UNBIASED - February 9, 2026: Trump's Controversial Obama Video, $10B IRS Lawsuit, Epstein Documents Show Federal Officials Saw 'Orange Figure' Night of Epstein's Death, and More.

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

SUBSCRIBE TO JORDAN'S ⁠SUBSTACK⁠. Get the facts, without the spin. UNBIASED offers a clear, impartial recap of US news, including politics, elections, legal news, and more. Hosted by lawyer Jordan Berman, each episode provides a recap of current political events plus breakdowns of complex concepts—like constitutional rights, recent Supreme Court rulings, and new legislation—in an easy-to-understand way. No personal opinions, just the facts you need to stay informed on the daily news that matters. If you miss how journalism used to be, you're in the right place. In today's episode: Trump's Controversial Obama Video; Here's What You Need to Know (0:33) Trump Sues IRS and Treasury Dept. for $10B; Answering Your Questions (8:47) New Bio Lab Found in Vegas; Linked to 2023 Bio Lab Found in California (~19:08) New Epstein Documents Show Government Officials Saw 'Orange Figure' Night of Epstein's Death Despite Statements to the Contrary (~24:07) Quick Hitters: Ghislaine Maxwell Pleads the Fifth, Congress Starts Reviewing Unredacted Epstein Files, Super Bowl Halftime Numbers, Liam Ramos Didn't Receive Bad Bunny's Grammy Award (~29:10) Critical Thinking Segment (~32:08) SUBSCRIBE TO JORDAN'S ⁠FREE NEWSLETTER⁠. ⁠Watch⁠ this episode on YouTube. Follow Jordan on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠. All sources for this episode can be found ⁠here.⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun!

The meeting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1866533 or visitcomex Ontario.C.A. Welcome back to Unbiot. your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to unbiased politics. Today is Monday, February 9th. Let's talk about some news.

I do have a shorter episode for you today, but that's okay because I do feel like the episodes lately have been very, very substantive and content heavy. So this is kind of just going to be a little more chill. I mean, we still have some bigger stories to talk about, but the news cycle is definitely a little bit slower today. We'll start today's episode off with some news from Thursday. So President Trump's truth social account shared a video that has caused a lot of controversy. It was a 62 second documentary style clip about alleged fraud in the 2020 election, specifically alleged tampering with the voting machines in some battleground states. Now, at the very end of this video, a, one second clip pops up on the screen that shows the faces of former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama on the bodies of apes. And a one second snippet to the intro of the song

The Lion Sleeps Tonight is playing over the clip at the same time. And then the video ends. So it's unclear how that one second clip made it into the post, but it was very clearly not part of the original election fraud video. Right. Like the, the, the, the, The original election fraud video was almost like a clip from a documentary of sorts. And then this other clip that showed the Obamas was an AI generated video of sorts. And we actually know this because the frames of the Obamas originated from a separate video that had previously been circulated by a conservative meme maker. In fact, I've watched the full video of the animal.

the animal video too, because based on the text overlay on that one second clip that shows in the election video, you can see the source of the animal video. And the animal video is this 55-second AI generated video that shows the faces of multiple democratic political figures and talking heads on the bodies of various animals. But President Trump's head is on the body of a lion. And the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight is playing over this video. The first seven seconds of that video shows the faces of former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama attached to the bodies of apes. And that is the same sort of clip that made it into this election fraud video. Other figures that were depicted in the animal video include Hillary Clinton as a warthog,

Hakeem Jeffries as a mere cat, AOC, and Gavis. Neussam is donkeys, J.P. Pritzker is in there as an elephant, Adam Schiff is in there as a giraffe. You have Chuck Schumer as a zebra, Zoran Mamdani as a hyena. Joe Biden's in there as an orangutan, Kamala Harris as a turtle, Whoopi Goldberg as a hippo, and there's a couple of others as well. So just to be clear, and just so we're all on the same page with this, a snippet of that 55 second AI generated animal video ended up at the end of this 2020 election fraud documentary style clip that was shared to Trump's truth social account. And I do have, of course, both videos linked for you in the sources section of this episode if you're interested in

watching them because that way you will get the full picture here. But to take it back to the story at hand, I wanted to explain the video first. the post stayed on Trump's true social account through the night on Thursday night and it was taken down the following day after bipartisan backlash. So there were obviously a bunch of Democratic lawmakers that came out or came and spoke out about the post. There were also a handful of Republican lawmakers. So Republican Senator Tim Scott wrote on X, quote, praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The president should remove it.

end quote. Republican Senator Roger Wicker also posted to act saying, quote, this is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize. End quote. Republican Senator Pete Ricketts wrote on X, quote, even if this was a lying king meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this. The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake, remove this and apologize. End quote. Republican Representative Mike Lawler wrote on X, quote, the president's post is wrong and incredibly offensive, whether intentional or a mistake. and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered, end quote. And then finally, Republican representative Nick Lalada wrote on X, quote, the president has made tremendous inroads in the black community, and I can't imagine that sharing a one-minute video, the last second of which was unrelated and pretty racist,

wasn't sloppy screen recording by staff. Deleting the post would help write this wrong, end quote. So some White House officials were asked about the video. one of the senior officials said, quote, a White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down. And quote, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt originally said, quote, this is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public. And quote. Later, Levitt said in an interview on Fox News that Trump, quote, spoke with lawmakers today out of respect for them, including Senator Tim Scott.

The post was removed, but leave it to the leftist media, of course, to talk about this all day. He did take the post down, and again, this is merely a distraction for the fake news media. End quote. As for the president himself, he originally addressed the controversy on Friday while he was speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One. He told them that he had not watched the entire video before it was posted. He said, quote, I looked at it. I saw it and I just looked at the first part. It was about voter fraud in some place, Georgia. There's a lot of voter fraud, 20-20 voter fraud. And I didn't see the whole thing. I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of picture that people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it. I looked at the first part and it was really about voter fraud in the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing, but I guess somebody didn't. They posted it and we took it down, but that was a voter fraud that nobody talks about. They don't like to talk about that post.

We took it down as soon as we found out about it. I didn't see the whole thing. And quote, a reporter then asked him, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you're going to do? He replied, quote, no, I didn't make a mistake. I mean, you give, I look at a lot of things. I look at a lot of thousands of things and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine. They had that one post and I guess it was a takeoff. By the way, a lot of people covered, if you look at where it came from, a lot of, I guess it was a takeoff. of the Lion King and certainly it was a strong post in terms of voter fraud. Nobody knew that that was at the end. If they would have looked, they would have seen it and probably would have had the sense to take it down. But that was a takeoff of the Lion King and a lot of people covered in a lot of different positions. But I spoke to Tim Scott. He was great. Tim is a great guy. He understood that 100%. End quote. Then a few minutes later, a reporter circled back to the issue and asked Trump, quote, at the very least, do you condemn the racist parts of the video?

end quote, Trump replied, of course I do. Now, despite the White House's remarks and President Trump's remarks about the post, people obviously have their opinions on both sides of this, right? Some people are saying the post was a mistake and it wasn't intentional. Others are saying it was intentional and it was racist. So again, if you want the full picture and you want to form your own opinion on the situation and you want to see the videos, I do have both videos linked for you in the sources section of this episode, which you can always find by clicking the sources link in the episode show notes. And what I mean when I say both videos is the video that was originally posted to Trump's Truth Social account, as well as that full AI-generated animal video that it seems like,

you know, that's where the clip of the Obama's originally came from. It's just not clear how it ended up in Trump's Post to Truth Social. So both of those videos are linked in the sources section of this episode. moving on to some other Trump adjacent news that many of you have asked about. About a week or so ago, I reported in a quick hitter segment that President Trump had filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS for $10 billion. But a lot of you have questions about the origins of the lawsuit and who would be on the hook for paying any potential damages should President Trump win the lawsuit or settle the lawsuit. So let's talk about this. This is a suit that was actually filed by President Trump.

sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and then the Trump Organization. And this was actually filed by Trump in his personal capacity, by the way. So it wasn't, he didn't file this as President Trump. He filed this as Donald Trump. But the lawsuit alleges that the federal government failed to protect their confidential tax return information and allowed it to be unlawfully disclosed to the press. The complaint relies primarily on international revenue. Code Section 6103, which generally prohibits the disclosure of tax return information by IRS employees and imposes this duty on the government to safeguard tax return information. So the plaintiffs, Trump, his sons and the Trump organization, argued that this alleged failure

to safeguard their tax return information and allow this leak of their tax return information caused them severe reputational harm, financial losses, public embarrassment, and adverse political consequences. Now, more specifically, this lawsuit arises from a tax leak, tax return leak in 2019 and 2020 carried out by a man named Charles Edward Littlejohn. Littlejohn previously worked as an IRS contractor and had lawful access to IRS systems, but he ended up exceeding that authority by downloading and distributing confidential tax return information and giving it to outlets like the New York Times and ProPublica. Both of those outlets later published investigative reports on Trump's tax history and tax strategies based on this leaked information. Now, Little John was

ultimately charged with unauthorized disclosure of tax return information. He pled guilty in 2023 and he was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2024. As part of his plea, he also admitted to stealing tax records of thousands of other wealthy people, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. So this was a tax data leak that happened in 2019 and 2020. However, rather than suing Little John himself in his personal capacity, the Trumps and Trump organization are suing the IRS and Treasury Department, alleging that they failed to take the necessary steps to prevent their former employees. from improperly disclosing their tax returns. And the complaint argues that the IRS and Treasury Department failed to implement sufficient technical, administrative, or monitoring controls to protect sensitive taxpayer information despite their obligations to do so under the law.

And they further argued that the agency's failure is what enabled this leak and that the resulting media coverage caused lasting damage to their personal damage to their personal reputations, their businesses, as well as Trump's political standing. As I mentioned earlier, the lawsuit is seeking, and I should say his political standing. So remember this was 2019 and 2020. The election that Trump lost was obviously in 2020. So he's he's tying these two things together, saying that his political standing was negatively affected. He lost that election in part because of this leak and the subsequent reports by pro-publica and the New York Times. So as I mentioned earlier, the lawsuit is seeking at least

$10 billion in damages. However, it's worth noting at the same time, this is not the first lawsuit that Trump has filed for $10 billion, right? He sued the BBC last year, alleging defamation over edits to a clip of his speech on January 6, 2021. That was also for $10 billion. He sued the Wall Street Journal after it reported on a birthday note that he allegedly wrote Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. That was also for $10 billion. He sued J.P. Morgan Chase and its CEO, though that lawsuit seeks $5 billion, not $10 billion. And then in October of last year, he sued the New York Times and three of its reporters for $15 billion, accusing them of publishing defamatory statements while covering his 2024 campaign. So this is yet another lawsuit in the, you know, tens of billions.

Now, if the lawsuit results in court order damages or a settlement, the money would be paid with taxpayer dollars. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson actually just said while testifying before the Senate last week that any payment stemming from this lawsuit would come from the Treasury's general account. And he clarified in a follow-up question that the Treasury's general account means taxpayer dollars. When Trump was asked by reporter on Air Force One, whether it's fair to ask the American people to pay for his lawsuit, Trump said, quote, well, anything I win, I'm going to give 100% to charity. The reporter then followed up and said, but that still takes it from the American people. And Trump replied,

quote, no, no, because they give money away to charity. They give $40 billion a year to charity, our government, end quote. Now, something the court will have to sort out here is whether this case can proceed while Trump is in office, right? Because there is a bit of a conflict of interest here. Trump is suing in his personal capacity and the DOJ is the defendant in this case. So what that means is that the DOJ is responsible for either defending the case or reaching a settlement with Trump. So although attorneys general are expected to operate with some level of independence, a court could see the dynamic as a conflict that warrants pausing the case until Trump leaves office. The other issue present in this case is the statute of limitations. So under federal law,

lawsuits against the government for improper tax disclosure have to be initiated within two years of what's called the date of discovery by the plaintiff. And while Trump received official notice of the leak from the IRS in 2024, leaked reports of his tax returns were public as early as 2020. So that's another thing the court will have to sort. out. Did the statute of limitations start running when the public found out about the leaks, or did it start running when Trump received that official notice from the federal agency? So there are still some things to work out here. This case is very much in the early stages. We'll have to wait for the court to rule on some of these more specific issues.

Let's take a quick break here. And when we come back, we'll talk about these bio labs found in Vegas and California, as well as some new documents that are shedding light on Epstein's jail cell the night that he died. The scorebed app here with trusted stats and real-time sports news. Yeah, hey, who should I take in the Boston game? Well, statistically speaking. Nah, no more statistically speaking. I want hot takes. I want knee-jerk reactions.

That's not really what I do. Is that because you don't have any knees? Or? The scoreback. Trusted sports content, seamless sports. Sports betting, download today. 19 plus, Ontario only. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling

or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to conicsonterao.ca. With the RBC Avion Visa, you can book any airline, any flight, any time. So start ticking off your travel list. Grand Canyon? Grand. Great barrier reef? Great. Galapagos?

Galapago? Switch and get up to 55,000 avion points that never expire. Your idea of never miss. out happens here. Conditions apply. Visit rbc.com slash avion. Welcome back. Let's talk about these bios that have been making headlines. So earlier this month, law enforcement discovered what they believe was an illegal bio lab operating inside of a home in Las Vegas. They received a tip about unusual activity at the property. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, along with

SWAT teams and hazmat units and the FBI, went ahead and executed a search warrant at this property and in the garage, they found multiple refrigerators and freezers containing vials and containers of unknown liquids. They also found a centrifuge. They also found other equipment that suggest lab work. Authorities ended up seizing more than a thousand samples and items of interest and sent them to the National Biofurensic Analysis Center for testing to determine whether they contain biological agents or hazardous substances. As of last week, local and federal investigators were still trying to figure out what exactly those substances were that were found. So they don't have any definitive answers there.

However, officials have since confirmed that this Vegas investigation is connected to an earlier illegal biolab case that was found in Reedley, California. So Las Vegas Metro Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMayhill said at a press conference, quote, As our investigation progressed, we determined that the home was owned by the same individual connected to a prior illegal biolab investigation in Reedley, California that occurred in 2023. And quote, and that individual was David He, a Chinese national. He was arrested in October 2023 and charged with manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices as well as making false statements to the FBI in connection with

unapproved test kits for things like COVID, pregnancy, and HIV. Searches of that Reedley facility uncovered thousands of vials of potential pathogens like HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, COVID, and Ebola. And in August 2024, a federal grand jury actually returned a superseding indictment, which added conspiracy and wire fraud charges to his original indictment. and he is currently in federal custody while he awaits trial. But officials are now saying that he also owned this home in Vegas where the most recent bio lab was found earlier this month.

The property manager of the home is 55-year-old Ori Solomon. He has since been arrested on federal firearm charges because his temporary work visa status prohibits gun possession. He is originally from Israel. and he is here on a temporary work visa. Investigators say that during the recent raid of the Vegas property, they found French and Israeli passports in Solomon's name as well as multiple firearms. According to documents after Solomon's arrest,

he called a family member from jail and asked whether there were any guns left, which then seemingly prompted a second search of the property, where officers found, quote, numerous firearms, ammunition, and firearm accessories. So as of now, Solomon is not facing any federal charges connected to this biolab because, as I mentioned, investigators are still trying to determine what the substances are, but he is facing that federal firearms charge as well as a state charge that involves the disposal of hazardous waste. Meanwhile, in the wake of the Vegas discovery, officials went and conducted another search at that Reedley facility in California, though it's unclear whether investment. found anything. The city manager of Reedley, her name is Nicole Ziba, she has since spoken to news outlets and expressed her frustrations with all of this because she says that she worked with federal officials during a congressional hearing in 2023 and the report that came out of

that investigation found that the CDC refused to test any of the samples found at the facility and the FBI closed its investigation early on the basis that it found no weapons of mass destruction on the property. So Ziba is basically saying she's frustrated because she was raising red flags about loopholes and national security for biologics back in 2023 when the Reedley facility was first found and even knew back then that the defendant had ties to Las Vegas, but nothing was ever really done. And now we're here. So in the wake of all of this, some federal leaders are asking, Congress to reintroduce a bill called the Preventing Illegal Laboratories and Protecting Public Health Act of 2025. It's a bill that they say would strengthen federal oversight of pathogens and high containment laboratories to protect national security. So that's where things stand

as of now, but the investigation into these biolabs is still ongoing. Okay, let's switch gears a little bit to these new documents detailing surveillance footage from the night of Epstein's death. Now, as we've talked about over the last couple of weeks, because there were so many Epstein pages released at once, more than three million, right? We were bound to get more storylines as people continue to review them. And the latest storyline is that these newly released DOJ documents show that the investigators who reviewed the surveillance footage from the night of Epstein's death, noticed and documented in orange colored shape, an orange figure, moving up a staircase toward the area of Epstein's cell, the night of his death. And the reason

this is notable is because previously government officials have said that the footage clearly shows that no one entered the area where Epstein was housed. Specifically, former Attorney General William Barr said back in 2019 that he agreed. He agreed. with the conclusion of the medical examiner that Epstein had died by suicide because he personally reviewed the footage and clearly saw no one in the vicinity of Epstein's cell. That claim was more recently repeated by FBI deputy director Dan Bongino who said on Fox News in May, quote, there's video clear as day he's the only person in there and the only person coming out. And quote, but now we know through these newly released documents that government officials were

aware that someone was seen walking towards the area of Epstein's cell on the night of his death around 10.40 p.m. Now, something I want to be clear about is that the DOJ released the footage from Epstein's jail back in July of last year. So we've known about this figure in the orange jumpsuit since then. What's new are these internal reports that show government officials knew about the figure, despite telling the public that the video footage clearly shows no one in the vicinity of Epstein's cell the night of his death. The internal reports also show that the FBI and Inspector General came to slightly different possible conclusions about who this figure might be. So the FBI's analysis that we now have access to says, quote, a flash of orange looks to be

going up the L-tier stairs could possibly be an inmate, escorted up to that tier. End quote. The Inspector General's analysis says, quote, a flash of orange can be seen going up the stairs of L upper tier. Inmates are currently on lockdown. It is possible someone is carrying inmate linen or bedding up the stairs, end quote. And the reason this is important is because, as we know from the reports, Epstein was found

hanging using bedding or linen. Then two minutes later, the inspector general writes, in that same analysis. Quote, person walks back into camera view from L-tier, laundry area, and special housing unit, exit area, which is where I've seen was, special housing unit, and goes behind special housing unit officers desk. And quote, the final report from the inspector general, though, which is what the public originally saw up until this point, simply just says, quote, at approximately 1039 p.m., an unidentified corrections officer appeared to walk up the L-tier stairway, and then reappeared within view of the camera at 1041 p.m.

End quote. So basically, these new documents are raising more questions about what really happened near Epstein's tier the night that he died. Official reviews made no mention of this figure in orange, and later statements by government officials said no one entered Epstein's tier that night, which we now know could be false based on these new documents. And by the way, the video footage of the staircase leading to Epstein's cell tier was the only camera known to have been recording that night. And it was at an angle that didn't totally show the entrance.

It's very grainy. It's very blurry. There's not a clear view of the entrance to Epstein's tier. So we don't we don't have all the answers. We still don't have all the answers despite, you know, three million plus pages of documents being released. And if anything, we just have more questions, really. But if you do want to learn more about the night of Epstein's death and the inconsistencies that exist that have kind of fueled these theories that potentially, you know, someone in the jail was involved,

I did include a new CBS article in the sources for this episode that does a pretty good job of laying out exactly why there are still so many questions surrounding his death. And it kind of dives into the testimonies that have given by the officers that were working that night. And yeah, just generally the inconsistencies. So if you do want to read that, again, that is a CBS News article linked in the sources section of this episode, which as I mentioned earlier, you can find by clicking the sources link in the show notes. Okay, let's do some quick hitters. Jiselaan Maxwell sat for a virtual congressional deposition today where she pleaded the fifth and declined to answer lawmakers' questions per her attorney's instruction. However, Maxwell's attorney did say, quote, if this committee and the American public truly want to hear the under unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path. Miss Maxwell is prepared

to speak fully and honestly, if granted clemency by President Trump. Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters. For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Miss Maxwell alone can explain why and the public is entitled to that explanation. And quote. And in some Epstein adjacent news, members of Congress are now being allowed to review the unredacted Epstein files. The unredacted files will not be released to the public, at least not as of now, but lawmakers can start reviewing them as of this morning. Per the agreement that lawmakers have with the DOJ, lawmakers can view all 3 million plus documents

at DOJ headquarters, but they cannot make electronic copies and they have to provide at least 24 hours notice to access them on site. Congressional staffers cannot assist the lawmakers with the review. And the preliminary numbers from the Super Bowl halftime show and competing turning point halftime show are in. While official viewership numbers have not been released, like I said, we have some preliminary data. Apple Music reported that the Super Bowl halftime show was the most watched in Super Bowl history. And we know from last year that Kendrick Lamar's halftime show drew 133.4. million views. So presumably the viewership for Bad Bunny's performance was above that. Meanwhile, the All-American halftime show, which is what Turning Point put on, drew 6.1 million concurrent

viewers on Turning Points YouTube channel at its peak. But it is worth noting, too, that Turning Points halftime show also streamed on a handful of cable news shows and those numbers are not yet in. And then one other Super Bowl-related story I wanted to mention. there were some posts going around on social media saying that Bad Bunny gave his Grammy Award to Liam Ramos during the halftime show performance. And Liam Ramos is, of course, the five-year-old boy that we've been talking about that was detained with his father by ICE last month. But that is not the case. Bad Bunny did not give his Grammy to Liam Ramos. Liam Ramos was not at the Super Bowl.

Bad Bunny gave his Grammy to a child actor named Lincoln Fox who was involved involved. in the halftime show. So just in case you believed a post that you saw online like I did, I saw that post, I believed it, and then I found out later that it was not true. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page with that. Okay, let's finish this episode with some critical thinking. We will go back to the story about Trump, his sons, and the Trump organization suing the IRS and Treasury Department. So my first question for you is this, what are your thoughts on a sitting president being allowed to pursue personal civil lawsuits against the federal government while in office. Should that be allowed? Should these lawsuits be paused until after the president leaves office?

And whatever your answer is, why is that your answer? Make sure you provide some sort of justification. And then the second question is assuming that sitting presidents can sue the federal government while in office. Do you think that there should be limits or rules on what happens? happens with the money damages if the president wins and why or why not? And then just for fun, try to come up with at least one limit or one rule that could hypothetically be placed on a money damages award for a sitting president. That is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here as always. Have a fantastic next few days and I will talk to you again on Thursday.