EXPLOSIVE update as Trump attacks CONTENT CREATORS

Okay, we have a big update here on the. enemies list that I found myself on. I've now consulted with an attorney. about Trump putting me on this list, which he's calling a list of media. offenders. And the reality is that if. the government wants to use taxpayer. resources and a government website, whitehouse.gov, to draw attention to me, then they have the right to do that. Is. it a good use of taxpayer funds? Is this. what Trump voters expected when they. voted for a guy who swore up and down. that he would focus on lowering prices. and bringing down inflation and. expanding health care and stopping new.

wars and releasing the Epstein files, failed to do all of those things, and. then turned his sights on YouTubers? I'll let those people answer that. question. Now, here's an update on the. statement that I posted just a few days. ago in the immediate aftermath of seeing. that list. So, first off, for those who. didn't see it, here's a quick preview of. that. So, I am officially on one of. Donald Trump's enemies list. You'll now. see my name under a list of media. offenders. This is, I guess, a new. iteration that's focused on content.

creators now that he's moved through law. firms, universities, tech companies, media outlets, comedians. I guess we're. up to content creators now. So, in. consultation with my attorneys, I've. drafted a response, a legal response, to Trump putting my name on this enemies. list as far as content creators are. concerned, and it goes as follows. >> [clears throat and cough]. you. Suck my dick. And look,

I'm not going to lie. Um I was initially. nervous about posting that because. all you have to do is know who Trump is. He is a vindictive, petty, small man who. seeks retribution as easily as he. breathes. He doesn't need any legitimate. reason to go after anybody. And frankly, when he does go after someone, it's. taxing, emotionally, mentally, financially, and that's on purpose. That. is the point. If Todd Blanche decides to. try and prosecute me for whatever inane. reason he lands on, it probably cost me. hundreds of thousands of dollars. It.

would cost me also whatever fleeting. moments of joy I'm still capable of. feeling. And so, objectively, logically, it would probably be smart to keep a low. profile, to stay off their radar, and. not get myself into any trouble. But, I started thinking about the way I. felt when I watched law firms like Paul. Weiss capitulate to Trump because it was. easier for them, and how Trump saw that. and felt emboldened. I remember how I. felt when ABC and CBS settled insane.

lawsuits with Trump because it was. easier for them, and how Trump saw that. and felt emboldened. I remember how I. felt when I saw tech CEOs and companies. line up to pay Trump millions of dollars. for his ballroom because it was easier. for them, and how Trump saw that and. felt more emboldened. I remember being. so angry because in effect, their decision to try and make their own. lives easier actually made the rest of. us less safe, less secure because now. Trump knows how easy it is to wield the. government against his enemies to get. what he wants. And frankly, those.

companies didn't even help themselves. because now Donald Trump saw how easy it. was. to just go after these people since they. were already so willing to capitulate. the first time. So, when I saw my name. on Donald Trump's newest enemies list on. whitehouse.gov, the absolute last thing. I was going to do was the same thing all. of those other cowards did, which is fold to Trump, get themselves. out of trouble, and not think about the. effect that it was having on everybody. else. Look, I got into this job because I care.

about this country, I care about our. democracy. It's not exactly a fun job. Like, I swim in the toxic cesspool that. is politics more than 12 hours a day, 7. days a week. I don't take days off. People who watch my channel know that. And there's virtually only bad news. It's bad for my mental health, it's bad. for my physical health. And then on top. of that, having the president of the. United States, the person with the. biggest megaphone on Earth, attack me does not make anything easier. And we've still got two more years of. this. So, I don't know what that will. mean for me and my safety as we look.

down the line. All of which is to say, there are easier avenues to go down. But, I chose this because I can't. imagine doing anything else. This is. what I care about. It is what I've. dedicated my entire life to, for better. or for worse. And there is not a world. where I watch Trump attack me and become. the exact thing that I loathe from all. of these cowards who looked out for. themselves. If Trump wants to come after. me and content creators, go for it. I. will be even louder than before. If this. self-proclaimed free speech champion.

wants to clamp down on my right to call. him a megalomaniacal pedophile. protector, then I will do it twice as. loud. I will make sure everyone knows. what a fragile little this. president is. That he is so weak, so. pathetic, so desperate that he needs to. go after YouTubers and podcasters. And if me doing so gives a permission. structure for the next person to fight. back instead of capitulate, then I've. done my job. If courage is contagious, I. want to make sure that we normalize the. idea of stepping up and speaking out. when we inevitably all fall into Trump's.

crosshairs. Because remember, he is not. doing this from a place of strength. You. don't go after content creators if. you're strong or popular. You do it when. you're flailing, and that's exactly what. he's exposing about himself. These are the last gasps of a desperate. small man before his legacy is wiped out. and he falls into obscurity. And I will. be the first one cheering it on when it. happens. You're watching the No Lie. podcast. One last note before we go to. some interviews. If you'd like to show. some support for my work, I'm going to. ask for one thing. I have a book coming. out in just a few weeks. The single best.

way to support me, if you can, is to. pre-order my book titled The Day After. It is a blueprint for how Democrats can. and must fight back against this. aspiring autocrat. I'm going to put a. link to pre-order that book right here. on the screen and in the post. description and in the comments. Or you. can go to briantylercohen.com/book. I'll also be on tour in DC, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. in mid-July. You can grab tour tickets. at that same link, and I would love to. see you in person. Thank you so much. Okay, next up are my interviews with.

Alex Michelson from CNN and Ari Melber. from MS Now. No Lies brought to you by. Hims. So, you've got weight loss goals, but hitting them is another story. Enter. weight loss by Hims. It's designed to. support you in losing the weight and. keeping it off. And Hims now offers. access to an affordable range of. FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including the Wegovy pill and the Wegovy. pen. With Wegovy at Hims, lose up to 20%. or more of your body weight when. combined with diet and exercise. It. helps you regulate your appetite and eat. less, so success is within reach. Plus,

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clinical study information, and. restrictions, visit hims.com. No Lies. brought to you by Better Help. So, for. some of us, summer is our favorite. season. Travel picks up, kids are out of. school, adventure is the focus. But for. others, juggling it all can be really. tough. It can lead to a sense that. you're overwhelmed and counting down the. minutes until the kids are back in. school. And, many worry that, you know, we're wasting the days of sunshine. That's why it is so important to build. in time for yourself. Therapy can help. people better understand your needs, feel more confident setting boundaries, and create a version of summer that.

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Uh and I really do, while we're here, I. hope the. media looks at this election that's. taking place in California where. they think it'll take seven or eight. days to count the votes. Can you believe. this? I mean, we're supposed They spend all. that money on the. on the machines, the big voting. machines. Uh they think it's going to be seven or. eight days before we know who won the. election. But, the numbers are looking strange. because. without any vote counting, the numbers. dropped very precipitously for two.

Republicans that are doing well, that. had been doing well. And, uh I hope you're all watching it. cuz I'm watching it very closely. >> That was Donald Trump speaking about the. votes that are taking place right now in. California as vote counters continue to. tally up votes. I'm joined now by CNN's. Alex Marquardt, host of The Story Is on. CNN. Alex, can I have your response to. what Donald Trump just said where he's. claiming that the numbers are {quote}. "looking strange" because without any. vote counting, the numbers dropped very.

precipitously for the Republicans. Obviously, this is uh um. kind of the second wave of Donald. Trump's uh election denialism now for. the 2026 midterms. >> Well, first up, Brian, good to be with. you and welcome to the LA County Vote. Processing Center, which is the biggest. vote processing center in the world. You. see behind me right now, people are hard. at work uh going through ballots right. here. They're separating the ballots.

from the envelopes, getting them ready. to be processed. In terms of President Trump's argument. that there's been widespread fraud in. California, there is no evidence to that. point. He has not provided evidence to. that point. The Republican Party has not. provided evidence to that point. In. years past, Donald Trump made the point. that if Jesus was counting the votes in. California, he would have won. Uh so, I. I pressed at that time the then chairman. of the Republican Party, Mike Watley,

"What evidence do you have to show. that?" And he wasn't able to provide. any. Sort of laughed and said that Trump. was kind of joking about it. He's kept. that Jesus. uh line up a few different times. In. California, by design, the lawmakers. have made a system that prioritizes. giving as many people as possible as. many options as possible to vote up. until the very last minute. And because. of that, counting all of that is slow.

Uh so, in California, every single. registered voter is mailed a ballot, whether they ask for one or not. A lot of people have liked that. 80% of. voters now return their ballots in the. mail instead of voting by in person. But, a vote-by-mail system then requires. some verification to make sure it's the. right person that actually got the. ballot sending it back. The way they do. that is through signature verification.

You sign your ballot, it goes through a. machine, they make sure that your. signature looks the same as the. signature that is on the file uh for. when you got a driver's license or. whatever you have in the system. And if it doesn't, then it goes to a. human being to look at it or a panel of. human beings to look at it. If there's a. real problem with that, you're notified, and you have an opportunity to come here. and to correct it and say, "Yes, that's. my ballot. Here's my signature." And.

it's called curing. But, that whole. process takes a while. They give you up. to 7 days for postmarked ballots to come. in. because you can drop off your ballot in. the mailbox the day of the election, up. to 7 days for those days for those to. come in, and then up to 10 days to cure. the rolls. So, the whole process, when. everything comes together, takes about 3. weeks. >> Now, why do you presume it is that. Donald Trump is engaged in this whole. process yet again, pointing to.

California, and kind of wasting. resources, expending his energy trying. to convince people that a process that. is legitimate, that all the evidence. shows is legitimate, is somehow. illegitimate? >> Because Californians, by and large part, have rejected his policies. Remember, Donald Trump. lost this state by by almost 30 points. Um and right now, his approval rating in. California is in the 20s. So, if if instead of accepting that,

if you change the narrative and say that. that's not really happening and create. your own narrative, which is something. that President Trump has been an expert. at through his entire career, not just. in politics, the idea of branding. something and sort of willing something. into existence, uh and that's exactly. what he's done with these allegations of. fraud. If you say it enough, people. start to believe it. And I will tell you. personally, I put out a video just sort. of explaining the way the process works. and to see the way it's twisted,

frankly, by both sides in terms of to. get their narrative out there is quite. extraordinary and there is real distrust. in the system. And And you know, you. know, maybe there's a real argument to. be had. Should we have ballots. uh postmarked up until election day? Should we have 7 days for those to come. in? Is that a good process? I think. there's a there's a real debate to be. had about the system and whether the. system is working or the system should. be improved. But what we don't have. right now, and and that's a that's a. debate over whether we should be able to.

count votes faster. What we don't have. right now though is evidence that the. system is rigged, that the system isn't. working, or this concept that in the. middle of the night a bunch of people. find some votes, you know, in the middle. of the week and then just plop down some. ballots and then all of a sudden they're. counted. That's not how it works. And by. the way, if anybody doubts it, come. here. This [snorts] center and other centers. like it across the state are open to the. public. You can come on tours. You can.

observe the process in person. You can. watch online. The whole thing is. streaming live. You can watch the whole. thing happen. Um so, one thing that is quite striking. when you're here is the amount of. transparency. built into the system to try to address. a lot of those concerns. Right. And I. think what you said was especially. important that there There a purposeful. conflation of the votes are being. counted slow by design and this idea. that those same votes are rigged because. they're being counted slow. Those two.

things obviously are completely. separate. I I want to. I want to ask you about the actual race. itself now. You are the premier. California reporter. I would highly recommend for anybody. who's watching from California and. frankly nationwide to tune into the. story is. every evening during the week from 9:00. to 11:00 p.m. Pacific. 12:00 to 2:00. a.m. Eastern. I myself has been have been on that show. numerous times and it is a lot of fun. Alex, can you give us a state of the. race right now? Obviously two major. races that folks are looking at are the.

gubernatorial race where Javier Becerra, Tom Steyer and Steve Hilton are vying. for those top two slots to advance to. the runoff. And then we have the mayoral. race where Nithya Raman and Spencer. Pratt are vying to face off against. Karen Bass in that runoff. So where do. we stand right now? >> So there are still enough votes to be. counted in both of those races for the. outcome to change. So neither one of them is set. It is looking increasingly likely like.

the governor's race is going to be. Javier Becerra the Democrat and Steve. Hilton the Republican. Tom Steyer still. needs to make up a lot of ground. He. needs to do exceptionally well in the. late returning ballots. There were. several different anecdotal and polling. indications that he was doing. exceptionally well in the final days of. the campaign. So there are still enough. ballots for him to do it. We have not so. far seen an example though of him. winning enough ballots just to make up. the margin. But he still has more time.

on that front. But if you had to bet you. probably would bet for the other two. In. terms of the mayor's race, CNN has. projected that Karen Bass is moving on. So the battle is now for the last spot. of the top two to go ahead into the. general election. Spencer Pratt is ahead. right now of Nithya Raman. And Nithya. Raman has done well in some of the late. returning ballots. She's expected to climb and probably. narrow the gap with Spencer Pratt. The. question is by how much? The are there. enough ballots out there for her to do.

that because people think there's a lot. of late returning ballots for Democrats. Yes, that's true. But not every Democrat. is voting for Nithya Raman. Many of the. Democrats also voting for Karen Bass, who of course is a Democrat endorsed by. most of the leaders of the Democratic. Party including most of the Democratic. Socialists on the City Council who did. not endorse Nithya Raman. So at this. point in some ways a vote for Bass is. almost like a vote for Pratt because it. stops Nithya Raman from advancing up. So.

we'll see if she's able to to lengthen. those margins. And every day at around. 4:00 to 5:00 Pacific time we get a lot. of new data. That's when the the ballot. dumps are made where they put out new. numbers. It's widely expected for the. governor's race that on Friday a bunch. of counties are going to release their. data probably around the same time. And. that will give us a real sense if Tom. Steyer has the juice to potentially keep. this going or it may be time to start. making a call on that race.

>> Let's say for example that Spencer Pratt. does advance through the runoff. Do you. have any reason to believe if he was. able to garner roughly a quarter of the. votes in this jungle primary process. where there's no there's no barriers to. people voting for Spencer Pratt that his. margins would be any better if. presumably Nithya Raman doesn't advance. and the vast majority of those votes go. to Karen Bass. Is there any reason to. think that Spencer Pratt might have a. shot to actually win the LA mayoral.

race? >> Well, he would need to do one of two. things or maybe both things. He would. need to convince some of these Nithya. Raman voters that you're so against. Karen Bass that you should side with. Spencer Pratt. We'll see if he's able to. do that. Uh the other thing he would. need to do is bring in voters that. weren't didn't come out this time. Um. and try to bring new people into the. system. I mean, part of the way Donald. Trump was able to win uh was that he. engaged voters who before were not in. the system to get into the system and. then that changed the whole calculus of.

the map. Um. I mean, if you had to bet, you would bet. against him. It's hard to imagine how. that happens, but you know, on the day. before the 2016 election, Hillary. Clinton had a 90% chance of winning and. then she lost. Uh so, I think we should. all get out of the prediction business. and uh and let voters decide. >> Last question here, Alex. Uh you and I. were speaking and you have reason to. believe that Donald Trump was actually. watching uh your show the other day. Can. you explain why? >> I don't know if he was, but we had a.

whole conversation about the California. vote and what was happening. uh at late at night on the East Coast at. 1:00. It wrapped up around 1:04. And. then at 1:05, he put on a Truth Social. post about the very topic that we were. talking about. So, maybe he was. watching. I don't know, maybe they were. talking about it in a rerun on another. network, but. >> Well, I would I would highly recommend. look, if it's if it's good enough for. the president of the United States to. tune into, uh highly recommend for. everybody who's watching right now to. tune into Alex Michaelson. Again, Monday.

through Friday, 9:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m. to. 11:00 p.m. Pacific, 12:00 a.m. to 2:00. a.m. Eastern. And actually, on Friday. evening, I'll be on the show as well for. a for a quick debate. So, Alex, uh. thanks for the work that you're doing. Thanks for being there and spreading. good information at a time where it's so. desperately needed. And I will see you. Friday evening on your show. >> Can't wait. Thank you, Brian. >> I'm joined now by the anchor of The Beat. with Ari Melber, Ari Melber. Ari, thanks. for joining me. >> Great to see you. How you doing? >> So, Ari, uh we have seen very recently.

Donald Trump's effort to to kind of. skirt his uh uh in the Epstein files by, of course, firing Pam Bondi and. replacing her with Todd Blanche, who. just got his uh big promotion as he was. nominated for uh attorney general in a. permanent capacity. So, can you talk a. little bit about what you think in terms. of Trump being able to kind of insulate. himself from any accountability as it. relates to Epstein by putting in place. somebody who has shown that he is. shameless if nothing else when it comes.

to burying any of Trump's involvement or. running cover for Trump as it relates to. Epstein? >> I I think Epstein is a huge piece of. this uh and we've both covered it. Blanche was running the exact program. that everyone has criticized, including. many conservatives and Republicans, uh. because they weren't transparent, they. weren't honest, uh they buried and hid a. lot of stuff. In any normal environment, you don't promote that person because it. looks like you're rewarding Epstein. secrecy, which you are. Uh but here.

Donald Trump has shown again and again, I think it's interesting to see his. approval numbers crash because more of. his supporters either realize it or are. just over it uh that he's not in he's. not into public interest. And so, someone who actually went that far. against the political winds, including. on the right, to just save him, protect. him, and do Epstein secrecy, whatever it. is they're hiding, that to him, to Trump, is a win. And so, again, I think it's the type of thing. that has legs because plenty of his. supporters have have woken up to this.

And Blanche's signature was on the. initial misleading documents he was on. the uh. letters to Congress that oversaw. materials that had redaction errors, that cared more about hiding Trump than. hiding the. uh the real victims and others who Trump. had claimed he cared about. So, I think. all of that hangs over this and it's. documented. >> Do you think that this has an impact? And I And I ask that because there are I. mean, countless issues. Every month. there's another kind of discourse du.

jour or story du jour where where we're. like, "Okay, there's no way he can. wriggle out of this one." And then of. course, lo and behold, he does. Obviously, the Epstein thing has a lot. of legs because this was an issue that. was championed by Trump and his acolytes. themselves. And so, this obviously has. more potency than just, you know, kind. of. an issue where both sides can retreat to. their partisan corners. This one was. really elevated by by the right. Um but. with that said, like we have watched as. Trump kind of has been able to kind of.

keep a floor in place. Granted, it's. been chipped away at recently, but in. terms of the the potency of Epstein as a. persuasion issue, do you think that it's. going to um make an impact one way or. the other? >> I think it already has made a huge. impact because it it broke the dam in. the in the votes and was the first big. revolt that was a veto-proof revolt. So, you had a supermajority on that issue. And then after that, you had pushback on. other things, not all as important. But. it was only after the Republican revolt.

on Epstein that you got pushback on the. budget, you got bigger ICE uh cutbacks, you got pushback on the ballroom even by. some Republicans. And now just this. week, you had a war powers vote which. yes, was mostly Democrats, but. Republicans joined. Massie led that. So, the Epstein tormentor. to to Donald Trump uh has now beat him. more than once on the House floor. That. that's not a usual thing. So, yes, I. think there's a cascade. Then there's. the other point you made which I think. is smart and I think people online who.

follow this stuff independently get it. better sometimes, call it better than. than in DC because DC balances between. the two parties. That's kind of its. thing. And when it comes to Trump, I. think both parties have have made. mistakes. The Democrats have run. repeated campaigns just on saying you. don't like him. As if that's a winning. message you need to sell when more often. than not, I could show you the charts, the country's already there. They don't. like him. Um but whether they bring him back in it. compared to the alternative is a. different question, right? Just like you.

could dislike a teacher a lot, and then. they bring in a substitute who's so bad. that you say, "I still don't like that. teacher, but man, we prefer him to this. new one." And so, that's that's the. Democrats' mistake. The Republicans'. mistake is that they've constantly tried. to say, "Oh, you counted him out and he. connects with real America because he. had these surprising comebacks." That's. not real math. Uh, he got a fewer votes. in '16, he got wiped out in the blue. wave in '18, and he lost in '20 with. fewer votes. Right? We all know that. Uh, they. underperformed in '22, including after.

the the big Supreme Court abortion. decision. So, the only time he ever got more votes. was was '24. That's that's a one-off, actually. And we'll see how he does in. '26. I think Senate Republicans are. reminded or waking up to how hard he is. to run with. Um, so, the comeback. narrative is a DC narrative. Uh, it's. not really a comeback if you were never. liked. Yeah. Uh, he won once. And unlike. some other people, call it fair and square. I covered that. election. There was a a big high participation. He. won '24, once.

>> You know, I think what's interesting. about all of this is like he is quietly. doing his work behind the scenes, where. he just rids the party, excommunicates. the party of anybody who is willing to. come forward and support the discharge. petition for the Epstein Files. Transparency Act. Like, it might not. seem so overt because this is kind of. the the. the the slow-running machinations of of. the electoral process, but like Thomas. Massie is out. He signed the He. co-sponsored the Epstein Files. Transparency Act. Lauren Boebert was.

forced to run in the fourth. congressional district in Colorado. because she wasn't going to be able to. win in the third, certainly without the. support of Trump, who'd been busy. calling her uh dumb and low IQ. Uh, meanwhile, you have Marjorie Taylor. Greene, who left Congress outright, and. when she even approached the White House. because uh she and her family were. getting death threats, Trump basically. doubled down and said, you know, you had. what's coming to you. And then Nancy. Mace, uh Trump decided to endorse her. primary opponent in the South Carolina. gubernatorial race. And so, one by one,

like this is a again, this is like a a. slow plotting process, but he was able. to be successful in excommunicating the. people who put him in this situation. situation in the first place where the. Epstein Files Transparency Act was even. advanced because of those people who. were willing to buck the party line. And. so, that's like the one piece of doubt I. have in terms of whether whether it's. still going to be um as easy for these. Republicans to buck Trump recognizing. that every time it happens, whether it's.

on Epstein with those four that I just. mentioned, whether it's Bill Cassidy who. who of course had voted uh in favor of. uh of of his impeachment. John Cornyn, I. mean, the guy was so far up Trump's ass. he could touch the back of his teeth, posting pictures of Trump of of himself. reading The Art of the Deal. Even he. wasn't loyal enough to get the. endorsement over Ken Paxton. So, there. is that there is that backdrop of okay, you can you can speak out for something. that you agree with uh. you know, that that is in that flies in. the face of what uh the White House's.

stance is, but your job is going to be. on the line. >> Yeah, and I I mean, that makes me think. of two things. One on Epstein and one on. this type of politics. For Epstein, given how much has come out that already. makes Trump look bad. And I'm always. careful to say as a as a legal. journalist and I'm a an attorney, um we. have not seen. criminal level evidence. We've seen. stuff that is embarrassing, maybe we. would say disqualifying. Um but unlike some other individuals, the material that's become public about. Trump and Epstein um doesn't currently.

implicate Trump as a criminal. So, that. makes you say, "Okay, if that's already. out there. and he already took the lumps, what else. is he hiding?". >> Right. >> And I'm not the type you know me, I'm. not the type to say, "Well, if it looks that bad, it must be. that." Sometimes, and I've covered. stories like this that look one way and. they change. But, it doesn't look good. It doesn't make sense uh logically, basically, to have this much come out, and then have Trump still be acting like. there's something else to hide. Now, does that mean that it's the worst thing. that someone could think of? No. It.

could be malfeasance in how Epstein was. dealt with as a prisoner, foul play uh. in the jail cell, which is something the. whole Congress has now legitimated. It. started out people said, "Oh, is that a. conspiracy?" If you read the files. uh legislation, as I'm sure you have, and I'm I'm sure some of your viewers. have, one of the enumerated items is all. the additional information about the. treatment of Epstein under the control. of who? Trump DOJ and the Bureau of Prisons. Now, by the way, would that alone be a. huge scandal if there were foul play? I.

think so, which is again what I'm saying. is a different explanation and if you. were hiding, say, some earlier illicit. conduct. But, whatever it is, he is. acting like someone who is going all. that way to have something to hide. That's on Epstein. Then on the politics, look, on the one hand, what everything you. said is true and explains why even when. Trump could be polling in the 30s, the. power he has. in Republican primaries and over that. base, which is not even the whole. Republican party, let alone the whole. country and the electorate, right?

That's our gerrymandered system, which a. partisan Supreme Court has made worse, helping Republicans. That still gives him power even when. he's basically lame duck DOA. politically. >> Yeah. >> And then on top of that, he's willing to. do something other presidents have. It's. still a type of weakness, I think, Brian, that he spent with his allies. more. on a single House primary. of the Epstein proponent. >> Yeah. >> for transparency, Massie, than any other. House primary in American history. That.

comes from a point of weakness, right? It's like if you. you're you get into a dispute with. someone and you come back and you bring. 20 hired security, right? One of these. billionaires, you say, "Oh, what do they. do?" Yeah, they could hire a lot of. off-duty cops with guns. And on the one. hand, you say, "Well, you're not going. to beat him up today.". Right? Literally. On the other hand, wow, they must be really scared. And. that is a lot of firepower that they. bought. More on that. race than any in American history. I. mean, that tells you a lot about the. fear and the power that Massie built up,

which then, yes, House member versus. president, yo, that's usually not a fair. fight. >> I I I think that that's a really good. segue into another topic that I wanted. to talk about because as far as Trump. operating from a place of fear is. concerned, he wouldn't need to move to. consolidate so much support in the media. space if he was able to, you know, convey his message. by virtue of how he was governing. Like, if he was doing a good enough job, he. wouldn't need to to level all these.

attacks and buy up all of these media. outlets. We've seen him either sue or. have his allies kind of. um seek to uh be as heavy-handed as they. can within the media, you know, whether. it's whether it's CBS or um you know, I. think imminently CNN. We've also seen. him sue ABC, Wall Street Journal, New. York Times, uh Meta. I mean, you name. it. We We just saw recently saw Scott. Pelley uh get fired at 60 Minutes. Um. and, you know, the the fate of that.

institution obviously is in doubt. I. think what you guys do at MS Now is is. really important because it's one of the. few if not the only legacy media outlet. left that's willing to actually uh buck. Trump and criticize him when it's. necessary to do so. And so, you know, from your vantage, recognizing. that Trump has gone after everyone, really. I mean, he seems to be just. ticking his way down the list. How does. that make you feel about about your.

your obligation, your responsibility to. speak out? And And also beyond that, like. you know, it's it feels almost. inevitable that once he's done with CBS. and CNN. attacking MS now is going to be next up. on the list. And so um just it's it's. it's not going to it's not going to be. easy when the person with the biggest. megaphone in the entire country sets his. sights on either your network or on you. individually.

Um and so just kind of planning out for. something like that, how have you. thought about that? >> Yeah, I mean it's a it's it's a fair. question with what's going on with CBS, which remains the highest rated news. program. I we can all talk about how the. internet's changed a lot and and some. for the good. But. 60 Minutes competes with NFL football. >> Yeah. >> Uh for the largest audience, highest ad. rate. And does it with as we've seen because. you just saw them stand up to this. incredible internal corporate mega. pressure, does it with independence. I. firmly believe based on what I know and.

being in this business that if a radical. socialist went after 60 Minutes with. somehow and you got to really do a lot. of legwork here, but got a hold of the. state control the company, I think they. would go up against leftist intervention. just as much as mega intervention. Those. are serious people. >> Yeah. >> The problem for Trump is. those serious people, non-partisan, are. calling him out. And that's because of. the the plays they're trying to run to. abuse their oversight of the media. merger system.

uh in order to get favorable coverage. And if you could prove it out enough, if. you had an independent investigation, which you're not going to get from this. DOJ. you'd have to investigate whether. they've crossed the line into quid pro. quo bribery and other crimes. Because it. is illegal for government officials to. say. I need X from you to do Y in the. government. And usually it's softer, right? We have. all the campaign donations, it's softer, it's hard to prove. If that happened, that's already that. Second to your. question we're going to continue to.

stand on business and be independent. And you know, sometimes it's like I'm. posting about my show or I'm promoting. myself here. I'm not really about me. I'm really fortunate to work with people. like Rachel. and Nicole and Lawrence who stood up by. the way Lawrence is class with Donald. Trump for 15 years stayed on the air. face the threat now it's heavier for the. reason you say so. we're led by those people and and. and a team we're more independent than. we were before because we're now fully. independent a company versus we trade as. our own company. Most people aren't.

interested in all the details but the. bottom line is we're more independent. than we were a few years ago. So that's. what we're doing and we're standing up. The wider point though that you made is. really important. When you're up 20 in the fourth quarter. you're not really doing a lot of. cheating even if you sometimes cheat. Right? It makes no sense. He is sliding. and crashing and. yes, he has a probably an emotional. vendetta against media and and I think. all in all honesty. if he were doing better he might still.

be complaining and attacking Kimmel and. that type of stuff. But the extreme way that they are trying. to censor mute and control the press. going into these midterms and presumably. they're not going to stop going into the. the big the big presidential election. shows how weak they think they are. without that kind of of pressure or. cheating. >> As we watch. the DOJ and the FCC be so heavy-handed. in what they're trying to do. Like. obviously Brendan Carr has a huge hand.

in all of this and of course we were. just talking about Todd Blanche how he. is basically I mean look the guy is. violating the law because we still have. 3 million Epstein files that haven't. been released. He's made it clear that. he has no intention of releasing. anything else and so he's participating. in this government cover-up at the same. time violating violating existing law. You know, as we move forward I think. we looked at what happened in the. aftermath of Joe Biden winning in 2020. and installing Merrick Garland as. Attorney General. And And I think there.

was this sense in retrospect, misguided. I think, where. it was more important to protect the, you know, to to prevent against the. optics of politicization and to get back. to. um. normal politics and just calm everything. down. And obviously that didn't work. Um. and in fact, the unwillingness to hold. these people to account for what they'd. done, Trump specifically, kind of. emboldened him to recognize that he. could do it 10 times to Yeah, 100 times.

faster and harder than he had done it. before. And now we're in a situation. where. the corruption is so egregious. Like. people are selling, you know, shorting. stocks and buying buying stocks that. just make them turn them into. millionaires 10 10, you know, 10 times. over. Um we're watching. this massive pay-to-play scheme. You. know, we just had this report come out, I believe, in the Washington Post like a. day ago that showed that a number of the. companies that had donated money to. Trump's ballroom were then granted.

government contracts that were worth far. more than what they had had had donated. And so like the. we have reached full banana republic. levels of corruption. How do you think. that the next. Democratic Attorney General should take. this stuff into account recognizing that. there are going to be those people um. who who say, you know, let's put the. politics of retribution behind us. But. then there's also going to be people who. say. an unwillingness to actually uphold the. law is the exact thing that emboldens.

criminal behavior in the future. And so. what what do you think, you know, what. do you think should be the move moving. forward, especially from somebody who. has uh a lot of experience in the legal. realm? >> I I think you describe it accurately. I. think any honest future Justice. Department must deal with the. corruption, the looting, the revenge. prosecutions um. that have basically infected multiple. parts of the government. I mean, we have. the housing, uh, partisan warrior in Pulte, who was,

based on what we can tell, misusing. access to information there to go after. opponents. That's like secret police. stuff. And now he's going to run the. intelligence services for a little. little temporary stint, is what Trump. said. So, it's at at DOJ, it's at. housing, it's at FBI, they were visiting. the Georgia voting voting station. And now it's at Intel. He oversees CIA. I mean, this sounds like a movie when. you say, "Wait, CIA director is going to. meet with the guy who's already been. caught misusing information to go after. domestic opponents, right?" This is bad.

So, you have to completely go in after. all of that without fear or favor. And I. say that, and people will say, "Oh, I'm. sounding, uh, potentially naive." But, that's any. honest, non-MAGA. administration. Obviously, that would. hopefully include the Democrats, that's. what they're telegraphing. But, if you. had an honest John McCain style, uh, Republican, I don't know that. they're going to win the nomination, but. I would expect a McCain style. administration also do this. I've seen. very fast way now to say everyone's the.

worst. But, it's I've seen and covered. Republican administrations where the DOJ. was much more independent. >> Yeah. >> and non-partisan than this one. So, we. should also not. >> we we just what we watched Joe Biden's. DOJ prosecute his son. Like, prosecute. the president's son. The notion that. that investigation would even be allowed. to be opened, much less go to. prosecution, go to go to go to, uh, conviction would be just, I mean, it's. it's laughable at this point. The notion. seeing Don Jr. get prosecuted. >> And and Reagan-Bush, according to, you.

know, in legal experts or law schools, the Reagan-Bush DOJs are not held up as. some high water mark. But, again, if. we're just going to be proportionate, they had open probes into their own. administration, including Iran-Contra. And by the end, there were deals and. pardons. But, I just want to be clear, This administration doesn't allow. anything like that. And they didn't have. the level of revenge prosecutions we. have right now. So history is helpful. that way. So I would say any non-MAGA. honest DOJ has an obligation to do this. first and do it strongly. And that means.

looking at what's always hardest in. Washington, which is, you know, you have. all this this pro wrestling and then you. have a hell of a lot of people who they. go in and out of office and you say, "Why does it seem like the Democrats are. giving in and they're not fighting that. hard?" And then you look up and 2 years. later the guys who were fake fighting on. the Senate floor in the same lobbying. shop and other crap like that. And so. the DOJ has to really. look fully at what they sometimes see as. their contemporaries, which is, "Oh, well, I knew that guy when we were at. DOJ 10 years ago." Yeah, well, we don't.

care. If he was covering up the Epstein. files or helping Todd Blanche make up. stories or going into grand juries to. help. make it a slightly less severe revenge. prosecution. I don't care. If they broke. the rules of the law, they should be. disbarred and investigated. If they If. they committed a crime like anyone else, I don't care that you knew them back. when they were different and worked in a. different DOJ. So we have to deal with. that. And if we don't, you know, there. was a writer I quoted when I did a piece. about January 6th who said a failed coup.

without accountability becomes a. training exercise. >> Yeah. >> Well, boy, have we seen that and we're. going to see more of that. And then on. the corruption, they're looting. The. last point I would make is, you know, I I when I'm trying to report and get. people's attention, I use analogies cuz. I feel like when you're only talking. about the thing, we only know what you. think about the thing. So let me compare. it to another thing. Okay? A heck of a lot of conservative-minded. people and some people were sympathetic. to Trump or maybe they voted for him. once and they regret it. They look at that looting that you see. sometimes where a city.

has a a blackout or a burn down. buildings and people go in and they you. say, "God, these people they got the. opportunity and in 1 hour they started. taking TVs." You say, "That's wrong. What about the local store owner?" Or. okay, insurance pays for it, but it's. still it's still stealing, right? And. and those type of folks will say, "Gosh, you know, that looting is wrong. And and. you got to you got to deter and round. those people up." Okay. That's less than 1% of the scale of the. premeditated. first-degree. long-acting looting, including of the.

Pentagon and places where we would care. about national security. So, yeah, if. you cared about that looting, you should. care about this looting. It's Trump. family looting. It's allied companies. And. I don't predict the future, man. I would. tell you if we don't deal with it as a. society, it will get worse, not better, even if even if the politics change a. little bit. >> Well, you know, the the ultimate irony. of that is like that was a message that. resonated with Trump's voters from Trump. himself. And the first thing he did was. install Elon Musk, who promised to like. eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. And.

what does he do with his power? Fires. all of the people who serve as as you. know, the the watchmen of all of their. respective departments and agencies. And. and then Elon went on after all of the. all of the inspectors general were fired. and and basically eliminated any. barriers to to the to the companies. the agencies that regulate his. companies. And then awarded himself a. bunch of government contracts. And so. right there, all of that that trust was. just completely decimated. But the. extent to which we're seeing it now has.

become so overt and so egregious and and. almost like I mean, they're almost like. proud of it. To to come out and say I'm. going to sue my own federal government. for 10. >> billion dollars. And then think that. it's some gift to us to say, "You know. what? Let's just compromise with a $2. billion slush fund to turn each one of. the 1,500 insurrectionists into. millionaires. But also, we'll give me. tax amnesty for myself and my family. forever." That could also cost the. government $100 million in. in in funding that that would get paid.

to the federal government and now won't. I mean, the. the corruption in that sense, it's. almost like the administration is kind. of poking poking its finger in the eye. of the American people because this is. the exact kind of stuff that you know. that Trump and Fox would have had a. field day with. >> Well, I think you're making a subtle. point about. if I may the the culture. uh of their degradation of our system. >> Yeah. >> They think it's a flex. to say see what I can get away with. See.

what I can steal. I mean the the fund. that is in so much trouble now, I'll. remind folks, it is already paused in. court. It was paused which is a. procedural step under review, but if you. have a fully obviously legal thing, they. don't pause it. Okay? There's plenty of. stuff the government does that doesn't. get paused in this early stage. So a. judge already paused it. A separate. judge is looking at whether the whole. deal is a fraud as you mentioned. Um so. that's how controversial the fund is. But. if you're watching this in America, it's. your money. They're they're seizing and.

stealing your money. They don't claim. that it was appropriated by Congress. They don't claim that there's any. reason. They think that's a flex. Now, on some of these issues, more and more. Republicans don't and a lot of people. when they learn the details don't. Um. but they think it's a flex in the same. way that autocrats. take a kind of pride in getting other. people even you'll see this in senior. cabinet meetings in Russia whatever. to say that up is down and red is blue. because it shows oh look this person.

will embarrass and debase themselves, their sense of reality for our power. That's how much power we have. I would. observe that there are other people who. have power in a way that I think is. better long-term leadership. Um I can. list off other leaders who are. different. But yes, it's the type of of. cynical. they think it's cynical I think it's. cynical they think it's a kind of flex. to say look what we can get away with. >> Ari, last question here. Uh NYX in how. many? >> Five.

>> NYX in five, sir? That's a good answer. >> I'm in New York. I've lived in New York. more than any other place. I can just. tell you I live in Brooklyn walking. around. Everyone's going crazy. Everyone's into it. So, I want to. support. I don't want to say seven and. then it sounds like it's going to be too. tough. Um. Yeah, and just on that level as as. someone who's been in New York this. long, the energy, I mean, you walk near Fort. Greene where there's the Spike Lee's. There's a bar he likes to go to and. there's it's really community cuz people. know each other and it's like people are. going nuts. So, if you definitely a fun.

time to be in New York in the summer. >> Well, it's it's cool because like look, I'm I'm from born in New York, grew up. in New Jersey originally. So, all of my. sports teams are New York sports teams. I'm a die-hard Giants fan. I've been a. Yankees fan since I was you know, 5. years old. Living out in LA, I've been out here for. 15 years and like we have first of all, the city is so sprawling. So, there's. never a ton of people. Like you can walk. down the street in New York and you're. just there is a there is a mob of people. wherever you go. >> Right. >> LA just isn't like that. So, you never. feel like you're immersed in like a mob.

of people in the same way. And we also. have, you know, the. Dodgers are in LA. We have the Anaheim. Angels like that are that are just an. hour outside of LA. Like it doesn't have. the same. feel within the city. We have a lot of. sports teams, too. There's a lot going on and and it just. doesn't it doesn't take over the city. Like we don't have. you know, even when the Kings I mean, the the Rams are Super Bowl champions. previous year. The the our hockey team. was was NHL champions. You can you you.

can walk through the city and not know. that that happened. I feel like the same. thing isn't isn't going on in New York, which is which is really cool. And so, you know, I'm not a huge. Go ahead. >> and not not not to make it political, but you know, a lot of times you around America, it's. the places where there's very little. diversity and not many immigrants and. that's where people are like, "Oh my. god, the immigrants.". >> [laughter]. >> And I you walk around New York and it is. for folks who sometimes feel like oh is. this whole American experiment is this.

thing breaking down? A lot of places. it's not. You walk around and first of. all they got a new mayor in they got new. stuff they're trying but also you walk. around and you got. such diversity and when they're rooting. for the Knicks if you want to make it in. America you can be like great they're. rooting for America. It's in English. yada yada if that's your cup of tea. But. also you see people who moved here came. here and they're sharing something. geographically culturally. I love that. >> Yeah it's awesome. Um highly recommend for anybody who's. watching right now. First of all check. out Ari on The Beat on MS Now weekdays.

at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Um but also I'm. going to put a link to to Ari's YouTube. channel right here on the screen and. also in the post description. If you're. listening on the podcast I'm going to. throw it into the show notes. This is. the the kind of thing where where we all. have to come together and support and. support any media that is willing to to. tell the truth about what's happening. right now. That takes the the form of folks who are. doing doing good work and pushing back. on legacy media which has been you know. Donald Trump's focus in in censoring.

since the beginning of this. administration. all the way down to independent media. folks and creators but it's it's. a group effort here to make sure that we. elevate these voices who are willing to. to do the work. So I'm going to put that. link right here on the screen and also. in the post description. If you're not. yet subscribed please go ahead and hit. the subscribe button. Ari thank you so. much for taking the time man I. appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thanks to all your viewers. and listeners. Stay informed stay hydrated stay at it. Peace everyone. >> To listen to the audio version of this. episode click the link right here on the.

screen and please make sure to subscribe. and of course to see more video content. that subscribe button's on the screen as. well. >> [music].