Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 3/19/26

19 Mar 2026 · 1 h 14 min · 25 chapters

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In short

The MeidasTouch Podcast Episode Notes

Podcast Info

  • Title: The MeidasTouch Podcast
  • Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
  • Release Frequency: New episodes every Tuesday and Friday morning, with daily breaking news updates.
  • Episode Title: Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 3/19/26
  • Episode Description: MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on breaking news from the day.

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Key Content Summary

Current Events and Analysis

  • Iran Conflict Escalation:
  • The podcast discusses the ongoing war initiated by Donald Trump in Iran, describing it as unlawful and disastrous.
  • Ben Meiselas details Trump's erratic behavior on social media, including attacking NATO allies and avoiding accountability for the war's consequences.
  • Meiselas notes significant Iranian military actions, including missile strikes on critical facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Trump's Leadership Critique

  • Lack of Strategy:
  • The hosts emphasize Trump’s inability to effectively manage the war, referencing his chaotic social media commentary.
  • Trump’s statements are portrayed as contradictory and disconnected from reality, particularly in relation to support from allies in NATO and the Middle East.
  • Financial Implications:
  • Meiselas highlights the staggering costs of the war, estimating upwards of $350 billion needed, and critiques the prioritization of military spending over domestic needs like healthcare and education.
  • There's a pointed contrast made between the U.S. military budget and necessary social services.

Military Update

  • U.S. Military Challenges:
  • Discussion includes the ineffectiveness of U.S. military systems against modern threats, such as drones, and how this reflects broader issues in military readiness.
  • The podcast references military simulations showing Ukraine's success against NATO in hypothetical conflicts, raising questions about the U.S. military's future preparedness.

Commentary on Media and Public Perception

  • Trump's Media Strategy:
  • Trump is criticized for prioritizing petty concerns (like sneaker prices) over serious geopolitical issues.
  • Meiselas questions the sincerity and effectiveness of Trump's public statements during the conflict and how they resonate with international audiences.

Domestic Issues

  • Economic Impact:
  • The podcast discusses the rising costs of oil and other essential goods due to the conflict, predicting potential economic crises as a result.
  • There's frustration expressed regarding the U.S.'s inability to address domestic issues while engaging in costly foreign wars.

Conclusion and Call to Action

  • Final Thoughts:
  • The episode ends with Meiselas urging listeners to consider the broader implications of the war and the current administration's failures.
  • Emphasis on the need for accountability and a reevaluation of U.S. foreign policy.

Key Takeaways

  • War Critique: The episode frames the Iran conflict as a failed strategy by Trump, leading to negative outcomes for both the U.S. and its allies.
  • Economic Concerns: The hosts express concern over military spending overshadowing essential domestic needs.
  • Media Manipulation: Discussion on how Trump's social media presence distracts from serious issues.
  • Call for Action: Strong advocacy for listeners to remain informed and engaged in political discourse.

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Important Links and References

  • Sponsors:
  • [Mack Weldon](https://MackWeldon.com)
  • [Cash App](https://cash.app)
  • [SelectQuote](https://selectquote.com/meidas)
  • [Shopify](https://shopify.com/meidas)
  • Related Podcasts:
  • [Legal AF](https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af)
  • [MissTrial](https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial)

---

Future Engagement

  • Subscribe and Follow: Engage with the MeidasTouch Network for updates and community discussions.
  • Next Episode: Tune in for the next episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast, featuring live discussions and breaking news updates.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Escalating Conflict in Iran

1:44 to 5:20

Explore the current war dynamics involving Donald Trump and Iran.

“The war in Iran that Donald Trump launched, an unlawful, disastrous war, It is escalating, and Donald Trump is trying to find a way to escape, but there is no escape.”

Iran's Strategic Moves

5:20 to 9:00

Understand Iran's military strategies and their implications.

“What you are going to see, though, is you now have brought in a more extreme Ayatollah.”

Financial Costs of War

9:00 to 12:00

Examine the financial implications of the ongoing conflict.

“I wouldn't be shocked if we've already spent$100 billion.”

Modern Warfare Challenges

12:00 to 14:01

Discover how modern warfare is evolving and impacting military effectiveness.

“They don't have money for mental health.”

Ukraine's Drone Success Against NATO Simulations

14:01 to 15:00

Learn about Ukraine's victories in NATO simulations and the implications for drone warfare.

“One of the ways Ukraine repelled the drones, sea drones, unmanned vessels, right?”

The Cost and Consequences of War

15:00 to 18:00

Explore the financial implications of war as discussed by Pete Hegseth and the impact on US allies.

“Because NATO's equipment is not able to deal with the drones.”

Donald Trump's Controversial Statements

18:00 to 22:05

Examine Donald Trump's alarming remarks during an Oval Office meeting and their ramifications.

“Who the hell is going to be going to Doha?”

US Strategy in the Iran Conflict

22:05 to 24:26

Discuss the US strategy involving Iran and the controversial comments made by Treasury Secretary.

“So if I go and tell everybody about it, there's no longer a surprise.”

Family Trip to San Diego

30:08 to 31:14

Discussion about the host's family trip and audio challenges while traveling.

“I made that part of my acceptance speech.”

Netanyahu's Statements on Iran

31:14 to 33:29

Analysis of Netanyahu's comments regarding the Iranian regime amidst ongoing conflicts.

“All right, enough of me talking about myself.”
Show all 25 chapters

Critique of Military Actions

33:29 to 36:34

Examination of military strategies and consequences of actions taken in conflict zones.

“Someone who had cancer, who was 86 years old, who was growing unpopular.”

Discussion on NATO and War Strategy

36:34 to 37:59

Discussion about NATO's role and the implications of U.S. war strategies.

“But if you want to look at where the theocracy is, I mean, did you hear Pete Hegseth and gee, the whole speech when he was like, Jesus Christ has told me this and the church and the God and church and Jesus.”

Analysis of Current Military Data

37:59 to 42:00

A detailed look at military data and its implications for future conflicts.

“NATO doesn't want to help us with the straight and they're the ones that need it.”

Iran's Military Actions and U.S. Response

42:00 to 43:00

Learn about Iran's military effectiveness and U.S. defense repositioning.

“What the data actually reflects as the war goes on, Iran and Andreas Larson post this data, Iran is firing more and they are hitting more per shot than during the first day of the conflict.”

Analyzing Trump's Press Conference

43:00 to 45:30

Explore key moments from Trump's press conference regarding Japan and military support.

“And then going through, again, this disastrous press conference between Donald Trump and Prime Minister Taka Ishii, I mean, there was also just some other moments that are worth mentioning as well.”

Trump's Economic Claims and Contradictions

45:30 to 47:40

Examine Trump's statements about the economy and the implications of military actions.

“He's not speaking in ways that are even coherent, yet alone reflecting a coherent policy.”

Accountability for Trump's Decisions

47:40 to 49:50

Discuss the consequences of Trump's military excursion and its impact on Americans.

“And it's going to be over with pretty soon.”

Iran's Drone Strikes and U.S. Diplomacy

54:16 to 55:18

Understand the recent drone strikes in Israel and U.S. diplomatic efforts with Iran.

“Thank you to our pro-democracy sponsors right there.”

Negotiating with Iran: Challenges Ahead

55:18 to 56:00

Explore the complexities of negotiating with Iran amidst conflicting narratives.

“have some sort of ceasefire or see if Iran will let off a little bit in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Understanding Mediators in U.S.-Iran Negotiations

56:00 to 58:10

Learn about the role of mediators in U.S.-Iran negotiations and the implications of their actions.

“And let's agree everything that Trump says is BS.”

The Flaws in Trump's Negotiation Tactics

58:10 to 1:02:10

Explore the inconsistencies in Trump's negotiation style and its effects on international relations.

“Then you also have the national security advisor for the United Kingdom who was in the room as well.”

Trump's Connection to Epstein's Legal Issues

1:02:10 to 1:06:20

Examine Trump's relationship with Epstein and the ongoing legal implications surrounding it.

“Um, but there's this 69 page target profile of Epstein's money laundering and drug trafficking ring that went alongside his sex trafficking ring.”

The Fallout from Congressional Testimonies

1:06:20 to 1:10:04

Discover the political maneuvers and controversies surrounding congressional testimonies related to Epstein.

“And why'd she only give 24 hours notice to the Democrats?”

Engagement Request and Video Promotion

1:10:04 to 1:11:09

Listeners are urged to watch a specific video to improve its visibility.

“So as soon as this ends, there's 15 ,000 people here.”

Celebrating Podcast Success

1:11:10 to 1:11:39

The host shares gratitude for the podcast's achievements and subscriber growth.

“help us get to 7 million subscribers and watch the brother show tonight.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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0:30Ben Meiselas:For everyone who solves crime from their couch, knows more about forensics than their own job, and has trust issues with small-town sheriffs, Amazon Music's millions of podcast episodes are calling. Just download the Amazon Music app and start listening to your favorite true crime podcasts ad-free. Included with Prime. My name's Mackenzie, and I started a GoFundMe for the adoptive mother of a nonverbal autistic child. the mother had lost her job because she wasn't able to find adequate care for this autistic child. So she really needed some help with living expenses, paying some back bills. So I launched a GoFundMe to help support them during this crisis.

1:14And we raised about$10 ,000 within just a couple of months. I think that the surprising thing was by telling a clear story and just like really being very clear about what we needed. We had some really generous donations from people who were really moved by the situation that this family was struggling with. GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at GoFundMe.com. That's GoFundMe.com. GoFundMe.com. This podcast is supported by GoFundMe. The war in Iran that Donald Trump launched, an unlawful, disastrous war, It is escalating, and Donald Trump is trying to find a way to escape, but there is no escape.

2:03He rants and raves like a lunatic on his social media platform, all caps messages, attacking our NATO allies, begging for help from our NATO allies, praising Netanyahu and saying that actually Netanyahu did this operation alone, where he hit the South Pars gas field in Iran. We didn't do it. And that was after Iran retaliated by striking the main Qatar oil field, the liquefied natural gas field in the north there, the Ras Lafon facility, where 20 % of the world's LNG, liquefied natural gas comes from. And then Iran struck Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And Donald Trump posts, you're watching right there, the video of Iran striking Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

2:56And in Riyadh, they say, actually, there wasn't a strike. It was just debris. I mean, dude, I'm watching a mushroom cloud right now in Riyadh as the Riyadh facilities were hit, as the Qatari facilities were hit. We previously talked about how the Bahrain facilities were hit. And Iran threatened because Netanyahu and Trump attacked our facilities, the South Pars gas field, we're going to hit these targets. And they did, and they did hit the targets. And then in response, Donald Trump made a social media post that said it was actually all Netanyahu's fault. We weren't consulted about this at all.

3:34When we know that Donald Trump and Netanyahu did that together, it's what's referred to in the military as escalation dominance. And it is really sad and pathetic as an American to see Donald Trump getting so utterly and thoroughly dominated by Iran. Iran is firing more Shahids and ballistics right now. They are hitting more per shot than during the first days of the conflict. They shot down an F-35 today. Fortunately, at least from what we're hearing now, the pilot was able to make it back safely. As Donald Trump says, Iran doesn't have the ballistic missile capabilities or anti-aircraft capabilities and we're flying over Iran with impunity.

4:21There's no doubt that the United States and Israel have hit Iran very hard. They've also hit civilian targets in Iran. We talked about the 150 little girls, 165 little girls who were massacred by the Trump regime and the Netanyahu regime in Iran. You see what's going on in Lebanon right now, where Israel says it's going after Hezbollah, but we're seeing so many civilians who are killed in Lebanon, in Beirut, where the suburbs there have just been blown up, just utterly destroyed. I'll show you this video clip in a little bit, but now you have Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, saying, actually, I don't think that we're going to be able to do regime change in Iran anymore.

5:15We see cracks, but we're not going to see regime change. What you are going to see, though, is you now have brought in a more extreme Ayatollah. You've gotten the people of Iran to rally around a new Ayatollah. You killed the former national security advisor, Ali Laranjani. In his place, you're going to bring in people who are more extreme. You have Iran emboldened. Not only right now have they blocked the Strait of Hormuz, they are now charging toll passage fees,$2 million to get through to preferred countries. They are profiting off of it. And then this morning, Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, is talking about lifting sanctions on Iranian oil.

6:12What? You're lifting the sanctions? You're rewarding Iran right now? And you see the Trump regime panicking because oil prices are going through the roof. Right now,$120 a barrel today. Lots of people say we shouldn't be shocked now if that hits$200 per barrel. You saw the price of diesel over$5 a gallon, the price of gas basically over$4 a gallon right now. everything's falling apart. You have the Trump regime lifting the sanctions on oil of Iran, or they're talking about lifting the sanctions of oil of Iran, Iran solidifying its control. And then you had Donald Trump doing this press conference with the Japanese prime minister Takeishi and Donald Trump's doing Pearl Harbor jokes.

7:12He's saying, yeah, you know, we surprised you, Japan, but why didn't you give me a call about Pearl Harbor? You should have called me and gave me a heads up on Pearl Harbor. I mean, that's what you're saying in the Oval Office as you're trying to shake down Prime Minister Takeishi into helping secure the Strait of Hormuz. And we heard from the Italy defense minister today who, you know, I guess Trump got the UK to write this kind of vague and ambiguous message that almost made it seem that European countries would be helping secure the Strait of Hormuz. They put out this message. It was a little bit confusing.

7:59And then immediately after, and it was inconsistent with what the UK Prime Minister, Kierre Starmer, said. Kierre Starmer said, only in a defensive posture will we help. We're not committing troops to Iran. We're not committing troops to the Strait of Ramo. So I read this statement. It was a little bit confusing. The Italy defense minister and all the European countries then came out and said, no, no, no. Once this war ends, we are committed to working within the region using diplomacy, of course, in order to be helpful in the Strait of Hormuz, but we're not helping with any type of naval mission.

8:35We're not sending our soldiers to die for Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. You go and do that yourself, United States of America. Now, you know how much this is costing? This is costing billions of dollars every single day. the cost already is probably$50 billion, maybe more. We're not getting accurate numbers. I wouldn't be shocked if we've already spent$100 billion. The United States national debt just hit $39 trillion. And what, a few months ago, it was$38 trillion. A few months before that, it was$37 trillion. Remember during Donald Trump's first term, he added more debt than anyone, 30 % of the national debt came from Donald Trump.

9:26You remember that? And I predicted before Donald Trump's term started, I said, it's going to be like 10X that. Remember the videos where I said that and I predicted that? And it doesn't take me to be Notre Dame to be able to predict that. The guy's a crazy guy. The guy's a lunatic. The guy bankrupted all of his casinos. The guy's a lifelong loser. He's been a piece of trash his entire life. I mean, here's the whole thing. His whole thing was being a con artist his whole damn life and being a freaking loser. To me, when I would convey that, it was never a political message for me to say these things at all.

10:09Just look at the guy's background. He bankrupted this casino, then that casino, then this casino, then this company, then that company, then this company. And so the Arab nations who thought they were buying some sort of pay for play scheme with Donald Trump that they would pay by Trump towers in their country, right? I mean, they view if we have a Trump tower in Riyadh or if we have a Trump tower in Doha or Abu Dhabi, then he's more likely to protect us because he has his own buildings there. And if we buy him a jet for$450 million and we can get billion dollar radar systems, that seems to be a good pay for play scheme.

10:51So let's just give Donald Trump and his crypto scams and his schemes. So let's just, let's just give him money because that's how Donald Trump is. He's trying to just pay for play. Now you're learning what Donald Trump's creditors felt like with his casinos and what his contractors felt like with his case, he just screws you all over. You paid and now you get deranged social media posts saying, Iran, you're being naughty. You need to stop. Netanyahu did that. I didn't do that. And you have Iran actually pursuing a strategy, both in terms of their propaganda and in terms of their scorched earth military retaliatory strikes, and the United States is trapped.

11:39Now Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth today are saying that they need$200 billion more for this war. $200 billion more for this disastrous war. Do you remember when they said that$30 billion was way too much money in order to ensure at least an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. They didn't have$30 billion for that. They don't have money for housing. They don't have money for mental health. They don't have money for better education. They don't have money for actually building the infrastructure in the United States. They don't have money for all of that. But when it comes to dropping bombs in a quagmire with Netanyahu, Donald Trump finds$200 billion,$200 billion that should be spent on Americans and bettering Americans' lives.

12:48Remember, by the way, now add this,$200 billion as a supplemental. What do you think we've already spent? Let's just estimate$150 billion so far. $350 billion, right? What's the ICE budget? $200 billion, right? So right there, I just found over$500 billion. Our military budget is over a trillion dollars. And our military, as we're all seeing right now, is not adapted to the modern warfare environment. What we had 11 of our Reaper drones shot out of the sky. We have these huge systems that are unable to really deal with the drones and to deal with the sea drones and the FPV drones that are in the sky, those first person vision drones, we could have watched what was happening in Ukraine and how Ukraine amassed a huge drone army of its own and drone interceptors to deal with the Shahids from Iran and to deal with Russia.

14:00Remember, Russia brought in their conventional army. One of the ways Ukraine repelled the drones, sea drones, unmanned vessels, right? So then Russia had to basically subcontract the war out to Iran and to North Korea and to others. And Iran helped Russia with the drones and they developed this drone program together. Did you know this? This week, NATO ran five simulations of NATO versus Ukraine in a war, in a sea battle. NATO's frigates versus Ukraine. They did a simulation. And do you know what happened in the simulation? Ukraine won all five times in five different simulations in the war. Ukraine won every single time.

14:59Why? Because NATO's equipment is not able to deal with the drones. It's not able to, and we're seeing what plays out right now. So let's just go through some of the receipts, as we always bring you here on the Midas Touch Network. let's bring receipt after receipt after receipt first I want to show you Pete Hegseth from earlier today and Pete Hegseth was saying that this war is gonna cost about 200 billion dollars more but that's a small price to pay when it comes to killing the bad guys here's what Pete Hegseth said earlier let's play both what happened with Midnight Hammer and what happened with that as well as far as 200 billion dollars I think that number could move obviously uh it it takes uh it takes money to kill bad guys so we're going back to congress and our folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done for what we may have to do in the future uh ensure that our ammunition is everything's refilled and not just refilled but above and beyond i mean president trump as he said rebuilt the military in his first term didn't think he'd use it as dynamically in his second but he had so thank goodness he did that and An investment like this is meant to say, hey, we'll replace anything that was spent.

16:19And now that we're reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom and cutting deals like our great deputy secretary is here is doing. You heard that right there. Let's take a look at what Hegg sits about our European allies and how ungrateful he says they are. Here, let's play this clip. The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press should be saying one thing to President Trump. Thank you. Really? What has Donald Trump been posting today? Donald Trump has been posting photos of Trump sneakers. rare Trump sneakers listed for$180 ,000 at sneaker con in Riyadh.

17:11You believe that there is a sneaker con in Riyadh right now while it's under attack from Iran as a result of Saudi Arabia helping the United States. You think that that's what's happening. I mean, just think about how offensive this is. Imagine you're Saudi Arabia, you're MBS. You've given Donald Trump personally huge amounts of money. You believe you're in all these pay-for-play schemes. You're Saudi Arabia, you're Qatar, you're UAE, and this is what you thought you were paying for? Donald Trump embroils your country in a massive regional war, he basically destroys your country's future, right?

17:59Who the hell is going to Abu Dhabi? Who the hell is going to be going to Doha? Who the hell is going to be doing a tourist trip right now to Dubai, right? That ain't happening. And so while all these countries have tried to modernize and to diversify from not just being oil kind of rich countries, because they knew that there wasn't always a future in that, they developed all these other industries. And then they thought they were paying for protection by Donald Trump. And what do they get instead? Rare Trump sneakers listed for$180 ,000 at SneakerCon in Riyadh. That was Donald Trump's post. or today Donald Trump posting about windmills.

18:46From Douglas McKinnon, this is a photo yesterday on the drive from LA to Palm Springs. Hundreds and hundreds of these pieces of junk windmills, no surprise to the president, but only 10 % of them working as we drove past eagle and bird killers, which suck the taxpayers dry. My best to the president. Now, how deranged can you be When you're in a war that now has been the biggest shock to oil supply, to liquefy natural gas, to fertilizers, to helium generationally, right? And you are also spending your time attacking other forms of energy, which would be actually useful during a war where there is an oil shock.

19:35So you attack the windmills and you don't even understand. Just because, and they're so moronic,

19:41Ben Meiselas:I've driven by that windmill farm quite frequently. Just because you don't see the windmills turning, do you know the way energy works? That doesn't mean that they're not working the way they're supposed to work. You're just visualizing them and saying only 10 % of them look like they are spinning, and then Donald Trump reposts that during a war while you have bases in Saudi Arabia, while you have oil fields and energy fields in Qatar and Saudi Arabia being targeted right now, that is what you are doing right now. I want to bring you to this Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Prime Minister Takeishi of Japan, right?

20:29You have Prime Minister Takeishi. Look at her face. Just look at her as Donald Trump is out there saying the most deranged things imaginable during this war. So a reporter asked Donald Trump, why didn't you tell the allies about the war before attacking Iran? Why didn't you tell Japan? Why didn't you tell your allies the Arab nations? Why didn't you tell NATO? Why did you just do this, you and Netanyahu? Because you seem like you need the help of allies soon. Here's what Donald Trump said. Let's play it. Of course, no, Japan and U.S. are very good friends. But one question, why didn't you tell US allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran.

21:23So we are very confused about Japanese citizens. Well, one thing you don't want to signal too much. You know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay. Right. He's asking me, you believe in surprise, I think much more so than us. And we had a surprise and we did. And because of that surprise, we knocked out the first two days, we probably knocked out 50 percent of what we and much more than we anticipated doing. So if I go and tell everybody about it, there's no longer a surprise.

22:09Right. OK, what? What the beep? What the more I watch that, the worse it gets on every level. And by the way, Takahashi is trying to be supportive of Donald Trump there. Also, I was hearing how in Japanese TV, we have a lot of Japanese fans on the Midas touch network and how, when they were doing the translation, the translator literally froze. And didn't know, am I supposed to translate that? Like, what do I even do? The translator was stunned and couldn't even repeat those words. I've had people text message me and say, what even is this war? What is even happening right here? How is this possibly happening?

23:12where you have the most deranged human beings in Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth who are completely and utterly tearing the United States apart piece by piece. Let me just show you this one. Jeremy, I want to show what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said. This is their plan. Their plan now in a war against Iran. What do you think the Trump's plan is, right? We're at war against Iran. Trump and Netanyahu launched this unlawful war. Our service members are being killed. Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz with an iron fist more than it did before. It's now demanding$2 million to pass if you are allied with Iran.

24:02They see more control than ever.

24:05Ben Meiselas:America's stuck. No NATO countries want to help Donald Trump because he didn't tell you when it alone. And then he's claimed that he didn't need the help. So what do you think the stupidest, most dangerous thing that can possibly be said by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent right now? Let's play what he said. effort. We had a break the glass plan across the administration and a treasury. We unsanctioned Russian oil. We knew that there were about 130 million barrels on the water and we created supply that is beyond the Straits of Hormuz. So we anticipated this. We knew that there could be a temporary, and I want to emphasize temporary, choke point there.

24:52And there was 130 million barrels of floating storage. In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels. So depending on how you count it, that's 10 days to two weeks of supply that the Iranians had been pushing out. That would have all gone to China. In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign. All right, I want to take our first, you know, we're going to remove sanctions from Iran right now.

25:34Ben Meiselas:That's the game plan. We mapped this out so brilliantly. Go to war against Iran. Let them rally the support of their people. Remove the sanctions against Iran and Russia, allow China, Iran, and Russia to get much stronger, completely weaken America's, what was left of America's alliances. That's the game plan. That's what the game plan was. In any event, hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. We're going to take our first quick break of the show. We will be right back after this quick break. All right, let me ask you something. How boring is your debit card right now? Be honest. Like, if you could redesign it, what are you putting on there?

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29:01if you're lucky enough to grab one while they're in stock. All new relaxed sweatpants, carpenter sweatpants, and classic sweatpants available in five new colors. Mack Weldon is the go-to choice for guys who want to look good without even trying. Mack Weldon clothes are designed to fit your style and the demands of modern life. Get moving with Mack Weldon. Comfortable anywhere. Go to MackWeldon.com and get 20 % off your first order of$125 or more with promo code MIDAS. That's M-A-C-K-W-E-L-D-O-N.com, code MIDAS. Welcome back, everybody. How's my audio, everybody? I know there was like an audio issue before.

29:45As you may have seen, just we'll check now with the audio. So I was in Austin where I brought the family and we were up for the iHeart News Podcast of the Year Award. And so we were so honored. The Midas Touch Network won that incredible award news podcast of the year.

30:08Ben Meiselas:We beat Megyn Kelly. I made that part of my acceptance speech. Um, we also, um, we're in a category with like the New York times and NPR and PBS and, um, a lot of, you know, other than Megan Kelly, a lot of really great shows. And it was pretty incredible to be named the, uh, the podcast news podcast of the year. Um, and I want to good audio sounds good. Everybody's saying that's, that's good. I get, you know, so after we won that it's my spring break right now. and so you know fortunately i have the family at my house right now and they allowed me and my wife to to go out while they're at the house and so we were able to make it out here to san diego and so um we just we took a little trip over here and so that's where i'm recording from in case you're wondering you know where are you even right now we were in austin now in san diego and uh you know and we fixed the last audio issue you know and so it's a little bit difficult when I travel.

Read the full transcript

31:08But I wanted to get the family to go hang out at a beach or something and just whatever. All right, enough of me talking about myself. All right, let's jump back in. Let's jump back into the news. Let's talk about, I just want to show you what Netanyahu said earlier,

31:24Ben Meiselas:because after Netanyahu saying regime change, and this is what we're going to do, let me just show you what he just said. He said that while he believes there are signs of cracks in the Iranian regime. He says that it's possible that the regime will indeed survive the ongoing war. I want to show this to you, then I want to talk to you about this in a moment. Let's play this clip. What do we see? What happens if the, are there any signs that the Iranian regime is cracking? A lot of signs. A lot of signs. I wish I could divulge all of them, but I see that. But But will I tell you, will I commit right now that it's going to collapse?

32:05I can tell you that we're working to create the conditions for it to collapse. But it may survive. It may not. It may survive. It may not. What do you?

32:19Ben Meiselas:You and Donald Trump went into this thing on regime change and that this would be easy and that there was going to be all these people out in the street, apparently, who are going to be holding Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu billboards in the street and saying, oh, we're so honored that you are here. We're so honored. We want the people in the United States who are covering up the Epstein files and the people who have demolished Gaza and the people who have demolished Beirut come and talk. Welcome. Welcome. That's what you said was going to happen, that you would be welcomed like heroes. And then you said, just wait for it, the people are going to rise up.

33:00Ben Meiselas:And all we saw in Iran were quite the contrary, were huge protests that were released out there. And you can say, ah, it was Iranian propaganda purposes, whatever you want to say. The only big protests that we've seen in Iran, whether they were propaganda or otherwise, were supporting the new Ayatollah and were against and were for remembrance of their old Ayatollah, who they now view as a martyr. Someone who had cancer, who was 86 years old, who was growing unpopular. You turned into a martyr within the Shiite community right there. That became a rallying call for the people. Then you blew up an elementary school and killed little girls.

33:47Ben Meiselas:As in the United States, you're covering up the sexual predation of little girls. Then you go to war and you kill little girls as the first act of the war. You start attacking desalination plants and oil depots. And you think that's a way to build popular support in a country of 90 million people that's far bigger than Iraq? You think that's the way to do regime change. And now you just, just how cavalierly they go, well, no, maybe we don't do it. Maybe we have regime change. Maybe we don't. Excuse me? Excuse me? Because the last time I checked, over a dozen American service members have been killed.

34:28Ben Meiselas:Many are seriously wounded. There are civilians who are dead in Beirut and Lebanon and in Iran, in these elementary schools and in these other civilian areas as well. There are still murders happening every day in Gaza right now when you all did a fake ceasefire claim. Oh, it's a fake ceasefire. Been a thousand plus innocent people who have been killed in Gaza since they announced there was a ceasefire. I'm like, there's no ceasefire. What are you even talking about? And by the way, did you see the British journalist who was targeted by Israel today while his reporting was criticizing Israel for targeting journalists, right?

35:13Ben Meiselas:And then Israel targets him while he's reporting on it. I think we have the video of it while he's in Beirut here. Play this clip. Further rocket attacks were reported against Nahariah and admit it.

35:38Ben Meiselas:fucking hell yeah now don't gaslight me and say oh the target what were you targeting there it looks like you were targeting the journalist okay i can believe my own eyes okay i can i can look at what's actually happening whether it's look at what's happening in gaza i can look at what's happening in Beirut. I can look at what is happening in Iran. And do I think Iran is a terrorist regime? Yes. Do I think Hamas is a terrorist group? Yes. Do I think Hezbollah is a terrorist group? Yes. Do I think that gives a Netanyahu regime and a Trump regime carte blanche authority to kill innocent people en masse?

36:22Ben Meiselas:Absolutely not. Don't even have that. It's not a debate. It's not the way we exist as human beings. What the hell are you doing? What are we even talking about here? And by the way, I don't even want to play more of that Pete Hegseth bizarre press conference this morning. But if you want to look at where the theocracy is, I mean, did you hear Pete Hegseth and gee, the whole speech when he was like, Jesus Christ has told me this and the church and the God and church and Jesus. It's like, can you just stop it? Stop using the church and Jesus and all of these things to engage in your unlawful wars and your cover-up of the Epstein files and your ripping away of health care from people and now hundreds of billions of dollars being spent in this stupid, disastrous, dangerous, unlawful war that will forever be one of the biggest stains in the history of the United States of America.

37:16Ben Meiselas:If we can get through this damn thing while you have China, just it's a gift for Russia. What a gift for Iran. They're more powerful than before. And what's the U S going to do? What's the game plan is the game plan. You escalate, you put boots on the ground and the Karg Island that you put boots on the ground in the coast of on? Is that your game plan, Donald? What's the game plan? Is it to write social media posts in all caps? Do something, do something. That's your game plan. Every three hours, another stupid social media post. Is your game plan you have the prime minister of Japan and then you start attacking NATO?

38:04Ben Meiselas:NATO doesn't want to help us with the straight and they're the ones that need it. but now they're getting much nicer because they're seeing my attitude, but now they're too late. What do you even mean by any of these things? What nonsense is spewing from your stupid mouth? Here, play this clip of him saying that, that NATO doesn't want to help us defend the strait of her muse. But we think of it, we don't use the strait. We're defending the strait for everybody else. And then in the case of NATO, they don't want to help us defend the strait. And they're the ones that need it. But now they're getting much nicer because they're seeing my attitude.

38:49They're getting much nicer. But as far as I'm concerned, it's too late. You know, UK wants to send aircraft carriers now. And I said, I want the aircraft carriers before the war. I don't want them after the war is won. They want to send me aircraft carriers after the war is there's practically nobody to shoot at them. You know, their missile count is down. Maybe you could discuss it by about 90 something percent. The drones are way down and the factories are being demolished. Maybe, sir, missile missiles being shot are down over 90 percent since the beginning. One way attack drones down 90 percent since the beginning, which is a reflection of overwhelming firepower.

39:31But you mentioned the most important part, Mr. President, their defense industrial base. If you can't make more of it in the future, then you have a limited supply. And so we're going after all of their defense contractors that make all of their exquisite weapons and ensuring that even if they wanted to rebuild more launchers or more missiles, they couldn't in the future. And that's a level of devastation for their military that they've never seen before.

39:53Ben Meiselas:So we have literally just saying stupid words like your words are stupid. Devastation, lethality, exquisite. They're a new word. They're new. Have you heard that they're all using this word? Exquisite. Exquisite. This is exquisite. That is exquisite. Exquisitely exquisite? What a stupid word to use. What's exquisite about this? Right? Right? This is the single dumbest propaganda campaign as well by the U. What's the propaganda campaign? Just to go and see how many people will hate you and how dumb you could possibly? Lethality. I mean, we have actual data. Why don't we just even not look at the data?

40:43Ben Meiselas:Why don't we just look at images of the Ross Laughlin liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar, Byrd? Do we have the B-roll of that. Yeah. This is, Iran said, we're going to target the LNG facility in Qatar, right? Because the South Pars energy facility of Iran that was hit by Trump and Netanyahu is actually connected to the Northern facility within Qatar right there. So that right there, that sure seems like Iran is degraded or what Donald and Pete Hegg said. Am I looking at AI? Am I looking at AI right here when I see a giant freaking mushroom cloud in Riyadh hitting energy centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as well?

41:31Ben Meiselas:Am I looking at AI when I see the FPV drones just flying around with impunity in the green zone in Baghdad? Am I looking at AI when the U.S. embassy in Iran, Baghdad, and basically everywhere in the Middle East says, evacuate right now, get the hell out right now? That's what Trump says to it. This is all AI. This is not AI. But now let's look at the data. What the data actually reflects as the war goes on, Iran and Andreas Larson post this data, Iran is firing more and they are hitting more per shot than during the first day of the conflict. And look, when Iran's South Pars energy field was hit two days ago, they specifically said, okay, here's where we're going to hit.

42:28Ben Meiselas:They told the people who were working in those facilities to leave, and then they hit it right away. Why, if you've demolished and obliterated and decimated Iran, are you now moving the THAAD and Patriot missile systems from South Korea to the Middle East? Oh, probably because Iran's been able to successfully strike your radars and your THAAD systems and your Patriot systems. Maybe that's why. Maybe that's why. And then going through, again, this disastrous press conference between Donald Trump and Prime Minister Taka Ishii, I mean, there was also just some other moments that are worth mentioning as well.

43:14Like when Donald Trump is talking about the cost of this war,

43:20Ben Meiselas:or first let me show you what he said about Japan. I expect Japan to step up because, you know, we have that kind of relationship. We just have that kind of relationship. Here's what Donald Trump says. Let's play it. This looks like one of your people. Thank you. Is he good or bad? Is he a good reporter or bad? Don't you know? So-so. All right. It looks like a nice guy. Go ahead. Mr. President, you just mentioned Japan is stepping up. What kind of support do you expect from Japan in the future? Look, I expect Japan to step up because, you know, we have that kind of relationship. And we step up with Japan.

44:03We have 45 ,000 soldiers in Japan. We have, we spend a lot of money on Japan. So, and we've had that kind of relationship. So I expect, I'm not surprised that they would step up. We don't need much. We don't need anything. I mean, honestly, we don't need anything from Japan or from anyone else, but I think it's appropriate that people step up. In the case of Japan, I hear they get more than 90 percent of their oil through the strait. So that's a big reason to step up. I mean, we've we've demolished that country is supposed to demolish. The only thing is the strait. It's very hard. You could take two people and they could drop little bombs in the water and they're holding things up.

44:46we don't want that to happen. But honestly, Japan, China, Europe, parts of Europe. Yeah. I mean, we don't need them to do anything, but we want you to step up.

45:00Ben Meiselas:And by the way, even his interaction with the reporter was so inappropriate. He looked at a Japanese guy and then he said, he looks like he's like one of yours or he looks like he's one of your people. Why he's a Japanese guy. Is he good? Is he a good one? And then the guy asked a question, what do you expect from Japan? Then Donald Trump says, we don't need you, but we want you to step up. He is not articulating things, frankly, at even a child level. He's not speaking in ways that are even coherent, yet alone reflecting a coherent policy. he's not speaking coherently what about the 200 billion dollars donald the 200 billion dollar pentagon request let's play this sophisticated rockets every single one of them were shot down with our equipment all our equipment it's amazing actually how good it is so we want to be sure and it's a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top Mr.

46:06President, Mr. President.

46:35Ben Meiselas:Literally listen to what he's saying here and how deranged it is here. Play this clip. It's all done. Everything was going great. The economy was great. Oil prices were very low. Gasoline was dropping to, I mean, we had$1.99,$1.85. We had great everything. And I saw what was happening in Iran, and I said, I hate to make this excursion, but we're going to have to do it. And I actually thought the numbers would be worse. I thought that it would go up more than it did. but we're doing this excursion and when it's completed we're going to have a much safer world and the prime minister agrees with me on this he considers it to be terrible what they're in it i think every country does just about every country does iran is a serious threat to the world to the middle east and to the world and everybody agrees with me i think virtually every country agrees with me on that so uh i wanted to put out that fire and i said you know if i do that oil prices will go up, the economy will go down a little bit.

47:36I thought it would be worse, much worse, actually. I thought there was a chance it could be much worse. It's not bad. And it's going to be over with pretty soon. What do you mean it's not bad? You thought it was going to be worse? Let's just assume you actually thought it was going to be worse than$120 per barrel with a facility that supplies 20 % of LNG throughout the entire world being about 20 % decimated, meaning for the next five years, the world just lost about 5 % of its overall LNG. In addition to

48:12Ben Meiselas:oil prices going up, we haven't even talked about fertilizers, helium, other things that come from the Middle East, where now our farmers need another bailout right now. And they're saying we need at least 12, maybe$15 billion more in a bailout because we can't afford our fertilizer. There was already China depriving us of the soybean market when Donald Trump did his trade war against the world. The input costs for farmers were crushing. So there was already a bailout with the farmers. By the way, Donald Trump helping the cattle industry in Argentina and Donald Trump giving monies to farmers in Argentina and screwing over our farmers here.

48:54Ben Meiselas:But now our farmers are screwed. But let's just assume Donald Trump knew that it was going to be this bad. And in fact, he believed it was going to be much worse, but he wanted to go on an excursion. Just assume that that's the case. You should be arrested. There's a lot of other things that frankly you should be arrested for, thrown in prison for. You deserve to be in prison already. I mean, you're a sicko and your entire regime is covering up the Epstein files right now. And I don't want to ever neglect that fact right there. So you knew you were just going to destroy everything and you don't even do an address.

49:30Ben Meiselas:You don't even tell the people that your excursion would cause this level of pain. In fact, you thought it was going to be worse. You don't think that, again, I don't care what political party you're from. You don't think that that's something that you should tell the people? No, you just don't do that. You just do an invasion and then you do some social media post on Truth Social about your sneakers, about your ugly gold sneakers selling for$180 ,000. That's the way you message this? I mean, in my opinion, it's just so treasonous and traitorous. I just don't know how anybody looks at that unless your brain is literally rotten to a pulp.

50:08Ben Meiselas:That's even an expression, how you support this madness. Let's take our last quick break of the show. We'll be right back. Hit subscribe. Help us get to 7 million subscribers. And again, thanks to everybody in this community for helping the Midas Touch Network win the iHeart Award for the Top News Podcast of the Year. It's a big honor. It's a big category. It's one of their top awards of the night. That's why I've been traveling. And we'll be right back after our last quick break. If you're like me, instead of learning to skateboard, you wish you were learning to write code. Instead of scraping through college, you wish you bought Bitcoin at less than a cent or secured a few Nvidia shares before they boomed.

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52:42Ben Meiselas:Starting something new isn't just hard, it's terrifying. I remember the early days of launching this podcast. You sit there thinking, what if no one listens? What if I'm making a huge mistake? What if this thing completely fails? Those doubts creep in right before you take that leap. But looking back, betting on yourself is one of the best decisions that you can make, especially when you've got the right tools on your side. And that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the United States, from the Midas Touch Store to brands just getting started.

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53:48Ben Meiselas:Plus, Shopify is your commerce expert with world-class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash Midas. Go to shopify.com slash Midas. That's shopify.com slash Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S. Thank you to our pro-democracy sponsors right there. The discount codes for all of them are in the description below. And we do spend a lot of time, Jordy leads the way on this, working with those sponsors. They help support the growth of this network.

54:33Ben Meiselas:And the discount codes, Jordy works out with them. So, you know, they're good discount codes. They help the show. So check them out when the show ends or whenever. Just, you know, you go to the description, you'll see the link, and then you'll see the discount codes. A few things I want to mention too. So right now we've seen the Haifa energy facility in Israel burning. It was struck by a drone. It's their biggest energy facility there in the Haifa region. And that was recently hit by Iran. Lots of the diplomatic sources are saying that the U.S. continues to try to reach out to Iran's foreign minister, Aragchi, in order to try to have some sort of ceasefire or see if Iran will let off a little bit in the Strait of Hormuz.

55:31Ben Meiselas:But all of the sourcing that we and others have had so far is that Iran has been ignoring this and they don't want to speak with the United States right now. I just truly don't know how you can even negotiate with Donald Trump, whether you're Iran or anybody. The most, I mean, and set aside what, set aside what Iran says. Let's just, let's just agree to this for a second. Let's do this. Let's agree everything Iran says is BS. And let's agree everything that Trump says is BS. Push it aside, right? So how do we get out the truth? If we're a network like ours, how do we try to understand which side is telling us the truth where let's just say we believe both sides are lying, right?

56:18Ben Meiselas:So the first thing I want to look at is who was the mediator in the room and who selected the mediator. A mediator is a neutral party that's supposed to try to negotiate resolutions between the two sides. So I go, okay, it was a foreign minister of Oman, a very well-respected individual, and he was selected by the United States to be the negotiator. So the U.S. picked this guy from Oman. So what is he saying? Well, he says that there was a deal on the table on that fateful night in late February where there were huge strides to make a deal with Iran that the deal was even stronger than Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, that there were technical details that needed to be worked out on that following Monday, and that everybody was prepared for another working session that Monday.

57:13Ben Meiselas:So a neutral party is telling us that there was progress in the negotiation. By the way, in The Economist, that foreign minister of Oman, he just wrote an article in the past 48 hours saying now the U.S. is trapped, even though Oman has been hit by Iran or at least groups linked by Iran. He says the way the U.S. has fought this war, it was the only possible outcome right now because when you say you're going to decapitate a regime, the regime that you're going to decapitate is going to do everything it can to stay alive. So the Oman foreign minister said, I understand, although we certainly don't like it.

57:55Ben Meiselas:We certainly deplore that Iran striking the Arab nations where there are American interests, when it becomes a matter of existential survival for a regime, that they're going to have to do things. They're doing everything they can to survive. And survival is the win when you have Trump and Netanyahu, at least originally, saying this was about regime change, right? Then you also have the national security advisor for the United Kingdom who was in the room as well. And he also describes the event as, or the mediation as that there was a resolution that was there stronger than the Obama deal. We didn't need to be in a war.

58:34Ben Meiselas:It would have been a big win for Donald Trump, but then Trump and Netanyahu rushed into this war. And the British national security advisor, like the Oman foreign minister, both essentially said, and I'm not making this a direct quote, but that Whitcoff and Kushner were compromised by Netanyahu, and they were basically serving as agents of Israel. And again, I'm not using specific language, and I'm being a little bit... They didn't use those specific words, but essentially that was, in my opinion, what they were basically implying, that they were going to do whatever Israel wanted to do, which is why the British sent somebody in the first place, the National Security Advisor, to try to monitor this, what was happening, and to try to create at least some intellectual guardrails on what was taking place.

59:34Ben Meiselas:Apparently, at the mediation, you had Whitcoff and Kushner continuing to just talk about their Florenschein shoes, how Donald Trump buys these these people, these Florensheim shoes, he guesses your shoe size. And then regardless of if it's your actual shoe size, he makes you wear the shoes of whatever size. So if you're a 10 and he guesses you're a 12, he buys you a 12 Florensheim shoe and you have to wear it. So he's like has Rubio and Whitcoff and Kushner. Everybody wears these shoes. And so they were like joking with the Iranian diplomats about the Florensheim shoes. That's what people in the room were saying, you know, took place and everybody believed that there was going to be this Monday session to dig into some of the technical details.

1:00:18Ben Meiselas:Why am I bringing all this up again? Because how would Iran even go about negotiating with Trump or Whitcoff or Kushner right now? How would you do it? If you wanted to do it, how would you do it? Because any negotiation will just be used as a way to try to kill you. If we were in a mediation and every time there was a mediation, I don't want to make it deeply personal. If someone was in a mediation with someone and every time you showed up in the room, somebody tried to shoot you, you just wouldn't show up in the room anymore, right? Where would you even have the mediation? If you're the foreign minister and you go to a location, don't you think that Netanyahu is probably just going to blow it up?

1:01:01Ben Meiselas:If you even return the phone call, don't you think that it'll just be used as a way of bugging your location to find out where you are and then blow up the entire building where you are, regardless of if a hundred or a thousand civilians die. Like, don't you think that that's what, so I don't even know how you, how you can even have discussions with the United States on, on anything. And this is what I was saying a year ago, plus about Donald Trump's tariffs against the world, right? I mean, Donald Trump will negotiate, well, he doesn't negotiate anything, but he took NAFTA and then he made it into the United States, Mexico, Canada agreement in like 2018, 2019, a free trade agreement.

1:01:40Ben Meiselas:And then he says that USMCA is the stupidest deal ever. And it's like, well, that was your updated version of NAFTA because you just wanted to say that, you know, put your name on it basically. And there are all these videos of you saying the USMCA, what a beautiful name during your first term. And now you say that that's not even a deal. I mean, you did free trade deals with Japan and others in Asia, then you just rip it apart. He's not a rational actor. He is a fraud, like he's been his entire life and he's covering up the Epstein files. And I don't want to lose sight of his coverup of the Epstein files because I know that there's a lot of news taking place, but there are some major developments in the Epstein files that I think are important to mention, obviously, to include in this episode because we know Trump wants to distract from that.

1:02:28Ben Meiselas:So one of the things that Trump has ordered Todd Blanche, his deputy AG to do is to block a DEA, the drug enforcement agencies report that they did jointly with the DOJ as part of this group called the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which has since been basically, you know, removed from the DOJ. Um, but there's this 69 page target profile of Epstein's money laundering and drug trafficking ring that went alongside his sex trafficking ring. And there's 12 other people in two businesses that were identified as being a part of this billion dollar money laundering scheme by Epstein. So we now learn that Todd Blanche has concealed that document, that document the DOJ is refusing to release.

1:03:25Ben Meiselas:One of the things that is deeply concerning, among other things, regarding kind of Donald Trump's Epstein relationship, in addition to, you know, obviously all of the cover-up of Epstein's sex trafficking ring by the DOJ right now, is when Donald Trump acquired this property in a foreclosure sale in West Palm Beach that Epstein was going to bid on, and Trump sold it to a Russian oligarch four years later for$95 million and doubled the money. And Epstein was calling Donald Trump out for financial shenanigans. And I'm putting shenanigans there. You could describe it however you want to describe it.

1:04:07Ben Meiselas:But that's what their falling out was about. Remember during Bill Clinton's deposition, Bill Clinton said that Donald Trump told him the fallout was over this real estate deal. It was over this West Palm Beach property that Trump sold for 2x the value to a Russian oligarch. And there were questions, you know, was that Russia moving their money here? What was happening? Why did this? And by the way, the Russian guy demolished the place a few years, a few years later. So, you know, the fact that there's a money laundering report and report about drug trafficking with many people and that's not being produced.

1:04:41Ben Meiselas:I mean, that's deeply alarming. And then yesterday I did a whole report on this. You should go watch the report. Pam Bondi gave 24 hours notice that she was going to voluntarily appear before the House Oversight Committee as a way of her trying to avoid her congressional testimony. She's been subpoenaed for mid-April, where she has her deposition supposed to be taken by the House Oversight Committee. And I was like, all right. The fact that they had to subpoena her shows that she wasn't voluntarily showing up. And I was like, okay, what scheme are they going to pull to try to get her out of it?

1:05:16Ben Meiselas:What's James Comer's game plan here? And their game plan was they have her show up voluntarily and she wanted to give an update on the Epstein files, but it was some scripted BS. And the Democrats were like, we really don't care about this. We just want to know, are you going to show up and testify under oath on April 14th? And she wouldn't commit to that. So the Democrats stormed out because they're like, we're not taking place. We're not taking part in this crap. You're going to show up pursuant to a subpoena and you're going to testify under oath. We're not going to give you cover for what you're doing here, which is obviously you're going to say, well, I briefed the House Oversight Committee.

1:05:53Ben Meiselas:You don't have to show up in April because I just showed up. Why would you need me to show up? So she was using this as a way to then object to the subpoena. And the Democrats smartly said, we're leaving, because if they stayed, they would be giving credence to what she was going to say about why she didn't have to show up. That was their plan, right? And she would say, oh, I already briefed them. So now the subpoena is inappropriate. And why'd she only give 24 hours notice to the Democrats? Because the Democrats would not have been okay with showing up if there was actually thorough notice. And the Democrats could ask, well, why are you showing up?

1:06:33Ben Meiselas:Because she wanted to use the existence of this fake sham hearing to then make a legal battle against the subpoena. Democrats saw what was happening. I got to give credit to Congress member Garcia, because he has been very aggressive and he did not fall victim to that trap. And he just said to the Democrats, get out. And the Republicans were like, well, this is what the Democrats want it all along. They just want to storm out. She was trying to be helpful. They just want to do this for the media. And it was like, boom, you smoked out so good because that was their plan the whole time. And don't you dare invoke the name of the victims while you're covering up all of these reports and 3 million documents still have not been.

1:07:15Ben Meiselas:How dare you invoke the name of the survivors and the victims, you disgusting pieces of trash, you. We know exactly what you all are up to. Don't you dare even say the word victims or survivors, you sick predator cover-uppers, you grotesque species, grotesque invasive species. And then there was this document right here that I'll share with you that was the redactions were removed by Democratic Congress member Dan Goldman. So hat tip to him right here. So remember that document that people were saying that involved an email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell, and they were forwarding a message that Donald Trump's lawyer had sent, but this whole document was redacted.

1:08:03Ben Meiselas:Well, here it is. It's dated October 14, 2009, and you'll see it's from Jeffrey Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell. And then there is a forward of a note from a conversation with Alan Garten, Trump's attorney. So what did Alan Garten say? Alan Garten was asked, was Jeffrey Epstein ever expelled from Mar-a-Lago? Trump's attorney responds, no, he was not a member, may have been a guest, never asked to leave. What do you know about, was Trump ever at Epstein's house? I may have been there with my wife. Then it goes on to say, any young girls there know may have been a children of guests, but that's it right there.

1:08:52Ben Meiselas:And then Trump specifically asked Garten to advise us of the interview. Brad had also previously talked to manager of Mar-a-Lago, Bort Kempe. Kempe confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein was never asked to leave Mar-a-Lago. so remember all of trump saying i kicked him out of mar-a-lago remember what the republicans said i kicked him out of mar-a-lago well now the document one of the ones that they were covering up that dan goldman just exposed and you got to give him credit for exposing the document as an important document right donald trump's own lawyer you saw for yourself what did he say he said donald trump never kicked him out i'm just reading you what the document says So it ain't even go, Donald Trump kicked them out.

1:09:36Ben Meiselas:No, he didn't. No, he didn't. All right. We've covered a lot. Can you all do me a quick favor here as well after this ends, like right away? The other video we posted about the congressional hearings today, I guess it was missing sound. And it was getting a lot of views, even though there was no sound to it. And so we just loaded it right now. you'll see it's called top Trump officials throw him under the bus at war hearing. So as soon as this ends, there's 15 ,000 people here. Can you do me a favor just so we can fix the glitch from before? Just go and watch another video right away. If you all will agree to watch the other video, throw me some blue emoji hearts right now to tell me when this ends, you're going to go watch that other video and watch it through the end.

1:10:23Ben Meiselas:So the algorithm can kind of pick it back up because You know, otherwise that video is going to be like a dead video and we spent a lot of time preparing it. So please, if you can go and watch that video, it'll be helpful. Thank you all so much for helping us win the news podcast of the year. We weren't even in the political category. We were in the news category. So we beat the New York Times and PBS and NPR and they threw Megyn Kelly in that category as well. For those wondering what the video is called, it's called Top Trump Officials Throw Him Under the Bus at War Hearing. So it's posted on our main feed.

1:11:00Ben Meiselas:While we've been live here, there was a glitch. People couldn't hear the audio. So go and watch that one if you can right after this is done to help that get the views that it needs. And it's a really good video. And we spent a lot of time making it. So just double check. Just watch that video if you can. I think you'd want to watch it anyway. So let's do that. Hit subscribe. help us get to 7 million subscribers and watch the brother show tonight. I'll be on with my brothers tonight. So thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. We're going to keep covering everything six weeks in a row as well as YouTube's number one podcast, beating Joe Rogan, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson.

1:11:33Ben Meiselas:We've been six weeks in a row at number one. Thanks to you. We're grateful for you. Thanks everybody for watching. Go check out that other video right now. Really appreciate you. Love you all. Thank you so much for the support. We'll see you next time on the Midas touch podcast, or we'll see you later on the Midas Touch podcast. This has been Unbreaking News. See you later tonight on the Midas Touch podcast. Bye.

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