MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 1/9/26

25:54Jordy Meiselas:He wants people who, like you said, Jordi, have no soul and are willing to do this and are willing to do this to the American people.

26:02Brett Meiselas:It goes back to what we say. If they, if the Trump regime, if their lips are moving, they are lying. The fact that Kristi Noem's first reaction, right? We're about 30 minutes in. Her first reaction was to label Renee Good a domestic terrorist. What a psychopath. Like what is like Just the evil, vile, and that's why I've been calling them this, creatures. This Trump regime is a bunch of creatures. They're not even humans at this point because humans have a soul. Humans have feelings. Humans are able to objectively look at something and be able to say, hey, this is a good thing. This is a bad thing.

26:38Brett Meiselas:This is a horrific thing. Not just blanketly label folks domestic terrorists because you don't think it aligns with your political ideology. It is so maniacal, man. It's evil. It's evil stuff that we're all witnessing with our eyes. And then don't be gaslit by the CBS news or these main corporate entities out there trying to downplay what's happening, trying to lie to you about the footage that you've seen with your own eyes. It really is beyond anything. It is so sick what is happening right now. And just double down in your convictions. That's what I want to tell our audience here is you are right.

27:14Brett Meiselas:What you are witnessing, believe it. Believe what you are witnessing with your own eyes. I mean, it is really just sick, sick stuff. And Brett pulled up the correct photo now of the initial Trump statement here. I mean, it's so evil.

27:28Ben Meiselas:Well, I think ask yourself this. What is the purpose of government? Like, what is the purpose? I mean, let's pull back because I think one of the big problems is the way politics is reported is in a gamified way. This team, that team, this personality on this team versus that personality on this team versus this personality or that personality on other team and who's up and who's down in a horse race and it's reported that way. So pull back and just ask, well, what's the purpose of government? And how is any of this stuff that we've been discussing so far that the Trump regime is inflicting upon the people?

28:17Ben Meiselas:How is that supposed to be the purpose of government? Like, shouldn't government be focused on governing? Shouldn't it be focused on delivering things to the people? Shouldn't it be focused on ensuring that the people who live in the country can be able to live and thrive and survive? And so when the Trump regime's focus is on all of this cruelty and these sociopaths who looks like cartoonishly evil bad guys from the superhero movies I used to watch growing up as a kid, like, shouldn't it be about, are we making sure that every American has healthcare and education? and if they're working a job, they can be paid a wage with dignity.

29:10Ben Meiselas:And if they're not working a job, we can work to help these individuals, you know, live thriving lives. I mean, shouldn't we be working to help persons who have disabilities, you know, and have thriving lives? Shouldn't we be working to uplift marginalized communities? Shouldn't we be focused on making sure that people can afford shelter, they can afford homes. Like, shouldn't this be the focus? And the Trump regime is not focused on any of that. They're focused on this imperialistic adventurism to create a Trump everything, dominate the Western hemisphere, which is ultimately going to be resulting in a much weaker, less safe country and less safe world.

30:05Ben Meiselas:Again, look at Russia's ballistic missile attacks tonight that went into the morning as well in Lviv. The ballistic missiles striking Western Ukraine very close to the border where NATO countries sit. Think about the escalation that Russia takes. Think about the escalation China takes. Think about the escalation that we see in a less stabilized world where a world order has been torn down. That's what I want to talk about when we come back as well. I mean, when you see France at the United Nations condemning the United States for engaging in an unlawful invasion, did you ever think that you'd expect to see something like that?

30:46Ben Meiselas:And what a dramatic shift that is, where you talk about our former allies working on potential war plans against the United States if the U.S. invades part of the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland. I mean, what? And the Trump regime continuing to threaten Greenland. So I want to talk about that. I want to talk about what's going on in Congress with the War Powers vote, the Affordable Care Act subsidy vote, and more. Let's take our first quick break of the show. And a reminder, if you like the expansion of the Midas Touch Network, like what we're doing with our DC Bureau expansion and you want to support our growth, become a member of this YouTube channel.

31:25Ben Meiselas:Just you could gift others memberships as well if you're a member, but that helps expand and grow our network. And that's how we've been able to build out a DC Bureau and hire more staff thanks to you. So take our first quick break. We'll be right back and look forward to a lot more that we all have to discuss. Let's take that first quick break.

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35:10Brett Meiselas:Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors. Links in description of both YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you. Big fan of those two sponsors right there. Benji, where to next?

35:21Ben Meiselas:Why don't we check in with our Washington, D.C. Bureau, Pablo Monriquez, who captured some real important statements on the Hill. He was asking the questions that you wanted to have answered. Let me show you how, and I'll show you the contrast between the responses you'll hear from Democrats and the responses you'll hear from Trump regime officials at press conferences that were taking place today. So first, Pablo spoke with AOC, and she talks about how ICE has less accountability than basically anything right now in the government here play this quote congressman can i uh real quick get your reaction to the shooting death in minnesota of the woman by the the ice agent no this is what um it's a nightmare it's a nightmare um this is what we've been mourning about for a very long time and it is i'm just it's tragic to say but from the moment that

36:23Jordy Meiselas:I mean, from the moment that this Congress decided to authorize and explode ICE's budget, they are accountable to no one. It's important that people know that ICE has less accountability than virtually any law enforcement agency in the United States. And yet, they are some of the most well-funded. They are operating with impunity. And we just saw the murder of an American citizen in cold blood in the street. and despite whatever lies that the president wants to say about what was happening in this, there is, you can see what happened for yourselves. They shot a woman in the head in cold blood on the street.

37:02Jordy Meiselas:I hope that this incident is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and this is an agency that must be reined in.

37:09Ben Meiselas:Thank you, Congressman. We heard from Democratic Congress member Johnson, who says this was a homicide. Let's play that clip next.

37:17Jordy Meiselas:All right, Mr. Johnson, can I get any reaction to the shooting death in Minnesota by the ICE agent of the lady in the car?

37:22Brett Meiselas:It's like a homicide for which there should be criminal charges.

37:25Jordy Meiselas:Thank you. Shooting into a moving vehicle four times, traffic stop, murder.

37:32Ben Meiselas:Then Pablo asked Democratic Congresswoman Dean, is it time to start looking at the Homeland Security budget? Let's play this clip.

37:40Jordy Meiselas:Is it time to start looking at the Homeland Security budget? Yes, and of course, the Homeland Security officer, whatever the heck her name is, the woman in the cowboy hat and many outfits. It's time for her to leave. Time for her to go.

37:52Ben Meiselas:And one more clip from Congresswoman Dean here. Let's play it. Congresswoman, any reaction to the shooting of the woman in Minneapolis by the ICE agent? Sadly, we don't know the details yet.

38:04Jordy Meiselas:But it was predictable that this administration would unleash unmarked and marked ICE agents terrorizing communities. It looks like somebody has lost her life. And it's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. But what's really unbelievable is this administration and the things they're willing to say immediately as a result of this. Claiming that this woman is a terrorist. What's wrong with just saying we're going to investigate and find out exactly what happened here? What went wrong? Why can't they do that?

38:39Ben Meiselas:Also, Pablo, who joined the Midas Touch DC Bureau to report on all of this, he caught when Jesse Waters, very creepy reporter, was like challenging AOC to go on the Jesse Waters show. And she's like, the guy sexually harasses me. Why would I want to go on the show of someone who sexually harasses me? Watch this exchange. that has since gone mega viral and our DC reporter captured it here. Play this.

39:15Jordy Meiselas:He has sexualized me on his show. He has sexually harassed me on his show. He has engaged in horrific, sexually exploitative. It is true. It is true. Cause he accused me of sleeping of wanting to quote unquote sleep with Stephen Miller. So why don't you tell me what you think is acceptable to tell a woman? Thank you.

39:35Ben Meiselas:And let's take a look at what Democratic Congress member Moskowitz had to say. Let's play this clip.

39:41Jordy Meiselas:This is this is the person. This is the person who, within minutes of the shooting, within minutes of the shooting, went on TV and called it domestic terrorism. What is she hiding her face like her ICE agents now? She can't show her face either. By the way, is this what the$800 billion went to? Every day we see her after there's some new tragedy in Homeland, she's wearing a different outfit with a different hat. I mean, come on, guys, she looks ridiculous. She's not just an embarrassment to the country. She's an embarrassment to you and the president. Okay, she deserves to be removed from her job by the president, and if not impeached.

40:27Jordy Meiselas:not just for her complete failures in Homeland, but her destruction of FEMA. She's not even running the department. You guys know this. You guys know she's not running Homeland. Your governors and you all, when you need your FEMA money, you don't call Noam, you call Corey. You know she's not running the place. She's a complete and utter embarrassment. I'm going to make a motion to subpoena Pam Bondi. I know that she's coming. By the way, every Homeland Secretary has come in front of this committee. Once a Congress. I'd like to know the date she's coming. When is she coming? When is she coming?

41:06Jordy Meiselas:By the way, do you know Pam Bondi has not come in front of this committee? Do you know she's the only Secretary to not appear in front of a committee yet? When is she coming? What's the date on the calendar that she's coming. You know what? Let's make it easy. I want to make a motion to subpoena Pam Bondi. Second. Second. Third, fourth, fifth.

41:27Ben Meiselas:How much are we going to... The gentleman is not recognized for that motion. However, the chair will advise as to the attorney general coming for, as they do routinely.

41:39Jordy Meiselas:Mr. Chairman, thank you. But where is the attorney general, the only secretary, to not appear, okay, in front of a committee? The only one. We're into year two of this Congress and we've not had the attorney general in front of this committee. How much are we going to weaken Article One of the Constitution while you guys remain in power? I watch you twist yourself into pretzels trying to defend this, running away from previous statements, disagreeing with yourself, trying to defend the crap that's happening.

42:12Ben Meiselas:It's really well said by Congress member Moskowitz there, but what Kristi Noem is doing as she wears her different dress up outfits, she goes on state regime media, which calls itself Fox, and she's asked questions during press conferences. And some of the questions that she's asked is, so where, why are you not allowing state investigators to be involved at any level of the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good. Why aren't you letting the state be involved? And you have Kristi Noem playing cosplay. She's willing to do all these press conferences to spread lies. Here she is responding and saying, there's never been jurisdiction by state authorities over a shooting in the state.

43:07Ben Meiselas:What are you talking about? Here, play this clip. Yes.

43:10Jordy Meiselas:The head of Minnesota State Investigations Agency said that they had to cut out of the investigation into the fatal shooting in Minneapolis. Can you explain that reversal? I'd like to know where they've been and why they're not out on the streets investigating all of these people that are harassing and inciting violence on law enforcement officers right now. They're allowing the situation to be volatile. They're not doing their work. They haven't for years, and maybe they should get to work a little bit on the unprecedented fraud that we've seen in Minnesota and in Minneapolis by people that stole from American citizens and diverted funds away from vulnerable people and programs and services that they needed and put it into their own pockets.

43:49Jordy Meiselas:Minnesota is a train wreck. It is corrupt, and it was under the leadership of Governor Walz and this mayor that they allowed it to happen, and they let criminals and illegals and people abuse programs and steal the money, and now they're allowing violence to go forward on the streets as well.

44:09Jordy Meiselas:I won't put a blanket statement out like those other individuals will. What I would say is I welcome them to come and help us. come help us make sure that the streets are safe, that laws are enforced, and that we can do the right thing to make sure that American citizens come first. Yes, sir.

44:26Ben Meiselas:Brett Geordi, they've not been cut out, she said, but we've cut them out because we've never even included them in the first place. After she then says before that, we invite them to be involved, but we've not included you. They don't have jurisdiction. So I just want to be very clear. They're covering up a child sex trafficking ring. They're covering up war crimes. They're covering up Donald Trump's medical records. Now they're covering up the investigation by the state into a murder of somebody in the state because by not allowing them to have any jurisdiction over the evidence, then the state is unable to determine if there are charges to be brought.

45:07Horrific. Yeah.

45:09Jordy Meiselas:And they also want to protect the ICE agent from all possible crimes, right? If there was anything that would ever be charged federally and in this Department of Justice, that's not going to happen. They would pardon the individual, Jonathan Ross. And they are, I think, very aware that Minnesota, if their state investigators are able to get the evidence and if they are able to prosecute this case, that they would likely go to a grand jury and try to bring charges against this individual. Because I think when you speak to all experts about this case, when you speak to law enforcement, when you speak to people who are trained in these sorts of situations, they are all saying overwhelmingly that the officer acted in the wrong here, that the officer escalated the situation, that the officer committed a murder.

45:51Jordy Meiselas:And so they are well aware of that fact. And like Ben said, the same way they are covering up for a child sex trafficking ring, they are now covering up for this murder. There is no low that is too low for this regime. And every single day, we continue to see the depths of this regime sink lower and lower.

46:09Brett Meiselas:Exactly. And you watch that footage of Kristi Noem right there. And that's what I mean when I say soulless. There's just no other way I could describe it other than that. And the amount of doublespeak, and it's intentional. And Ben, you called it out perfectly, that we see from this regime. We invite them to help. They do not have any jurisdiction. What do you want, Kristi? I know what you want. You want to run your own investigation and conclude whatever best fits your agenda. This is why I say to, you know, this Trump regime, they don't have the best interest of the American people in mind. They simply don't.

46:45Brett Meiselas:They don't care about you. Like, I just need to be super clear. They don't care about you. They care about Donald Trump and pushing forward whatever the hell shape his agenda is continuing to take and covering up everything along the way. And that's why, again, I look, I know our personal audience doesn't need to hear that because they're very well aware. And everyone here has been shouting from the rooftops about how ridiculous and how just evil this whole situation has been. And I'm really proud of them. I just might, I'm really proud of this community to continue to do that. It's just, when I just watch clips like that, like, I just want to throw my laptop because again, it, Ben, it goes back to your point.

47:27Brett Meiselas:What do you want government to do? Like at its best, What do we collectively want the government to do for its citizens, for its people? I just, I sincerely ask you, I look at that Kristi Noem clip and I say, well, I know, I know it's not that. I know it's not whatever the hell that is, Kristi Noem. It's unbelievable.

47:46Ben Meiselas:Well, that's why when I interviewed New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, and we talked about what he and Governor Hochul of New York were focused on today, it was childcare services And expanding child care, moving closer to universal child care in the first eight days of Mamdani's administration right now. The Trump regime has suspended federal funding or is trying to suspend the federal funding that's required to go to child care services in states like New York, California, Minnesota, et cetera, Colorado, because they're blue states and they're trying to screw them over. Rather, you're going after the children.

48:31Ben Meiselas:Doesn't it also seem that the Trump regime, one of their first targets that they go after are kids? right? Amongst some of the most vulnerable, whether it's covering up child sex trafficking rings, right? Whether it is starving children to death by taking away SNAP benefits, whether it's taking away child services. Kids are the pawns of these disgusting authorities. They go after kids. They talk about it. It's like stealing candy from a baby, right? That's what the Trump regime does you know, over and over again, they go into the most vulnerable and that's who they inflict harm on. So let me just show you, this was when I had the opportunity to interview New York City mayor, that was Mamdani earlier today.

49:17Ben Meiselas:And here's what he told me. Let's play this clip. You are keeping your word and you are doing things for the people of New York City and joining forces with the governor. And, you know, it's an interesting thing, pulling people from different sides of the left and progressives, joining forces for something that benefits the people. Tell us about it, Mayor. Well, it's truly lovely to be back on here with you. And what I would say is that it is, as you've said, today's an incredible win for working people.

49:42Jordy Meiselas:We're talking about a$1.2 billion commitment from the state of New York to the city of New York to make universal child care a reality. This is money that will mean that we can fix child care for three-year-olds across the city, and we can start to deliver child care for every two-year-old across the city. And after housing, child care is the number one crisis facing working families in the city. It's the number one reason that they're leaving this city. And that's because the average cost of child care is$22 ,500 a year. And so what today's commitment and today's partnership between the governor and myself shows is that working families are not going to have to make the choice any longer between the city they love and the family they want to actually raise.

50:21Ben Meiselas:I just want you to think about that. The average child care cost is about$22 ,000. Without the Affordable Care Act subsidies, the average health care plans are going to be between, what,$15 ,000 to$30 ,000 as well. So between your health and childcare, that right there would equal right around$50 ,000 a year just on those two things. That's before going into food. That's before going into rent. That's before going into other day-to-day stuff. Just think about that right there. That's what we should be focused on. Not sending ICE Gestapo, or as Trump says, being predators of the Western Hemisphere.

51:07Ben Meiselas:How about we do some governing in the United States first? When we come back, I want to talk about Donald Trump getting humiliated in the Congress twice, once in the Senate with a War Powers Resolution, another time in the House with Affordable Care Act subsidies. We'll talk about that. We should talk about Democratic Congress member Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massey going to court filing an amicus brief in federal court requesting that Judge Engelmeyer appoint an independent monitor to demand the release of the Epstein files. He was the judge in the Ghislaine Maxwell case and the Trump regime promised that judge they were going to produce certain categories of documents.

51:49Ben Meiselas:I really like that strategy. We'll talk about that. And let's talk about what's going on internationally as well. Let's take our last quick break of the show.

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56:02Ben Meiselas:You know, obviously we're gathering more information on this, but the police in Portland have confirmed that federal agents had been involved in a shooting with two people in the hospital who seem to have been shot by ICE agents or federal agents will be reporting more on that.

56:20Jordy Meiselas:It's Customs and Border Protection.

56:21Ben Meiselas:They're saying that. And the reality is, though, with their masks, it's hard to tell the difference between the ICE agent and the Customs and Border Patrol. You often know when it is Bovino who runs Customs and Border Patrol rolling in versus, you know, ICE, where you usually see Kristi Noem, by the way, who oversees both. But with the masks agents, it's kind of difficult to tell. Real quick.

56:48Brett Meiselas:Yeah, real quick. This is what I was alluding to earlier in the show here. You know, this is why the statements from the highest levels of governments after what transpired in Minneapolis are so important. That's why I was talking about Donald Trump's statement being a cosign for ICE agents, for federal for law enforcement to just go out and commit murder. Like Donald Trump did not condemn what happened by any stretch of the imagination. Absolutely not. You read his statement. It's a cosign of the behavior saying, you know what? I'll allow it. And lo and behold, a day later. Yeah.

57:25Jordy Meiselas:But I'll say this, though, you know, we don't know the details yet. And so in situations like this and in situations when there are shootings meetings on college campuses or you name it. Sometimes the best thing you could do is sit back. You don't have to say anything like Kristi Noem coming out and automatically rushing to judgment and saying things. And so I know there, I've seen comments of people while we're live saying, cover this, cover this, cover this. Sometimes you just need to wait and gather the data and we need to do our own internal investigation into things. I think that's the responsible thing to do here.

57:58Yeah.

57:58Ben Meiselas:So let's talk about Thomas Massey Ro Khanna. They wrote a letter brief to federal judge Engelmeyer in the Southern District of New York, who's the judge presiding over the Ghislaine Maxwell case. Notably, Judge Engelmeyer had previously, you know, put the Trump regime on notice. Brett, take it over for a quick second, if you can. I've got the little one right here by the camera right now.

58:29Jordy Meiselas:I don't know, Ben, you might have to take her out. This is part of the show now.

58:33Ben Meiselas:Maybe he met on the show.

58:36Jordy Meiselas:So, I mean, what happened is obviously...

58:38Ben Meiselas:I could jump into the light. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Judge Engelmeyer previously requested of the DOJ, tell me the categories of documents that you're going to be producing. and they listed all the categories because they were requesting that Judge Engelmeyer release the grand jury testimony. So Engelmeyer was like, I'll release the grand jury testimony, but you're promising me you're going to be releasing all of these records and I want you to make reports to this court. And so at the end of last week, the Trump regime did a report to Engelmeyer and said they've only produced about 12 ,350 documents, which equals 125 ,000 pages.

59:24Ben Meiselas:So about 10 pages per document. And they claim they're reviewing about 2 million additional documents. So if you go by 10 pages per document, that means it could be 20 million pages. If you go back to all of our reporting here, I still think it's more than that because I've dealt with big document production cases. I think the financial records alone are probably in the tens of millions of pages before you get into all of the other emails and all of the other electronically stored information. But in any event, you had, look, Thomas Massey and Kanna are not parties to the case. The parties to the case are the DOJ, who's supposed to be the good guy, right?

1:00:06Ben Meiselas:Or at least pretending to be the good guy and Ghislaine Maxwell. But the DOJ and Ghislaine are basically on the same team in this one of cover up, right? So it's not an adversarial process before Judge Engelmeyer. So the question is, is like, well, what do you do when, what do you do when the DOJ is the criminal racketeering enterprise? They're supposed to be the ones going after the criminals. What do you do when they are the gangsters when they are covering up a child sex trafficking, when they're quite literally a racketeering organization covering up child sex trafficking with Donald Trump and with MAGA Republicans.

1:00:44Ben Meiselas:So I think Massey and Kanna did the best move, which was to write what's called an amicus brief, a letter of what's called the friends of the court brief to Judge Engelmeyer and said, look, we're both the main sponsors of the Epstein Transparency Act. We believe that crimes are taking place right now within the DOJ, and there needs to be accountability for that. But what we suggest this court do is appoint an independent monitor or a special master or somebody who can go through and get these records public because the DOJ can't be depended on to actually do this the right way. They are covering this all up.

1:01:28Ben Meiselas:Now, who knows ultimately what the judge is going to do, but I don't know what else you, I mean, what else can you do in a situation like this where you have the DOJ as the criminals, not prosecuting the criminals, helping the criminals. So that was a letter that was sent. We'll keep you updated on that. And for those who -

1:01:47Jordy Meiselas:By the way, Ben, while we're on Epstein too, and we're talking about Epstein, we're talking about Venezuela, we're talking about ICE, we're talking about just the whole host of things. I want to also make a couple of connections, and I'm curious to get your thoughts on this. You know, you think about the whole deal they worked out with with Ghislaine Maxwell, where Todd Blanche went to the prison. They did that ridiculous interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, where he was like, where she was like, oh, Trump, yeah, he's such a gentleman. What a gentleman? He was always so gentlemanly. All of a sudden, boom, like basically the next day she's moved into this cushy club fed prison.

1:02:17Jordy Meiselas:Now, you know, with that in mind and the way that we know Donald Trump works in this transactional nature in which Trump works in this Department of Justice works. I think we're starting to see kind of the beginning stages of that same twisted kind of Donald Trump extracting favors from bad people in order to benefit himself in the case of Nicolas Maduro with the Venezuela thing, because we're already seeing now people talk about how, oh, he's going to get this person who's going to say that actually Hugo Chavez and Maduro did rig the election against Donald Trump in 2020. So if you just say this little thing, then you could get some, you know, good, good benefits out of it.

1:02:55Jordy Meiselas:I'm starting to see personally, I'm making the connection in my head between the treatment, the cushy treatment that they gave Ghislaine Maxwell and the things we're already starting to read right now about the prosecution of Nicolas Maduro in the United States, by the way, a prosecution that they're already like bungling horribly. First off, Donald Trump comes out there and immediately undercuts the entire prosecution of Maduro. He comes out there. First, he calls him the leader of Venezuela. He calls him President Maduro. There's something where heads of state have immunity for prosecution. He's widely viewed as an illegitimate leader, not the legitimate president of Venezuela because he lost the election.

1:03:34Jordy Meiselas:That's the position of many countries around the world. But Donald Trump calling him president, calling him the leader of Venezuela completely undercuts that argument and help bolsters Nicolas Maduro's defense. Then you have all these people around him pushing this notion of the 2020 election being stolen with those ridiculous theories about Hugo Chavez, who's been dead for a long time, rigging the election to help Donald Trump. I mean, I'm putting it together in my head and I'm going, I kind of am seeing the future here.

1:04:01Ben Meiselas:Well, look also this way. Okay. So if you're Maduro and you file what's called a 12B6 motion to dismiss for failure to state acclaim. You assert as an affirmative defense, head of state immunity. And you say, look at Donald Trump's post where he said, whatever Trump said, I kidnapped or we captured the president of Venezuela, the leader of Venezuela, Maduro. So Trump in his post says Maduro is the leader of Venezuela. So there's that. And then Trump is now recognizing Maduro's successor, who only becomes the successor if Maduro was legitimately the leader and removed under the Venezuela constitution.

1:04:48Ben Meiselas:So by working with and recognizing the Delce Rodriguez regime, by recognizing the Delce Rodriguez machine, you are also recognizing a plan of succession that inherently states that Maduro was the leader. Do you get what I'm saying? So there's that argument as well. Now, Now, for Judge Hellerstein or any of these federal judges, you know, in making these rulings that are the right rulings, like we don't want to see Maduro get off because of head of state immunity, the same way we definitely don't want to see Ghislaine Maxwell get off from her sentence because of the things that Donald Trump said.

1:05:33Ben Meiselas:I just want you to think about it like this. The federal judges have to discount the words of the president of the United States as though they mean nothing. Could you imagine in another criminal prosecution, if former President Obama regarding a case involving a criminal defendant who was sentenced to 20 years, Obama put out a message. I have just uncovered that the case involving that criminal defendant is a hoax. The FBI has informed me. In fact, I've learned that the main prosecutor on that case, that she and her dad are in on it, and that the dad of the prosecutor tampered with the case. Think about that in the Obama administration.

1:06:20Ben Meiselas:Would we all agree that that criminal defendant would have a good argument to get a new trial? We would say, oh my gosh, the president of the United States said that the prosecution is a hoax and that there was a setup. And the criminal defendant, the convicted person, would cite that as evidence, right? I just want you to think about it. Ghislaine Maxwell has that argument that she could make. Donald Trump said my whole prosecution is a hoax. The federal judges are going to say, he's a dumb shit. What he says doesn't matter. It's meaningless. He just rants and raves. His words don't matter. And as a result, she's not going to be able to get her habeas petition granted.

1:07:07Ben Meiselas:Similarly, Judge Hellerstein, looking at this case, the question is, are the words of the president of the United States meaningful? And if they were, then Donald Trump saying that Maduro is the leader should end the inquiry. But you could say, but the indictment used the right words. The indictment says de facto leader and not the real one. And so the indictment, but again, we're saying that the president's posts are meaningless and not official statements. And I agree. He rants and raves like a lunatic, but that's got to be the analysis to get to the conclusion. So Brett, I'm with you. And I also think at some point we'll hear about a deal where Maduro will go to Russia or Qatar and there'll be a trade for something.

1:08:01Ben Meiselas:I wouldn't be shocked if it's, it could happen tomorrow. It could happen in a week. It could happen in a year. I think the operating assumption is this case doesn't go to trial. And let me also explain why it doesn't go to trial too. The CIA has operated in Venezuela for a long period of time, even before this. A lot of the drug operations as well, historically, the CIA have had informants who have been involved in this region generally. And although Venezuela is actually not really a narco state, that's not what they're known for. They have a corrupt dictatorship right now in place, but they're not the ones sending the fentanyl.

1:08:46Ben Meiselas:They're not the ones sending the cocaine that's coming from other areas. But the CIA's involvement there, just think about what that trial would look like if it were actually to go down. There'll be some deal cut. He'll end up in Russia or Qatar or Turkey. Brett, you're right. He will say the 2020 election was stolen or come up with some statement like that. There'll be some deal there. And it's possible. You know, Delcy has freed some political prisoners. And you read between the lines, they said it was a unilateral act that they freed political prisoners. You think it was a unilateral act? Do you think that there are things going on?

1:09:31Ben Meiselas:Just watch what's happening there. And then as we see these protests in Iran take shape and form, you know, already the question is, well, is Trump going to do regime change there? Trump already says that he doesn't support the successor of the Shah. He's been putting out statements or he's been basically saying that, ah, the same types of statements he put out about Machado, he's putting out against the family of the Shah. And the question ultimately is, well, what's the plan? And overall, you have the world as this powder keg right now, never been more unstable in an international order. It's untethered right now.

1:10:12Ben Meiselas:The world is untethered and unglued right now. And anything can, it's already set off, but anything can set this off. I mean, look, do we have the clip of the ambassador to the United Nations from France? Let's play this clip right here of the ambassador from the United Nations from France, what he had to say about the US invasion. Let's play. Mr.

1:10:34Brett Meiselas:President, the military operation which has led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro runs counter to the principle of peaceful dispute resolution and runs counter to the principle of non-use of force. The proliferation of violations of the Charter of the United Nations and the violations of international law by states vested with responsibility as permanent members of the Security Council chips away at the very foundation of the international order. Contravening the principles of the Charter, including the principle of respect for independence and the territorial integrity of states, undermines the foundation of the United Nations and weakens international peace and security.

1:11:19Brett Meiselas:France remains faithful and committed to respect for the Charter of the United Nations and of the principle of peaceful dispute resolution. We have an obligation to uphold these principles at all times and in all places. Respect for these principles is indispensable.

1:11:38Ben Meiselas:That's from France. That's from France, as there are reports that France and Germany are preparing potential war plans in the event of the United States invasion of Greenland. The United States has repeated over and over again in statements they're not ruling out military options. You have both Caroline Levitt and J.D. Vance lump Greenland with Venezuela and Iran saying, well, they didn't listen to us, so we had to do military operations. So maybe they should take our offer or else. And then the Trump regime's offer, according to Reuters, is to pay the individual citizens of Greenland$10 ,000 to$100 ,000 to become American and secede from Greenland and Denmark?

1:12:27Ben Meiselas:Or else? That's the plan? What are we talking about here? What are we talking about here? Brett and Jordi want to comment on that, and then I'll just talk briefly about what's going on in the House and in the Senate.

1:12:40Jordy Meiselas:Well, I'll just go back quickly to what you were saying before about when you were hinting at the CIA and operations that the United States did in Venezuela. Because one of the things that the Trump regime did with this indictment against Maduro is they actually removed references to Cartel de los Soles, the Cartel of the Sun, I believe it means. And that's because that was actually a group that the CIA collaborated with back in 1990, to show you how far this goes back. And the CIA literally brought in 3 ,000 pounds of cocaine into Caracas, Venezuela. So as you have the Trump regime now trying to, you know, press these charges against or prosecute these charges rather against Maduro, the U.S.

1:13:28Jordy Meiselas:isn't quite clean in this entire process of the drug trade and, you know, obviously and take some responsibility for this. This is information that has been declassified that the United States government has been involved in going back decades through the CIA. So this is a very messy situation. I cannot agree with you more about what the future holds, you know, for this trial and things there. And I just think it says a lot right now that the entire world remains on edge. As I said in the very beginning of this episode, could you ever have imagined, you know, at this point in time, in 2026 right now?

1:14:06Jordy Meiselas:now, that we would have our once closest allies, countries like France and Denmark and the United Kingdom and all these countries throughout Europe right now, essentially convening in secret, trying to figure out how they are going to handle a United States Pearl Harbor-style sneak attack against Greenland. I mean, the whole thing is just totally, completely sick. On a side note and maybe a slightly facetious or humorous note, I don't think Trump realizes that Greenland isn't as big as it appears on maps because maps are curved and Greenland looks gigantic on a map. But Greenland actually isn't as big or as large as it actually appears on a globe.

1:14:49Jordy Meiselas:And I think if Donald Trump actually knew the actual true size of Greenland, I don't think he'd be as excited about Greenland. This is the only other thing I'm going to add here. I'm sure that he doesn't understand the actual size of the country.

1:15:01Brett Meiselas:I think you're probably onto something. We did not get a weekly cognitive update or cognitive flex brag, unless I missed it, that he passed his dementia test. I mean, cognitive test, whatever the heck he wants to claim it is. So who knows? I think you're onto something. You know, listening to that clip that we played, it goes back to another theme that I hit on a lot, especially recently, is it's just, I'm always worried about where the United States now falls as far as how the rest of the world is going to view us going forward. Five years, 10 years, 15 years. You know, what are their thoughts on us?

1:15:38Brett Meiselas:Can they ever sort of get over it is what they're seeing now? Just if I was them, I would feel betrayed is one word that certainly comes to mind. Disgusted, confused, appalled. Not words that you really want to describe your allies, right? Those aren't great words to describe someone who you want to be in the same sandbox with you. So, you know, there's going to be a lot of work that this country is going to have to do, assuming that we can have a pro-democracy government, you know, in the future here and try and reestablish our relationships with these countries. I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful of communities like this, the Midas Mighty and pro-democracy independent media using your voices here to continue to get out the truth, to continue to show receipts and facts and data and actual footage here.

1:16:24Brett Meiselas:And believing that the audience and knowing that the audience is smart enough to believe what they're witnessing with their own eyes and not to be gaslit by these corporate entities out there that are actively bending the knee to Donald Trump in this regime. so anytime we play a clip like that that's just immediately what comes to my mind is man hey they really don't trust us like they really don't trust the united states they being our former allies here and we've given them no reason to be able to the behavior has been erratic to say the least and it's going to take some work i'm hopeful but hoping and just waiting isn't enough.

1:17:04Brett Meiselas:Like there's going to have to be real work that's going to need to be done in order to, you know, get people to really believe in the United States again.

1:17:12Ben Meiselas:Talk about very quickly what happened in the House and the Senate. On the House side, Affordable Care Act subsidies were put up for a vote. Remember, a discharge petition was put forward by Congress Member Jeffries, Democratic leader. It ripened into this legislation that now was for a vote. 17 Republicans joined with the Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies. So now that would have to be passed in the Senate and signed by Donald Trump into law. It's expected that this will be blocked in the Senate or vetoed by Donald Trump if it passes in the Senate, but we don't expect it to pass in the Senate.

1:17:51Ben Meiselas:But the House at least made a statement that it was supporting the Affordable Care Act subsidies, but the reality is that there are millions of Americans who have lost their health care now, can't afford their health care, or they chose health care and no longer can afford food for their children or can no longer afford education for their children. So a decision had to be made there. This was a direct result of Donald Trump and MAGA focusing on being predators in the Western hemisphere and helping oil companies and building golden ballrooms are now what the West Wing, they want to build a two story West Wing architect, the new architect, because the old architect got fired by Donald Trump or quit McCreary.

1:18:40Ben Meiselas:But the new architect is out there saying we have to now build the West Wing bigger, because it'll look silly if the West Wing is small and the ballroom is big. So they're basically playing Legos with the White House right now, plastering Trump's name on it, vandalizing the Kennedy Center. You know, this is what they're focused on while the American people suffer. Contrast that to what's going on in New York City. Then there was the War Powers Resolution. I interviewed Senator Schiff about this. We had a good interview. The War Powers Resolution where 5742 was five Republican senators join forces with Democrats, including Senator Young of Indiana and Senator Howley of Missouri.

1:19:25Ben Meiselas:And they joined forces with the Democrats and voted to, at least in the Senate, to clear the path to, at least in the Senate, vote to block Donald Trump's ability to engage in further military action in Venezuela without the authority of Congress. It's not like Donald Trump will listen to it, though, because Trump put out a statement saying, War Powers Act is unconstitutional under Article 2. I can do whatever I want. That's where they're going with this. So that's where we're at right now. We will continue to build out the Midas Touch Network, our DC Bureau. It's been a great start. Looking forward to bringing on more reporters as well, expanding this network.

1:20:10Ben Meiselas:Your help is always appreciated. Become a member of this YouTube channel that helps expand this network. Just hit subscribe and become a member. It says join, and then you can actually gift memberships to others. So if you're like, hey, I really want to help, what's a great way to help? Do that or go to MidasPlus.com. That's the substack. Do both. You can gift on both if you already have one and just make a gift to others.

1:20:41Jordy Meiselas:By the way, keep a lookout each night now. When Congress is in session, we're always going to have our DC Bureau there on the ground getting exclusive interviews that you won't see anywhere else. You'll be able to see those on our social media feeds. We post them throughout the day. One of the new additions to the content and reporting that we've been putting out now each day. Ben's been doing it since we launched the Bureau earlier this week. He's posting all of the reporting that we take from the streets of Washington, D.C., from the halls of power, from the halls of Congress itself, and we are posting it on our YouTube channel each night.

1:21:16Jordy Meiselas:Keep a lookout at the end of each day for those recaps of all the reporting from inside the halls of Congress. I think it's going to give you a vantage point into the United States Capitol and into what our government is doing like you've never seen before. I think Pablo is doing an incredible job. He is off to the races. He is absolutely crushing it. And I really, really appreciate all the feedback. We're trying to do as much as we can right now to bring you as much of the truth as possible and have you hear directly from the people whose decisions are impacting all of our lives. And so thank you for helping us to build this incredible, resilient operation that continues to grow each and every day.

1:21:54Jordy Meiselas:Thank you to everybody for listening to the Midas Touch podcast on the audio feed. And for all of you watching us live right now, please make sure you go and add the show on whatever platform that you listen to podcasts on, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Music. It's on all the various podcast apps. You just search the Midas Touch podcast. Thank you so much. Jordy, why don't you take it away? Shout out to the Midas Mighty.

1:22:21Jordy Meiselas:and strong.

1:22:25Jordy Meiselas:Against the fascists, we sing our song. We will get it right whenever...

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