transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Really happy to have you here. So first, they got rid of Gregory Bovino, the little guy who lives in a shoe, who was inexplicably promoted well beyond his job title to lead Donald Trump's chaotic, violent, trigger-happy, inept paramilitary invasions of multiple US cities. They got rid of him. Then they got rid of Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security. Also, technically, they also got rid, at the same time, of the guy who didn't formally work for the Department of Homeland Security. But nevertheless, he was there every day and at all of her events, sitting or standing right next to her. And he was definitely, definitely, definitely not her boyfriend because she is super happily married. Then, of course, we immediately got some quite unexpected news about that aforementioned marriage. And then we got the multimillion dollar luxury private jet that she and her not-boyfriend procured with taxpayer funds for what they said would be high-profile deportations. The private jet with the bar and the queen-size bed. Then we learned that the Homeland Security Department would not be keeping that jet after all. The White House instead would be taking it. And now it was going to be used by other cabinet members and also, for some reason, by Melania Trump. Investigations into the not-boyfriend of Christine Ohm demanding payments from companies with Homeland Security contracts reportedly continue. The not-boyfriend, of course, denies all wrongdoing. But then they got rid of the Attorney General. She only barely made it a year. In that time, she did reduce the US. Department of Justice to a smoking hulk. But apparently she was just getting started when they got rid of her. She had just moved into some general's house. Because the true mark of making it in the upper echelons of this administration is that you're allowed to essentially loot from the US military. You're allowed to just take over military housing for yourself because hey, some of it's quite nice. But right after she got moved into some general's house, Attorney General Pam Bondi was out. Then they got rid of the director of ICE, following reports that he had had to be hospitalized not once but twice since taking the job because of stress. Plus, another incident in which his security detail reportedly retrieved a portable defibrillator from a nearby office because he was freaking out so hard, they were sure they were going to have to shock him. Last week, the head of ICE, Todd Lyons, found himself unable to answer basic questions from Democratic Congresswoman Lauren Underwood of Illinois as she pressed him on why so many people have been dying in ICE custody. He could not answer her basic questions about those deaths, even basic questions about why those deaths weren't being investigated. And then as soon as that, I'm sure, very stressful hearing was over, we learned that he's out too. He has resigned and he will be gone next month. Well, now today, another one down. The Secretary of Labor is out. And where do you want to start with this one? In January, the New York Post was first to report on a complaint about Trump's Labor Secretary that had been made to the Department's Inspector General. And I gotta tell you, the New York Post has since done a ton of groundbreaking reporting on this scandal at Trump's Labor Department. But because it's the New York Post, and I'm going to show you some of their reporting, I feel like I just have to mention at the outset that they do decide to decorate much of their reporting on this scandal with photos of Trump's Labor Secretary in a bikini. Like, I mean, not every article, but a lot of their articles about this just randomly have pictures of her in a bikini. And I don't, I just, that's just kind of the business model over there. But the reporting is what it is. Trump's Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, faced allegations of drinking in the office during the workday, and of taking staff members to strip clubs, and of taking personal trips at taxpayer expense. She was accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with a member of her security detail. That member of her security detail was then put on leave. Then he resigned. Then her chief of staff was forced out. Then her deputy chief of staff was forced out. Then her director of advance was forced out. Then we learned that her husband, hey, there's a husband, he was banned from going inside the Labor Department's headquarters building. That ban on him entering the building came after two Labor Department staff members accused him, the secretary's husband, of sexually assaulting them at the Labor Department headquarters building. The husband denies wrongdoing, but then the hits just kept coming. Last week, the New York Times was first to report on Trump's labor secretary allegedly sending text messages to her employees during the workday, telling them to bring her wine. The Times says it has reviewed the messages and that they're part of an Inspector General investigation. We here at MSNOW have not reviewed the messages and have not independently confirmed this reporting. But this is what the Times says, quote, in one text message, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer asked a staff member to bring Rosé to her hotel room. The messages are undated, but a picture of the menu in the text message exchange suggests it comes from a hotel bar in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where the Labor Secretary went on an official visit last July. She asked, quote, do they sell by the bottle? And it wasn't just the wine, the alleged day drinking, and having Labor Department employees bring her wine for day drinking. This is also from the Times, quote, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer's husband and father exchanged text messages with young female staff members at the Labor Department. Some of the young women were instructed by the Labor Secretary herself to, quote, pay attention, to, quote, pay attention to her husband and father. In an April, 2025 exchange provided to investigators, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer's father wrote to a young female Labor Department staff member, quote, hearing you are in town, wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show you around. Please keep this private. The young female Labor Department staff member responded, quote, will do, no need to worry. She apologized to him for not reaching out. He responded, quote, when are you leaving and where are you staying? This is the Labor Secretary's father. She allegedly told her young female staffers that they needed to, quote, pay attention to him. When are you leaving and where are you staying? Three Labor Department staff members have filed civil rights complaints against Trump's Labor Secretary and the department, describing a hostile work environment. But now Trump's Labor Secretary is out too. As of tonight, Trump Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of her job. Her lawyer told us here at MSNOW tonight, quote, Secretary Chavez-DeRemer did not resign due to findings that she violated the law. Her decision to leave office was personal. You know, personally, I think it's got a sting that I don't think they ever gave her a General's House. I mean, not like everybody else in the cabinet. I don't think she ever got one. Not even like an Admiral's House. But now she's out as well. That said, the FBI director still has his job. The deputy director of the FBI, the podcaster guy, they got rid of him, but the other podcaster guy is still there in the director's job. After learning about director Cash Patel assigning the FBI SWAT team to be personal bodyguards for his girlfriend, after director Cash Patel flew the FBI private jet to the Olympics so the taxpayers could pay for him to go to Italy and chug beer in the hockey team's locker room, FBI director Cash Patel has now filed a lawsuit and a demand for $250 million against the Atlantic magazine following the Atlantic reporting this weekend on what reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick described as, quote, conspicuous inebriation, quote, several officials told me that Patel's drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication in many cases at the private club Neds in Washington, DC, while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. Patel is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, said six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel's schedule. Quote, on multiple occasions in the past year, members of Patel's security detail had difficulty waking him because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials. A request for breaching equipment normally used by SWAT and hostage rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings was made last year because Director Cash Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors. According to multiple people familiar with the request, some of Patel's colleagues at the FBI worry his personal behavior has become a threat to public safety. FBI officials and others in the administration have privately questioned whether alcohol played a role, for example, in the multiple instances in which Patel has shared inaccurate information with the public about active law enforcement investigations, including following the murder of Charlie Kirk. The Atlantic says its reporter spoke with more than two dozen sources for this story. MS NOW has not independently verified these allegations. Mr. Patel has denied all wrongdoing. He's now suing the Atlantic over this story, calling it malicious and defamatory. But for now, at least, he remains in his job at the FBI with the speculative odds on how quickly podcaster Cash Patel might be fired from that job, hinging somewhat on the question of how much alcohol remains in the news about Trump's FBI director. Since President Donald Trump is somewhat famously averse to drunkenness. Hey, Pete Hegseth, still on the job as Defense Secretary as the supposed ceasefire in Iran comes to an end. And maybe there are talks in Pakistan or maybe there are not. And maybe Vice President Vance is going to those talks again or maybe he is not. And the president said he made a nuclear deal with Iran and Iran says they did no such thing. And if you're trying to understand even something as basic as whether or not oil tankers and other ships are now safely navigating the Strait of Hormuz, I don't know what to tell you, but I can tell you that the US government has not turned out to be an accurate source of information on that rather crucial point. The US military did update their casualty numbers today. In addition to the 13 US service members killed in this chaotic war, the number of wounded US Marines in this conflict now stands at 19. The number of wounded US Air Force Airmen stands at 62. The number of US Navy sailors wounded stands at 63. And the number of US Army soldiers wounded in this Iran war stands at 271. That means the current tally, provided we can trust these numbers from the Pentagon, the current tally is 415 US wounded, 13 killed. As thousands more US service members are being sent over there now even as we speak and as casualty numbers rise. Do we think our servicemen and women are in good hands? Do we think that there is care being taken? In terms of what they're risking their lives for? The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that during the planning and then the operation to rescue a US airman shot down in his F-15 inside Iran, quote, aides kept the president out of the room as they got minute by minute updates because they believed the president's impatience wouldn't be helpful. It's the Wall Street Journal reporting attributed to a senior administration source. And again, we have not validated this reporting on our own terms, but if what the Wall Street Journal is reporting is true, that means in the middle of a war that Donald Trump started, White House aides believe President Donald Trump cannot be allowed around sensitive and urgent decisions because he's too much of a mess, so they need to keep him out of the room. Well, okay, how about the seasoned, far-sighted, experienced wise men the president has surrounded himself with generally, and specifically to help him make crucial decisions about this war that he started. Quote, some of the president's advisors were caught off guard that tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz would grind to a halt so quickly after the bombing began. They were caught off guard. Quote, Trump has since marveled, marveled, at the ease with which the Strait of Hormuz was closed by Iran. He has marveled. Yes, who possibly could have ever seen that coming? They had no idea. While the war seems poised to start right back up again this week, with Americans still having no real idea, no credible explanation from the president as to why he has started this war, let alone how he might end it. President Trump continues to send his son-in-law to do the talking over there, his son-in-law who does not technically work for the US government, but is nevertheless doing the negotiating in the Middle East around whatever this war is about. Now, the president says, Jared always acts in America's best interests, so nothing to worry about. But does that settle all your concerns about these matters? I mean, they seem to find it not awkward at all, not embarrassing at all, that in these discussions, the person apparently leading negotiations on behalf of the United States of America, the president's son-in-law is not being paid by the United States of America, but he is being paid by other countries in the region who definitely have their own reasons for wanting a war with Iran, even if the United States actually doesn't. He's being paid by countries that have a lot of skin in the game and have a lot of interest in war with Iran. The United States, at least the people of the United States haven't been given a reason why we're raging this war, but I mean, Jared's leading the talks. This was the headline in Forbes magazine last fall, quote, how Jared Kushner's bold bets in the Middle East made him a billionaire. Well, now the people in the Middle East paying him and making him into a billionaire as of last year, they now get to, quote, negotiate with him, with this guy they're paying about whether the US military fights a war. I honestly, I don't think the White House gets how repulsive this is to people. Smarter Democrats out there are starting to talk about it, though, because I think smarter Democrats out there know how repulsive this kind of thing is to regular people. Take, for example, Democratic US Senator Jon Ossoff, speaking this weekend in Augusta, Georgia.

Speaker 2:
[16:30] How much do you guys know about Jared Kushner? Ivanka's husband, he's on the Saudi payroll for $2 billion. Did you know that? And now he's leading American diplomacy in the Middle East, apparently while at the very same time asking princes and sheiks across the Arab world to give him billions more. If you're watching this online, don't take my word for it. Look it up for yourself. Can you imagine a normal sitting US ambassador just hitting up Saudi Grand Prince Mohammed bin Salman for billions of dollars? But he's a Trump, a royal, a princeling. The rules are for us, not for them. I tell you what, never before have we seen so little effort to hide so much corruption.

Speaker 1:
[17:34] Democratic US Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia speaking this weekend. We're going to be speaking live with that Senator in just a moment. In his state in Georgia, the Trump administration has bought two warehouses where it is trying to build huge new Trump prison camps to hold people without trial. MSNOW's Antonia Hilton just went to one of the towns where they're trying to do that, the little town of Social Circle, Georgia. And she found in this little Republican leaning, Trump supporting town, she found the town absolutely dug in and enraged against this planned prison camp. And particularly enraged against their Republican Congressman Mike Collins for not helping them. You should know Mike Collins is running against Jon Ossoff for his Senate seat in Georgia this fall. Watch.

Speaker 3:
[18:26] Helping lead the fight is Newton County Commissioner and real estate broker Leanne Long. DHS paid almost $130 million for an empty building that had not been able to sell. What's going on there?

Speaker 4:
[18:39] They paid almost three times the amount for that building. So as a taxpayer, first of all, that's my first thing is, good lord, you're wasting our tax dollars.

Speaker 3:
[18:47] In 2025, Newton County assessed the property's value at $29 million before construction was completed. This year, officials increased that estimate to $65 million. But DHS paid $128 million, a price tag that didn't even cover the cost of renovations to retrofit it for human habitation. When we asked why, DHS ignored us. Have you ever seen a deal like that in this area?

Speaker 4:
[19:13] Never. The owner of that building, he cashed out, boy, big time.

Speaker 3:
[19:19] A long time Republican organizer, now she says she can't even get a call back about what's happening in town.

Speaker 4:
[19:25] All of a sudden, we're calling and nobody cares. Nobody's answering, nobody knows. They say they don't know. We're just wondering, how do they not know?

Speaker 3:
[19:33] So do you have some buyer's remorse right now?

Speaker 4:
[19:36] I do, I do. I've helped a lot of these candidates and they're racist. And I can tell you, I won't be helping them now. I won't be helping them. They don't have our back. They're not calling us.

Speaker 3:
[19:47] What would you say to them?

Speaker 4:
[19:48] I would say that, Mike Collins, if you want our vote ever again, you need to help us and come down here and do something. You need to go to President Trump. You do all these videos with them like you're besties. So why don't you go with him and tell him, help us.

Speaker 1:
[20:06] That's Antonia Hilton reporting for MS Now. It's part of a little documentary that she's just done. Grab your phone and click that QR code on the screen right there. That will take you to Antonia's full report from Social Circle, Georgia. It's great stuff. A report on that little town pulling out all the stops, doing everything they can to try to stop Trump from putting a prison camp there. Not incidentally, it's also a pretty amazing story about how the Republican, who's going to run against Jon Ossoff, has absolutely enraged people in his own district for not helping them stop that prison camp in their town. Interesting. Hundreds of people turned up this past week in Maryland outside the federal court hearing there, in a really important case where the state of Maryland is suing the Trump administration to try to stop them from opening the first of these new warehouse Trump prison camps. This one in Maryland is a prison camp they wanted open by May 4th. It was the first one they wanted to open anywhere in the country. But this Maryland lawsuit has stopped that. This past week with hundreds of people peacefully protesting outside and many more people packing the courtroom, the judge decided to actually move the case to the bigger ceremonial courtroom in Baltimore to accommodate all the public interest. The judge has now ruled after that hearing in a ruling that just excoriates the Trump administration, saying that what they're trying to do with that first warehouse prison they're trying to open is a crystal clear example of a federal agency failing to comply with the law. The judge notes that the Trump administration lawyers in this case could not answer basic questions about the government's behavior. He said he found their actions arbitrary and capricious. He ruled that the Trump administration is enjoined from construction and renovation at the warehouse in Williamsport, Maryland, for the purposes of operating the warehouse as a detention and processing facility. So that is not a ruling that is for now and forever, but it is for now. And that is the first Trump prison camp warehouse facility they were trying to get open in this country, and they are not going to get it open. There were protests this weekend in Dilley, Texas, against the Trump immigrant prison there where they hold men and women and children, lots of children, the medical care, and even the food situation at Dilley is now considered to be so dire that local residents are calling on the Trump administration to close down that Dilley facility by Mother's Day, by next month. Keep your eyes as well on the Trump immigrant prison in Mochannon Valley, Pennsylvania. Men held prisoner there have just gone on hunger strike against what they say is just a catastrophically dangerous health care situation at that out-of-the-way rural facility in Pennsylvania. It's in Clearfield County, Mochannon Valley, Pennsylvania. This week at the Citizens Bank shareholders meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on Wednesday, day after tomorrow, we're expecting large-scale protests against that bank and its financial ties to Trump prison camps. People at that shareholders meeting trying to get Citizens Bank to drop its financial ties to Trump prison facilities. Last week at the Thompson Reuters shareholder meeting, shareholders there demanded an investigation into that company selling data to ICE. This weekend, Saturday, April 25th, there are more than 160 protests planned all over the country specifically to stop Trump's prison camps to hold people without trial. 160 different protests planned for this Saturday, including at the places his prison camps already are and at all the places that he is trying to build them, where in every instance there is considerable local fight back. And so, happy spring, right? The president is 26 points underwater in his approval rating. Fully 50% of the country say they strongly disapprove of him. The administration has never been more of a mess than they are right now. They are failing at every major thing they are trying to do. Now they are starting to hemorrhage cabinet members as they try and fail to outrun their own rapidly compounding failures and increasingly drunk in personal scandals. Like I said, a lot to get to tonight, but happy spring everybody. It's getting brighter every day. Corruption always comes with a cost. In politics, at the highest levels of government, corruption comes with a high cost for ordinary people. And if the party in power is corrupt, part of the cost of corruption for them ought to be their political opponents making them pay for it, because corruption at high levels of government, corruption at all levels of government, is inherently repulsive to the American people. And it is something they are happy to put front of mind when they turn out to vote. That is part of the argument right now in the great state of Georgia, on the Democratic side of a crucial election for the United States Senate.

Speaker 2:
[25:23] The faithless president depicts himself as Christ while he plunges the nation into wars of choice. While he and his family rake in billions from foreign princes. While he plunders our health care to cut taxes for the rich. Meanwhile, rent, power, groceries and health care have all hit all-time highs this year. This year. Ground beef is up 20% since Trump took office. Coffee 40%. Health premiums through the roof. And remember, while you pay more for everything, the first family's wealth is growing by billions of dollars. Because they're crooks. And everybody knows it.

Speaker 1:
[26:33] That's incumbent US. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia. Going for it this weekend in Augusta. He said, the president and his family are raking in billions of dollars from foreign princes while you pay more for rent, power, health care, ground beef, coffee. The first family's wealth is growing by billions of dollars. Senator Ossoff this weekend saying, quote, never before have we seen so little effort to hide so much corruption. The Mar-a-Lago mafia has taken American corruption to spectacular new heights. Joining us now live is Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, candidate for reelection in November. Senator, it's nice to see you. Thanks for making time to be here with us tonight.

Speaker 2:
[27:15] Thank you, Rachel. Good to see you.

Speaker 1:
[27:17] I wanted to talk to you about this once I saw this speech of yours this weekend, because I've been thinking a lot about the always and every time relationship between authoritarian leaders and corruption and how that corruption translates to regular people. How regular people understand the stakes of that, what it means for their own lives, what it means for their own economic prospects. What are you trying to explain to your constituents in this speech this weekend and in general about the relationship between corruption and their own lives, their own prospects?

Speaker 2:
[27:53] I think people across the political spectrum are feeling outrage that while families in Georgia are made to pay more and more for everything, the first family is pocketing vast sums of money from all over the world. You were talking earlier about Jared Kushner. The guy leading our diplomacy in the Middle East is bringing in billions from Middle Eastern princes and sheiks and going around the region asking for billions more while he conducts nuclear diplomacy on behalf of the country. It's cartoonish, it's grotesque, it's obscene. I'm hearing not just from Democrats, but from independents and Republicans that they are excited and motivated more than ever to impose checks and balances in these midterm elections. But I want to warn people against complacency. This is Georgia. This is the most competitive battleground state in the country. I am the only Democrat running for reelection in a state that Donald Trump won. Something that folks aren't paying enough attention to is national Republicans have vastly more resources than national Democrats right now. I expect the GOP to come in with hundreds of millions of dollars against me. And I'm asking folks across the country to take nothing for granted to go to electjohnelectjon.com and support my campaign right now.

Speaker 1:
[29:24] If Democrats could take control of the US Senate, if you're re-elected, if Democrats hold all of their other contested seats, if they're able to pick off some Republican seats and take control of the US Senate, Donald Trump will still be president. Jared Kushner will still be whatever he is. What sort of difference could it make in Washington to have Democratic control of the Senate?

Speaker 2:
[29:46] Well, with command of Senate committees, with subpoena power, imagine Secretary Pete Hegseth, if he remains secretary that long or former secretary Hegseth, I suspect at that point, we'll have to come and testify under oath about reports that his stockbroker was calling around trying to buy him defense stocks just days before the Iran War broke out. Jared Kushner will have to come and testify under oath or be deposed under oath about the billions of dollars of business he was trying to do in the Middle East while he engaged in diplomacy in the region on behalf of the United States. We will be able to investigate this corruption and these grotesque conflicts of interest with the power of the United States Senate. And that will both deter corruption while we have that power in the Senate and allow us to impose accountability.

Speaker 1:
[30:50] Let me ask you about something that's been happening in Georgia that's having both really practical and moral consequences, but also seeming to have some political ripples now too. And that is the Trump administration's effort to put two Trump prison camps in two different warehouse facilities in two communities in Georgia. MS NOW just did a bunch of reporting in Social Circle, Georgia, in one of those towns where Mike Collins is their congressman, a Republican who wants to challenge you for your Senate seat. Locals saying they're very frustrated that Mike Collins has not helped them as they're trying to stop this thing. What have you done to help the communities in your state that are trying to fend off these facilities who say that these massive Trump prison camps are both unsustainable and deeply unwanted in their communities?

Speaker 2:
[31:39] Well, Mayor Keener over in Social Circle sent me a text message a few months back expressing his concern and the concern of the community. And Senator Warnock and I leapt into action demanding transparency from the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration insisting that they brief local officials. The commission is dead set against it. The city is dead set against it. They don't have the water and power infrastructure to accommodate this. The administration wants to put this massive prison camp in a warehouse just down the street from a school. They've done no local consultation. They've kept everyone in the dark and the community is up in arms about it.

Speaker 1:
[32:18] Senator Jon Ossoff, Democratic Georgia, thank you very much for talking to us tonight. Good to have you here.

Speaker 2:
[32:24] Thank you, Rachel. All right.

Speaker 1:
[32:26] We got much more news ahead here tonight. Stay with us. In the vast, weird, really right-wing media universe in the United States of America, there's a special and unique place held by an outlet called Infowars and its manic host Alex Jones. Alex Jones for decades has peddled baroque conspiracy theories alongside a really scammy trade in survivalist merchandise and hilarious supplements that promise lots of things I cannot even say or describe on basic cable. Infowars isn't just one more thing in the weird right-wing media world for all its ridiculousness. Infowars has left a real-world trail that is not just toxic. I would argue it is evil, specifically when it comes to Alex Jones' signature conspiracy theory that the 2012 massacre of school kids at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut didn't really happen. That it was a hoax and the kids who were all killed there are, in fact, still alive or they never existed in the first place. Insanity and unbelievably cruel. As Alex Jones repeatedly pushed that insanity on Infowars, some of his fans subjected the grieving families in Sandy Hook to years of online abuse and harassment and death threats. Years into it, in 2018, several Sandy Hook families sued Alex Jones for defamation. Juries found him liable. The families were ultimately awarded about one and a half billion dollars. But the families have never received a penny of that because Alex Jones declared bankruptcy after the verdict. A bankruptcy judge ordered that all of Infowars' assets, including intellectual property, the Infowars brand itself, needed to be sold off to help Alex Jones satisfy those debts to the families. Well, you may remember about a year and a half ago, we learned that the surprise winner of an auction of Infowars' assets was the satirical news site, The Onion, for which Alex Jones and Infowars would, of course, be a delicious punchline. The Onion would turn Infowars into a parody of itself, stop it from doing more harm, start maybe repairing some of the harm that it's done. You might also remember, though, that almost as soon as The Onion got a hold of Infowars, they lost it again. Alex Jones challenged the auction. It's been tied up in court ever since. But then today, a breakthrough. This is the front page of The Onion tonight. Look, The Onion, Infowars. You can see the top story in the upper left there. At long last, Infowars is ours. You see the Infowars logo with the Onion for the O in Info on the upper right-hand side of the screen. The Onion today announced that pending final approval by a judge, they have reached an arrangement to actually truly take over Infowars, the Onion's new Infowars page, like the original, is chock full of scammy ads. The scammy products include a demon guard patch, 24-hour holy protection from all dark entities, also pure O-oxygen capsules, as well as an offer to, quote, learn to float, discover the secret. This is all meant to do some practical good as well. Proceeds from the new Onion-run Infowars will go in part towards starting to pay off Alex Jones' incredible debts to the families of Sandy Hook. Joining us now is my old friend, Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. Ben, congratulations. Thank you so much for making time to be here tonight.

Speaker 5:
[36:25] Thank you, Rachel. It's quite a day.

Speaker 1:
[36:28] What didn't I say about this that you want people to know, or did I say anything about it that I got wrong?

Speaker 5:
[36:34] No, you got everything right. I do want people to remember that it was nine days after the election, the 2014 election where we saw the burning building known as the Infowars auction and walked directly into it, knowing that likely no one else but Alex Jones is going to bid on that thing. We won that auction and then it was held up in court for reasons we still know one understands. For 17 months, we were threatened by Alex Jones with the long arm of the Trump government where he had a lot of friends and thankfully these families, my staff, everybody saw it through and we're about to take over this thing and do something really fun.

Speaker 1:
[37:19] Can you tell us more about what your plans are for Infowars? Obviously, you've got the Infowars website, but what else do you get and what should we expect you to do with it?

Speaker 5:
[37:32] Yeah. We'll get everything inside of that way too vast studio in Austin, Texas where I think we also get like a rowing machine or something. There's something in the inventory list that's a little ridiculous, but we're excited to find out what's actually in there. Most importantly though, we get to take over this name and look, you know, Rachel, the way people get their information now has changed. They get it from people who think, who tell you that you're like one enemo away from solving world hunger or something. That's not actually true, but no one has really made fun of these people professionally yet. And thankfully, we got a really good professional comedian, Tim Heidecker, to take over this thing and we look forward to infesting your social media feeds with characters and grotesqueries of the very people who have ruined our media ecosystem over the last 10 years.

Speaker 1:
[38:25] I have to ask, just because I've been obsessed with it for so long, are you getting all the supplements?

Speaker 5:
[38:31] That's, I think that's still up in the air. The first time around, we definitely were and we were going to boil it all down into one big pill. Now, we're not so sure, but we will be selling supplement-adjacent stuff. Maybe water that cures everything. I believe that we're selling Omega-3 fish oil from exclusively conservative fish. That's a big important thing for us.

Speaker 1:
[38:56] Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, now at least one of the masters of the Infowars universe. Ben, congratulations. You have definitely bit off more than you can chew. There's nobody I would rather see do it than you. Thank you so much for being here, my friend. Good luck. Thank you, Rachel. All right. We'll be right back. Stay with us. The White House Correspondents' Dinner is this weekend. No, I'm not going. I'm allergic. It's awful. But the White House Correspondents' Dinner is a thing. It's the big annual event at a gigantic hotel in Washington, and journalists dress up all fancy and everybody gets together to celebrate the First Amendment. The point of the dinner is to put a spotlight on the importance of the free and independent press in this country. That dinner also funds scholarships for journalism students. It's been a tradition for decades that a sitting president attends the dinner and toasts the press and celebrates the press and gives a speech. Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended at least one correspondence dinner. Except the current president. Donald Trump has skipped the White House Correspondents' Dinner every year he has been president. Traditionally, the Correspondents' Dinner involves lots of jokes at politicians' expense, particularly jokes at the president's expense. President Donald Trump absolutely, positively cannot withstand anyone making fun of him. And so he has not gone to the Correspondents' Dinner ever, since he has been president, ever. Except now this year, he says he's going. And it is, shall we say, awkward that this president will attend an event that is supposed to honor and celebrate the free press in this country. He has repeatedly sued news networks in this country because he hasn't liked their coverage of him. Even those outlets that he hasn't sued, he has threatened to sue. He has blocked the associated press from the White House. He has repeatedly ridiculed and belittled and berated individual journalists by name. His administration has pulled press access to the Pentagon. His administration has tried to defund public broadcasting. They have threatened to strip TV networks of their broadcast licenses if they'd say things or do things that Donald Trump doesn't like. At this point, it's hard to keep track of all the ways in which this president has threatened and shown hostility to the very existence of the free press in this country. Luckily, ahead of this weekend, somebody made a list. This is a petition that's been sent to the White House Correspondence Association, signed by more than 250 veteran American journalists. It includes a handy bulleted list of some of the ways this president has tried to block or erode the First Amendment in this country. And in light of that list, the petitioners are urging the White House Correspondence Association to effectively protest at this Correspondence Dinner on Saturday, protest against what they call the president's efforts to trample freedom of the press. They say the association should offer from the stage a, quote, forceful defense of freedom of the press and condemnation of those who threaten that freedom. They say to do so, quote, in front of the man who seeks to undermine our country's long tradition of an independent, strong and free press. Like I said, more than 250 veteran journalists signed this petition. I have no idea what will happen on Saturday. Again, I won't be there, but we should all watch this space. All right. That is going to do it for me tonight. Very happy to have you with us here tonight.