Aaron Parnas reports on a federal judge's dismissal of a criminal complaint against two former FBI officials, who were charged over testimony given to a House committee about the Hunter Biden laptop investigation. Parnas describes the judge's criticism as weaponization and explains why the case went to a judge rather than a grand jury.
The episode then turns to Republicans' worries ahead of Election Day about the cost of living and the Iran war, including clips of Donald Trump defending his economic record and downplaying the conflict's casualties. Democratic calls for accountability close the episode, and Parnas frames the courts as a check on the administration.
In this episode Aaron Parnas
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Something just happened that I think every single person on here needs to know about, because it's not going to make many headlines. But the Department of Justice just lost a case, and a federal judge just eviscerated the DOJ in a way no federal judge has done in a long time: throwing out criminal charges against FBI agents and calling it pure weaponization. And this is so important that you guys watch this in full and hear everything that I'm saying, because essentially what this federal judge said today was that the Trump Department of Justice, the Trump Department of Justice, weaponized the federal government to go after people, and it is terrifying.
It terrifies me, it terrified those in the legal community, and more. And it's all, by the way, while Republicans are trying to deflect from their own problems heading into Election Day, and we're going to talk about that momentarily as well, but make sure to like, comment, get the word out, share this, and then if you can, subscribe to support my work. Because literally moments ago, a federal judge dismissed and attacked the Department of Justice's case against two former FBI officials, calling it weaponization. Judge Farquih, a former federal prosecutor himself, said that the government made a number of errors in their, quote, "slapdash" job of a case, saying there was no evidence presented before the court that the FBI agent statements were knowingly false or material, saying that the government failed to establish a motive for why the agents would make false statements, calling saying it's, quote, "incredibly unfair" prosecutors would be sent to court with such a weak case, saying it doesn't feel like an investigation, it feels like a broken one-wish willow obsession.
Added that he was, quote, "deeply troubled by what has happened in this case," saying that it cannot be described as anything other than weaponization, it was a rush to charge, and that was a mistake. So it was on full display today, by the way, in the courthouse. What happened here was two FBI agents were charged in a complaint last month for making false statements during testimony they gave in 2023 to the House Judiciary Committee about roles they played in the investigation of Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden's laptop.
But Judge Farquih dismantled almost every single aspect of the government's case, pointing to the fact that the false statements that the defendants were charged with making were not actually false, that none of the false statements were made knowingly, and that none of them, none of them, had any material impact on any congressional investigation which they were called upon to assist. Literally eviscerating them in real time. They both served on the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force, a group created after Russia interfered in the 2016 election. The task force was designed to help intelligence agencies monitor clandestine efforts by foreign governments to manipulate American politics, and in the weeks before the 2020 election, it raised concerns that those reports about Mr.
Biden, Hunter Biden, may have been influenced by a Russian disinformation campaign. Right, and the reason why the judge was able to weigh in on this was because they didn't go to a grand jury. They didn't go to a grand jury. They went to a judge, they filed a criminal complaint, they didn't get an indictment. If it was a grand jury, the judge couldn't have done this. Not the way that he did this here, at least. Well, here's the thing. The reason they didn't go to the grand jury is because the grand juries in Washington, DC, continue to rebuke literally everything they do. Everything they do in real time.
This is a massive loss for the administration, but it's also a massive signal from the federal judges saying, "We are not just going to let you get away with this anymore. We're not going to just let you prosecute people because you want to prosecute the president's political opponents. That's not what we're going to do." And that right there is a significant message. Now, Republicans are running nervous ahead of Election Day, and they're getting pressured about Donald Trump's affordability message, or lack thereof. Take a listen.
Voters, I know even, you know, Trump supporters keep telling pollsters that they're frustrated about the rising cost of living and they're worried about the war with Iran. Take a listen to this.
I think what's on everybody's mind is money. Money's short. I mean, there's no instant relief. And then on the negative side, you hear about the $5,000 check or the $2,000 check. That's not happened either. So I think that could be an issue. Along with the Iran war, that's an issue.
Yeah. And Joe, I, you know, I know that the president is still, you know, making jokes about how expensive it is just to eat at his Florida golf club. This was something that he said over the weekend.
Unfortunately, at Mar-a-Lago, at $5,000, all you'd get would be one hamburger and a very small dessert.
Are you worried that the president's tone when it comes to the economy and affordability has turned off some voters, Joe? Or a lot of voters?
No, because I've talked to the president about this, and he definitely has empathy for people. The one good thing about the president is he's been focused on the American worker since day one. And if you look at the fact that we've had like a million private sector jobs created under his presidency, he's brought $22 trillion worth of investments back. You know, five decades in DC leadership, we've seen American jobs be shipped overseas for cheap in exchange, for cheap foreign goods.
Republicans are not happy, though. Republican voters are not happy with the president's agenda. Now, a quick word from our sponsor, Delete Me, about how I keep myself safe. All right, we got some big news right now. I recently received a threat to myself and my family. It was real, it was scary, but thankfully I was able to make sure it did not happen again. With a newborn in tow, making sure that my family is protected is truly top of mind for me, and reporting on topics that I do often lends credence to threats, including the one I received recently to my inbox.
It's why I'm continuing my partnership with Delete Me. I've worked with them for many months. Delete Me has helped protect my personal information, remove it from data brokers' websites, like third-party sites where essentially my personal information, email addresses, addresses, phone numbers, et cetera, would be on. They've helped wipe it. And it's really helped protect me, protect my family. Because right now, with threats even greater, I truly know Delete Me has my back, and I want to make sure you can protect yourself too. It's easy. Go to the link below, use code AARON, and protect yourself and your loved ones this year.
Now back to the news. Now, Donald Trump was asked about all of this. He was asked about all of this. He was confronted by a reporter today about the Iran war, about his affordability message. He didn't really have a good answer. Take a listen.
Economy is doing fantastically well. Oil prices never went anywhere near what I thought they'd be double or triple what they are. So, and they're failing, you know, they're failing. They're not paying their military, they're not paying their—
But I guess a lot of the base Republicans, you hear them saying they're angry because they thought you were going to be the no-wars president.
Well, I haven't had much of a war. If you think about it, I'd like—well, there are also people angry because I didn't completely annihilate them. You know, I've got all sorts of groups. I have those people too. But actually, with very little war, if you think about it, right? Look, we lost hundreds of thousands of people in different wars over the years that lasted for, I guess, Afghanistan was 12 years, Vietnam was 21 years. Lost hundreds of that.
We're in our seventh month. And if you add Venezuela, we took over. That was a war too. We took it over. We lost nobody. We lost—we didn't lose anybody. We're 18 people. There are 18 great warrior souls. But still, somebody else would lose thousands of people, and nobody would even say anything about it. We lost 18 people. We're in for seven months.
That's the president's message on the war in Iran. And while Democrats are fighting back, here's what AOC had to say last night.
We know how to get things done in New York, and that's something that Washington should take some notes from. Because it doesn't always mean playing nice with people who are committed to the destruction of our democracy. There must be accountability. There must be accountability for crimes that have been committed and wrongs that have been done against this country and the people of the United States of America.
So I don't want to see any pardons. And we will make sure that what the wrongs that have been done will be answered for. They must.
With Election Day just 24 hours away, we'll see what happens. Make sure to subscribe, support this work, like, comment, share, and I'll see you soon. Hey, folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits. Throughout the day, make sure to follow, subscribe. See you soon from.
Aaron Parnas reports on breaking news of Trump fuming as efforts to go after opponents flop, including a look at today's ruling, its implications for Trump and the DOJ, and much more!
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