Trump staffer PANICS as Trump ally UNDERMINES Trump
Trump's effort to undermine our. elections just hit a devastating. roadblock. In the immediate aftermath of. his big presidential address seeking to. undermine trust in our elections, the. guy who Trump specifically hired to. investigate elections made a pretty. damning admission. This is video from MS. Now's Von Hillyard. This is John. Solomon, who Trump hired at the White. House to investigate elections. >> You acknowledge that there were no votes. changed in 2020. >> I I all I can acknowledge is what the. intelligence shows, right? I only know. the intelligence community has zero. evidence that someone has flipped a that.
a foreign power flipped a vote in 2020, 22 or 24. >> And you have no you're able to. acknowledge we're not through all the. documents. >> You're able to acknowledge that. Venezuela has not tampered with voting. machines in the United States. >> No, they they the uh intelligence is. very clear. They did it on their own. machines. Why is important that they did. it on their machines? Their machine. protocols are the same as America. Why? because for a long time they did exactly. >> and so the so the 2020 election was in. fact the results as we the American. public. >> I'm still researching so let me let me. this is the first. >> but there's no intelligence on.
there is no intelligence that the. election. >> would have said that Donald Trump was. president said that tonight. >> so even the guy who Trump specifically. brought on to validate his claims of. election fraud says that there was no. foreign interference in the election and. of course you can hear Caroline Levit. full freakout mode trying to shuttle him. away. Now, this comes in the aftermath. of Trump's lie riddled speech trying to. undermine our elections. He said that. China got access to 200 million voter. files, that Venezuela was using software.
that could flip votes, that 250,000. non-citizens were on the voter roles. Fact checkers have already come out and. debunked all of this. For example, the. voter file files that China got access. to are just available for sale online. Venezuela experimenting with being able. to manipulate uh their software is not. something that could have been done. abroad. And that's according to our own. CIA. And those 250,000 non-citizens on. the voter roles is exaggerated by about. 225,000. And by the way, there is no evidence.
that undocumented immigrants on the. rolls have actually cast any ballots. It's worth noting that this issue in. particular was studied in Utah. No. Democrats there to gum up the works. Utah Republicans looked at the entire 2. million voters on the voter roles there. in search of undocumented immigrants. They found one and that person never. actually cast a ballot. So why is Trump. doing this? Because he's desperate to. seize control of how elections are run. in this country. His DOJ is suing 31.
states for their unredacted voter roles. If you got the DHS demanding access to. run those roles through citizen. citizenship verification systems that. keep wrongly flagging eligible voters. You've got the Save America Act that. would amount to a federal takeover of. state-run elections. Republicans keep. refusing to rule out sending ICE to the. polls. So, they're definitely trying, but they haven't been able to succeed. They've been stymied by the courts and. judges and the filibuster, you name it. So, clearly, they need to try a new. route, a new justification to shoehorn.
through some more aggressive ex. executive action. But, you need a. pretext to do that. You can't just. declare that you're taking over. elections or passing some major. executive reforms. You need some excuse. And that is what we're seeing right now. This is the foundation being laid for. Donald Trump to try and claim election. fraud. The system is broken and China or. Venezuela or whatever other country he. lands on today is going to steal our. elections and he has to take. extraordinary action to prevent that. from happening. Is it true? Not at all.
But it doesn't need to be true. He just. needs people to believe it. And by the. way, that is a recurring theme. Remember. this from the aftermath of the 2020. election. >> On December the 27th, there was a phone. call between President Trump and the. acting attorney general and his deputy. According to notes taken by that deputy, they told Mr. Trump, "Understand that. the DOJ can't and won't snap its fingers. and change the outcome of the election. Doesn't work that way." And Mr. Trump.
responded, "Just say that the election. was corrupt and leave the rest to me and. the our councilman." See, he's done it. before. Again, doesn't have to be real. It just has to be repeated enough that. people think it's real. And that's what. this moment is about for him. The first. step to getting people to believe a. brand new big lie is repeating that lie. day in and day out. And just like taking. a step back here, it is worth noting. that if Trump was operating from a. position of strength, he wouldn't have.
to do this. He wouldn't have to serve up. a tired 2020 election redux uh to. interfere in the next election. But he's. not operating from a place of strength. and Americans know it and he knows it. He's got full control of government, House, Senate, White House. And we have. watched prices surge, inflation rise, new wars start, the Epstein files get. suppressed, and his approval ratings. plummet. You don't do this because you. feel like you're winning. You do this. because you know that you're not. You're. watching the No Lie podcast. Next up are. my interviews with John Oaf, Adam.
Schiff, and Rob Bont. But before that, we are nearing the end of my first week. of the release of my new book, The Day. After: How to Wield Power in a PostTrump. World. If you'd like to support my work, and I hope that you will, please grab a. copy today. I'm going to put the link. here on the screen in the post. description in the comments, or you can. go to brianylcohen.com/book. I should note that my best chance at. making the New York Times bestseller. list is on week one of the book sale, which ends officially on Saturday. So, if you think you might be getting it,
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days and make a speech and there there. are rumors that um that the speech is. going to include this idea that you have. been that your election was illegitimate. or or tainted by fraud. Uh what's your. reaction to that? Le. >> let's just uh put aside the notion that. the president has any power to declare. sitting US senators illegitimate. Yeah, he he does not. Uh but here's what's. amazing to me. In Georgia, people are. furious at this administration and not.
just Democrats because it's so clear the. president doesn't care about the. economic pain Americans are feeling and. he cares about himself lining his own. pockets, building a ballroom. Now what's he doing now? He's pivoting. from the ballroom to election denial and. conspiracy theories. Only a shrinking. share of his base believes him on any of. this. And he continues to demonstrate he. doesn't understand the depth of the hole. he's dug for himself. He has lost the. trust of the American people. He's lost.
the trust of people in Georgia. The flip. side of it is that this is very. dangerous stuff. I mean, we can laugh. about it and ridicule it and it is. ridiculous and absurd, but he is making. it very clear that he intends to abuse. federal power to try to interfere in the. upcoming election and we need to make. sure that people are galvanized to turn. out like they have never turned out. before. Do you think that we have the. tools necessary to make sure that he. isn't able to interfere in upcoming.
elections? I know that, for example, Republicans refuse to rule out the. prospect of ICE going to the polls. He. continues to try and pass the Save. America Act, which would basically be a. federal consolidation of state-run. elections. And so, do you have. confidence as we look toward midterms. and beyond, that we can have confidence. in our elections? I. >> I think that that this is a real. challenge, and it is the challenge of. our lifetimes. This is the most. important civic task that our generation. will ever have is to get out the vote. like never before this fall to protect.
voting rights to educate voters to. navigate whatever obstacles are put in. their way or see through whatever. misinformation is thrown at them. And in. Georgia, this will be the most crucial. and competitive Senate race in the. country. Remember that I am the only. Democratic senator running for. reelection in a state with Donald Trump. won. And by the way, everybody out there. who cares about this, you want to take. action and do something about this, it's. electjo.com. >> And I'm going to put that link right. here on the screen and also in the post. description of this video. Can I have. your reaction to when Donald Trump after.
having campaigned on this idea that he. was going to focus on regular issues. that impact Americans like rent and. housing and groceries was handed on a. silver platter a housing bill that his. own party had advanced bipartisan but. his own party had participated in. advancing that bill refused to sign it. because he wanted instead use it as a. hostage to again try and pass a law that. would ultimately just be a federal. takeover of elections. >> Yeah. This is all part of the great. betrayal of MAGA. He promised his.
movement that he would be for the. working man and the working woman. He. promised his movement that he would. drain the swamp. Right? Instead, this is. government of, by, and for the elite and. the ultra rich. They have slashed. Medicaid and jacked up people's health. insurance premiums in order to cut taxes. for the ultra wealthy and for corporate. America. He promised that he would. extract America from foreign. entanglements and foreign wars and. instead he's getting sucked deeper into.
the quicksand of his quagmire in the. straight of Hormoot. So his refusal to. sign a bill aimed at lowering the cost. of housing because instead what he wants. is national voter suppression. legislation is just a demonstration of. how out of touch he is, why he's so. unpopular, but also why he remains. dangerous. >> Is that breaking through? I mean, you. just mentioned that you were running for. re-election in a state that voted for. Trump, the only senator running for. re-election in a state that Donald Trump. won among the constituents who you've.
spoken to on the campaign trail. Is that. is that uh understanding of what he's. doing breaking through to those voters? >> It's absolutely breaking through. And. what they see is that my opponent, Congressman Mike Collins, who first of. all is a notorious bigot, who is only a. congressman because his daddy was a. congressman, is such a MAGA loyalist. that he will put Donald Trump's. interests and Donald Trump's wishes. above the interests of the state of. Georgia. This is Mike Collins who voted. with Donald Trump against releasing the.
Epstein files, who voted with Donald. Trump to double health insurance. premiums for more than a million. Georgians, who voted for Donald Trump's. tariffs, who voted for Donald Trump's. war. Over and over and over again, Mike. Collins puts Trump ahead of Georgia. But. remember, this is the most competitive. battleground state in the country. No. one should take this race for granted, and I need people across the country to. chip in to make sure we defeat my. Collins. We'll leave it there. Again, I'm going to put the link to donate uh. to Senator Osaf's campaign right here on.
the screen and also in the post. description for his video. Senator, I. know I get broke. >> I'm joined now by Senator Adam Schiff. Senator, I wanted to get your reaction. first and foremost to the hearing that. just took place with Todd Blanch, who is. of course vying to be the next attorney. general? Did it did you get the. impression uh after having watched him. that he was actually going to be. adherent to the Constitution as opposed. to continuing his job as Donald Trump's. personal criminal defense attorney? No, he made it very clear that through.
his actions, he is really representing. the person of the president uh not the. American people. And that's the central. question at the heart of this hearing. and that is who's representing the. public in all of that the justice. department is doing. Uh so when it came. to the Epstein files for example he took. no responsibility for the fact the court. has said the justice department is in. violation of the law. He was asked. whether he would apologize to the. victims and he tried to obfuscate things. by saying, "Well, I feel bad whenever. somebody's victimized by a a crime." And.
it was pointed out to him, "No, no." The. the one who did the victimization in. addition to Epstein was the Justice. Department in releasing victim's names, photos, uh, personal information. Will. you apologize for your role in that? He. very begrudgingly did. He wouldn't agree. to meet with the victims. He initially. claimed that he couldn't meet with the. victims, which is preposterous. And then when we went to other matters. like the the slush fund or the bogus.
sham IRS settlement, he was once again. defending the president, really not the. interests of the American people. I. thought what was interesting was his. claim that when he was asked uh by one. senator if he would just get this over. with, release the files, just, you know, get it done, his initial words out of. his mouth were, "That would be illegal.". Is it illegal or against the law for. Todd Blanch to release the entirety of. the remaining Epstein files? And of.
course, I'm not talking about victim. information, but there are still 3. million documents that haven't yet been. released. So he is under legal obligation to. release these documents, not to withhold. any of them because they might embarrass. people or expose the identities of. powerful people who were perpetrating. any of these crimes that Epste and his. confederates were responsible for. There. may be some small set of material that. is grand jury material where he would. have to go before a court but we know. that there's uh millions of files still.
not yet released and no one has any. confidence and not the judge that. oversees the case. No one has any. confidence that Blanch and the. department are trying to do anything but. protect these Epstein offenders. uh the. you know Todd Blanch today tried to. argue that Donald Trump wanted these. files released and he was pushing for it. when we all know how hard he worked to. stop the bipartisan legislation that. mandated that disclosure. So his. testimony was really duplicitous.
particularly when it involved the. Epstein files but also with the whole. weaponization of the Justice Department. At times he would brag like when he goes. before the conservative CPAC convention. about firing all of the prosecutors and. the FBI agents who investigated his. client, the president. Uh and then when. I asked him about that, he said, "Oh, that wasn't me. That wasn't me." Took no. responsibility for it. Uh and that was. what we saw throughout the hearing. It. was this very duplicitous.
uh Todd Blanch giving verbal approval of. department policies but in his actions. demonstrating he had really no adherence. to the rule of law. His only loyalty is. to the person of the president. Now just. a quick note to say that my new book the. day after is now available. If you'd. like to support my work and send a. message to Donald Trump, who put me on. his enemies list this year, that his. efforts to silence us in independent. media only make our voices louder, then. please do me a favor, support my work. and order a copy. You can click the link.
right here on the screen in the post. description or the comments or go to. link in my bio or to brian. tylercocken.com/book. Senator, if you have a head of the DOJ. who is engaged in a cover up in blatant. violation of a law that was passed, the. Epstein Files Transparency Act, does he. shoulder any legal exposure by virtue of. continuing to perpetuate this cover up? >> Yes, he does. He's in violation of the. law. And if he's misrepresenting things. to the court and the court has basically.
said the Department of Justice is. misrepresenting facts, then yeah, he can. be held accountable for it. Uh but. again, he's acting like he is Donald. Trump's lawyer in Epstein files. litigation. When he went, for example, to talk to Justain Maxwell, uh who is. one of Epstein's top her co-conspirator, >> uh when he went to talk with her and. interview her for two days, he brought. no one who was familiar with the facts. of the case. It was an absurdity and.
interview. In fact, he even fired Morin. Comey, who was in charge of the. prosecution, who would have been the. right person to bring along to something. like that. >> Absolutely. Or the FBI agents that had. worked on all those cases or other. prosecutors that really knew the facts. that could question her when she made. denials when she claimed that she never. saw uh underage uh girls uh in the. residence or at Mara Lago or whatever. giving out massages. when she made those. preposterous claims, there was nobody to.
press her on it. Certainly, Blanch. didn't. And when you go to do that kind. of an interview, the question is, who. are you representing there? And it was. so clear that he was there to represent. the president. And not surprisingly, after she gave that that superficial, exonerating testimony. Oh, I never saw. anything about Donald Trump, she's moved. to this camp, this prison camp, inappropriate for a sex offender like. herself. >> Right. I think uh I think the word. flying around the streets was clubfed.
Um I want to switch gears a little bit. here. So there is an expectation, a. rumor that Donald Trump is going to uh. use a 9:00 p.m. speech on Thursday. evening to claim that the election in. 2020 was rigged or illegitimate as the. result of some foreign interference. Uh. he'll there's also some rumors to. suggest that he might claim that the. election of Senator Waro and Senator. Osaf is uh consequently illegitimate. Do. you think that he's using this as.
justification to then shoehorn through. some further voter suppression efforts? Uh and what do and if so, what do you. think that would look like? >> Yes, I think that's exactly what he's. doing. It is certainly true that he's. never been able to accept his loss in. the election and he's lied about it ever. since. uh in those lies led to that. violent attack on January 6th. But it's. also the case that the seizure of. ballots in Georgia that this speech. that's coming up. This is also designed. to lay the foundation for further.
interference in the upcoming elections. to make some false claim of foreign. interference that would justify seizure. of ballot boxes or calling out the. military. I think it is very much. designed to sew doubts in the American. people about our election system to. somehow rationalize what he may do when. as he fully expects they lose the. midterm elections. So we have to be. prepared for everything. But I think in. terms of what we can expect on Thursday, expect the president to come out and lie. to the American people. After all, this.
is the guy who in that very election. he's contesting called the Republican. Secretary of State of Georgia and urged. him to find 11,780 votes that didn't. exist, but were just one more necessary. than necessary to defeat Joe Biden in. that state. So, there was somebody. trying to commit a massive fraud on that. day and his name is Donald Trump. But. expect him to bring more disinformation. and lies uh coming to us uh on Thursday.
night. >> Obviously, this issue has been litigated. and relitigated and relitigated to. within an inch of its life. Everybody. who's acting in good faith knows that. it's complete That's not going. to stop Trump from doing it, but it does. um offer kind of an out for those who. are again acting in good faith to. recognize what the truth is. What have. you heard from your Republican. colleagues? Are they going to allow. themselves to be swayed publicly and. kind of glom onto his efforts to subvert. the upcoming election? Or do you think.
that there's going to be, you know, some. push back to what is obviously, you. know, the eenth effort by Donald Trump. to claim fraud as a pretext to to issue. some voter suppression edict moving. forward? >> Honestly, I have pretty low expectations. about my Republican [clears throat]. colleagues. Very few have been able to. speak out about anything the president. does. Yeah. There were very few voices, for example, in the hearing with Todd. Blanch to push back on this slush fund. and the bogus sham settlement about the.
president's tax liabilities or the. weaponization of the Justice Department. They spent more time today during the. hearing attacking Merrick Garland of all. people for so-called weaponization. during Garland's tenure as attorney. general than they did even acknowledging. the bogus nature of the sea shells case. against James Comey or the case they. tried to bring against my colleagues in. the Senate over a video they made. So I, you know, I don't have a whole lot of. confidence. You know, some of those that. are on the way out might be willing to.
speak out, but we have seen these same. senators who ran for their lives on. January 6th have now so many of them. become complicit in trying to completely. rewrite the history of that day. What. will they be willing to do going. forward? We have to expect more of the. same. >> It's nice to know that at least one. group of people thinks that Merrick. Garland was was aggressive. Um, last. question here. In your estimation, and. this is just a prediction, do you. presume that uh Todd Blanch will be. confirmed as attorney general?
>> Well, there's one senator on the. committee, John Cornin, who the. president had a big hand in defeating. Yeah. Who has said that he has not. reached a conclusion yet, and he won't. until he has to vote on it. Um I hope. that uh he looks very carefully at this. IRS agreement. He seemed to be pretty. concerned about it today. uh he pointed out quite rightly that uh. Todd Blanch when he said the slush fund. is dead is really not in a position. unless he's truly representing the.
president as opposed to what he claims. claims to be representing the justice. department and the IRS if he's only. representing one party to that so-called. settlement agreement then how can he. speak for the other party and the simple. answer is he can't unless it's the same. lawyer for both. And the reality is, as. we could all tell, he is representing. both the president and the Justice. Department, but truly only the interests. of the president. >> We'll leave it there. Senator Schiff, thanks so much for taking the time.
>> Thank you. >> We have some major news coming out of. California, a lawsuit that the entire. country has been waiting for. I'm joined. now by the Attorney General of. California, Rob Bont, to discuss. So, Attorney General Bont, first and. foremost, can you explain this new. lawsuit that's just been filed today? >> Absolutely. Today we filed a lawsuit in. federal court in the Northern District. of California. We being uh California. and 11 other state attorneys general. from throughout the country seeking to. block the merger of Paramount and Warner.
Brothers based on the fact that it. violates antitrust law, anti- monopoly. law, specifically the Clayton Act, Section 7, uh which prevents mergers. that substantially lessen competition. And in three markets uh that we have. defined in our complaint, the Paramount. Warner Brothers proposed merger is. presumptively illegal because it. substantially lessens competition. That's specifically uh the the. distribution of wide release theatrical.
films, the distribution of top grossing. uh uh theatrical films, blockbusters or. tentpole films uh we we call them. um. and also the licensing of basic cable. channels to cable distributors in in. those three markets throughout the. United States of America. Um this this. merger if it were consummated would. create um a uh concentration in the. marketplace that substantially lessens. competition and is illegal. So this is.
an illegal uh proposed merger and we are. moving to block it. To what extent is. Warner Brothers and Paramount already. merging together? And I asked that. because there is some concern that. they're getting the process started so. that it'll be that much easier for them. to eventually say to a court, you know. what, it's it's too much to unwind at. this point because look at all of the. merging that's already been done up to. now. Is that a concern?
>> No, that's not a concern. We're we we. have filed timely here. uh we've. preserved all of our rights. We have. asked Paramount and Warner Brothers to. uh delay the closing until the court. decides on the the merits of our case. and we think we will prevail in this. case. Uh if they don't agree to that, then we will be seeking a temporary. restraining order to uh block uh the. closure of the deal. So the the deal has. not closed. They are uh obviously trying. to get towards ultimate closure of the.
deal. Paramount and Warner Brothers are. but they have uh regulatory scrutiny to. go through in multiple jurisdictions. including in the EU uh in the United. States. So uh our next Artegna case uh. uh we we sued um quite a bit later in. the process uh just before the closure. and we still got uh a timely lawsuit. filed and got a preliminary injunction. So, uh, they are moving, uh, down the. road towards, uh, ultimate closure. I. know, is their desire, but we have filed.
our lawsuit timely, preserved all of our. rights, and preserved our ability to. block the merger should the court agree. with us. A quick note, my new book, The. Day After, is now officially on sale. If. you appreciate [clears throat] my videos. and would like to support my work, please consider grabbing a copy this. week since this week is my best shot at. hitting the New York Times bestseller. list. I also have my book tour happening. this week in Washington DC, New York, and LA. You can find the link to order. the book and to go to the book tour in. the post description or at. brianttylercohen.com/book. So, as we talk about the consolidation.
of media and especially the. administration's. um behavior toward the media, to what. extent does even the latest act by this. administration sending subpoenas um and. federal agents to the doors of five. different New York Times reporters um. fuel or or or have some impact on on. this litigation? because I I feel like. that is a small part of a similar story. >> Yeah. You know, I I I've always been a. vocal supporter of a of a free.
independent press as a a watchdog to. keep government accountable, to tell. stories, to do investigative journalism, to reveal um truths and bring those to. light. And that remains important. And. and the Trump administration, unfortunately, one of the signature. components of Trump 1.0 0 and 2.0 has. been to attack the press, >> to you know use words like fake news and. alternative facts and to to berate. journalists and that is wrong. That is.
bad for democracy. Um he needs to know. that the press is there to to keep him. uh honest and hold him accountable and. that's an appropriate important role in. our democracy. So, you know, here we we. of course are uh are not naive and and. and see the potential impacts on a free. press, an independent press. Um you. know, the the proposed merge company. would have both CNN and CBS. Um but our. our analysis is just a straightup. antitrust analysis based on the facts.
and the law, the concentration of the. markets, the anti-co competitive impacts. of the proposed merger. Um what one. outcome is is that there's likely to be. an erosion of the quality of the content. uh of of you know TV series and movies. and and and and news, less perspectives, less diversity of perspectives, um fewer. views, um fewer uh uh types of light. being shed on the truth and and that is. also uh part of like the competitive. impact anti-competitive impact that we.
are talking about here in our lawsuit. So, let's talk a little bit about the. mechanics of this case. Where is it. being filed? And is there any precedent. from whatever federal court that is that. might inform how a judge might view uh. this case in particular? Yeah, we filed in the Northern District. of California, the federal court in the. San Francisco Bay area and uh we are. seeking to be in front of a judge who. already has a private plaintiff's case.
that's challenging the merger. So, we. think that's a good thing to have a. judge that is up to speed on this issue, that has seen another case already um in. in in that courtroom uh to to be. informed and to have an understanding of. the case. And you know we we think that. will prevail in front of any judge in in. in any court uh but particularly one who. has some uh knowledge uh you know a. depth of of of insight into this issue. because of this uh prior case. Uh well.
now it's a a coexisting case. um then uh. I think we think that that's helpful and. again the next step will be to decide. whether we get an need to bring a. temporary restraining order to. temporarily halt the proposed merger. during the penency of the litigation or. if Paramount Warner Brothers will agree. to that and then we we we know we'll go. through the process just like we did in. Ticket Master Live Nation and just like. we are in Nextar Tegna where we uh. respond to any motions by the defendants. we bring our case uh we have our experts.
talk about the appropriate. markets and the impact of the proposed. merger on those markets and then uh in. ticket master live nation we had a jury. make the ultimate decision here we'll. have a judge make the final decision but. um the next step will be to see if the. the merger will be temporarily halted. during the penency of the litigation. Two questions here. One, will your case. merge with the private uh the private. case that's going on right now? And the. second question, how long do you expect.
this whole process to take roughly? >> Right. So the the for the first question. about the private plaintiff's case, the. cases won't merge, but they'll be what. we call in in legally related. They they. are uh related cases. They're they're. separate cases, so they won't merge, but. they are generally on the same topic. They're challenging this um Paramount. Warner Brothers proposed merger. So, it'll be they'll be before the same. judge, related, but not merged. And with. respect to time, uh it depends on what.
the defendants do. Sometimes they can um. bring motions uh to dismiss or for. summary judgement. Uh they can make. things difficult in discovery which. require require us to to bring motions. to get the information. uh additional. information that we need or take the. depositions that we need or get the. materials that we need. Um so some of. it's dependent on them but you know. typically it it would be over a year and. less than three um is is sort of a broad. uh bookending framework of you know the.
the the earliest to the latest. >> Is there anything to prevent CNN and CBS. from moving forward with the merger. anyway other than a temporary. restraining order or a preliminary. injunction? Otherwise, do you expect the. Ellison's to make it so that this merger. still moves ahead while litigation is. happening? >> I'm not sure what they're going to try. to do, but if they don't agree to halt. the merger voluntarily, we'll we'll go. to courting and and seek the temporary. restraining order, and we we think we'll.
we'll get it. They do uh I think they're. clearing the final hurdle hurdles in. their um regulatory scrutiny in the. different jurisdictions around the. world. Um, and so I think the EU still. needs to finalize its its decisions. I. think it's made some indications about. where it might land. Uh, but there's a. reason they haven't closed yet because. that they're not through all the final. regulatory hurdles yet. Can you talk. about the fact that, you know, you are. obviously the attorney general of. California. Even though we've seen the.
entertainment industry kind of dissipate. and go to different states and in some. cases even different countries, there's. obviously a thriving industry in New. Jersey and New Mexico and Georgia and. New York and and uh Vancouver and. Toronto and the UK. So, it's all around. the United States and around the world. But still there is I'm I'm presuming. there is still some claim of ownership. over the industry as a whole. And so can. you explain why it was important for you. to spearhead this case as we're kind of.
protecting the integrity of a huge. aspect of of this industry. >> Sure. You know Paramount and Warner. Brothers each are massive companies you. know each in their own right as as a. merged company as they're proposing to. be. they would be an entertainment. behemoth, you know, absolutely gigantic. across multiple markets and, you know, from streaming to, uh, film distribution. to to cable channel ownership and and. beyond, you know, owning news companies,
um, networks as well. And so, um, there's a there's a national impact here. and we've argued in our complaint that. the the appropriate geographic market. for this case is the United States of. America, the whole country. And you. know, California, uh, the largest state. in the nation, the fourth largest. economy in the world, the home of iconic. Hollywood. And the press conference I. had earlier today was in front of the. iconic Hollywood sign. That wasn't by. accident. It was by design to um talk. about the the the history and the legacy.
of Hollywood right here in in California. and the incredible movies that have been. created and the studios that have um. started here and grown here and produce. movies here. Um, the the the work that. and the jobs that have been created for. so many creatives and and members of of. of teams that produce content that that. that create storytelling that can. inspire, that can um shed new light on. things we haven't seen before, that can.
open up our minds to things we maybe. didn't know we needed to know. And that. has all been created uh in in in. Hollywood. It's, you know, the the place. where so much of it has started and. grown. Of course, films are are shot all. over the world and all over the country. and all over North America, but there's. only one Hollywood. And this is a. particularly important to California, to. me as California's attorney general, to. our people, to our state, to our future, because of the legacy and the history.
and the ongoing durability of a thriving. Hollywood. >> Perfectly put. We'll leave it there. Attorney General Bonset, thanks so much. for taking the time and thanks for the. work that you're doing on this case. >> My pleasure, Brian. Thanks for having. me. To listen to the audio version of. this episode, click the link right here. on the screen and make sure to. subscribe. And of course, to see more. video content, that subscribe button's. on the screen as well. [music].
