Trump caves on Greenland threats

0:28Trump finally caves on his Greenland threats. of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America and all NATO nations. And he goes on to talk more and more. But when he was asked about this post, here's what he said. Does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland like you've said you wanted?

0:51It's a long term deal. It's the ultimate long term deal. And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else. How long? How long would the deal be, Mr. President? Infinite. So let's talk about what's happening here, because it's actually quite simple. Trump ramps up demands over the weekend that Greenland become a part of the United States. The market responds by plummeting. Dow drops about a thousand points. Nasdaq drops 600 points. S &P drops about 150 from Friday to Tuesday. Trump is super susceptible to the market crashing as the direct result of his own actions.

1:31And that was the case here. So what did Trump do? Well, he's playing make believe that good news. We've formed a framework for a future deal. Does that mean that there's a deal for the U.S. to acquire Greenland in the works? No, not at all. Trump is conceding defeat by pretending to have won. The framework for a future deal means nothing. It's fluff. It's empty calories. It is plausible deniability for Trump to be able to declare victory when all he's done is lose. And if you're wondering how seriously Trump takes frameworks, consider the fact that Donald Trump said in 2024 that he had concepts of a plan to replace the ACA.

2:09That was two years ago. To be clear, there is zero replacement for the ACA. They've done a good job destroying the ACA, but there's no replacement. There's no plan. So when Trump says that he's got frameworks and concepts, he's bullshitting. He's hoping that people can't see the blatantly obvious reality that he's got quite literally no framework and no concepts. In fact, if you needed proof of just how much there is no plan, just listen to his explanation here. Getting back a lot of some of the nervousness we had in the last couple of days. The tariffs are off. Nothing happens on February 1st.

2:41No, we took that off because it looks like we have pretty much a concept of a deal. A deal of ownership, a deal. Well, it's a little bit complex, but we'll explain it down the line. but the secretary general of NATO and I and some other people were talking and it's the kind of a deal that I wanted to be able to make. Where does Denmark, did they weigh in on what they want, what they would agree to? Well, I assume they did because he very much represents, he's a strong leader. Mark, you know Mark, and I assume he's been speaking to them, he's been speaking to all of them. Are mineral rights involved?

3:18Is ownership involved? Did the Golden Dome sway people? I don't want to say yet, but... The Golden Dome was very compelling today when you talked about that. Yeah, yeah, the Golden Dome. And they're going to be involved in the Golden Dome. And they're going to be involved in mineral rights, and so are we. I have never been more convinced that nothing will happen than listening to Trump use all of those words to say exactly nothing. So look, who knows whether or not Trump is going to accept the fact that the U.S. is going to annex Greenland. He may use this moment as an opportunity to do what's smart and cut his losses and pretend that he's a winner and then move on to the next bullshit item on his list.

3:55Or because he's unhinged and unmoored, he may wake up tomorrow morning, channel his inner Napoleon and decide to just redouble his efforts. There's no way to tell because Trump doesn't have any longstanding values. He just has errant synapses fire in his brain and then words fall out of his face. And that's what counts as policy in today's GOP. But this actually teaches us an important lesson because it shows that despite his best efforts to convince us otherwise, he's not immune to pressure. He's still very much responsive to external factors. The stock market and bond markets are one for sure, but the people are another.

4:29So when Trump tries to chill free speech, it's because he knows the power of that speech. When he tries to silence comedians, it's because he knows the power of those comedians. When he tries to get journalists to bend to his will, it's because he knows the power of those journalists. He is still susceptible to public pressure, which is why he tries so hard to misinform and censor the public, because he knows that it has a massive impact. All of which is to say, do not resign yourself to this idea that Trump is some all-powerful ruler. Right? That's a pretense he uses to compensate for the fact that he's not.

5:02He's actually weak. He's got a dismal approval rating. He's losing independence by massive margins, and he's underwater. on almost every single issue there is, from the economy to immigration to inflation, Epstein, Greenland, you name it. And in a few months, he will lose his congressional majority, meaning he will be a lame duck president with a neutered legislative agenda. If ever there was a time to not take our feet off the gas, it's right now. Next up are my interviews with Ro Khanna, Wes Moore, and Adam Klassfeld. No Lie is brought to you by OneSkin. So let's talk about New Year's resolutions for a sec.

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6:47And for a limited time, OneSkin is making it even easier to stay consistent with 15 % off when you use code BTC at oneskin.co slash BTC. That's up to 15 % off with code BTC. After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. I'm joined now by Congressman Ro Khanna. Congressman, thanks for joining me. Thanks for having me back. So I want to speak about this latest update on the Epstein files. You and Thomas Massey have gone into court and asked a judge to appoint a special master. That effort was rebuffed. And so my first question here, given the fact that that there is no standing right now to ask for a special master without a lawsuit.

7:27Is the next step here going to be for you and Thomas Massey to bring a lawsuit against the DOJ to actually try and give standing to the court to be able to rule on this issue? There were two important facts in the judge's finding. First, he said that Massey and I raised, quote, legitimate concerns about DOJ's compliance and a lack of producing documents. And second, he said that there is an avenue to the representatives to get involved. They should consider bringing a lawsuit. And we are exploring the options of motions and lawsuits to enter. And I know some of the survivors are exploring it as well.

8:09So there's definitely going to be a further action. So that there can be something of a belt and suspenders approach, would there be any interest in including some of the survivors as plaintiffs in a potential case that you and Thomas Massey would bring so that even if members of Congress don't have standing, well, that's OK because we've also got survivors who are plaintiffs. And if you all don't have standing, they might. Well, as you saw, there were two survivors who petitioned the court, Haley Rogeson and Lisa Phillips, both showing extraordinary courage. And we are looking at possibly bringing a suit with survivors, possibly bringing a motion with survivors.

8:48We're also looking at survivors possibly doing it on their own initiative. All options are on the table. And Massey and I are still looking at our congressional power. We may bring inherent contempt or impeachment against Bondi. You had Representative Luna today in oversight talk about how upset she is, both with the judge, but also with the DOJ. I believe we would get Republicans on an impeachment. And that would be very significant if the Republican House voted to impeach Pam Bondi. Do you feel like Congress was conned by virtue of the fact that Donald Trump said that he was going to sign this thing because he was going to offer some good faith effort to actually release these files.

9:33And now, you know, we're more than a month past the deadline of these files. And frankly, we haven't seen any documents get released in the last few weeks. And of the documents that they did deign to release, it's less than 1 % of what actually exists. I was like, no, I don't think we were kind. I think Donald Trump was forced into signing this. I mean, he didn't want to sign this at any step. We basically forced him to sign it because he knew he would lose the Republican votes in the House and the Senate. It was the most significant Democratic bill that the president was forced to sign. So I didn't think, Massey didn't think that there would be kumbaya after he signed it.

10:10We knew it would be a fight. Now, there have been some significant documents that have come out, one saying that Maria had complained in 1996 to the FBI and no one paid attention to her, proving that she was not lying and that this whole thing could have been prevented if law enforcement had acted. And we also know there are co-conspirators from documents that came out. Why does that matter? We now know there were other rich and powerful men, part of the Epstein class, who abused these young girls. But this is going to be a tooth and nail fight to get the documents out that we want to see, mainly the F-302s, the FBI statements that the survivors made, which named these other men.

10:47And Massey and I are prepared to fight this year to get as many documents out. At what point, if there's no documents that are being released, do the survivors just come forward and say, look, we have our freedom of speech. If the Trump administration isn't going to abide by the law, then we'll just come out and name the co-conspirators of this crime ourselves. Well, they are reluctant to do that because they already are facing threats and they could face defamation. So look, Massey and I, I mean, Massey is facing a primary challenge in Kentucky. I have upset some of the billionaires in Silicon Valley, not just because I've said they should pay more tax, but because I have said that the Epstein class needs to go.

11:37And Kara Swisher has pointed out that a number of people from Silicon Valley were on Epstein's island. So we've taken on very powerful people and the survivors have. So I don't know if they will be wanting to go publicly and be sued. One thing, though, I should say is I know some of these survivors, I know their lawyers, they're in consultation today with the Department of Justice about documents that are going to be released and making sure their names are redacted, which gives me some confidence that more documents are coming out. So I think you would see the survivors stand in front of the steps of the Capitol again if that process comes to a complete halt.

12:13But behind the scenes, there have been conversations about further documents coming out. Was it a mistake not to include some punishment in the event that the Epstein files weren't released in the actual legislation? Like right now, there's no enforcement mechanism other than the fact that it's just a law, but there's no deterrent effect. There's no consequences for the DOJ for not doing it. If you could go back, would that be changed at all? Well, we did consider this when we drafted the law. And what we were told by counsel is that it would constitute obstruction of justice to violate the Epstein Transparency Act, punishable by imprisonment, punishable by a huge fine.

12:51So we haven't seen that. I mean, the judge didn't rule that the Epstein Transparency Act, that you could just violate it without consequence. He ruled that Massey and I didn't have standing and that he couldn't, in this criminal case, enforce the Epstein Transparency Act. But certainly someone could sue under that Epstein Transparency Act who did have standing, the survivors would. And the consequences could be prosecution and holding these people accountable. And a future president could do that. But would it be up to the DOJ to be the entity that actually prosecutes? Or is there some other entity that could prosecute to enforce the Epstein Files Transparency Act?

13:34No, it would be the DOJ. And that's why ultimately we have to wait for a Democratic president both to have the full release of these Epstein files and to have prosecution of those who violated the Epstein Transparency Act. And people say, well, why does it matter? Why does it matter? It's 20 years old. You know, this person's been dead. Why does it matter? because it goes to trust. If you want to do what I want to do, Medicare for all, free public college, a living wage, a housing program, how can you do that when people don't trust government? And the reason the Epstein Act is front and center, the reason that people are heckling the president as a pedophile protector is it's a symbol of a government that is protecting corrupt, rich, and powerful men, and that has lost the trust of the American public.

14:16When we release the files, when we prosecute those who have committed grave harms or were hiding files, then we will begin to restore trust with the American public. I want to talk about Dan Bongino for a moment. He has kind of swept back on to the podcasting space as if he's some like white knight, some crusader coming back from battle. What would your message be to the folks who tune in to Dan Bongino or who believed him when he built up his brand as this champion for accountability and transparency, recognizing that he did an entire stint as deputy FBI director, did not release any of the files, in fact, was part of an administration that is right now continued to be engaged in a cover-up, and yet still has the audacity to present himself as some hero when he goes back to podcasting.

15:07Well, I'd love to get on Dan Bongino's podcast or have him come on yours and ask him some simple questions. Why aren't they releasing the witness memorandum where the survivors named these rich and powerful men? Where are they? We know where they are. Why aren't they being released? Dan Bongino, why aren't they releasing Epstein's emails and pictures that they took from the computer? You are the one who called for these files to be released. And now you've gone silent. Why don't you speak up? And now that you're on the outside and help us get these files released. And the interesting thing to me is I've not heard him answer those very simple questions.

15:42Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To what extent do you think does the fact that, you know, we're seeing all of this increased activity in Venezuela, in Greenland with ICE? Do you is there any part of you that thinks that that is intended to distract from, you know, what was a pretty devastating story with regard to Epstein? And I don't ask this question to say that those things aren't important or that they're just a distraction, because I think that Donald Trump's desire to invade and annex a sovereign country is unto itself a pretty clear testament of just how depraved he is, just how lawless he is. So I don't want to I don't want to diminish the gravity of what he's doing there.

16:22But do you think to any degree that there that some complementary benefit, some tertiary benefit for him is that, OK, every day that we're talking about Greenland or ICE or whatever it may be is a day that we're not talking about the fact that he's implicated in the largest pedophile cover-up in American history. I believe what Trump is doing in Venezuela and Greenland is motivated out of American arrogance. He wants to have wars not of liberation, but wars of conquest. He wants to literally take land. He wants to take resources from other people. And he wants to rid this country of immigrants who come from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Stephen Miller and that have that project.

17:05So that is an ideological project of gunboat diplomacy, of an imperial foreign policy like the Monroe Doctrine, and of trying to rid us of immigrants from what they believe are the wrong countries. So I think it's something so much more sinister and deeper than just distracting from a terrible scandal. That said, the Epstein scandal isn't going away. And it's probably the thing that gets under the president's skin the most. It's the only thing that, you know, a lot of people don't understand Venezuela. They don't understand, candidly, ICE. They don't understand all the dispute about Greenland.

17:45You know what they do understand? Rich and powerful men raping girls. And they understand that they got away with it. And they hate pedophiles. And so you have people like a factory worker in Michigan saying, Mr. President, Why are you protecting credit files? And this gets under Donald Trump's skin because this is the one thing that is broken through the common culture. You know, when the Super Bowl comes, you talk to the folks there watching the game and you ask them for their detailed views on Madero or on Greenland. They may not know, but they'll all have an opinion on the Epstein files and who were on Epstein's island and who was on that plane and why they aren't being prosecuted.

18:20And that's why Donald Trump is so afraid of this. And finally, when can we expect some news with regard to next steps in court? Again, we had spoken at the top of this interview about the fact that there wasn't standing for this particular court situation. But when can we expect some next steps, be it a lawsuit or something else? Over the next two weeks, you will probably hear what Massey and I are going to do next legally, what we're going to do in terms of inherent contempt or impeachment. and then the upcoming testimony of Pam Bonney on February 11th at Judiciary. And let's see if she comes to oversight, as well as Maxwell's deposition in front of the Oversight Committee.

19:03So like I said, this is not going away. I expect more documents to be coming out from what I've been told by survivors, lawyers or being consulted on some of the release. So we also will be monitoring what they release next. Great. We'll leave it there. Thank you as always for your leadership on this issue, for not letting this thing slide by the wayside. And thanks for taking the time today. Thank you, Brian. No Lie is brought to you by Shopify. When we were young, we used to dream of being anything. I wanted to be an actor and I can assure you that breaking into the entertainment industry is anything but glamorous like I thought.

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20:44Turn those dreams into and give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash BTC. Go to shopify.com slash BTC. Shopify.com slash BTC. I'm joined now by the governor of Maryland, Westmore. Thanks so much for joining me. Of course, man. Great to be back with you. So you have a big announcement as far as redistricting is concerned. This is an issue that we've spoken about at length, but now there is new news here. Can you explain what that news is? There is. I mean, this has been a high priority for me, where I said, in this moment, we are not just going to let democracy die, and we are not going to let Donald Trump determine what our democracy should look like.

21:25And as these other states, these Donald Trump handpicked states are going through mid-decade redistricting, I said, well, Maryland's not going to sit on our hands while this is happening. So I said, you know, I said and I called for a governor's redistricting advisory commission that has now spent the past months listening to Marylanders all across the state where every Marylander had a chance to have their their voice heard to ensure that we can have the type of maps, maps that represent the people. And just last night, the Redistricting Advisory Commission came back with their recommendations of what new maps could look like.

22:01So I'm really excited because these maps are not just going to make it more competitive, but it's going to make sure that our voices are actually heard and give us an opportunity to push back against this threat and this theft of democracy that we are seeing from Donald Trump right now. And I've taken a look at the maps. it seems that the closest district would actually be D plus eight. So this would in theory be an eight to nothing Democratic map. So what are next steps in this process? And do you expect that it'll be in place by 2026 is midterm elections? Yes, I'm thankful because the work of the of the commission put this in place.

22:41So there is time to be able to have this in place by the November elections. And so the next step is now it's going to go in front of the Maryland General Assembly. And so the Maryland House and the Maryland Senate will have a chance to debate, will have a chance to make adjustments if they see fit, but then they will have a chance to vote. And because any type of changes need to happen with the, you know, with the authorization of the Maryland General Assembly. So the ask that I and the ask that all of us have right now is call a vote. If you believe that, that if you believe in democracy, it's not just about preserving democracy from Donald Trump.

23:18Show what that looks like by having a vote in your own chamber right now, too. Does this go to the chambers before it goes to the people of Maryland? Can you explain a little bit of the process in terms of who actually gets a say on this? Absolutely. So the next step is actually it's going to go in front of the chamber. So the Maryland House and the Maryland Senate will have a chance to have to have their debates, you know, depending on the legislation that they will put forward on it. We can then have have legislation that is accepted, that is passed and then incorporated into the primary and the general elections that we will have later this year.

23:52So the next step is the General Assembly, the ball is in their court, and we're hoping that they move accordingly. And can you give a little insight into what you've heard from members of the General Assembly in terms of the likelihood that they'll adopt it? Well, the great thing is that when you talk to the individual members, the individual members that we've had a chance to speak to, they want to see democracy upheld. They respect the work that actually happened from the Redistricting Advisory Commission, who really put countless hours over these past months to be able to hear from Marylanders.

24:24And they now have a unique opportunity to make sure that they can put their stamp on history and their pushback against this absolutely brutal takeover that we are watching Donald Trump try to do on our democracy, where he's trying to alter the rules and break the rules all across the country in order for him to win an election because he can't win on fair terms. And so so the reason that I'm anxious for the vote is regardless of what party bosses might say, the people, even the members of the delegation that I have spoken to, they're excited for a vote and they're excited to have their voice heard.

24:59Are there any public holdouts for this legislation? Well, no, I think it's been publicly reported some of the challenges that the Senate President, William Ferguson, has had on it. But the great thing that we know is the way democracy works is one person has one vote. And so what we're hoping for is that for the other members of the Senate and the other members of the House, that they will be able to have their voice heard and be able to make sure that our democracy is sustained. You know, I'm and I think even for for for President Ferguson, you know, he understands the threat that we are seeing here.