The Young Turks - House of Horrors

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Episode summary: "I’m here because Donald Trump raped me," E. Jean Carroll testifies. A Santa Monica police employee molested more than 200 kids. Warnings of abuse were ignored. Texas woman who "nearly died" savages Ted Cruz at Senate hearing over abortion ban. Watch: Marjorie Taylor Greene implies stepmoms are not real moms as she rages at the teacher's union chief. Lizzo brought drag queens onstage in Tennessee. HOSTS: Cenk Uygur (@CenkUygur) & Francesca Fiorentini (@franifio) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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. Woo! It's up! All right, welcome you out of turn. Perks, Jank, you go. Francesca, if you're in Tini with you guys, Francesca's on Rebel headquarters with us, of course, and she's right here with us. So, uh, hey. Hey, uh, we got a great hour ahead for you guys. Bangley was going to join us later. Uh, fantastic show. Lots of fascinating news all around politics and other shenanes. Um, conservatives are looking to lock up Lizzo. So we will talk about why. That's literal, by the way. Literal. Okay.

tons of insanity in today's show. All right, now having said all that, Francesco, what's up? Oh, God, there's a lot. There's a lot. It's not all good news. There's our first two stories, just buckle up, y'all. Let's start with this. So the civil rape case trial, excuse me, is underway against surprise.

Donald J. Trump, former president. Ever heard of him? Yeah, I want to forget him forever. Anyway, this is over a 1996 allegation. that he raped writer E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan. And this is the second time that she has sued Donald Trump. The first time she sued him in 2019, it was a defamation lawsuit involving his denial of her rape allegation. We'll get into his denial and why he denies it. It wasn't over the attack. But in November 22,

Carol filed another lawsuit against Trump on both sexual battery and defamation grounds. Then she was was able to do so because of the Adult Survivors Act, which is a new New York state law, went into effect the same month giving adult survivors of sexual misconduct a one year window to file civil cases that would otherwise be outside of the statute of limitations. So almost like the purge for real justice. Like yeah, the statute of limitations is incredibly problematic. So she did, she filed again. Now it's important to remember that Trump isn't charged with any crime in relationship to her accusations. Instead, Carol is seeking an unspecified monetary damages for a, and for a court order

demanding that Trump retract, what she called a defamatory statement he made criticizing her last year. And we'll get into what that defamatory statement is, but I just wanted to give you her opening words in this trial, which again is underway now. She says, I'm here because Donald Trump raped me. And when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. I'm here to get my life back. So there you have it. That's what it is.

It's a case of really justice and character. And to that end, let's just revisit what Donald Trump said about EG and Carol when she came out with these allegations. He told The Hill three years ago, quote, I'll say it with great respect. Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, okay? As if number one were any kind of consolation or reassurance that someone could not be a rapist.

But, Jenk, there you have it. And here we are now going to trial and we'll get into the specifics. Yeah, I'll tell you, one of the things that I was curious about is why people aren't making a bigger deal out of this trial. So now there's a number of potential reasons, and then I'm going to tell you what I think. So number one, I get it. The event happened nearly 30 years ago. On the other hand, rape is a pretty significant crime. So, like, I don't like that it didn't work for Kavanaugh or maybe it did for Republicans, right?

But it's not a thing where you go, oh, it was a rape. But it was 30 years ago, so it's okay. No, it's not okay, right? So there are two legal issues that it's going to be really interesting to see how it turns out in this case. And then overall, it's a civil trial, not a criminal trial, so it's not going to go to prison or anything like that. So I guess that's a reason to downplay it a little bit. And maybe I'm wrong, by the way, the media is now playing it. But my sense of it is like the other cases, they're making giant deals out of.

Like, oh, my God. So many Daniels, and I think that those are giant deals. The Georgia case, all these different cases, right? The classified documents, et cetera. But this is also not only a giant case, but normally anything that's related to crime, sex, combination of sex and crime, but the press usually goes bananas over, right? Now, her case has a couple challenges too because passing a law saying, well, the statute of limitations ran out, But secretly it didn't.

I'm super curious to see how the courts react to that for legal reasons, on legal grounds, not having to do with justice, but just about legal principles in this country. But as I saw the testimony, I thought, wow, she is super credible. And I, and I, oh my God, I think he raped her. And, and then people are just kind of, like treating it like an afterthought. I mean, imagine if there was a credible rape case against, I mean, I hate to even say it, right? But like Barack Obama or some sort of other renowned political figure, the whole country would lose their minds. That's the only thing they'd ever talk about.

And so what the hell is going on here that people aren't paying that much attention to this massive case? I think that's a really good point. And it's not because the evidence isn't there. And I want to get into the story. But first, we just have to take that piece of vile misogyny that she's not my type to commit a violent crime against. What, like, and I remember three years ago, we talked about how Chrissy Teigen said, oh yeah, Trump only rapes hot people. Great. And that was, you know, it seemed like we would never see justice. So I'm, glad we're at least seeing this trial play out. And we'll get into the specifics what the defense is saying, what the prosecution is saying. But on that particular point, actually in a deposition for this particular trial, Donald Trump, after having said that E. Jean Carroll, not his type, actually confused Eging Carroll for his former wife, Marla Maple, someone who was enough of his type that he married her. So this is from the Washington Post earlier this year, Trump mistook his sexual assault accuser Eging Carol for his ex-wife Marla Maples when shown a photograph from the

1990s in a deposition at Mara Lago last year, potentially undermining one of the common defenses he has used to deny an attack. Quote, that's Marla, yeah, that's my wife, Trump said, under an examination from Carol's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. Oops. E. Doesn't look good. But let's just get into, these are a few details. I'm not going to go into the whole thing, but everyone should read what happened. Effectively, excuse me, Eugen Carroll was coming out of a Bergdorf Goodman and ran into Donald Trump. He asked her to help her pick out a gift for a woman and she did. And they ended up in the lingerie section and he convinced her to go try on a piece of lingerie or at least go to the fitting rooms. So here's where we pick up with this is from E. Jean Carroll's

words and her testimony. She says, quote, I was flirting the whole time probably. Trump led her to the dressing room, which was open. Carol made it clear that Trump did not force her there. They went into the dressing room. Quote, that open door has plagued me for years because I just walked into it, she said. He immediately shut the door and shoved me up on the wall, Carol said. He shoved her so roughly that her head hit the wall. She didn't quite understand what was unfolding. Quote, for a minute, I thought maybe it was a mistake. I pushed him back and he threw me back against the wall, banging my head again, Carol said. Did she scream, yell for help. Quote, I didn't want to make a scene. I know that sounds strange. I didn't want him to make,

I didn't want to make him angry at me. Trump put his shoulder against Carol pinning her to the wall. He leaned down and tugged down her tights. She was pushing him and it was quite clear that she didn't want to be, she didn't want what he was doing. His fingers went into my vagina, which was incredibly painful, extremely painful. It was a horrible feeling because he curved. He put his hands inside of me and he curved his fingers, Carol said. And then lastly, she says, as I'm sitting here today, I can still feel it. She said, he then forced himself inside her. Carol described trying to break away. So yeah, so using his fingers and then raped her, sexual intercourse. And this is unlike Kavanaugh, as Jank you mentioned, that was an attempted rape.

And he still became sitting on the highest bench in the land when it comes to U.S. law. And hey, here's a former president, but who was currently president at the time. Every part of the story makes my skin crawl, and it's, and I think the part that bothers me the most is that this was a perfectly fine interaction. They were both having a good time. It was perfect, like you can flirt, you can walk around, you could, whatever it was. And then all of a sudden he decided, oh, no, no, no, I'm going violent with this. And he raped her. So the reason that I said that she sounds incredibly believable is a number of factors.

Number one, she readily admits that she was flirting with him and she didn't think it was going to go in this direction at all. But she's very honest about all those facts. And she says, I don't think I said no. Now, why would you lie about that? Especially if you're trying to frame the guy and you're suing the guy. it's so easy to say that you said no no one even has to hear you it's inside that room you could have said no 12 times and probably no one would have heard you but nonetheless she was honest

about it so that to me is is pretty telling them but it doesn't really matter I know we have to judge these in the court of public opinion and it's gross in a lot of ways and and And the fact that women in general are not believed is maddening, et cetera. But here in this case, nonetheless, for the skeptics, she told two people right afterwards, one of them said, you're not getting it. You were raped. You did not agree to that at all. It is obviously greatly traumatized you.

And he had intercourse with you. And he held her against the wall to do it. You got to report him to the police. The other person said, no, he'll ruin your life, right? He's a celebrity, et cetera. So don't do it. Those people corroborate what she said back then, not today, back then. That is excellent evidence.

And so, and Francesca, as I hear her description of what Donald Trump did, the Access Hollywood tape becomes way more haunting when he said, I just grabbed them by the genitalia and they let me do it because I'm a celebrity. And one of her friends at this time said, don't pursue criminal charge against them because he's a celebrity and he'll overwhelm you with lawyers and ruin your life. And Trump made it seem like, oh, they don't mind. No, what he was actually saying in that tape is we just raped them and we use our power and privilege to get away with it.

That's exactly right. And both of those things, her attorneys have brought up, right? So Sean Crowley is one of her attorneys brought up exactly that, the Access Hollywood tapes and is going to be calling those two witnesses who she did tell about the rape, you know, to the stand. So this is all unfolding. I mean, my God, he's lucky, right? Oh, he's lucky. It's a civil trial. The dude should be behind bars. And maybe that is why we're not talking about it because it's not going to bring him in as if any of this is going to hold him accountable, right? As if no matter how all of these, you know, lawsuits play out, it's like which one is going to get him, right? It's not even really stop, you know, sort of drooling over this idea he's going to see the inside of a prison cell. It's not going to happen.

And it's sort of, you know, this case makes it very clear. It's not about whether he sees the inside of a prison cell, which he should. It is whether or not he is allowed to keep running his mouth about things like, oh, I didn't raise. no no no it did happen and now you owe her damages for the amount of people who have been vilifying her coming after her obviously trolling her I mean to say to say nothing of what she actually experienced which by the way she says that since 1996 she's not been able to have an intimate relationship with anyone since it occurred and I feel like that for those those of people who are survivors, so many of them out there, that rings very, very true

in terms of this encounter, a rape completely changes how you view your intimate relationships. I do want to go to though the trial and the jury. So there are six men and three women sitting on the jury. The judge is Judge Lewis Kaplan. A little bit more about him. He was nominated by Bill Clinton. He's had overseen a number of high profile proceedings presided over over actor Anthony Raps recent sexual misconduct trial against Kevin Spacey, and he's now overseeing Crypto Bro Sam Bankman Freed's fraud case. So very high profile. He, it doesn't seem like Trump will have to appear in court, although the judge has sort of made grumblings that, why the hell not? He's on the campaign trail. He should probably appear. And then for his part,

Donald Trump's got his defense attorney, a guy named Joe Takopino, who is pointing to Carol, not remembering whether it was 1995 or 1996 and has said, quote, it all comes down to do you believe the unbelievable? And I got to say, of all the Trump anecdotes I've heard, this one is pretty gross and pretty up there. Also insanely believable. Bergdorf Goodman, strong arming a woman, trying to flirt with flirting with her as you try to get another woman a gift, it all just feels I was like, yeah, check, check, check, tacky, rapy, got it. And then finally, I just, just a hats off. Like E. Jean Carroll is an incredible talent in her own right.

She has been, she was nominated, I believe, for an Emmy the same year that she was raped by Donald Trump. There's a lot she could say right now. And she had this to say, she says, I don't particularly like attention because I'm suing. Getting attention for being raped is is not, it's hard. Getting attention for making a great three bean salad, that would be good. She is a very talented and funny writer. So it's, yeah, it's a shame that this is somewhat and part of her, her, you know, her bio, her story. Yeah.

So last couple of things here. The difference in perspectives is amazing. Because as a man, I never considered what E. Jean Carroll said and about how she did not have an intimate relationship after that for these last 27 years or so. And it was heartbreaking to hear that. I mean, it's a consequence of sexual assault that as a man I never considered and didn't run across. And already it was horrific enough of a crime. But when you add that in, Jesus, man. And so this civil case is the least of it in terms of consequences that should be had for that kind of grotesque action. So, and then on the year that it happened, guys, I don't know, I'm getting up there, right?

But I remember one summer, I nearly fell off a cliff and my friend caught me at the last second. and I mean I don't know if I would have died it was pretty steep but but I thought it is like as a young guy at that time that I might have died there if he hadn't caught me that's a pretty I still remember to this day pretty big event in my life I can tell you what year it was if my life depended on it I mean you guys think about what what happened a couple of decades ago do you remember I don't remember the month the years etc so to me that's like if that's Donald Trump's best defense, that's super weak sauce. So, and then finally, on the defamation issue, look, sometimes people sue, and then the person there soon goes, well, that's not true.

And they go, you're calling me a liar, defamation, I'm going to add that. That's kind of an annoying tactic. This is not that because all of Donald Trump's fans, which is like 40% of the country, then characterized her as a kook and a loon and someone who's mentally unbalanced, etc. And then the media debated it. And so, I mean, if any time somebody had actual defamation against them because they were called a liar, this would be the case. Right. So I think she's got an amazing case. And he might have, I mean, one of our members wrote in saying he'll, he'll probably you can, you know, he'll probably lose the case, a civil case, and he'll probably appeal it and fight it the rest of his life, which is probably true, which is both good news and bad

news, of course. What we're really rooting for is justice for E. Jean Carroll. Absolutely. And for like, I just final reminder, this is not the only sexual assault allegation levied on the former president. I believe there's a couple dozen. So yay, just one of the most egregious ones. Anyway, I know we have to break. Yeah, no, you know what, I'm gonna say one super last thing. So Al Franken had to leave the Senate because he took a goofy picture 10 feet from someone pretending to do a joke. And the Republicans at the time pretended to be super morally outraged by that.

Donald Trump, it looks like there's excellent evidence that he raped someone. They're like, oh, whatever, it's no big deal. Never, ever, ever talk about family values if you're a Republican. Just at least have the decency to shut your mouth. about it. All right, we'll be right back. All right. All right, back on CYT, Jenk, Francesca, Dave-eyed, Jeff Cook, and Sarah Kate with you guys. All three of those folks just became young to her members. by hitting the join button below the video on YouTube.

We appreciate it. And everybody, you could watch us or listen to us. If you remember anywhere, anytime, all of our shows, t.com slash join. All right. Francesco, what's next? All right, let's do some updates on, you know, constituents calling out their representatives on their insane BS when it comes to reproductive rights. Here we go.

The reason the Democrats want this issue to be out of the hands of the voters, is quite obvious, because the modern Democrat party is wildly out of step with the American people. Yes, that is Senator Ted Cruz. Again, parroting the line that Republicans are now parroting, which is Democrats stand for abortion at age one of a child. I don't know. That's, yeah, a live abortion, tight. So there he is, and that was at a Senate judiciary hearing on abortion access in the wake of the many, many dozens of bans that have gone into effect across this country. And as we await the ruling, excuse me, from the Supreme Court around Mifapristone, abortion pills, which are widely used and very, very safe. But, you know, again, and a radical judge appointed by Trump

has overturned their FDA approval. So we're waiting on that. But of course, Ted Cruz is getting one in here to regurgitate that line. And we'll go into why he's completely wrong. But immediately, just a few moments later, one of his own constituents decided to check him on who exactly is out of step with the American people. This is Amanda Zerwaski who talked about her own story in this speech. Take a look. I wanted to address my senators, Cruz and Cornyn, who, neither of whom regrettably are in the room right now.

But I would like for them to know that what happened to me, I think most people in this room would agree was horrific. But it's a direct result of the policies that they support. So that's Amanda there. I want to just roll right into what she talks about because she herself had. an at-risk pregnancy, and this is what she went through. I nearly died on their watch. And furthermore, as a result of what happened to me, I may have been robbed of the opportunity to have children in the future.

And it's because of the policies that they support. What happened to me was horrible, but I am one of many. And quite frankly, I'm lucky. I'm lucky that I have a husband that could take me to the hospital. I don't have other children that I had to worry about finding health care for. I have a job that was understanding that allowed me to grieve for three days as I waited to almost die. What about all of the women that don't have those same opportunities, that don't have access to health care, that don't have health insurance, that don't have a partner? What about them?

Exactly. And we'll talk more about the state of them, those women in Texas. Zaraski is suing Texas actually for withholding an abortion as her pregnancy complications became dire. She said she'd been told that her baby would not survive, but doctors said they couldn't offer more care because fetal cardiac activity could still be detected according to her suit. Zerwaski eventually developed sepsis and doctors induced labor. She gave birth and the baby died and she, as you see there, she lived. But only barely and, And as she talks about and refers to, she potentially could have lost the ability to have kids again by, you know, losing her actual uterus, something happening to her, preventing to her from being able to have kids. Just as a reminder, Texas has a six-week abortion ban and senators Cruz and Cornyn, who were both on the judiciary committee, who were both there in the room when that hearing started, nowhere to be found when she actually testified.

Jank, just thoughts on this. And also the, I'm glad she's suing. I'm just happy. This is what we need to do in this country. Like the only recourse is suing these A-holes to death. Like I'm sorry. It's the only way you get Fox News to admit any kind of wrongdoing. Did they? Not really. But you know, it's the only way you get them to do something. It's the only way we're going to move forward on this. But I wanted to get your thoughts. Yeah, by the way, that's partly why they're so hell bent on strangling the court system because it's the only place where you have just a tiny bit of a shot at justice. Because our politicians are never going to do about anything about anything other than pass more regressive laws, taking away rights from women, taking away rights from LGBTQ individuals. That's all Republicans ever do. When's the last time they passed a bill that helped someone? That actually affirmatively helped a United States citizen.

Never, never, other than, of course, the incredibly rich who got giant trillions of dollars in tax cuts. But anyways, now, this is such an important story. Look, the reason why the doctors didn't do anything is because the fetus still had a pulse that I don't know if at that point medically it's a heartbeat or if it's the earlier pulse that's not actually a heart at all, right? This is about four and a half months into her pregnancy. And so they're like, well, look, we can be prosecuted. This is the state of Texas. This could ruin our lives if we do this operation. But the water broke.

There is a zero percent chance she's going to deliver that baby. She's four months pregnant. Like, I'm not exaggerating. It's not hyperbole. There's a zero percent chance that that baby can be born alive, okay? And by the way, there is a near 100 percent. chance that she's going to get an infection once the water breaks. Yeah.

They almost let her die. And so I don't, I don't look, you can blame the doctors, but the doctors are like, I didn't pass the goddamn law. I hate the goddamn law, right? But the law is, will ruin my life if I do this. So what do you want me to do? And the woman's like, I'm about to, God damn it, I'm about to die. And so, and there's no, and I want to have other kids.

And the Republicans go, we don't care about it. you. We don't care about you at all. We just want to possess your body and force you to do things that make no sense at all because that way we have power over you and we have dominion over you. This is super sick. I mean, I totally agree with you, but I'm also, it makes me so mad at health care providers in general, also who are only looking out for themselves and often are associated with larger hospitals. And I think the clinics, smaller clinics that have been forced to be shut down, clinics that actually work on women's health.

Those are the ones who listen to patients and aren't necessarily crazy worried. I mean, they are worried, but they aren't as worried about the backlash. They're more focused on the human rights aspect of this. And I just, the reason I say that is because look at what happened in this case. She was not, the baby had a very low chance of survive. In fact, would not survive. It doesn't matter if you have a heartbeat, you need a bunch of other stuff to be around. You know, I mean, look, talk to Dick Cheney.

That dude does not have a heartbeat anymore and he's like, look, I'm living. You know what I'm saying? Heartbeat is not a sign that you can survive outside of the womb. Although I'm sure if you put Dick Cheney in a womb, it wouldn't help. The point is that's, that's a separate point. What did they do? They induced labor, Jenk. They didn't give her an abortion.

They induced labor so she would actually deliver the baby. They could have done that before. she was in sepsis. But no, they're too afraid to do that. So I totally hear you, they're afraid, I get it, they don't want to lose their medical license, but I feel like we're in an end times, we're in very dire times for women. We're gonna need people to be courageous and do things that yeah, it might cost them, but you also might save a life.

Yeah, and look, that's a great point, Francesca, because oftentimes it's not the doctor making the decision. It's the hospital making the decision. It's the executive making decision. And do they care about, oh my God, you know, Dr. Bob, we care so much about it. Maybe a little bit, right? But do they care about being sued? Yes, a lot. And so they're worried they're going to lose money if they do that life-saving operation because of the laws that Texas has passed. And no one F's with the profit motive. So that's definitely part of this story as well. But the most important thing is don't pass barbaric laws that cause great danger to the life of women. Look, in politics, unfortunately, optics matters too. So I wish that

people listen to everyone, no matter what they look like, what their perspective was, what their background was, et cetera. But we don't live in that world, which sucks. But she looks like, I'm keeping it real with you guys, like a standard white lady that all of America can relate to. They should, they should have her tell that story to everyone nonstop to save other people's lives. Because that could, like, there's something about humans that if the person telling the story doesn't look like them, they dismiss it, right? And for a lot of women in this country, they're going to hear that story coming from her and go, wow, that is brutal. If somebody did that to me, I would be horrified. And she might not be able to have kids. What part of this is pro life? So you got to get the word out. Absolutely.

That's so important. I just, very, very quickly, you know, she also mentions, she understands her privilege and she says I had health care. Let's remember, Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country when it comes to health care. This was back in 2022. You can't. And bet this was late September, it's still that case. In 2021, one in four women of childbearing age, so about 20, almost 25% in Texas was uninsured. And then let's skip down to Graphics 6, what about women who were pregnant or are pregnant had kids? Most Texas women who were pregnancies were covered by public insurance suffered a lack of coverage during the first year after delivery. A very critical year, of course, not just for them, but for their families, if they're nursing,

I should know. So Texas doesn't care about women. It doesn't care about children. It doesn't care about pregnant women. It just cares about, again, controlling women's bodies and pretending to care about the unborn until of course the time that they're actually born. And lastly, Ted Cruz is wrong. We just have to end this segment by saying Ted Cruz is wrong. The Democrats are not out of step with the majority of American people. In fact, 62% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And they disapprove of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Six in 10, nearly six in 10 disapprove of that ruling. So we shall see how they come down on things like Mitha Pristone. Again, one of the safest ways to have an abortion.

I just, we're watching it crumble before our very eyes. And I think you're right, Jenks, she should be on every single, every single new channel, every single program talking about the exact same thing. And it, and it only is a matter of time before this happens to someone, Republicans love their family member, and maybe they'll change their tune. I don't know. By the way, the country is even more pro-choice than it realizes, because when they ask about Mitha Pryston, which is the most common way of getting an abortion in this day and age, the polling is like near 80%, over 80% saying that it should be legal. Well, that means you're pro choice.

I mean, the other day, a Republican on air was like, well, you know, I don't believe in having an abortion, but of course people should be allowed to have a choice. That's why I'm pro life. I'm like, no, you're not. You're pro choice. You just don't even understand the concept. No, if you think other people should be allowed to get an abortion, then you're pro choice.

So it's super frustrating talking to people who don't understand these issues. Anyways, the overwhelming majority of the American people either way are on the side of pro-choice. And look, if you're doubting us that it's about having control over women's bodies and you think, well, golly, gee, I know some people who are real religious objections to this because, you know, God said it. Did he, I'll say for the millionth time, go find your Bible, read numbers 511 through 31. The Bible is 100% in favor of abortion. God orders you to do an abortion if you think your wife has cheated on you. So they're lying about every single part of it. And in this case, it's when Republicans cheat on their wives they do abortions. It's fun how things shift.

Yeah, it was a convenient misreading of that text, exactly. All right, but definitely God is in favor of abortion. look it up. Don't ask me, ask God, go look in your own Bible. All right, let's do one more story. Oh, we have to, I think we're, we got a break, yeah? We got a break. Okay, all right, we got a break. All right, right. We come back into a couple.

They're amazing. Stay right here. All right, back on TYAT, Jankan Francesca, with you guys, Franning's Got More News. All right, this one's pretty heavy, so viewer discretion advised. While Republicans try and convince us that pedophiles are hiding at drag shows, real predators are hiding in establishments that they claim to love, like the police. This week, the city of Santa Monica made a massive payout in a lot. lawsuit against a former tech worker who was on police payroll and who during his time on police payroll abused over 200 children. That's right. His name is or was, and we'll talk

about that, Eric Uler, who worked as a civilian employee for the Santa Monica Police Department for three decades. And he participated in a program that was called the Police Activities League, which is actually still active. Here's a picture from their website and they describe themselves is offering a free after school programs for youth ages 6 to 17 who live or attend public school in the city of Santa Monica. They provide leadership enhancement, fitness training, bridge the gap between youth and law enforcement in a friendly and positive environment. Yeah, that kind of environment. Uler joined the program in the 80s and according to the LA Times, the abuse started almost immediately. He would do a lot of things like,

use his access to the police, even though he himself was not a cop, to lure kids with things that generally interest kids, like cool police stuff, right? This is one of the John Doe's, and the victims are not being named, who says he bribed me with money, baseball cards, Dodger tickets, lunch. One of the hundreds of former pal youth who accused Uler of repeated rape and sexual abuse over two years said, he also pretended like he was a cop. So this is according to some of his victims, this has jumped down to four. He says some of Uller's victims were called he would even turn on the police lights and siren as he drove them home further enforcing the idea he was a cop working under the color of authority documents summarizing his victim's account reveal. He even, this is according to another witness or a victim says he was 12 when he met Uler who drove him and other boys around in his Chevy Suburban, which was outfitted with a police radio or in an online

unmarked police car given to him by the department. He recalls Uler having a badge and handcuffs and said he even left a gun on the car seat once. Everyone thought he was a police officer. Now, it's important to remember that who he preyed on, current city council member Oscar De La Torre says in this city, this is a black and brown part of the neighborhood. No one in government was watching out for our kids. The Pico neighborhood was marginalized in that era. So that's overall what happened. There's a lot more detail.

And I want to like get into a little bit of it. But I do want to say that over the decades, multiple people, they happen to both be women, one who worked with the pal, again, this sort of after school program trying to build trusted law enforcement flagged that this guy Uler was spending a lot of time with kids. In fact, a little bit too much time with them. And then another was a detective, a woman also who later, many years later, said that there's something fishy going on, said to her supervisor, none of it was investigated, none of it. Let's just, before I kick it to you, Jenk, a little bit more. He prayed on these, again,

young, mostly black and brown kids, and threatened them. So Graphic 7, I could say nothing because my family would go to jail. It was as if he could get away with whatever he wanted. Another victim alleged that Uler began abusing him as a teenager after he was arrested by the Santa Monica police. As a young man, he struggled with, as the young man struggle with other run-ins with the law, he was forced to submit to sex acts with Uler according to his court claim records. The unspoken threat is if I didn't go along with Eric, I would go to jail. Yeah, now what finally changed? What happened? Well, it seems like, like they found something on his computer.

So retired Santa Monica police lieutenant Greg Slaughter, who headed the department's communication center where Uler was the lead systems analyst, said that one morning in the early 2000s, again, this is decades after a couple decades after he started, a supervisor turned on a computer for work and child pornography popped up on the screen. Slaughter said he immediately ordered an investigation which led to led to Uler, but he was never interviewed regarding the allegations.

Slaughter told the sheriff's investigator that Uler reported directly to the chief of police James Butts, the rank structure was overlooked for Eric's behalf, Slaughter said, in the sheriff's report. I just want to say that that man, James Butts, who was the former head of the Santa Monica Police, what is he doing now? He's the mayor of Inglewood. Anyway, Jank, I just want to kick it to you because there's a lot here. Decades of impunity and victims. So let's start with this. are right wing media shows talking about pedophilia and groomers nonstop? Well, to be fair to them, they are, right? So are they talking about this case?

One of the worst cases of pedophilia, potentially in American history. As far as I can tell, not a single right wing host has picked up this case. I don't watch them all. So, and look, easy to prove me wrong. So especially before we make this video and embarrass them, right? Show me videos they did before this or articles they wrote about. about this. So why am I making that point? Because they don't give a damn about pedophilia. They're sick people that use kids as a prompt to attack people and

spread their hatred. Get pedophiles and groomers don't go to drag queen's story hour. They don't go dancing around with drag queens trying to draw attention to themselves. Where do they go? They go to where they have easy targets and where they know they'll be protected no matter what they do. It's not an accident that there were thousands of cases inside the Catholic Church. Easy targets, kids who are told they must trust authority figures and do whatever they say. And then a clergy that protects them, that protects the pedophiles and the groomers. Is right wing media talking nonstop about the goddamn Catholic church and the pedophiles?

Nope. Where else would you go? Oh, a police program that is supposed to help underprivileged kids. some of whom are undocumented, their families are undocumented, thereby making them perfect targets of a pedophile like this, because then he could hold it over their heads. He could say, oh, I'm going to have your parents deported. I'm going to have them put it in prison, et cetera. And as Francesca explained, by the way, usually almost always female cops, but give them credit,

they turn them in, like nearly half a dozen times. They're like, we've got him. He's, he's like graphic descriptions from boys. Still, though he liked the target boys who were 12 to 15 years old that he thought were the most vulnerable. But he would go as young as eight. And every time they're like, nope, nope, not going to investigate him. You want to know why? Because he helped the cops fix their computers.

The computer would often break down and he was really good at fixing them. And he was really good at doing databases that they could use. Get a load of this. He was in charge of the criminal database to track criminals. And he was probably the largest criminal in Santa Monica. Yeah. Yes, I just so. Also, lots of updated their traffic system. So I'm sure many people, if you got a ticket in Santa Monica in the last 30 years, hey, you got to thank a pedophile for that one. That's fun. So disgusting. I do, I do want to just mention that on the day he was supposed to appear in court,

This was 2018. He was charged with multiple counts of lewd acts to a child. Six people came forward to testify. He was found dead by suicide in his Marina Del Rey apartment. Actually a telltale sign in a lot of these massive pedophilia cases. I don't know if you guys remember a man who worked with Larry Nasser, I believe, in women's girls gymnastics. Was it Nassar? I think it was, yes. He also was found dead. So anyway, it doesn't mean that these victims still don't deserve justice. And it doesn't mean that this incredible payout is not still warranted. So, yeah, $42.6 million to settle this case.

By the way, all the cases combined is over $220 million. And did this son of bitch pay, by the way? No, did the cops who protected him for decades pay? No, we have to pay. The citizens have to pay for this sick pervert to molest our own kids. Okay, and is anybody outraged by it? Yeah, of the people who put them away, thank God. Oh, they found them dead.

Good, I'm glad. Okay, so if you want to cry about that, go cry about that. So at least there's a little bit of justice in that. But do I see outrage in all the media of all the people who pretend to care about pedophiles? No, they don't give it to them. They don't care about the kids at all. They're just like, oh, grab a kid, use it as a human shield, and we'll pretend it's about them. And then spew hatred against everybody.

Pretend it's like LGBTQ people that are doing it when it's like Boy Scouts, Catholic Church, cops. And then what do they say? Thin blue line, thin blue line. We have to protect cops no matter what. And anyone is so, and anyone fixing cops' computers have to be protected. Over and over again. God damn it. A kid said that he did this thing that is outrageous, aren't you going to do anything?

Well, oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, he, he did you a favor? He would do them all the cops' favors nonstop. Of course, when you're raping little kids, you want the cops on your side. He'd brag about the pictures that he has with cops all the time, and he put them all around. So he had easy access and complete protection from the cops themselves, the biggest gang. God damn it, that's disgusting. Do you actually care about kids at all?

And then, of course, you know what the answer is in politics. No one who talks about kids actually cares about them. It's disgusting. Agreed. Agreed. Anyway, we got to let's move on. This is a different level of disgusting. Again, another point of proof that Republicans don't care about families in this crass display here. What I'd like to talk about is your recommendations to the CDC as not a medical doctor, not a biological mother, and really not a teacher either. You had no business advising the CDC what the medical guidelines were for school closures, because now we have a nation of school children who have suffered because of it. The problem is, is people like you need to admit that you're just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother, and not a medical

doctor. You heard that, a lot of stress on not a biological mother, not a mother, again, repeating it. What is Marjorie Green talking about? Why is she so obsessed with that? Does it have to do with transphobia? No, no, no, no, no. We're at something way more basic. That there is president of the American Federation of Teachers, the AFT, testifying on a panel about something completely unrelated, which is free speech on college campuses. But of course, you got Marjorie Green there using this as a moment to grandstand. And she's calling her not a biological mom because that there, the president, Randy Weingarten, is a stepmom. So take a look at that exchange. Ms. Weingarten, are you a medical doctor?

I am not. Are you a mother? I am a mother by marriage. By marriage, I see. Ms. Weingarten, and you haven't taught school since the 90s, so you're not a teacher anymore. I am actually, Representative, I'm actually on leave from my teaching position, and this fall I will be teaching as a guest teacher at Cornell, my alma mater. Okay, so that's the genesis, right? Oh, you're not a mom or you're a mother by marriage. I see. Oh, and married to a woman that's sort of implicitly in there as well. And then, of course, using that as an angle to attack her, specifically on the CDC recommendations to close schools during a global pandemic. Jank, Marjorie thinks this hits real good, but it doesn't hit good. She's not coming across by going after her for not being a mom.

Not a medical doctor, I don't think she ever claimed she was a medical doctor, but she is the president of AFT. I think she knows a thing or two about teaching schools education. Yeah, she did go too far. This one's official. And what's interesting about the right wing is, you know, Jewish space lasers, what are all the other crazy crap she said? They're like, oh, no, we're totally good with it.

A-okay. January 6th, of course, they're all patriots, yada, yada. All the madness they're 100% on board for, but not this. So I wrote a tweet today about this one and saying, so does everybody in the right wing agree that adoptive mothers and stepmothers don't count? They're not real mothers. And the right wing now thinks it's a good idea to attack them as non-real mothers. And even like the most,

obnoxious right wing trolls are like, no, no, you can't just smear us all by comparing us to Marjorie Taylor Green. Oh, okay. We've hit a line. Yeah, apparently we've hit a line. And I guess as far as I can tell, not one person defended her. You know why? Because there are stepmothers and adoptive mothers who are Republicans. Okay. And so she forgot the cardinal rule. So there's a couple of different cardinal rules in America. And they're not written. anywhere, but you have to know them. Like the biggest crime in America is disrespecting a police officer, they could murder you for it. No, it's not written anywhere, it's not an actual law, but you got to be careful.

You can steal from anyone you want in America as long as not rich people, then you'll go to jail. Otherwise, you can steal all day long. These are unwritten rules, but they're big time rules nonetheless. And Marjorie Taylor Green forgot the most important carnal rule for Republicans, attack the others. When we do attacks, we always attack outside of the wagons. And we say, oh, trans people, drag queens, black people, immigrants, Muslims. And you point, you get people really angry at the others. But you never attack inside the wagons. And that's what she just did there. Yeah. And there was pushback. So I want to just go to this. This is from Representative Garcia, who tweeted when Marjor

Taylor Green says that adopted parents or adopted or parents for marriage aren't real parents, you'll be damn sure I'll object and immediately following that sort of barrage of, I don't know what, just a just ridiculous unfounded attacks. This is what Garcia said. I just want to make sure note that the decorum of the attacks on the witness were unacceptable that the gentlelady from Georgia just did. And so it'd be nice if we didn't attack the witnesses, particularly whether or not, making a decision about whether or not she's a mother.

You are a mother. Thank you for being a great parent. Thank you. Thank you. Your point of order is recognized Mr. Garcia. They went on and basically struck everything that Marjorie Green said from the record, which is like, that's cool to preserve decorum, but maybe for history's sake, we should remember how vile she is. Lastly, I just want to remind everyone, this is the only committee she's still on, guys. So she's only been allowed back onto the House Education and Labor Committee for the last few months after previously losing all of her committee assignments. So because she keeps on doing this kind of stuff.

Yeah. So look, I don't like the decorum argument. I hate it. Oh, she's been mean to us. I get it. It's done in Congress and that's the way you're supposed to do it. I'm not trying to criticize that guy in particular. In fact, I think he did a good job overall in fighting back. But and I don't like going personal. I don't, I wish we never talk about the personal lives of of any of the politicians. But I believe in fighting fire with fire. I'm a little old testament like that. So the minute she goes personal and says,

oh, you're not real mother, you just raise those kids. I'd go, oh, really? Well, at least I didn't leave my family for a tantric sex guru like you did Marjorie Taylor Green. Okay, I'm not gonna take that crap. You get me fire, I'm gonna give you back an inferno. So talk to me more about your tantric sex guru and how good it was that you left your family for it.

Jenk, if you were there on the committee, they would totally strike that from the record. I mean, we'd have the moment forever virally, but like. Yeah, here's who would get in a lot of trouble with the decorum police, me. Oh, God. No, just so gross. This is so low. Do we have time to squeeze one more in? Yeah, let's do one more.

This is what we've been building to, of course. The right is once again melting down over singer Lizzo. because of course she's proud black and calls herself fat and like loves her body. So of course she's going to scare them. Also she played James Madison's flute that one time amazingly and they all freaked out. So she was decided to go for it once again and brought drag queen performers to her show in Tennessee. And there's a little bit of B-roll from it. Let's take a look.

Oh, there we go. Here's a shot from it. She invited drag queens from RuPaul's Drag Race, Vanessa Von J. Mateo, Asia O'Hara, Candy Muse, and we know she's been a huge supporter of LGBTQ rights. And this is specifically because Tennessee recently became the first state to ban drag shows within the vicinity of children. So public property, schools, all adult cabaret performances within a thousand feet of schools, basically or places of worship are banned. Now, that is all under interpretation. And in fact,

this law has not yet taken effect. It is, I believe it's been put on hold by a judge. It takes effect on July 1st if it is to go through and it will criminalize performances that take place in public or where they could be seen by children. So it doesn't necessarily affect Lizzo yet. So she said, hell, I'm gonna do this. And here's a quote from her, she says, in light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet cancel your shows in Tennessee. Don't go to Tennessee. Their reason was valid.

But why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most, the people who need to feel this release the most? Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences and celebrate fat, black women? And I just love that. I love her. I love the like turning the boycott on its head. And of course, the right freak the hell out. Tommy Laren haven't heard from her in a little bit. She says on Twitter, what we really want to know is why adult men want a sexy dance for children. They can't answer that question because we all know the answer is pure perversion.

And Jank, I think, me think someone's never been to a drag show and does not know what drag is. Yeah. First of all, I love Lizzo's attitude. I'm not the only one. That's why she's so popular. She's like, no, no, no, I'm not running from them. They're going to be running from me. Yes, you go girl.

That's exactly the right now. I don't believe this thing of like, oh, run away from conservatives. Don't talk to them. Don't do anything. No, go and say, yo, you like, you want to talk about drag shows? Here's one. What are you going to do now, huh? And so, and of course, the right wing lost their minds because they hate people.

And it's driven 100% by hate. We just told you a story earlier in this show about one of the worst case of pedophilia in American history. This is a single right wing media show talking about it. They don't care about pedophilia at all. All they care about is how do we drive hatred towards LGBTQ community? So I saw that, I watched the whole thing, it was the mildest dance in American history. Now remember, it's supposed to be an adult cabaret performance, meaning that it's supposed to be sexually alluring some way.

And Tommy Laren jumps in and thinks apparently it is, oh my God, probably because she's surrounded by right wingers who were all incredibly turned on by it. And they were all probably telling her, oh my God, if you got a drag show, that's the most deadly thing in the world. We can't let the kids see. They would be so aroused just like us. Maybe, but I don't think so. I don't think that's how it works.

And of course you got Matt Walsh and so I'm sure we got the graphic of it and he says we should. Yeah, let's let's put it up. Yeah, he says, throw her in jail. So you're gonna put Lizzo in jail. First, I dare you, okay? Go for it, see how it turns out. Because these idiots think they're popular, right? They're like, oh yeah, there's a drag show and Lizzo actually danced along with them and they did this. Oh my God, we should take away your freedom and cancel her forever. Yeah, you're going to lose.

The country is not anywhere near as vile and disgusting as Matt Walsh. You're a tiny, tiny, very loud, hateful minority. The great overwhelming percentage of the country does not agree with you. You're a stupid monster who hates freedom and wants to take anyone's freedom away, who doesn't agree with you. But Matt, when you say that that was sexually alluring to you, you're telling on yourself, you idiot. And when you say, oh my God, they were so naughty, we should lock them up somewhere. You're practically shouting. It's really, I mean, adult men want a sexy dance in front of kids,

Tommy Lairn, like, oh, honey, you do not know what drag is at all. It's not really about, it's never been about children. I'm sorry there might have been 15 year olds who bought a ticket to Lizzo. Just like, it's so hilarious to me. And Matt Walsh, yeah, yeah, this is the, the you know, they're the free speech warriors. They believe, honestly, if you really think about it, what our forefathers fought for was the right to do drag. That's it. Live your life, love who you want to love, like look fabulous and like dance like no one's watching. That's straight of what, but like if you really believe in American freedom and individual liberty, drag should be your thing. But of course it's sort of like, you know, gets their little

spitey senses. Like when people like live their truth a little too hard, they're like, oh no, maybe I'll have to live my truth. And, you know, then then their whole world crumbles. Yeah, guys, get a room and leave the rest of us alone, right? I mean, if you're into that kind of sexy dance, have at it, hoss. And just, just butt out of our lives. And this is so hilarious from the guys who said, oh my God, if the Democrats win, they're going to make you drink Starbucks every day. That's what Tucker Carlson said. And, and, oh, they're going to try to control your lives. We don't give a damn about your lives. Go away. Go away. All we're trying to do is give you health care and higher wages, you morons. But nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm going to control your

life. I'm going to put you in jail if you don't agree with my so-called morality from thousands of years ago. You must follow my morality, which, by the way, is actually the opposite of morality. I want to take away people's freedom because they, I can't control their lives. And no one should ever enjoy sex. Can we just add that? No one should ever enjoy sex and sex is only for procreation. Tight. Oh my God, I'm really excited how you're going to fare in 2024 and beyond. Yeah. But a Republican, if you believe these things, if you don't, okay, then you're part, maybe you're part of half of the Republican Party that is going along for the ride for whatever a reason because you watch Fox News or something.

But if you're a Republican who agrees with Matt Walsh and Tommy Liren and think that all drag shows should be banned, all these different gender identities should be banned, because you don't like them. Understand that you hate freedom and you hate equality. You hate the idea of this country. That's a stone cold fact. Whether you can live with that is up to you. All right, we got to go.

So everybody check out Francesca's podcast, Situation Room. in our podcasting network. You can get it anywhere where there's podcasts. And of course, check her out on Rebel Headquarters. Ben Glebe's going to be next. We have just as amazing stories in the second hour. Come right back. They want to make you drink Starbucks every day from now until forever.

Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members, only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Yugar, and I'll see you soon.