Jeff Bezos on Trump's Leadership

Summer is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A GLP one may be right for you. Visit orderlymeds dot com to learn more about which GLP one you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderlymeds dot com slash podcast. That's orderlymeds dot com slash podcast Taking care of yourself feels great. CbA medications are not FDA approved eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. and individual results may vary your website for details. This is a Global Pler original podcast. How long hass he been insightful not even sure how long he's been aside for. We're He's a brother of ours in another chapter. and so we're picking him up. These were people who were right at the coalface of that revolution and they were injuring police officers. whichich is why you get people now in the Democrats critics who say this is essentially a slush fund for cop killers. This is the stuff of Tin pot dictatorships where the president gives himself A new arment pl in Rolls Royce, a new uniforms for his personal guard, while everyone else is just left by the roadside The Justice Department has this new fund that was announced today, one point seeven billion dollars Yeah. Why should taxpayers for the January? Well it's been very well received. I have to tell you, I know very little about it. I wasn' involved in in the whole creation of it and and the negotiation. But this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated. It' anti weaponization. They've been weaponized They've been in some cases imprisoned wrongly. They paid legal fees that they didn't have. They've gone bankrupt. theirir lives have been destroyed And they turn out to be right Wh calls this a compensation fund? for those who are victims of a weaponized justice department The Democrats call this a slush fund for cop killers Is this the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century Welcome to the News agents USA The News agents USA with Emily Matriice and John Soopel It's mateless And it's John in a rather wintry Australia right now. And what has emerged over the past few days is astonishing because the background to this is The leader of this government, Donald Trump sued his own government For ten billion dollars over the fact that his internal revenue Tax returns were leaked out when he was running for president. and he is sewing the IRS for that There has been a settlement where the IRS will give him one point seven billion dollars This is the leader of the government negotiating with his government over how much money he should be given And he's saying he is giving this money to those people who were imprisoned for rioting. for wrecking the Congress on january the sixth for beating up police officers, for causing unbelievable damage to America's reputation and to physical damage inflicted. and he's saying these people have been treated so badly and they are victims, and he is going to set up this fund, which, although he denies any knowledge of any of the details of, you can be sure, he was intimately involved because he agreed the settlement with the IRS all negotiated via his acting attorney genereral B Yeah. And when you hear the title of it and it's for Victims of a weaponised Justice Department, you think Oh, I get it. Okay, so that might be, for example, James Comey, who was fired without due cause. It might be his daughter, Mauren Comey, fired without due cause. it might be Hunter Biden. It might be any of the people who think that the system has been turned against them you know fairly or unfairly, but they have a chance to fight it and ask for compensation But I think something that is possibly worth noting is that the fund This fund, which is not quite one point seven billion, not quite one point eight billion do. It is one point seven seven six billion do, which for anyone who's kind of thinking about that or seeing it on a page will understand, it is a reference to the Patriots of Independence Ye seventeen seventy six There is More than a hint of a troll in this whole fund. It will be administered by a five member commission that will be appointed by the acting attorney genereneral, Todd Blanche, or whoever is attorney generenal at the time One member chose an in consultation with congressional leadership President can then remove any of them any time without explanation or cause. So in other words, if James Comey did come to seek redress and the Cission did want to hear him out, you can imagine that that person would be gone from the commission pretty quickly. There is almost no transparency to how this works. we will not be hearing Who gets money will not be hearing why they get money. It is absolutely in the dark. And here's an example of some of the lawmakers in the US trying to get their heads around it. First of all, a Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, who's asked if Fundamentally, he agrees with this idea You know, every dime that we spend ought to be going to And especially with people in mind over half of Americans that are living paycheck to paycheck. That's got to be at the forefront of every single House and Senate member's mind with every dime that we appropriate. So For that and many other reasons, I am completely objecting to this and I'm going to do everything I can to fight it So look, you on the podcast yesterday talked about Thomas Massey and the fact that he had been kind of effectively deselected to be a candidate for Kentucky because he had incurred Donald Trump's ire control that Donald Trump still has on the Republican Party is immense It will be interesting to see whether other laawmakers, like the one we've just heard, will show similar courage because I think that people are beginning to see now is a president who is feeling increasingly out of touch. He's always been the billionaire, the showman, but he always had a good feel Americans were thinking. And when we did the podcast last week And we were talking about how Donald Trump kind of just kind of, you know said, I'm not considering ordinary Americans and theirost the cost of living when I'm dealing with Iran It was so tone deaf And I think that Republicans who are kind of They're tall. between on the one hand, there self preservation in the midterm elections and absolutely getting you know run down by Democrats who've got so much ammunition. and fear. of offending the president. And where are they going to go with that? Because at the moment, opinion polls show that this is unpopular, that Donald Trump is unpopular But among Republicans, there is still an absolute terror of incurring his wrath Yeah. and I think we should just dig into where we are with this fund a little bit deeper, because when you hear Brian Fitzpatrick, that clip we just played to you saying, o, I don't want to see taxpayers money going on this. On the one hand, that is absolutely right. He's talking about affordability. Why should taxpayers be paying any money towards a fund But actually stand back and realise that that criticism does not even touch the sides of what Trump and Todd Blanche have just decreed. that they are going to be using taxpayers' money pay out to people they call victims Many Americans, most Americans would see as convicted felons Trump has made it clear that the people who were involved in the Jan six riots, the people who tried to overthrow democracy, the people who left several police officers dead or suicidal after that incurt that eruption of violence at the Capitol should not only be set free, but should also now be able to receive compensation And if you remember Trump's first act as president. He was sworn in on the twentieth of january, on the twenty first of january. He signed into law. Freeing of the Jan six rioters. I caught up with a friend of one of those who was about to be released from prison in Washington, DC that day. justust to remind you H name is Tom Boris. How long has he been insightful I' not even sure how long he's been inside for. We're He's a brother of ours in another chapter. and so we're picking him up. Do you mean is it a proudboy's brother or? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so not a brother brother. No, he's my brother. He's your actual brother. Pdboy brother. Okay. What have you been convicted of? Nothing So he's inside jail for nothing? Well, he was ye, well, yes, exactly. He's inside jail because he's an American patriot These were people who were right at the coalface of that revolution and they were injuring police officers. which is why you get people now in the Democrats, critics who say, this is essentially a slush fund for cop killers. And frankly, instead of kind of doing, it could be this or it could be that It kind of is. I mean it sort of is. It is compensation for people who put police officers' lives in danger or worse. The acting attorney genereral, who, lest we forget, used to be Donald Trump's personal Turnney and still seems to be acting in that role was grilled on all of this by Senator Chris Coons I heard from a number of law enforcement friends who found it appalling that there was the possibility that folks like the peace, the oath keepers U the proud boys who had assaulted Cital police officers could receive multimillion dollar payouts from this fund Well, you commit that no one who has been convicted of assaulting a police officer will receive a payout from this fund. So I share the concerns that apparently members of law enforcement gave you last week, although none of this was announced last week, so that's surprising. But they have there would be a settlement f. Okay. But anybody can apply. The commission will the commissioners will set rules, I'm sure. That's not for me to set, that's for the commissioners and whether an individual Oathkeper, as you just mentioned, applies for compensation, is anybody in this country can apply Anyone could apply even people who've been prosecuted already, even people who've been convicted already, because those people have now been freed. In other words, there is nothing stopping any of those who were released from prison The January the sixth rioters from going and saying we'd now like compensation. And let me posit something that is even more worrying about this. This comes from one of the police officers, one of those who was injured on january the sixth Harry Dun And he is trying to stop this fund from happening because the way he pos the way he sees this, it is not just compensation It is A reward And it is very possibly An incitement For those who might be considering Future political violence Should Trump need it In the coming elections, just listen to Harry Dunn trying to set this thought out. I do believe that it absolutely sets the stage for Donald Trump to do it again. I call it, Donald Trump. This payment is going to serve as a retainer. People have retainers for their lawyers. so when they need them, they're available. Donald Trump is putting a retainer on a mob on a militia That's already showed the violence that they're willing to enact on his behalf. And he's incentivizing it too. because I don't believe that in twenty twenty nine, Donald Trump is going to leave office peacefully. Why? Because he doesn't have a track record of doing it. He's the first president in over two hundred fifty years to say we're not going to have a peaceful transfer of power I mean, when you think of it in those terms as an incentive, What does that make the next few months look like Donald Trump essentially gathered around him As we said at the time actually, when he released the Jan S Rioters, he has created a vigilante army, should he ever need one in future. If these people are not just indebted to him for their freedom but are actually coming to him for their money, actually getting paid out of a slush fund of taxpayers' money. T do it again, well, what's stopping them? There's another aspect of this, which we haven't even talked about yet, which to my mind, is even more egregious And this is the deal that has been announced by Todd Blanche in a separate memorandum that came out saying that in this settlement between Donald Trump and the IRS. He will no longer nor will his family be subject to audit for things that they have done in the past or will do in the future Now just imagine that for a second. hang on So what, whatever tax return he submits You have to accept We talked about last week, Donald Trump's son Eric going to China with the President. Now, Either that was Bring your son to work day and that's why he went to China or he was there to try and capitalize on the fact that his dad is the president and get business off the back a bit. We have seen the monetization of the U.S. presidency in a way that has never been seen before in anyone's lifetimes, in any part of the history of the United States of America And here we have the acting attorney genereral and former lawyer to Donald Trump say Don't worry, boys, you're fine. You're not going to be audited again Now on a conservative estimate, There are some who are saying that on the basis of his previous tax returns, if the IRS had found him against him He could be subject to one hundred million dollar fine. That's gone now 's gone, he's free. that's another hundred million in the bank catching of Donald Trump So what we're seeing as well is as well as this slush fund that you have so eloquently described, you've got Donald Trump now free to do what the hell he likes and his children too with their tax returns is just mind boggling Yes, I do think one of the things that we're coming up against time and again is the asymmetry of the politics now in America twenty twenty six, because Donald Trump, as you say, has basically got himself off Scot free whatever he does with his tax taxes, set up a slush fund of one point seven seven six billion to pay out essentially convicted criminals. He's done that without judicial approval, without congressional approval, having five members of a committee that he can fire at will And what are the Democrats doing it? What are the Democrats doing? They're saying, oh, we are going on the attack and we're going to try and offer a bill to block it. And you know, just hang on a second. hang on. It's like you are still using the old levers of democracy. You are using the levers of Congress. you are using The levers of the judiciary you still have a belief. I mean, what else can they do? What else can they say? But you still have this belief that America is working with its old institutions. And clearly, it isn't. becausecause this thing is going to happen. It's going to get through. Todd Blanche is going to be in charge. The money is going to exist it does seem that the Democrats are playing this sort of you know, nineteen, nineties game now instead of being kind of in arms and frankly, rioting on the streets about what's going on. I look at the opinion poll data for Donald Trump's support among Republicans. And given the scale of what we are describing, which is essentially lining your own pockets are letting off rioters So you've created your own kind of army as you described it. Yeah And people are going, yeah, whatever. Yeahah, fine. seventy five try off for a bill. seventy five percent of Republicans still absolutely solidly behind him. Now that's okay. The MAGA wall still remains solid. But I think the rest of America is looking at this and thinking, this is crazy. This is This is the stuff of tin pot dictatorships where the kind of the president gives himself a new armoured plated of Rolls Royce, a new uniforms for his personal guard, while everyone else is just left by the roadside. And I think there is a danger. Donald Trump is looking ridiculously out of touch with some of these things that he's doing, which seem just to be about the self aggrround Disemond and self enriching of him his family and all those close friends around him who've also got very rich off this second term of his presidency. and the normal rules, as you say, are just not applying the checks and balances What checks and balances? In a moment, we'll be back talking about Trum's ball room again, and whether he really is going to make the people of America pay for it. For us here, at Orderly Meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings. 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Individual results may vary see website for details Hello from me, crrime journalist Andy Hughes. and one of the hosts of the Crime Aents. This is true crime like you've never heard before. And I'm the XCOop Neil Bassu. Well, XCOop isn't really doing it justice, isn' it Neil? I mean, you did head up every major department in Europe's biggest police force, the mighty Met. you're no slouch in the crime department yourself after twenty years as a investigative reporter and also as an undercover journalist. On this podcast, we tackle the major crime stories in the news like the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, as well as delving into some of the most famous cases in criminal history, like The murder of Stepehen Lawrence. Check out the crrime agents on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts The News agents USA This build They're taken out of different parts of the world from very glamorous timees. This is Rome. They like the flat room. Greece li they go at the triangles. and you see that. This is a porch that looks out over the city. Also it's developed in such a way that we can have military there. but the entire roof is developed for military. They're very high, they're higher than just about anything else. They have a three hundred and sixty degree vision of Washington, DC. They have a massive drone capacity. Not only is it drone proof. If a drone hits it, it bounces off. It won't have any impact, but it's also meant as a drone port. so it protects all of Washington, the roof of the building Okay, now does anybody have any questions That is Donald Trump describing his ballroom, still not complete But a lot of the eastwing of the White House has been destroyed to make way for it, even though it has no planning permission, no proper engineers drawings, no proper anything, really. But this is Donald Trump's Vanity project writ large. And it was really interesting that when he came back from China and this key critical talks that took place last week with President Xi. The first thing he put on trruth social was not about the Strait of Hormuz Not about rare earth minerals Not about trade It was about China's got a bullroom. Why shouldn't I have one And it's like it's kind of the latest vanity project that you know the people are next door to us have put up a conservatory. Why shouldn't we have a conservatory? The problem is that it's going to cost a huge amount of money No one's quite clear who is picking up the bill Or what indeed, it's for And Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, soon to be the ex senator from Louisiana because he incurred Donald Trump's wrath, is now speaking more freely. interesteresting to hear these sort of newly courageous voices. And I guess this is in a way the trap that Trump has set himself, that anyone now who has lost their primary to a Trump MAGA sort of opponent is now thinking, what have I got to lose? What have I got to lose betweenetween now, May and November When I have to relinquish the seat actually the following January, I can say exactly what I want. Bill Cassidy is spelling it out And to be fair, Senate Republicans are starting to get the message. They have now offered to remove a one billion dollars secret service funding request that would basically help his ballroom project and they are going to take it out of their funding bill, which was actually called the Immigration Enforcement Funding Bill. I mean how it got in there in the first place is frankly anyone's guess. But it's almost like and I wonder if you remember a couple of weeks ago we were talking about latest attempted assassination attack at the White House dinner. I mean, very little has actually been heard about that since. we still don't know what has happened to the then active shooter. We still don't know know how that sort of trial or prosecution is progressing. But shortly after that, Trump tried to make the case for the ballroom being absolutely vital and absolutely important. And I think There were a lot of nodding dogs at the time. I was probably one of them who went, o, I can see ye, and of course you can't you have to have a ballroom. And of course as soon as you think about it logically, what are you saying that the president could never go out to dinner, could never be anywhere else except his ballroom, could never be in a group of people having dinner without a ballroom? The whole thing is absolutely absurd And yet he tried to sort of squeeze it through on the back of whatever happened in that room that Saturday night and said, that is why I need the American people to pay for my ballroom. And now I guess a sort of there is a certain sort of sanity and relief in the fact that His own party, Senate Republicans are now saying, yeah, we cannot put this in the immmigration enforcement funding bill. Whether it creeps into something else,, who knows You know, in the context of Ukraine, we've talked about dual use technology where you send something and it can be used as a military thing Donald Trump is using that argument for his bllroom It's dual use. You won't be able to just dance in this ballroom and have fancy pans dinners in this ballroom. you'll be able to launch drones from it. and the military will have the latest hardware and it will become a defence installation in Washington DC to keep Donald Trump safer. I think the whole argument You know, we talked in the first half of the episode. the danger of Donald Trump looking out of touch. There is a real element of kind of he hasn't got the powdered wig, but of Marary Antoinette and let them eat cake. You know, I'm going to have this incredible ballroom, but I know you Americans are having to pay over the price of fuel now is over four dollars a gallon Across America in all fifty states, some states it iss over five dollars a gallon. People are suffering The affordability crisis is real. People are living paycheck to paycheck. and you know and a lot of people are really, really struggling. and Donald Trump is obsessed. and he does seem absolutely obsessed about this bloody ballroom that nobody seems to want, no one has given permission for, but Donald Trump is insistent has to happen What I would say though is we are in this very odd moment of time. The next four weeks we are going to see more of those Republican primaries. We've already seen exerting his power over MAGA Republicans in Indiana in Texas with John Cornin now looking like he won't be able to fight against Ken Paxton We've seen it in Louisiana with Bill Cassidy. We've seen it in Kentucky with Thomas Massey. Let us not forget Thomas Massey was part of that campaign, a key member of that campaign to get the Epstein files released. He provoked Trump's ire And so I guess this is a fairly critical few weeks, because there will be Republicans who are looking aroundound now saying Well, do I want to put my head above the parapet? I know what I should be doing. I know how awful this sounds. I know how hard it's going to make it for me to win my general election against the Democrats. But right now, just when he's kind of, you know, snipering Do I really want to put my head above the parapet be in Trump's line of fire and the answer to many of them, you know, the cowards, the ones with no backbone, might well be Not now It's a fascinating point in American politics where you know, we're coming to the end of the primary process. So you know, for the next two years, the people that have got A safe seat in the House of Representatives will be fine. They'll be in the House of Representatives. Just that basic Christian. Do I incur Donald Trump's wrath but perhaps make an argument that resonates with my voters. Exactly. Or am I so terrified of Donald Trump that I have to keep stood in the hope that he won't go after me even though I may go down in flames in the midterm elections because Ive supported a whole bunch of ludicrous policies like the slush fund for cb killers, like the know amnesty for the Trump family in future audits and the ridiculous ballroom. Right Because there's a chronology, right? There's no point in being able to win your state or win your congressional seat against a Democrat if you can't actually win against your own president who's decided he doesn't like you. You don't get the chance Yeah, I mean, I think we're going to see well, I think we're going to see probably a lot more cowardice before we actually know who is sitting and able to fight their seats again we'll see a lot more cowardice, but remember, After the midterm elections, you're in a period where Donald Trump is I mean, I was going to say lame duck. He's not a lame duck because he still possesses incredible power over the Republican Party and you know, he will play an awfully important role in who runs for Senate, who runs for the House, But his power will diminish once the midterms are over and he's in his final two years and you've got JD Vansen whoever else and you know, Marco Rubio jockeying for position. So I kind of think that there's cowardice for now But suddenly I think you're going to see these Republicans who recognize that they're in dire straightits because of Donald Trump's policies, suddenly finding a tiniest bit of backbone. M You think about this carefully, you pay menaces money the mobsters, you say, we might be needing you around the polles, we might be needing you in the state capitolals, we might be needing, we might be calling on you to overturn the election results once again in November Don't forget, you can claim money for the last time you did it. Come on down because just to finish that point, If the Democrats manage to take the House and the Senate Those guys are going to be locked up again Right? They're going to be retried. They're going to probably be convicted again. There's going to be more oversight over what they do and where their freedom comes from. So They might have nothing to lose either unless the state of the Union in the Union's two hundred and fiftieth year. You can't make it up. You can't make it up