The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - May 11th, 2020

Episode Date: May 12, 2020

Trump is cutting COVID-19 research funding. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. 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. Hi, well, I'm the Young Church, Jane Huger, Anna Kusperin with you guys, a big day ahead. So, as we're doing pretty much every day during this coronavirus, virus, lockdown, quarantine, social distancing situation. We are checking in to see how our audience funding drive is going because we also need to keep TYT healthy.

I think we're trying to get the 95,000 by the end of Friday show, something along those lines. And I think we hit it but forgot to tell you guys. And then 100,000 by the end of the weekend. But come on, is that really going to happen? So let's take a look. TYT.com slash go. 100,146. So many people have no idea what I'm doing when I do those weird audio. Yeah, sound effects. Okay. Anyways. So 1005.2.2.com slash go. We do need to raise about 200 a month to keep

sustainable and healthy. And we appreciate every single dollar given by you guys. And we celebrate it on air quite often. All right, lots of stories to get to, Anna, what do you got? All right. Well, over the weekend, we learned new revelations regarding the Trump administration and its ridiculous decision to cut critical funding toward coronavirus research. Now, unfortunately, the decision was prompted by conspiracy theories on Fox News, and we'll get to that in just a second. But we've learned more information through a 60 Minutes interview with Peter Dasik.

Now, Peter Dasik is an American scientist, and he's studying coronavirus in collaboration with the Wuhan laboratory that has been, of course, criticized for withholding numbers initially regarding the outbreak, but it's still important to research alongside these scientists in China in order to get a firm grasp of where the coronavirus specifically came from, how it's spreading, and what we can do to effectively mitigate the impact. So Peter Dasik, that's the scientist, is actually a very credible individual. In fact, back in 2000, he was quoted as saying, what worries me the most is we are going to miss the next emerging disease, that we're suddenly going to find a SARS virus that moves

from one part of the planet to another, wiping out people as it moves along. Now, CBS News reports that DASIC's funding from the NIH, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was killed two weeks ago by a political disinformation campaign targeting China's Wuhan Institute. He was quoted as saying, our strategy is to go to the wildlife source, find out where the viruses are, and try to shift behaviors like hunting and killing wildlife. that could lead to the next outbreak. We also get the information into vaccine and drug developers so they can design better drugs.

So again, his research is incredibly important, and I should also note, he is not with the NIH. He is a scientist who founded an organization known as EcoHealth. The NIH was given a grant. He was given a grant in order to work alongside these researchers and scientists in Wuhan, in order to, again, get the information that we desperately need in order to mitigate the spread of this virus. Now, when it comes to the disinformation campaign that he's talking about, he's specifically referring to the types of comments that Republican lawmakers like Representative Gates made

when they went on Fox News. We have a snippet of that. This was from April 14th on Tucker Carlson's show. Take a look. Something remarkable and upsetting. The work in that lab, including its research, into disease-carrying bats was funded in part by you, by U.S. taxpayers through the National Institutes of Health. Hard to believe that's true, but it is. Congressman, that's one of those

stories that if you had said that out loud a week ago, I think even I might have dismissed you as insane, but it's true. How did this happen? Yeah, I'm against funding Chinese research in our country, but I'm sure against funding it in China. The NIH gives this $3.7 million grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, they then advertise that they need coronavirus researchers following that coronavirus erupts in Wuhan. And then what's really troubling to me is that either conspicuously or miraculously, the Wuhan Institute of Virology is able to sequence the virus on January 2nd. But China doesn't admit to the virus existing to January 9th. And then the Wuhan Institute of Virology doesn't release this important scientific information to the world until January 12th.

So at best, Americans are funding people who are lying to us, and at worst, we're funding people who we knew had problems handling pathogens who then birthed a monster virus onto the world. So there you have it. There was more of what Gates had to say, but Jenka, I mean, jump in here because some might argue, well, you know, the Chinese government, the scientists in China weren't being as forthcoming as they could have been in the beginning. Does it really make sense to do research with them into this virus?

I mean, I disagree with that statement, but I wanted to get your thoughts. Okay, there's definitely a couple of layers here. First of all, Matt Gates says, and then miraculously, they're the first ones to sequence it. That's not at all miraculous because they were the ones studying different kinds of coronaviruses, and they're the ones along with the scientists that is from America, the one that's the one that got the funding cut off in the quote that Anna read you a little while ago, said back in 2003, 17 years ago, there will be a worldwide pandemic, it will jump from place to place,

and we're trying to study it. So our answer isn't, holy cow, these guys were on top of it, they've been studying this for decades. And when I say these guys, I mean the scientists. So the American scientists involved here, NIH for granting, doing the grant, and the Chinese scientists in the lab in Wuhan as well. Instead of saying, oh, my God, they've been studying this for decades that was so prescient of them.

And here, unfortunately, something happened exactly as they warned us about, maybe we should fund them more because they apparently know what they're doing. We go in the opposite direction. Oh, how did they know? What were they doing? They were doing science. And if you think like, well, Jake, wait a minute, that is a bit of a coincidence. It comes from Wuhan.

And there's a lab in Wuhan that studies this stuff. Okay, I hear you, if that was part of a plot, why didn't they do it 17 years ago? So they've been studying this for all of this time because they know that it jumps from wild animals and there are rural areas both there and in other places where people hunt and then they wind up getting a disease from an animal that you wouldn't necessarily normally eat. is the number one thing that this American scientist was studying. It looks like it jumped from bats. By the way, it's not an accident or a coincidence that he's studying bats, because a lot of

the coronaviruses jump from bats. They already know that. You know why? Because they're scientists. They're not idiot pundits like Tucker Carlson and idiot conspiracy theorists like Matt Gates, who wind up becoming United States Congressman. Right, exactly. And I also think it's important to understand the mindset of the executive branch as they

were deciding to fund this research and how dramatically their perspective changed just based on the conspiracy theories that you hear on, you know, these dishonest outlets like Fox News. So as CBS News clearly states, the grant was to Peter Dasix, U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance for Disease Prevention, it does throughout the world. His work was considered so important that last year the grant was reauthorized and increased by the Trump administration. So clearly, the Trump administration had a great deal of trust in Peter Dasick's research and work. And then all of a sudden, after you hear these ridiculous conspiracy theories by conservatives on Fox News, they take that grant money away. And Dasik was quoted

as saying, I can't just show up to China and say, hi, I want to work on your viruses. I have to do this through the correct channels. So what we do is we talk to NIH and they approve the people we can work with in China. And that happened. And our collaboration with Wuhan was pre-approved by NIH. And so what did the Trump administration say when it came to revoking that incredibly important funding? Dasik says, they said it was canceled for convenience and it doesn't fit within the scope of NIH's priorities right now. How is this not a priority right now? And then he said, I mean, this grant received an incredibly high priority score. It was in the top of the top of 3% of grants they reviewed. And that's unusual. So all it takes is a misinformation campaign

on Fox and that's it. Trump's stupid administration. And I say stupid because their actions here are stupid, decide to take the resources away from this, again, important research. The other way they could have handled this is, man, the NIH nailed it. They put this in the top 3% of their priorities before it broke out. And it turns out they were so right in priority. prioritizing it that way. And lucky us, we've already spent a good deal of money studying this virus, which makes it easier to track. And that's why it was tracked fairly quickly. Now unfortunately, that hasn't helped yet in coming up with a vaccine, et cetera. But it always helps scientists working on those things. And so great job by the NIH. It's actually

a real story and the one that could have been told if this funding wasn't pulled because of a conspiracy theory, that we could have actually given the Trump administration some credit for that, but instead, as usual, they punch themselves in the face and go, that good, that scientist that we hired that did an amazing job, oh yeah, we'll fire him and we'll blame him for working with the Chinese and then make up a ridiculous excuse like working on coronavirus research now is not a high priority. No, but guys, even if you're MAGA, you don't believe that. No one could possibly believe that.

I mean, it's the most, if I try to come out with an outlandish lie, I couldn't top working on coronavirus research is not a high priority right now. It's just, it's absurd. And, you know, what we desperately need right now is that vaccine. And as DASIC said in his interview with 60 minutes, that's what they were researching, that's what they were working on, in addition to, of course, really understanding the nature of this virus. And so, luckily, you're right, Jank, there are still adults in the room. We still do have some experts within our federal government who are, you know, just smart

enough to do the right thing in getting answers. But what I've noticed is over and over again, you have their work either being hindered or being like thrown out the window altogether because of these like bad faith, dishonest actors like Matt Gates, like Tucker Carlson. And it just doesn't make any sense, especially if the only thing you care about is reopening the country. How are you going to do that if we don't have the tools necessary to do it responsibly? So, I mean, the Trump administration is working against itself again. Trump's a well-known conspiracy theorist themselves. He went on Alex Jones show, said it was a terrific show. He was the one who pushed a birth of conspiracy

in the first place, it's not at all surprising that he immediately believes in outlandish theory. Like this, Mike Pompeo has talked about how this might have come out of a Woolhand Lab. So we have the top echelons of the United States government pushing a wild conspiracy theory, and one that isn't just like a curiosity, but that is directly relevant to the biggest health crisis of our lifetimes. And instead of applauding and encouraging the scientists working on research, you know, we're to help address it, they're taking away their funding and pushing Alex Jones like conspiracy

theories instead. There's a thousand reasons why Donald Trump should be removed from office immediately. And this is certainly among them. We cannot normalize how absurd, ridiculous, unintelligent, and conspiratorial these people are. And they lead the country. Well, if you think that the messaging from the Trump administration conflicts and is mixed, that's certainly the case within the administration. So let's talk a little bit about the aftermath following stories of staffers testing positive for COVID-19. So while the Trump administration really downplays the severity of COVID-19 and how we unfortunately

have not gotten far in improving. you know, the science and the treatments necessary to reopen the country, behind the scenes, Trump is panicking. And he's panicking because at this point, two people who he has close contact with, who the vice president has close contact with have tested positive for coronavirus. One of those people was Donald Trump's valet, and the second person is vice president Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller. Now, what has the White House done in response to that? Well, They're scrambling to do contact tracing, again, something that Trump has kind of downplayed when it comes to the general public.

And so the Washington Post reports that the White House will receive heightened levels of daily cleaning, according to a memo. It also told employees they must quarantine for 14 days if they leave the Washington region and must report all of their travel. The memo did not suggest that employees wear masks. Now, there is a little bit of an update to this story. apparently now the White House is saying that everyone who works for the White House must wear a mask. Of course, Donald Trump has refused to do so himself. So I doubt that we're ever

going to see him wearing one. Also, the White House had not identified who Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller contacted the virus from as of Sunday, raising concerns inside the White House about how to contain the outbreak. But, Jink, like, you wouldn't even know that. You would not know that if you just looked at videos of Katie Miller literally working over the weekend. Let's take a look at this video. He is near the podium. This is Miller just yesterday working. You can see her. She's the one not wearing a mask speaking to reporters as she traveled with the vice president to Alexandria, Virginia. Miller is also married to Trump's senior advisor and speechwriter Stephen Miller. These are two people with not just high profile jobs, high contact jobs. They come into contact

with a lot of people in the West Wing from the very top on down. So, I mean, on one hand, they're taking it seriously. On the other, you have this woman who has tested positive working without a mask on. Okay. First of all, let me just say, I have nothing to criticize their new guidelines other than Trump not following them. I'm glad they're doing extra cleaning of the White House. they're testing people that are coming in.

They're wearing masks now. That's good news, okay? On the other hand, we're in the middle of May. This has been, what, two and a half months now, and you're just figuring out to wear masks, especially inside the building. I, you know, I said it on the show a couple of times, and every time I saw it on the news,

I kept thinking like, is there any chance that they know something I don't know? because they're all sitting inside a pretty small room with no masks on. That's asking for trouble. And then Trump had that hilarious line the other day when he's like, well, she got it out of the blue. I mean, I don't know how she got. So get it out of the blue.

It doesn't send you a memo first. Hey, by the way, I'll be there on Wednesday. So look out for me around 1217. No, it's a virus. You can't see it. And how did she get it? What do you mean out of the blue? We just showed you like just two videos and pictures of her being,

really close to people without masks on very recently. But these guys, they don't get it. They really think they can't, they're invincible. They can't get it. Of course, it's airborne. Of course you could get it. But they seem genuinely surprised like, oh my God, it turns out we can get it too. This thing is dangerous.

Look, my read of it, Jank, is that they want to downplay coronavirus as much as possible publicly because it doesn't bode well for the Trump administration. Remember, the only thing he cares about is getting reelected. And in order for him to be as boastful about the economy as he has been, you got to reopen things, even if it's premature, even if people die as a result. But while he's downplaying it publicly, the sense that I get is that privately, he's panicking, right? Because he does understand how serious this is. He does understand that if he catches this virus, even though he's the president of the United States, and I'm sure that he would get all the medical attention he needs to survive, which, you know, he should. The truth is it's a scary

virus. His own economic advisor admitted that he's scared to go to work recently on cable news. So let's just quickly look at that video. This is economic advisor, Kevin Hassett. To your work environment you just described, do you wear a mask? Are you going to continue to show up for work at the White House? You know, I've got a mask right here, and the fact is that I practice aggressive social distancing. I'll wear a mask when I feel it's necessary. It is scary to go to work. You know, I was not part of the White House in March.

I think that I'd be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing. But, you know, it's a time when people have to step up and serve their country. But I think everybody knows that they go into work. You've been in the West Wing. You know, it's a small, crowded place. It's, you know, it's a little bit risky, but you have to do it because you have to serve your country. It sounds like he's worried he has it. Anyways, so he's absolutely right to be concerned.

There's no dishonor in saying, hey, we're working in a really small, confined space, and the virus is airborne. Are we sure we're safe? You should be asking that question. It's actually ridiculous that they weren't asking that question earlier and is absolutely right. It was based on optics. And part of it is not just, hey, everything's going to be fine unless reopen the economy. No, Trump has from day one considered basically a sign of weakness if you're wearing a mask. Why?

Because he's profoundly and massively unintelligent. And so that's, and then he's like, he freaked out that his own valet, the guy who serves him food, has coronavirus. And he apparently asked, why was he wearing a mask? Because of you, you schmuck. You basically said that anybody wearing a mask is weak and shows bad optics. So nobody wore masks. You don't have any Secret Service agents have coronavirus? 11. 11. Okay. So now, finally, they're all wearing masks. Secret service sits in an office, let's say, close to the Oval Office. And apparently it's a tiny room and there three of them sit there together. They didn't be sitting there breathing the same air.

And yes, Karen and anyone else could have picked it up from a surface, from airborne, et cetera. That's how the virus works. But Trump is freaked out about it internally because of course he doesn't want to get it. But what are the rules you're opposing on everyone else? And I hear I agree with Mark Cuban. He went on TV today and said, look, my standard is. is whatever the White House is doing, I'm going to do for my employees and we should do for everyone. So if they're cleaning, double cleaning, they're checking every day and doing tests every day,

why should that be only for the elites? That should, that's a fine standard to have for everybody. I kind of love that point. There's different things that I disagree with Mark on, but it's hard to argue with that. And of course Trump doesn't want that. He wants incredibly safe work environment for himself now that he finally realizes disease is contagious. But for the rest of you, back to the minds. All right. Well, we got to take a quick break. But when we come back, we have more news for you, including updates to the tragic murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. You don't want to miss that story. And also, Senator Lamar Alexander, he's self-quarantining. And I'll tell you why. Come right back.

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from $5 tier to $25 and donated to the drive to keep up the great work we need. you guys doing every day. Love you guys. Brendan, love you, too. Thank you. If you want to upgrade your membership, that would be incredibly helpful. TYT.com slash upgrade. Look, one of the reasons we're hurting these days is folks have less money and we now have

less membership as well. So if you can sign up or if you can upgrade, that would make a giant difference. TYT.com slash join to make that happen. If you're watching on YouTube, there's also a join button underneath. And last one is just Havoc King Drago. You expect a mouth breather and sniffer to wear a mask. That's like expecting him to read past two pages. That's a good point.

He does do a lot of, I don't know how that goes over in a mask. Thank you for participating in the show, guys. We really appreciate it. All right. Anna, what's next? All right. Senator Lamar Alexander happens to be one of Trump's fierce allies who has a been named responsible for leading the effort to reopen the country after the pandemic,

or as we've been seeing, during the pandemic. But now he's self-quarantining because one of his staffers tested positive for the virus. So his chief of staff spoke to the Hill, and here's what we know. David Cleary says, after discussing this with the Senate's attending physician, Senator Alexander, out of an abundance of caution, has decided not to return to Washington, D.C., and will self-quarantine in Tennessee for 14 days. Now, Senator Alexander also appears to be somewhat alarmed about the severity of coronavirus, which is something that I hope he keeps in mind as he leads the effort to prematurely open the country back up.

He was quoted as saying this. There ought to be enough tests to test 535 members of Congress who come to one of the nation's coronavirus hotspots before they go back home around the country and infects. people in their districts. Now, I'm going to wait and see what the reaction is going to be from the Trump administration because he's clearly pointing to the lack of available testing. What I do know is he's already attempted to kind of backpedal and just walk back his comments because we know that Trump isn't going to like that kind of statement. So here he is walking back what he previously said about the lack of testing.

I have been calling for expanded testing for members of Congress. And there were were reports. You said you were wearing a mask, but that several members were not wearing masks, nor were some Capitol police officers. Do you feel safe in the Capitol? Oh, I think it's safe. Most everyone I see is wearing a mask. Maybe some were not. I know that senators, even when we see each other, we stay six feet apart. We're practicing by and large the protocols. What I said was that I thought we ought to accept President Trump's offer to test members of Congress, here before they go home for the weekend. Not so much to protect the members of Congress, but to protect the people they might infect. No, I love the way he just like twisted that to make

it seem like, and it's actually pretty masterful, right? Just make it seem like Trump is the one who wants expanded testing for people. He's the one fighting and pushing for it. So that way he can kind of like, you know, avoid Trump's wrath, which we know is coming. Yeah, the wrath is coming. But Trump doesn't really care if you guys get tested, but he does want more people around him tested. So it's not untrue that he would rather have congressmen and senators tested more. He's just against testing in general, because then you're going to find out a lot more people have coronavirus.

But he himself, of course, doesn't want to get it. He doesn't want his Republican allies to get it or anyone in the elites. So, my God, if he found out his donors are getting it, then we have completely different situation in America. But the great part of the Lamar Alexander's story is he's heading up a committee to reopen the country, and now he has to do it from self-quaranty. And so he's going to zoom into the committee hearings. Look, I'm not going outside.

You're crazy, dog. But the rest of you, let's talk about how you guys should go outside. And go back to work. Go back to work. No, I'm quarantined down in Tennessee in my comfortable home. I ain't going to Washington, D.C. I ain't going to work. You're crazy. And then, meanwhile, by the way, the same hearing, the head of the FDA, quarantine will be, I don't know if it's Zoom or Skype, but doing it on video. Head of the CDC, quarantined, doing it on video. Dr. Fauci, there's conflicting reports. He might or might not show up in person. He's doing a quasi-quaranty. So, wow, already before the hearings even started, it sounds so convincing that we should all go back out and start reopening America. It's insane.

And unfortunately, there are already states that have opened back up. Texas is one of them. And just over the weekend, there were literally hundreds of people at a party, a gathering at a park. And we don't know why yet, but someone ended up opening fire. and five people were wounded. But what happened to, oh, no, no, don't worry. We're reopening, but we're going to do it responsibly.

We're going to implement the distancing guidelines. We're going to make sure that we keep people safe. No, you're not. That's not what's happening in Texas. That's not what's happening in many of the states that have decided to reopen. And unfortunately, we are seeing a spike in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in those states. And the markets react to that.

If the Trump administration only cares about what the numbers are, how the economy is impacted by it, well, the markets are reacting negatively to this uptick in coronavirus cases in states that have prematurely opened. How did they not see this coming? Like, it's amazing to me. Yeah, well, how do they not see a thousand things coming? But you wonder why there was a shooting in a park in Texas? Well, number one, because it's America.

Number two, because it's Texas. And number three, people haven't been able to shoot someone in a long time, and Americans are getting antsy. So maybe a slight positive side effect coronavirus has been less mass shootings because people are indoors. But the minute we let them out in Texas, oh, great, a lot of people are in a park, let's start shooting. This country is crazy in 18 different ways.

We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we have a pretty giant block to to give you updates on what's happening in the Ahmaud Arbery case. Lots of updates that you should know about. So don't miss it. Come right back. 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 and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech.

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There's a thousand different things you have to protect it from, but also one of those hackers and you don't want them getting your private information. So the way to protect your computer is through a VPN. Our sponsor is NordVPN.com slash TYT. If you use that code, you get 70% off a three-year deal and an extra month free. So make sure you're going to NordVPN.com slash TYT and I use it and you could use it up for up to six devices. Okay, so your comments, Craig Cray Soufly says, hey, Jen, any thoughts about the California 25 race? That's to So we're going to talk about it in the postgame today for the members because there's an insane request by the Republicans.

So don't miss that. TY.t.com slash join to become a member. And then tomorrow, we're doing special election coverage. It's actually a really big day tomorrow. It's California 25. There's some reason to believe the Republicans might pick up that seat and not just because I'm not the Democratic candidate there. But also because tomorrow's Nebraska, Cara Eastman is the best chance we have left probably

for a progressive to pick up a seat. So our election coverage starts at 630 Pacific, 930 Eastern. Don't miss that. It's going to be me, Michael Shure, and John Iarola with you guys. And then I just got one comment more for you. The good doctor I said, just imagine telling someone is perfectly okay for them to go out to the minefield. And while you wait back behind in a safe place.

And that's exactly what they're doing in a sense. And Andrew Pee on Twitter also had a good comment. He said, Trump might not be putting the mask on because he's worried about it's going to mess up his hair. I actually don't think that that's crazy. I think that there's such that that's true. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And Anna, real quick, let me just check t.y.com slash go.

Of course, that's the audience funding, another way to support the show. We're at 100,867. All kidding aside, it'd be amazing to see 101,000 before we ended the show today. Anna, you're up next. All right. Well, we have some updates on the Ahmaud Arbery case. Now, Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down by the McMichaels, Travis and Gregory McMichaels. And what they claimed was that they saw Arbery going into homes.

and suspected him to be someone connected to a string of burglaries in the area. Now, let me be clear about one thing before we move on with the rest of the details. There were no reports of a string of burglaries in the area. However, a video has emerged showing Arbery walking into a construction site. And I want to also be clear that the video does not indicate that Arbery has done anything wrong. I'll give you those details after we watch this clip. Take a look. We have some new imagery that's come to light.

I should point out this really is not new. It is additional footage. The investigators have had this for some time, and the GBI admits that they saw this footage even before they went out and made the arrest of the McMillow, or McMichaels, rather. And what this video shows is Amad Arbery on the day that he died inside of a house under construction.

It's surveillance video. You see it briefly. He walks around to be. it, and then he goes out and continues his run through the neighborhood. He doesn't take anything, and the most trouble he would be in would be, I guess, for trespassing. That is not a felony offense, and it would not justify the citizens' arrest law or hot pursuit. So that's the video that conservatives are now latching onto as a justification for gunning someone down in cold blood. But I want to note that that construction site was a construction site.

And many people, myself included, have done the exact same thing that Arbery is seen doing in that video. He didn't take anything. The owner of the property made it abundantly clear that he wasn't robbed. He wasn't burglarized. The owner is Larry English. And he said the following to the press. I've never had a police report or anything stolen from my property or any kind of robbery. English says it's not likely his family will move into the home due to death threats that he's now getting. He has also voiced condolences to Arbery's mother saying, quote, I don't think anybody should ever have to lose a child. It's not supposed to be that way. So English hasn't done anything wrong. He's not one of these people who's accusing Arbery of stealing anything

or burglarizing homes. He's just the unfortunate person who owns the property that was under construction. And he wanted to let people know that nothing was stolen from him. All right, so first of all, what that video shows Arbery doing is nothing. It's literally the opposite of the evidence that they're looking for. They're saying, oh, they were chasing him down because they thought he was a burglar, except the video shows he didn't take anything. So they didn't say that they were chasing him down for trespassing. They said because they were, you know, and if he had, and if it's earlier in the same day,

and their theory is that he burglarized the place. when he's jogging, he doesn't have anything on him. So, I mean, you saw like there's like sheetrock, there's stuff like that. You'd see the sheet rock if he was running away with it. So now this makes any sense. By the way, if you really actually do suspect someone of committing burglary and you're really concerned about it, there's a thing called 911, where you actually call real police instead of going out with a shotgun and seeing what happens.

So that's insanity. Secondly, they're now white people all over the neighborhood contacting the family's attorney, contacting Sean King saying, I did the same exact thing. I wanted to do that same construction site. I looked around because we were curious because we live in the neighborhood. By the way, Aubrey, I think he lives about a mile from there. So, and I've done the same thing that you, I jog, and sometimes I'll see something interesting, and I'll look for a second.

And none of us have ever gotten murdered for. I'll give you a specific example. There was this incredibly, like, beautiful building in West Hollywood. It was like a pre-war building called El Mirod. And this very unsavory, like, developer purchased the building and then evicted all the people who were living there. But I always found it a fascinating building because of, like, its architecture. So when I knew that no one was living there and that it was going to be under construction,

I looked through the windows. Because I wanted to see, like, what does the architecture inside look like? What is the design? It's just interesting stuff to then be shot and killed, you know, without any any questions whatsoever is just so disturbing and so disgusting. And the McMichaels lied about how there's been a string of burglaries in the area because there are no reports, no police reports, nothing that indicate that that was happening. And, Jank, you mentioned 911.

The McMichaels actually did call 911. And I want you guys to pay close attention to how this conversation went because the 911 dispatcher makes it clear that she needs to know if Arbery is in the process of committing a crime. And the McMichaels make it clear that, no, he's not. So let's listen in on the first clip of this 911 call. There's a guy in the house right now. Is it a house under construction? Okay. Do you have your address or the other, that house is addressed?

Uh, right at 219 or 220 Cicilla Drive. And he said someone's breaking into it right now? No, it's all open, it's under construction. And he's running right now. There he goes right now. Okay, what is he doing? He's running down the street. Okay.

Okay. Okay, that's fine. Okay, that's fine. Okay, that's fine. I'll get them out there. I just need to know what he was doing wrong. Was he just on the premises? It's not supposed to be? Okay, somebody's supposed to be. And he's been caught on the camera a bunch before at night. It's kind of an ongoing thing out here. The man that's built in the house, he's got hard-eas he's not going to finish it. Okay, that's fine. And you said it was a male and a black t-shirt? That white t-shirt, black guy, white T-shirt.

And he's done back then, he's done to run backwards in the interview. So you heard the 911 dispatcher there. I just need to know what he's doing wrong because simply being on a construction site is not a crime. Yeah. So as you listen to that 911 tape, it clearly reminds you of something. At least it reminds me of something. Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman calls 9-1-1, says, I have a suspicious black guy.

They're like, what's he doing? He's like, I don't know. They're like, I'm going to go pursue. They're like, don't, don't pursue. And Zimmerman decides to pursue with a weapon, shoots him dead, he was innocent. Very similar here. 911's like, what was he doing wrong? And they're like, I don't know, he's running.

Yeah, people run through that neighborhood all the time. It's called Jockey and they pursue them anyway with weapons and they murder him in cold blood in the middle of the day. So stop pursuing people just because they're black and don't pursue them with a weapon. And when you call 911, let them handle it. Exactly. And that's unfortunately not what happened here. And we have one more audio clip from the 911.

call. Let's take a listen to that. I want to see address the emergency. I'm not here. It's Chatella Shores. There's a black male running down the street. Sotilla, where at Sotilla Shores? I don't know what sweet world. Stop, right there. End it?

Stop. Comet! Sir, hello, sir. Sir, where you at? Hello? Hello? So look, I think it's important to see all the details and hear all the evidence because what the McMichaels are alleging in their defense is that they were conducting a citizen's

arrest. But as we've already said on this show multiple times, what they did does not follow or does not qualify as a citizen's arrest. You have to see the person in the process of committing a crime in order for you. for that to qualify as a citizen's arrest, and you're not allowed to shoot and kill the person. An arrest is different from a murder, obviously. So.

Yeah. I jogged in the neighborhoods for decades. And I don't know how many different things I looked at, but I never got followed with a shotgun. And so many people jogging that neighborhood, they never get followed with a shotgun. You follow somebody with a shotgun at some point, you might use it. And so, for God's sake, man, stop shooting unarmed black people.

I don't care if they were jogging or barbecuing or mowing the lawn or at an Airbnb. So many different times, either they call it cops on people or worse yet, they pursue it on their own and kill people. It happened again in this case. it, how long can people continue to be outraged by this, and it still continues? Our government has to actually protect its own citizens. And yes, sometimes from people who want to take the law into their own hands. And there's so often we have completely unequal justice in this country. And so the prosecutors have these videos the whole time.

And they didn't do anything until there was public pressure, sickening. Well, we have one other update to the story that I want you all to know about. So let's talk about that. When it comes to investigating the murder of Ahmed Arbery, when it comes to investigating the murder of Arbery, oftentimes you'll hear that there are three suspects. First, there are the McMichaels, Gregory, and Travis. And then there's the individual who's actually filming the video. And that person is William Roddy Bryan, who appears.

to still get haircuts from his mother. But we'll go ahead and put that aside for now because this story is about how he feels like his life is in danger because of the death threats he's receiving for filming that video. Now, there are a lot of questions about, you know, why he filmed the video, why he was there on the scene. And he spoke to his attorney, who then spoke to the press and gave this reasoning for it. Take a listen. Did the attorney explain or respond to, you know, why would his client be videotaping anyway

if not for the fact that he was expecting to capture something on video? Right. And we did have this conversation. Essentially, he believed what he saw was he was standing in his yard and he saw the young man being pursued. And he thought perhaps this was some sort of criminal activity. He was witnessing. And he wanted to get a picture. of Ahmad, he says, in case he got away and they were able to show to authorities who the person was. Again, he claims that this was all being an observer, not being a participant, but that is hard to fathom given that explanation. So he is being investigated. He has not been charged yet. But according to an interview that he gave, William Roddy Brian, that's his name,

and his fiancee spoke to Action News in Jacksonville. And he says he and his family have been receiving death threats since the video leaked online last week. He was quoted as saying, I had nothing to do with it. I'm trying to get my life back to normal. And it's been smeared for the last week. I was told I was a witness and I'm not sure what I am other than receiving a bunch of threats. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't scared. Anyway, and then he says, if that's what they wanted to do was scare me, they've scared me. So he's afraid for his life. And look, I don't think anybody should be afraid for their lives. I don't think anyone should deal with any type of death threats.

I personally know what that feels like, and it is terrifying. At the same time, though, I personally do not buy his argument that he wasn't involved in any way, that he was just simply like some innocent person who happened to see what was going on and decided to film it. Well, apparently authorities have some testimony saying that he might have actually cut off Aubrey's exit. And so that's super relevant. Look, it's a no-brainer to not do death threats, obviously. Don't do that. That's totally counterproductive, hypocritical, it makes no sense. And the homeowner is getting death threats. Why? Well, the homeowner didn't do anything.

And in fact, he said nothing was taken from his house. But that distracts for the main issue here. The real issue is, if it's true that he was actively participating, especially if he cut off Arbery and would not let him escape what wound up being his murder, well, then obviously he should be charged. Those are ifs. The authorities who didn't want to investigate this in the first place, I hope they do a better job. There's a new prosecutor, and they have charged the people who actually did the shooting.

But yes, they should definitely consider charging. this guy as well. And it seems like he knew those folks who are pursuing them. So did they talk about this ahead of time? Did they plan it ahead of time? They said that they'd seen him going into that house several times. So did they talk to this guy, hey, when we do follow him with a shotgun, you should tape it or maybe cut off his exit path, et cetera. Well, those are massively relevant to whether he should be charged in the murder. Right. Because, you know, if you go back and you watch that horrific video, you see see that, you know, this guy is filming from behind, right? Arbery is running. By the way,

we're showing the video right now. It is graphic for anyone who might not want to look at this. He's filming from behind and you see Arbery, like, get blocked by the McMichaels and their truck, right? And according to reporting, Brian is mentioned briefly in the February 23rd police report where it says McMichael stated that Arbery turned around and began running back the direction from which he came and Roddy, this is the guy we're talking about, attempted to block him which was unsuccessful. Now many are arguing that Brian trapped Arbery as a result and was as a result directly involved in Arbery's death. And so again, that's being investigated luckily and we'll see what the outcome of that will be. But it's also kind of fascinating that the person

who released that video to a defense attorney was Brian himself, right? So he releases it to this defense attorney. Defense attorney sees it. Let me just note that Brian is not a client of his. And apparently the attorney was disturbed by the video and leaked it to a local radio show host who then uploaded it onto YouTube. Had that not happened, no one would ever be investigated or charged in the murder of Arbery. It's crazy. Yeah, you know what? I actually think that this is my theory, that the lawyer release it because at least somebody involved in the shooting wanted it to be released.

Because the lawyer said it wasn't two men with a Confederate flag in the back of a truck going down the road and shooting a Jagger in the back. It got the truth out there so that what you could see, my purpose was not to exonerate them or convict them. I think they actually believe that that video was. was helpful to their case. Man, were they wrong? And it shows you how twisted their view of the world is.

All right. In the postgame show, we have lots of great stories, including Republicans who are trying to sabotage California's 23rd District congressional race. Don't miss that story and more. Become a member at t.com slash join. 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.co slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.