The Young Turks - Trump's Bootlickers

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

You’re vital to our work. Support as a member: https://go.tyt.com/signup. Exclusive: Israeli forces fired on food convoy in Gaza, UN documents and satellite analysis reveals. Congressman Andy Ogles from Tennessee asked about Palestinian children's bodies being shredded by U.S. bombs. He replied, ""I think we should kill them all."" Trump confirms a few names on his VP shortlist. FBI probes misconduct allegations against Village of Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard." HOST: Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) 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 ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Watchlist https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA 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. Casparian and boy, do we have a massive and incredible show ahead for you all today. We're going to talk about a small town in Illinois, the village of Dalton, as it's called, and the mayor there, Well, I'm a little surprised hasn't gotten much national media attention because it seems pretty apparent that she has been using and abusing taxpayer funds there to a level that honestly I haven't seen before.

It is incredible, one of my favorite stories of the day, mostly because of how brazen the abuses in that small town of 20,000 people. So we'll be talking about that in the first hour. Definitely don't miss it. Of course, we're going to give you some updates on Gaza and the. continued lack of humanitarian aid entering the region. Later, we're also going to talk about a United States congressman who was confronted about the high number of child deaths in Gaza. His response was callous, cruel to say the least. I can't wait to share who that was with you in just a

moment. And then in the second hour, of course, John Iderola will be joining me to line things up a little bit. Some of you have been asking, hey, what is Vanderpump rules? Why does Anna keep mentioning it during our bonus episodes for members only. Well, you're about to find out in the second hour. We're going to dive into Scandival because now suddenly there is a political angle to a reality show-based story. And I can't wait to give you the deeds. So as always, please help to support the show and everything we do here at TYT. By becoming a member, you can do so by going to t-y-t.com or, to be quite frank, it's easier to do it on YouTube. By clicking on that join button if you're watching us there right now. Members help to do it.

to keep us independent and honestly above board and above water at a time when the media landscape is pretty brutal. A lot of layoffs, a lot of companies aren't making it. And the only reason why we've been able to get through it all is because of our members. So thank you for your support and thank you for everything you do for us. You guys give us a voice, you give us the freedom to do what we do and we'll always be grateful for that. Now, without further ado, let's get to our first story. the people in northern Gaza are. This aid truck filmed at the end of January is one of the last to enter the region. And here's why aid so often caught in the fighting.

A new CNN investigation has found that Israeli forces have fired on a United Nations food convoy earlier this month in Gaza. Now this was a convoy by UNRWA, the humanitarian organization that had been providing aid to Palestinians, and they had shown the press images of the convoy after it had been shelled by Israeli forces. Now, CNN wanted to do an investigation into that to either confirm or to show that it didn't actually happen. And they have found that the evidence does, in fact, confirm that the IDF fired at this convoy. Now, the incident took place on February 5th as the convoy was headed toward central Gaza before the IDF ultimately blocked trucks from entering

the northern part of the territory. Now, in northern, in the north, Palestinians, as we've shared with you before, are currently on the verge of famine. They've been largely isolated from the rest of the Gaza Strip as a result of the fact that most people have evacuated the north to the south. You have more than a million displaced people. Now, sheltering in the border town of Rafa, but about 300,000 Palestinians remain in the north, which is why humanitarian organizations have been attempting to get aid to them because they needed the most. Now, CNN has seen correspondence between the UN and the Israeli military that show the convoys route was agreed upon by both parties prior to the strike, according to an

internal incident report compiled by UNR, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, which was also seen by CNN, the truck was one of 10 in a convoy sitting stationary at an IDF holding point when it was fired upon. Now, for those who are concerned about some of the allegations coming from the Israeli government in regard to members of UNRRA being part of Hamas, I just want to remind you all of the channel for investigation into those claims. They looked into those claims and they found that, in fact, every single UNRA worker had previously been vetted and approved by the Israeli government. So now to turn around and argue that they are Hamas fighters is absolutely ridiculous, and they have failed to provide any evidence to back up those claims. Now, in regard to that convoy that was attacked, luckily no one was hurt.

But much of the contents of that convoy, mainly wheat flour that's desperately needed to bake bread, were, destroyed. And unfortunately, this also wasn't the first time the IDF attacked a convoy of humanitarian aid. They've also attacked warehouses storing food. Now, in the wake of the strike on February 5th, Unra decided to stop sending convoys to northern Gaza. The last time the agency was able to deliver food north of Wadi Gaza, a strip of wetlands that bisects the enclave, was on January 23rd. That was nearly a month ago. So it's been a month since Unra has been been able to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and that was really the main organization that was providing the trickle of humanitarian aid that was allowed into the region by Israel.

Now, the average number entering per day has fallen since February 9th to 60 trucks a day from more than 140 daily in January, according to figures from the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination, also known as OCHA. Now, both, Before the war, I just want to remind you all, that 500 trucks of humanitarian aid were entering the Gaza Strip, because as you probably know, you might not, the conditions on the ground in Gaza, even prior to this war, were dire, were awful. People were hungry, they're living in poverty, and so they really did rely on these humanitarian organizations to provide the sustenance that they needed to survive. And I say that because you have to keep in mind what the situation on the ground in Gaza was even before this war. They are cut off from the international community in terms of trade. They're unable to engage in business similar to how, let's say, the United States or Israel is able to engage in international trade and business.

And that really did lead to a lack of jobs and quite a bit of poverty in the Gaza Strip. Now, UNRWA also noted that half of its mission requests have been denied since January. And so they undergo these security checks. All of the humanitarian aid in the convoys are looked at by the IDF and they need to be approved before they enter the Gaza Strip. But any little thing that the IDF claims can be used or abused by Hamas ends up leading to a denial of the entirety of that. convoy. So half of their convoy missions have been nixed by the Israeli defense forces. Now, making matters worse for those 300,000 Palestinians who are currently in the northern half of the Gaza Strip is the fact that the World Food Program has also paused its deliveries of

food into the area. Now, relief workers said that intake of trucks and distribution have been crippled by a number of things. They name Israel's failure to ensure that the convoys will be safe from bombardment as one of the reasons. They also say that there's a breakdown in security with hungry Palestinians frequently overwhelming trucks because they're so desperate for food. I mean, imagine the situation they're in. They want to make sure at least their children are being fed. And so they'll storm these humanitarian aid convoys in order to get their hands on anything that can help their family survive. The world food, the world food program said it was forced to pause aid to the

north because of complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order. In a rare public criticism of Israel, a top U.S. envoy, David Satterfield said this week that its targeted killings of Gaza police commanders guarding truck convoys have made it virtually impossible to distribute the goods safely. Now, the world food program also said that it had first suspended deliveries to the north about three weeks ago after a strike actually ended up hitting one of their aid trucks. It tried resuming this week, but convoys on Sunday and Monday faced gunfire and crowds of hungry people, stripping goods and basically beating one driver. So the situation, again, on the ground is incredibly dire.

UNICEF, a UNICEF official by the name of Ted Chabin, said in a statement that Gaza is poised to witness an explosion in preventative child deaths, which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza. And families are currently limiting themselves to, if they're lucky, one meal a day. And often they resort to mixing animal and bird fodder with grains to bake bread that consuming. One man from the area of Zaytune in Gaza says that people have eaten whatever they

find, including animal feed and rotten bread. Now, I want to actually go back to the CNN investigation because I want to share some of the evidence that they have provided as part of their investigation. So let's go to the first video, which provides satellite evidence of Israeli naval boats that are believed to have fired on the UN convoy. The truck set off as part of a UN-marked convoy of 10 up Al-Rashid Road in the early hours. It reached an IDF holding point at 4.15 a.m. Stationery for over an hour, it was then hit at 535 a.m. Fortunately, no one on board was killed. The UN says they were hit by Israeli naval gunfire and in satellite imagery taken just two hours after the attack,

CNN identified ships that could only be Israeli naval boats. They've been deployed along the coast and are attacking Gaza from the west. So after the International Court of Justice issued their preliminary opinion in regard to alleged genocide being committed in Gaza, not only did they say, that it is plausible that a genocide is occurring. They also said that Israel must allow for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. And on multiple occasions, we've heard officials

from Israel's far right government argue that they are in fact coordinating and ensuring that more aid is getting into the Gaza Strip. But that statement is not reinforced by any level of evidence or fact, especially when you see what's happening on the ground, especially when you see that Roads leading to Palestinians who desperately need the aid are bombed in order to prevent the convoys from traveling to them. You see them getting denied from entering altogether.

As I mentioned earlier, you have UNRWA saying that about half of their convoys are rejected by the IDF. And you have now multiple instances of convoys being targeted by the IDF, by shelling, by bombing. And so it's just not really something that has been proven in any way that Israel is interested or is willing to provide more humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. And as a report, as a result, there has been a report released. It was released on Monday by the Global Nutrition Cluster, an aid partnership led by UNICEF. And they found that 95% of Gaza's households, adults were restricting their own food. to ensure small children can eat while 65% of families eat only one meal a day. More than 90% of children younger than five years old

in Gaza, eat two or fewer food groups a day, known as severe food poverty. The report said, a similar percentage are affected by infectious diseases with 70% experiencing diarrhea in the last two weeks. More than 80% of homes lack clean and safe water. just absolutely horrendous conditions. And it's why it's so important to keep in mind

that even if there were a ceasefire today, more Palestinians would continue dying because of the fact that the infrastructure has been completely destroyed in Gaza because of the fact that there's diseases now spreading. It's just such a terrible situation that could have been avoided, but not only did Israel carry it out,

they did so with the support of the United States government. And I want to show you, you one other video from CNN's investigation, the final video that I think you should know about, and it has to do with the roads that I was referring to earlier. Now, again, in order for the convoys to get to Palestinians, they need safe roads with no obstruction in order to get to the Palestinians. But that's usually not the case, and I want to show you why. Even when convoys are allowed through, some routes are simply not passable. This large crater blocking Al Rashid Road just weeks before it was designated by the IDF as the main

route permitted for humanitarian vehicles. Such large percentages of the population are at such dire need, at such immediate risk of starvation. From that perspective, it's really hard for me to understand what kind of potential military rationale could be advanced to justify actions like this. And she makes a really good point. How do you justify? telling a humanitarian convoy, okay, you're good to go. We know you're coming. We know where you're going to be. We're going to protect you.

And then the IDF engages in shelling the convoy. How do you justify allowing the convoy in, knowing that they're trying to reach the 300,000 Gazins in northern Gaza, and then you bomb the road they need to get to northern Gaza? What is the justification? And the truth is, guys, there is no justification for that. You know, you'll hear the officials say over and over again that the loss of any civilian life is a tragedy and it's not something that Israel is in favor of. And I would be willing to believe that when they say it if their actions proved it.

But their actions don't prove it. Their actions prove otherwise. And one final thing I'll say about this is, President Joe Biden on various occasions in an effort to continue appealing to Democratic voters who are absolutely shocked and disturbed with what's happening in Gaza has said multiple times that he is a firm believer in the two-state solution, that he is not in favor of Israeli occupation. Well, earlier this week, we shared a story about how Palestinians had brought a case before the ICJ, the International Court of Justice, arguing that they were being occupied by Israel in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the

Gaza Strip. And guess what happened today? Well, the United States, which allegedly wants to push for a two-state solution, argued that Israel is not occupying Palestinians. So actions speak louder than words. I think this story is a perfect example of that. You have Israelis saying, no, no, no, we're totally in favor of humanitarian aid getting into Palestinians and then their actions prove otherwise. You have Joe Biden saying that he's a firm believer in the two-state solution, and then you have the United States providing cover for Israel's occupation of Palestinians before the International Court of Justice.

And it's pretty sick to think that our government can lie to us like that and think that we're not smart enough to look up the details, look up the research, and see what's really happening. But this is what the reality of the situation is. And you really have to ask yourself if you as an American are comfortable with the fact that so many civilians are dying as a result of how this war is being carried out. Again, I've got no love for Hamas and I have no problem with Israel going after Hamas. What Hamas did on October 7th was absolutely deplorable, disgusting, and they should be brought to justice. But defending yourself doesn't mean that you get to wipe out a population, ethnically cleanse an entire region of Palestinians, and raise. level the territory that they've been living in.

But that's what's happening on the ground. That's what the reality is. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we have one more story related to the war in Gaza. But after that, I'm going to get into the story about Dalton and the mayor there, basically misusing taxpayer funds. She has put that town in massive debt. So we'll get to that and more when we come back.

Welcome back to the show, everyone. I have to read a super chat from our viewer, Zeke Gonzalez, someone who I really, really value in our audience, especially because he brings the laughs with the videos he clips out of the show. So Zeke writes in and says, I like how Anna can properly say Scandalval, but can't pronounce the word, egg, egg, acorn, acorn, I've been pronouncing it egg corn because I can't say acorn. Thanks for all the great work, Anna, you're the best, appreciate you. Thank you. I'm just going to avoid any story that uses that word because I don't know what it is about saying it. I'm just really struggling with it. Anyway, with that said, let's move on to more serious news, including this.

I've seen the footage of shredded children's bodies and that's my taxpayer dollars. I think we should kill them all if that makes you feel better. Everybody, smart. Yes. Yes. Do you have a family? Do you have a family? Come off in the Palestinians.

I've been attacking Israel for 20 years. And it's time to pay the Bible. US lawmaker, Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee, called for the complete annihilation of Gaza. Now, it's important to keep in mind that even though you hear him very clearly saying, we should kill them all after a pro-Palestinian protester mentioned our bomb shredding the bodies of children, it is true that after that statement, he said, everybody in Hamas, to clarify, maybe he had a moment of realization, a moment where he realized, hey, maybe this is going to get me in some trouble. So everybody in Hamas, everybody in Hamas. But if someone is talking to you about literal children and how their bodies are being shredded by U.S. bombs, maybe take a moment to address that. Just a moment. Now, you might think that after such hateful statements, Ogles would be facing some more media attention, but you'd be wrong.

So the story broke last night, but as of this morning, our producer Taylor Ellis, who produced this story, looked into any national outlets that had maybe reported on it. And he found nothing. He found nothing over at CNN, NBC News, Fox News, Politico, the Hill, the New York Times, or the Washington Post. Now, to be fair, he checked this morning. Maybe they've published something since then. But that kind of statement is, I feel that it should be. covered a little more widely because it's so callous and it's so dismissive of the lives of literal children, especially coming from a Republican lawmaker who, I would assume, has some very strong thoughts when it comes to reproductive rights. And we'll get to that in a moment.

But before we do, let me just remind you that Rashida Talib, of course, was censured for using the phrase from the river to the sea. Ogles has not even been. been, you know, hasn't issued a statement. He hasn't gotten any real backlash other than people who have been outraged by it online. But let's take a moment to learn more about him. Okay. So yesterday wasn't the first time he called for devastation in Gaza. Here's a clip from last month. If Israel decides that they needed to pay back to Palestinian people in Hamas in biblical proportions, that's up for the Israeli government and Israeli people to decide. not a woke and weaponized by an administration.

It's interesting how he always starts with devastation for the Palestinian people, right? And I think that for people like Ogles, the two are synonymous. And that's where the problem lies. Because there is a difference between civilians and Hamas. There's a huge difference. And so while I totally agree that those who committed the atrocities on October 7th absolutely should be brought to justice. The idea that the Palestinian people, including the children who have been suffering as a result of this war, the idea that they should

suffer is ludicrous to me. And look, I want to put it in our own terms. So think about some of the war crimes that were committed under the Bush administration, and to be quite frank, also under the Obama administration. Remember, Obama ordered a drone strike of a suspected terrorist who actually was a United States citizen. Now, do I think that we should have just let him go? No. But every American citizen is supposed to get due process. You don't get to do extrajudicial killings, and that's what Obama did. He then proceeded to do drone strikes on his children as well. But if the countries that our government had committed war crimes in decided to retaliate by targeting civilians in the United States, would we, would we be okay with

that? We wouldn't be okay with that, right? That would be unfair. We just had, previous to this current administration, four years of Trump. If, I mean, I just don't want to be, let me put it this way, I think it's unfair to use a government as a sign of what the civilians are. Now, In a democracy, you could maybe make the case. Well, a democracy, they voted this person in. But we know how our democracy works. Okay, we know. We know what it's like every election cycle. It gets harder and harder to have better options in the presidential elections. But look, my point in bringing all this up is to say that civilians are off limits, period. That includes civilians in Israel. That includes civilians in Gaza, the West Bank. But that's not the way Ogles thinks.

So he also introduced a bill to designate UNRWA, the humanitarian aid organization that provides the bulk of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, a terrorist organization. And he also called to defund the UN as a whole. He tweeted this last year. It was a story by the Washington Post. The Israel Gaza War is still in its first week. But some people in the United States and around the world have lost their jobs or have faced discipline or backlash for their criticism of Israel. He quote tweets that and says, good. So not a defender of free speech at all, right? When conservatives are targeted for their speech, it's a big controversy. It's a huge injustice. But people getting fired, losing their livelihoods, simply for sharing their perspectives on this war, they should get fired apparently. All right. And there are some other issues that I think are worth looking into. So let's take a gander at this compilation

video that Taylor put together for us. You have to work together to cut every single dollar to slash the Department of Education. Is your congressman, I'll fight for full and total repeal of Obamacare? Next thing we need to do is go after gay marriage. So not for exceptions or rape for us. Well, you know, statistically, those are not even part of the conversation. Well, that's a red herring used by the left and radicals. Is there any area that you would immediately cut spending on or the budget of?

You know, your social programs, I mean, those are going to be painful. When you look at our Medicare, Medicaid programs, those costs have to come down. We have to get the government, the federal government, out of health care. So it's time that we get rid of the Department of Education. It's time that we repeal Obamacare. It's time that we get rid of health and human services. Drill baby drill. We drill on federal lands.

You can drill in the Gulf. You can drill in my backyard. As a member of Congress will empower the states to take action on those issues, whether it's guns, marriage, or bullshit. As my father would say, trash, absolute trash. I mean, at least he's consistent. doesn't really care about the well-being of Palestinian children, doesn't seem to care about the well-being of American children either. And the saddest part about all of this is that

Ogles is far from the only elected official to make such disgusting remarks about the Palestinian people. Here are in order of appearance, representatives Max Miller, Representative Brian Mast, and Senator Tom Cotton. Rashida Taleb has the, I don't even want to call it the Palestinian flag because they're not a state, they're a territory that's about to probably get eviscerated and go away here shortly as we're going to turn that into a parking lot. You know, I think when we look at this as a whole, I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as is frequently said. I don't think we would so lightly throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians during

World War II. There's not this far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians. First of all, food and water cut off a humanitarian crisis and destruction there. As far as I'm concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza. So do you guys understand why I have a difficult time believing a single right-wing politician when they allege that they consider life begins or consider life beginning at the moment of conception, that they consider a fertilized egg, a human that's worthy of the same rights and protections that we have. Because their carelessness in regard to the kids that are dying, it's amazing to me.

Remember, Hamas was not elected by the majority of Palestinian civilians, not even close. Hamas was elected back in 2006. We know that half of the population in Gaza is under the age of 18. So minors who had nothing to do with the election of Hamas are being slaughtered right now as we speak. And these politicians have no problem, basically referring to them as something that is synonymous with Hamas. It's just so wrong. It's so gross. And at some point, I just want the American government to look at itself in the mirror and really ask itself, do I like what I see? Is this a good reflection of what this country is? I'm embarrassed by it. I just wish they had enough concern for human life, real human life. living, breathing people, okay, to want to provide some protection for them because our names are on those bombs. Honestly, in some cases, quite literally, because the IDF literally wrote

Jank Uger's name on one of the bombs that they dropped in Gaza. But what I really mean is the made-in-USA tag on those bombs, it's not something I'm proud of. The fact that those bombs are being dropped on residential areas, on hospitals, on mosques, on refugee camps. It's not something to be proud of. It's deeply, deeply shameful and immoral. And what I see in those compilations that we just provided for you is a group of people who have poor moral character to say the least. And if I were able to use more vulgar language on this show, I would. But just know that's what I have in my head right now. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive

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Now, while doing so, he also made sure to do. what he does best. Publicly humiliate one of those candidates, Senator Tim Scott, who has ironically licked Trump's boots, maybe the hardest of anyone in recent months. Now, the topic of Trump's vice presidential picks came up during Fox's Town Hall, which was moderated by Laura Ingram. And so she listed off several contenders for vice president. And here's the list that she named. She had former governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott, Vivek Ramoswamy, Representative Byron Donalds, South Dakota Governor Christy Knoem, and former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Now Trump said that all of those names are on his short list.

He says, honestly, all of those people are good. They're all good. They're all solid. But before Ingram asked Trump about the specific individuals that she had listed, she also asked him what he was looking for in a vice president. So she explained that, or he explained, I should say, he explained that he wants someone who would be a loyalist. Let's keep it real. He didn't say that, but that's really what he's looking for. But more importantly, he said out loud that he wants someone who would be a good president, if anything happened to him while he's

serving his term in office. And then unprompted, he gestured to Tim Scott, who was there at the town Hall and said a lot of people are talking about that gentleman right over there. And he's been so great. Wow. That's that's really a glowing testimony. He's so great. And then he starts to humiliate Tim Scott. And this isn't the first time he's done it. He's been such a great advocate. I have to say, this is in a very positive way. Tim Scott, he has been much better for me than he was for himself. I watched his campaign and he doesn't like talking about himself, but boy, does he talk about Trump? And I said, you know, I called him. I said, Tim, you're better for me than you were for yourself. But he's fantastic and he's a fantastic person. Now, this is not the

first time that Trump has gleefully ripped into Tim Scott. After Scott had dropped out of the race and officially endorsed Donald Trump for president. Trump made fun of Scott's longtime bachelor status while Scott was on the stage with him. And before we go to the clip, I just want to remind you that for years, there have been rumors swirling about how Tim Scott is a bachelor because he's not straight. So keep that in mind while you watch this. Today was the big story, the biggest story out there. He's engaged to be married.

We never thought this was going to happen. What's going on? I mean, and that wasn't the only time that Trump mocks got on stage, but what's really painful about this next clip is Scott's response. And look, when we were talking about how Trump's campaign alleged that once Nikki Haley drops out of the race, she's going to be kissing or, you know, Trump's boots, the reason why I said that it is totally feasible, like it's totally plausible that that could happen, is because oftentimes Trump does say incredibly insulting things to Republican lawmakers who are criticizing him or running

against him. And then once he clinches an election or, you know, once it's abundantly clear that the voting base of the Republican Party is on Trump's side, they turn around and they do suck up to Trump. But with that said, let's take a look at this video featuring Tim Scott. Did you ever think that she actually appointed you, Tim? And think of it, appointed and you're the senator of his state. And she endorsed me. You must really hate her. No, it's a shame.

It's a shame. Uh-oh. I just love you. No, that's why he's a great politician. One of my favorite words is debase. And that's what you just saw in that clip, someone debasing himself for political power. I hope it's worth it. To me, power is speaking your mind and doing so fearlessly.

To me, power is not having to suck up to someone that you know in your heart is not a good person. That is power. And don't get me wrong to survive a lot of times we got to engage in politics, whether it be in the office, whether it be in the context, whether it be in the context, of our own families. I get that. You got to be diplomatic in some cases. But freedom is allowing yourself to be who you really are and not cowtowing to people that you know are not good people. And so when I look at all these Republican politicians or just hold it on to power, I really want to be a congressperson. I really want to be a senator. And so I have to pretend like I like Trump. Is that really power? I mean, sure, you can make a lot of money off of

trading individual stocks with insider information that the rest of the public isn't privy to because you have closed door briefings and you get to vote on legislation that has an impact on the share values of, you know, various companies that are being traded publicly on the stock market. But I don't know, man, I guess it really depends on what you value more. To me, being able to run my mouth and tell you what I really think, that's power. That's freedom. And it's worth more than money to me. Not for these politicians, though. All right, we've got to take a break.

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Visit TD.com slash small business match to learn more. Conditions apply. Welcome back to the show, everyone. I'm Anna Casparian. And this next story is one of the craziest stories I've researched, produced, and I'm about to host. Because it has to do with a mayor who has been so brazen in her abuse of public funds. I am shocked that this has not received much national attention. But someone in our audience brought this story to my attention. I looked into it and I felt like I needed to share it with you, especially because it has to do with a small town of 20,000 people. who have been, like, I guess, forgotten about by the national press. There is a lot of local reporting on it, though, and I'm grateful that they're reporting on this story. So let's get right to it. Nobody knows something.

Don't nobody know nothing? Yeah. Nobody. Nobody? Trustee. Nobody? Nobody knows something. Believe it or not, the woman that you just witnessed, dressed as the, you know,

Crime Kingpin, Nina Brown from the 1991 Wesley Snipes movie of New Jack City is an elected official who is now being investigated by the FBI. Now this week, federal investigators confirmed that they are looking into Tiffany Henyard. She's the mayor of a small town in Illinois, who has been accused of misusing taxpayer funds and more. And as a result of that, basically throwing the town into unmanageable debt. The situation is so bad that bankers are looking to repossess police cruisers from the town because she has failed to make payments to the lenders for the vehicles. But there's a lot more. So first, let's start off with who Henyard wears two hats in local government. As the Dalton mayor, it's known as the village of

Dalton, she takes home more than $46,000 in base pay. And as the supervisor of Thornton Township, she makes more than $200,000 a year, record show. She makes more money. She's the mayor of a small town of 20,000 people. She makes more money than our members of Congress. Like, let that sing For a second. And in regard to her dressing as Nino Brown, she reportedly signaled for a DJ to play Rihanna's Be Better Have My Money, while fully committing to her Nino Brown persona, even carrying a small stuff dog reminiscent of a scene from the movie. Now look, I've got no problem with that. If you want to have fun, if you want to be a little wacky in the way you do your job, I'm okay with that. I'm not okay with you hiring a DJ to do. musical cues with taxpayer money though, especially when there's a deficit in the town and now they're in a lot of debt. Now here's some more information on the village of Dalton in Dalton, which shares a border with Chicago. About 15% of families live in poverty, census record show, burdened with some of the highest property taxes in Cook County, homeowners feel the full

brunt of the tax burden, since there's little commercial or industrial development in the the town. That is an important fact for you guys to remember as I give you more details about this story, right? Because they don't have a lot of business going on in this small town. So in order to generate tax revenue, the town has high property taxes. So whatever businesses they have operating out of this town, you want to protect those businesses and you want to ensure that they're paying their taxes, right? Because that's another way that you generate tax revenue. Again, keep that in mind. Now, the small town is currently in debt to the tune of $7 million. I know that when we talk about government debt, we typically talk about the federal

debt, which is far higher than that. But remember, we're just talking about a small town of 20,000 people. So $7 million in debt is a big deal. And so there are all sorts of allegations against Henniard's leadership. For instance, the allegations include her funneling taxpayer money to her cancer charity, which appears to not be a real charity, using taxpayer money on hair and makeup prior to public appearances. I'm on camera every day. TYT does not pay for my hair and makeup.

Trips to Atlanta, Austin, and New York City, on which she frequently flew first class and stayed in Ritzie Hotels like the Four Seasons, taken during Henriott. year's term ran the city over $67,000, according to records obtained by a local news station, WGN9, misusing police services 24-7 as her own personal security detail, which has led to the officers invoicing the town a ton of overtime hours. And basically, it's costing a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars for the town. Using taxpayer money to lease a Chevy Tahoe for herself, documents show that she also overpaid for it. So the Dalton Board of Trustees has called her out for a lot of this. And Henyard tried to, well, lie about it. So

here's the moment where she was confronted about the Chevy Tahoe that she leased for herself. I sat here and looked at a lease that child's paying $149,000 for one of them trucks. You make absolute. That's like when you're 19 years old and you go get a car and the interest rate 27%. That makes absolutely no sense. You're not making great finance. Excuse me. Please stay facts. But let me tell you, here it is. dated December 27, 2022, the cash price of a 2023 Chevy Tahoe, $93,000, $93,216.71 cent. Interest in APR, 55,000. $9.29.49. Total lease price, $149,000, $146.20. Tell me if it's not fax, because your signature is all on it. I don't see that. Okay, but you want to put money?

I don't. I don't see that. Your name is on the document. You've signed the document. Okay. All right, okay. Henyard also recently sparked further outrage by proposing a new law that would cap the next mayor's salary at $25,000 unless she remains in that role. That was reported by a local Fox

affiliate Fox 32. An Illinois answers project in Fox 32 investigation has also found that while in office, Henyard has funneled thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to a private foundation that bears her name. But the foundation seems super sketchy. This is probably part of the reason why the FBI is now looking into her use of taxpayer money. In a September 22 meeting, Henyard and the township board voted to give $10,000 to her foundation, which claims to help people with cancer. Records show the foundation's paperwork was filed with the state the same day. that the township payment was approved. Now, it's called the Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation.

A month ago, the Illinois Attorney General began investigating the charity, halted any more contributions to the charity, and also noted that the so-called charity failed to file financial documents showing how she spent the money. And so Henyard spent thousands of taxpayer dollars for a group bicycle ride to Springfield in support of a breast cancer bill. Hanyard said in videos taken during the trip, but the bill was never formally filed.

There was no bill. And state lawmakers weren't even in session. So days after receiving that $10,000 donation to her alleged charity, Henyard carried out that group bike ride in support of her charity. And she spent, well, more than $10,000 on it. So this was another investigation done by WGN9 News, and they looked through a freedom of information request, they looked at credit card records and they saw what she had spent the money on. They found that she had spent the money on hotels along the route of that bike ride.

So look, I could literally use up the entirety of this show and maybe even tomorrow show in doing deep dives into all the different allegations against Henyard. And there are a lot, which is why I'm happy that the FBI is now looking into this. But there are two things that I want to do or have a closer look at. Okay, the first thing is this allegation that business owners are being retaliated against when they're not donating to her campaign or when they're not supportive of her leadership. So let's take a look at this gentleman who is a small business owner in the town. His name is Lawrence Gardner. He owns a U-Haul rental and trucking business in South Suburban Dolton. And he says he went to the FBI several months ago, frustrated that,

the village of Dalton would not renew his business license. Gardner says he's been harassed and his business raided and shut down by Dalton police. Gardner believes it's retaliation after he refused to make a donation to a civic event sponsored by Dalton Mayor Tiffany Henyard. And look, if it was just one small business owner making this allegation, I'd say you should investigate it, but it's one guy. I mean, who knows if it's true. But multiple small business owners from the town have come forward with similar allegations. And remember, having tax revenue coming from the small businesses that currently exist in Dalton is incredibly important, especially when the town is now $7 million in debt, because of, allegedly because

of Henyard's spending and recklessness with taxpayer funds. Gardner reported Henyard to the FBI and told a local Fox affiliate the following. Quote, I talked to a couple of agents and I explained to them what's going on. I gave them all of my paperwork to show them what was happening in court and what was happening in Dalton. And they told me they were investigating and would be in touch with me. So that was the first indication that the FBI was in fact investigating Henyard. The local news also spoke to other business owners, including one restaurant owner, who says that his business license wasn't renewed after he refused to make another campaign donation to Henyard. He had previously donated $3,200 to Henyard's campaign, but he didn't want to renew

his contribution, and he claims that he was retaliated against as a result of that. And then a trustee by the name of Keanu Belcher alleges that former police chief Robert Collins attempted to bring or attempted, basically admitted to being directed by the mayor to target certain individuals. That is what she's claiming. That is something the FBI I'm hoping is going to look into as well. So now let's get into the details about Henyard using cops as her security detail, 24-7, which is insane because she is a mayor of a small town. Why would she need security 24-7. An open records request shows that officers assigned to henyard have racked up hundreds of

hours in overtime, obviously costing the town quite a bit of money. This is costing the town hundreds of thousands of dollars, actually, and the police get paid every two weeks, like most people do, with 80 hours counting as their regular full-time hours. But some of the cops, like Terry Young, have billed as much as 303 hours in a single two-week pay period. Okay, let that sink in for a second. He billed 303 hours when in two weeks there's a total of 336 hours. There's more. That resulted in a single paycheck of more than $13,000.

They also ran errands for her. they accompanied her on trips out of town. And even those supervisors appropriated money to ensure that lenders were getting paid for the police cruisers that the town had acquired, Henner didn't make the payment. And as a result, those vehicles are now going to be repossessed. This is crazy. Now, because of all of this alleged misuse of taxpayer, funds, Board of Trustee Jason House reacted favorably to the FBI's investigation, saying that

the board of trustees and I have repeatedly questioned the mayor's office on her use of public funds. We welcome any investigation that will bring transparency on how taxpayer dollars are being spent. Our residents deserve this level of financial transparency. And honestly, it seems as though the entirety of the Board of Trustees have been pushing back on her spending. Now, Dalton Board of Trustees members are not happy with her. And so in a recent meeting, they went after her. So we'll get to that in a moment. But first, let's start with Brittany Norwood, who's one of the members of the Board of Trustees. When we first started office, we were financially sound. But over just the last two, and I want to say maybe in a half years,

we've went from financially sound to a $7 million deficit. And that deficit continues to grow. What she does is she says, well, hey, you know, I'm using all of these money to provide services. So she tricks the citizens into thinking, hey, all of this spinning is just to provide you with services and the trustees, they want to cut the spending because they don't want you to have these services. When the truth is, she's overspending and she's doing so much frivolous spending that is catching up with us. And at some point, it'll eventually come to an end and we don't know what that may lead us. This is so deeply unfair to the residents of Dalton. so unbelievably unfair.

You think that they couldn't use that money for a better community, whether it be funding their schools, you know, maybe giving them a tax break, a little bit of a tax break, considering how high their property taxes are, considering the fact that 15% of the population living there are currently living in poverty, maybe some social programs to help them out. And earlier this month, the board called for, you know, her to explain some of this spending. They called her spending into question. And Henyard, she was not pleased. And so she went on a very lengthy rant. I have a snippet of that rant for you. Let's take a look. And y'all should be shamed at y'all, y'all black, y'all are black. And y'all sitting up here

beating and attacking on a black woman that's in power. Y'all should be shamed to y'all selves. All the stuff that you did to get people to come to our community, to just dis and down our community. Shame on y'all. Because when I want to attack and take any of your seats, I run. I run for the seat. I don't do spirit campaigns.

I don't do all this mess. It's nonsense. Because at the end of the day, we still got to live in this village. She kept mentioning how unfair it is that she's being targeted as a black woman. I just want to show you what the racial makeup of the board of trustees looks like. Let's take a look. Yeah, I don't think that the questions about her use of public funds has anything to do with race. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it seems like some shady stuff is going on.

And it is certainly not fair to the residents of Dalton to have their resources taken from them only to be used on hair and makeup, on a Chevy Tahoe that costs the town $150,000, on a 24-7 security detail for a small town mayor that no one's ever heard of until now, I guess. It's just such awful behavior, and it's such awful abuse of public funds. And so I hope that justice will be served. I hope the FBI does a full investigation into this. Because again, not fair to the people of Dalton at all. Anyway, we got to take a break. When we come back, John Iderola will join me for some more news of the day. Don't miss it.