What A Day - "Things Happen": Trump Goes All In On MBS

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

President Donald Trump joyously welcomed Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, also known as MBS, to the White House on Tuesday. That's despite the fact that, according to US intelligence, MBS allegedly ordered the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The meeting was supposed to center on Saudi investments in the United States in exchange for military equipment and possible access to nuclear technology – as the US and Saudi Arabia become closer partners than ever before. So for more on what MBS's very friendly visit means for U.S.-Saudi relations, we spoke with Pod Save the World co-host Tommy Vietor.And in headlines, Education Secretary Linda McMahon works to "break up federal bureaucracy", the US takes one step closer to maybe possibly finally seeing the Epstein files, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he'll take the state's redistricting fight to the Supreme Court.Show Notes:Check out Pod Save The World – tinyurl.com/4n6y99muCall Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Wednesday, November 19th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show just noting President Donald Trump's comments when speaking to a female journalist asking a question about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's emails on Air Force One on Friday. Quiet, quiet, biggie. The President of the United States of America. On today's show, Education Secretary and former W.W.E. CEO Linda McMahon body slams the Department of Education. And we're one step closer to maybe finally seeing the Epstein files. But let's start with two big stories about President Trump's besties, Jeffrey Epstein and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill to compel the Department of Justice to release its files on Epstein.

A bill President Trump opposed up until, oh, Sunday Eve. That bill then headed to the Senate, which declared the legislation deemed as passed, sending it directly to the White House. We'll get into more about the vote later in the show. But as a person who definitely doesn't care about the release of the Epstein files, Trump still got very, very heated in the Oval Office when asked a very simple question as to why he didn't just have the DOJ release the files himself. Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now? You know, it's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter.

It's the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who's highly respected, asking him a horrible insubordinate and just a terrible question. And you could even ask that same exact question nicely. You're all psyched. Somebody sikes you over at ABC. You're going to psych. You're a terrible person and a terrible reporter.

As far as the Epstein files is, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert. But I guess I turned out to be right. And he kept going with one of his favorite words besides groceries. It's a hoax. Now, I just got a little report and I put it in my pocket of all the money that he's given to Democrats. He gave me none, zero, no money to me, but he gave money to Democrats. And people are wise to your hoax. And ABC's, your company, your crappy company is one of the

perpetrators. And I'll tell you something, I'll tell you something. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and is so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, the chairman, who should look at that. Normal and cool. Definitely doesn't raise any additional questions. All of that was in the midst of a fun visit from his good friend, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS. The meeting was intended to center on Saudi investments in the United States in exchange for military equipment and possible access to nuclear technology,

as the U.S. and Saudi Arabia become closer partners than ever before. And the visit was apparently super fun. the most fun anyone can have with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. That's on the lead, Mr. Fristin. If you can't see that clip, it's of Trump and MBS enjoying a handshake with a level of frivolity typically seen in sports bars, which might explain why Trump responded to a question about the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a murder U.S. intelligence alleged was ordered by MBS himself, like he was defending his very good friend

who may have had a man murdered and carved up with a bone saw because, because, you know, things happen. You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happened. But he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that. By the way, the same journalist, ABC News's Mary Bruce, asked Trump about Epstein and Khashoggi,

and she should be credited with asking great questions that caused the president to dissemble completely. Before Trump's meeting with MBS, what a day's Matt Berg spoke with the widow of Jamal Khashoges. Khashoggi, Hanan al-Ataur, Khashoggi. She told Berg that she's fine with the U.S. having close ties to Saudi Arabia, but she's still looking for financial compensation from the country's government. And while MBS has said that, as the leader of Saudi Arabia, he takes responsibility for

Khashoggi's murder, his widow says she's still waiting for an official apology. He did take a responsibility in a 60-minute interview in 2019, but nothing happened behind after this and since, okay, he took responsibility, but there is no real justice comes through. So for more on Trump's minimization of the murder of Khashoggi and what MBS's very friendly visit means for U.S.-S.-Saudi relations, I spoke with Pod Save the World co-host, Tommy Vitor. Tommy, welcome back to what today. Great to be here. Thank you for having me. President Joe Biden got plenty of criticism for fist-bumping Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman in 2022. How would you compare that fist bump to the treatment MBS got from President Donald Trump

on Tuesday? I mean, it's a state visit in everything but name, you know, because the MBS's father is technically the head of states. You can't have a state visit. But he got like the black tie event with all the business leaders. The Marines on horseback. Yeah, he got like the, the oval office spray, the meeting. They all yelled a journalist together. So I think MBS got everything he wanted it more. Yeah, he seemed like he was really happy. I follow someone who's like a long-time MBS watcher and it was like, this is the most comfortable I've ever seen him. And I was like, yeah, you could, yeah. You know, he was surrounded by gold and being basically faded by the president.

Exactly. And, you know, Donald Trump was basically yelling at journalists. Like, how dare you ask this man about butchering a journalist? In addition to saying things happen when asked about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as you just referenced, Trump also said the MBS, quote, knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that. But a 2021 U.S. intelligence report concluded that MBS did order the killing of Khashoggi. You might recall that also another report from the CIA from 2018 when Trump was president the first time concluded the same thing. What did you make of Trump's complete dismissal of those findings?

He just does not care. He will side with MBS over his own intelligence community if it means the Trump family organization gets some sweet, sweet real estate deals in Riyadh, which it sounds like is what's happening behind the scenes. We don't know what other financial ties might be getting cooked up in these one-on-one meetings, but Trump could care less about human rights. It is completely off the table. He is all in with MBS, and MBS has been completely rehabilitated since 2018. Yeah, it's also interesting that, you know what else hasn't really gotten mentioned? 9-11.

Yeah. It's funny how, you know, that Saudi Arabia's role in 9-11, which actually came up. I think MBS said something about like Osama bin Laden was getting in the way of our relationship, And I'm like, okay, well, okay. That was an interesting moment. So this ABC News reporter named Mary Bruce asked. Who was a baller today, like in that press conference? Good for her.

She asked a series of tough questions to both of them. Like, what about Khashoki? What about 9-11 families that are mad that MBS is here? What about the Epstein? Yeah. What about your family's business interest in the Saudis? And he dissembled like a pack of cards. Yeah.

And honestly, like Trump's reaction was so. angry and over the top and he started screaming at her that he made Muhammad bin Salman, a man who apparently fired a machine gun at the ceiling when he got in a fight with his own mother look calm and reasonable in comparison. Yeah, an MBS went on this weird rant about how Salma bin Laden's did 9-11 with Saudi hijackers because he wanted to divide the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. And it's like maybe he had some sort of motive there, but that's not really what the question is. The question is about like Saudi financing for al-Qaeda and other maybe high-level connections, and he just sort of ducked that part.

To the point about business ties, President Trump also downplayed the ties between his family business and Saudi Arabia, saying, quote, they've done very little with Saudi Arabia. Actually, I'm sure they could do a lot. Can we get a quick fact check on that? Like, how much business is the Trump organization doing in Saudi Arabia? Tons, like billions of dollars with a business. There's like a couple Trump towers. There's like a Trump kind of resort being developed.

There's lots of licensing deals. There is a Saudi-linked business that's doing. like licensing and branding deals for the Trump organization throughout the Middle East. So there's a ton of business being done. And the Trump family is profiting handsomely from the presidency. And Trump, you know, went on this self-righteous rant about how there's no connection between him and his family business. Remember the quote-unquote peace summit and Charmel Sheikh a few months back?

We all heard through a hot mic, the president of Indonesia asked President Trump, I have a question, should I call Don? Should I call Eric? And Trump said, call Eric. Like, he's a good boy. Clearly, this was about setting up some sort of business deal. I think maybe, like, a resort in Bali. So, like, these things are completely overlapping.

And what is getting left out here is what's in the U.S. interests? Like, what are we getting out of this visit? I still have no idea. Well, MBS said during his Oval Office visit Tuesday, that Saudi Arabia will be investing $1 trillion in the United States. One, that number just keeps expanding. Like, not to sound like an elderly millennial, but this was real Austin Powers vibes. of like the number just keeps going up.

Is there any world in which that is possible? It seems. Like, first of all, do they have actually one trillion dollars? Because I think, like, the, you know, the Saudi Arabian royal family, very wealthy, but, like, how much actual liquid cash could they actually put into the actual United States? Yeah, I think the value of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is like a little over a trillion. So I'm not, I don't think they're going to push all. They're not going all in.

I mean, yeah, I think the number started at 600 billion Trump. was like joking around with MBS, that he was going to keep pushing him up and up. I mean, look, I think that MBS and a lot of other leaders have figured out that Trump just wants a good headline. And if you tell him, you're going to invest $11,000 trillion, like he'll be happy. I would not hold your breath and wait for that to actually happen. It seems like a bunch of bullshit. But I guess we'll find out. A major goal of President Trump's has been to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. It does not seem like that is going to happen.

But what's your take? Yeah. So the deal that was on the table for a long time was the U.S. would offer Saudi Arabia some sort of NATO-like security guarantee in exchange for the Saudis normalizing relations with Israel. The second half of that deal just didn't come up at this meeting. And it seems like what Trump is going to do is give the Saudis like a security guarantee via executive order like he did with Qatar, which means it won't be ratified by Congress. And that's in part because Congress would demand this Israel people. piece of the deal to come through as well. It seems like normalization between the Saudis and Israel is off the table because of the war in Gaza and because the Israelis refuse to begin the process

even of creating a Palestinian state, and that's a non-starter for MBS. So interesting that the Saudi just got what they want without giving up anything. I mean, to that point, how significant are the Trump administration's plans to sell F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia? That's a big deal. I mean, that is like top of the line technology. The concern in the U.S. intelligence community, according to a bunch of articles based on leaks, is that the Saudis could then transfer that technology over to China and all of a sudden they have our like fifth generation fighter jets in their possession and there's a real security risk there. So this is a big deal. I mean, it's something the Israelis we have to sign off on because they want what's called a qualitative

military edge in the Middle East so that they can defeat any other military in their reach. that might threaten them. But, yeah, I mean, that was a pretty big gift to the Saudis. I guess, again, we'll see if it actually happens. Right. Especially, you know, there were also hints about potentially sharing nuclear technology, which was a lot's happened in the U.S. Saudi relationship over the last 25 years. That's all I'll say on that.

You know, it makes whole sense to me that the country with the second largest oil reserves on the planet needs a civilian nuclear capability. That seems like no downside there. What could possibly go wrong? To that point, President Biden may not have been as friendly with NBS because literally no one ever has been, including members of MBS's own actual family. Yeah, yeah, famously. Some of whom he imprisoned. Yeah.

But his administration didn't exactly hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its human rights record either. What do you think a sensible U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia would look like? I mean, I think, yeah, you're right. The tale of the tape is, in 2018, remember, MBS came to the United States, and he had a three-week-long visit where he met with, like, business leaders. He went to Harvard. He went to MIT. He went to Washington. Everyone wrote about what a great reformer he was and how was this, like, sea change.

Women can drive. Women can drive. And then, by the way, he threw those women in jail. Yeah. And then he murdered Jamal Khashoggi. And so there was this kind of nadir in 2019 where the business community kind of backed off for a minute. But eventually they were like, well, he's got a sovereign wealth fund with a trillion dollars. So they moved back in.

Joe Biden ran saying, he. he would turn Saudi Arabia into a pariah state. And then when he got into office, gas prices were really high. And he needed the Saudis to convince OPEC to release or drill for more oil and get prices down. So he went over to Saudi Arabia and he did the infamous fist bump. I think, like, a reasonable U.S. Saudi relationship would be one that is just a little more rational. Like, we should have human rights as part of the component. If you want to push for Saudi normalization with Israel, that's okay.

but I don't think that's like the end-all, be-all. Like, I'm not really sure what that gets the United States. There can be a military-to-military relationship. We don't want the Saudis completely abandoning us as a partner and, you know, getting everything from the Chinese. But that doesn't mean we have to give them everything. They don't need F-35s or top-of-the-line AI chips or whatever kind of, you know, high-value thing we have to offer these days.

So I think it's just sort of like viewing them as a partner in the region, but one with some guardrails around. it. So we care about human rights and, like, U.S. values. We don't have to just abandon them. I mean, Donald Trump doesn't have any value. He does not care at all. He just cares about Don and Eric getting deals. Exactly. Tommy, as always, thanks for joining me. Thanks for having me. That was my conversation with Pod Save the World co-host, Tommy Vitor. We'll get to more of the news in a moment. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to

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We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House, and the vice president to get this win. But they never, they're on our side today, though. So let's give them some credit. as well. Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massey spoke in front of the Capitol moments before the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill Tuesday to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The bill passed the House 427 to 1, with the only no vote coming from a Louisiana Republican and contender for a not-a-great-look-of-the-year award, Clay Higgins. A fervent supporter of Trump, Higgins released a statement on Twitter opposing the bill on privacy grounds. Yikes. The bill then passed the Senate by unanimous consent and will head to President Trump's desk. Both President Trump and his little house speaker, Mike Johnson, failed in their efforts to prevent the vote, with Trump ultimately bowing to the mountain of pressure behind the bill. So, after months of Republican stalling and wailing and wailing from Trump, the bill passed both houses of Congress within a matter of hours, which seems odd for a

quote, radical Democrat hoax. In a two-to-one ruling, a panel of federal judges in Texas struck down the now-infamous newly-drawn state congressional maps, engineered to make five districts more favorable to Republicans. The court ruled that the new maps appeared to be drawn at the behest of the Trump administration. The 160-page opinion explains that the court found, quote, substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map. Furthermore, it ordered that the 26 election in the state, quote, shall proceed under the map that the Texas legislature enacted in 2021. In a press release, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he will appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The ruling is a major blow to Trump's nationwide redistricting push.

Texas's map was, you might say, Trump's crown jewel of his electoral hijinks. And in a classic, play stupid games, win stupid prizes twist, it may cost him and Republicans more than they could have imagined. Since Texas passed its map in August, Democrats have fired back with their own aggressive redraw in California, with Virginia and possibly others preparing to follow suit. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom initially said the state's map would take effect only if Texas moved forward with its gerrymander, but lawmakers quietly removed that condition days before the final vote. If the Texas ruling stands, Democrats may actually come out ahead in the redistricting arms race,

though Republicans have already sued to block California's new map. I said, why do we just pay this money directly to the people of our country and let them buy their own health insurance? And you know, I made that statement, and I made it a little bit cavalierly, but it sounded good. Dale is old as time. In a full stream of consciousness rambled Monday, President Trump walked us through his policymaking process. I blurted something out. It's unrealistic, but the crowd liked it, and now I guess it's my plan. House Republicans, meanwhile, are now only beginning real talks in how to tackle skyrocketing health insurance premiums,

a debate they successfully dodged through the entire 43-day shutdown. At the center of the fight, whether to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. GOP House leaders held their first full conference discussion Tuesday on whether to negotiate with Democrats on ACA extensions or push a conservative health care overhaul on their own. The problem? Senate Republicans are already weeks ahead, sketching out proposals that align with President Trump's vision of sending health funds, quote, directly to the people, leaving GOP House members panicked about getting boxed into whatever the Senate cooks up. Democrats, for their part, along with a handful of vulnerable Republicans, are trying to force bipartisan negotiations to push for a clean

extension of the subsidies. But some conservative Republicans are calling the tax credits, quote, hand ads, men threatening to blow up any package that doesn't include GOP priorities like expanded health savings accounts or new out-of-pocket requirements for ACA plans. Even if Republicans can unify around a set policy in the House, they would need at least eight Democratic votes in the Senate to advance any bill. And the clock is ticking. Senate leaders promised Democrats a vote on the subsidy extension by mid-December. The announcement really follows the plan that President Trump has had since day one, and that is returning education to the states.

He fully believes, as do I, the best education is that that's closest to the child and not run from a bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. Education Secretary Linda McMahon went on Fox News and touted the Trump administration's latest effort to dismantle the Department of Education. How? By handing off some of its responsibilities to other federal agencies. In a press release, the Education Department announced six interagency agreements to, quote, break up the federal education bureaucracy and, quote, streamlined federal education activities on the legally required programs, reduce administrative burdens, and refocus programs and activities.

So what does this mean? Let's see if the former CEO of the WWE can clarify for us. That is that we procure the services of other agencies. It's kind of a bit of a test run. We want to move on a temporary basis some of those programs to different agencies. The funding still comes from the Department of Education. The management of those programs, the oversight of those programs is still at the department. But we want to see if what we think to be true is that they will function much more in a streamlined fashion and much more efficiently if we relocate those programs into other agencies. And so if we do that, I call it the proof of concept. What?

The new partnerships effectively move billions of dollars in grant programs from the Education Department to the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State. One agreement puts the Labor Department in charge of some of the largest federal funding streams for K-12 schools. That includes money for schools serving low-income communities. And the Interior Department? It will now help administer the Office of Indian Education. McMahon says after this test run, they'll present the results to Congress with the hopes that she can put herself out of a job. And that's the news.

Before we go, check out, check out, Crooked subscriber-only show inside 24 we go, check out Crooked subscriber-only show inside 24. In the latest episode, Ben Rhodes and Tommy Vitor talk about the behind-the-scenes world of state dinners, foreign trips, and multilateral meetings. It's a fun one. You can listen to that episode, get other exclusive content, and enjoy perks like ad-free shows when you join Friends of the Pod. Not quite ready to commit. Try it free for seven days at cricket.com slash friends. Your subscription helps directly support us at a time where independent media is more important than ever. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, wonder at Nikki Minaj's headlining role at The United Nations, and tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading, and not just about how the rapper joined U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Tuesday to draw attention to religious violence in Nigeria, like me, why today is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston. after all of the people we've talked about on today's episode, Nikki Minaj can do whatever she wants. What a day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Four and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra.

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