INSANE announcement on Mitch McConnell’s health

As questions about Mitch McConnell's. health, and frankly his survival, continue to mount, his office has just. released a brand new statement. According to the Washington Post, David. Popp, who is a McConnell spokesman, said, quote, "The senator continues to. meet with staff regarding Senate and. Kentucky business, including discussions. on defense appropriations, foreign. policy, the farm bill, constituent. services, and constituent federal grant. requests. As the senator continues to. improve in rehab, we will be sure to. keep you updated." Now, look, this is. obviously conjecture on my part, but.

with Mitch McConnell in the hospital for. over 40 days, the notion that he is. meeting with staff to discuss foreign. policy and constituent services sounds. absolutely insane. And here's the thing, this is a sitting United States senator. whose absence is functionally shifting. the balance of power in the US Senate, and the public has every right to know. more than a staged photo op is telling. us. Which, by the way, is not something. that I should have to say to a political.

party that spent four years decrying Joe. Biden's cognitive function. If anyone. should have some modicum of concern for. the ability of an elected official to do. their job, it is the same Republican. party whose entire identity was. predicated on their collective concern. about the president's cognitive health. Although, I got to say, there is. something so fundamentally Mitch. McConnell about the rules suddenly. changing for Republicans. Remember, McConnell himself would not allow. Merrick Garland to be seated on the. Supreme Court for a year because, God.

forbid, a Supreme Court nominee was. appointed during the year of an. election. Until, of course, Amy Coney Barrett was. seated while votes were already being. cast. And the architect of that scheme, Mitch McConnell. So, the irony is not. lost on me that he is yet again at the. heart of a scandal where only one side. has to operate by any rules. So, look, I. say this as somebody who is not a. doctor, and shockingly, even in the year. 2026, when everybody pretends to be. everything, doesn't even claim to know.

anything about health care, but I'm. going to go out on a limb and say that. far from doing constituent services and. delving into the intricacies of foreign. policy, I would be surprised if Mitch. McConnell is even lucid or capable of. surviving on his own. Which raises the question, why does this. matter? Like, why would the GOP or. McConnell's office be hiding this? And. the answer is that there is a deadline. buried in all of this, and that's August. 3rd. Under Kentucky law, if McConnell's seat. becomes vacant before August 3rd, so,

you know, over the next week or so, the. state is required to hold a special. election to fill it. After August 3rd, there isn't enough runway to administer. that special election before Kentucky's. already scheduled November election for. his seat happens. So, instead, the seat. would just, you know, sit vacant, unoccupied until whoever wins that. November race is sworn in come January. And of course, this is the exact law. that Kentucky Republicans just ran. through back in 2024. And it wasn't. some, you know, good government reform.

This was a bill written specifically. because Republicans looked at their. aging, ailing Senate leader and said, "We cannot let risk letting our. Democratic governor have any say in who. replaces him." So, they stripped Andy. Beshear of the appointment power. entirely and mandated a special election. instead. All while McConnell was 82. years old and obviously not at peak. health. So, here's where the truly fitting part. of the story comes in. If Mitch McConnell's seat goes vacant.

before August 3rd, Kentucky has to run a. real special election. One where. Democrats could theoretically compete. in. Or, at a bare minimum, where Thomas. Massie could run in. Or somebody else. that actually puts up a real fight and, you know, at least costs Republicans a. lot of money to defend. But, if. McConnell's office can just keep the. lights on, if they can just keep issuing. vague little he's recovering nicely. statements and run out the clock past. August 3rd without an official vacancy, then that seat simply sits empty until.

January when the already scheduled. November race, a race shaped by. Kentucky's Republican-leaning. electorate, decides who gets in. So, no. competitive special election variable, no wild card, just a clean handoff to. whoever wins November without ever. having to really test the seat in an. open contest before then. Which means. there is now a very real, albeit very. cynical, incentive for McConnell's team. to say as little as possible for as long. as possible and just get him, or at.

least the legal fiction of his still. occupied seat, across the August 3rd. finish line. Whether or not that's. actually what's happening, I can't tell. you. Nobody can tell you because that's. the whole point. The opacity itself is. the problem here. And going back to the double standard. here for a second, again, if the roles. were reversed, if this was, say, an. 84-year-old Democratic senator who. vanished from the capital for 6 weeks. after being rushed to the hospital for. cardiac arrest with nothing but one.

single staged photo to show for it, Republicans would be on every cable news. channel demanding proof of life. They'd. be invoking the 25th Amendment. They'd. be accusing Democrats of running a. shadow senatorship, of hiding his true. condition from voters, of a cover-up. Again, we watched them do exactly this. with Joe Biden for months. But, when. it's their guy who's actual medical. status determines actual Senate math and. an actual statutory election deadline, suddenly it's, "Well, look, let's let's.

give him privacy because after all, he's. working hard from his hospital bed for. voters.". But, I have to say that the most fitting. part of all of this, the part that. really sums up Mitch McConnell's entire. career, is that even now, even from a. hospital bed, even 6 weeks removed from. the Senate floor, his presence, or the. ambiguity of his presence, is still. being used to manipulate the system for. partisan advantage. This is a guy whose. entire legacy is built on bending. institutional rules to squeeze out just.

one more procedural win. Again, blocking. Merrick Garland, ramming through Amy. Coney Barrett, rewriting Senate norms. whenever it served Republican power. And now, even as his own health hangs in. the balance, the mechanics of his own. party's law are potentially being used, deadline and all, to make sure the. Kentucky Senate seat stays firmly in. Republicans' hands, no matter what. happens to him personally. You could not. write a more fitting final chapter for. Mitch McConnell if you tried. A man whose defining trait was always.

outmaneuvering the system for partisan. gain, quite possibly doing it one last. time. Not through some clever floor. maneuver or committee trick, but simply. by the silence around his own uh. survival being useful enough to run out. the clock. That's the legacy. Not what. Mitch McConnell stood for, just what he. was willing to bend in order to win. You're watching the No Lie Podcast. Next. up are my interviews with Jamie Raskin, Yasmine Ansari, and Peter Hamby. No Lie. is brought to you by SimpliSafe. In the.

United States, there is a break-in every. 26 seconds. That means somewhere, right. now, an intruder is getting closer. The. problem is that most security systems. only alert you after break-in's already. started, and at that point, it's too. late. That's why I chose SimpliSafe to. secure my home. Using the outdoor camera. series 2 and advanced AI alerts, SimpliSafe's US-based live agents. identify threats on your property and. help deter them, stopping crime before. it even starts. That's real peace of. mind. It has been a game-changer for me,

especially in a world that is, sadly, increasingly dangerous. Having that. peace of mind is worth anything. When. I'm going to sleep or going on vacation, knowing that my house is secure is key. Another point worth making here, there's. no long-term contracts with SimpliSafe. So, your service doesn't plummet the. moment you sign up. SimpliSafe has to. continue earning your business every. single day. I want you to experience the. same peace of mind that I do, which is. why I've partnered with SimpliSafe to. offer an exclusive discount to my. viewers and listeners. Right now, you. can get 50% off your new system by.

visiting simplisafe.com/btc. That's half off at simplisafe.com/btc. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. No Lie. is brought to you by Better Help. Now, the good news is that we talk about. mental health more now than we ever. have, but asking for help can still feel. hard, and Better Help's latest research. confirms it. Better Help's 2026 State of. Stigma Report surveyed 2,000 Americans. and revealed that 85% of Americans. believe getting support is wise, yet 74%. say society discourages people from.

doing so. In other words, we recognize. the problem and what the solution would. be, but it's still difficult to take. that step step to actually seek help. As. someone who's done it, trust me when I. say that you'll be glad you did. And. Better Help is a great place to start. With over 30,000 therapists, Better Help. is the world's largest online therapy. platform, having served over 6 million. people globally. And it works with an. average rating of 4.9 out of five for a. live session based on over 1.7 million. client reviews. Better Help therapists. work according to a strict code of. conduct and are fully licensed in the.

United States. And importantly, Better. Help does the initial matching work for. you so that you can focus on your. therapy goals. A short questionnaire. helps identify your needs and. preferences, and their more than 12. years of experience and industry-leading. match fulfillment rate means they. typically get it right the first time. If you aren't happy with your match, just switch to a different therapist at. any time from their tailored. recommendations. Do not let stigma stand. in the way of support. Start therapy. with Better Help. Sign up and get 10%. off at betterhelp.com/nolie. That's betterhelp.com/nolie.

We now have an escalation between. Republicans and one of Donald Trump's. biggest enemies that is Jack Smith at. the hands of one of his acolytes, Jim. Jordan in the Judiciary Committee. I'm. joined now by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Congressman, can you explain what's. happening at the hands of Jim Jordan. against Jack Smith in deference to. Trump? >> Well, we know Trump hates Jack Smith. because he followed the law and he. followed the facts and he did his job. So, he's always looking for a way to get. at him. This one is comical, Brian, because the House Republicans have.

referred Jack Smith to the Department of. Justice for perjury because they asked. him questions, he answered the questions. perfectly truthfully, but then they wish. they'd asked him other questions, which. they didn't ask him, and he of course. didn't answer questions they didn't ask. him. And so, the whole thing is. absolutely ludicrous. They will be. laughed out of court. They they claim. that when they asked Jack Smith whether.

he had subpoenaed. the not just the toll records for. telephone calls, which are the records. that all of us have for the numbers we. called, but also the actual content of. the conversations, he said, "No." Because he did not. subpoena them. Um. they did not ask whether he received. them not through a subpoena but just. directly from the archives because the. president's records are given to the.

archives and they they are routinely. then turned over for this purpose. So, they were turned over not through a. subpoena. Um. and you know, not from the subpoenas. that were issued to any of the telephone. companies, but they were turned over to. uh Jack Smith by the archives, and the. Republicans just forgot the I assume. they forgot or they didn't know or I. mean, who knows what happened, but they.

did they failed to register the fact. that. um a president's records are turned over. to the archives, including emails? And. so, if there were emails that went from. Republicans to President Trump were back. and forth, they would be turned over. Now, certainly the White House and the. Trump people knew all about it because. they turned them over to the archives, and they were also given to them in the. course of this process. So, essentially. um the House Republicans are upset that.

Jack Smith didn't answer a question they. never posed to him, which is, "Did you. receive those from the archives, or did. you receive them from any other source?". Um he certainly did not lie when they. asked him whether he subpoenaed the. actual conversations. uh or email conversations or text. conversations that took place between. Republican members and the president. It's not perjury for him to correctly. answer the question that is posed to.

him. And so, he may be telegenic, but. he's not telepathic. He can't read the. minds of the questioners in the future. as to what they're going to wish they. had once asked him. >> Well, look, this DOJ is so often just. operating under the principle of they. have a conclusion in search of evidence. And if the House Republicans are going. to give a criminal referral, is there any concern that that's going. to be enough for this DOJ that's looking. for even the thinnest pretense of being.

able to say, you know, uh he's done something wrong, let's move. ahead with prosecution? Certainly, they've prosecuted people for less. And. so, do you have any concern that this is. all that they'll need, thin though it. may be, to move forward with some. prosecution against Jack Smith? >> Well, remember, they've got to go to a. grand jury. The grand juries are now. routinely. uh repudiating and rebuffing the. administration. Hundreds of judges. around the country are lambasting. uh the Department of Justice under Todd.

Blanche because they're lying in court. routinely. They are disobeying court. orders and so on. So, this happens all. the time. Just, you know, just this week. um. it was. the the Department of Justice was forced. to. withdraw the subpoenas they'd rendered. against New York Times reporters. who had gone out to report about the. illegal $400 million. Qatari jet, the foreign emolument that. Donald Trump had taken. But, you know,

Trump doesn't care. He doesn't mind if. they just start these indictments or. processes and they'll take it as long as. they can go. It could be against James. Comey. It could be against Letitia. James. It could be against my colleague. Jason Crow or Maggie Goodlander. They. don't care. They'll go as far as they. can go, harass people, and then move on. And the federal courts have now said. there's no longer a so-called. presumption of regularity in the. statements of the government. They don't. believe them anymore. It used to be that.

government statements were presumed to. be true unless you could prove that they. were not in some way. Now, they don't. presume them to be true. And good for. the federal judiciary because they're. far more likely to be based on a tissue. of lies and misrepresentations. >> Is there no irony in the fact that Jim. Jordan once chaired the subcommittee on. the weaponization of government and is. now directly responsible for. perpetuating this idea of vindictive. prosecutions against the political. opponents of this government?

>> Yeah, there there is no little bit of irony, but there's also a lot of. strategic self-exposure, by which I mean. they knew they were going to do this, that they were going to use the. government not just constantly, but. almost exclusively for the purposes of. attacking the designated political foes. of the president, and so. in you know, classic authoritarian. posture, they laid out the the critique. against the other side.

as to inoculate themselves for the. onslaught to come. And. you know, I mean think about things like. Hunter Biden was actually prosecuted and. convicted. Can you imagine. any of the Trump sons being prosecuted. during the Trump administration? >> No. >> Uh for anything? And convicted for. anything? It just would never happen. I. mean, the Biden administration did not. politicize the Justice Department and.

weaponize it. And that is all that. Donald Trump is doing with the. Department of Justice. He's turned the. entire thing into an instrument of his. uh vengeance or his favor. And to prop. up his schemes of self-enrichment, like. the $1.8 billion. slush fund. uh for him to pass out to his friends. and allies and foot soldiers in his. private militia, um or to use the. government to. uh attack his political opponents. So. yeah, that they injected that phrase.

weaponization into the air as much as. they could in anticipation of what they. were going to do. >> On that point of the $1.776 billion. slush fund, we have some new news on. that. Can you explain what that news is? >> Well, um. all 212. Democrats in the House of. Representatives, our entire caucus has. signed on to the discharge petition that. would force this to the floor of the. House of Representatives for vote if we.

can get six. Republicans to join us in defense of the. rule of law. Remember, Trump wanted to. create this $1.776 billion political. slush fund to hand out to Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, other convicted January. 6th felons who beat up police officers. and smashed them in the face and. destroyed federal property, chanted. "Hang Mike Pence", had a rampage in the capital all for the. purposes of overturning an election or.

what they described as stopping the. steal. So, he would like to pay all these people. It's like who wants to be a mega. millionaire? Step right up, tell us your. story and we'll give you actually 1.25. million looks like it's the going rate. That's the money that they already gave. out of the judgement fund at the. Department of Justice to Michael Flynn, his disgraced former National Security. Advisor. after Flynn already lost on his charges. in court. So, he went to court to say it.

was a malicious prosecution, he lost on. it and then they settled with him to. give him 1.25 million dollars. They. settled with Carter Page to give him. 1.25 million dollars and it looks like. that that's what their ambition is. So, we got to shut it down because it's not. just the militarization fund, they will. use the judgement fund in the same way. if we don't stop it. We've got to make. sure that no money is to be used for. this purpose and if people. don't understand how sinister and. dangerous it is to allow him to pay off.

his private militia army, maybe people will be convinced by the. fact that it's unconstitutional. It's. right there in the 14th Amendment which. says that no state shall pay or. reimburse anyone for the costs of. insurrection against the union. >> Is there any indication that there's. going to be Republicans who sign on to. this discharge petition? >> Well, it's a tough one. I mean, what we. had going for us. in the Epstein files was that the Trump. administration campaign had been railing.

about the Epstein files and they had. been talking about, you know, an. international child sex. ring and pedophiles and so on. He was. hoisted on his own petard essentially. He did everything he could to stop it. And then when a a number of Republican. women hung tough like Nancy Mason, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren. Boebert, and they said, "No, we're going. to go through with this." At that point, the whole Republican Party signed up. and Donald Trump then, you know, ran out. to get in front of the parade and say, "Oh, I wasn't trying to stop this. I've.

been for this from the beginning." Even. though then they proceeded to try to. sweep everything under the rug and block. the release of all the materials. But in. any event, they they couldn't really. stop that one. Here, I've had a I had. conversations with four different. Republicans today, and a couple of them. have said, "Well, if you can get some. other Republicans on it, then I would. seriously consider joining you. But. right now, there's nothing that Trump. takes more seriously than his control. over federal money and his slush funds.".

And remember, it's not also just about. the slush fund, this was also the. so-called agreement which one federal. judge has described as collusive and. essentially a fraud on the court and. therefore an anticipated fraud on the. country. But it's also about this. self-pardon that is try neither Trump. nor his family nor his businesses can be. sued in any way civilly for tax fraud or.

any other offenses nor can they be. prosecuted for any offenses committed up. into this point. And this is probably. even more important to them, Brian, than. the political slush fund because after. all, most of that not all of it, they'll. probably keep a couple hundred million. for themselves, but. most of that money is going to be used. for other people. But this fraud. you know, protection against fraud prosecution, this self-immunity, self-pardon is. something that goes right to their own.

interest. And so a number of the. Republican members said, "This is going. to be tough for us to sign." On the. other hand, a bunch of Republicans have. spoken out against it forcefully. And. Todd Blach himself said, remember Todd. Blach when questioned about it said, "It's not moving forward. It's moot.". And they said, "Will you put that in. writing?" And he said, "No, I won't.". And then [laughter] the very next day, Donald Trump said, "I love the idea. I. want to move forward with it." So, you. can see where they're where they're. going with it. But, he did say under. heavy questioning over on the Senate.

side, he said, "Look, you guys could. just go ahead and codify it, legislate. it." And that's exactly what we're. saying. We're going to legislate it. We're going to make this happen. So, I. think that um there are a number of. Republicans who will be tempted by it. because they know it's the right thing. to do, but they're going to be terrified. of uh going up against Trump here. And. you know how they zero in on people. But, we've got one great thing in our. advantage right now, which is the. election that's coming up. And so, we. need people all over the country to be.

demanding. that their representative attach their. name to the discharge petition so we can. cement into law a block against either. the slush fund for nearly $1.8 billion. or the self-pardon applying not just to. Donald Trump, but all members of his. family and all businesses on any charges. that they have nothing to do with any of. this stuff. And they you know, they are. all being given um a preemptive pardon. against any prosecutions that could.

relate to things they've already done. >> I presume if there's not already a. lawsuit, there's going to be a lawsuit. against both the self-pardon and the. $1.8 billion slush fund. So, is this. kind of a belt and suspenders approach. where, you know, you're attacking this. thing legislatively while also. expecting, anticipating there to be a. case against this in the courts? >> Well, there are two cases that are are. presently uh against it. And uh Judge. Williams in Florida has said that she.

rejects the so-called settlement. And. that the fact that they brought the case. in the first place appears to be a fraud. on the court because. >> that's when Todd Blanche himself was. referred to bar council. >> Yes, exactly. All the lawyers have been referred to. bar council under rule 11, which is. sanctions for dishonesty or other. departures from the rules of. professional responsibility. But she. said nobody ever had any intention of. bringing this case. The whole thing was. a setup in basically Trump versus Trump.

and you know who wins that? Trump does. and the public loses. And the idea was. Trump sues the government for $10. billion. The Department of Justice does not. defend the case. They defended the exact. same case against lots of other. plaintiffs who are saying they wanted to. get paid by the IRS, too. And the. Department of Justice brought a very. aggressive defense saying the statute of. limitations has run, which it certainly. has run in Donald Trump's case. And they.

said you can't get liability because of. the actions of a third-party contractor. And that guy's already been sent to jail. for leaking thousands and thousands of. people's IRS information. But Trump. says, "No, I'm going to sue for $10. billion.". Then Todd Blanche and the DOJ don't. defend it. They don't write the exact. same brief that they filed in all these. other cases. They sit down and then they. negotiate. $1.8 billion. to Donald Trump. without the showing of any damages at.

all. After all, Trump said he was going to. release all of his taxes like all the. other presidents have done and so on. But any event, he get $1.8 billion. and then they say, "We're going to give. it to, you know, to the January 6 people. and other people who've been the victims. of weaponization and we're not going to. use the courts to do it. We're going to. set up five people appointed by Blanche. and Trump within the administration who. can be fired at any time by them if. Trump doesn't like what they're doing.

and they will decide where the money. goes. That's what due process looks like. in America now. That's what justice. looks like in America now. We've got to. shut that down, but it's remember it's. not just the weaponization fund cuz. they've already taken millions of. dollars out of the judgment fund to do. exactly what they want to do with all. these other people. They did it. with the Carter Page and they did it. with Michael Flynn. They just want to. use the taxpayers money to pay off their. friends. >> Yeah. Well, I'm I'm sure they're going. to be completely understanding if this. is the president they establish and the.

next Democratic administration wants to. pay off billions of dollars to their. political opponents. I'm sure that we'll. see not a single word of pushback from. Fox News and these Republicans who are. right now conspicuously silent in the. face of Trump doing it. With that said. >> look they they know that the Democrats. have respect for the rule of law and the. Constitution. Yeah. They understand that. and that's what authoritarians do. They. abuse the good faith and the trust that. the rest of the society operates on. They try to get away with everything. they can which is why we've got to be.

out there every day fighting this. corruption, this malice, this. authoritarianism and I thank you for. what you're doing always to get the word. out about each of these schemes and. scams against the American people. >> Congressman, we'll leave it there. Thanks so much for taking the time. >> You bet. >> We have watched as Don Jr. and Eric have. kind of ingratiated themselves into the. federal government using their dad's. position of power to enrich themselves. We now have possibly another Trump kid, Barron Trump, who is doing the same. thing as it relates to two of the more.

reprehensible figures in politics, the. Tate brothers. I'm joined now by. Congresswoman Yasmin Ansari. Congresswoman, you've been especially. focused on this and have just decided to. take action on this issue. Can you. explain what the new news is? >> Hey, yeah. Thanks for having me. So, you know, there have we've long heard. about the Tate brothers and their. association with the Trump orbit and and. their open support of the Trump. administration. Obviously, these two. brothers are. uh serious criminals. They have, I. think, 50 charges combined against them.

just from the UK government for child. sex trafficking, rape, um you know, exploitation of minors, etc. And they. have been allowed to come to the United. States even though they were being. charged in countries like Romania and. the United Kingdom. Now, there's been. reporting. I've been following this for. number of years because I actually was. really alarmed about 5 years ago when a. couple younger family members of mine, who were teenagers at the time, were. talking about Andrew Tate and the his.

whole Hustlers University uh platform. And and I realized like how serious the. influence of these two like absolute. criminals are on young people in this. country. And um it turns out, you know, thanks to really great reporting by the. New York Times and the Financial Times, etc., that they have long cultivated. relationships with Trump's family, including with Donald Trump Jr. and. Barron Trump. With Barron, it's always.

been less talked about. Granted, there's. less reporting on it, and I think it's. that's why it's something that's worth. being investigated. So, given the latest. news around the extradition or the. potential extradition to the United. Kingdom, the fact that uh we know that. the the Tate brothers met with. Republican of Congress on the Hill last. week. I learned this thanks to. reporting. I have sent a letter to James. Comer, who's the chairman of the. Oversight Committee, which I serve on,

to open an investigation into the. broader issue here, into, you know, the. communications that Trump White House. officials may have had with the Romanian. government, into what, you know, Barron. Trump has been. doing, whether he has been in touch with. Tape brothers, whether he has used his. influence with the administration. All. of these things I think are worthy of. being investigated more deeply, and I. think Barron Trump should come before. the Oversight Committee as well as.

Donald Trump Jr. to answer these. questions. >> In the event that Democrats are able to. retake control in the aftermath of. midterms, is this something that you. think the committee should expend. political capital on on issuing a. subpoena for? Like for example, the Don. Jr. or Barron? >> Well, with both of them, it's more than. just this, right? The corruption with. both of those kids, with all of the. Trump kids, is staggering. The. self-dealing, the the ways that they. have used their influence in the White. House to make record profits. I think.

so, you know, they've made hundreds of. millions, if not billions, of dollars, Don Jr. in particular. So, I think we. need to look holistically at all of the. the issues that they have had and all of. the ways that they may be held. accountable or held criminally liable, and and we need to look at it in in that. way. >> Can you speak a little bit about the. fact that, you know, a a major theme of. this administration on the campaign. trail was holding these kind of people.

to account. These, you know, that there. is that there is a an an echelon of. people who can operate and commit. criminal acts with impunity, especially. as it relates to sex trafficking. And. that was something they promised with. regards to the Epstein files. Obviously, they haven't been released, and in fact. Trump has put in place people that are. expressly going to suppress these files. And now we have the Tape brothers who. are accused of engaging in similar. activity, and again, it looks like the. Trump administration is bending over. backwards to help those people. So, can. you speak on that that chasm between.

what these people said on the campaign. trail versus how they're actually using. their power and governing? >> The Trump family has absolutely turned. its back on Americans as it pertains to. what they promised on the campaign trail. in every regard. But as as it relates to. corruption and going after criminals, I. think that they they they always knew. they were lying. You know, they they. wanted to win an election. They lied to. Americans in every single way possible.

And the truth of the matter is that at. the end of the day, they care about who. is loyal to them, who will help them get. elected, who will help them make money, and who will help them build their. influence. The Tate brothers are prime. examples of that. Andrew Tate has been. working for years to cultivate his. relationship with the Trumps. He's. openly um supported Donald Trump when he. was running in 2024. He he urged his his. platform, which he has he has a lot of. influence, unfortunately, a lot of. followers across the country and the.

world. He urged them to support Donald. Trump. And so he's been working on. overdrive to make sure that when the. time comes, he has access to this. administration so that he can, you know, maneuver around all of the criminal. charges that are uh coming at him from. multiple different countries at this. point. This uh administration, and. especially the Trump family, also is. using the White House to make as much. money as possible. And if, you know,

let's say if we were going to talk about. the Epstein files, we know that in the. Epstein files, there are many rich and. powerful people, some of whom are Trump. donors or Trump supporters, who as. Donald Trump said himself to former. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, "My friends would get hurt." And so they. are not serious about the Epstein files. They never have been. They have been. leading the most egregious cover-up, I. believe, in American history. They have.

Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, at the helm of it all. And they're. trying to now make him the Attorney. General of the United States of America. after he doxxed survivors to try to. silence them and to try to get them to. back down. I mean, I could talk about. this for hours because the the level of. corruption. and cover-up and self-dealing is so. staggering, and it happens every single. day, many times a day in broad daylight,

and they're doing it in a way where. people are it's hard not to become numb. to it because it's happening so. frequently and and so brazenly that um. I think that we can't we can't forget. about this. You know, there's a lot of. talk, obviously, about when Democrats. take back the house and hopefully the. presidency in 2028, is it about kind of. restoring normalcy and restoring the way. things were, or do we need to be. aggressive. to go after these people? And I think we.

need to be as aggressive as we possibly. can because Americans need to see that. you cannot be at the highest levels of. our government committing crimes of this. magnitude, and then you lose an. election, and then everybody moves on. Absolutely not. Some of these people. need to go to jail. >> Yeah, I I I could not agree more. I just. spent the last week on a book tour. saying exactly this. And, you know, frankly, the corruption that we're. seeing right now is not happening in a. vacuum. It's happening, in my opinion, as the direct response to the fact that. they were not held accountable by.

Merrick Garland's DOJ, that this DOJ or. that DOJ decided to prevent the optics. of politicization, give a clear runway. to Trump to to engage in the criminality. that he's engaging in right now. And him. seeing that there's no deterrent effect. put him in a position where he said, "Well, what if nothing's going to happen. to me, let's just go balls to the wall.". And so, this, again, doesn't happen in a. vacuum. It happens as the result of an. absence of any enforcement action uh. from from the federal government. So, if.

you have a government that's not going. to take this stuff seriously, then of. course you're going to be ushering in an. era where people are just going to, you. know, operate. uh you know, to to enrich themselves. And and at at this point, you don't even. know if the federal government is acting. in the best interest of America or. acting in the best interest of Trump and. World Liberty Financial and his foreign. real estate deals and, you know, exchanging better tariff rates for. for crypto or meme coin funding,

whatever it may be. But that that only. happens if you have a federal government. that isn't going to take on this stuff. as soon as they have the opportunity to. do so. >> Yeah, I I agree with you 100%. I look, I. think I think there are, you know, things that we can applaud the. Biden administration for as it pertains. to policy and infrastructure and climate. and and really delivering results in. that sense. But they did have a an. old-school mentality about what it means. to, you know, win an election and take.

power after the opposite party. And and. they did, you know, want to just kind of. like move on and and I think, you know, naively thought that it was over, that. the Trump era was over. There's no way. we're going to ever have Donald Trump. again. That was just a little blip in. time. And and therefore didn't hold. people accountable. And and you're. right. I mean, Trump 2.0 has been. like I. I knew it was going to be bad, but I. couldn't have like designed or come up.

with these schemes that this. administration has pulled in my like. wildest imagination, right? Like it is. just so crazy what happened. The amount. of. absurd, horrific things that they've. done in just a year and a half is. decades worth of damage to this country. And um. Yeah, I mean, that uh many, many, many. people need to go to jail for it. >> What does day one of.

Oversight Committee look like um if. Democrats are able to retake control of. Congress? >> Oof, I think day one is going to be a. laundry list of subpoenas. We are going. through a process right now looking at, you know, what should you know, it's. it's kind of nerdy, but like what are. the subcommittees going to be of the. Oversight Committee in the new term? What are the issue What are the main. buckets and focus areas that we need to. be prioritizing and I think I think that. if you have acted in a way that is.

corrupt through the Trump. administration, whether you're in the. administration or whether you're a. company, like whether you're, you know, a major corporation that has acted in a. corrupt manner as it pertains to, you. know, government contracts. If you're a. CEO, if you are, you know, the head of. some news network that has been corrupt, you should be scared. Like you will be. held accountable by this Oversight. Committee. You will have to come forward. under oath in front of the American.

people. No more of this, you know, behind closed doors, no cameras, you. know, just a little transcribed. interview. Those days will be over. And. so I think people, you know, at least in. the next year and a half should be very. careful in how they're operating because. this is not permanent. Trump is not. permanent. This era is not permanent. New day will come and the new generation. of leaders who are in Congress and. running for Congress or in the Senate or.

running for Senate are very different. than the old guard. >> Perfectly put. We'll leave it there. Congressman, thanks so much for taking. the time. >> Thank you. >> We now have some new J.D. Vance news. that may signal some trouble for the. Trump administration. I'm joined now by. the chief national correspondent at Puck. News, Peter Hamby. Peter, I'm going to. throw right here on the screen a. headline from MS Now. and uh and then we'll talk about it in a. moment. So, this headline is after. months of privately weighing his vice. president against Secretary of State. Marco Rubio, the president has begun.

openly rooting for J.D. Vance. Five. people familiar with his commentary. said. So, we've got the White House that. is kind of putting its finger on the. scale, throwing its weight behind J.D. Vance, but there is also some news that. signals a rough, rocky road ahead for. Vance. So, can you talk about that? >> Yeah, no. Um I I have I have questions. about this story, by the way. We should. I want to dig into whether Trump and. Vance actually like each other, but um I. think Vance has been in some trouble. with Republicans nationally for some. time. We There's an Emerson College.

poll, national poll of Republicans that. came out. That's the story you're. referencing. Vance has fallen. Let's. Actually, I'll pull this up here from. just a few months ago, in August of. 2025. Shoot, almost last year, he was at. 50% in the Republican horse race for. 2028, J.D. Vance. Today, he's at 36. So, he's tumbled like almost 20 points. And. then Marco Rubio, who you just. mentioned, is up at 35. So, basically, the headline from this Emerson poll is. that J.D. Vance is now tied with Marco. Rubio in national polling for 2028,

which is a really big shift. And I've. gone back and watched this trend uh. since March, really. It it goes back to. the war in Iran. I mean, that has made. Trump unpopular. J.D. Vance has bear. hugged Donald Trump. He put himself out. there as the front man for the. memorandum of understanding that has. clearly fallen apart over and over and. over again. Whereas, Rubio has more. smoothly kind of managed the Iran war. He's obviously been a Trump side. He's. obviously part of the administration. Um. but he hasn't really been out front in. the way J.D. Vance has. Vance can't help.

himself, Brian. I mean, Vance says yes. to every camera he loves to play with. everybody. He's like our first podcaster. take uh. >> Yeah. >> vice president. And would wants to be. our first podcaster president. He just. can't shut up. Um. the one thing I will say though is that. his numbers are still really strong. among MAGA Republicans, whereas Rubio's. numbers are stronger among more. traditionally identifying Republicans to. the extent they still exist. So, that's. an interesting trend worth unpacking. >> Well, you know, you know, um, it's not.

like Vance didn't see this coming. because all this time, even from the. very beginning, Vance has been planting. stories or his team has been planting. stories in Politico, for example. Uh, there was another article, if I'm not. mistaken, in the Wall Street Journal. where Vance keeps positioning himself as. the lone skeptic in the room, that he's. he's out there trying to trying to. dissuade the president from engaging in. interventionism. Uh, and and of course, you know, when it does happen, that's. that's uh, that's not thanks to his. efforts, that's in spite of his best.

efforts to get Trump to back off. So, I. think the fact that we're that we saw. all of this groundwork laid in the very. beginning, like right off the bat, goes. to show that Vance knew that this one. was going to be a problem for him, uh, politically, and I think that's bearing. itself out right now. >> Yeah, look, just stepping back, being. vice president is very hard for anyone's. political ambitions in either party. And. we saw this with Kamala Harris earlier. in the Biden years, when she was given. the portfolio of dealing with uh,

southern border migration, you know, and. she went to Central America and said, "Do not come." Uh, and she said she. hadn't been to the border, whatever, different time. But, you know, you. always have to answer for the. president's policies. And Donald Trump's. policies are unpopular across the board. He's underwater on trade, he's. underwater on immigration, he's. underwater on foreign policy, he's. underwater on the Iran war, he's. underwater most importantly on. inflation, the cost of living, and the. economy. And so, no matter how many. inside baseball stories you plant.

in Politico or the Wall Street Journal. or the Washington Post, the American. public at large is not sort of parsing. those stories apart. They see a. spokesman for an unpopular. administration, full stop. And look, again, I. I've always questioned J.D. Vance's. political instincts. Like, I just think. Marco Rubio has grown to have better. political instincts on a national and. international stage, whereas J.D. Vance. has just shown himself to, you know, genuflect to Donald Trump at every turn.

Um, another angle to this I think is. interesting, you know, with that MS now. story, you know, I can see Trump, by the way, rooting for a, you know, boxing match in. 2028 in the Republican primary between. his two guys. And even though he's going. to leave the White House, if he leaves. the White House, he's going to want to. sort of weigh in and play them against. each other. He loves being the. ringmaster. We know that about Trump. So, there's that. And that the second thing is that. Donald Trump, you know, kind of I think.

uses J.D. Vance as a bit of a heat. shield. I I'm not sure everyone on. Trump's team, you know, in the Oval. Office thinks that J.D. Vance is the. most adept political player, that he's. not, you know, a a great political. athlete. And they like having him out. there as the face of an unpopular war. You know, he will go on Rogan, and he. will go on any network, and he will go. on any podcast, and he will travel. around the world and give speeches. defending Donald Trump. The And the the. flip side of that is.

that's J.D. Vance's political bet, and. it's not a dumb one, actually. If you. are just competing for the Republican. nomination in 2028, it's a very simple. bet. You know, you can either like try. to play all these play be really cute. and try to gesture toward mainstream. Republicans and independents and then be. MAGA over here, or you can just go all. in on Donald Trump. And that's just the. bet that J.D. Vance has been making. since he ran for Senate in Ohio, you. know, six years ago. And it's not a dumb.

bet in that sense. It's not popular with. the most Americans, but with Republicans. who are going to be voting in the in the. nomination process in 2028, it's not a. stupid play. >> Totally. I mean, look, he's the sitting. Vice President of the United States. right now. There there is also, and this. is kind of a the really cynical. perception of this, there is also a. world in which something like this gets. leaked, this idea that the. administration is throwing its full. weight behind J.D. Vance, which only. further emboldens J.D. Vance to keep. being the front guy for this. administration, for to keep being a heat.

shield for all of the unpopular policies. it sets out, giving him this idea that. if he does it, he's got, you know, the. um. he's got the the seal of approval from. from Trump himself. And they don't have. to abide by that. Like, a story in MS. now where somebody in the administration. leaked that J.D. Vance is their guy, and. so just keep doing what you're doing, kid, it's going to it's going to work. out in the end. Like, that's not. binding. And so there's a world in which. this could be just the administration um.

giving Vance the fuel he needs to. continue uh. you know, landing in this for. Trump. >> Yeah, and I think you're exactly right. This administration, a lot of. administrations are like this. They care. about winning news cycles. Donald Trump. in particular only cares about the last. good headline or the last bad headline. or the last person to talk to him in the. room or the last poll number he just. saw. And you know, before the memorandum of. understanding was signed with Iran. or negotiated, rather, you know,

remember like a couple weeks ago every. single day Donald Trump would wake up, call a reporter, and say, "We're going. to fix the war by tonight," you know? And the markets would go up, and the. price of oil would go down, and you. know, then we would bomb Iran again. after the markets closed. And [laughter]. then he would do it all over again the. next day. And so, yeah, look, these. people. politicians, not everyone, but a lot of. them, they are just addicted to the. game, and if Donald Trump just keeps. feeding uh you know, J.D. Vance little.

bread crumbs every single day. In. Trump's mind, you know, Trump's like, "Okay, send them out there. We're going. to war every single day. We got to win. news cycles." And then if you're J.D. Vance, you're like, "Thank you, sir. May. I have another?" Because you're just an. addict, and you want to be the next. president of the United States. You'll. do whatever he says. >> Yeah. I think that's exactly right. Um, to. that end, on this idea of being the next. president of the United States, let's. talk about the other side of the aisle. Democrats are engaged in. um, choosing early primary states right.

now at the DNC. Give give us a lay of. the land of where that lies, and what. the implications are of the states that. have been chosen. So, yeah. For people watching and. listening, this this sounds like inside. baseball. But, for years, the first two states in both the. Republican side and the Democratic side. were Iowa and New Hampshire. And they. were flawed for many reasons, and and. New Hampshire is still in the mix, and. I'll tell you who who the first four. states are going to be in a moment. But, you know, for Democrats, the problem.

there was one, Iowa, and we saw this in. 2020, was a caucus. And so, you only had. the most highly engaged people showing. up, and it was easy to kind of game the. room. I mean, Brian, like you've been. out there. You go in a caucus room, and. you'd like in a high school gym or a. church basement, and you sort of haggle. with people to come near corner. It's. just like a very weird process. And in. 2020, it was mismanaged, and no one knew. for days who won. And you what you need. in these early states is momentum. You. need to show a win. Barack Obama in Iowa. in 2008, great example. Um, the states.

are also very white. And look, Democrats. do need to win back white voters in. flyover country, rural voters, non-college white voters. But, inside. the Democratic Party, you know, black. voters, uh, Latinos are extremely important. And. so, the DNC right now is reorganizing. the early state calendar and granting. windows to certain states to go first. Now, New Hampshire is still there, but. they're not going to be the first in the. nation primary anymore, even though they.

have a law on the books in New Hampshire. that says they have to go first. They. have this very precious little law that. they abide by, and it pisses off. everyone else in the DNC every year. They're like, "No, no, no, we get to go. first." And everyone hates New. Hampshire. But, they do have that little small. retail aspect of the state, which is. which is pretty valuable. You could. hand-to-hand combat, retail politics, town halls, tough questions. There's. value there, and importantly, it's cheap to run New Hampshire. You. don't have to have a bajillion dollars. to spend on TV ads like you would in a. big state. So, anyway, the DNC.

on Thursday and Friday began ratifying a. new calendar. The first four states are going to be. either Nevada and South Carolina going. first, and then New Hampshire and. Michigan. They're also talking about. adding. two more states for a total of six, and. it sounds like as of now, when we're. recording this on Friday, New Mexico. and Virginia will be added to that first. window, which is interesting. New. Mexico, obviously, border state, Latinos. But, the real competition,

at least heading into the weekend, was. which one, Nevada or South Carolina? I. think South Carolina is going to end up. being first. Biden, after he won, asked. Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the DNC, to put South Carolina first instead of. Iowa, partly because South Carolina. ratified Biden's victory in 2020. The. majority of primary voters in that state. are black, and it's in the wake of the. Klayman ruling, which really, you know, gutted the Voting Rights Act. All these. southern states are trying to redistrict.

and eliminate black political. participation. It's a really hard look. for the DNC to take away the first state. being a black majority voting state, take it away from South Carolina. But, Nevada. also in the mix. >> All right. So, I I I this go this. question goes against. everything I stand for, because people. will ask me, "What do you think about. 2028? And and the answer that I give and. the answer that I believe is like we. don't have the luxury of being able to. pretend that this is politics as usual.

You know, we have an election that Trump. and Republicans are trying to undermine. right now. We've seen the extent to. which they're trying to. >> theme This is a big theme for you. You're very consistent. >> I Yeah, and like and I believe it. And. like I I know that they're going to try. to interfere in the election. There's no. empirical evidence that would suggest. that Donald Trump does not want to. interfere in this election, but I have. to ask because. >> we're talking about the primaries uh and. we've got you. And so what do you think. the implications are for specific. candidates? Who does this benefit the. most and who does this hurt the most. ahead of 2028?

>> Um this came up a lot in my reporting. this week for PAC. I was calling around. to members of the DNC who were involved. in the voting process. The final fight for the first slot, you know, was between Nevada and South. Carolina, which was sort of. you know, imagined as a fight between. black political power in South Carolina. and Latino voting power in Nevada. Now. that's pretty simplistic in a couple. ways. Um you know, Nevada is also a huge.

labor state. I think like 10% of the. electorate is black in Nevada. They have. a uh you know, black party chair. Um likely their next governor will be. black. So it's not like purely, you. know, black brown. Um. but because of labor. uh and because of its uh you know, large. Latino population, a lot of DNC members. thought that you know, if AOC runs, Nevada would be a very good state for. her. Now, that's spooked the more sort. of moderate traditional old heads on the.

DNC who never liked Bernie, don't like. DNC or sorry, DSA-style progressives. And so their thinking is South Carolina. should go first because as we know, uh you know, black political power in. the South is where the sort of Bernie. movement, the Bernie style of politics. ran into a wall twice because, you know, it's had a it's had a hard time. expanding into um. black communities. So, Bernie Bernie. never caught on with them. And so, that's sort of the thinking. And then.

again, with New Hampshire, you know, Mayor Pete, um who's good at the small-town town. hall, he's been polling very well in New. Hampshire. But so is AOC, by the way. And so, I think this gets to your point, Brian. It's so hard to game out right. now. If there's like a purely like just. pick two people, um. you know, Josh Shapiro and AOC, like like you. could game this out, but you can't. You. can't. And another one more wildcard. that I think is important is that. Michigan is replacing Iowa in the. Midwest cuz everyone's done with Iowa.

and [laughter] all their. screw-ups. Michigan, I think, is a good. state because you've got uh black voters. in Detroit. You've also got the sort of. Reagan Democrats outside in and around. Detroit that Democrats need to win back, right? From the from the you've got. rural voters. Um you can drive across. the state. It's a it's it's it's a good. state, but you've also got. this Gaza-Israel debate, which obviously. is a huge issue in the Democratic Party. And the DNC members that I talked to, um you know, including Debbie Dingell,

were like, "Democrats need to not run. away from these debates. They need to. learn how to talk to these voters, find consensus, and figure out how to. win there." And so, um you know, if you. are. if you're Josh Shapiro, by the way, or. Rahm Emanuel, you're you're more more. slightly more pro-Israel than other. Democrats, like that could be a Michigan. could be tough for them with the huge. Arab and Muslim population in and around. Detroit. Remember like I think 10-11% of. the vote went to uncommitted against. Biden. uh back in 2024 uh you know, as Gaza was.

flaring. So, but again, I think rather. than hide from it, Democrats need to. just. go into those communities and have tough. conversations. And that's why I think. the DNC put Michigan up up there too. >> Last question here, Hamby, and that is. that is talk to us about you getting the. scoop of the scoop of the year over at. Puck because [laughter] we have some new. news on the on the NBA scene. Talk about. that for a sec. >> Yeah, speaking of Josh Shapiro, I. reported. gosh, it would have been like 10 days.

ago. that Shapiro bumped into LeBron James at. a at a at a dinner in New York and I had. By the way, I'm proud of this scoop cuz. it came from more of an NBA person than. a political person. But LeBron James, free agent as you know, signed with the Sixers on Friday and I. reported several days ago that Josh. Shapiro like privately was like wooing. LeBron to come to Philly. And we know. Shapiro is a huge sports fan. He goes on. Philly talk radio to talk about the. Eagles. Like he gets sports. He's a he's. a real junkie for this stuff. So,

LeBron signs with Philly, signs with the. Sixers on Friday and Shapiro is not. really taking a victory. victory lap, but he did go declare. LeBron James Day in Philadelphia and. everyone on everyone. everyone on Twitter and X is like, oh my. god, he's he's up for re-election this. year. He's going to win by 60 points. Like people are hyped. Like it's a big. He's not again, he's not taking credit. for it. But he can wink at people who. are giving him credit and you know, it's. it's a it's a it's a W. >> attached himself to this pretty pretty.

loudly, I think. >> Well, look, I think for for anybody who. wants to to get these kind of scoops, not just in the basketball world, but. also the political analysis [laughter]. which is second to none, please make. sure to subscribe. to Puck. I'm going to put the link to. I'm going to put the link to Puck itself. in the post description of this video or. if you're listening to the podcast in. the show notes, but I'm also going to. put a link to Hamby's YouTube show right. here on the screen and in the post. description as well. So, if you're not. yet subscribed, please go ahead and. subscribe. Peter, appreciate your time,

man. >> Thanks, buddy. I really appreciate it. Yeah, everyone subscribe to the Powers. That Be podcast on YouTube. I appreciate. your help. Thanks, Brian. >> You're watching the No Lie podcast. To. listen to the audio version of this. episode, click the link right here on. the screen, and please make sure to. subscribe. And to see more video. content, that subscribe button's on the. screen as well. >> [music].