The Epstein Note They Never Wanted Us To See

0:00 we need to talk about why a key piece

0:01 of Jeffrey Epstein evidence has been hidden from the public,

0:03 with even the DOJ not having seen Why Pete Hegseth would not

0:06 confirm or deny today that America

0:08 has trained kamikaze dolphins armed with explosives.

0:10 why this Trump Puerto Rico scandal most people

0:12 haven't even heard about is even crazier than you'd

0:14 but first we've got to talk about I

0:16 can't confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins,

0:19 but I can confirm they so that is secretary of defense

0:22 or some call him the secretary of war crimes Pete Hegseth,

0:24 rejecting recent rumors that Iran is using trained dolphins

0:27 armed with explosives to block the Strait of Hormuz,

0:29 which actually isn't as far fetched as it

0:31 with the idea stemming from the Wall Street

0:33 Journal reporting that Iranian officials said that they

0:35 might use previously unused weapons to attack American warships,

0:38 including mine carrying dolphins.

0:40 and actually looking back,

0:41 you had the BBC reporting in the year 2000 that Iran had purchased

0:45 dolphins trained to kill for the Soviet but whatever the case may be,

0:48 whatever methods are actually being used, what is clear is that the US and Iran

0:51 are now effectively in a battle for control

0:53 of the and the threat of Donald Trump

0:54 deciding to fully unleash the US military on Iran.

0:56 Again, it's casting a shadow over the whole situation.

0:58 If you attack American troops or innocent commercial shipping,

1:02 you will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower.

1:06 The president has been very clear about this.

1:09 but with all this, you know, we got to go back to yesterday,

1:11 the start of what the white House is

1:13 calling Project which Trump actually announced on Sunday

1:14 and said would involve the US guiding ships

1:16 through the Strait of Hormuz to free up people,

1:18 companies and countries that have done absolutely nothing with Trump describing

1:21 the effort as a humanitarian gesture on behalf of the United States.

1:24 And to be fair, there is a real humanitarian issue because, among other things,

1:27 you have the UN warning today that an unprecedented crisis is

1:31 unfolding for 20,000 seafarers who are stranded in the Persian Gulf,

1:33 who face worsening conditions on board,

1:35 including shortages of food and fresh That said, at least so far,

1:38 there's really no sign yet that Project Freedom is and instead,

1:40 we've just been seeing a flare up of violence,

1:42 sparking fears that the cease fire between the U.S.

1:44 and Iran might soon collapse.

1:45 right.

1:45 To start with what we've been seeing,

1:47 you had two American naval destroyers passing through the strait,

1:49 closely followed by two commercial had a central

1:52 command claiming that its horses weren't escorting those vessels,

1:54 but simply clearing the way for by the way, in the process,

1:57 the US reportedly shot down Iranian cruise missiles

1:59 and drones and destroyed six Iranian speedboats that had

2:02 threatened and while the destroyers and the ships

2:03 that were with them didn't suffer any damage,

2:05 at least a couple of other vessels reported taking also on land you

2:07 had Oman reporting an attack that injured

2:09 two people in a company housing complex,

2:11 and you had a fire breaking out at a major oil facility in the UAE.

2:13 and there you had the government saying that over

2:15 all the country's air defenses had engaged 12 ballistic missiles,

2:17 three cruise missiles and forwards launched from Iran,

2:20 resulting in three moderate injuries that were reportedly suffered

2:22 by three foreign workers in the which is something

2:24 that also stands out because foreign workers make up

2:26 a majority of the population in many Arab Gulf states,

2:29 often facing exploitation, abuse, and other and so now.

2:31 Also with that, they make up a significant portion

2:33 of the people who have been killed in these countries.

2:35 one advocacy group, for example,

2:36 said that the attacks since the start of the war

2:37 of killed at least 24 foreign workers in the Gulf, along with foreign Israel,

2:41 all while the cost of going back home it's only

2:43 gone but also with this you had Iran defending their tactics.

2:45 with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson claiming we feel

2:48 no animosity toward any country of the region,

2:50 but it's an open secret that the United States uses its military bases,

2:53 its military assets, and also use the logistical support provided by some

2:56 of these countries to further their active aggression against Iran,

2:59 and then finally the US military presence in the region

3:01 is a liability and brings nothing but insecurity.

3:04 you also had Iran's top negotiator accusing

3:05 the US of violating the ceasefire and We know full well that the continuation

3:09 of the status quo is intolerable for America.

3:11 While we have not even begun the one the other end,

3:14 you've had American officials saying the with headset for example.

3:16 Speaking at that press conference alongside

3:17 chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kane this then addition

3:21 to addressing the issue of weaponized marine life.

3:23 He described Project Freedom as a temporary,

3:25 defensive and separate this operation is

3:27 separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury.

3:31 Project freedom is defensive in nature,

3:34 focused in scope and temporary in duration, with one mission protecting innocent

3:40 commercial shipping from Iranian aggression.

3:44 American forces won't need to enter Iranian waters or airspace.

3:48 It's not necessary.

3:49 We're not looking for a fight.

3:51 But around also cannot be allowed to block

3:54 innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway.

3:58 and then kind of as per usual,

3:59 you would arguing that the operation has already been a huge success.

4:02 a direct gift from the United States to the world.

4:06 We have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the Two U.S.

4:11 commercial ships, along with American destroyers,

4:13 have already safely transited the strait, showing the lane is clear.

4:19 We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact.

4:23 They said they control the Strait.

4:24 They do well, the fact that, you know,

4:26 the American military and a couple of other ships made their way through

4:29 the strait may show that Iran doesn't

4:30 have 100% control over the yesterday's events.

4:33 It also appears to clearly show why no more ships have gone through since.

4:35 It looks though notably, despite the fighting yesterday,

4:37 and despite Trump threatening on Fox yesterday to blow Iran off the face

4:41 of the Earth if it attacked American vessels participating in Project Freedom,

4:44 the position of the administration is that the cease fire remains in No,

4:48 the ceasefire is not over.

4:50 Ultimately, this is a separate, distinct project, and with that you would.

4:53 Kane claiming that Iranian attacks,

4:54 including more than ten against US forces, were all, quote,

4:57 below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this and when

5:01 later asked what level of attacks would meet the threshold, he responded.

5:04 The threshold of restarting is a political decision above my pay grade.

5:08 What I'll say is it's low harassing fire.

5:10 Right now, it feels like Ron is grasping at straws

5:13 to try to do something across the southern flank.

5:16 but what we're seeing is that the attacks have continued into with the UAE's

5:20 defense Ministry announcing this morning

5:21 that it was still intercepting ballistic missiles,

5:23 cruise missiles and when asked by a reporter

5:25 today what would constitute a violation.

5:27 You just said Trump saying, well,

5:28 you'll find out because I'll let you all while the US and Israel

5:31 reportedly working together to prepare for a potential

5:33 new round of strikes on Iran, which would focus on energy infrastructure

5:36 and the targeted killing of senior Iranian right.

5:38 With that, you had an unnamed source telling CNN the intention would be

5:41 to carry out a short campaign aimed

5:43 at pressuring Iran into further concessions and negotiations,

5:45 and then connected to that.

5:46 You had Trump telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt yesterday

5:48 that if he decides to return to war against Iran,

5:50 it would be over in 2 or 3 the one,

5:53 everything with Trump is apparently going to be figured out in 2 to 3 weeks.

5:56 And two, Trump's timeline for ending this war specifically.

5:59 It's constantly just been so we really can't say

6:02 him saying that means also say worth noting here is

6:04 that you had him walking back on previously stated

6:06 the also frequently shifting objectives for the so for example,

6:09 while he continued to emphasize that any deal

6:11 must ensure Iran does not have a nuclear weapon,

6:13 he downplayed the importance of the country's ballistic missile Look,

6:16 missiles are bad, but yeah, and they do have to cap it.

6:20 But this is about they cannot have a nuclear

6:24 But administration officials have previously argued that it was necessary

6:27 to destroy Iran's ballistic missile program because it was being

6:29 used to create a conventional shield to protect its nuclear ambitions.

6:32 also very notably, U.S.

6:33 intelligence assessments reportedly indicate that the time Iran would need

6:36 to build a nuclear weapon hasn't changed since last summer,

6:39 since nuclear targets haven't been prioritized.

6:40 analysts still estimating that Iran would need around a year

6:43 to build a weapon if leaders decided to pursue that Right.

6:45 And also before you had Trump and others saying that the war aimed

6:47 to destroy Iran's ability to support proxy

6:49 groups in the but then in this interview,

6:51 he refused to say that Iran would be stopped from funding proxies,

6:54 only that they wouldn't be in a position

6:56 economically to do then also on that note,

6:58 you had Trump downplaying the impact of the war on the US economy,

7:00 saying that he actually thought it would be much worse,

7:02 but started the war when I first did this, I

7:05 thought maybe the market would go down 20 or 25%,

7:07 and I was okay with that because I know would come back up,

7:10 but I thought it would go down and I thought, well, could hit 200.

7:14 250 well, all is at $100, $102.

7:18 Trump there.

7:18 He might be referring to the US benchmark oil price,

7:21 but the global benchmark Brant that actually

7:23 hit $114 a barrel yesterday and then

7:25 dropped to around 112 this but also as far as the impact on us Americans,

7:29 they're now paying around 50% more at the pump

7:30 than they were before this you've got

7:32 a reporting that the national gas average is

7:34 now $4.48 per a all while S&P Global Energy.

7:37 They've warned in a new report that even after the Hormuz reopens,

7:40 it will take an additional seven months at minimum to fully restore upstream

7:44 and that at minimum part is key because the seven month timeline assumes one,

7:48 there's no permanent damage to energy infrastructure,

7:50 and two supply chains operate smoothly.

7:52 then also actually we've got to talk about how as Americans,

7:54 they're fed up with these gas prices.

7:56 They're also fed up waiting for answers on Jeffrey Epstein and his there

8:00 we actually have a big development because there is a federal prosecutor who

8:02 just backed a petition to get Jeffrey Epstein's alleged suicide note released

8:05 to the This actually starts with a report from The New York Times last week,

8:08 noting that a potential suicide note had been hidden from public view

8:11 for and that note stems from an alleged attempt in July of 2019,

8:15 a few weeks before Epstein was actually found Right at the time,

8:17 he was found unresponsive with red marks around his neck.

8:19 But he survived, and his cellmate said that he

8:21 discovered the though Epstein apparently told jail officials

8:23 that he was not suicidal and his cellmate had

8:25 attacked But Epstein also apparently never repeated that claim,

8:28 and a cellmate denied attacking him.

8:29 So that's a whole other full thing.

8:31 but that note that was found.

8:32 It was sealed as part of the criminal case

8:34 for the right who was convicted of quadruple homicide but also

8:36 maintains that he's so investigators who were looking into Epstein's

8:39 death may have actually never gotten their hands on this note,

8:41 even though it could be a substantial piece of evidence.

8:43 right in this note.

8:44 It also wasn't found in the Epstein files.

8:45 And a spokesperson even told the times that the agency

8:48 has not seen also as far as if the notes legitimate,

8:50 you have the cellmates lawyers saying that they authenticated it.

8:52 But we also don't know how.

8:53 so you have the times petitioning a judge in New York to unseal the note.

8:56 And yesterday you had a federal prosecutor supporting agreeing that there

8:58 is no reason for the courts to keep its seal,

9:00 because the cellmate who discovered the note has already disclosed some

9:03 of its contents He previously did an interview where he described finding it,

9:05 and claimed that Epstein had written that the FBI had

9:08 looked into him for months and found nothing before then,

9:10 adding what do you want me to do, cry about it also apparently included a smiley

9:13 face and a line about saying goodbye.

9:15 and reportedly at U.S.

9:16 Attorney Jay Clayton writing a letter saying that anything

9:18 is solely disclosed in public statements does not

9:20 need to be continually sealed and so now it's up to a judge to decide if we,

9:24 the public, will ever actually see then also you have a member

9:26 of the House Oversight Committee aiding this push as Because yesterday,

9:28 Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote a letter to the DOJ asking it to work

9:32 with this judge to release the saying it

9:34 must be immediately reviewed and publicly released aid

9:36 federal officials who are investigating Jeffrey Epstein

9:38 and the circumstances around his and adding

9:40 the DOJ has yet to make any arrest other than Jeffrey Epstein and Glenn Maxwell,

9:44 despite the existence of millions of documents

9:45 that suggest a vast network of sex traffickers,

9:48 including many high profile individuals at the it

9:50 is critical that the department avoid

9:51 the appearance of covering up for criminals

9:53 simply because of a person's status and resources.

9:55 a suicide note exists and was not reviewed,

9:57 obtained or disclosed, the department must explain why.

9:59 then also asking the department to answer

10:01 a handful of questions like if it ever obtained,

10:03 sought access to or verified the did it

10:05 ever consider it relevant to any investigation into Epstein?

10:07 And if there are other known materials related to Epstein

10:10 that have not been included in the DOJ and notably,

10:12 this is coming as there's other ongoing efforts

10:14 to hold Epstein in his associates with for example,

10:17 survivors recently pushing the state of New York to pass legislation that would

10:20 update laws to criminalize behavior that benefits from and aids in trafficking.

10:23 with a lawyer who works with a group.

10:24 Enough abuse saying trafficking is not sustained by one single actor.

10:28 is not just Jeffrey Epstein.

10:29 is a network that includes financial backers,

10:31 businesses and other intermediaries who often escape accountability.

10:34 saying this bill will disrupt and it would also make

10:37 it easier for Epstein's victims to sue as a state

10:39 by getting rid of a policy that prevents people

10:40 from recovering damages from a dead person's so with that yesterday,

10:43 you had a group of survivors speaking out in support of the law,

10:46 with one abuse is often enabled by a broader network of people and companies who

10:49 shield the abuser and silence the saying it

10:51 is unacceptable that survivors are silenced by technicalities,

10:54 while enablers hide behind legal loopholes.

10:56 and with that.

10:56 You were the state senator who introduced the bill,

10:58 thanking the survivors and they showed

11:00 incredible courage in coming forward and saying,

11:01 now it's our turn to federal government may

11:04 have turned its back on sex trafficking victims,

11:05 but New York never but then also on the federal level,

11:08 you have Democrats in the oversight committee announcing that they will

11:10 be holding a hearing with Epstein survivors in Palm Beach on May

11:13 with members also working on an upcoming deposition with Pam Bondi

11:15 and demanding that it be videotaped and released to the and so,

11:18 there are more of these avenues

11:19 for information and transparency that are coming up.

11:21 But it still remains to be seen if

11:23 the accountability that the public is really after,

11:25 if that's actually on the or will there be arrests, will there be charges,

11:28 or is this just kind of a waiting game that never ends?

11:31 and then there's more we've got to dive into in just a minute.

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12:25 That got more than you know.

12:26 but then diving right back into the news,

12:27 we've got to talk about this alleged conspiracy

12:29 that goes so deep that at one end,

12:31 it involves a Puerto Rican prison gang, and at the other end,

12:33 you have the president of the United States, Donald J.

12:36 Trump.

12:36 and if this ProPublica reports.

12:37 Correct, they're still trying to bury the whole thing under the rug.

12:39 right.

12:39 As far as how this whole thing worked, according to investigators, first,

12:42 you had a drone that would fly over a prison

12:44 in Puerto Rico and drop off a package of narcotics.

12:46 then staff at the prison would help get the drugs inside.

12:48 And distribute them while acting as lookouts.

12:50 then finally leaders of a prison gang known as Los Tiburon is or the sharks.

12:53 They would sell the drugs to other inmates.

12:55 But then also here's the twist.

12:56 they didn't sell them for money.

12:57 At least not always.

12:59 Instead, they sold them for votes.

13:00 specifically votes for the island's now Republican governor,

13:03 Jennifer Gonzalez Colon, who I'm going to refer to by her nickname, Joe.

13:06 she's got this long history in Republican politics.

13:09 She served as the party chair for the territory,

13:11 represented Puerto Rico in Congress,

13:12 and actually did a lot of work with Latinos for Trump.

13:14 and so in January of 2025, when she took office as governor,

13:17 you had Trump congratulating her, and she pushed for a statue

13:20 of him to be built at the Capitol building in San Juan.

13:22 a while, you know, for a president who claimed

13:24 to be concerned about drug trafficking and election integrity,

13:26 Trump didn't seem to worried about the allegations

13:28 that were coming out of Puerto Rico.

13:29 Right.

13:29 Even though the investigation implicated not just inmates in prison staff,

13:32 but possibly Joe herself.

13:33 even multiple sources telling ProPublica that officials were working toward

13:36 determining whether she or her campaign were involved in the scheme,

13:39 and they found some stuff.

13:39 Stuff like evidence that Joe had spoken to a gang member,

13:42 including a Facebook post in which one gang leader bragged

13:44 about his connection to her, or with him reportedly attaching

13:46 a photo of himself talking to her on WhatsApp at the time

13:49 that she was running in her party's primary for governor.

13:51 so they kept probing into that, you had federal prosecutors beginning

13:53 to prepare an indictment against the people that they had already caught.

13:55 then all of a sudden, everything changes.

13:57 In November of 2024, right after Trump and Joe won their respective elections,

14:01 according to ProPublica, higher ups in the US attorney's office

14:03 in the District of Puerto Rico told the prosecutors

14:05 to exclude the voting related charges against

14:07 the inmates and all charges against the prison staff.

14:09 so even though the drugs were vote

14:10 scheme was described in the indictment that December,

14:12 nobody was charged for and then soon after Trump entered the white House,

14:15 a supervisor to the lead prosecutor reportedly

14:17 told him to stop the investigation altogether.

14:19 which, you know, kind of looks like Trump's DOJ is covering up

14:21 an illegal scheme to buy votes where a Trump loving Republican governor.

14:24 with that, if you ask the DOJ itself,

14:26 they point out that the order to exclude election related

14:28 charges that was given before Trump took office, which is true.

14:31 but it's also true that the U.S.

14:32 attorney for the District of Puerto Rico was appointed by Trump and reportedly

14:35 enjoyed a friendly working relationship with Pam

14:37 Bondi when they were both in Florida.

14:38 plus, if you ask people who were involved in the case,

14:40 they say that the timing with Trump's

14:41 election victory was clearly not a coincidence.

14:43 with one saying before the election,

14:45 it was definitely full steam ahead after the election, that all changed.

14:48 any one another, adding, we invested so much effort to make a difference.

14:51 We're frustrated, but there's nothing we can do.

14:53 and then a third explaining.

14:53 It was like you're watching a puppet show, but you can't see the strings,

14:56 You know, what you're seeing isn't telling the whole story.

14:59 There was some kind of invisible hand.

15:00 and then something that made it even weirder

15:02 is that a magistrate judge in a different

15:03 case last October mentioned what they called

15:05 an unrelated white collar investigation involving the governor.

15:08 Puerto Rico.

15:08 but the U.S.

15:09 Attorney's office denied that any such investigation even exists.

15:12 so really, whatever's going on it,

15:13 it doesn't seem like we're going to get much clarity from this DOJ.

15:16 one of the crazy things is it wasn't just inmates exchanging drugs for votes.

15:19 the allegations were even more fucked up than that.

15:21 reportedly, if the inmates didn't go along with it,

15:23 there were punishments that included withholding food or forcing them

15:25 to sit with their arms folded while they were beaten and kicked.

15:27 and at least according to the indictment, many of these inmates were addicted.

15:30 So the only way they could keep

15:32 from going into withdrawal was to vote for Diego.

15:34 It's all just so insane.

15:35 And yet, rather than seemingly trying

15:36 to prosecute and investigate these actual crimes,

15:38 you have Tulsi Gabbard seizing Puerto Rico's voting machines.

15:41 actually with that, we then got to talk about what Trump's

15:43 minions are doing with our elections back on the mainland as well.

15:46 because Trump's DOJ just demanded the names, home addresses,

15:48 emails and phone numbers of every single person

15:51 who worked the 2020 election in Fulton County,

15:53 I'm not talking about just like county employees, we're talking poll workers,

15:56 volunteers, even the bus drivers who operated mobile voting locations.

16:00 the DOJ one they won't say why.

16:02 And two, it's all happening is there's record breaking early voting

16:04 that's underway in Georgia right But as far as this demand,

16:07 it came through a grand jury and all this stuff that they're demanding,

16:09 it's getting handed over to a federal investigation that's tied to Trump's

16:12 repeatedly debunked claims that Fulton County

16:14 stole the 2020 election from and again, one of the wild parts is,

16:16 is we don't know what the DOJ plans to do with this information,

16:19 and they haven't responded to media questions about it,

16:21 at least as of so we're just

16:22 supposed to trust that the federal government collecting

16:24 the home addresses of thousands of citizens

16:26 who worked on an election five years ago, it's fine and normal.

16:29 they're not letting us go quietly.

16:31 Right.

16:31 You have lawyers for the county filing a motion yesterday

16:33 asking a judge to block the subpoena into the motion,

16:35 the lawyers argued that the subpoena is meant to, quote, target, harass,

16:38 and punish the president's perceived political opponents and then noting

16:41 that Trump has obsessively propagated

16:42 the debunked conspiracy theory that Fulton County

16:44 stole the 2020 election from and he's made it clear that he

16:47 seeks retribution against those who refuse to indulge his baseless right.

16:49 The motion also makes a really important point about

16:51 the legal logic because the lawyers argue that the subpoena, quote,

16:54 cannot yield any evidence that could result

16:56 in a criminal prosecution for a few the biggest one, the statute of limitations,

17:00 is already expired on any alleged crimes related to the 2020 and so,

17:03 in addition to this already being bogus and debunked,

17:06 the DOJ is now collecting personal

17:08 information for thousands of people in connection

17:09 with crimes that they can't even prosecute

17:11 which then raises the question of, well,

17:13 if you can't prosecute, what does this information actually do?

17:16 What is it even though I'm going to mention what

17:18 the experts are pointing to, you don't have to be

17:20 an expert to understand the obvious the goal that might just

17:23 be to undermine the democratic process while the midterms are Again,

17:25 think of the timing.

17:27 Early voting is underway in Georgia right now.

17:28 And the turnout it's breaking According to government accounts,

17:31 more than 214,000 people cast ballots during the first seven days of early

17:34 that is a 28% jump from who early voted in the last midterm and so.

17:38 With that in their motion,

17:39 Fulton County accuse the Trump administration of bringing

17:41 the subpoena at a time when election workers fear

17:43 for their personal and with that, you have the leader

17:45 of the Georgia voting rights group Fair Fight Action,

17:47 saying roughly a third of election officials

17:49 are threatened on the more than half worry.

17:51 It's making it harder to hire and keep election saying

17:53 they're trying to break our democracy by attacking the infrastructure,

17:55 but we are fighting back right.

17:57 But with this, there's a very real concern, right.

17:59 Because if you are a poll worker reading the news and you see that the federal

18:02 DOJ is now collecting the home addresses

18:04 of everyone who worked the last election,

18:06 are you going to want to sign up for the next if you're

18:08 just an everyday person who's watched election

18:09 workers facing threats and harassment for years, are you going to volunteer?

18:12 When the federal government just made it

18:14 clear that they're tracking who you are?

18:15 that's part of the play here.

18:16 The investigation itself is part of the threat.

18:18 It's part of the It's why it's more

18:19 important than ever that the every average day person

18:21 be a little braver It's why I think

18:23 that the people still putting themselves into this position,

18:26 their everyday and I mean that for everywhere,

18:28 not just because the Trump administration,

18:29 they've made Georgia the epicenter of this effort,

18:31 but it is not limited to they set the tone

18:34 with that unprecedented FBI raid on an election warehouse back in January,

18:37 the DOJ has been making similar moves all over the They

18:39 issued a subpoena for the 2020 audit records in Maricopa County, Arizona.

18:42 They demanded that Wayne County, Michigan, turn over its 2024 ballots.

18:45 Nothing really tangible has come from any of these probes.

18:48 We're not seeing prosecutions or evidence presented,

18:51 no fraud actually established.

18:52 just nonstop claims.

18:54 Evidence that is always supposedly coming,

18:55 but then it feels like it's one of the biggest Trump things.

18:58 We're always like two weeks away from the health

19:00 care plan and infrastructure week and the war being done,

19:03 even though we've already won it 18 times, apparently.

19:05 and actually a few weeks ago, you were a Fox News anchor pressing FBI Director

19:08 Cash Patel on Trump's election fraud claims and heroes.

19:11 His We've got all the evidence I can announce

19:13 on your show that we've got all the information we need.

19:16 We're working with our prosecutors,

19:17 the Department of Justice and our attorney general, Todd Blanch.

19:20 And we are going to be making arrest.

19:23 And it's coming.

19:23 And I promise you, it's coming soon.

19:25 and so now let's hold that side

19:27 by side with what's happening the FBI director is

19:29 publicly claiming that EOG already has all

19:31 the information it needs to make but that same

19:34 DOJ is subpoenaing the personal information a thousand

19:36 of people in Fulton so what is it either Patel was wrong on Fox News

19:39 and the DOJ doesn't actually have the information it needs,

19:42 in which case this is a fishing expedition or he was right.

19:44 And they do have what they need,

19:46 in which case the subpoena isn't about gathering evidence.

19:48 don't get to claim both at the same time, or at least not believably.

19:51 but then with this, you know,

19:52 the question becomes which way is it going to play out?

19:54 One of the two most likely option ones the 2020 playbook.

19:57 The DOJ keeps claiming there's evidence.

19:59 The evidence never materializes.

20:00 The investigations they they linger long enough to chill participation

20:03 and then they fade out without anyone being then option two.

20:06 That's the Comey playbook.

20:07 The DOJ comes up with evidence and indicts someone,

20:10 but the actual evidence turns out to be the equivalent

20:12 of seashells on a A prosecution that's kind of just doomed.

20:15 But it's really not about winning.

20:16 It's about putting someone through the meat

20:18 grinder of a federal so in the meantime, we see how all this plays out.

20:21 Let me just end on a personal to the thousands of just regular people,

20:24 that this is meant to threaten and intimidate.

20:27 This but please know that so many Americans have your back.

20:31 Know that this is fucking ridiculous.

20:32 into the broader population of America, when you see this happen.

20:35 Please don't let the impact be you running you thinking

20:38 that it is not worth volunteering for the next Because it is.

20:41 They are scared of They don't try to suppress votes or take away voting power

20:45 or scare people away from being a part of all this, unless it actually matters.

20:50 And then there's more we've got to dive into in just a minute.

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22:01 but then diving right back into the news,

22:02 we've got to talk about how a cruise ship is stranded at sea.

22:04 At least three passengers are dead.

22:06 Three more are sick, with one in critical care.

22:08 Nearly 150 people are still on board,

22:10 waiting to find out if they've been exposed to a rare and deadly virus.

22:13 Meanwhile, Cape Verde refused to let them dock.

22:15 Spain has finally agreed to take them in, and the world

22:17 Health Organization just confirmed what's been killing them.

22:20 But here's the timeline.

22:21 The Honda is set sail in April 1st,

22:23 traveling from Argentina to Antarctica over the span of a few weeks,

22:25 and by April 6th, just five days into this voyage,

22:27 one passenger started developing a fever, a headache, a mild diarrhea.

22:31 But then five days after the symptoms began, he died.

22:33 and then his wife.

22:34 She started showing symptoms shortly after,

22:36 and she left the ship with her husband's body on April 24th.

22:38 But two days later, she died.

22:40 Two.

22:40 right, and then just a few days later,

22:41 you had a third passenger dying, showing similar symptoms.

22:44 with then the World Health Organization confirming that the first

22:46 two passengers died from a hantavirus infection on May 4th.

22:49 And for those who haven't heard of hantavirus, it's a it's a family of viruses,

22:52 mostly spread through contact with rodent droppings.

22:54 as you could be exposed by cleaning up after rats

22:56 in a garage or drinking from a can that a rodent contaminated.

22:59 it's actually relatively uncommon that the US is

23:01 seeing fewer than 900 cases totals in the 2020.

23:03 but for the people who do get it, it is a severe illness.

23:07 people can develop lung failure,

23:09 heart failure, kidney failure, it's very severe.

23:12 Viral pneumonia is very often how this manifests.

23:15 and while different strains, you know, affect the body differently.

23:17 And survival rates vary for many forms of this illness,

23:20 outcomes are very difficult to predict.

23:21 so that's the situation the passengers on the Honda's

23:24 have been living with for nearly a month.

23:25 now as far as the investigation,

23:26 you have investigators really not knowing how the outbreak began yet,

23:29 though there are a couple of leading theories.

23:31 ones that rats may have stowed away on board and contaminated food or surfaces?

23:34 the another is that a passenger may have been exposed before boarding.

23:37 because reports indicate that hantavirus symptoms can take

23:39 sometimes up to two months to appear after exposure,

23:41 which means that someone they could have carried it on board without knowing.

23:44 while hantavirus is rarely contagious between people, it's not impossible,

23:47 which is part of what's made this whole situation so difficult to manage.

23:50 As far as the people that are on board this ship,

23:51 like the past month, has been just a nightmare.

23:54 What's happening right now is very real for all of us here.

23:58 We're not just a story,

24:01 we're not just headlines where people people with families,

24:06 with lives, with people waiting for us at home.

24:10 There's a lot of uncertainty, and that's the hardest part.

24:17 All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity and to get home.

24:23 Right as far as a ship.

24:24 It reached Cape Verde waters on May 3rd.

24:26 doctors there have been monitoring

24:27 the three passengers who were showing symptoms,

24:28 collecting samples, trying to support the situation medically.

24:31 But the ship also hasn't been allowed to dock.

24:33 Verde authorities, they decided not to allow the Hondas to come ashore.

24:36 and there, you know who official explaining.

24:37 It's been very tricky for Cape Verde and authorities,

24:39 saying what they have to deal with is a public health event.

24:41 And of course, they have been thinking

24:43 about the protection of the population here.

24:44 and so essentially, without knowing the full scope of this outbreak,

24:47 they're keeping their distance.

24:47 if that sounds like it gives you memories of, like,

24:50 Covid era responses, that's because it is, right after what happened with Covid,

24:53 with cruise ship outbreaks,

24:54 the World Health Organization actually updated international

24:56 regulations to address exactly this type of situation.

24:59 What's a regulation say?

25:00 And it's a legally binding treaty.

25:03 Is that a port must allow passengers who are sick to disembark,

25:13 and it can only fail to do that if it

25:20 literally does not have the capacity to care for them.

25:24 It can't just say we're afraid for our own people,

25:29 and so actually with that Cape Verde position has

25:31 been criticized as being inconsistent with its Who obligations.

25:33 what's happening now is unethical.

25:36 It's unlawful and it's dangerous.

25:40 though the counterargument that's been raised is

25:41 that this is in Cape Verde ship.

25:43 So why should they bear the burden?

25:44 they're, they're you have people pushing back saying, well,

25:46 the answer is being a member

25:47 of the World Health Organization comes with binding commitments.

25:49 it's a further down the line, one of the things to look to the situation for is

25:52 to find out whether Cape Verde is going to face legal consequences.

25:55 as far as what's happening now Spain stepped in.

25:57 right as far as what's been announced.

25:58 First, at least two of the six passengers are

26:00 going to be transferred to the Netherlands for medical care.

26:02 also the third passenger symptoms are reportedly less severe at the moment,

26:05 but that also could change and they

26:06 might eventually be added to the transfer list.

26:08 after that, the ship is going to set sail for the Spanish Canary Islands,

26:10 where who officials are prepared to conduct a full investigation,

26:13 disinfect the ship, and assess the risk of the remaining passengers.

26:16 and again while person to person transmission of the hantavirus is rare,

26:19 containment remains a priority for really anyone considered higher risk.

26:22 and so in the meantime, passengers have been asked to stay in their cabins.

26:24 the hope is that no additional cases develop before the ships able to dock.

26:27 And there's a proper assessment.

26:28 But then jumping from that to our final story of the day today,

26:31 we need to talk about State Farm.

26:32 record State Farm customers in California.

26:34 They're just kind of hanging in limbo

26:35 as state regulators are gunning for the company's license,

26:38 as well as millions of dollars over how they

26:40 handled the claims from the LA fires last year.

26:41 Because L.A.

26:42 got hit with some pretty serious wildfires last year.

26:44 We're talking like 16,000 structures destroyed, more than 30 people killed.

26:48 and after the dust settled,

26:49 a bunch of people who were insured through State Farm.

26:50 They had a whole variety of issues.

26:52 And not for the first time, and one case,

26:53 State Farm waited nearly three months before starting to investigate a claim.

26:56 another.

26:57 The company delayed paying customer for months while

26:59 internally acknowledging that the payments should have been approved.

27:01 then there's also the illegally denied payments

27:03 for testing for toxins and smoke damage claims,

27:05 with an investigation by state regulators

27:07 looking into over 200 claims like that.

27:08 And they reportedly found the state farm violated the law hundreds of times.

27:11 had the California insurance Commissioner, Ricardo Lara,

27:14 saying our investigation found that State Farm delayed,

27:16 underpaid and buried policyholders and red tape

27:18 at the worst moment of their lives, saying that is unacceptable.

27:21 And we are taking decisive action to hold them accountable.

27:23 and that includes what's called a major enforcement action,

27:25 including seeking upwards of $2 million in penalties

27:27 and even potential suspending of their license.

27:29 Right.

27:29 Which ends up being a pretty massive deal

27:31 when you're talking about the state's largest carrier,

27:32 though, to be clear, nothing's set in stone right now.

27:35 fact, in a lot of cases, the State Farm denied any wrongdoing.

27:37 they're in some included in the investigation, they did agree with the state's

27:40 findings and awarded more money to policyholders.

27:42 and with that, they said that they paid more than $5.7 billion

27:45 on more than 13,000 auto and home insurance claims related to the fires.

27:48 as you have them pushing back

27:49 hard against the accusations of mismanagement, saying.

27:52 California's homeowners insurance market is

27:53 the most dysfunctional in the country,

27:55 and State Farm has work to be part of real solutions,

27:57 and saying we reject any suggestion.

27:59 State farm engaged in a general practice

28:01 of mishandling or intentionally underpaying wildfire claims,

28:03 and we will respond through the process,

28:05 then adding that the threat to their license is a, quote,

28:08 reckless, politically motivated attack that could

28:10 ultimately cripple California's homeowners insurance market.

28:12 you know, with us, even the Insurance Department

28:14 officials are saying this is a rare situation, saying for a wildfire,

28:17 we haven't found a comparable action in the last 25 years,

28:20 saying it's unprecedented.

28:20 But these fires were unprecedented in many ways.

28:23 and adding our goal is twofold hold State Farm

28:25 accountable through penalties and speed up recovery in Los Angeles.

28:28 you have many saying that accountability.

28:30 It's been a long time coming with consumer advocates, really.

28:32 They've been pushing this issue for a while.

28:34 right.

28:34 Whether you're the spokesperson for the Insurance Fairness Project saying,

28:36 needs to be accountability.

28:37 When insurance companies fail policyholders,

28:39 especially in the aftermath of devastating and life altering climate disasters.

28:43 saying Californians pay their premiums with the expectation

28:45 that coverage will be there when disaster strikes,

28:47 not delayed, denied or mishandled.

28:49 adding strong oversight like this is essential to restoring trust

28:51 and ensuring the system works for consumers and not just insurers.

28:54 But they're my friends.

28:55 You beautiful bastards!

28:56 Is the end of your Tuesday Philip DeFranco and as I say

28:58 goodbye to you and let you back into the horrors of the world,

29:01 let me just remind If you'd like a fun break,

29:04 get entertained, be around like minded people.

29:06 Just a good you can go to crashing out Tor.com.

29:08 Link in the description and get some tickets and see

29:11 me in my buddy Alex Pearlman But with that said, thank you for watching.

29:14 I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.