The Young Turks - Gaza Ceasefire Deal

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

Hamas & Israel have allegedly reached a ceasefire deal, but there are important caveats. An arsonist suspect in one LA fire had been arrested over a dozen times. This bank just got BUSTED for SCREWING Consumers. EXPLOSIVE new report reveals big pharma corruption. Hosts: Ana Kasparian SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞ https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER ☞ https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH ☞ https:/www.shoptyt.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. I'm so upset. Oh my God. Would you explain what a jagoff is? The guy! Live from the Polymarket Studio in L.A. It's the Young Turks.

Welcome to TYiT, everyone, I'm your host, Anna Casparian, not live from the Polymarket Studio, I'm here in the Casparian studios because the winds are continuing here in Southern California, which, of course, poses a huge wildfire threat and danger. And so out of an abundance of caution, we're just going to do the show from home for another day. But hopefully, you know, the winds will end soon. And the good news in regard to the Southern California fires is that they have been largely contained. And that's because the winds haven't been as extreme as the, you know, first day that the fires broke out. So we actually do have an update on the wildfires.

There has been an arson suspect arrested. In fact, there have been many arson suspects arrested. But there's an individual who is suspected of starting one of the major fires in Southern California. So we'll get to that later in the show. We're also going to have a little fun in the show later in the second hour when John Iderola joins me. we will be talking about Pete Hegseth, really facing some serious jabs from a conservative media figure. So I'm looking forward to talking to John about that. We're also going to talk about Ben Shapiro going after another right winger.

We'll tell you who he is and why Shapiro is going after him. And in the first hour, a lot of really important stories to get to, including the CFPB working overtime. This is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, essentially going after. the big banks and the big scams that they are basically being accused of doing against their own customers. They're also, by the way, pushing for stricter laws to protect Americans from debanking. So that kind of shows you that the Mark Andreessen's of the world were totally lying in regard to the CFB pushing banks to debank people. That is not the case. That was a lie. So we'll talk about all that in the first hour, lots of important content there. But I actually want to start off with a

story that I think is being reported inaccurately at the moment, because if you watch any mainstream media outlet, you would think that this is already a done deal, but it's not. It's the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Now, there are some good developments, but I think that we need to proceed with caution in how we react to this story, because again, it is not a done deal. Now, without further ado, let's get into the details. The agreement, including the release of the dozens of hostages being held right now by Hamas, the Biden administration says there are seven American hostages still in Gaza, at least three of them are believed to be alive.

There is a section of Israeli society that's against it. They don't want to see Palestinian prisoners release. They say they're terrorists, that even if it means not returning the hostages, not returning the bodies of those who've been killed, that the war should continue. There has allegedly been a major breakthrough in regard to a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Now, they've allegedly reached the ceasefire deal, though as of this morning, several details, including the actual start date of said ceasefire, remained unclear. And to be sure, there are still some obstacles in the way when it comes to rattle

and really making the ceasefire final. And I want to get into the details of that because I think it's just as important as the breakthroughs that are being largely reported across most mainstream media outlets. They're kind of reporting on this as if it's already a done deal. At this moment, as I speak to you, as this video gets recorded, that ceasefire deal has not been officially confirmed. So I just want to move forward with an abundance of caution. But with that in mind, according to the.

the New York Times, the ceasefire is set to take effect immediately, according to a White House official. The first phase is to last six weeks, during which hostages will start being released. Now, it was not clear what day that begins. And part of the reason why it's not clear is because, again, at this moment, there is no confirmation that they have accepted the ceasefire officially, that the Israeli cabinet has ratified the ceasefire. So a lot needs to happen before. this is finalized. But President Joe Biden, who really wants the ceasefire to be part of his legacy, has already done a press conference making it appear as though this is set in stone. And I think that's a big mistake. But nonetheless, here's President Joe Biden explaining more details

about the deal. The deal is structured in three phases. Phase one will last six weeks. It includes a full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza, and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas, including women and elderly and the wounded. And I'm proud to say Americans will be part of that hostage release in phase one as well. And the Vice President and I cannot wait to welcome them home. In exchange, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. And during phase one, the Palestinians can also return to their neighborhoods in all the areas of Gaza. And the surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza will begin.

And the innocent people can have a greater access to these vital supplies. I want to be honest with how I feel about what we just heard. I think that that sounds way too good to be true. And I am deeply skeptical. and I am hoping, hoping that I'm proven wrong. But the idea that the Israeli government is going to sign on to the withdrawal, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. And the idea that Palestinians will be able to return to all parts of the Gaza Strip,

including the North, just seems inconceivable to me. But again, I could be wrong. Now, as we know, and as we've done extensive reporting on, the Israelis had already basically cut the Gaza Strip in half, and they considered the northern half of the Gaza Strip to be a buffer zone. So I don't see how all of a sudden they're going to sign on to a deal where the Israelis withdraw from the Gaza Strip and allow Palestinians to go back to the north. But let me give you the other details of the ceasefire deal.

Phase two, because Biden did just speak about phase one, which would last six weeks. Now, after those six weeks, phase two would essentially involve a permanent end to the war, a permanent ceasefire. And negotiations would be taking place in regard to the permanent end of the war during the first six weeks. Now, Biden claims that if those negotiations in terms of a permanent end to the war take longer than six weeks, well, the halt in fighting would still be in place as long as negotiations for a permanent ceasefire are still happening. And also in phase two, Israeli soldiers would again allegedly withdraw from Gaza and all remaining living hostages. And these are the men who are still alive will be returned to Israel.

And in phase three, the remains of the hostages, hostages who have died while in captivity would be returned to their families and reconstruction of the Gaza. strip would begin. Now, this is the deal that President Joe Biden had presented to the Israelis and to Hamas in the spring of last year. It is unclear why suddenly Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government would accept this deal. I should also note that incoming Trump administration officials have been involved in these negotiations as well. Donald Trump has issued all sorts of threats specifically against Hamas and the Gaza Strip if they fail to return the hostages. But it appears it is my read that Donald Trump has made some promises to Benjamin Netanyahu.

We don't know exactly what those promises are. And I think that that is what has encouraged Netanyahu to potentially go along with the ceasefire deal. Okay. Now Biden doesn't want to give Donald Trump any credit for this. Trump wants to take all credit for this. I'm not really interested in, you know, the narcissism of our politicians. I would like a ceasefire deal to happen. But I also think that it's wrong to say that Trump wasn't involved in any of this when we know that some of his incoming officials were also involved in the ceasefire negotiations. Now, the negotiations were brokered by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, and a Hamas official by the name of Basim Naim, confirmed to NBC News and the New York Times that the militant group has, in fact, agreed to the ceasefire deal. He says, we are very happy to reach a deal today to stop the aggression against our people.

But unfortunately, we were able, I'm sorry, unfortunately, we were able to reach the same deal. last May. He's alluding to the fact that this is the same deal that Biden had presented to the Israelis into us last spring. And why did we wait so long to finally, you know, accept this? If, in fact, it is confirmed as the ceasefire deal that Israel will accept. And I want to be clear, from what I've seen, all of the obstacles in place that could potentially dismantle this ceasefire deal are on the Israeli side. Okay. So before anyone gets too excited, you should should know that these obstacles exist and they could play a role in basically ending the possibility of this particular ceasefire deal. The deal needs to be ratified by the Israeli

cabinet. And as the New York Times reported, some hardline members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have voiced opposition to the deal. This has happened before. In fact, every time we think there's going to be a ceasefire deal accepted by the Israelis, they tend to renege. And it's because there are some. extremists within the Israeli government, within the Israeli cabinet, who refuse to accept any ceasefire deal, and they brag about serving as obstacles to an end to this war. Officials are also saying that there are some technical details that need to be worked out, and two officials who spoke to the New York Times said that there was a last minute issue, get a load of this,

over the Egypt and Gaza border, which previously Egypt and Gaza had control, which previously Egypt and Gaza had control of, but during this war, Israel took control of that border. Egypt has a huge problem with that. And having control of that border has essentially hindered or prevented humanitarian aid from coming into the Gaza Strip. It has also prevented people who have been civilians, children, who have been severely injured as a result of this war from being able to leave in order to get much needed medical care and attention. Also, while the reality of where the Israeli government is on this ceasefire is something that, you know, anyone paying attention can make note of. They're actually telling American journalists like Jeremy Diamond something entirely different.

Remember, Hamas has accepted the deal. Israel is saying, ah, there's some technical issues, and we have some problems about who's going to control the border between Egypt and Gaza. So it's all them right now. They're the ones who have potential issues with this deal. Hamas has accepted it. But that is not what they're telling Jeremy Diamond over at CNN. Take a look. I think it's important to note that for the last two days, the Israeli government, Israeli government officials who I've been speaking with have been saying this is in Hamas's hands. We need Hamas to say yes in order to get to a deal. And that is indeed what has now happened. And so for all intents and purposes, we do indeed now have an agreement between these parties

to go into a ceasefire that is expected to last six weeks, during which, you will see 33 Israeli hostages release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails in exchange, the much needed entry of humanitarian aid. Again, just want to reiterate the Israeli cabinet as we speak at this very moment has not ratified the ceasefire deal. And by the way, as part of the ceasefire deal, remember, the Israelis would have to release Palestinian prisoners. And the Supreme Court in Israel has to provide a 24 our time period for the family members of the hostages or the family members of individuals who have been impacted by those Palestinian prisoners to essentially appeal that portion of

the ceasefire. So this is not set in stone. I want to be clear about that. And part of the main reason why it's not set in stone, the main reason why this isn't something that we can, you know, green light and say is definitely going to happen is because there are Israelis who have problems with it, both in the government and potentially within the civilian population, if they choose to fight this in the Israeli Supreme Court. And also, let's not be naive and forget about people like Israel's national security minister, It's Amar Ben-Gavir, who the Jerusalem Post recently reported on with this headline, get a load of this, Ben-Gavir boasts of blocking Gaza hostage deal time and time again,

quote, in the past year, through our political power, we succeeded in preventing this deal for moving forward time and time again. Ben Gavir noted. So he bragged on X that his party in particular had prevented a hostage deal on numerous occasions. And the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a statement that a number of clauses in the ceasefire agreement remained unresolved, but that it was hoped that these would be sewn up later tonight. So there is a possibility that later today, you know, if you're in the United States, based on our time zone, later today, we'll get word that it was ratified by Israel's cabinet. But that hasn't happened quite yet. But look, there is also some hope. So I want to be fair and note where

I see glimmers of hope in this story. Because as of this morning, Ben Gavir also wrote on X that the United Right Party has since joined the government who now supports the deal. So his party, the MKs, no longer hold the balance of power. They have less leverage when it comes to standing in the way of the passage of a ceasefire deal. So that's good news. And Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Tsar, says that he believes that the Israeli government does, in fact, have the majority necessary to ratify the ceasefire deal. But again, just going back to the press conference involving Joe Biden, it just seems way to good to be true, that all Israeli forces will be withdrawn from Gaza and that Palestinians who were

forced out of the northern half will now be allowed to go back to the north. And I want to be clear, there's nothing left in the north. I mean, every single building, every single structure in the Gaza strip has either been completely leveled or so severely damaged that it's useless. And so they want to go back to the north, the Palestinians who are from the north want to go back there. But they also acknowledge that there's nothing to go back to. And that was very much by design. That was what the Israeli military intended to do. They wanted to make it uninhabitable. So Palestinians had nothing to return back to. So we'll see how that plays out. I'm very, very curious to see how this develops. Also worth noting that, you know, the highest figures within Hamas have not come out public

saying that they are going to endorse this agreement or that they accept the agreement. I mentioned one Hamas militant or official who spoke to both NBC News and the New York Times and said, no, no, we are accepting the ceasefire deal. But again, in order to implement the deal, Hamas's negotiating team at the talks in Doha, Doha Qatar, must obtain the consent of the group's commanders in Gaza, including Mohamed Sinwar, whose brother, Yaya, led the group before being killed by Israel in October. Now, again, assuming that the Israeli cabinet ratifies the ceasefire deal and assuming that any challenges to the deal in the Supreme Court in Israel don't stand in the way of the passage of the ceasefire deal, Israel's Supreme Court, again, would have

about 24 hours to permit an appeal. So the earliest a ceasefire could go into effect would be Friday, and then the first group of hostages would come out Sunday. Now, in regard to to Americans who are among the hostages. There are reportedly seven American hostages. In the first phase of the ceasefire deal, should it actually happen, two of them are expected to be released. Again, in the first phase. And then the third, which I'm assuming is a male, would be released in the second phase if it gets to that. And I'm hoping that it does. I really want peace. I really want the end of the bombardments while this ceasefire deal hasn't officially been accepted. It hasn't been officially ratified by the Israeli government.

Make no mistake, the Israeli defense forces have continued their aerial bombardment of the Gaza strip. And so again, we'll see how it plays out. I'm really, really hoping for good news. It is freezing in Gaza right now. People are dying from hypothermia. Obviously, people had been dying from starvation, thirst, clean drinking water is difficult to come by. And of course, That doesn't even include those who continue to die as a result of the bombings and the aerial bombardments. So again, really crossing my fingers, I'm hoping that I'm proven wrong. But as it stands right now, I do see many obstacles in the way of the ceasefire actually happening. So we'll wait and see what happens.

I hope I can come back and report some good news to you all. For now, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, I have some updates on the fires in Southern California. Welcome back to TYT, everyone. I'm your host, Anna Casparian. And joining us is Alan Hendry, our member, who writes in to say, shout out from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I turned 38 this month, that's my age.

Yeah, right? Yeah, I'm 38. I'm going to turn 39 this year, which is kind of devastating. Not for a guy, but a little bit for me. Anyway, I turned 38 this month. Woo-Woot. I also wanted to say thank you for being you and staying true to yourself. I find you fascinating and inspiring. Alan, thank you so much. I appreciate you. I appreciate everyone who's watching and supporting the show. I appreciate everyone who's watching the show and doesn't really agree with a lot of what we say, but they still watch anyway to get a different perspective. I appreciate all of you. So thank you so much. Now I wanted to do a little bit of an update on the fires in Los Angeles. Look, overall, at the moment, things seem to have gotten better. The fires appear to be contained for the most part. But entire communities have been absolutely devastated. You have, of course, the Pacific Palisades, so many homes lost. Altadena, California, which is where the second massive fire broke out last week.

that community has been absolutely devastated and something to know about Altadena is that it was the first community in Los Angeles County that went against the racist redlining. And so there's a very sizable African American population there. And it's because they were able to buy homes. They weren't prevented from being able to buy homes. And seeing videos of people going back to where their homes used to be and just dealing with the devastation there is absolutely heartbreaking. So many lives have been upended and it just absolutely breaks my heart. So, but there is a different element to this story that I think is worth talking about. And it has to do with policies that are well-intentioned, but unfortunately have certain areas that are flawed and that's what I want to talk about. Let's get into it. An arsonist suspect is detained in connection to a fire in the west hills of Los Angeles County. This is Cruz worked to battle several other incidents nearby. The Los Angeles Police Department saying they are investigating the Kenneth fire that sparked Thursday afternoon as arson.

This, after detaining a suspect in the West Hills and Hidden Hills area, a witness saying to Fox News that first responders were quick to the scene as authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders from the area. Well, there have been many arson suspects who have been arrested, and there's only been one who has been tied to a major fire, potentially as a suspect tied to starting the Kenneth fire in West Hills, which is a suburb of Los Angeles County. Now, the arrest of this arson suspect amid these devastating fires in Los Angeles has raised concerns about some of the the flaws within these sanctuary laws. Now, sanctuary laws, of course, come from a good place. The idea is to protect migrants who haven't done anything wrong. They might be in the country illegally, but oftentimes it's out of desperation. Oftentimes it's an attempt to protect people,

especially if they're victims of crime and they need help from the authorities, but feel discouraged from reporting the crime or seeking help from the authorities because they're worried about getting deported. So there are wonderful elements of sanctuary laws, and I want to be clear about that. But there is an oversight here. There is an issue here. And I think the arrest of this one arson suspect really helps to clarify what those issues are. So there are several fires happening simultaneously in Los Angeles. It's important to understand that. It's not one major wildfire. It's several major wildfires. There's the Pacific Palisades fire. There's the Altadena fire, and then there's the Kenneth fire in West Hills. Now, firefighters and police

have already determined that the Kenneth fire specifically was deliberately set. They believe that an arsonist set that fire intentionally. Now, according to Cal Fire, the Kenneth Fire covered about 1,052 acres straddling Los Angeles and Ventura counties before it was fully contained, luckily on January 12th. Now, an arson suspect was arrested near the Kenneth fire in Woodland Hills, California. Residents say a man was riding around on a bicycle carrying a large blow torch, trying to set multiple old Christmas trees and garbage cans on fire. Now at that point, when the residents, in this, by the way, this is like a hilly residential neighborhood. Okay, so why is this guy there with a blow torch. Why is he trying to light Christmas trees on fire? Obviously with the

high winds and dry conditions, the residents of this community saw him as a massive threat. And so they proceed to do a citizen's arrest. So let's take a look at this photo. It's a screenshot from surveillance footage of the arson suspect. And if you look at the image, he's holding the blow torch, the yellow blow torch in one hand. And in the other hand, you see him holding something. That's the torch head. According to one resident, who spoke to a local Fox affiliate, he was very like, I can't stop, I can't stop. I'm not putting this down. I'm doing this. And he was very focused on moving forward with the blowtorch and we're like, we can't be doing that right now. So that same resident also told

a local Fox affiliate, Fox 11, that the man appeared to be high on something. That was his perspective or what he believed was going on. And at that point, the residents decided to use zip ties and do a citizen's arrest until the authorities showed up. So that is what you're seeing in this still frame from the surveillance footage of the individual getting arrested. Now, I want to be clear in noting that at this moment, he is a suspect, okay? There is, at this moment, like, no confirmation that he is the one who started the Kenneth fire. I want to be clear. And unfortunately, Even though there is witness testimony and even though he was carrying a freaking blowtorch in a residential neighborhood, allegedly lighting Christmas trees and garbage cans on fire, the Los Angeles Police Department says that there's no probable cause to charge him with arson.

But since this fire straddled L.A. County and Ventura County officials and police are investigating this as a potential arson suspect. They're not buying that there's no probable cause. They believe there is probable cause because guess what, there is probable cause. So they're going to continue investigating this as a potential arson suspect and see if there's any indication, any evidence tying him to the intentional start of the Kenneth fire. Now, there's more details here that are interesting. Let me first give you the statement from Dominique Choi. he's the LA Police Department divisional chief. And here's what he said in regard to the arson charges or lack of arson charges here. He says after the interview and additional

investigative steps, looking at some additional evidence that was present, they made the determination that there was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or even suspicion of arson. Okay, that's what they believe. But he does remain detained due to a probation violation because it turns out that this guy is a convicted felon who's in the country illegally. In fact, we've learned quite a bit about him since his arrest. His name is Juan Manuel Sierra Leva. He also goes by a bunch of other names, including Juan Manuel Sierra Leva Leva Laver and Juan Sierra. He is a Mexican national who's been in the country illegally since 2016, and he has a very lengthy criminal record. So ICE actually released a statement

about him following the citizens' arrest. Sierra has had multiple encounters with law enforcement from November of 2016 to present for a variety of charges and was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon on October 10th of 2023 in Van Nuys, California. Van Nuys is a community within the San Fernando Valley in LA County, okay? So he's been arrested more than a dozen times. Bill Mnugent, a reporter, listed some of the things that he's been arrested of. So you're taking a look at that list right now. That includes felony drug trafficking, threatening crime with intent to terrorize robbery, which is different from burglary. Burglary is when someone breaks into your car or into your property to steal. Robbery is when an individual is

confronted, usually with a weapon, usually with some sort of threat in order to be stolen from. And he was, as ICE put it, convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. Now, as a result, ICE wrote in their press release that Sierra was arrested by the LAPD January 10th on a felony probation violation. So that was what he was arrested for after the citizens arrest, officers with U.S. immigration and customs enforcement and removal operations placed an immigration detainer on Sierra January 12th. So they, after, you know, the local authorities deal with him, they want to be able to detain him. Ice wants to be able to detain him and deal with a possible deportation. But that might be a difficult thing to do because they're worried that local

officials in California, and particularly in Los Angeles, will essentially stand in the way and prevent him from being turned over to ICE and then potentially deported. So Bill Mnugent spoke to ICE about it and reported, quote, I'm told ICE will place a detainer request on him with the LA County Sheriff's Department, but they do not expect it to be honored due to California's sanctuary state law. Now, if you're not paying close attention to how sanctuary laws work, you might think that's ridiculous. That's not what sanctuary laws are all about. And I don't blame anyone who doesn't know about this because I myself didn't know about this until fairly recently.

But there are certain areas of sanctuary laws that I think need to be recalibrated. It doesn't mean you have to necessarily totally throw sanctuary laws out because I do think it's important to protect people, even if they are, you know, even if they have undocumented status, they should be able to go to the authorities if they have been victimized by crime without fear of being deported. That is my favorite part of sanctuary laws. And I think that that should stay in place. However, unfortunately, the way these laws are written,

prevent local authorities from ever communicating with federal authorities even when an undocumented immigrant commits serious crimes. And as a result of that, they never end up getting deported even if they're convicted of serious crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon. So the Los Angeles City Council, for instance, adopted a sanctuary city ordinance last November that prohibits the use of city resources in immigration enforcement, including cooperating with federal immigration agents, it would also prohibit Los Angeles officials and agencies from directly or indirectly sharing data with immigration authorities.

In addition to that, the city council passed this motion unanimously. Every single city council member voted in favor of this to codify the protective measures after city attorney Heidi, Feltson Soto and Mayor Karen Bass expedited the draft ordinance. I don't think policy like this should ever be expedited. I think policy like this should be debated. I think they should carefully read it and understand, you know, what the potential flaws in the way the policy is written are.

They didn't do that here. In addition to that, newly appointed Los Angeles Police Department chief, Jim McDonald, has said that the department would not engage in immigration enforcement. he has remained steadfast in that position. So again, just to repeat myself, while these sanctuary laws are passed with the best of intentions, with the intentions of protecting migrants who haven't committed any serious crimes outside of being in the country illegally,

they also tend to protect repeat criminals who end up terrorizing communities, like this guy who's been arrested literally dozens of times and was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. After he serves his time for that conviction, you would think he'd get deported, right? But that's not what happens because the local authorities are not allowed to work or cooperate with federal authorities, even in instances where the undocumented individual who has committed serious crimes has reason to be deported, to be quite frank with you. Why would we harbor criminals from other countries who are here illegally?

I'm not in favor of that. And if that makes me a bad person, great. I'm very happy to be labeled a bad person. But we have our own homegrown bad guys. Okay, we don't need to import bad guys from other countries. We also have sanctuary laws in California on a state level. So everything that I just shared with you is from Los Angeles. But California's sanctuary laws known as SB 54 often stop local law enforcement from

notifying the federal agency about a suspect's immigration status or when he may be released. Now, Newsom's office, Governor Gavin Newsom, of course, did what they do best. They lied and they claimed that no, no, no, no, since Sierra was convicted of a felony in 2023, by the way, he's not protected by the state sanctuary laws. No, I mean, he's, except he is because he's still in the country. He was convicted in 2023. He's still in the country and he was caught by residents of a Woodland Hills neighborhood, lighting, trash cans, and Christmas trees on fire as massive wildfires were devastating

massive parts of Los Angeles County. So make it make sense, please. And look, I think because this story has gotten so much media attention, the sheriff's department has now released a statement to the LA Times saying that they do intend to hand Lava over to ICE after they finished their investigation after Ventura County police finished their investigation. And I do want to be clear. Look, Newsom has really no interest in governing California. To me, that has been clear. His site is set on becoming president. And everything that he has done certainly over the last two years makes that abundantly clear to me. So instead of dealing with the very real issues that we have within our state, let's say dealing with the issue of the chronically understaffed Los Angeles fire

department, figuring out ways to take the insane amount of resources the state of California has because of the high taxes in California, taking that money and finding useful ways of spending it, hiring staff for the fire department, doing things like that. He has decided to pursue funding specifically to make California trump proof. That's how it's being reported. Let's take a look at this. This is a headline from Politico. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats reach $50 million deal to Trump-proof the state,

the first of its kind agreement would fund litigation against the incoming White House and protect against a potential mass deportation of immigrants. Now let's look into this policy a little further. The deal includes $25 million, Newsom had proposed for the State Department of Justice to fight the federal government in court shortly after Trump's reelection in November, plus 25 million more proposed by state senators or state Senate leaders to defend immigrants against deportation, detention, and wage theft. The $25 million proposed by the Senate would fund grants. Oh, would you look at this for legal non-profits? That's where all the money in California goes. It goes to nonprofits. So it'll go to nonprofits and immigration support centers.

And look, overall, I am not 100% against sanctuary laws. I'm not 100% against, again, protecting people, especially undocumented immigrants who have been part of the fabric of this country and the state for very, very long for many, many years. I think they deserve protection. And I think they deserve a pathway to citizenship. But while I do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, I certainly do not want to use our limited resources in harboring and protecting people who are here illegally and who have committed crimes dozens of times, who have been arrested dozens of times. And so this is a flaw in the system. I hope Democrats are open-minded enough to understand that people do not want to use their resources in protecting

individuals like Lava. And so they should write a provision to reform this law. But something tells me they're not going to do that because they're less interested in serving the people of California and way more interested in signaling their virtue and their disdain for Donald Trump. And that's part of the problem. You know, the fury that's been directed toward Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, and Gavin Newsom isn't just about how they have mishandled and basically mishandled everything leading up to these devastating wildfires. It's years and years of them showing us where their priorities really lie. And, you know, Rick Caruso, who ran against Mayor Bass for the position of mayor in Los Angeles,

is getting all this flack because he hired private firefighters to protect his business in the Pacific Palisades. But I actually think that it shows you something else. Rick Caruso saw the fire weather warnings, and he immediately positioned these private firefighters where they needed to be in case of fire broke out near his business to protect his business. Why didn't Karen Bass do that? Why didn't Karen Bass take the precautionary measures to ensure that if a wildfire breaks out, which was likely considering the dry conditions, okay, considering the high winds, it was likely. I mean, we've been dealing with this in Los Angeles, in California for a long time. This is not a new thing. But rather than prepare and ensure that we are in the

best position possible to immediately respond to fires if and when they break out. She decided to go on a trip to Ghana, and that's the issue. It's not just that she used taxpayer money to go see the president of another country get inaugurated. It's the fact that she made the decision to leave at a time when the city needed her the most. And her leaving also shows you that she underestimated what the fire weather could potentially do to this county. And that's a huge issue. So there you have it. That's what we know so far in regard to potential arsonists and one of the major suspects in one of the wildfires that broke out in California. We got to take a break when we come back. We'll check in on the Consumer Financial

Protection Bureau and applaud them for actually looking out for Americans as opposed to corporations and banks, which pretty much every other government agency does. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the show. If you haven't liked and shared the stream, I'm going to go ahead and beg you to do so right now. It's a free and easy way to help spread the word of TYT, help support the show. So thank you to everyone who's already done it. If you haven't, maybe look into it.

Maybe look into it a little bit. All right. And if you want to support us a little more, you can become a member by going to t.com slash join. All right. Let's talk a little bit about some good news because while oftentimes we report on various government agencies doing us dirty, there is one government agency that deserves a lot of credit because they are working overtime as we speak to look out for the people. So new court filings in a lawsuit against Capital One alleged that the bank basically went out of its way to scam their own customers out of a whopping $2 billion. Now, this scheme involves high interest savings accounts, which I hope all of you took advantage of while interest rates were high. I know that there are now cuts to the rate, but you can find a, back in the day, at least last

year, you could find a nice savings account with a 5.5% interest rate, you know, have your money make money for you. Well, this lawsuit has to do with those high interest rate savings accounts that were offered by Capital One. Now, this lawsuit, which was filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, alleges that Capital One, which is the ninth largest bank in the United States introduced a savings account that they titled 360 performance savings in 2019. Now notice that it has a very similar name to a different savings account that they were already offering with a much lower interest rate, okay? And that was called 360 savings. So the higher interest rate one is called 360 performance savings, low interest one,

360 savings. Okay. Now, when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates, Capital One, along with many other banks, also raised the interest rates that they were offering for high yield savings accounts as well, but they were exclusively doing so for the 360 performance savings accounts, not for the 360 savings accounts. Now, the 360 performance savings accounts today pay a rate of 3.8%. The only only, the 360 performance savings accounts, today pay a rate of 3.8%. The older accounts pay 0.5% according to a Capital One spokesperson. Now here is where this scheme gets incredibly nefarious. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains it, Capital One eliminated nearly all references to the 360 savings account product on its website and replace

them with references to the essentially identical 360 performance savings account without notice that the 360 savings continue to exist as a distinct product. So if you're a Capital One customer and you already had a 360 savings account that has a much lower interest rate, you wouldn't necessarily realize that the 360 performance savings is a completely different savings account with a much higher interest rate. You're going to think, oh, I'm already signed up for that savings account. Similar name. It gets even more interesting, though, because it, meaning the bank excluded 360 savings account holders from a marketing campaign advertising

the higher interest yield 360 performance savings to Capital One's other existing customers. And it forbade its employees from proactively telling 360 savings account holders about the, again, higher interest rate 360 performance savings. So to be very clear, banks can generally provide as much interest as they want. Right. So Chase Bank notoriously terrible when it comes to offering a high yield savings account offer. Usually the interest rate is super, super low regardless of what the Federal Reserve does. Even if the Federal Reserve implements incredibly high interest rates, you'll still get offered like a 0.003 percent, you know, savings account from Chase. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but really only

a little bit. But where Capital One went wrong, according to this lawsuit, is intentionally confusing their own customers with the extremely similar account names and withholding information about the better savings account from their existing customers who had the account with the lower savings offer. Okay. So per the CFPB, the only thing that has ever meaningfully distinguished 360 performance savings from 360 savings is the former product's higher interest rate. So Capital One, of course, is disputing the findings of this lawsuit, claiming that they did absolutely widely market the 360 performance savings accounts. So this is going to go through the courts. We'll see what happens.

But I do want to just talk about what's been going on with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the waning days of the Biden administration. Because remember, Trump is coming in. And Trump was not friendly to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in his first term. He appointed Mick Mulvaney who despised the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be the head of that government agency. And he was bought off by the payday lenders, who of course are loan sharks. And so the CFPB, prior to Mick Mulvaney, had implemented new rules pertaining to payday lenders

or same day lenders. And Mick Mulvaney came in and dismantled all that. So there is good reason for the current members of the CFPB to be concerned that once Trump comes in, he could do some real damage to the agency. So they're currently working overtime, like 24-7, trying to accomplish some of the protections, file some of the lawsuits that really do serve the people of this country who have been defrauded, who have been scammed by various financial institutions. And so, per the New York Times, the CFBBB has taken action against a major financial institution almost every working day for the past month. So look, we're going to have to wait and see what happens when Trump comes in. What we do know is that many,

Republicans are chomping at the bit to get rid of the agency, not because of any real substantive reason, but because they're donors, which are financial institutions, don't like that there's a cop on the beat. They don't like that there's a government agency specifically focusing on banks that are defrauding and scamming American citizens. This is also not a good sign. Okay, so obviously Elon Musk has the ear of the incoming president, and he has previously tweeted the following, delete the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies. I totally disagree. The CFPB is really the only government agency that has been going after these big financial institutions that are essentially scamming Americans. So he's

wrong about that. The other thing that the CFPB recently did is they're pushing for stricter rules in order to prevent people from being debanked. And so while you'll hear Silicon Valley billionaires like Mark Andresen tell, you know, Joe Rogan that the CFPB is aiding and abetting or even facilitating debanking, that is not the case at all. The CFPB is actually fighting tooth and nail to prevent people from getting debanked when they've done nothing wrong. Usually the people who are worried about debanking are people who have engaged in potential

criminality, but we'll move on from that. And look, after the CFPB finalized a rule to cap overdraft fees, which we should all be celebrating, why should anyone fall prey to these ridiculous overdraft fees? Doge leader, Vivek Ramoswamy, wrote that in its 15-year history, the CFPB has consistently adopted policies that have harmed the very consumers they seek to protect. This latest gambit of the CFPB is just a symptom of a deeper and unconstitutional cancer of unelected bureaucrats substituting their policy judgments for those of Congress that's un-American and needs to end. Well, the Vec, I mean, as we know, the swamp is real thick, and the swamp mainly exists among our congressional lawmakers. And so the idea that Congress is

going to enact legislation to protect Americans from getting scammed by the very individuals and institutions that fund their campaigns is laughable. They haven't and they're not going to, which is why it was so important to institute a specific government agency following the 2008 economic collapse that specifically looks out for the best interests of the people. Because remember, what led to the 2008 economic collapse were these predatory mortgages, these adjustable rate mortgages that were doled out like candy to various people who couldn't afford them, to be quite frank, and they couldn't afford them because once the interest rates spiked, they were unable to pay their mortgage. So so many Americans had their homes foreclosed on as a

result of the banks doing this, but that was only half of the scheme. Remember, the banks then bundled up those toxic mortgages as securities and traded them on the stock market. And when they did that. All these Americans unwittingly had invested in those toxic securities. When the economy collapsed, all those people lost half their stock portfolies. I'm talking about hardworking Americans who had slowly but surely saved for retirement. They lost nearly half or more in some cases of their nest egg. And guess what? The banks who doled out those toxic mortgages, They bet against those securities and made more money. Okay, that was the type of disgusting fraud, abuse, the scam that hurt so many Americans,

which is why Senator Elizabeth Warren pushed for the implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And they have returned so much money to Americans who have been defrauded by these financial institutions. And so don't listen to anyone who tells you that the CFPB isn't looking out for you because at this moment, with the exception of the FTC under Lena Kahn's leadership, is really one of the only government agencies looking out for the ordinary American. And so we really need to protect this agency because I've seen them do really good work. But we'll see what happens under Trump. Really, his first term and how he handled the CFPB doesn't give me a lot of

hope, but I'm hoping that he proves me wrong. Again, we're going to have to wait and see. For now, because I just can't stop myself from yapping away, we're going to have to take a break. And when we come back, John Iderola will join me for the rest of the show.