The Young Turks - Rashid Talib

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

Ana Calls out Jake Tapper for lying about the origins of the Gaza escalation. As pressure mounts for a ceasefire, Hamas lays down its conditions and the missiles and rockets keep flying. After Rep. Tlaib confronted Biden on the tarmac in Michigan, the administration told reporters that Biden had a call with Netanyahu and called for him to de-escalate. The New York attorney general adds “criminal capacity” to probe of the Trump Organization. Rep. Katie Porter holds Pharma CEO Richard Gonzalez’s feet to the fire for prioritizing profits over drug development. 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. Howdy, Welcome to the Young Turks, I'm your host Anna Kassi. Welcome to the Young Turks. I'm your host Anna Kass And since it's Wednesday, I'll be hosting the first hour solo, but don't worry, second hour we're going to bring on John Iderola, host of the damage report, to help me decode some of what's going on in the news. What's going on with Marjorie Taylor Green? What are her accusations on the house floor? I'm sure you all want to know about it. And John will be here to help us get through all of it together. We're also going to discuss, of course, the ongoing violence in And there's quite a bit of media critique to go along with our coverage. So I'm really looking forward to discussing that with you all in just a few minutes. But as always, I just want to encourage you guys to go ahead and like and share the stream.

If you're watching online, especially on YouTube, it's one of the best ways and the easiest ways to help support TYT and get the message out there. Now, a lot's been going on, obviously, with the violence in Gaza. Benjamin Nenia, I was refusing to let up with the incessant airstrikes. But before we get to the calls for a ceasefire, I do want to immediately start right off the bat on my media critique, because as I was getting ready for the show today, as I was doing my hair, making myself presentable, I came across an interview that Jake Tapper was doing, and it really caught my attention. So let's get to it. Let's get right to that story, and you'll see why I was so upset.

Progressive Democrats are calling for an immediate ceasefire when it comes to, of course, the airstrikes that the Israeli government continues to do on Gaza. The number of civilian deaths has shot up, and even though Biden has increased his calls for a ceasefire, He's really doing it privately, he's not really being aggressive about it, and there are consequences to that. Now, when we began covering the current violence, we made sure to let you guys know how that violence began. Why is it that this conflict, which was largely dormant, all of a sudden became as violent as it is, as violent as we're seeing today? Well, I will remind you all of what started it, but before I do, I'm going to show you an example of how a journalist, or a so-called journalist,

a television cable news anchor, frames the question inaccurately. I bring you Jake Tapper and his question to progressive Democrat, Pramila Jayapal. You are calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Let me ask you a question, because you've been critical of Israel.

What do you think the appropriate response for the Israeli government and military should be, given that this particular military conflict began 10 days ago with Hamas firing rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians? No, no, this conflict did not start 10 days ago with Hamas indiscriminately firing rockets. That is not true. It is not true. You should watch the full interview to get a sense of what Pramila Jayapal had to say, but for the purposes of this story, I want to focus on Jake

Tapper's inaccurate propaganda framing of that question because it did not start 10 days ago. It didn't. It didn't. And honestly, you don't even have to do much research to figure out why it is that the violence has gotten to the point that it has. Why there is so much aggression by the Israeli government toward Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. If you guys need me to remind you all, In fact, if Jake Tapper, a cable news anchor with unlimited resources needs me who works for an independent news show to inform him about how this recent conflict started, I'll go ahead and do it. You know, in fact, let me go ahead and rely on a mainstream media outlet to help me, to bolster the argument that I'm trying to make here. Let's hear what CBS News had to say about how this more recent conflict started. This all began almost a month ago when especially young Palestinians were angered by Israeli limits on Ramadan gatherings.

Now since the beginning of Ramadan, they have escalated to the point of absolute provocation for Palestinians everywhere. Adding fuel to the fire is the planned eviction of several Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem that the Israeli courts have ruled belong to Jews. So this actually started a month ago during the month of Ramadan, where Benjamin Netanyahu, who has failed to form a new government and is facing criminal corruption charges, decided to deflect from those issues to maintain power. And the way that he did it was by stoking tensions and essentially limiting the religious practices of Palestinians in Israel. That's what he did. That's how it started. And that report fails to mention that Israeli forces, raided the Alaksa Mosque several times.

That's also a relevant portion of this story that was, oh, so conveniently left out by Jake Tapper and the ridiculous framing of his question. So we need to be factual in how we cover this. Is Hamas firing rockets into Israel? Yes. Is that the same as what the Israeli government and the IDF is doing right now? No, both sides are not equal. Both sides are absolutely not equal.

We're dealing with Israel, which has an incredibly sophisticated, well-funded military, with incredible military and defense capabilities. And then you're looking at Gaza, which democratically elected Hamas, whether you like it or not, and Hamas does not have the same military capabilities. It does not have the same weaponry, and it certainly doesn't have the same international support that Israel has. It doesn't have the same American support, that's for sure, that Israel has. So we need to call a spade a spade. We need to be factual about what's happening on the ground.

That framing was pure propaganda. It was a lie. I don't know if it was intentional. I don't know if it was a mistake. But what I do know is that what you see in that interview, in the framing of that question, is a continuation of this legacy media narrative of what's happening in Israel, in Gaza. in the West Bank. We need to stop pretending as if everything starts with aggression by Hamas.

And the fact that Palestinian citizens of Israel are being evicted from the homes that they've lived in for decades, that's a relevant part of the story, isn't it? The fact that Jake Tapper just erased that reality in the framing of his question is telling. All right, let's move on to these calls for an immediate ceasefire. We're not getting that from Joe Biden, but luckily we do have some progressive Democrats who are calling for that. Hamas has agreed to an immediate ceasefire as long as the Israeli government meets two, in my opinion, very simple conditions. Let me tell you what they are. Hamas officials say it would only stop launching rockets at Israel if two conditions were met, that Israeli forces and police agree to never again enter the Alaksa Mosque, the mosque that they actually

raided a few times, and that Palestinians living in the Sheikh Shara neighborhood in East Jerusalem not be evicted by Jewish settlers from homes their families have lived in since the 1950s. Hamas isn't asking for anything out of the ordinary. They're just asking, hey, you know, this more recent aggression by the Israeli government against Palestinians, we just need that to stop. Stop raiding the mosque. Please stop evicting Palestinians from their homes. That's all we're asking for. And guess what Benjamin Netanyahu had to say about that? No, we're not interested. Israel's military would not comment on any plans, any plans for a ceasefire on Wednesday, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that the military's work is not over.

Work is not over. In fact, he says with every passing day, we are striking at more of the terrorist organization's capabilities, targeting more senior commanders, toppling more terrorist buildings and hitting more weaponry stockpiles, he said, before adding that he was, quote, determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved, to restore quiet and security to you, citizens of Israel. By the way, there are Palestinian civilians and citizens in Israel who certainly have not been living in peace as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu's aggression toward them. That should be noted for the record.

So he doesn't really care about all citizens. It's just the Jewish citizens of Israel. Now with that said, he makes it appear as though the Israeli defense force is specifically focused on the Hamas commanders, Hamas generals, and in no way has any interest in targeting civilians. But when you look at the civilian death count, Facts are pesky, pesky little things, aren't they? Because they certainly counter what Benjamin Nanyahu had to say.

Watch. It was mainly young men hurling rocks, but other protesters were middle-class families, children and white-collar workers. People like Maysoon Ali, who told us she's a banker. Their lives is not worth more than our lives. Your doesn't worth more than our kids. And you're saying peace talks don't work. No, 25 years, what did they give us?

Four Palestinians were reported killed and Israel claims two soldiers were shot in the leg though we saw no guns on the Palestinian side. Palestinian frustration is what fuels Hamas, a group considered a terrorist organization by the US. It's fired more than 3,000 rockets at Israel since last week killing two civilians yesterday. In retaliation, the tiny, poverty-stricken Gaza Strip

has been shattered with blistering Israeli airstrikes. Israel says it's targeting militants. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country's enemies are learning a lesson. But Susie Ischkantana is just seven years old. She was pulled from the rubble after an Israeli strike, losing her mother and four siblings. Some of the more than 60 children killed by the Israeli bombardment,

according to Palestinian officials. Benjamin Netanyahu's desire to deflect from the fact that he is facing criminal corruption charges and the fact that he's failed to form a new government has not only led to dozens of children, Palestinian children dying, but also 12 Israelis dying. Those are people who didn't deserve to die. Those are people who certainly shouldn't have been put in harm's way as a result of Netanyahu's aggression toward Palestinians in Gaza. Because what he's doing is, yes, absolutely, sacrificing the lives of Israelis. But he's also, you know, while pretending as if they

have no interest in harming Palestinian civilians, he's harming countless Palestinian civilians, not just in this recent flare-up in violence, but in previous conflicts that we've covered as well. So as the fighting continued for a 10th day, officials in Gaza said, 227 people had been killed by the intense Israeli airstrikes, including 64 children, that number is likely higher at this point, or by the time you watch this video, and 36 women. In Israel, 12 people have been killed by the ongoing barrage of rocket fires from Hamas, including two children. But Hamas wants a ceasefire.

They have called for a ceasefire not once, but twice. And Netanyahu has said, no, no, we're not interested. Those 12 Israelis who died in Israel don't care, don't care because all of this violence is deflecting from the fact that I'm a failure and nothing more than a pathetic right-wing authoritarian who can't even form a government. Let me give you more. Nanyahu also thank the United States for their support, for Joe Biden's support in repeatedly saying that Israel has the right to defend itself, even though Israel, under the leadership of Benjamin Nanyahu, decided to, a month ago, aggressively attack Palestinians during the month of Ramadan, by raiding the Alaksa mosque, by evicting Palestinians from the homes that they've lived in for decades. Biden has not called for an immediate ceasefire. He hasn't even called for a ceasefire publicly. He is calling for ceasefires allegedly in private phone calls with Netanyahu.

We then get the transcript of the phone calls. And here's what CBS is reporting. President Biden told Netanyahu in a phone call on Wednesday morning that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path, on the path to a ceasefire, according to a description of the call from the White House. So he just, you know, he wants to make sure that Netanyahu is at least considering getting to a path toward a ceasefire. But in the meantime, civilians are needlessly dying as a result. Okay, great. Progressive Democrats are calling for a resolution to block weapon sales to Israel, because as this ongoing conflict leads to civilian deaths, the Biden administration,

decided that they would approve $735 million in weapons sales to the Israeli government. And so now there's a proposal, it's a proposed legislation, proposed legislation, I should say, that's supported by representatives Mark Pocan, Rashida Talib, Corey Bush, Betty McCollum, also Ayanna Presley and Ilha Nomar. A lot of corporate Democrats are left out of that list, so that should be noted as well. But the failure of the Biden administration to really show its leadership in doing the right thing here is embarrassing and honestly no better than what we got from the Trump administration. What's right is right, what's wrong is wrong, and what's happening to the civilians in the Gaza Strip right now, and also, by the way, to Palestinian protesters in the West Bank is disgusting. what we saw in the destruction of a building that international journalists operated out of in Gaza

was disgusting what we saw with a Palestinian man losing four of his children and his wife in one Israeli air strike disgusting what we saw with the Israeli forces bombing a bookstore in the Gaza Strip also disgusting it shouldn't be difficult to say these things and it shouldn't be difficult for the leader of the United States, the so-called leader of the free world to call for an immediate ceasefire. But Biden's not a leader. He can't be a leader on this. He's going to go ahead and be a feckless president who's going to go along with the same talking points and the same narrative that we've gotten from previous U.S. presidents. Israel has the right to defend itself because Israel buys our weapons. U.S. taxpayers fund military aid

to Israel, a country that somehow can provide universal health care to its people while we can't. And then that transfer of wealth goes to defense contractors and weapons manufacturers in the United States. They spend that money on buying our weapons. But Biden wouldn't tell you that. Government officials wouldn't tell you that. Who cares if lives are being lost? Who cares if this conflict continues? People are making money off of it. That's all that matters. We got to take a break. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful.

But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-B-The Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school.

For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must not learn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Thank you. You're going to be able to be.

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Conscious Coalition is a group of companies that are committed to clean energy and sustainability. This includes Warby Parker, Reformation, my personal favorite, I'm wearing a Reformation dress right now as we speak, and imperfect foods. So definitely check them out. You can learn more by going to t.yt.com slash win. Also a quick programming note for you all, things are going down on our Twitch channel. So today, after our bonus episode, you guys can check out one of my favorite shows on the network, Happy Half Hour,

hosted by Brett Ehrlich. It is, honestly, it's just really, really fun stuff, and it's where I get some of my inspiration for Second Hour stories, just going to keep it real, okay? So one of my favorite stories that Brett covered last week was this, these two,

I think there were teenage girls who decided to make spaghetti and meatballs on a countertop that I'm hoping was not a marble countertop because tomato sauce will stain. Very porous marble is. But anyway, definitely check that out. It's lots of fun. And after happy half hour, we've got Woznia.

So you can tune in at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific for Woznia. And this is all over at twitch.tv slash ty. All right, we've got a minute left. So I'm going to read a few of your comments. Eileen writes in and says, if salty gets any more salty, She's going to give herself a heart attack. Love you, salty. Your hair looks great. Well, thank you. You know, I conditioned it today. Curled it. I'm feeling really good. Tony Montana says, hey, Anna, I hope you're doing well. By the way, you're very effective by yourself. You do not need a co-host.

I think Jank is watching live today. So, but I do love hosting with Jank. Honestly, I couldn't do this for more than like one hour a week. I like having a co-host, but I feel like this one hour is when I can just kind of like unleash, get it out of my system, and then enjoy myself for the rest of the week. All right, we got to get back to the show. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you like and share this stream. And we'll see you in just a few seconds for the rest of the stories. You guys. You guys excited for John Ida Rolla for in the second hour, because I am. I'm super excited.

In fact, you guys don't see him, but John is in the room. He's on the desk next to me, or is it on the desk, near the desk, sitting at the desk? But anyway, it's going to be great. I'm really looking forward to the second hour. For now, though, unfortunately, we have to continue covering what's happening in Gaza and Israel. And there was an interaction between a progressive Democrat and Joe Biden yesterday that you should all know about. So let's do it. During a trip to Michigan on Tuesday, Representative Rashida Talib, the first Palestinian American to serve in Congress actually confronted President Joe Biden to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Now, the New York Times reported on this, and there was a wonderful photo to go along with it. Let's take a look. Representative Rashida Talib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted President Biden on Tuesday over his support for Israel, him to do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights. As you all probably already know, but just in case, I'll remind you, what we've gotten from Biden publicly about the violence in the Gaza Strip has been this talking point about how Israel has a right to defend itself. Obviously, that talking point leaves out a lot of important context as to how this began in the first place and just how unequal both sides really are.

This is an asymmetrical situation where you have one side, the Israeli side that is, of course, well funded, it has a sophisticated military, it has sophisticated defense capabilities with the Iron Dome, and then when it comes to the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians, they don't have that. They just don't have that, and we need to be real about it. And so Rashida Talib, you know, is justified in her disappointment. in the Biden administration and his unwillingness to call for an immediate ceasefire publicly. Now, it's also questionable whether Talib made any type of impression on Biden because the guy can't even remember her name. Let's watch.

I'm Rashid. Talib, where's Rashid? I tell you what, Rashid. I want to say to you that I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, and I admire your concern for so many other people. And it's from my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise I'm going to do everything you see that they are in the West Bank. You're a fighter, and God thank you for being a fighter. No, I don't want to be too tough on Biden, but make sure you. know the person's name, you know, especially when it comes to something as serious as what she had confronted you about. But the White House Deputy Press Secretary told the press

when they were on Air Force One that, quote, our focus has not changed. We're working toward a de-escalation to a sustainable calm. Our approach is to make sure that we do this quietly, intensively, in a diplomatic way, Biden wants to be on a path to a ceasefire. That is what he's calling for. That statement is unacceptable. A path to a ceasefire is not good enough. It's clearly not good enough. And the fact that Biden has this hesitation, a pretty significant hesitation as this violence continues for the 10th day, has significant consequences. Dozens of children are dead. There are dozens of women who are also dead.

We're talking about innocent civilians whose homes have been destroyed and whose lives have been ended as a result of what we're seeing right now in these air strikes in the Gaza Strip, these Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. So this like we'd like to, you know, we'd like to be on a path to a ceasefire. No, we need a ceasefire now. It's not that difficult to do that. It's not difficult to call for that. And it's certainly not difficult to maybe put a pause to the more than $700 million in weapon sales to the Israeli government as they're brutalizing Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

So that statement from deputy press secretary is just not good enough. Now, meanwhile, Biden has approved that sale for weapons. I do want to give you the exact figure. As the Washington Post reported, power up Biden administration approved $735 million weapon sale to Israel, raising red flags for some House Democrats. Progressive Democrats are attempting to block that sale of weaponry. It's unlikely that that will actually happen. But it is important to have members of Congress actually stand up to...

A narrative that I think the American people have been sold for far too long. That, you know, the real victims here happen to be the Israeli government, the aggressors or the Palestinians. That's just not the case here. And I think that hearts and minds are changing as we see the civilian death count in the Gaza Strip. And as we see all this footage of people's homes being destroyed, of a building, for instance, that international media was operating out of, get bombed over the weekend. The old propaganda isn't working.

And so the question is, is the Biden administration that's now being confronted by progressive Democrats in Congress, going to change its mind and maybe not want to be on the path, you know, maybe not on the path of a ceasefire, but actually call for an immediate ceasefire. We'll see. Now Rashida Talib did give an incredible speech on the House floor just last week that shows you just how personal the situation is for her. And what she says here is correct. So let's watch. Palestinians aren't going anywhere no matter how much money you send to Israel's apartheid government. If we are to make good on our promises to support equal human rights for all, it is our duty to end the apartheid system that for decades has subjected Palestine.

to inhumane treatment and racism, reducing Palestinians to live in utter fear and terror of losing a child, being indefinitely detained or killed because of who they are, and the unequal rights and protections they have under Israeli law. It must end. One of Israel's most prominent human rights organizations, Bethlehem, has declared Israel in apartheid state. Human Rights Watch recently recognized it too. This is what Palestinians living under Israel's oppression have been telling us for decades. There has been absolutely no recognition of Palestinian humanity. If our own State Department can't even bring itself to acknowledge the killing of Palestinian children is wrong,

well, I will say it for the millions of Americans who stand with me against the killing of innocent children, no matter their ethnicity or faith. I weep for all the lives lost under the unbearable status quo every single one, no matter their faith, their background. And while the death count is, or the toll is much higher among the Palestinian civilians, I have no doubt that there are Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv who are fearful for their lives as well. The issue is that this violence doesn't need to occur in the first place. The aggression started with Netanyahu, who decided to raid the Alaksa Mosque, who decided to attempt to evict Palestinians from the homes that they've lived in for decades in Sheikh Shara. So for anyone who has any concern for human life on both sides, a call for an immediate ceasefire

is incredibly important and mandatory. And we're just not getting that from Joe Biden. I also want to commend the Daily, which is the podcast for the New York Times, because just this morning, they released an episode where they spoke to a 22-year-old Palestinian woman. And I want to share a portion of that podcast with you because these are the types of stories that previously I feel Americans didn't hear from. But these are stories that are important because it gives you a sense of what this terror is really. like let's watch when was the last time you experienced that you heard or felt a bombing well it's just a couple of hours ago like the entire house shook you have everyone in the house running to the center of the house to the living room making sure we're all there and we're all

dead silent and anticipating something more you know usually when there's one I'm bombing, another comes after it. So, like, we have to live through this constant fear all day. Can you explain that? Why do you all run to the living room? Why do you all huddle together? Well, in our house, the living room is kind of the safest area to stay in. And if the house is bombed, we're all in one place.

You know, people in Gaza have this thing. They always say, like, if we die, we want to die. together. I don't know if you've read the viral tweet for one of my friends, actually, her name is Imam Bashir. What she said was that today I put my children to sleep in my bedroom so that if we die, we all die together and no one lives to mourn the death of another one. Like every Palestinian family in Gaza does this. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing us.

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T-Y-T, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for T-Y-T fans. That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. Imagine living under those conditions and then being told, by the United States government that Israel has the right to defend itself. As an American, it embarrasses me, and I feel a great deal of shame as a result of what Biden and Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State, have said incessantly in response to the violence directed toward Palestinian civilians. These stories are important because this is the kind of terror,

that we finance, this is the kind of terror that the U.S. government supports. And it supports it in the way that they respond to it rhetorically, and it supports it in the form of weapon sales to the tune recently of $735 million. Stop, do you know how fast you were going? I'm gonna have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Nissan. Buy your tickets now. I get a free chili dog. Chili dog, not included.

The naked guard. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. Dollars. We got to take a break. When we come back, we're going to switch gears a little bit, move off of the, this story, and talk a little bit about Donald Trump facing a criminal investigation, which is fun. We'll see you in a few minutes. You know, I'm going to be able to. Nikki Cee from our members'

says, how proud are we of our president today? It's not bad enough that the press, a core, that usually shouts out their questions, actually quietly, politely asked, may I ask you a question about Israel? Biden joked about it. He laughed. People being murdered, especially children, and he joked. I haven't seen this video. Then he later forgot Rashida Taleb's name. I'm going to read a few super chat questions, starting with Peter Hamby, who says, with the inflated budget in military, funds, it makes me wonder how much of the budget pays for the mainstream media to fuel the wars in which there are no winners. Yeah, I mean, I, yeah. Not by the, I don't think the media

gets paid by the U.S. government, but we do know that there are journalists who have suffered consequences for wanting to hold the Israeli government accountable for their actions. So there's, there's a history of that. Humberto says, Anna, when the news, is really rough. Do you have any tips on how to decompress relax? Marijuana. I'm not encouraging you to do drugs, but I'm just telling you what I do. Just keeping it real. But also, no, let me also give you a, not that I think marijuana is like super unhealthy. I mean, it has its downside. So I don't want to like, you know, completely pretend like that doesn't exist. But I like to go on long walks. I go on super long walks. And I make sure to focus on flowers.

I know that sounds maybe a little cheesy to some of you, but I love flowers, I love nature. And when you just kind of like focus on how beautiful a rose is, for instance, and only that. It's like a form of meditation, right? Like it kind of reminds you that with all the ugliness that's going on, there's still a lot of beauty in the world. And also, guys, like, there are beautiful people in the world too, right? Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government, this right-wing Israeli government, is not representative of Jewish people, is not representative of all Israelis, is not representative of humankind. And it took me a long time to accept that bad people are not a reflection of humans in general. But they're wonderful people in the world, and it's hard to focus on that sometimes. But they exist. It's just that they don't get the kind of coverage that the bad guys do. Because we need to know who the bad guys are. We need to root it out, right?

But good people exist, and that includes Israelis. Please, no aggression toward, there's like an increase in anti-Semitism. I mean, that's really started under the Trump administration, but it's exploded lately as a result of what we're seeing with Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government. Don't fall into that trap. And don't turn into what we're speaking out against on this show. So I just wanted to put that out there. All right, we got to get back to the show now. Welcome back to the show, Anna Casparian with you.

Just wanted to encourage you guys to like and share the stream again, because that is one of the best ways to help support TYT and get the message out there. We want some live viewers. We want more feedback, we want more comments, we want more super chats. So definitely engage with us that way as well, and we'll respond to some of your comments and questions during our social breaks for our online viewers. But yeah, let's get to our next story. Again, moving off of the Israel story to talk a little bit about what's happening with the

Trump organization. A little juicy, juicy story here. The investigation into the Trump organization has shifted from a civil case to a criminal one. Now, the civil component is ongoing, but apparently this investigation has found potential criminal wrongdoing by the Trump organization. And I don't know if that means that Trump is actually going to finally face some consequences for the first time in his life. We'll see. But let me give you the details on what's happening. So the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, is joining

the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in a criminal investigation of the Trump organization. In fact, a spokesperson for Letitia James says, we have informed the Trump organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity along with the Manhattan DA. Now, this investigation is looking into something that I have been wondering about ever since I heard Michael Cohen's testimony, and he did testify under oath. There were allegations that Donald Trump and the Trump organization inflated assets in order to illegally obtain loans, and that then deflated assets in order to illegally dodge taxes. And so it appears that this is what

the investigation is really about. No, Donald Trump denies it. He says, there's nothing more corrupt than an investigation that is in desperate search of a crime, but make no mistake, that is exactly what's happening here. But I do want to remind you all of what his former personal lawyer, Cohen said under oath as Representative Ocasio-Cortez was questioning him. Let's watch. To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company? Yes. Who else knows that the president did this? Alan Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman, and Matthew Calamari. And where would the committee find more information on this? Do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in

order to compare them? Yes, and you'd find it at the Trump org. Mr. Cohen, I want to ask you about your assertion that the president may have improperly devalued his assets to avoid paying taxes. According to an August 21st, 2016 report by the Washington Post, while the president claimed in financial disclosure forms that Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was worth more than 50 million, he had reported otherwise to local tax authorities that the course was worth, quote, no more than five million. Mr. Cohen, do you know whether this specific report is accurate? It's identical to what he did at Trump National Golf Club at Briarcliffe Manor.

Do you know, to your knowledge, was the president interested in reducing his local real estate bills, tax bills? Yes. And how did he do that? What you do is you deflate the value of the asset and then you put in a request to the tax department for a deduction. I've been wondering about that testimony ever since Michael Cohen gave it. Because if any of us

were committing tax fraud, if any of us were committing fraud in order to obtain loans that we had no business obtaining, we would face some serious criminal charges. But people in positions of power get away with so much. And so it does feel good to know

that there are people looking into this, investigating this to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and appropriate consequences are paid. Now, I don't know if Donald Trump will ever really face the consequences of this the same way an average American would. But what I do know is that he's gotten away with quite a bit, and it's about time that his scams get called out, and he has to do more than just pay some sort of settlement. I mean, this guy has been a fraudster, his entire life, just before he was inaugurated, he had to pay a $22 million settlement to students he defrauded with Trump University. This is a person who was handed a tremendous amount of wealth by his father, $413 million, then proceeded to go bankrupt six times, and had to do

all these fraudulent scams in order to make money. I mean, during his presidency, he used the office of the president to enrich himself and direct money toward his personal business, personal businesses. He would insist on holding meetings with international leaders in Trump hotels. I mean, this is what he does. So it does feel nice to know that there could potentially be consequences, but I'm not about to jank yugar you. I'm not going to say tick, tick, tick, because I know better. Like, I just know that we live under this system that might even investigate someone of wrongdoing, someone like Trump, someone who's, you know, powerful, who's been in a position of power. And even if there's undeniable evidence of wrongdoing,

they'll get a slap on the wrist. I mean, we certainly saw that in the aftermath of the 2008 economic collapse. After Wall Street executives were committing fraud. I mean, they committed fraud by lying about the actual value of shares, the actual health of the very companies that they were leading. And so it's a relevant part of that story. And did we see corporate CEOs? Did we see Wall Street executives face the consequences of that? Now, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office is examining millions of pages of documents that include Trump's tax returns. Investigators have deposed multiple Trump organization officials, including Eric Trump, the former president's son, and chief financial officer Alan Weisselberg. So Weisselberg is being questioned. Also, several Trump organization property's financial dealings are being scrutinized as part of the investigation, including Seven Springs Estate in Westchester County, New York, 40 Wall Street, a building in lower Manhattan, Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago, and Trump National National.

golf club in Los Angeles. One of the other things I'm curious about is where that IRS audit is. Because remember, the IRS is currently auditing Donald Trump. They had to put a pause on that audit while he was serving as president. But one of the reasons why he refused to accept the fact that he lost the election in 2020 was because as soon as he's out of office, that means that the audit continues. That means that these criminal probes continue, and he certainly doesn't want to deal with any of that. But he's got to.

And so we'll see where that IRS investigation will lead to. But based on who Trump has revealed himself to be, I would not be surprised that his efforts to dodge taxes are significant. And one other thing, guys, I mean, it is amazing, right? because the way that the tax code is written overwhelmingly benefits the rich and the powerful. They get to take advantage of all these loopholes, all these deductions. That's how you get companies like Amazon essentially paying nothing in federal taxes. They get lower tax rates. They get all these deductions and loopholes. And that wasn't enough for Trump. That wasn't enough, allegedly.

That wasn't enough for Trump organization. They had to go allegedly to fraudulent methods in order to dodge more taxes. No one wanted to loan anything to Trump because he had gone bankrupt six times. So according to these allegations, he had to inflate his assets in order to obtain those loans. And he thought, yeah, I'll inflate my assets here to obtain the loans, but deflate my assets when it comes to the IRS so I can save money on taxes. No one will ever know. No one will figure it out.

But then you got Michael Cohen. You got Michael Cohen. He's afraid. You know, he's about to face some charges of his own. And he decides under oath, I'm going to tell people the truth about what Donald Trump is doing. And so we'll see how that ends up. But it would be nice, right? If people who are rich, people who are powerful, were treated the same as the rest of us.

if we actually lived in a country that valued law and order and didn't put people like Donald Trump above the law. And he certainly has enjoyed the privilege of a life above the law. Hopefully that trend changes, at least with Trump. All right, let's move on to my favorite story of the day, Katie Porter. She did it again. Representative Katie Porter did it again with her whiteboard on full display. She questioned the CEO of a pharmaceutical company known as AbbVee, amid allegations that the company had inflated its drug prices. Now, there are two different drugs that are in question here. I'll give you the details in just a minute.

But during this House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, she grilled Richard Gonzalez, the CEO of Abbey, on why the company has actually invested far less on research and development and far more on enriching himself than other. executives at the company. Watch. Mr. Gonzalez, how much did you spend, did Abby spend on litigation and settlements from 2013 to 2018? I don't have that number off hand. We'll be happy to give it to you. Okay, $1.6 billion, $2.45 billion on R&D, $1.6 billion in litigation and settlements. What about marketing and advertising? How much does Abby spend on that?

Well, marketing and advertising, we spend about $4 billion a year. Yep, $4.7.1 billion. How about executive compensation, 2013 to 2018? 2013 to 2018, it's probably on average about $60 million a year. Try $334 on for size. Now, how much did Evvy spend on stock buybacks and shareholders, start stock buybacks and dividends to enrich your shareholders from 2013 to 2018? Well, stock buybacks, if you actually look at just poor stock buybacks, it would be about $13 billion. Stock buybacks and dividends is the question, sir. Dividends and have to come back with a number for that over that period of time.

$50 billion. Mm. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, it's just so delicious. It's so delicious that I want more, I want a second helping. Please give me a second helping, guys. So Mr. Gonzalez, you're spending all this money to make sure you make money rather than spending money to invest in, develop drugs and help patients with affordable, life-saving drugs. You lie to patients when you charge them twice as much for an unimproved drug, and then you lie to policymakers when you tell us that R&D justifies those price increases. The big pharma fairy tale is one of groundbreaking R&D that justifies astronomical prices.

But the farmer reality is that you spend most of your company's money making money for yourself and your shareholders. And the fact that you're not honest about this with patients and with policymakers, that you're feeding us lies, that we must pay astronomical prices to get innovative treatments is false. The American people, the patients, deserve so much. better. We're so used to members of Congress being completely disconnected from the very people that they represent that moments like this stand out because this is what members of Congress should be like. They should be prepared. They should be willing to represent their constituents. I mean, this is the bare minimum. But more importantly, they should be willing to speak truth to power. And we live in this system with legalized bribery that overwhelming.

influences lawmakers to work against the best interests of their constituents. So to see Katie Porter, it's just, it's the best feeling to see lawmakers represent the people as opposed to corporations and private industry. It's fantastic. Now, I want to give you a little more context. But before I do, let me also note that this is not just indicative of the business practices with pharmaceutical companies. You see this with private industry throughout. For instance, when Donald Trump successfully passed his 2017 tax cuts for the rich, the whole story around that, the story that was sold to the American people was, well, we need to do this. We need to lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% because we need

to create jobs. These companies, these corporations, are going to use the tax windfall to create more jobs and to pay higher wages. That's what they do, folks, except they didn't do that. They took that money, they took the savings, and they enriched themselves and their shareholders. They did corporate stock buybacks. Record corporate stock buybacks in the first quarter after those tax cuts for the rich were passed. Now, to give you some more context into this line of questioning that Katie Porter had, the oversight and reform committee during Tuesday's hearing announced a call from House Democrats for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Abvee for its pricing of Humera, the best-selling drug in the United States and internationally,

which treats rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. Now, to give you a sense of how much money Ab-Vee has made from Humera, it generated $3.9 billion in the United States alone during the first quarter of this year, a 7% increase. And the way that they were able to do that was to just, did they improve the drug? Of course not. The drug is unchanged. It's the same. They just increased the price. For the first time, no. Second time, no. For the 27th time, they raised the price of that drug 27 times, even though they didn't do anything to improve it because they just want to make more money. That's it. That's all it is. But that's not the only drug. I mentioned that there were two drugs. Humera is one of them.

Imbruvica is the second one, and that's a blood cancer medication, which they raise the price of nine times. Now, Humera, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, other autoimmune diseases, and gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn's was released in 2003 when the company was Abbott Laboratories. Don't forget that name. Abbott Laboratories is important.

And usually these shady companies love to rebrand themselves. AbV has since raised the cost 27 times and by more than 470% with an annual supply now costing more than $77,000. Imagine that. If you need this drug to improve your quality of life, it'll cost you $77,000. Why? I mean, we know other countries aren't paying that kind of money. Also, meanwhile,

Abbe, in conjunction with Jansen biotech, has increased the price of imbruvica, a drug used to treat mantle cell lymphoma and other cancers, by 82% since it launched in 2013. That year, year for a patient taking three pills per day, the drug was priced at 99,776 annually. Today, it's priced at $181,529. For patients taking four pills each day, it costs $242,039. Who can afford that? I mean, it's just, it's out of control. And remember, us U.S. taxpayers spend quite a bit of money on the research and development, for instance. Remember, I wanted you to remember Abbott laboratories, because that's relevant to this story. Well, in 2017, the National Institutes of Health accepted, or accounted, I should say, accounted for the lion's share of federal spending

in medical and health research in 2017, and that's $32.4 billion, or 82.1%. National Institute of health, U.S. taxpayers, we're funding the research and development. If we're doing it, why would they? Right? They're going to take the money that they have, and they're just going to, are they going to invest in research and development? Maybe a little bit. But they love dividends, they love corporate stock buybacks. That's what they're going to focus on. In the meantime, they're going to go ahead and gouge us, even though we helped fund their research and development. But what about Abbott Laboratories specifically? Right. We know what the national. Institute of Health, National Institutes of Health spend on pharmaceutical research and development

overall in a given year. But how much has Abbott Laboratories taken in taxpayer-funded research and development? Well, I have some specific figures for you. Some early research on Norver, that's one of the drugs that they produce. One of the first protease inhibitors marketed in 1996 was funded by the NIH grants to Abbott Laboratories. The company says the grants totaled $3.47 million, and that it had spent more than $300 million to conduct clinical trials and bring the drug to market. Abbott, based in North Chicago, raised the price of a daily dose of that drug, by the way, to $8.57 from $1.75 in December of 2003, setting off a firestorm of protests from doctors and AIDS activists and prompting calls

from several lawmakers for the NIH to examine the case. So the NIH is like, yo, we spent some money on the research and development of this very drug. And now you guys are price gouging American citizens. What's up with that? We got to look into it. And guess what? They did look into it. So you would think that maybe the government would do the right thing and, you know, try to check them as they're price gouging us.

But that's not what happened. The federal government decided against forcing drug maker Abbott Laboratories to roll back a a five-fold price increase on the age drug developed in part with taxpayer money. That's how it works, folks. It's how it works. Corruption, unfettered capitalism, turning health care into something that is not a human right in America, a privilege in America, a commodified privilege in America. That's what our health care industry really is when it comes to the pharmaceutical companies, when it comes to actual health insurance. All of it is meant to gouge us, provide us with crappier care and coverage compared to other countries, of course,

European countries, Canadian countries. And we are incredibly price gouged, even though we help fund the research and development of these drugs. So I thank Katie Porter for that line of questioning because it opened up an opportunity to talk about that angle as well. But I would love to see members of Congress bring up the fact that we are funding the research and development of the very drugs that were later price gouged on. We got to take a break when I come back. John Idera will be joining me to talk about Donald Trump still given orders to Republicans and they're listening. We'll be right back. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work. Listen ad free. Access

members only bonus content and more by subscribing to apple podcasts at apple dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon