Transcript of Thursday Afternoon News Updates with Ben 8/6/2026

The MeidasTouch Podcast
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00:00:00

Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Myselis and this is your breaking news. Katie Fang, Katie Fang, Katie Fang, Katie Fang, hero. Katie Fang pushing forward when nobody thought it was possible on the Epstein. Well, we thought it was possible. You thought it was possible. But the naysayers in corporate news, The legal pundits, the Midas haters, independent news haters, they thought it wasn't possible. Katie Fang pushing ahead, fighting for these survivors, for the Epstein Transparency Act to actually have a modicum of transparency and a big order moments ago from Federal Judge Sullivan in Washington, D.C. Ordering the Trump DOJ regime to show up in federal court next week and to describe why and discuss why they've been violating court order after court order. This is big, folks, and I think this also shows the power of independent news. And when you have people like Katie Fang out there and Allison Gill and some of these heroes that I am so fortunate to be working with every day. They're putting out the FOIA requests, they're fighting. Sometimes people say, look, you guys talk a lot, you talk a lot, but when are you going to walk the walk?

00:01:35

How do you show us that you're fighting for us? And I say, look, I'm just humbled and honored to be on the same team as people like Allison and Katie, you know, and others, you know. And, and I'm a talker. I'm actually not that much of a talker, actually, when I'm not doing this. If you met me privately, because people all the time, they want to like debate me privately, and they— I, I really am not a talker privately other than what I'm doing. I, I'm, I'm a, I'm deliberative. I'm a researcher and a reviewer, but I'm actually fairly quiet when you— and I think that's what surprises people when they meet me outside of this. I'm actually pretty quiet and not, um, you know, loud outside of outside of these forums. But I think it's, it's a deliberate loud when it is with the Midas Mighty. And I'm— I think it is important though to reframe corporate news and redo it as it's been destroyed. Independent news leading the way. But, you know, just, just incredible. We'll go through that order with you, right? And it's in contrast to what's also going on in the Southern District of Florida, right?

00:02:44

We all know Trump terrified of BBC. Trump scared BBC and he sued BBC. And then BBC fought back against Donald Trump and said, well, you sued us, so now you're going to participate in discovery. You're going to turn over documents, big guy. Or you're gonna taco, as the Iranians saw as well. Trump will huff and he'll puff and he'll blow your house down, except when you stand up to that pathetic loser, he backs down. If he sues you, put him up for deposition right away, right away. If he sued us, I don't even think I would file a motion to dismiss. I would say set a trial date. Let's just do the trial. Let's go. Let's go, big guy, do it in public. Show up in front of a jury and make one of your frivolous— Rack 12. Put the jurors on. And when you stand up and you fight back against him, we've seen the heroes as well outside of the Midas Touch Network. E. Jean Carroll, David Hearn, Abrego Garcia, the Epstein survivors. They've stood up to the regime. And when you stand up to the regime, the regime reveals they're not the wolf in sheep's clothing.

00:04:11

They are the emperor with no clothes in the sheep's clothing. They are empty, empty vessels, empty vessels where people can put in their hatreds, their resentments, their anger, their divisions, their fascism. That's what it is. That's what MAGA is. You follow the yellow brick road or the fake gilded bronze statue reflecting pool road, and it leads you to the Wizard of Oz with no clothes, a coward. Coward, pathetic coward in 1600 Pennsylvania who now— pathetic coward. And look at that. Look at that thing. Look at that scumbag. Look at that thing. Natalie Harp following him behind him. Where's Natalie Harp at? She's always usually by his side. Is she around? Natalie? Oh, there you are, human printer. There's Natalie. There she is. You know, that's who he flew back with on Marine One, drinking a Diet Coke at 2 AM, not surrounded by advisors, not surrounded by, you know, top people giving him advice as America continues to get humiliated abroad. Natalie, the human printer. Maybe she can print out new fake articles for him to claim that his polling's the greatest it's ever been in history. We're in the golden age. Did you know?

00:05:52

Did you know we're in the golden age and that everybody's rich and everybody's wealthy and the tariffs have made everybody billionaires? You didn't get the memo? You didn't get the Doge dividend check or the tariff rebate memo that you are rich?

00:06:07

Billionaire!

00:06:09

That actually, if you look in the empty refrigerator where you can't afford food right now, or the empty freezer, where you can't afford microwavable food anymore because the Trump destruction of the economy. There's actually a check for billions of dollars. And guess what? Just like Donald, you don't have— did you know that you don't even have to pay your taxes? You get tax immunity. He's giving you everything. He's like Lenin. He's like Lenin, the greatest communist ever. He's giving you everything. You didn't— did you not get them? You're not living like Donald Trump and Dell and Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. I thought you were— no, no, that's just for the oligarch crew who can deduct acquisitions of sports teams and private jets and they could depreciate it as well. You do, you don't, you don't get to do that. What about— clearly, you're— you took advantage of when Remember when Bessant put on his notepad in Camp David, $5 to $10 billion bailout for the yen? Remember when he said that? You took advantage of the currency swaps, right? Come on. Did you take advantage of the currency issues there with the swaps? No, you didn't.

00:07:34

Did you?

00:07:34

What position did you take on the yen? Because, you know, he showed the oligarchs that he was gonna put $5 to $10 billion in the yen. So if you're like me, you probably, you know, said, all right, what can I do here? We're gonna sell euros and we're gonna buy the yen. So should I short the euro and should I take a more constructive position on the yen? Is that what I should do? No, you didn't get that? You know, not for you, huh? Not for you, huh? But, you know, I'm sure they're calling you a communist because you want healthcare. I'm sure they're calling you a socialist, communist, whatever name they want to call you because, you know, you just want maybe a better life for future generations, for yourself, for your family, for your neighbors, for your kids, for your grandkids, right? Because you want education, because you want to be able to afford a home. Because you want to be able to, I don't know, get prescription drugs for your illnesses so that you don't die.

00:08:42

That makes you—

00:08:43

but he reduced it 600%. You didn't get the memo, right? Because maybe his housing plan is actually the prescription plan. Maybe it's all blended together. You saw that was what the plan was because the pharmaceutical companies are now paying us for their drugs. If we get enough of their drugs, maybe we can buy a home. That was his plan. Brilliant. The dealmaker-in-chief, everybody. Great work, Donald. So if we go to the pharmaceutical company, if we all do, we go to, we go to CVS and, you know, what do we need? What do we need? Let's just say we get a lot of medication and then they'll pay us $600, right? For every $1, then we can aggregate all of that and then we can buy a home with that. That's a housing plan and a prescription drug plan. They think we're stupid. They think we are the dumbest people. And here's the thing. They never factored in that they could tear down all of these institutions, make these institutions submit. But all they've revealed is that all those institutions were broken. And those institutions are what led to someone like Donald Trump rising. And guess what?

00:10:03

The people always knew those institutions were betraying us all. Donald Trump exploited that and said that he was going to fix it. But Donald Trump is the vessel of the oligarchs. He is the vessel of that machine that we should rage against. He is the vessel of authoritarian— that's what he is. And there are vessels like him across the world, but they didn't count on the fact that we the people— there's a reason why the founders emphasize those words, we the people. It's not we the followers of the institutions. It's not we the cult. It is we the people— Democrats, Independents, Republicans, people from all different— people who don't like politics. And I tend to put myself in that category. I don't like it, but I care about values and principles, and I want to see who's fighting for me with those values and principles.

00:11:10

If they—

00:11:11

if those are Democrats, great. If they call themselves something else, great. I don't care. You fighting for me or you not fighting for me? What are you doing? You fighting for me like Katie Fang's fighting for me? You fighting for me like Allison Gill's fighting for me? Are you fighting for me the way, frankly, Bernie Sanders is out there been fighting for, for health, for healthcare? I like that. And by the way, just because I adopt one thing that I like of someone doesn't mean I have to— I talk about this in the book WTF America. This is advice that my dad gave me growing up. He said, Ben, just because you admire someone doesn't mean you have to take every one of their qualities. Well, that's ridiculous. He would say to me, just because you like Michael Jordan, he's a good basketball player, doesn't mean you have to like the way he gambles. Just because you like Tiger Woods doesn't mean you have to like the way he drives a car and a bunch of other things. Why do you take the good qualities and leave out the bad ones? We the people understand that we don't live in these boxes that corporate news wants to create to divide us.

00:12:09

And the one illuminating thing from Trump is that it shed light on this system. I'm using more music examples that Trump likes to steal. You know, I said Rage Against the Machine before, or it's the System of a Down system meant to put us down and keep us down. The people know it. I feel more confident than ever right now with inspirational, uh, jolts or bolts or whatever, like Katie Fang. It makes me feel— it makes me feel empowered. Seeing this community respond makes me feel stronger. And seeing Donald Trump out there flail, not because he's Donald Trump, screw that guy. I mean, if he was just some nasty, disgusting billionaire with a new wig, you know, I'm sure he'd piss me off. But then I don't have like people like, oh, you, you hate this guy. There's a lot of orange-faced, wig-wearing billionaires, you know, out there, you know, that I don't think about, I don't talk about, I probably don't like them. I'm not going to— I don't know.

00:13:21

No, no, no.

00:13:22

This is a person who took a position of public service and turned it into private grift at the highest level that has brought shame upon our great nation. And shame to the world. You know, when I take a look at MB Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament leader, making this post before I go live, oh, it just— it makes me as an American feel shame that this is what our country— that this is the joke our country has become, that you have in Iran someone who our country, without the approval of the people, invaded Iran with Netanyahu, we ran out of weapons the same way Donald Trump bankrupted his casinos. We ran out of SM-2s and SM-3s and SM-6s on the Navy destroyers, those anti-ballistics. We ran out of PAC-3 interceptors, the Patriot interceptors. We ran out of THAADs. We ran out of— on the offensive weapon posture, ATACMS, those ATACMS, you call them ATACMS, the HIMARS, you know, where we shoot. We ran out of our weapons in the catastrophic war in Iran. We ran out of them. $1 trillion in a military budget last year. They want $1.5 trillion. These scumbags from us. They want $1.5 trillion now after losing $1 trillion.

00:15:06

They want $1.5 trillion, these scumbags, these sickos, these vile things. Why? What do you want $1.5? Oh, because you want to build a Trump class of battleships. Because the pathetic thing in the White House liked the way battleships looked like. In the immediate era post-World War I, and he doesn't like stealth or submarines or aircraft carriers or the way drones look. So he wants to build frickin battleships. So at first it was going to be $250 billion of that budget would go to a— did you even know this? A Trump class of battleships. And now it seems that that underestimated it by 50%. Because Trump lies about everything and he's a lifelong fraud. So now they're saying, oh, well, it could cost $300 billion. It's going to cost like $500 billion to build stupid battleships, nuclear battleships. And you want to know what happens to a battleship in 2026? It's like having AOL dial-up modems. Battleships in 2026. Okay. You want to know what happens to them? An unmanned submersive. I'm not sure why I'm doing the walking. Boom! Take your $250 billion and sink them in the sea. How could you observe? I guess the answer is by not observing what is taking place in modern warfare and go, yeah, what we need is what World War I style battleships.

00:16:49

That would change the course of this war. Because, yeah, we saw all of our destroyers and aircraft carriers comfortably control the Strait of Hormuz, right? They told us they control— we control the Strait. CENTCOM posts that every day. Idiotic CENTCOM. Our CENTCOM has become a laughingstock. Our CENTCOM is like a troll account. CENTCOM. And as a patriotic American, it is our duty, we the people, to call out what a pathetic entity CENTCOM has become. What the hell? Used to be something that was viewed with the utmost credibility. And by the way, don't take my word for it. The captains of tankers on the VHF radio frequencies, when CENTCOM says, all right, we control the Strait of Hormuz in the hierarchy of maritime law, where CENTCOM's aircraft carriers and the supercarriers were beyond like the lions of the jungle in maritime world. You've got tankers on these VLCCs out there saying, shut up, shut the F— we ain't going. You talking about we ain't using that route? We're not gonna get our ships blown up. What the hell are you talking about? That's what CENTCOM has become right now. And Trump's plan is we want battleships.

00:18:09

No, you know what you need right now? If you were gonna spend the money appropriately, you don't need You want me to give us— I'm going to give us universal healthcare right now. You want me to show you how I do it? It's very basic right now. Number one, I'm going to tax the rich a little more. And by the way, I don't have to— you know, there's a discussion, well, do you tax the unearned gains, right? They're paper gains. There's a debate one way, there's a debate the other way, you know, about someone's net worth not being the cash value. And if you tax the amount of money that has been unrealized at this stage? Would that force them to have to sell? And with that, okay, those are the normal debates in normal America that we can actually have. And you could explain to me why we should or shouldn't tax the unrealized capital gains. But I think that if you just adjusted the taxes upwards, 1% more, maybe 3%, say 3% more, 2.5%, 3% more for people who make over $1 billion, or over, say, $500 million. Who needs $500 million? But okay, I'm not saying you shouldn't have it, but after $500 million in the system that you've been able to take advantage of to make $500 million, which means you probably haven't been paying all your workers all that great.

00:19:27

You haven't been. But whatever, you know, I'm, you know, I'm still $500 million. Make your money, but tax it 3%. Tax it 3% more, 2.5% more. Think about the tax money that comes in there. Then instead of $1.5 trillion for our military budget, I've got a wild idea. Let's do $400 billion. We'll still lead the world. We'll still lead the world by far in defense spending. And let's put the $400 billion to use in modern frickin warfare. Even though, to be very clear, I'm someone who prefers peace. I don't want to think that I'm like a warmonger neocon. I'm just trying to deal with complex situations right here. Just so you know, I'm not for the catastrophic war. I'm very against it. Okay, let's be very, very clear where I stand. But I want to let you know how this is not a complicated issue. Okay, so make it $400 billion. Invest in drones. And Trump loves drone ports. Drones, drone ports. Even do one on the White House roof if you love your drone ports, Donald. FPV drones, drone interceptors, unmanned submersives, and purchase all of the technology that is all of this kind of, you know, unmanned stuff that is the future of warfare.

00:20:50

It's where warfare is going. You don't— every single THAAD is about $11 million to intercept. Does it make sense that we shoot $11 million interceptors to shoot down $250,000 drones? No, that's stupid. You know, invest in the drone interceptors. The PAC-3 Patriot interceptors are $3.5, $4 million. Does it make sense that we shoot each interceptor and usually have to shoot 2 or 3? And same thing with THAADs, you usually need to shoot 2 for every 1. I guess so. Think about—

00:21:30

that's why—

00:21:30

how do you think, how do you think we ran out of the interceptors? Oh, and by the way, um, you saw Donald Trump's post. He's gonna hunt down the leakers. He says he's gonna hunt him down. That's what— that was his post last night as he was heading in with Natalie Hart. We're gonna hunt down— tough guy is gonna hunt down the leakers for telling the truth.

00:21:50

We don't need—

00:21:51

here's the thing, we don't need We don't need the leakers because we know that you don't have the interceptors, because if we just look at the satellite footage, we can see that Iran keeps striking the bases. Yeah, we don't have to actually look at CENTCOM statements. Go, oh, CENTCOM said they struck everyone down. No, we can look at the satellite footage and see our bases are getting hit and that the, and that the interceptors and the THAADs and the Patriots aren't— either aren't working or we don't have them. Pretty basic. I knew that without those leaks. I've been reporting on it for weeks without the leaks happening because I'm showing you what the bases freaking look like. So let's reduce the budget from $1.5 trillion to $400. We've just saved $1.1 trillion. I just saved you $1.1 trillion. I've taxed the rich about 3% more. I probably brought in there another trillion. I just brought $2.3 trillion in. And you know where that money can go? It can go to healthcare. And then we could have people who are healthy. And guess what, billionaire idiots? Healthy people buy shit. You know, their, their main thinking is that they want to live with their family, they want to work, product— they want to, you know, I know you want to take away food stamps from little kids like 100,000 kids who just lost food stamps in Arizona alone.

00:23:20

450,000 people in Arizona lost their food stamps, and you're bragging about that as a good thing. You're claiming the kids are fraudulent. Most people want to just live. But even if you're thinking selfishly, you billionaire idiots, healthy people live longer and buy more of your shit. So don't you want them to be healthy?

00:23:39

You don't—

00:23:39

don't you want that? Or no, are you so myopic and small-minded in your thinking Are you so Trumpian in your thinking that really it's all about who in this moment in time has more money? Are you Bezos, richer than Zuckerberg? Is Dubai richer than you? You have the newest yacht. I need to buy 7 of them. No, I'm going to buy 13 of them. Hahaha. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, dude, just stop it. Stop it. I mean, that's why systemically And you know, this has been a major part of the reporting here. We break down the breaking news every damn day. We're going to go through the Katie Fang victory in court and why it's such a big deal. We're going to go through, um, you know, other, other breaking news today as well. I have— that's my job, you know. I mean, it's like, you know, it's like, uh, day to day. In order to build the building, you gotta chop the wood, you gotta, you know get the steel, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta do the stuff. So that's the day-to-day stuff, but we need to be thinking longer term about this great American experiment, this project, this international thing that we're a part of.

00:24:51

We have to expand our conception, our perception of generational change, and we have to be united. We have to be united against these truly evil forces that want to divide us.

00:25:08

Evil.

00:25:09

There is evil out there. It's, it's, it's, you know, it's no joke. There's these— there's evil trying to divide us, to harm us, to take from us, to steal from us. And we need to understand that that's not just here. It's international. And these forces want to screw us. All over, and they want to keep us divided. We talk about that in WTF America. By the way, our publishing company told us that the pre-orders are having really good momentum thanks to your pre-order, so thank you for that. And they emphasize, Ben, the most important thing are the pre-orders right now because it helps us with our promotional strategy as we get closer to the launch in October. So if you can preorder WTF America, the book I poured my heart into with my brothers and I dedicated to you. This is inspired by you. And it's not an election book. I want to be very clear. It is a generational way. It's a philosophy. It talks about the condition, but it provides all of our thinking here in Midas Touch into this book. From how we started Midas Touch to what we all do together in this community, to how we fight, what we recognize.

00:26:32

And anyway, preorder it now. Hit the QR code. There's a link in the description below as well. When we come back, I really want to dissect the ruling from Judge Sullivan in the Epstein files. Big, big stuff right there. I'll see you after this quick break.

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00:30:07

Welcome back to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Myselis. This is our breaking news. It's our breaking news. Another big update moments ago. In Virginia, uh, the plaintiffs in that case which blocked the J6 slush fund—

00:30:25

remember that?

00:30:26

We remember there's two cases. There's the Florida case, there's the Virginia case. The Florida case is the case that Trump filed. It's the case where Trump sued his own Treasury Department and IRS for $10 billion, entered into the settlement that the federal judge found collusive, and then reported the lawyers to the state bar. That's the Florida case. In Virginia, there was injunctive relief that was granted to the group of plaintiffs, uh, to block the— the case was first just focused on the J6 slush fund, and a court granted a preliminary injunction blocking the J6, uh, anti-weaponization fund, or whatever the hell they call it. Now, moments ago there was an amended complaint filed, and the plaintiff said, now we want you to block Trump's tax immunity, that Trump's tax immunity is illegal. If you give him tax immunity, then everybody needs to get tax immunity, um, because why are we just giving him preferred tax immunity if a federal judge in Florida has already voided the agreement as collusive they can't enter into a deal using the federal judge's name, right? Because the agreement has remained in place, right? The Todd Blanch order that he did was just an order to rescind for now, temporarily, just temporary, the anti-weaponization fund.

00:31:58

Um, but it is not a rescission of the settlement agreement which created the Anti-Weaponization Fund, and it did not rescind the addendum to the settlement agreement. And the addendum gave Trump and his family tax immunity. So now that is being challenged in the Virginia court. And I suspect we'll see what we have to wait for a federal judge's ruling. But that if another— right, it's comedy, not comedy. None of this is funny. It would be funny if it wasn't so real. But comma T with a T-Y, having respect for the decision of your colleague, right? So a federal judge in Florida ruled the settlement agreement was collusive and void. So if you are now creating an addendum to the settlement agreement to give Trump immunity from paying taxes, that should be void too.. And so that's what's now being argued in Virginia. That amendment was filed moments ago, and I think that that is a very, uh, big deal as well. Um, let's take a look what else we got. Let's talk about Katie Fang, eh? Um, federal judge, and I did a video on it with Katie Fang, so watch the video I did with Katie Fang also after this.

00:33:25

Um, and we had Katie Fang exclusively on here first on the Midas Touch Network, uh, in order to discuss, uh, how important this order is. But so Judge Emmett Sullivan, he's a district court judge in DC, he's the judge assigned to the case that Katie Fang filed against Todd Blanch. In a new order, Sullivan says the Department of Justice failed to provide evidence supporting key victim redactions questions why handwritten FBI notes remain withheld, and also a timeline for when the redaction log or the privilege log is going to be produced by the Department of Justice. Not if you will produce it. Give me the date. Shut up and give me the damn date when we get to see the documents you are withholding in a privilege log. Now, one of my theories, which I think has proven to be correct, is there was a reason Judge Sullivan did not address the privilege log and redaction issues in his initial order where he told the DOJ, turn over a certain amount of documents for in-camera review. And I think what the judge wanted to see before getting to the redaction log or privilege log issue is With this small group of documents, are you being forthcoming with the court?

00:34:58

I think Judge Sullivan knew the Trump regime's never forthcoming, but I think it was an initial test. Let's focus on a small group of documents. Category 1, Category 2. Category 1, you've redacted all of these names. They appear to be the bad guys, the co-conspirators. So why did you redact the bad guys' names? You're claiming they're victims. So that's what the Trump regime is saying, that the co-conspirators have reached out to the DOJ through their lawyers. Right. These rich men have hired— you get what's happening? The rich men hired powerful lawyers. And it's possible that there are some women, too. But overwhelmingly, the rich men hired powerful lawyers who would call the DOJ and say, we are asserting that our clients are victims. So because we said the magic words like Harry Potter— what's the magic words in Harry Potter? I don't know, I read it a long time ago. I don't say it's not hocus pocus or whatever, um, but you said victims, so therefore the DOJ will keep your name redacted. It's why it was so smart that Katie Fang and her legal team very surgically said, we don't believe you. We think that those are the co-conspirators.

00:36:21

And the judge said, show me documents that support that these individuals whose names you're redacting are truly victims and not the bad guys. And instead of doing that, Todd Blanch just said, you see, We told you that they said they were victims and therefore they're the victims. And the judge was like, well, that's pretty circular. That's a non sequitur. That's not what I asked for. I said, show me documents that these people are the victims and not the perpetrators, because they look like the perpetrators. They look like the bad guys. And Todd Blanch violated the order, the judge said, that he The judge said, you did not comply with what I said. Pretty narrow what the judge was— pretty basic, right? Like, if you— and it's in camera, meaning that we don't get to see it. So Todd Blanch can't say, well, we didn't want to tell you, Judge, because we wanted to protect the victim's identity, or victim's counsel told us we couldn't tell you. No, the judge said, that's why I want to see it privately, and you're not giving me You're not allowing me to understand why you're claiming these people are victims.

00:37:35

They don't seem like victims to me. So that was the first group. The second group of documents were handwritten notes regarding those FBI 302s that involve the allegations of Donald Trump assaulting underage— an underage girl, that those allegations— Trump denies it. Trump's lawyers deny it. They say it's frivolous. Just to be clear what they've said, okay, these are what the allegations in the files. And so the judge said, let me see the notes. And Todd Bland said, no, they're substantially similar to the report, so we're not going to give them to you, Judge. And the judge in the order said, the hell are you talking about? You don't get to decide. The law says turn them the hell over. You're creating a substantially similar exception to the Epstein files that if you, Todd Blanch, deem these documents to be substantially similar to what you've produced, you don't have to reproduce the notes. Nah, that's not the way it works. I want those notes now. What Federal Judge Sullivan said, you can't hide them from me. And then Judge Sullivan said, well, since you didn't comply with my order on the first part, you didn't comply with my order on the second part, well, tell me when I get to see all of your redaction log.

00:39:13

I want to see it all. I don't give a shit if it's a million, 3 million, 5 million documents. You go through them one by one and you give me an Excel spreadsheet where you explain why you withheld each and every one of these documents. That's what the Epstein Transparency Act required. That's what you need to do— a privilege log. And by the way, folks, I've done privilege logs for millions of documents. Personally, what do you think first-year, second-year, third-year associates do? That's what you do as a lawyer sometimes. And I didn't have the tools that they probably have now, which makes it easier to do these locks, you know. And by the way, I still at least had search OCR, optical character recognition, but lawyers before me didn't have computers. They would have to go through boxes of millions of documents. And produce privilege logs.

00:40:14

It's tedious.

00:40:15

It's terrible to do. It's one of the worst. You know, you go to a good law school, you want to do trials, you want to do depositions, but there you are, 18-hour days freaking doing privilege logs with 5 other associates for 4 months. And by the way, that's why litigation's expensive, right? That's why they pay— you know, you pay a lawyer you know, $750 an hour, $1,000 an hour, big law firm. Right now I've seen big law firm fees, $1,500 an hour. It's expensive. I think when I was doing it, it was like $500 an hour, $450 an hour. Shows you the inflation. I mean, I think now it's like $1,500. You know, when I was practicing, it was like $500 an hour, which is, which is high then. Anyway, we'd go through them. Document by document, you would say Bates number, reason for it being withheld, to, from, and then you would try to explain the reason, like this privilege, that privilege, executive privilege, here's what it is. And so Federal Judge Sullivan ordered Blanche, show up August 13th, I want to see the DOJ, be prepared to answer questions. Number 1, why you violated the court order regarding claiming perpetrators are victims.

00:41:37

Number 2, when are you going to give me the notes? When are you going to produce them publicly? We don't care if they're substantially similar. Show us the notes. And again, think about Katie Fang surgically and her lawyer surgically knowing that those documents could— oh, this is why it's such a— I appreciate it as as just a litigator, the strategy behind it, right? Because they know that if you can open up these areas, it opens up Pandora's box. If you immediately— that's why her preliminary injunction was surgical, because if you just went scorched earth and did everything, which may seem to be— it's turn over everything— well, then you couldn't narrow into the fact that there's massive, massive crime and fraud and criminality going on with Trump's DOJ. So now you see it. Ah, got it. That's what— these are your tactics. So now the judge said, and I want to see the privilege log, which once that gets produced, that can then open up what we all suspect. You think they're ever going to turn over the privilege log? You think Blanche is ever going to turn over? No, they're never going to. They didn't—

00:42:52

here's why.

00:42:52

They never prepared a privilege log. They never did a redaction log. They did a summary. They drafted a summary where they said, we've withheld documents on the following grounds, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But if you remember Pam Bondi's fake deposition, which was not under oath, which was not a deposition at all, which was not on video camera, remember the DOJ objections? 2020 objection. 2024.

00:43:18

What?

00:43:19

It happened in 2024, so she can't answer. What kind of objection is that? Time scope objection. That's not a real objection. What are you going to do about it? We're the DOJ. Okay, Miss Bondi, did you ever discuss with Donald Trump— Objection! Okay, what's the objection? It happened in the White House. Objection! What do you mean? Executive privilege. Executive privilege for covering up a child sex trafficking ring? You think that's what the founders meant by executive privilege, that that is the presidency's role, is to cover up victims of child sex traffickers?

00:44:04

Yes.

00:44:04

What are you gonna do about it? We're the DOJ. So if they were doing that there, what do you think they've done with the other— that's why we know there are tens of millions of files that they're not turning over, in addition to the documents that we know are about 4 to 5 million documents, documents, not pages. That could be 25 million pages. That also doesn't include the money laundering investigations and all these other criminal investigations into Epstein, which are not even part of those folks. We could be talking about 30, 50 million more pages of documents. And remember that one of the reasons that Trump and Epstein uh, had their falling out was actually because of a financial transaction where Donald Trump acquired a property in West Palm Beach from under Epstein when Epstein thought that Trump would help him purchase this property at an auction, uh, by one of their billionaire Palm Beach friends. And then Trump bought it, and then a few years later Trump sold it for twice the value to a Russian oligarch who never moved into it, which Epstein then made lots of accusations against Donald Trump for the shadiness of the money from the oligarch.

00:45:21

And Epstein was apparently out there telling anybody who would listen that Trump engaged in that conduct. And then it's believed that that's why Trump may have given—

00:45:36

may have—

00:45:37

and this is what MAGA Mike Johnson may have been alluding to— potentially information to the police based on what he knew from Epstein. And that's why MAGA Mike said that Trump may have been an informant. Remember when MAGA Mike, the Speaker of the House, said that Trump was an informant? Remember that? Remember that? I remember that. Reminder: WTF, America. Pre-order it now. Lots of momentum with the pre-orders, the publisher says. That's great. We need to keep up the pre-order momentum. And I know you're gonna love the book. Like, it is—

00:46:13

it is—

00:46:14

I poured everything into it. It's not an election book. If you're looking for an election book, if you're looking for super secret sources or that I've hid information, you're not going to find it in there, okay? This is everything that Midas Touch has worked and we've worked for in a book. It's the thought. It's everything that we needed to get out there into this world for generational change, to get out of this hell, not just for one election cycle, but how we think about things more broadly in terms of systemic structural change. It's more, it's, it's, it's more of that, which I think is critical right now. And it talks about the origin story, how we formed the brother stuff back and forth.

00:46:56

Cool.

00:46:57

All right.

00:46:57

Last break of the show. See you after this. See you on the other side of this break, as they like to say.

00:47:05

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00:50:15

Welcome back. Y'all see Donald Trump's new wig or whatever he appears to— yeah, you saw that yesterday. Pretty, pretty bizarre looking, huh? I mean, I'm not gonna— that's, that's not—

00:50:28

it's not—

00:50:29

that's— I saw this one going viral. That's not actually the wig, but, but it does look a lot like that. I know the producer is going to throw that one up, but that's a good one. Hey, Jeremy, just show, um Show him from the first stack in one of those interviews talking about Iran with that, you know, with the interview afterwards. Just, just, just toss any of them up, it's fine. You can just put any one of them.

00:50:55

All of the things including men and women's sports, transgender surgery for everyone, uh, they will overturn it if they get in. We can't let that happen.

00:51:05

Yeah, do the other one by it too.

00:51:06

That's great.

00:51:07

Just show the other one with Iran.

00:51:08

It's—

00:51:08

I think it's right by that. It's right by that one.

00:51:10

So, Jeremy, seems to be working out quite well.

00:51:13

What makes you think this will be different? Because they tend to never—

00:51:16

it may be, it may not be. I think that the threat of this— I mean, we were— this was more than a threat. We were ready to go. And, you know, in life, they know when you're ready to go and when you're just bluffing. Now, we were ready to go and we are ready to go. We have to do that.

00:51:32

Pull up the MB Golubov post. If we've got it.

00:51:38

And it's—

00:51:38

yeah, yeah, this is, this is the parliament leader of Iran. That was— did I say I was gonna show this one before and then I went on my rant and then forgot to show it? You know, did I do one of those? At any event, you know, yeah, the producer's like, yeah, you did say that you were gonna— I knew I was gonna show. You know, the reality is I am, I, you know, I don't use, I, I don't, just so you all know, like the process, if you were, if you were ever wondering what the process is, um, I, I don't use any scripts ever. I never really planned it. I, I, I basically storyboard out the ideas and I send myself a text of different, um, posts and videos in screenshot form. And, you know, sometimes it may be helpful to have like a script so I stay on, so I stay on track. But okay, MB Galabaf. You saw Donald Trump with that appeared to be, you know, a wig. I mean, the whole thing was absurd though too, right? I mean, like, it just, you know, that actually kind of looks like what it was, to be honest with you.

00:52:49

And, um, who's the— I want to make sure I give credit to the guy who came up with with that graphic, um, or the person. I think they're called Maga Devil Dog. I don't know if Maga Devil Dog is a Trump supporter or not a Trump supporter. Some of the stuff looked like it was supportive of— I don't know. It, it's, it's quite, it's quite illuminating that that's actually what Donald Trump looks like though. So I want to give credit for the person who, uh, it appears to be AI. It may be a real photograph. I can't tell if that's actually a real photo I'm kidding. MB Galabov. MB Galabov. He writes, quote, massive attack coming. Wait, never mind. They want to negotiate. That's theater diplomacy on loop. Using bullying plus broken promises plus fake news as leverage is a failed strategy. Acknowledge the facts and fulfill your commitments. We don't need more theater, folks. That's coming from Iran's parliament leader and lead negotiator, MB Ghalibaf. This, this whole catastrophic and unlawful war by Trump and Netanyahu has— I mean, it's really been, it's really been illuminating to me, you know, and It's really kind of forced me, honestly, and I think this is part of being a reporter.

00:54:21

I think this is part of being someone who craves knowledge and craves the truth, to really start to think about a lot of things that you weren't thinking through before, even, which is, you know, you go back and I started studying the history of the Persian Gulf, you know, and the United States interference and the U.S. shooting down a commercial flight, uh, in the late '80s and never taking accountability for just slaughtering more people in the Strait of Hormuz, um, in this commercial flight, and, and never, never apologizing, never taking accountability, never accepting response. We awarded the commander like a medal of valor. And so one of the things I talk about in WTF America is, look, Trump is obviously the most egregious, uh, most obviously transparently disgusting, vile manifestation of this. I mean, I showed you, you know, he, you know, the last clip. I mean, he's like wearing this bizarre wig and the YMCA is playing and he's lying about negotiations and it's like, it's incredibly It's incredibly embarrassing, but to simply say it's a Trump thing, I think, really misses some of the broader points. It misses the broader points internationally, and it misses the broader points historically.

00:55:57

Now, Trump's out there, bull in a china shop, wrecking ball, word vomiting. But look back at George W. Bush, look back at Reagan, look back at a lot of these decisions, and perhaps others dealt with it more, more elegantly. Or in ways that weren't so transparently ridiculous and dangerous and didn't gloat about the war crimes, but that didn't mean they weren't taking place. They were. And by the way, that doesn't mean that America is not or wasn't a special place or that we can't be a special— we, we can hold complex thoughts. That's kind of one of the most important points in life. In NWTF America, we, we can look back at these things and we could condemn them. That doesn't make us weak. It doesn't make us, um, it doesn't make it impossible for us to then strive for better things and to make improvements. Quite the contrary, I think it's helpful. That we acknowledge these things. And I think where perhaps even somebody like me was, you know, and I, I consider myself— I hopefully consider myself someone who's well-read and learned, and, and I cared about information. But there's so much that I felt that even the propaganda and lies, I didn't fully appreciate, you know, some some of this stuff, some of this history.

00:57:56

And, and that's, I think, part of growth. I think that's a good thing. I think that's, that's— we need to be open as part of making these connections, being better people. Um, but when I see it laid so bare and I see Trump, he's at the Red Rock Casino and Spa in Las Vegas making up fake negotiations with Iran after we ran out of our weapons. And I see the Iranian parliament leader in a kind of mocking yet elevated tone saying, enough with the theater. Honor your commitments. And I see these images side by side. I have to reflect on, seriously, like, like, WTF? Like, where, where are we? Where are, where are we as a country? And we are in a bad place, but I feel, as we look at the recent elections, as we look at the type of movements that are gaining strength here in the United States and internationally, when you draw inspiration from Canada going elbows up, Greenland standing up, when you see the E. Jean Carrolls and Abrego and David Hearn succeeding in court— by the way, The DC court just officially granted the dismissal in the David Hearn case.

00:59:46

I know you— there was a motion to dismiss it, but the court now has ordered the dismissal. When, when you see that, when you see Trump being scared by BBC, when you see Trump choking as BBC fights back And says, all right, granted, you had a terrible Trump-appointed judge who just ruled. Good point, Donald. You, you said that you were— you want to change your complaint, little baby Donald? You don't want to say that your business was injured for $10 billion, baby Donald. You want to say your reputation was okay. We understand, baby Donald. You're scared of BBC.

01:00:33

Okay.

01:00:35

Okay, we'll give you— we'll give you another shot there, baby Donald. Okay, little— give you a participation trophy, little baby Donald. You want to amend your complaint, little, little baby? The institutions are broken, and it's those broken institutions that led to a Trump. In the media, in the courts, corporations, law firms, right? And Trump and the people who led those institutions, they thought that if they consolidated under the authoritarian, that we the people would follow. They thought we gave a shit about their institutions, that their institutions were what we— that we had to watch CBS or Fox or ABC or wherever, that we had to. We had no choice but to go to these firms. We had no choice but to buy these products. We had no choice. They control it. They didn't realize that we all recognize that we hold the power. Those institutions betrayed us. So what are we the people doing right now? Rebuilding, creating new institutions that could be powered by the people, not by the oligarchs. We don't want the data centers in our backyard. We don't want irresponsible, reckless handling of AI that replaces workers. We don't want that.

01:02:35

We don't want this wealth gap where all of the money is hoarded by the chosen class of MAGA sycophants. You know, we don't like that. We don't want that. We know that's not fair. They're scared. Why do you think they're saying anything that's not that is communism, is socialism? Look, when Donald Trump says that he thinks that the opposition to the Epstein class which they now label communism, right? The opposition to the Epstein class they call communism because they've been exposed as the Epstein class. You get that, right? They weaponized Epstein to go after their enemies. That's how they used to do it. They created a whole QAnon thing to use that to go after their enemies. But when they were revealed as the Epstein class, the cabal. When that was exposed, now it's the cabal of communists, and the Epstein class is saying that they're going to save the world from the cabal of communists. And Trump says that all these other people out there who he labels communists because they oppose the Epstein class, not because they're actually communists— the most communist people are Trump and his regime. Look how they behave. They behave more like Stalin than anybody.

01:04:08

Senator Bernie Sanders agreed with me when I was saying that. Did you see my interview with, uh, Senator Bernie Sanders? But now they're saying it's the— that, that if you disagree with the regime, you're more dangerous than Al-Qaeda, than the Taliban. Than ISIS. This is what Trump said, than the Nazis and anybody in World War I. That's what he says.

01:04:39

That's what—

01:04:39

that's a line in his speech. I gotta say, I gotta say it, they're more dangerous than—

01:04:45

than—

01:04:46

then I mean it, I mean it, they're more dangerous than the Nazis and the blah blah blah, and then World War I and World War II and ISIS, blah blah blah. Look at the stupid wig, ma. 'Look at my stupid hands.' People are like, 'Yo, enough, enough, enough of this. We've had enough. Shouldn't have been here in the first place.

01:05:08

Enough of this.

01:05:09

Shut up.' And people are fighting back. People are fighting back. You're fighting back. That's what makes this moment actually— that's why they're actually terrified. Get your copy of WTF America. Pre-order it now. The pre-orders are really important. Again, the publisher tells me, Ben, focus on the pre-orders, focus on the pre-orders. That's, that's the— that's what they tell me. I'm not sure why I'm supposed to say that. Focus on the pre-orders, because then we could figure out how we promote the book and where we could advertise and all those things. But they said there's a lot of momentum on the pre-orders. But if you can, put in the comments how many copies you've gotten. If you've pre-ordered it, put WTF in the comments or in the chat. All right, I've got the show with— oh, make sure you all subscribe to Katie Fang's YouTube channel. That channel needs to hit a million subscribers, right? Tell people to subscribe to her channel. Subscribe to her audio podcast as well, the Katie Fang Audio Podcast. Sidebar with Katie Fang. I'll see you with my brothers tonight, 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific. It's a different show than this show, so if you're like, you're like, Ben, we can't, we, we've seen enough of you, we don't need to see you again.

01:06:31

It's a different show, different clips, different things, not the same show. That'd be sad. You don't want to see me again with my brothers? Come on, we want to see you. And it's gonna be a good show with the brothers, in all honesty. 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific. A lot more breaking news then as well. We appreciate you. We're grateful for you. Keep checking in as we update, uh, you with breaking news throughout the day. Seriously, it's, it's really an honor to be in this with you. Shout out Midas Mighty.

01:07:00

I'll see you later.

01:07:02

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

Episode description

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on breaking news from the day.

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