House GOP Runs From Epstein Vote,

The Justice Department wants to meet with Jeffrey Epstein's partner in crime, Speaker Johnson sends Congress home early to avoid an awkward vote, and Trump calls the Marcos family "highly respected" - apparently forgetting the whole "chased out by revolution" thing.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Callaroga Shark Media from Washington, DC, where seriously released the
Epstein files. Already, this is ballance, that's right, and I'm
about to release my own list, So let's hit this. Hi.
I'm Patrick Gutfield, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced
he wants to meet with Julie Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime

(00:25):
associate who's currently serving twenty years in federal prison for
sex trafficking. Blanche says he's acting on Trump's instructions to
release all credible evidence about the case. Now, this is
interesting timing. The announcement came just hours before a House
committee voted to subpoena Maxwell, and just days after The
Wall Street Journal reported that Trump sent Epstein a birthday

(00:47):
greeting in two thousand and three, expressing their close friendship.
So we're moving from I barely knew the guy to
let's interview his business partner. That's quite a pivot. Blanche
misspelled Maxwell's first name in his announce which is either
sloppy work or he's so unfamiliar with the case he
doesn't know how to spell the defendant's name. Either way,

(01:07):
not great, or maybe he's a genius who wants us
to think he's going to interview that in Maxwell, but
actually just going to meet with someone with a similar name,
like wanting to interview Michael B. Jordan. But then the
guy from the Chicago Bulls shows up. Pretty crafty move
there by, Todd Blanche. Maybe I will start releasing the
Epstein files. Epstein spelled with two e's. The first name

(01:29):
in those Epstein files with two e's is a guy
named Donald Trump, who spells his last name with two
ms and is clearly a parody. Cowardly speaker Mike Johnson
just sent the house home early to avoid voting on
releasing Jeffrey Epstein files. He cut the legislative week short
and scheduled recess for Wednesday afternoon, which is the political
equivalent of faking a headache to get out of a

(01:50):
dinner party. Johnson said, we're done being lectured on transparency
at a news conference where he looked about as comfortable
as a vegetarian at a barbecue contest. He complained about
endless efforts to politicize the Epstein investigation while simultaneously politicizing
the Epstein investigation by refusing to hold a vote on it.
Here's what happened. Democrats on the House Rules Committee kept

(02:13):
demanding votes on releasing Epstein files. Republicans didn't want to
go on record because they're afraid of their own voters
who actually want these files released. So instead of facing
their constituents, they're just going home. That's leadership. The House
was supposed to vote on immigration measures, permitting bills, and
rolling back Biden regulations, but they can't do any of

(02:36):
that because the Rules Committee is paralyzed by the Epstein issue.
So rather than deal with it, they're taking a five
week vacation. Must be nice. Representative Marjorie Taylor Green said
crimes have been committed. If there's no justice and no accountability,
people are going to get sick of it, which is
probably the most reasonable thing she said in years, and

(02:57):
that should tell you something about the situation. Representative Ralph
Norman from South Carolina criticized his own leaders for stalling
and said the American people deserve action, not excuses. Meanwhile,
Representative Thomas Massey from Kentucky plans to force a vote
in September using something called a discharge petition. Johnson's response,

(03:18):
I don't know how his mind works. I don't know
what he's thinking. Bless his heart. That's Southern for this
guy's an idiot. But when you're avoiding a vote your
own base once, maybe the idiot is the guy running
away from his own members. So to recap, Republicans control
the House, but they can't pass their own agenda because
they're afraid to vote on something their voters actually support.

(03:40):
That's not governing, that's just advanced procrastination. President Trump met
with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Junior and called his family
highly respected. Now, Trump says he knew the Marcos family
back in the eighties, which explains a lot about Trump's
judgment in the eighties. Here's what Trump didn't mention. Marcos

(04:02):
Junior's father was literally chased out of office by his
own people in a revolution. The elder Marcos was a
dictator who was so unpopular that even the Reagan administration,
and this is Ronald Reagan we're talking about, told him
it was time to pack it up and go home.
When Reagan thinks you're too authoritarian, you've really crossed a line.
But Trump called them highly respective, that's like calling the

(04:25):
Titanic unsinkable. After watching the movie. We all know how
this story ends. The younger Marcos has become a close
American ally, mainly because China keeps trying to claim Philippine's territory.
So now we're in this awkward position where we need
the son of a dictator to help us deal with
another authoritarian regime. International relations is just one big dysfunctional

(04:46):
family reunion where everyone's pretending the weird uncle isn't weird.
During their meeting, while Trump was busy attacking his political opponents,
Marcos kept steering the conversation back to their military relationship
and America's help with the Philippines Self reliance defense program. Translation,
we really need your help because China has votes and

(05:07):
we have well, we have hope. The reality is the
Philippines has no chance against China's military without American support.
China has been sending coast guardships to hassle Filipino fishermen,
which is like sending a professional wrestler to intimidate a
kindergarten class. Not exactly a fair fight. So here we
are Trump praising a dictator's family while trying to contain

(05:28):
another dictator's expansion. Portions of today's show were made with
the help of AI and the Epstein files