Why Trump Will Hate Melania's Cynical New Scheme | The Daily Beast Podcast

We've got breaking news about the First Lady. The First Lady, Melania Trump, is telling us. in a press release from The White House that she has secured peace. Peace in our time. Peace in The White House? Peace where, Huey? She apparently, according to this press release from The White House, initiated. discussions with both nations and aligned the parties on the agreement’s. objectives, technical procedures, timing processes and terms. And she has a new title. She is the Exclusive Intermediary.

So congratulations! What if Melania is trying to get a Peace Prize? What if Melania got the Nobel Peace Prize? What would that do for the marriage? Well, I guess she'd have to give it to him. Like Christina Machado. I’m Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast. It's Friday, so it must be Hugh Dougherty, the Executive Editor of The Daily Beast, whose brain is constantly brimming with stories. When you you can't even pass Hugh without Hugh saying, have you heard the latest?

Have you heard this? And of course, we've got breaking news about the First lady. And we've also got a theory about why she's doing it and what she's. really ofter. It will explode her husband if she if this is really her aim, it will. Her husband's head will explode. What can I say? Don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast wherever you get. your podcast. It could be Spotify, it could be Apple, it could be YouTube. We appreciate your comments.

We try and read as many of them as we can, and you can get lots of extra content. by joining as a friend of the beast or joining our be beast tier be beast. What better way into a discussion about the latest antics of the First Lady. who was we know is always besting be best, be Hugh Doherty? Hugh, Joanna we have. we have the best beast news or we have the beast best news.

We are just getting this into the Daily Beast newsroom from where. I am joining you. And I know you have been in Los Angeles doing a live. a brilliant Inside Trump's Head performance with Michael Wolff. It was fantastic. I wish I could have been there, honestly. It was so much fun to meet regular viewers and listeners. They're just full of stories though. It was so much fun. So for everybody who came, thank you so, so much. We got a very nice commentary, actually, from people who come and be.

who saw, who saw it live, and hopefully there will be more to come. Well, I'm I tell you, there is a possible venue for you this morning, Joanna. I'm the first lady. Melania Trump is telling us. in a press release from the white House that she has secured peace. Peace in our time. Peace in the white House. Peace where? Huey? Well, we have a theory that this might not cause peace in the white House. It's peace in the city of. Oh, that is one of the Ukrainian cities.

that is under siege from Vladimir Putin's Russian forces. And the conditions in this city have been. the Ukrainians, who are who have been stuck. They are in absolutely appalling conditions. It is a siege. You know, this is not a big place, but it has similarities to the. the sieges, the famous sieges of the Second World. War of Petersburg and I should say Leningrad, I guess. But those in Petersburg, and Stalingrad,

there are people who have been trapped in this, in this, reasonably large tone small city on the east of the Dnieper River. They've been trapped there by these, by these Russian forces. There are there are concerns that they are beginning to starve. There are, of course, horrific Schelling's drone attacks on it. And Melania Trump. this morning has suddenly announced that she has secured a ceasefire. starting six days time, October the 29th, in the town city of OSCE.

So does this mean that the first lady has been traveling to Ukraine? Where has she organized this cease fire from? I have organized cease fire. Cease fire! Well, it's always a mystery of where the First Lady is, as we know, as Michael Wolff has often spoken about. But it does not appear that she has been anywhere near this war zone. This appears to be organized from wherever she is in the United States. She apparently, according to this press release from the white House,

initiated discussions with both nations and around the parties on the agreements, objectives, technical procedures, timing processes and terms. And she has a new title. She is the exclusive intermediary. So she's the lucid intermediary? Yes. So. So does this mean that she's an exclusive intermediary. into mediating between Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner. And we'll be talking about Jared. Kushner business dealings a little bit later in the show.

I mean, what are they doing? What are they chopped liver at this point? I thought they were organizing it. And the first lady's come in over the top of them. Yeah. They've been I think I think the management term is they've been layered. Are the first been laid. The first lady is now involved. And. she learned about. this, when she was at the United Nations General Assembly. And she immediately, in her terms, leveraged.

the communication channel we established with Russia and Ukraine. You'll remember that she was claiming to reunite. families of kidnaped children. These this one of the horrific, subplots of this absolutely appalling war has been Ukrainian children being. kidnaped by Russians, taken to Russia and tried to be brainwashed, basically, and reeducated reeducated and to being Russians and court marks. And Melania very publicly said she had been in touch with Vladimir Putin.

They had discussed this issue and she had reunited, the grand total of 34 children. The Ukrainians claim that the number of of these kidnaped children. may number into the thousands. But Melania says this communications channel, she was able to turn it into a planned ceasefire for the. There's a very remarkable sentence in this, Alexi has is a Ukrainian city in Ukraine.

It's in in the Colquhoun region. People probably heard of that city of Kirkhorn. that is on one side of the Dnieper. This is on the east side of the Dnieper, much more exposed to Russian forces. The people that are there are Ukrainian. Let's just be clear about that. The country is called Ukraine. And in this area, the Russian forces have been advancing, have been trying to make advances. So we know that the people that are there are not pro-Russian. They're obviously not. They're stuck there with Russians attacking them.

And Melania says, that the residents who wish to evacuate. will get support and transport to the preferred destination. I anticipate some will want to go to Russia and some to Ukraine. This is kind of amazing. We're both sidings, both sides in a siege. That's that's like at the end of the siege of Stalingrad, as if somebody turned up. and said, oh, do you know what some people would want to go with with the Nazis? They'll be really into it. Or at the at the end of the siege of Leningrad.

going, oh, yeah, yeah, they're going back to Germany now, even though they were starving and eating the cats. and eating the dogs in real life, not in Ohio. So. Right. Kind of remarkable. But we do have a theory. I don't know. We just discussed this before we went on air. Joanna. Your theory is your theory is very interesting. A brilliant global editorial director, Nicole Haynes, who. every week is doing a podcast with her, Allison Quinn, about on the Daily Beast. YouTube live, is doing a live about Putin and Russia.

And his theory is what if Melania is getting up, is trying to get a peace prize? In fact, the peace prize? What if Melania got the Nobel Peace Prize? What would that do for the marriage, Hugh? Well, I guess she'd have to give it to him. She'd have to give it to him. Like Christina Macheda. He'd of two. One on each, one on each side of the Resolute Desk. And neither of them would be his. And yes, it's, neither often be his.

And it doesn't sound, I mean, I, I don't know, it's that what you want? And you're in in in the white House, like competing, competing people going for the peace prize. It's it's kind of remarkable. It's very it's very unexpected. And of course, John, you also have a theory about what this is good for. It's all copy, I think, is what? Oh, yes. Yes, yes, I know exactly what I was thinking that. And I'll talk about this on Inside Trump's Head with Michael Wolff tomorrow.

because I know he'll have theories, but I bet if I were to anticipate his theory, he would say, this is all content that we know. The First lady is making a reality series following on from her. Amazon documentary, and this sounds like it's all content. What the first ladies do. They become independent intermediaries and they're they're, you know, organizing. peace treaties that their husbands can't appear to get done. It does sound strange, though, this line about well, and some of them can go to Russia.

That sounds like it must be some sort of compromise line. that someone has put in for her, or a confident line. And there is a there is an intriguing hint. She says in this statement. I have also secured an impartial American media organization to company. and document Russian and Ukrainian teams on the ground throughout the process. An impartial media, American media organization, I don't think we don't know who it is yet, but I'm going to guess it's not.

Let's see CNN or A, B, C or NBC. I'm guessing it's somebody kind of pro-Trump, or it might be someone that Amazon has put up. Right. Assuming that this TV show is with Amazon, they may have said. you have to have just a documentary team or you have to have a news team. Maybe they create them from scratch. But unless she's taking bright part, I'm taking bright parts for my content. A millennial. When you see this, The Daily Beast would be very happy.

to go and be absolutely resolute, impartial. We would promise to do our best to be completely neutral. So we'll see. We'll see the white House go along with that, I don't know. Well, it's a fascinating story. And, I suspect the Nobel Peace Prize. and content for her TV show are never far from her thoughts. I wonder what she is thinking, however, about her husband's latest.

Well, what are the I want to say symptoms? But perhaps symptoms isn't quite the right expression. I mean, I think the only way to to do. this is to show the clip of what we are talking about. And, you know, all I can say to viewers and listeners is, is listen hard. because you're going to hear three clips in a row. and there is something that links each of them.

See if you can connect the dots or figure out the the connecting link. It's a cryptic clue. You know, he was a lieutenant governor, and I'd say 90% of the reason I took the governor. Yeah. If you don't want communists controlling the U.S. Senate, which is between Jay about the gentleman from a place called Michigan. He's in the jihadist. He's a jihadist. I don't want you to have to think too much. I'd like to. Or being.

Okay. Oh, you are brilliant. A voice is an accent. You on? Go on. I can't even that. That stumps even me. Well, this is a sort of strange series of. nonsensical noises. that are falling out of the president's. mouth, which he, he doesn't refer to. And of course, unfortunately, I did actually look this up.

This is a symptom of of encroaching dementia. It's something increasingly people do as they get older. They make strange noises which are approximating a word, but not actually a word. And they're in the middle of a sentence, and then they carry on as if they haven't heard it. So there's something different going on in their head to what. the listener or the viewer sees. So tell me what your interpretation is. Well, first of all, we have asked the white House and we have.

been asking the white House, for more than months. So ever since Donald Trump came back to the white House for transparency. on his health, what is he actually being told by his doctors? What Tess, is he actually doing? What medications has he actually been given? And we don't have that. Transparency is very well known. These latest, I don't know, glitches. I mean, it sounds like Mike Myers doing glitch, glitch, glitch. These latest glitches are at a time when an 80 year old man.

in questionable physical shape is out. every night in a different part of the country doing these rallies. And Trump has fed energetically off these rallies. We know that for more than a decade, but it's been very noticeable that he has been out. in red states or in deep red territory night after night after night. And let's just be honest, he doesn't look great. And then we have these weird sounds, glitches, whatever they are,

and that are absolutely, as you say, they are, of a pattern. with, with cognitive problems. The he looks he looks increasingly exhausted. We have a picture up on screen now of how he was when he got back to Andrews. Air Force Base. And, Trump is rarely seen without a tiger. It's time off. If you're if you are listening, he's. going to tie off and he looks kind of drawn and kind of gray.

This, pretty. panicked tour that is going on of red states. to try to shore up the vote when indications are that there is a red, there is a blue wave on its way, is clearly taking a toll on him. He clearly does not look good. He is increasingly publicly angry as well. We have seen a rash out and really troubling terms. at the independent reporter Andrew Feinberg in the Oval Office.

and Caitlin Collins of CNN on the tarmac or on this new. tacky landing strip that they've put in at the white House. He is angry. He is uninhibited. And then we have these noises, the one in the middle that particularly weird noise about hardest. He couldn't he clearly could not remember the name of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate. for the Senate seat in Michigan, who he has gone on and on about.

He has really. he sees El-Sayed as a useful, stick to with which to beat Democrats, you know, calling him a jihadist, accusing him of being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Ailsa, he denies that robustly. You'd rather obviously, if he was a jihadist, he wouldn't. be running for the Senate in Michigan just to state the binding. Obvious. But, he in this, in this portion of this rally, he'd completely forgotten the guy's name.

And it was very apparent. And the noise, as you see. it made sense to him didn't make sense to anyone else. Well, you do have to hand it to him. For a man in his ninth decade, he is crisscrossing the country. He was in Alaska last week, and that's an eight hour flight there and back. I mean, most people have felt by something like that. Obviously he has his own plane. Is he flying in the tricked out Katari grift force one, as you call it?

He has. He has used both planes. He's used the new grift Force One. In fact, he's used all three of the the. the types of planes that are available to me. He obviously loves the blinged up grift force one. He's been in this. He's been in the traditional seven, four, seven. I think I think once this week, maybe twice. And also when he goes to these, these red state places, sometimes these are places with smaller airports, shorter runways. They can land the seven, four, seven. So they take the presidential Boeing 757,

which is, which is, you know, one story smaller, slightly smaller plane. It's able to land. So he's been on all of them. Okay. But but once you have your own transport, traveling is completely different. He doesn't have to do what the rest of us does. do, which is, you know, to stand in, in line, you know, hauling your laptop in and out depending on which airport you are. and what feels like the capriciousness of the TSA agents. And I'm sorry, Mr.

Trump, you've got a Diet Coke in your in your backpack. Yeah, right. I'm putting your entire backpack through the cook that through the metal. detector again. No, Mr. Trump, you don't have PreCheck elapsed. That's not where you really get to make an appointment. You're going to have to make an appointment and see them. So he does at least have ease of travel. But nevertheless, that crisscrossing back and forth across the country is exhausting. He has to get off the other end. He's probably eating, you know, not great on the way because you're grabbing convenience foods.

And perhaps he's having a McDonald's salad when he gets back on the plane. But we know that's not what he likes. So it's it is impressive. And certainly he's doing more than Joe Biden was doing. in terms of being out there. And it's also obviously clear that he feeds off those rallies. They're entertainment for him. He's, as we've said before, like an old vaudeville, you know, performer. He's out there jazz hunting it through there.

That's right. He's got his makeup on. He's got his bruise covered. His showtime. Let's go. Who can I insult? What funny noises can I do? How long? Am I going to go? Is that is there now increasingly as well, the protesters and the violence, which has become something of a sideshow at these rallies, which he says he likes. I think one of the interesting things about these rallies is, first of all, they are smaller. Let's just be clear about that. You know those pictures. It's hard when you see those pictures. This is the stagecraft is designed to make it look like they are huge.

packed venues. The venues are getting smaller. There is something of Sunset Boulevard here. I was just going to say it's it's not me, it's the right. It's the it's the venues are getting smaller. Trump's favorite movie, by the way, he's the Norma Desmond of politicians. But smaller venues and more and more protesters. And one of the things that we all remember, those, you know, there have been scenes. of a protester, single protester at these things in the past,

and they've been very high profile because Trump has, you know, demanded violence against them. Said that. he will pay the bill for people who assault people. No, that is, you know, in the past, no, we are talking about three, four, five, six protesters at these venues per rally, per rally. We have never seen anything like that. They are getting in. They're getting past, he claims they're paid protesters.

We obviously we have no idea if they are paid, but what they are. is better at getting in more strategic about how they do it. And they are, they are cognizant of what it is that relatable to the outside world. We saw somebody who had a t shirt singer released The Epstein Files. We have seen other people who have been the victims of violence. and have then come out and spoken about it, and the. the uphill struggle, I think, for Trump at these rallies. is he's exhausted and, you know, it's all part of the vaudeville.

But these protests interrupt him. They take the attention away from him and bear. Yeah, which he can't bear. And they're clearly a relatively new phenomenon to him. And I think he thinks he's. got how to deal with them of going like, go on and get them out, get them out and then salt them and, you know, call them fat or whatever. But this is a new part of the Trump. Sure. And it's not one that suggests that Trump is doing that. Well. It's a tiny moment of reality intruding on these.

incredibly choreographed shows in deep, deep red territory. He's not going anywhere. That is not a safe space. And yet reality is intruding. Yes. And our reporter Tom. actually had a good piece, I want to say, last week about the size of the rallies. and how certainly it obviously in 2016, but still in 2024, Donald Trump could fill local stadia with, you know, up to 15, 20, 25,000 people.

And now he's pushed to get 8000 people. And it's become more of a sort of entertainment. If you live in a place where there isn't very much going on, a political rally becomes something where people meet their friends. And it's it doesn't actually necessarily mean you support the candidate. It means that you want a night out with your friends, and you're going to see what, you know, something that's happening in the hood. And one of the other phenomena that becomes increasingly apparent here is. there has always been this role, this group of people that go to every rally.

or to most of the railways, and Trump actually talks to them. He calls in the front row jaws, and that front row jaws group is there. There's Mr. Brick suits. There are others who there are almost every rally and voice. clear as they are coming from out of these states are traveling to go to these. You have this hard core that are an irreducible core, but that means that this is not locals that are all coming. This is not a big local event. This is like the Rolling Stones coming to town and people traveling.

You know, we all know people who've gone to see I don't know, tell us Swift in Edinburgh or oh, I'm going to London to see the Rolling Stones. I keep using British places just because people tell me them. But, you know, there are people who've gone to Brazil to see them. And this is kind of the same thing, that these are hardcore fans. and yet Trump can fill 8000 hardcore fans when he goes to Clemson, for example. But that doesn't mean. that he is incredibly popular in the wider state.

or district in which he is, which he is trying to summon support. So he's also not popular at all in Europe at the moment. With the remarkable decision. that we've been talking about throughout the week on the podcast. with David Rothkopf and with Michael Wolff and Anthony Scaramucci. That interview will go out on on Sunday night. about the decision to align himself with Putin. And there were secret calls between him and Elon Musk this week over.

what appears to have been the debacle with Starchild, which is part of Starlink the Ukrainians use it to. It's part of their defense. They're trying to use it to alert them to incoming Russian missiles. It didn't work last week, for whatever reason. Kyiv was surprised by a series of incoming missiles from the Russians. So what was the secret call about? Because Elon Musk said, oh, it was nothing to do with me. It's the Pentagon making these decisions. They decide.

I just give them, you know, Star Shield and Starlink. They decide when to use it. Donald Trump said, well, I didn't know being switched off. This is nothing to do with me. First I'm hearing of it. So what actually was the communication that that we found out about? Yeah, this this story is very remarkable because we have so many leaks. This is a white House that is leaking like a sieve and it is leaking, tidbits of gossip and agendas. and facts in different directions.

What we know is that Starlink has been crucial to the Ukrainians. And as you see, it suddenly switched off. We we then began to get leaks that it had been switched off. and everything switched off, but it had been made less accessible. The critical thing with the with this star shield is that it was able. to be used to track incoming missiles going above 100mph, which is obviously fairly fast. And the Ukrainians could then use defensive drone and missile.

their own defensive missiles against those. by not allowing it to work above 100mph. They could not attack. They could not track their own drones. They couldn't work out what was coming in. Clearly, that's much more dangerous. We got leaks that this was being done both by both, by order of the Trump White House or by unilaterally by Elon Musk. Now, this is complicated because Elon Musk, through Elon Musk, administers Star Shield.

He has the technical ability to deal to change things in it. But he says, oh no, it wasn't me, it wasn't me. I did it or not from the white House. I just I just do what I'm told. We then found out that, in fact, Trump got in touch with the Orion. Musk in a secret call and said, stop it. You need to you need to reinstate it. It's very clear. It's very clear what side Musk is on here. Even if it was not even if he was just being orders,

he was doing that enthusiastically, tweeting about it. You know, he's going on and he's very much, very clear that he doesn't like Zelenskyy. He doesn't he's not in favor of the Ukrainian cause. And Trump has tackled. Trump has folded to the pressure from Europe and also from Republicans. Right. I was going to say this is caused an absolute stink within Republicans. The amazing I mean amazing. They're showing any kind of backbone at all, except perhaps they said the midterms.

You know, ten days away and they think we're going to get shellacked anyway, so why not? I mean, is it possible their thinking, why not do the right thing, or are they feeling pressure from their constituents? I think I think the dramatis personae of people who are speaking out. include Susan Collins up in Maine, Susan Collins incredibly difficult race. We don't know because the polls are so tight. What is going to happen? But this again, emphasizes to people. who are persuadable to go against Susan Collins, that bad things happen with Donald Trump and she's got no control over it.

So she would straight out saying, we need to need to stop this. We need to bring it, get it back online. We need to reimpose the sanctions, which were also removed again. or suspended against Russia, are other Republican senators are hyper aware. that they might not be up for reelection, but people in their states are. And the perception that Trump is pro-Putin is problematic. It's not a big driver of votes, but it's something that.

when you're talking about, they are right. They have to make sure to shore up every available vote. You can't afford to lose a vote. That's what this is a prop this. That's where the submerges. And yeah, also, this is a betrayal of Lindsey Graham, who was an extremely, extremely. hawkish voice on on this whole issue. on Russia and extremely hawkish in support of Ukraine. It's rather obvious that he would have been disgusted. and probably would have spoken out publicly about it. Maybe it wouldn't have happened if he was still alive.

So Trump phoned Musk and told him and he stopped. The Ukrainian say it has come back a bit. It appears to be, you know, sort of getting back to where it should be. But what this exposes, first of all, is that there is a weakness in Trump. that people have not appreciated. And secondly, that Elon is an actor in his own right. with this military equipment. That is, it's a this is a problem.

And if there's a Democratic administration in the future, they still have to deal with Ian and his Starlink. And he clearly has technical control over it. Well, and there doesn't seem to be any real competition to him at the moment. I mean, you're seeing now. increasingly businesses coming out and saying we're not using Starlink. I think Delta has said that you're seeing the Europeans saying, we have to put something together that will be as effective as Starlink. Of course, he's got a massive head start. But, I mean, it's also became clear. this week that his funding of the midterms.

on behalf of the Republicans was also growing. So I think the total now is it's almost half $1 billion. that Elon Musk has himself put into supporting Republicans. in the midterms, 200 million of which at least has gone into Texas, where he has his headquarters of Tesla, of Space X of whatever. However else he he sort of organizes his companies.

But again, this this incredible. power of one man one. Man I the money bomb that he has dropped on Texas. If that is the thing that gets Ken Paxton across the line, then, you know, I think many people rightly would be troubled by that. Particularly troubled already are the Democrats are seeing if we get in. we and, you know, if they win in November and therefore sworn in in January. Yeah. They're going to investigate you on. He has access to the nation's most treasured secrets.

He has a high level security clearance. He has this head start courtesy of being permitted to send his rockets into space. And he is clearly very concerned that they're going to come after him. You know, there are the troubling thing about Ukraine. is he has given. And let's just be clear about this. You could say he's given aid and comfort to an enemy. There's no doubt that Russia is an enemy here. And by throttling the Ukrainians access.

to Starlink to Star Shield, he's given aid and comfort. People in in the Democratic circles are extremely exercised about Iran's power. and about the amount of money that he is drawing. And, you know, I don't think revenge is quite the right word. here, but accountability would be a very tough road for your own Musk. Well, I do hope that if he does get Ken Paxton elected, they have to spend a lot of time together. I would like to urge Ken Paxton in the unlikely event he's.

listening to this podcast. Ken, you should just hang out with Elon the whole time. You should just become his new best friends. The two of you tooling around bars in Texas. Elon looking for more baby Mars. So the other thing that's sort of fascinating is this DOJ. investigation into Corey Lewandowski, who was constantly flying around talking about flying around. with Kristi Noem, the former homeland security secretary.

He became her special adviser. Something that we focused on very heavily at the In The Daily Beast. At one point, when we discovered that he was putting trash out from her apartment. on a Sunday in D.C., that's that's advice to. well, Lanham is, I think, now divorced from Byron Noam, her husband, who had his own issues and appeared to be spending the family. retirement fund on OnlyFans.

What exactly is going on here? Because this appears to be the first MAGA. advisor to be investigated by Todd Blanche's DOJ. Yeah, this is a real I mean, that picaresque that you have just. described, Johanna. It's an extraordinary like sort of I'm chronicle of our time. and is being investigated by the Justice Department. after they were sent a criminal referral by the Inspector general of the Department.

of Homeland Security. Sector generals. Are these independent advisors, I suppose, is one you could use. And the audit, they try to find out what's gone wrong. And if they find significant wrongdoing or they believe they've found significant. wrongdoing, then they can refer that to the Justice Department, who then decide. are there the elements of a crime and should they investigate it. And that's what has happened here. Can I just throw it in here? I thought most of those independent investigators had been fired. I thought they'd been fired and Doge and sort of ideologically,

the Trump administration is opposed to them. Correct, yes. And this is actually this is as well, the Department of Homeland Security has. an inspector general who has the approval of the Trump administration. So this is not a wild liberal Democrat from the from the DSA. that we're talking about. This is somebody that they are on board with. So. intensely divisive figure inside.

He has more enemies than I've had hot dinners. He is somebody and I always have hot dinner, by the way. Just, you know, if anybody's concerned about my well, it's salad anyway. He is, he is an intensely divisive figure. He has so many enemies. He was the special adviser to to to Ice Barbie. He was her alleged lover. You remember, of course, that they had that flying boudoir. If you're listening, we've got a picture on screen of that, bedroom in the sky up.

It's pretty nice. Are better than better than 22 B and United Airlines. He the idea that anybody that the Trump Justice Department investigates. anybody without them being identified as a Trump enemy is absurd. We know what this Justice Department does. It goes after Trump enemies. It goes after Tish James. It goes after the FBI. You know, it goes after James Comey. It goes after people that they have identified as Trump enemies. So.

why are. John Brennan why is being investigated? We've got to conclude that he has fallen file of forces inside the Trump orbit. And we had a hint from Donald Trump himself when he was asked about it. He said, I don't know anything about it, as he always does. Always. He is remarkable how little he knows about anything, especially his own people. A man without knowledge. And then he said, I regard it. as people stealing from the country and stealing from me.

And I think here we have the critical point of that he, he or those around him have been briefing that. he has been in quote marks stealing from Trump. Now, we have no idea. We have a very robust denial from Korea. that he knows nothing about any criminal referral, and that he was always. an unpaid adviser to Kristi Norm and that he did nothing wrong. So I just want to put that out there, that there is a very robust denial. However, we had a very intriguing indication of what.

life is like inside the Trump circles, because a couple of hours. after it emerged that Corey. was being investigated in a leak, I'll just say, Joanna, a leak that is really bad for Corey and. two other people. then announced that they were giving all the money that they had earned. for advising the, the Russian aligned republic. So, that we discussed the other day, we discussed this last week.

Yes. Chris Vita and James Blair. had fallen to republics burst. I'm sorry. People gave advice in the comments, and I did practice. And it's very difficult to drop the basically, it's, So I do apologize to those who gave me advice. Thank you. And I'm still trying. But they had been very critical, very much criticized for this decision to go and cash in. Basically during during the run up to the midterms, they suddenly announced last night that they were going to give all their money,

the all the money that they had taken or that their companies had taken in, to the Trump Presidential Library, and that it was an honor. to just give that money to Donald Trump Presidential Library. That means that Trump can't accuse them of stealing from them. It means that other people in the Trump orbit. can't accuse those people of stealing from him as he sees it. So it's kind of like, I mean, I don't want to use the term. protection money, but I just have it's kind of in that direction.

So we know that one of the things Donald Trump really can't bear is, though. he is allowed to get rich from the presidency, he can't bear it. if people in his circle are seen to be getting rich. or cashing in, essentially on their connections to Donald Trump. And obviously one of the ways to do that, if you've helped Donald Trump. as Chris La Vita and James Blair did in the election. in previous elections, is to go and use that expertise abroad.

I think, Chris, didn't he promise to make Albania great again? He didn't even have to change the the letter. It was, you know, another version of MAGA. Luckily he went round other countries that don't begin with thee. That would have been like a very. It's a small niche. They are minions would have been like oh God, he's here. Yeah. Make Angola great again. Make Andorra great again. There's a limited number of of places he could go with that. But but Donald Trump doesn't like it when he thinks that. people are exploiting their connections to him to put money in their own pocket,

which is presumably why these latest two have said, oh, we did make this money, but we're going to give it to the Trump Library. because they don't want what's happening to Corey to fall to them. And and we should be clear that. obviously, as you say, Corey Lewandowski is denied it. It appears he wasn't paid as Christie Gnomes advice. Correct. But what it does appear is.

and certainly Kristi Noem has been accused of this herself when she was, governor of, of South Dakota, South Dakota or North Dakota, South Dakota. Right. Doug Burgum, when she was governor of South. Dakota, is getting kickbacks on contracts. So that's how people who aren't being paid. get paid, that they facilitate a deal. and they get some kind of commission from that deal. And that's the allegation that has hung around.

He has always denied it. We have no documentary evidence that would that would prove it. But this allegation just keeps coming back. Coming back. And one of the specifics of this leak. was that the allegations that he was saying to foreign governments. are that he would be he would he would take money from from them. for their interactions with the American, with the United States government. That's clearly, if true, very problematic. And amounts.

to much more significant. amounts are much more significant level of charges against somebody. that's been doing it than just domestic contracts, because we're into questions about foreign relations as well. So this this leak was very strategic. It was very damaging. It was a laser focused on carillon. And yet the idea that, you know, let's just be clear, it's also extremely it's a very risky leak for the Trump administration. because the Democrats may be about to get subpoena power.

And here, if they get subpoena power, is a paper trail. through the Department of Justice about alleged wrongdoing that they can find. And if there is a. Democratic administration and a Democratic totally general, Attorney General. Jack Smith would come and say, here's all this paperwork he could flip. Carillion, dusky. You know, there's all sorts of machinations that this could lead to. So this is certainly, I think, a high stakes. and very high profile leak that is going to cause a lot of.

turbulence around the Trump administration generally. Well, some turbulence around Jared Kushner at the moment. A new book has come out by an author called Matthew Cole, which claims to have been, well, well, you take up the story, Hugh, because you've been following it more closely than I have. But but it's such a sort of remarkable. It's stuff of spin off. And Jarrett Kushner has, has. issued a very robust denial, saying this is absolutely outlandish.

This is insane what they're saying about this. And yet we know so many things from this government are outlandish and are insane. And of course, he's not officially part of the government, but he is the official son in law. And he's been out there. As we know, he says, trying to, you know, end various conflicts, take up the story, because I'm a little sort of nonplused by this one.

It's a this is a wild, spy adjacent narrative and fact. No narrative involving spies. It's been it's there's a new book out or about to come out called Princes. and Thieves. It's by an investigative journalist called Matthew Cole. He was previously involved in the Snowden papers. He's been involved in national security and secrecy. and that sort of, you know, closed world. He's written about Seal Team six.

He has a long back catalog. of this sort of national security journalism in this new book, which is a chapter of it was published in Vanity Fair. He says that he discovered that Jared Kushner phone. during the first Trump administration was, hacked into by the Russians. And how did this. How did this come to light? This is an incredible it's like a novel. He says that the Dutch secret.

service, the Dutch spy service, discovered that one of. you operatives was on their way to the United Kingdom, and they got in touch with the United Kingdom authorities. The Dutch came to the United Kingdom and presented this operative with a deal. And the deal was you will become a Dutch double agent, for us, until us. the secrets of vitamin E, Putin's spies. And if you don't, then the British will arrest.

you and put you in prison for a very long time. The guy was turned. He took the deal. He went back to Russia. And this secret agent was involved in their incredibly. technically difficult hacking, which we know the Russians are amazing at. And he showed the Dutch where the best, most guarded secrets were kept. He showed them this. There was a server somewhere on Siberia. The Dutch hacked into it. They found on it, Jared, that the that the Russians had hacked Jared Kushner.

Kushner's iPhone X, they had exploited a little known vulnerability in this phone. And the vulnerability made the people who hacked. are able to just see what was happening on his screen. And they would screenshot everything that happened on his screen. So everything you do in your iPhone couldn't hear it. They couldn't see him, but they could see what he was doing on his screen. They could see who was falling, what apps he was using, what pictures he was taking. The Dutch saw that this was happening, so they did the same. They replicated the hack and they,

according to this journalist, Matthew Call, monitored Jared's iPhone. and they discovered that he had access to a secret bank account. based in the United Arab Emirates with around $1 billion in it, and that he was moving money in that from that bank account. They discovered, according to Matthew Call, that one of the bank account. was linked to another bank account held by the Israeli central bank. And this is a crucial element. that is leading to questions about the accuracy of this account,

that this. that he had the secret account with the. is really central bank, and that that account was allowed. to be used to enrich Jared Kushner. Now, I just want to give some of the denial that Jared. Kushner has issued and we're showing the whole thing on screen. He says. that these are categorically false. They're completely insane allegations and never happened. He says he denied every. one of these claims on on the records, and that the author failed.

to provide to them a shred of evidence to substantiate any of them. There's also been reporting in Israel that the central Bank of Israel. does not issue personal accounts, and that that would therefore. raise questions over the accuracy of this story. Now I just want to offer a big however. However, how would you know that the Russians attacked his phone? This was not a, you know, anything that he had any vulnerability. that he could have known about. They used the most high tech measures of imaginable.

Would he have known that the Dutch had managed to replicate it? It depends. Did the Dutch tell the United States that this was the case? They are close out. We are close allies of the Dutch, but they are not part of Five Eyes. Which is this? The most sensitive intelligence sharing network. So we don't we simply don't know what duty. the Dutch spy services would be under to share that sort of information. And in this account, all that is happening is world leaders talking.

You know, this is, the allegation is that this account was set up by Muhammad. bin Zayed, who's the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and that it was done in coordination with Benjamin Netanyahu. So could these people make exceptions to banking rules? We you know, it's not impossible. So there are elements here of incredible questions. about what is happening in the Middle East. Some of the details of this account are impossible to know if they are true.

and other details are have some factual backing there. Mohammed bin Zayed and Benjamin Netanyahu are close. allies of Jared Kushner, that Middle Eastern cottontails. use rush funds to to move their foreign policy objectives. That is incredibly well known. And, I think the only thing that we know is going to. happen is the Democrats are going to go for this one as well. What is happening here? Jared Kushner shows your bank account, shows these receipts.

This this has a potential as a. as a scandal to run and run. Well, and. and also, it's not uncommon for middlemen. to be used in the Middle East to move money around. It's a very much it's a part of the sort of shadowy. networking thing that happens in the Middle East. MB NBC as he is known, I know people say, like you British, you should say MB z.

He apparently calls himself NBC, so I'll just, you know, just trying to be, you know, Senator Verity, NBC. is probably the most powerful person in the Middle East at the moment. It was all MB he is. a direct contemporary in some ways, of Mohammed bin. Bin Salman, who runs South Korean prince of Saudi Arabia. But he MB s isn't a bit more of a difficult position. because of the tooth attacks. NBC has a very robust economy,

broadly speaking, in Dubai particularly, you know, Emirates have diversified away from all they have trouble, obviously, with Iran. But one of the allegations that underlies this account is that NBC. was very keen to disrupt the Iran nuclear deal and that this was, you know, as we remember, the Obama nuclear deal with Iran. Was was railed against by conservatives in this country. NBC had his own interest in disrupting that deal.

And the allegation is. that this money flow was was involved, was to help disrupt that deal. And again, this doesn't feel the common sense test. NBC absolutely did once it was against this deal. He did not want Iran getting nuclear power. Never mind the possibility of a nuclear weapon. They thought this was deal was going to lead in that direction. Of course, those who were in favor of it. So actually, it stopped it much more effectively than Donald Trump ever did. But disrupting that deal was an object of of Z. And he remains probably the most powerful figure in the Gulf right now.

So there is a lot to untangle and a lot that is going to be untangled in this. And Jared Kushner is worth pointing out. Supposed to be negotiating peace with Russia, funding sick. When Steve Wycoff went. to the Pentagon Jared did it on remote. Are. we we are expecting that. there will be more fallout, particularly in the Middle East for the from. This is a very. up and down place at the moment.

The Middle East as we know because of the Iran war. And what we don't know what the Saudis think about these allegations. Well, also, you just think back to when Jared Kushner married Ivanka Trump. None of this. He couldn't imagine any of this. He could. But his father in law, you know, at that point, the star of The Apprentice, a sort of vaudevillian, as we've. mentioned, you know, sort of reality TV star would, you know, eventually become president and appoint him as special piece in voice.

And along with Donald Trump's golf buddy, Steve Wycoff, the two of them would be bouncing between, you know, Moscow. and Keith and the Middle East trying to, you know, figure out what an earth is going on and beat central, central. to US policy in the Middle East and and trying to end wars. with zero experience, zero experience, zero sophistication.

It's just. Jared's own story is also as strange as Donald Trump's in many ways. And one of the things that lines up in this, in this version of events. by this journalist, Matthew Call, that lines up with known reality, is that at the time of this alleged opening of a secret bank account, Jared did not have his own wealth independent of the Kushner family. His father is a known ambassador, also a felon,

who got a pardon but was a New York property developer. and of mixed, frankly, success. And Jared at the point, at this point was somebody who did not have access to. his own money. Jared is now a billionaire in his own right, something that Democrats are very keen to dig into. And that part, that journey you've just talked about. Joanna, this is, this this this account aligns up to some of the way. signs on that journey, including a very high profile.

and kind of controversial property deal that was done for a Kushner property. in New York that was bought by Middle Eastern money at a time when it could. otherwise have been very bad news for the Kushner empire. So this are we just talked about picaresque. This really is another picaresque with some overlapping characters. Well, Hugh, I have every confidence that The Daily Beast. will be covering it in my opaque detail. As you say, Jared Kushner is denied it, saying this is outlandish.

and frankly, these accusations are insane. He says outrageous fantasy fiction and advocacy written. by someone who's either deeply disturbed or acting with sinister intent. Matthew Cole has yet to fire back. But his book is coming out. He will be. He will be speaking about it. And we've only seen an extract from this book, and it's clear. there's other chapters, we don't know what's in them. And so many more chapters of this government, and we don't know. what's in it.

But the DOJ is investing Corey Lewandowski, which is an interesting move, Hugh, I would have to say pay to be a. to be a fly on the wall in that investigation room. Anyway, always good to talk to you. If it's Friday is huge. I will be back in the office on Monday, but you will be. You'll be in our D.C. bureau, but we will be back together. Hopefully next Friday. We will. I will be here next Friday.

I am going to our nation's capital. I expect a procession, an honor. I don't know, I'm. I mean, hail to the chief. Hail to the chief of the Daily Beast. Hey, maybe I'll get a tour of the ballroom or anything is possible. I spoke to a friend the other day who's had dinner with Donald Trump, and they said that all Trump talked about. was the ballroom, that they were expecting some kind of, you know, discussion about Russia, discussion about Ukraine.

It was all about the ballroom. Joanna, you kept the best of the tea until the end. You I'll be back on Monday. Have a great trip to D.C.. Thank you for catching up with the week. And we will. Well, we'll be in constant texting. contact, and the Russians are probably got our phones. If the Russians can use my phone better than I can put luck to them. You have a great weekend. And everybody watching and listening.

Thank you for joining us. Also, have a good weekend. Leave us a comment. You may or may not understand. Hugh Scottish accent. Yes, he's from Scotland, but leave us a comment. We love to respond to them when we can. And big thanks to our production team John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Plaza, Heather Bizarro and Neil Rosenhaus. So the good news is we have so many BBC tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.