Why the Epstein Scandal is Trump’s Watergate

A

You know that thing where you get an amazing pair of shoes at a really great price and want to tell everyone about it? Yeah. So do we here at Designer Shoe Warehouse. We'll give you something to brag about, like the latest styles from brands you love or the trends everyone's obsessing over or shoes that make you feel like, well, you. So go ahead, show off a little. Find shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today. DSW. Let us surprise you.

B

The president losing the war and losing the peace. The setbacks range from the domestic to the international. We have the Epstein scandal roaring back. We have the souring on the Trump economy. We have, of course, his Qatar jet gift and his own supporters turning on him over an Iran war that they did not want and that is not ending well. The ceasefire is all but over. Each side is attacking the other. So we have to say that while many had hoped that this could be another momentary set of volleys, it looks like something deeper. A crack up of the very end to the war that Trump had promised. He is losing the peace. This has become a political problem that Trump can't shake. The Post reports it was clear that the president was in a rush, apart from what might have been the best type of diplomacy or what the experts would say to try to get this thing claimed as wrapped up going into the summer and the midterms that failed. And over on Fox, there are even Trump voters criticizing what they see as this obvious failed end to a costly war.

C

How do you feel about this war continuing, about this war dragging on?

A

I'm never a fan of it, so no, I'm not. I'm not thrilled with this at all.

B

So much uncertainty related to what's going on with Iran. It's going to have a direct impact on inflation. He was a no war president, president,

A

and now we're at war.

C

The one thing we need is a different negotiating team.

B

If we go to negotiations, and that's a big if this team can't do

C

it, have a different team go in

B

there and we should demand different people.

C

If you could talk directly to President Trump about this war, what would you tell him?

A

I would tell him enough.

B

Enough is how a lot of people are feeling. But the problem with starting these kind of wars, as Donald Trump once used to also agree upon, that being a problem, is that they are harder to end than they are to start. And so here we are. There's also revelations about Trump's jet gift from Qatar. There was millions spent to refurbish this thing, which he then later wants to have for personal use after he leaves the presidency. But there's security concerns forcing Trump to use a different plane flying back to the US Overnight. National security veterans tell us the gifted plane lacks key military defenses of the original Air Force One, including the ability to refuel midair and missile defense systems. Meanwhile, as I mentioned, the Epstein probe has not ended, despite Donald Trump's many efforts to make it kind of go away or get out of the headlines political reports on that. A year after Congress started its investigations, Republicans are included in some of the plans to continue probing Epstein's powerful associates. Democrats say this will be central to their ongoing oversight of Trump if they win the majority in the midterms, something that he's clearly aware of and worried about. Then there are the legal losses. A top court rejects that bid by Trump to get his name back on the Kennedy Center. It is not the Trump Kennedy center, not under law. A Manhattan federal appeals court just rejected Trump's effort to try to get out of paying over $5 million in the E. Jean Carroll sex abuse and defamation case. This comes after a string of other court losses, including the quashing of one of those controversial election related subpoenas where Trump was trying to relitigate 20, 2020. And while he did make some noise down in Georgia, a judge recently ruling this week it's too late to even go back down the memory hole of that old Trump loss. I want to bring in Che Khuri, an Obama campaign veteran, and Tara Palmieri, veteran journalist, author of the Red Letter on Substack and host of the Tara Palmieri broadcast podcast. Excuse me. Welcome to both of you. Che. I put it simply because the old saying was in the Middle east you can win the war, right? You could topple Saddam Hussein and lose the peace here. Is it too simple, too exaggerated to say that Trump has lost this war by its own metrics and appears now to be losing the peace and the ceasefire?

C

Yeah, I mean, he started a war and now he is losing it. He is absolutely showing an inability to like to execute the job of the presidency and be the steward of our foreign a way that is smart or competent or well thought out. This is a disaster, a foreign policy disaster like I've never really seen in recent years. President Trump basically promised the opposite of this. He would stay out of foreign wars and we would have so much winning. Instead, he has gotten us into foreign wars and we have so much losing. It is an absolute disgrace and it's one that, you know, I very sure the voters will punish him for in November.

B

Here was Joe Rogan on this very issue. This war is not something anybody that's conservative wanted. Most people are horrified by the idea because Trump was elected. One of the pillars that he stood for, apparently, was that he doesn't want any more wars. Tara.

D

Yeah, well, we know from reporting that inside of the White House, whenever Joe Rogan comes down on Donald Trump, this is a serious condemnation for them. And they are constantly trying to backchannel to him, to control him on messaging. But this is a man who really can't be controlled. Right. He's never been that type of person. But, you know, it's interesting that President Trump would follow the lead of Israel that they said to Trump, this is easy. The shah is weakened right now. He just had an uprising. But if anything, they misinterpreted it of all. This is a country of 90 million people. This is not Venezuela with 30 million people. Right. This is a massive country with a huge terrain and a relentless leader. And he had just actually quashed this rebellion brutally, but he had quashed it. It had shown that he had strength. And so they thought they were going to go in there and topple Iran like it was Venezuela. And it's not what happened. And if anything, he may end up leaving his presidency with Iran exactly where it is right now.

B

And Che, I mentioned all of the other assorted domestic problems, including this sort of lack of transparency on a lot of things going on with Donald Trump. This is by no means a normal second term. There's no honesty or transparency about what he's doing, about his self enrichment, about his medical situation, which is something, of course, he and many people hammered Joe Biden on, understandably so. One example, and again, I'm not a doctor, but it's something where they haven't actually been very transparent. So we only have what dribbles out is the independent reporting on what was seen at NATO, which is Trump's sort of bruised hand in this sort of COVID whether it's what looks like possibly makeup or some other sort of thin coverage. And they report the recurring discoloration, which the White House says is a symptom from handshaking, although it's on the back of the hand, has become the subject of persistent scrutiny. And again, Che, with all due responsibility that we might exercise which Donald Trump doesn't provide in his role per say, does it raise larger questions about whether they're being honest about everything from his finances to his health As a public official, it's a public issue.

C

It certainly is. And you know, I think that what Trump has introduced into the body politic, which we are now seeing played out with this Mitch McConnell story as well, where we have a lack of transparency about his health and what is going on with his hospitalization, is we are going backwards as a society in terms of public officials being transparent about their health. And I'll be honest, as a Democrat, you know, Dianne Feinstein, that was a situation where there was a complete lack of transparency about her health. She was a sitting senator. She had signed away power of attorney to her daughter, and yet she was still responsible for taking votes in the Senate. That was not particularly transparent situation. But this lack of transparency about health has really taken hold and something that Donald Trump really has introduced into the political system really for, I think for. For ill. Mm.

B

And Tara, we also.

D

Mitch McConnell.

B

Well, let me get you one question and take you on both. Yeah, so hit me on McConnell. But I also want you to weigh in on what you're seeing on the Epstein issue. I mentioned some of that brewing. So give us, give us your thoughts on both.

D

Yeah, I was just going to say, I mean, in the same vein as Dianne Feinstein, Mitch McConnell has been missing since June 9th with no updates from his office. We don't know what's happened. It's been, excuse me, June 14, been 25 days. And there are a number of major bills that are about to come before the Senate, like the housing bill that passed bipartisanly in the House. And where is he right now? We know there's a deadline for a special election coming up in August. I think there are a lot of questions about this and why so many of these leaders decide side they want to stay into these roles until the end of their lives instead of passing the baton on. I mean, clearly there needs to be some sort of term letting, term limits. Now, as for the Epstein story, I'm so glad to hear from members of Congress like Melanie Stansbury and House over ranking member Congressman Garcia that they see the Epstein story as the Watergate of our time, because it is and they're taking it seriously. And Garcia said he will bring back the people who have already testified because they didn't actually testify. They were just interviewed, they weren't under oath. And he said he'll bring them back. So that's encouraging. But they're moving at a really, really slow pace. And I don't think they can only bring back Bondi, Pam Bondi and Cash Patel. I think they need to bring back, you know, Bill Gates, Leslie Groff, Sarah Kellen, Bill Clinton. They need to bring everyone back and redo this whole thing again. But I'm encouraged to hear that it's not over yet. And we'll see what happens when Leon Black comes. I mean, he's been subpoenaed. Next week he'll be back in Congress and maybe this time it'll be under oath. I'm hopeful.

B

And Jay, politically, how do you view that with what the Democrats are planning? Because people remember once there was the so called blue wave in 18 and the Democrats came in, it really shifted the whole tenor of Trump's first term. I mean, this was someone who had his, you know, surprise win and pushed the envelope, as he has certainly this term. But after those midterms, you saw the investigations ramp up, you saw the impeachment, and then ultimately you had the onboarding of what was a decisive loss for Trump, which, as I mentioned, a judge just rejected his efforts to relitigate aspects of that six years later. Do you see that echo, or do you think Democrats have to be more kind of cautious about assuming that they can repeat those plays on the investigative front?

C

No, I think that they can completely repeat that. And they can if they can get this, get hold of the Senate, which is something that they did not have in 2019, 2020. And I think that's a really big difference. I think when you have only the House doing this, you know, it's very limited what Democrats can really do in terms of that oversight capacity. But when you have two chambers in play able to conduct these investigations, able to push that message, that will really, I think, bring an end. You know, I'm going to say rather optimistically to what we would call the Trump era in American politics. And 2028 would then be the beginning of a kind of a new era in American politics. Now, whether that's Democrat or Republican, way too soon to tell. But I do think if we can win the Senate, I think the nature, our ability to change the narrative, the momentum and shift the vibe of the country is enormous.

B

Well, and Jay, as you know, no one has ever counted out Donald Trump too early. No one's ever made that mistake in American life, media politics. I just a tiny bit thanks to both of our guests on a bunch of issues. I appreciate you guys. Coming up, we turn to a very serious story, that father shot dead by ice. You think about when ICE kills people in situations that have often been documented as avoidable deaths, possible crimes. Renee Goode, Minnesota we are back in that situation according to many. And we have that update for you. Also, the focus on what Che was just talking about, whether Democrats can take a lead in the Senate, including in Ruby Red, Texas. How did it get so close there? Why are Democrats so excited about that? We have a special guest from that state. So we're going to get the on the ground details tonight. A lot of people are talking about that. We think you'll be more informed and smarter about what Democrats see as good news there if you stick with us for that segment. And by the end of the hour, MAGA tears, MAGA complaints, but ultimately MAGA wrong. Bad Bunny's big hit super bowl performance that was embraced by so many people in this country now breaking records for Emmy nominations. We have that interesting story by the end of the hour. And I'm back with you in 90 seconds.