, we've seen Green starting to embrace the same exact rhetoric that she tried to punish Tlaib for. Making numerous public statements, taking aim at Israel and proposing an amendment that could cut $500 million in American funds for Israeli missile defense. Though of course that measure ended up failing

by an enormous margin with just six members voting in favor. And so with all of that in mind, right, we've seen a pretty mixed response to her shift. You've got some praising her for speaking up, including plenty of people who do not support her. Like one user who wrote, "'Exceedingly rare W from MTG, what the fuck?' You then also had a lot of people taking aim at Democrats

posting things like, "'When Marjorie Taylor Greene a lot of people taking aim at Democrats posting things like, when Marjorie Taylor Greene is capable of saying there is a genocide in Gaza, there is no excuse left for the hundreds of Democrats who continue to lie and hide behind their corporate donors. But then on the other side, you also have a lot of people noting that Greene, she has a history of being openly anti-Semitic.

And they're notably not talking about the perspective from some that all criticisms of Israel or the Israeli government is anti-Semitic. Talking about Jewish space leaders and racist conspiracies. Which is then why you had some saying that it's hypocritical for her to accuse Fine, who's a Jewish lawmaker of increasing antisemitism when she has actively spread antisemitic hate.

With some then more directly claiming that her stance is actually rooted in antisemitism arguing. Well, she's an antisemite that also means she incidentally opposes Zionism too. Nothing to do with the genocide mind you. But then at the same time you had others arguing that this represents a change in the general discourse around Gaza

with one user posting that green shift, shows just how undeniable the horrors in Gaza have become and adding, even those who once blindly supported Israel are starting to break ranks. The truth is loud and it's forcing even the most unlikely voices to speak. But as we see things like this breaking through, as we see things developing, I gotta ask you, what do you make of this?

What's your reaction? And what do you think happens from here? And then I've got more news for you in a second, but actually in place of a sponsor, I'm just gonna promote something else that I'm doing that I think you'll like. And that is I've got a brand new weekly interview podcast called In Good Faith with Philip DeFranco.

And in these first few weeks, I've had Pete Buttigieg, Tim Miller, and Alex Perlman on. I also really think you're gonna like this week's guest. New episodes are available first on Spotify and Apple Podcast, links to both down below. And actually a massive thank you there already because y'all have already made the In Good Faith with Philip DeFranco podcast, the 23rd

and rising trending podcast over on Spotify. But I also need more of you to keep climbing those charts. And hey, before or after you listen to the podcast, just subscribe and give us a five star review. It helps out the show. And then next up in the news, if you're American, you might be getting a $600 tariff rebate soon. Maybe, I'll explain.

Right, so yesterday, Senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill that would give $600 each to American adults and their dependent children. And the idea here is that the funds would come from the revenues that the government is reaping from Trump's tariffs. With Hawley saying in a press release announcing the move, the United States now has record monthly tariff revenue,

which nearly reached $30 billion in June. Several projections suggest the United States could see over $150 billion in tariff revenue in 2025 alone. In this move, it comes after Trump said on Friday that he would support sending some kind of tariff rebate to Americans. We have so much money coming in. We're thinking about a little rebate,

but the big thing we wanna do is pay down debt, but we're thinking about a rebate., but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt. But we're thinking about a rebate. And specifically, Hawley's proposal would work similarly to the stimulus checks that the Trump administration sent out during COVID, an effort that Hawley actually helped champion back in 2020. Under the legislation, a refundable tax credit would be set up

using tariff revenue, which would then send at least $600 to each eligible adult and dependent child this year. Though the bill would also quote, allow for a larger credit per person "'if tariff revenue exceeds current projections for 2025.'" Now that said, as far as who would be eligible, Hawley's bill does not explicitly say,

but it does know that it would exclude any non-resident alien individual, dependents who can be claimed on another taxpayer's taxes and estates or trusts. Additionally, the measure also says that the rebate would be reduced by 5% for individuals who make over $75,000 a year or households with joint income above $150,000.

But with all this, it brings us to big questions being, one, would this actually be able to pass? And two, will this actually make any kind of difference for Americans? Because one, even though Trump seems to have tentatively thrown his support behind the idea, it's unclear if enough Republicans will get on board, but especially the fiscal hawks who likely will want

the money to go towards reducing the federal deficit. But also while sending free money to Americans might make the Republicans look good, many experts say that these checks, they won't actually have that big of an impact. If anything, and maybe not even, they would just cancel out some of the money that Trump's tariffs are gonna cost everyday Americans.

Because economists have widely said that Trump's tariff policies will end up hurting American consumers. Just yesterday, the Budget Lab at Yale released an analysis saying the tariffs will cost American households on average $2,400 just this year alone. Figure that apparently was not lost on Hawley who explicitly noted in his press release

that his $600 rebate would amount to $2,400 for a family of four. Then beyond that, you have many experts saying that these rebates could actually increase inflation with one explaining, people will go out and spend some of that money and that would further put upward pressure on prices and probably magnify inflationary effects.

And there is historical evidence to back that up. I mean, according to one estimate, the pandemic era stimulus checks, they contributed to an increase in inflation of around 2.6%, which is then also why we've seen many people reacting to this news negatively online, arguing that this idea basically shows that the Republicans, they know that Trump's tariffs

are going to hurt Americans and writing things like, oh look, Josh Hawley wants to provide $600 tariff rebate checks to give Americans back our own money. And how stupid is this? Charging Americans a tariff tax on foreign goods then offering a rebate of your taxes. Makes no sense. Maybe dropping the tariff scam would be a better idea.

You know, with all that said, I gotta pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Not only, and you know, is this a good thing versus bad thing, but also like, what are your thoughts around the perception of if people get these rebates? Or do you think the majority of Americans

are gonna focus on the fact of, oh, here's $600 I didn't have before, or people receive this as the Republicans having taken away a glass of water and given them a thimble back. And that my friend, you beautiful bastard, is where today's show is gonna end. But remember, one, there might actually be a lot of stuff and giving them a thimble back. And then my friend, you beautiful bastard, is where today's show is gonna end. But remember, one, there might actually be a lot of stuff

you haven't seen yet, whether it be that new special Friday video I started sneaking in, my brand new interview podcast, In Good Faith with Philip DeFranco, or even just last night's Philip DeFranco show video. And two, of course, I'll see you right back here tomorrow, no matter what. Stay safe out there, stay sane out there,

and I'll see you then.