3/10/26: US Scrambles On Depleting Munitions, Trump Begs Ships To Cross Strait Of Hormuz, Epstein Prison Guard Cash Deposit

16:22Brandon Weichert:Well, that's exactly what's going to happen. I think we're walking into oblivion if we do this. The newest idea out of Lindsey Graham, which he probably got while polishing Netanyahu's shoes, is that we're going to take Karg Island. Well, Karg Island, okay, that's a very hardened facility. It's going to require a lot of forces to take and hold. There's going to be a significant battle. The environmental damage, if we blow things up there, because it's a massive oil production center, could be worse than what we saw in Tehran. That will affect the region for decades. So yay, America. and then also there's the talk about sending in U.S.

17:00Brandon Weichert:special forces which we might already be there I don't know now but I think we might already be there but sending U.S. special forces into Iran to link up with organized resistance groups such as the Mujahideen-i-Kalk M-E-K to replicate what we did in Afghanistan 01 when we basically sent a bunch of special forces A-teams and CIA paramilitaries augmented by U.S. air power to basically serve as force multipliers for the locals to overthrow the government. But ultimately, the MEK is highly unpopular in Iran itself. Furthermore, they don't have anywhere near the combat effectiveness that the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan did at the height of its power in 01.

17:40Brandon Weichert:And also, it's a totally different kind of territory and topography. and again you can't take a country that with 96 million people with a handful of special forces teams it's just going to get a lot of people killed and it's going to further enmesh the united states and if i can just add here this is why i believe and if you look at the damage in israel i believe the israelis are getting ready to pop off a nuke i really do and i think this is a very dire moment uh in the history of our country because we are highly tethered to this this insane policy. It's not our own policy. We're not writing it.

18:15Brandon Weichert:This is the Israelis writing it for us.

18:18Krystal Ball:But yet, I mean, to your point, Trump seems very committed to it. So if they persuade him or not, you know, he's all in. And some of the reporting is that, you know, he was really pushing in this direction over and beyond.

18:29Brandon Weichert:Yeah, in January, he was definitely, in fact, in January, my understanding is on January 15th, he had to be talked out of hitting them in Iran, both by Mohammed bin Salman and Netanyahu. So, you know, he's deeply committed.

18:43Krystal Ball:Well, I want to ask you more, though, about, you know, this pretty provocative comment you just made that you're worried that Israel is going to pop off, you know, maybe a tactical nuclear weapon.

18:52Brandon Weichert:Yeah, low yield.

18:53Krystal Ball:What makes you, you know, what gives you that concern? What makes you think that they could be heading in that direction?

18:59Brandon Weichert:The situation in Israel is dire. It is not being adequately reported. I hope that I'm wrong on that. I used to think that was crazy talk. But if you look at what's going on and how the Israelis are responding with the censorship and the threats online, the threats that I've received. I mean, I'm nobody, but yet they're taking the time to send very interesting notes to me and hack my Gmail. And anyway, but so clearly there's more to the story. And they just tried, it sounds like, to kill someone close to Netanyahu, his brother. I don't know if they did manage to do that. But ultimately, the situation in Israel is dire.

19:39Brandon Weichert:And we know that the Israelis do have that Samson option, that if all is lost, they will start cooking off nukes against their perceived foes. And the Iranians are their number one perceived foe. And they're very annoyed with us because we're not, in their eyes, hitting hard enough, which is absolutely insane. I mean, we've thrown literally everything now at the Iranians, and they're still pushing along.

20:04Krystal Ball:Do you worry about the U.S. deploying nuclear weapons? Because Trump has sort of boxed himself into a corner now where even if he wants to taco, the Iranians are like, no, we're in this thing. You wanted this war. We're going to be here until you sustain enough pain that you do not do this to us again. So is there a logical sequence that leads to us also being like, yeah, go ahead.

20:30Brandon Weichert:Tucker asked me about this. And as I said to him, if you had asked me a year ago, I would have said, nah, it's not. We are not going to do that. But looking at the odd way that Trump is married to Netanyahu's worldview, I wouldn't put it past the man because he keeps talking about how we're going to go so big. It's going to be the biggest thing ever. We're going to break them. Well, they're not breaking. And killing the last leader and his small grandchildren and now having his son take over probably is not the best way to get a deal. That's kind of putting the counterparty in an impossible mindset.

21:06Brandon Weichert:They're not going to negotiate. Why would they? So the only way out of this then becomes escalation. And the ultimate escalation would be nuclear weapons. And it's not in the realm of impossibility. We saw this play out in the India-Pakistan war last year, where basically the Indians started attacking the Kerna Hills nuclear weapons facility in Pakistan because the Pakistanis were resisting better than what they had anticipated. And that's when Trump had to get involved. So we've seen world leaders start to tease and look at, well, maybe the nuclear option is somehow palatable. And my hope is that somebody stops Trump if he is thinking about this.

21:49Saagar Enjeti:Well, the other thing that was flagged to me, Brandon, was not just a nuclear weapon, but potentially an atmospheric test, which would be similarly unfathomable, but a message that could be sent. I actually could see that easily. I could, too. That actually, I think, is the most realistic option in the immediate.

22:06Brandon Weichert:Yeah, that could be. And, you know, Cigar, they love to talk about how, you know, all these tests for nukes are pre-planned months in advance and blah, blah, blah. The president can cancel it the minute before it goes off if it was really just a pre-planned thing. You know, so that's going to always be the excuse. But ultimately, I really do think we are in a very dangerous point in terms of releasing the nuclear genie from its bottle.

22:33Krystal Ball:Terrifying.

22:33Saagar Enjeti:Last thing I wanted to ask you about is casualties, guys. Guys, can we go ahead and put D5 up there on the screen? So right now, this is from reporting from the Wall Street Journal. In addition to the seven U.S. military personnel killed in the war confirmed so far, eight have been seriously wounded. Those numbers do not include all American servicemen who have been hurt. We are hearing at least some reports that the current number is classified. Secretary Hegseth declined to actually give the total number. Do you think that they're hiding casualties? What do you think?

23:04Brandon Weichert:I hate to say it because I have a lot of people I know in the military and I don't like to think that we are hiding these things. But I do believe this is Ukraine all over again where we were hiding real casualty figures. I think the casualty figures are significantly worse. Look at what happened to Bahrain. Look at the Fifth Fleet's headquarters. Just look at that. That's our primary logistics hub in the region. It's a moonscape. It looks like Gaza now. you know so I can imagine there were people still on station there because you can't fully abandon it I know we reduced our footprint as best we could but I believe our casualties are probably significantly higher and what will happen I think is they will eventually release them but they will do it at a slower pace so that it doesn't shock the world news you know markets and so that's where I think we are and I and I think it is a tragedy and honestly this this is the president's fault.

23:56Brandon Weichert:I mean, the president chose to do this. And I do believe that we're going to need to have a reckoning politically, because this is not what MAGA wanted. This is not what we voted for. This isn't certainly what I dedicated a decade of my life to supporting. It was supposed to be no new Middle East wars. And we are now at the cusp, I think, of World War III.

24:14Krystal Ball:Yeah. Well, he says MAGA is whatever he says it is.

24:17Brandon Weichert:Well, then that's a cult. Yeah.

24:19Krystal Ball:Agreed. Agreed. And he was the whole time. Brandon, I really appreciate it. It's really just great to get your analysis so insightful. Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for joining us.

24:27Saagar Enjeti:Thank you, Brandon. Always appreciate it. I'd love to be back. Yeah. See you, dude. See ya. You know that moment around 2 p.m. when you realize you haven't eaten protein, but you also don't want a heavy shake? I have a solution. Sky Pop Protein Soda. It tastes like soda. It's light, bubbly, refreshing, but with 10 grams of complete protein, zero sugar, and only 45 calories. So I don't have to think about it. I'm just packing lunches, answering emails, doing everything, and I just grab one to go. It really does feel lighter than those big functional drinks, and you're still getting real benefits and not something you forced yourself to drink.

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26:05Brandon Weichert:Let's talk about modern home shopping. It's sort of become a fun side hobby, right? Scrolling listings at night, dreaming about kitchens you've never seen, or backyards you haven't even stepped foot in. All from the comforts of pretty much anywhere. Redfin knows a lot of people like you want to own, but are stuck in this browsing mode loop. That's where Redfin flips the script. With listings that update within minutes and tours you can book right from the Redfin app, you can see your dream home the moment it appears. Now, liking a listing is easy, but actually landing it, that's where Redfin comes in.

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27:30Saagar Enjeti:As of this morning, it appears the United States Navy is spending a significant amount of time going after Iranian mining assets all throughout the Straits of Hormuz. But Trump has also floated a different option, telling Fox News that some of these maritime pilots, they need to just have some guts and run the strait. Take a listen.

27:49Brandon Weichert:Here's exactly what he said. These ships should go through the strait of Hormuz and show some guts. There's nothing to be afraid of. They have no navy. We sunk all their ships. He went on to say, he said, look, yeah, there's risk in the region. The region's volatile.

28:02Saagar Enjeti:Have some guts. There's nothing to be afraid of out there except for missiles, except for fire. Also, did you notice like the video that they're playing of Tehran, the oil apocalypse? And they're like, yeah, have some guts and just go through that. By the way, they'll have plenty of guts. If oil's at$200 a barrel, sure, they'll go. At the current price, no, they're not doing it, especially with all of the insurance stuff that's going on right now. Now, I also did wanted to make sure that Fox News, which you remember, was very concerned about gas prices, as was I. I think all Americans should have been under Biden.

28:33Saagar Enjeti:Now they're saying, look, pull up your trousers. All right. Pull your pants up and get ready for war, boys and girls. It's your patriotic duty to pay more at the gas pump. Take a listen until people can wrap their heads around that. I just think about every time this happens and people start the gas prices. My dad pulls out the ration coupon book from World War II and tells me how my granddaddy's Chevy dealership just went poof overnight. Didn't get it back. Lost his business. It just went goodbye because all of the auto manufacturing was redirected toward wartime manufacturing. So let's pull our trousers up, shall we?

29:19Saagar Enjeti:I mean, it sounds like your dad is a reasonable guy, right? It's like he kind of should be worried about gas prices and telling some of those stories in the past. That's what I think about, too, every time we get into a war.

29:29Krystal Ball:Is this a World War II? We all need to come together? No. People do not want this war. I mean, it is very likely to make the world a more dangerous place. It is already putting Americans at greater risk. They are unlikely to accomplish any of their objectives. The end state of this is much more likely that Iran is going to acquire a nuclear weapon. And then you're cavalierly from your air-conditioned studio with your multi-million dollar salary there in Manhattan telling Americans to pull up their trousers and sacrifice for a war that they did not want. I mean, it's so disgusting and preposterous to me.

30:06Krystal Ball:And you're right to point out the hypocrisy, too, of course, because I'm sure when it was Biden and it was Ukraine, there was all kinds of concern for ordinary Americans and what they would be paying at the pump.

30:16Saagar Enjeti:Right, exactly. Right now, as we're speaking, I was just checking the AAA,$3.53 a gallon. It's going to be$3.54 roughly a gallon and an increase from one week ago where it was$3.10. One month ago, it was$2.92. We're just getting started, baby. We are just getting started here. Yeah, I mean, what a disaster. And then diesel also remains on its way to some$4 or$5 per gallon. So you all know how that's going to work out. Let's go ahead and put the price of oil up there. As I explained yesterday, literally one of the most historic days in the history of the oil market. We took this literally right as we are filming.

30:54Saagar Enjeti:So keep that in mind. As things all swing around, you have no idea where things are going to end up. Don't forget, though, that even where it is right now, so it's 88, 40 a gallon in the live market, in the last month, that means that oil is still up some 38 % in terms of its price. And obviously, that's going to impact what happens at the gas pump. But the main reason why the price of oil appears to have gone down, let's put E4 up here on the screen, is because we are now turning and, quote, standing ready to release emergency oil reserves. So finance ministers from the entire G7 are pledging necessary measures to tackle surging crude prices but stop short of an immediate deal.

31:36Saagar Enjeti:So they said they won't immediately release it, but they said they want to address the impact of the Iran war, stand ready to take necessary measures included to support global supply of energy such as stockpile releases. However, that would only be about 90 days or so worth of supply that they'd be able to release into the market. And if things did continue to go on, then obviously you have the whole Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is going to take a hit. But you also have the war, which they would need to wrap up at that time. So this is currently like the biggest indication. But I do think it's already worth noting things are already going crazy all across the world.

32:13Saagar Enjeti:So Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, they're already reporting power outages. Pakistan is reporting grid problems. In Bangalore, actually. Let's put E6 up there on the screen. this story was going around. Bangalore hotels will now face shutdown from March 10th due to commercial gas supply. So cooking gas. If you've never been to India, there's a lot of cooking gas. That's the way that they cook everything. Bangalore, by the way, is one of the most developed cities in all of India. If you've ever been, that's where all the Silicon Valley people go. I'm pretty sure there's a direct flight from San Francisco to Bangalore.

32:45Saagar Enjeti:So imagine these meta executives sitting in the Four Seasons and they're like, whoa, hold on a second. Where's my breakfast, And they're like, yeah, sorry, we can't cook anything because of a gas constraint. So you could seriously begin to see some of this stuff ripple across the entire world. And remember what Rory Johnson said on our show yesterday. He's like, we will see significant demand destruction across the entire third world. Like, you will see the third world. Supplies there will just dry up. People won't even be able to drive. And the rest of the developed world will just pay$5 a gallon.

33:14Saagar Enjeti:But that's the nightmare scenario for where we are right now.

33:16Krystal Ball:No, what he said was crazy. He was like, remember back to when everything was shut down in COVID and the level of demand destruction that entailed, meaning that people are not going anywhere because everyone was just locked in their houses. He's like, that's what we're talking about here. That's the level of demand destruction that you're going to need in order to be able to equalize these markets if this persists for any significant amount of time. So that's where we are. I mean, you look at the markets and they are betting on Otago. So they're betting that Trump is going to end the war, that it'll just be a little blip, that, you know, the oil markets will be a little bit, you know, there'll be some challenges in the short term, but they'll be able to recover.

33:58Krystal Ball:And all the oil fields will continue operating in the straight straight of Hormuz will be reopened and things will get back to normal in the like immediate or like very near term. And look, maybe that's possible. It's possible Trump finds some way to declare mission accomplished. and that the Iranians, having been thoroughly battered in a lot of ways, are like, OK, fine, we'll walk away as well. That's possible, but it's not looking likely. I think the Trump taco part would be a reasonable bet. But on the Iranian side, it's certainly not what they're projecting. And it would not be logical for them strategically to, at this point, say, OK, we're going to allow you to recoup and regroup when clearly you are sustaining damage.

34:44Krystal Ball:We're going to allow you to rebuild, for example, your radar satellite systems in the region so you can better track our missiles. We're going to allow you to recover and to spend more time manufacturing interceptors so you're more ready the next time around. Why would that make any strategic sense for the Iranians? And the other thing, just going back to the point I was making before, they are engaged as much in economic warfare as they are in military warfare. Their goal is to crash our stock market, to crash our economy, to squeeze us in terms of gas prices. That is their goal. And so as the markets are betting that things are just going to go back to normal, that is the polar opposite of the strategy that is being deployed here by the Iranians.

35:27Krystal Ball:I guess the other possibility is that we truly have degraded their capacity to the point that they can't keep up the blockade and the Strait of Hormuz, which, by the way, isn't even really a blockade. They've just scared people enough that, you know, and screwed with the insurance industry enough that tankers are like, OK, we're not going to do this right now. But perhaps we've degraded them enough that they can't launch more missiles, that, you know, they their leadership is taken out enough that they can't continue to drone strike, you know, various facilities in the region or pose any sort of a threat to vessels that are trying to pass through the strait.

36:00Krystal Ball:That would be the other bet. But again, given that they have this decentralized leadership, given the fact you see no indications of, you know, massive rifts within the regime or any sort of public uprising, given that they have significant domestic manufacturing capacity for the, you know, the drones that they're able to create in a very low cost way. it seems very unlikely to me that that is going to be the direction that we ultimately go in. And last thing I'll say is, look, we have been covering this long before this war. Our economy is a house of cards, right? The whole thing, I mean, the job creation already last month was negative.

36:36Krystal Ball:The only sectors that added any jobs throughout all of 2025 were basically like health care and social services. The only real growth industry are these freaking data centers. Well, guess what that's based on? The economics of that is based on access to cheap energy. So the whole thing is built on this access to cheap energy. That's the whole bet, you know, the AI bet that's been placed in our economy. That is all being threatened right now by the Iranians, and they're smart enough to understand that. There's no doubt about it.

37:08Saagar Enjeti:Well, don't forget some of the ripple effects. So, for example, the Gulf states. The Gulf states, if they have contractions in their economy, what are they going to do? Who wants to tell me who is financing a ton of these data center deals? the Gulf, Emiratis, the UAE, all of these people. Who wants to tell me who's financing Paramount and their current purchase of, you know, I'm not going to cry about that one, but I'm just saying like Paramount and their takeover of WBD, Saudis, a bunch of the Gulf states. If this Gulf state money dries up, I mean, who God only knows what the hell they're floating.

37:40Saagar Enjeti:Uber is, you know, massively invested. Google, Twitter, I mean, all these places. Like, you have no idea the tentacles of all this cash. It's in everything. And if they have to start exiting their positions or sell, I mean, God help us in terms of the U.S. economy. I'm talking about shopping mall closure. I mean, remember where I was growing up in Texas, all the nicest malls are all owned by, like, the Kuwaiti royal family. You have no idea where all of this cash has been. That's their whole strategy is about coming like this with the U.S. with the assumption is we'll defend them. Now what, right?

38:11Saagar Enjeti:And if they were really starting to get hit, yeah, now they're a target. They're mad. They might pull their cash. That's what that billionaire was saying. He's like, hey, the whole point of this whole thing was we get something in exchange. But if this deal is going to dry up, we might fundamentally rethink a whole lot of assumptions and cause a lot of problems for you too. And that's probably what I'm the most afraid of. So it's ordinary Americans, our whole capital markets, venture capital, depression. I mean, that's how the 1970s played out. So it's really bad. All right, so let me confess something.

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39:38Brandon Weichert:Buy to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the S &P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1 % bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA, and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool.

40:09Brandon Weichert:Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Let's talk about modern home shopping. It's sort of become a fun side hobby, right? Scrolling listings at night, dreaming about kitchens you've never seen, or backyards you haven't even stepped foot in. All from the comforts of pretty much anywhere. Redfin knows a lot of people like you want to own, but are stuck in this browsing mode loop. That's where Redfin flips the script. With listings that update within minutes and tours you can book right from the Redfin app, you can see your dream home the moment it appears.

40:45Brandon Weichert:Now, liking a listing is easy, but actually landing it, that's where Redfin comes in. Redfin has over 2 ,200 agents with local expertise. And Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents. That means they want to help you win, not just window shop. Redfin is built to help you go from just looking to wait. this could actually be home. So become the newest neighbor on the block. Visit redfin.com to start finding and start owning.

41:14Krystal Ball:That's redfin.com. All right, let's get to Epstein, since this is potentially part of the reason why we're in this war. Nobody really knows, although I think a majority of Americans probably believe that this has something to do with why Trump felt the need to launch this insane war. We have some new, very significant developments on two fronts. So one directly does involve Trump. We've been talking about how some of the interviews with his most credible accuser in terms of, you know, in the context of Epstein, how those interviews were not available. Well, under pressure, they have now been revealed.

41:49Krystal Ball:So put that to the side. We'll talk about that in just a second. The other piece, though, has to do with a potential cover up of what really happened on the day that Epstein died. Let's put this up on the screen. This is a pretty bombshell reporting here from the Miami Herald and also from the New York Post. The headline here is, and this is of course, Julie Kay Brown, prison guards discussed coverup of Epstein's death, an inmate tells the FBI. I'll read you from the story. An inmate housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York told the FBI he overheard guards talking about covering up Jeffrey Epstein's death on the morning he died.

42:24Krystal Ball:The federal government's online Epstein library contains a five-page handwritten report of an FBI interview with an inmate who awoke the morning of August 10th, 2019 to the loud commotion in the special housing unit or shoe where he and Epstein were jailed. Breathe, breathe, he recalled officers shouting about 6.30 a.m. Then he said he heard an officer say, dudes, you killed that dude. A female guard replied, if he is dead, we're going to cover it up and he's going to have an alibi, my officers, the FBI notes. The FBI notes said the inmate claimed the whole thing, the whole wing overheard the exchange.

43:02Krystal Ball:Later, after learning Epstein had died, he said inmates said Miss Noelle killed Jeffrey. He identified the female guard as Tova Noelle, one of two correctional officers who were later charged with falsifying reports. So it appeared from their records they had made their rounds that night when they had not. The charges against her and the other officer, Michael Thomas, were later dropped, but both were fired. So that is one of the pieces here. We get another piece from the New York Post, which adds to the story of this one guard, Ms. Noelle. So this Epstein prison guard Googled him minutes before his body was found and also made mysterious deposits before his quote-unquote suicide.

43:42Krystal Ball:One of Jeffrey Epstein's prison guards, this very same one that the inmate said was involved, she had Googled Epstein minutes before he was found dead. So supposedly no one knew he was dead. And she's there Googling Jeffrey Epstein in prison. She also made a mysterious$5 ,000 cash deposit 10 days before the Predators jail cell suicide, new Department of Justice documents reveal. She was one of two Metro Correctional Center workers accused of falsifying records. So, you know, she's the one who was supposed to be there watching him. She's allegedly falls asleep and they falsify the records. That was the story.

44:21Krystal Ball:The guards were fired. Criminal charges against both were later dropped. Specifically what she Googled at 542 a.m. and then again at 552 a.m., 40 minutes before her colleague found Epstein dead in his cell, What she Googled was, quote, latest on Epstein in jail. So she Googled latest on Epstein in jail 40 minutes before anyone found his body, allegedly. And then the other piece is this money that mysteriously turned up in her account. Apparently, she was shopping for furniture online. Apparently, she was driving a fancy vehicle as well. You know, I'm not sure that that's easy to come by when you're earning the salary of a prison guard.

45:06Krystal Ball:So some pretty significant questions here, Sagar, about, OK, was this investigated? What was determined? Did anyone ever look into where this cash came from? You know, what the hell happened here? Because these are some pretty wild claims being made.

45:21Saagar Enjeti:Yeah, the defense is, well, she Googled a bunch of the inmates. I'm like, OK, what about the cash? Also, it's a little weird. And then there was, you know, the cover up and then there was all the cameras. And so, look, I mean, oh, body double. Remember that? the body double, and then the press release draft that came out the day where it was drafted the day before. None of this stuff adds up. The autopsy and you put it all together. I just think it's so obvious that this is I think it's so obvious that something much bigger happened here. Well, I don't believe the official story. That's it.

45:52Krystal Ball:Period. And let me give you just a couple more details here about Mr. Well, apparently her bank records showed seven different cash deposits totaling eleven thousand eight hundred eighty dollars. in the weeks leading up to and then immediately after Epstein's death. The largest one was that $5 ,000 deposit. She was driving a$62 ,000 Land Rover Range Rover brand new, and she was not apparently asked about the cash during her DOJ interview. An internal FBI briefing, also released in the files, reveals the agency thought Noel was likely the mysterious orange shape spotted in a blurry surveillance video near Epstein cell around 10 40 p.m.

46:31Krystal Ball:that night. So mysterious cash driving a fancy car shopping for furniture googling Epstein before he's known to be dead um you know theorized to be that mysterious orange shape that they initially lied about and pretended didn't exist and then said must have been an inmate um and so I yeah I don't know that's that's draw your own conclusions. That's yeah. Draw your own conclusions. Indeed. Okay. Let's get to the Trump aspect of this story. So as we've been covering the, uh, the Trump accuser who had called into the FBI originally as anonymous tip, but they found to be credible enough to have interviewed her four times.

47:10Krystal Ball:This was a woman who claimed in the eighties when she was roughly 13 years old, that Trump sexually assaulted her and that this, you know, it was Epstein that, uh, you know, introduced her to Trump and enabled this abuse. And she also alleges that Epstein abused, sexually abused her, as well as one other wealthy man from the Hilton Head, South Carolina area. And we'll get to that in a moment. So under pressure, the Justice Department has now released all of these interviews. We previously had access to only one. Now we have access to all of these interviews. We can put this up on the screen. Justice Department releases missing Epstein documents with Trump allegations.

47:47Krystal Ball:On Thursday, they publicly posted these records. The agency said the files, which include details from FBI interviews with a woman who told authorities she had been sexually assaulted by Trump and Epstein had not been previously released because they were incorrectly determined to be duplicates of other records. Oh, oops. We just happened to withhold these ones. Sorry, guys. Made a mistake. Anyway, here they are. Justice Department's posted millions of pages of Epstein-related records online. The woman who was interviewed by the FBI in 2019 accused Trump of sexually assaulting her decades earlier when she was a minor.

48:18Krystal Ball:No evidence has emerged publicly to corroborate that accusation. The White House has, of course, called the allegations against Trump, quote, completely baseless accusations backed by no credible evidence. However, listen, and that is all true, right? We don't have any confirmation that this claim was actually true that this is something that really happened. However, there are a few things to note here. Number one, the FBI did consider her credible enough that they interviewed her four separate times. Okay. That indicates that they took the claim seriously. Also, in addition to her reports and interviews with the FBI, one of her friends also actually called into the FBI to say, hey, this happened to my friend, you know, Trump and Epstein sexually abused my friend.

49:01Krystal Ball:So you have not only her, but you have a friend as well who also separately called in to the FBI's anonymous tip line. Then you also have this. Let's put this next piece up on the screen. This is from the Post and Courier, which is based in Charleston, South Carolina. And so they dug into some of this timeline because she made accusations that a lot of this abuse, not the Trump abuse, actually, but the Epstein and another wealthy man abuse happened in Hilton Held, South Carolina. So they say here, fuzzy memories and hard facts and SC accusers claims against Epstein and Trump examined. And what they found using archived government records and news accounts was that the woman did provide verifiable details to agents about her family background and its legal entanglement.

49:49Krystal Ball:She offered the name of an Epstein business associate on Hilton Head Island who became a central figure in the drama with specifics that are reflected in public records. So this is a horrifying situation. Allegedly, her mother rented out a number of properties. Hilton Head Island, you guys probably know, is like a big resort area. And one of the houses she rented to was to Jeffrey Epstein. Separately, she advertised that her daughter, who was 13 at the time, was available as a babysitter. And lo and behold, who, again, allegedly hires her is Jeffrey Epstein, who then proceeds to abuse her, proceeds to have a wealthy friend, business owner in Hilton Head, South Carolina, also abuse her.

50:29Krystal Ball:And then when her mother discovers that Epstein had nude photos of her, Epstein allegedly, again, extorts this woman's, this then girl's mother and says, I'm going to release these photos if you don't pay me this money. So she goes to her boss, who is the wealthy business owner who was also abusing her daughter and arranges to get this money to pay off Jeffrey Epstein, who is now extorting her. And this is all like she ultimately ends up being sued by this company for this money, et cetera. So there is a paper trail of all of these details, which seem to match up with what the allegations ultimately say.

51:13Krystal Ball:And then the last part of this that is just so incredibly sad is And this allegedly pushes her mother into drinking. Her life falls apart. Of course, this young girl, 13 years old, her whole life falls apart. And, you know, she's in and out of relationships after that and, you know, struggling with addiction and all of those sorts of things. And one of her one of her husbands said that he she had told him that the reason she was so traumatized and, you know, her life was such a mess was because of this abuse from Jeffrey Epstein. So again, we don't know about the Trump part of this story. Obviously, he denies it, etc.

51:53Krystal Ball:But the other details she offered in the context of this overall allegation and story do line up with the timeline, the places, the people, even the court records, etc.

52:05Saagar Enjeti:Yeah, I think the biographical detail confirmation is important. I will say on the Trump stuff, I've looked into this one. It's very hard to believe. So Mark Epstein, the brother, says Epstein never had a property in South Carolina. Also, the year doesn't make any sense. So Epstein was only 30 years old in 1984. 1984 is long before he had any real money. This even predates his initial relationship with Wexner. There's no reason he would have known Donald Trump was already a billionaire at this time. Actually, 1984 is right around the time whenever He's fired from Bear Stearns, and then he goes and starts the J.

52:37Saagar Enjeti:Epstein company, the so-called—this is when I think he was involved in a lot of these deep intelligence activities. Now, the skeevy behavior part with Epstein may actually—I mean, it could be true. We don't really know for sure. A lot of that portion of his life is extremely unknown, so it is possible. We do know that he had the sketchy behavior with young girls at the Dalton School, and obviously this is something he's been fetishizing and obsessed with for a long time. But the Trump part of this one really doesn't make a lot of sense because there's just no reason that they would have known each other back in 84.

53:09Saagar Enjeti:And there's no public reporting around that at the time. Now, she could be getting the date wrong. It could be, you know, it could be wrong. But that's the she specifically says 1984. And everything I know about his life, it doesn't make any sense.

53:21Krystal Ball:So he the Bear Stearns fallout happened in 81. And so in 84, he was operating this company he founded in New York that was allegedly providing advice to wealthy clients, et cetera. So he has not fully established himself as the Jeffrey Epstein.

53:40Saagar Enjeti:This is when I think he was an economic hitman. Like he was doing the Hoffenberg, the Ponzi scheme. 84 is before he's really rich, right? He didn't become actually rich until the early 1990s. So this is the time whenever he's working with Douglas Lees and Adnan Khashoggi. I think this is really when he got a lot of his intelligence bona fide. Also remember, in the early 1980s, that's right when he's working with Iran-Contra. I wouldn't put it past him, some of the behavior necessarily. I hadn't heard specifically, though, anything about extortion. I mean, who knows, though? This is part of the problem.

54:10Saagar Enjeti:A lot of the early 1980s, we really don't know a lot about him. But the Trump part, on this one, I'm not buying it yet. At least that's from what I've seen so far. And I'm just saying I call it like I see it. If I'd seen some stuff from the 1990s or any of that, I would definitely have believed. I will say it's sketchy, you know, not releasing it. That part I think we can definitely agree on. Just want to make sure we give all that context. Okay, guys, thank you so much for watching. We appreciate it. Do not forget about our promo going on right now for a free month trial, BP Free 26. You can sign up at breakingpoints.com.

54:43Saagar Enjeti:Ryan and Emily will be on tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they've already got a full show by the time we've been wrapped this one. So that's how the news is going right now. but we'll see you later.

55:06All right.

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56:20Krystal Ball:and less of what you don't that's how td's making banking more human this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human