title Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 4/23/2026

description MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on breaking news from the day.



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pubDate Thu, 23 Apr 2026 21:45:00 GMT

author MeidasTouch Network

duration 4000000

transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:01] Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Meiselas, and this is Breaking News. Let's get into it right away. Moments ago, Donald Trump held this disastrous Oval Office press conference, and during this press conference, that's what I was waiting for, just to see what was happening. The feed cuts out. Let me show you what happens. He's talking about the catastrophic war. He's doing his typical lies. The feed cuts out. Watch what happens here. Play this clip. He said, I could use a shit. And then the feed cuts out. I know if he's having a medical emergency over there, but he's saying that he could use a shit right now. And that's what's going on in the Oval Office. There was a press conference was supposed to be about lowering prescription drug prices. In a moment, I'll show you all of the lies that Donald Trump was saying about this catastrophic war in Iran and how it is quicker than he expected. And he already won and he saved young girls. That's his new one. He created a completely fictitious story where he's saved eight young girls. I'm not sure if it's AI or just a made up story, but he saved eight girls. He called up the Iranians and he said to them, I need you to release the eight girls. And the Iranians picked up and said, no, we're not going to release it. And then Donald Trump said, I'm going to make your life a living hell. I'm going to blow up your bridges. I'm going to destroy your civilization. Release the eight young, beautiful little girls. Do you hear me? To which Emmy Galabaf and Araghchi and Pazeski and the others in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said, okay, Donald, are you going to do another nasty social media post in all caps? And then Donald Trump's like, if you do not release those beautiful little girls, I am going to do a social media post, and it's going to be really mean, and there's going to be multiple exclamation points and lots of capitalized letters to which Rod said, please, please, this is getting serious. Please don't do that. Yeah, it is serious. Release the pretty little girls now. Okay, okay, we're going to do it, but please don't do the post.

Speaker 2:
[02:14] Ha ha ha ha ha.

Speaker 1:
[02:15] You see what I did? I saved the little girls, everybody. I mean, I know that looks psychotic. That's what Donald Trump continues to claim is happening. Oh, let me explain. Then he has state regime media, which calls itself Fox, like parrot, these things, and you'll have like Jesse Waters do a segment. So why did Donald Trump agree to extend the ceasefire deadline? Let me explain to you what happened. You see, the Ayatollah is a gay man, a very gay man, and then the Ayatollah was told by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, you're a gay man and we're going to lock you up right now, we're doing a coup. So the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of course said, Ayatollah, you do not have negotiations with Donald Trump. You understand? So Donald Trump's like, we're trying to make a deal, we're trying to make a deal. Who do we do it with? The Islamic Revolutionary Guard is like, we're not going to do anything like that. So Donald Trump said, what am I going to do here? Should I obliterate your civilization? And then the Islamic Revolutionary Guard was like, no, no, no, hold off. We're going to work with the C. Munir, the Pakistani Field Marshal, and we're going to figure this out. Can you give us an extension? And then the Field Marshal said, Donald, we need your help, okay? They've locked up the gay Ayatollah. And by the way, if you're like Ben, what the hell? That's literally what I'm just saying, is the segment on Jesse Waters on like a Fox primetime show. Like I'm not being hyperbolic. He said those things. And then as a result, that is why Donald Trump gave Iran a ceasefire extension indefinitely. Trump said he was going to obliterate the civilization, destroy everything. But that's what actually happened. Like, do we all realize how freaking humiliating this is? I mean, we have literally a demented, psychotic, delusional thing in the Oval Office who's talking about taking shits, you know, in the Oval Office during press conference. I'm not trying to be gross. That's what he's saying when the feed cuts out. While he's out there making up lie after lie after lie about the war and bragging the Vietnam War lasted 18 years. So I'm beating the Vietnam War. You dodge the draft five times in the Vietnam War. What world are you in? What are you talking about right now? Let's talk about the reality like what's actually happening right now in Iran. All of their leadership from the judiciary to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, to the Parliament, to their Foreign Affairs Minister, they all put out joint statements after Donald Trump's been making all of these weird posts and lies about what's going on in Iran. They each made a post at the same time that basically says the same thing. So the Parliament leader writes, In Iran, there are no radicals or moderates. We are all Iranian and revolutionary, and with iron unity of the nation and government, with complete obedience to the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, we will make the aggressor criminal regret his actions. One God, one leader, one nation, and one path. The path being the path to victory for Iran, dearer than life. And they all wrote some variation of that. You can see Araghchi, you can see the head of the judiciary. Araghchi is their foreign minister. Separately, you can see the head of the, and they all reposted each other's messages. So you have Iran making posts like that, while you have Donald Trump this morning saying, let's kill Iranians who don't want to do a deal. I'm ordering the Navy to shoot any boat, putting mines in the strait. We actually have full control over the strait of Hormuz. Actually, I don't need to do a deal. And then he holds a press conference where the feed cuts out where he says, I need a shit. I mean, this is the United States of America. This is the most, once the most powerful nation in the world. This is, this is the reality that we inhabit. We're supposed to go on and just act like this is all normal. While the Strait of Hormuz is closed, it's under the control of Iran, no ships are getting in and out except a few ships that are linked to Iran, and they're able to get around the blockade. Two ships that try to jump the Strait of Hormuz and get out to test Iran, they were boarded by Iran's Navy. Yes, the same Navy that the Trump regime claims doesn't exist. Okay, that's the reality of what's going on. We still have the biggest oil shock in history. The oil, the crude, is not leaving and getting to its destination at anywhere near. Right now, it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what it was before the war. And because Donald Trump is doing a fake blockade, a blockade to make him feel good, but is not all that effective, but a blockade nonetheless, and then doing some interdictions in the Indo-Pacific of ghost ships linked with Iran. That's what Donald Trump thinks is the way to negotiate right now. I'm just going to put this naval blockade on. That's how strong I am. Look what we're going to do. What we board cargo ships. The great, proud American Navy is now basically Jack Sparrow. Like we're pirates. Like that's what we do right now in the United States Navy. Meanwhile, you have the Secretary of Navy, John Phelan, residing. Or he was fired. He said he was residing, but we learned what actually happened. And Pete Hegseth wanted him gone. Apparently, he was following certain court orders as it relates to Senator Kelly being disciplined. And Phelan wouldn't break the law, even though, I mean, this guy has no military back. He's a private equity guy, John Phelan. No connections with the Navy, no connections with our military. He's a rich private equity guy who was a Republican donor. And that's what allowed Donald Trump to pick him as the Secretary of Navy. And then he quickly got fired because he wouldn't fully violate the law like Hegseth wanted him to do. And so now you have Hung Kao is going to take over as Acting Secretary. Hung Kao, do we have any clips, Jeremy, of the guy who's next? So like in the middle of a catastrophic war, we fired the Chief of Staff of the Army, four-star general, General Randy George. It's the top position in the United States Army. We previously fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the beginning of Donald Trump's term, Brown. We fired that guy. Two other top people were fired when General George, the Army Chief of Staff, was fired. So the top army person and the top navy person, during the middle of the war, have been fired by the Trump regime. Complete chaos, complete disarray, and now we have Hung Kao. Jeremy is like, our editor Jeremy goes, which clip of Hung Kao should we play? Jeremy, literally play any of them right now, okay? Play any of them because they're each worse than the next. So just play whichever one you want to.

Speaker 3:
[09:51] This is great. I know I'll be attacked by left and call me white supremacist, but I have one asked for them. It's just when you give me my hood, make sure it's got the little slits and not the circles so I can see better. Captain Hung Kao, thank you very much for joining us in War Room.

Speaker 1:
[10:07] KKK jokes, so funny, so funny. And Steve, what are you doing, man? Could these people behave like grownups, please? Can they just behave like adults? Who behaves like this? Do we have another clip of Hung Kao, the one on witchcraft and that people in California practice witchcraft according to the new acting secretary of the Navy? Here, play this clip.

Speaker 3:
[10:32] There's a place in Monterey, California, called Lovers Point. The original name was Lovers of Christ Point, but now they took out the Christ, it's Lovers Point, and it's really, Monterey is a very dark place now. A lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over there. And we can't let that happen in Virginia. Virginia is, I mean, especially down in Roanoke, they're God-loving people. In Richmond, too, and Virginia Beach, and we just need to mobilize Christians across the nation.

Speaker 1:
[11:02] I mean, Okay, well, while he brings up Virginia, we might as well acknowledge that in Virginia, the yes referendum vote passed, assuring a constitutional amendment in Virginia's constitution that would allow the congressional delegation in Virginia to be redistricted. So it's 10 Democrats, one Republican. Yes, a Republican-appointed extremist judge did rule to block the mid-district gerrymander that occurred, the constitutional amendment. Most observers of this believe that the Virginia Supreme Court is going to allow the constitutional amendment to stay in place and is going to overrule what the lower court did. There's arguments that are going to happen in the Virginia Supreme Court. If you look at the prior rulings by the Virginia Supreme Court regarding this specific constitutional amendment, where the Virginia Supreme Court could have struck it down before it was voted on by the people. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing the redistricting to take place. That's why when people tell you that they're pretty confident the Virginia Supreme Court should, we don't know, but should rule to uphold the amendment, they've had this exact issue before them where they've upheld the new maps and what was going on in the legislature and allowed the referendum to proceed before. That's why when people are like, yeah, we know that this lower court blocked it, but we think Virginia's Supreme Court is going to allow the referendum. It's like, why is it even a question and why are Republicans so whiny about it? Isn't this what you wanted? Isn't this what you wanted? Democrats in Congress at the federal level wanted there to be a law passed that would ban all gerrymandering. Get rid of political gerrymandering. That was the Democrats' position. The Democrat position is we don't want gerrymandering. Let's just compete fairly in every state. No political gerrymandering at all. Let's just end the practice. It makes no sense. It's stupid when you look at these districts where the idea that you could politically gerrymander and slice up districts so that your side can win. Democrats are saying, we want to ban that. Republicans blocked that legislation, so let's just deal with the facts. Okay? And Democrats didn't start this gerrymandering, mid-decade redistricting. Democrats previously were playing by the rules of the stupid game, right? The rules of the stupid game is every 10 years there's a census, and then based on the census, you can then politically gerrymander and then a lot of the gerrymandering that would take place had these racial components to them, but then you would try to claim the Republicans particularly, but I'm not saying, you know, it's all, you know, it's a bad practice gerrymandering. Why Democrats want to ban it, ban it. But they would say, oh, no, it wasn't a racial gerrymandering. The reason that we kicked out Black people or the reason that we kicked out this group or that group from voting is because of the political identities, not because of any racial considerations. You know, meanwhile, you had the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act from the 1960s, you know, and the enforcement mechanisms and the pre-clearance requirements, which meant before you could do any gerrymandering at all, you had to go to the Department of Justice and a three-district court panel to approve your gerrymander. And they had to pre-clear it before you can do it. Now you can do it and then you have to then file lawsuits about it. But Trump went into Texas first, right? Trump went into Texas first and did the five seats and he was bragging, here's what we're going to do, here's what we're going to do. And then Democrats fought back. Democrats challenged what was going on in Texas and the Supreme Court of the United States said, we're going to let it happen. It's political, political gerrymandering, okay. Racial gerrymandering, not okay. So just call the racial gerrymandering, political gerrymandering, and then you're good. It's basically what the Supreme Court ruled. I think it's a ridiculous ruling, but then that became the rules of the game. So Democrats said, okay, you do what we do it, right? Gavin Newsom then said, we're going to do Prop 50, we'll neutralize your seats in Texas. And Democrats picked up five seats in California. So Republicans got five seats in Texas, Democrats got five seats in California, that was neutralized. Donald Trump then tried to run to different states to pick up a seat here or a seat there. Democrats did the same thing when they took control of the governor's ship in Virginia with Span Burger. Democrats said, okay, temporarily, we're going to do a 10 to 1 map in favor of Democrats. And then Democrats now have an actual lead in the aggregate from all of the gerrymandering. This whole thing backfired. This was a dummymander, a dummymander on Donald Trump. And Democrats will now pick up more seats and potentially even more because Democrats have been overperforming. So Democrats may win some of those Texas seats that were dummymandered by Donald Trump and Abbott believing Hispanic voters were moving in favor of Trump and MAGA, which they're not. So if those Hispanic voters vote the way they're voting in the special elections right now, not only are the Democrats going to neutralize what MAGA and Trump and Abbott have done in Texas and in some other states by picking up five seats in California, four seats. Right now, it's six to five in Virginia and soon it will be 10-1. So it's a pickup of about four additional seats there. So Democrats pick up anywhere from nine to 10 seats if you count Utah. Republicans pick up about five to six seats if you count Texas. Democrats are plus four, but Democrats may win some of those Texas seats as well, you see? If they continue to overperform in these special elections. And so now MAGA is like, oh my God, we never thought this through. It backfired. Oh my gosh. It's why Democrats need to fight back. It's why we all, regardless of political parties, affiliations, you need to just fight back against fascism. You need to punch fascism back in its face. And you got to stand up and exercise all of the authority. You have moral authority, formal authority, bring the community together and stand up to all this stuff, right? I mean, they're not really strategic thinkers. Okay, I mean, that's one of the issues. If you go to Iran, you know what? Donald Trump's saying he didn't think through that Iran would block the strain of Hormuz. Didn't think that was gonna happen. Didn't think Iran was going to attack the neighbors. Donald Trump says this publicly. Nobody expected them to shut down the strain of Hormuz. Nobody expected them to attack their neighbors where there are American interests, which is what Iran struck, American interests in its Arab nation neighbors. No one thought no one thought this could happen. Okay. So you just rushed into this war with Netanyahu. You and Netanyahu, you don't tell any of the Arab nations that are supposedly allied with you. You don't tell NATO. You don't tell them. You just you do it alone. Then you start attacking NATO and all of our allies. And then you act shocked when Iran does what actually all of the generals and admirals and your chairman of the Joint Chiefs warned you about. We were talking about this on MeidasTouch for a very long period of time. And then don't even get me started on the fact that last June Donald Trump said he totally obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities and anything to suggest otherwise. Trump said is defamatory. He'll sue you. He's so thin skinned. He'll sue you. Because if you dare even say even a little bit that it was not totally obliterated. Okay. So if it was obliterated, what's the point of any of this? And then you see the messages that he makes today. The messages today are, as I said, let's kill the Iranians who don't want a deal. I'm ordering the Navy, shoot any boat, putting mines in the strait. We actually have full control over the strait. I don't need a deal. I don't need a deal. You're all over the place right here. Then he makes up again these fictitious stories about things that aren't happening like he goes, Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is. They just don't know. The infighting is between the hardliners who have been losing badly on the battlefield and the moderates who are not very moderate at all, but gaining respect. It's crazy. We have total control over the straight of her moves. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States. It's sealed up tight until such time as Iran is able to make a deal. Well, every aspect of this is false. This is like a made up story. I'm not sure, is your audience literally Jesse Waters? So Jesse Waters can then say this to the maga brain morons who watch him still, is that the intended audience for this? Because aren't you trying to accomplish something in these negotiations? In theory, aren't we trying to figure something out? You have two paths. You're either going to go to war and escalate or you're going to negotiate. But when you say stupid shit like this to use a term that Donald Trump used when the feed cut out this morning or moments ago, Iran just thinks you're an idiot. They just think you're weak and pathetic. So do NATO countries, so does China, so does Russia. They look at you and they go, this guy is just out of his mind and not like out of his mind like, ooh, it's like the crazy Ivan, like what's he going to do next? No, like literally, like this guy is like a pathetic, weak maniac. Like what do we even do with him? So he's like, we control the straight of her moves. Okay, if we control the straight of her moves, then bring Ships in. You believe you control the straight of her moves, then take the USS Gerald Ford and bring it in and see what happens. Oh, you control it. Bring the mind-sweeping ships in. Bring them in, see what happens. See actually what happens there. We'll see. Why don't you bring in the USS Tripoli, bring in some of the ships, just, why don't you take it all the way into the Persian Gulf, and why don't you see what happens if you totally control it? Then this whole story about the hardliners against the moderates in Iran, fiction, just not true. There's nothing true about this. Then so when the media is like, well, Trump says, Trump says, yeah, Trump's a liar. He lies about everything. I saw one of these stupid, some of them are really good, but some of them are just such like Trump bootlickers, this open source intelligence. What's one of them? Some of them are really good, so I don't mean to attack some of them. But there was ones like, I don't understand what happened last Friday when Donald Trump said that he reached all of these agreements with Iran and he was very specific. And so what happened that it all fell apart? Did Iran miscommunicate? No, no, Donald Trump lies about everything. This isn't some complicated thing to figure out. The guy lies about everything. Every word, every sound, every syllable, every utterance, every mm, ah, mm, ah shit. Everything that the guy says is 100% a lie. Lie, lie, lie. There's nothing. It is, the guy should be in a straight jacket, in a very serious involuntary psychiatric ward. That's the truth. That is the reality of his situation. Yet, this is act, we act, not we here, but the others act like, oh, this is what he does. This is his negotiating style. It's five, no, no. He deserves to be in a straight jacket and put in a psychiatric ward. He's a psychotic human being. I'm not trying to use a clinical diagnosis in order to, or my opinion thereof, I should say, in order to alleviate what a malicious, horrible human he is. I always have to be careful. But this is someone who is completely untethered from reality, and he wants to bend other people's reality and live in his horrible, terrible world of lies. And he wants you to live in there. I mean, look at this other post that he makes. I've ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any small boats or ships. I've destroyed all of their naval ships that are putting mines in the waters. There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our minesweepers are clearing these straight right now. I'm hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Wow. Our minesweepers. Did you all know this, everybody? Our minesweepers, even though they're satellite imagery, you know, are actually in the straight right now as we speak. And they're doing such a good job right now. So amazing, right? That Donald Trump has asked that they triple their efforts. So we're going to even do more minesweepers inside the Strait of Hormuz. And that's what's happening right now, everybody, right? You don't have any minesweepers in the Strait of Hormuz. For a moment in time, when there were the initial talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, you sent a minesweeper for a very short period of time. The Iranian Navy got on their public channel and said, Seypan Navy, Seypan Navy, turn around or we'll shoot, Seypan Navy, Seypan Navy, turn around and we'll shoot. And then the United States Naval ship said, Seypan Navy, we are turning around, we are turning around, we hear you, we're turning around. And then the US Naval ship turned around. And then the Trump regime denied that. Then we got video footage of that. That's exactly what happened. And so you sent a Navy ship to play chicken with the Iranian Navy. And then when the Iranian Navy, which you claim is obliterated, said, Seypan Navy, turn around, our Navy turned around. I don't like that as the result. You think, you think I'm rooting for that as the result right now? You think I want to see our proud Navy looking like this? You know, by the way, as Donald Trump fired the US. Navy secretary, one of the things that Donald Trump was upset with the Navy secretary about was that Trump wanted Trump battleships built, and the Trump ships were not being built quick enough. You see, Donald Trump doesn't like aircraft carriers. He doesn't like stealth ships, and he doesn't like the smaller, more mobile ships. Donald Trump likes the ships that were used in World War I, the big tank-looking steel, whatever, whenever those ships were made. That's what he likes. He wants Trump-class battleships that look like World War I ships and early World War II ships. That's what he wants, and those weren't being built quick enough. You're like, well, Ben, you're making this up. I've done so many videos on this, so you go watch the other videos that I do if you want. Then Donald Trump post this, let's kill the negotiators or let's kill the ones who don't want to deal. Let's kill them. Let's kill them. Look, bottom line, I said this before. If your view, Donald, is let's kill them and you want to be a war criminal, and you already are, but if you want to go in the direction of escalation, our generals and admirals and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and others, they've given you the plan of if you want to escalate, you'll destroy the markets, you'll put the United States in a Great Depression more significantly, you'll cause deaths of at least tens of thousands of American soldiers, maybe hundreds of thousands or maybe even more than that. But if you want to talk, kill, kill, kill, okay? There's a path, there's a kill path for you, okay? There's a kill path for you. But you saw the direction the war was going, you begged for the ceasefire with Iran, you agreed to their 10-point framework. That's why we are where we are now, and they're not moving off of their 10-point framework. I'm sure, I'm sure that if you remove the naval blockade, and you agreed to concede some things that Iran wants, I would be willing to bet that Iran would move away from some of those 10 points. I believe they would go, they would move, which ones? I mean, I think they definitely want permanent security guarantees for themselves and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis and their Shiite groups in Iraq. I think that's one. I think that they would agree to not enrich uranium to weapons grade in a very similar way they did with Obama. Maybe Obama's would be slightly stronger than what they would agree to now, because they feel that they won on the battlefield. They feel that they now, they have something they didn't have with Obama. They control the Strait of Hormuz. But I think they'd probably be willing to do a deal that looks like a weaker version of Obama's JCPOA, but something similar. So I think you'd get that. My gut would be that they would, here's my suspicion, that they would give up control over the Strait of Hormuz if you agreed that they could get paid reparations for the war in the form of either a tax on the ships until they reach a certain threshold, and then it gets transferred back to international kind of international control. But until they get, I think they claim their damages are $267 billion. So maybe you would meet somewhere in the middle, you would say, okay, Iran will, I'm not suggesting this should be, this is where negotiation would work, would I think net out $75 billion, which you can recover based on ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Either the ships pay you or we pay you. And by the way, how humiliating would that be? It would be very humiliating, but I'm trying to describe what I actually think a workable resolution is. Then you'd open up the Strait of Hormuz. We would then want an international coalition to make sure it doesn't get closed again. So we would say, okay, as long as we make these payments, we're going to now work with our former NATO allies, I guess, European countries, Arab nations, and we need to let those ships in so that we have other militaries in there to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran gets paid what it wants to get paid. Iran, you can, I mean, you'd probably have to let them keep their ballistic missiles and Shahid drones, and you'd probably have to lift sanctions. What I described is probably the deal that is workable. There'll have to be technical details, obviously, with the Atomic Energy Commission to iron out dilution of nuclear material, very specific stuff that Wittkopf, Kushner, and JD Vance know nothing about. But that's ultimately how a resolution to me would look. If you're going, Ben, Ben, that's a sellout, man. You're selling out, I'm a patriot, 250th anniversary, man, you're selling out the great country, man. Okay, well, then don't do a deal. Then go back to war. Go back to war. That's another, that's an option for you. Go to war and then ask them. But the reality is, is that we're in this strategic, bad, non-strategic, but we're in this situation because of Donald Trump going it alone with Netanyahu. He screwed up. We lost. Okay, we lost. Based on what our objectives were, regime change, people in the streets were supposed to greet Trump and Netanyahu like heroes. I mean, how ridiculous of a concept is that? And then we're going to obliterate this, obliterate all of their missile capabilities, all the things they said at the beginning. We didn't do that. That's why we lost. Right? Seems pretty basic. Those were the objectives. Win. Objectives achieved? No. Loss. Very basic, very binary, right? Okay, so now we have to figure out what to do. If you want to win, okay. Treat it like it's the second quarter. Go to war again. Do a ground invasion of Karg Island, see what happens. I don't support that. It's war crimes. I don't be very clear where I said, that's your option. That's an option. The other option is negotiate and the deal probably looks eerily similar to what I described. Again, just to be clear, I've never been in a negotiation regarding nuclear material in my life. I haven't. I do teach negotiation at a prominent law school. I do in my past as a litigator, I was involved in some of the most contentious and high-profile cases involving negotiations and settlements and resolutions before I started working at Meidas. I at least know in a very high-intensity business setting, in front of the top mediators in the world, I've led mediations and settlements. I think at least that experience gives me some insight. I am a rapacious student of the Middle East and Iran and what their people are saying. Because in order for us to understand how to negotiate, you have to listen. One of the things I teach my law students in negotiation, listen, ask, shut up. The worst negotiator is like a Trump, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, worse negotiator. The best negotiator, you ask a question and you fill the negotiation with silence. And you listen to what the other side is saying, strategic silence, you hear them, and then you ask them questions. Well, it seems to me, what you're saying is this, listen, because people will start to say how they feel. And am I missing anything here? Who are the key decision makers? Should there be anyone else that I'm talking to? Well, what do you think about this? Gather the info and the info is out there. That's why I know how to reach a resolution in this thing because the info is out there. I'll show you what the worst behavior is. Jeremy, do we have? First show that clip again for people just joining us of Donald Trump as the feed cuts off saying that he had to take a shit. Here, play this clip. He said, I could use a shit. I could use a shit. That's what goes on in the Oval Office. No, I'm not suggesting that presidents are impervious to taking shits. I'll be very clear about that. But is it such a word vomit that you literally have to announce to your staff when you have to go do a number two? That's where we are. This is a guy walk around the White House just talking about taking shits. For real, this is what the White House, okay. Here he is talking about how he saved eight young women. This is a total made up story. I've saved eight young beautiful women. They're so young, very young. I saved them. I saved them. False. Here, play this clip.

Speaker 4:
[35:03] Or the military operation, whatever you want to call it. And they're coming to us. The problem they have is they are very disorganized right now. Well, now yesterday, and I was very pleased with this, eight young women were going to be executed yesterday afternoon at six o'clock. And I asked them, call it a favor, or call it just a moral request, that they not be executed. And they came back with an answer that they won't be executed. They're going to release it. It was protesting. Eight beautiful young women, very young women. And they were, the pictures in the paper. And it's been a story for a little while. And I saw that and I said, let's see if we can save them. And they were, it was very nice what happened. So, they're not going to be. What they're doing is, as you know, they're releasing four of them very shortly and they're going to keep four of them in jail for a period of one month and release them. So they won't be executed yet.

Speaker 5:
[35:59] So if you're asking for-

Speaker 1:
[36:02] None of that's true. You're like, Ben, which part of it? None of it. The guy just makes it up. He invented a thing that maybe he saw somewhere online and he's like, I saved these eight beautiful women. I did it. I had the conversation. They were so young and pretty and I saved them. What are you talking about? I mean, all of the Iranian leaders are publicly posting like that you're making this up. And like they're not talking to you. And they have no interest in having any conversation with you at all until the naval blockade is lifted. I'll show you this one over here. How long are you willing to wait for a response from Iran? So to be very clear, just so we can sequence the questions. The fact that this next question is even asked, right? How long are you willing to wait for a response from Iran? I thought you just spoke with Iran and you saved the eight young beautiful girls. Like do we see some of just that wasn't exactly the logic games that I needed to ace the LSATs, okay? But here's what he says here, play this clip.

Speaker 3:
[37:12] How long are you willing to wait until you get a unified response?

Speaker 4:
[37:16] Don't rush me, Jeff. You know, guys like you, you want to say, oh, so we were in Vietnam like for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years. We were in for all the, I don't like to say World War II because that was a biggie, but we were four and a half, almost five years in World War II. We were in the Korean War for seven years. I've been doing this for six weeks and we're, their military is totally defeated. They're outside of the little wise guy ships. I call them the wise guy ships, the little boats that they have running around with guns in them. We'll take them out too when we see them. But-

Speaker 1:
[37:58] Got it here. Don't rush me. But I spoke to them. I saved the eight girls. These little ships, the wise guys, I call them, the wise guy ships, I call them, in World War II, was a biggie. That was a biggie. A biggie? A biggie? What the hell is going on here? How does anybody report on this and not respond like this for real? How do you look at that and go, oh, this is an Oval Office Press Conference and Donald Trump said, no biggie, a biggie. A biggie and he talked about pooping in the Oval Office. Then he talked about saving the lives of eight girls. Yeah. Normal stuff. All right. My producer is saying, we've got to take our first break of the show. I know. We were having a good conversation there, Jeremy, with everybody in the chat. I'm seeing everybody's messages. We had a big crowd today, 15,000 people watching. It's a great convo. 16,000 right now. Make sure you all hit subscribe. You may think you're subscribed, but you may not actually be subscribed. Double check. Also, if you can, make sure you subscribe to MeidasTouch on audio also. All right. Let's take our first and only quick break of the show. We'll be right back. All right.

Speaker 6:
[39:17] I got to talk about Magic Spoon.

Speaker 1:
[39:18] Magic Spoon hits that perfect sweet spot of nostalgia and actually being something you want to keep stocked in your kitchen. It's basically the grown-up version of the cereals you loved as a kid.

Speaker 6:
[39:27] Same fun Saturday morning vibe, but without that sugar crash that used to hit an hour later.

Speaker 1:
[39:32] What I like is that it actually delivers on the macros. You're getting around 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, zero to just a couple grams of sugar, and it fits really well if you're carb-conscious.

Speaker 6:
[39:43] Plus, it's certified gluten-free, so it's something you could grab anytime, breakfast, late-night snack, even after a workout. And the flavors are exactly what you want.

Speaker 1:
[39:51] Fruity, frosted, cocoa, peanut butter, cinnamon crunch like all the classics you remember. I love the cocoa and cinnamon crunch.

Speaker 6:
[39:58] I gotta say, those are my favorite, but I like them all.

Speaker 1:
[40:01] They also just drop some newer flavors of marshmallows, which really lean into that childhood feel. There's now a classic marshmallow flavor that's super nostalgic, and a s'mores one that tastes like a campfire in a bowl. Those have a couple grams of sugar and aren't gluten-free, just to note, but they're a fun twist.

Speaker 6:
[40:17] And it's not just cereal, their Magic Spoon treats are great too.

Speaker 1:
[40:21] They're these crispy, airy bars with 12 grams of protein, some fiber, no added sugar, and they are super easy to throw in your bag or keep in the car. Feels like a treat, but actually keeps you going. Look for Magic Spoon on Amazon or at your nearest grocery store. And if you want to try something new, check out Magic Spoon's Protein Pastries. They are packed with protein and taste like the nostalgic toaster pastries you grew up with, but without all the sugar. You can get $5 off your next order, including the protein pastries at magicspoon.com/mitis. That's magicspoon.com/mitis, M-E-I-D-A-S for $5 off. All right, let me tell you something that's been bugging me for a while. I can't be the only one who's left a doctor's appointment thinking, what did I actually just learn?

Speaker 6:
[41:08] You go in, you try to ask questions, and you walk out with, you're fine or drink more water.

Speaker 1:
[41:13] No real data, no plan, nothing actionable. I've had that happen more times than I can count, and it's frustrating because you actually want to take control over your health.

Speaker 6:
[41:22] That's why I've been so fascinated by what Superpower is doing.

Speaker 1:
[41:25] They basically flip the whole system. Superpower sends a licensed professional to your home, or you could go to a nearby lab and it's one simple blood draw. But here's the difference, they test over 100 biomarkers, way more than a typical checkup, and it gives you a real detailed understanding of what's going on inside your body. I'm talking heart, liver, thyroid, hormones, metabolism, vitamin levels, even environmental toxins. So whether you're trying to prevent disease, headaches, brain fog, or just optimize your workouts, this gives you real answers. Because honestly, most of us are just guessing, what supplements should I take?

Speaker 6:
[41:59] Am I sleeping enough?

Speaker 1:
[42:00] Is my diet even right? Superpower actually gives you an actionable health plan based on your results. They even suggest supplements or prescriptions you could buy directly through them, plus nutrition guidance and lifestyle changes. And this part is wild.

Speaker 6:
[42:13] You get your true biological age and you could track it over time.

Speaker 1:
[42:17] So it's not just a one-time snapshot. Every test builds on the last. So you could actually see progress year after year instead of starting from scratch every January. They also have an on-demand clinician team. So you're not stuck waiting weeks for answers or Googling things at 2 a.m. And get this, superpower used to cost $499. But right now it's just $199 for the full experience. That's honestly cheaper than most of the other services out there that sometimes charge $500, $1,000 and often more. So if you're serious about actually understanding your health this year, this is a no-brainer. Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with superpower. Not only did superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with code of Midas.

Speaker 6:
[43:03] Head to superpower.com and use code Midas at checkout for $20 off your membership.

Speaker 1:
[43:08] That's M-E-I-D-A-S. After you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention this podcast to support the show. Welcome back to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Meiselas, and this is your Breaking News. Showing you what was going on in the White House moments ago. Donald Trump, the feed cut off, talked about having to run to the bathroom, and then he talked about saving young beautiful women in Iran. They're very young and very beautiful, which never happened. Then he called World War II a biggie, and as long as this doesn't last longer than Vietnam, he's okay. You'll notice as he goes through this press conference, he keeps on changing the duration of the war. We basically have been in this war for like two months now, about eight weeks, maybe seven or so. He just can never say a true number. Here he is when a reporter says, how long are you willing to wait for? Sorry, the next one goes, Trump says, we've been doing it for 5.5 weeks. And the reporter, fortunately, is like, sir, it's been eight weeks. Why are you saying 5.5 weeks? Like, why is every word a lie? Why is every word a lie? I mean, you could say, look, it's eight weeks, and it could, you know, when we're going to try to end by 12 weeks, but now we're two months in. Here, play this clip.

Speaker 4:
[44:36] We have no pressure. It's only guys like you with a question like that about, what's your time? We've been doing it for five and a half weeks.

Speaker 1:
[44:43] But sir, it's been eight weeks that the US now has been involved with Iran.

Speaker 2:
[44:48] You had initially said it would be four to six weeks.

Speaker 4:
[44:50] Well, I hope that, but I also took a little break. I gave them a break, and I took a break.

Speaker 1:
[44:57] I took a break so we don't count the war right now, even though the Strait of Hormuz is closed. That's how he gets his, I took a break. I took a break? I mean, what a wild, yeah, he counts the ceasefire as we're not at war, and I took a break all of a sudden. Okay, the Strait of Hormuz is closed, everybody. There ain't no commerce going through the Persian Gulf right now. That's a big problem. That's a big problem internationally. And I mean, you have a naval blockade in Iran, which isn't all that effective. They have full control of the Strait of Hormuz. So what are you going to do? We learned that at least 34 tankers with links to Iran have bypassed the US blockade. Financial Times confirming this, both with ship tracking data as well as independent sources, because you want to know here, for those watching here, here's how Iran does it. This is how they easily defeat the US blockade. For those on audio, I'm showing people the path that Iran takes, and it basically takes its ships right through the coast of Iran, and then they stay in the territorial waters of Pakistan and India, and then they come right out because the US naval blockade is not allowed in the territorial waters of Pakistan and India. If you want to break the blockade, you just basically hug the coastline as much as you can as a tanker. If you see CENTCOM and the US military bragging about interdicting ships, it's not in this area. They're interdicting Iranian cargo ships in the Indo-Pacific, and they create these videos of our soldiers onboarding these cargo ships like pirates and searching them. And that's like the big accomplishment of our Navy. Yeah, we stopped a defenseless cargo ship. You know, and that's why they're mocking us in Iran. I mean, they're just like America's ongoing piracy in international waters. The US Department of War announced the inspection and seizure of another tanker claiming it was carrying Iranian oil. The company that tracks oil cargo shipments, tanker trackers, has also claimed that this tanker is the same vessel Phoenix that has been assisting Iran in exporting 20 million barrels of oil since 2023. And so that's what the US Navy is doing right now. And then Donald Trump goes, if we left Iran right now, things would be tremendous success. Like if we left right now, if we did nothing, we've already achieved victory. So now I'm just hanging out there because I like it. I like to be there basically. So we won. And if we left, we would won. But I still want to be there just because I like it. I like being there. It's nice. Nice waters. Look, if you're like Ben, did he really say that?

Speaker 6:
[48:07] Basically, basically, here's what he says. Let's play it.

Speaker 4:
[48:10] I'm going to break and remember this. I want to make the best deal. I could make a deal right now. You know that if I left right now, we had a tremendous success. It would take them 20 years to rebuild. But I don't want to do that. I want to have it everlasting. I want to have it where they never get — they never have a chance to get it. I mean, the way you asked that question, you know, I did say it. I thought it would take four to six weeks. And I was right, because at the end of six weeks, at the end of four weeks, their military was decimated. But now what I'm doing — I don't — I can't tell you that. I don't want to put that kind of a timetable on it, it'll go pretty quickly. And we'll have the strait opened up. Now, right now, we have it closed. We have total control of the strait. And the fact that it's closed, you know, they would have opened it up three days ago. They came to us and they said, We will agree to open the strait. And all my people are happy. Everybody was happy except me. I said, Wait a minute, if we open the strait, that means they're going to make $500 million a day. I don't want them to make $500 million a day until they settle this thing. So I'm the one that kept it closed. The total control of it. And it'll open when they make a deal or something else happens that's very positive.

Speaker 1:
[49:25] It makes a lot of sense, right, everybody? Makes a great deal of sense, everybody. I mean, what in the world is he even talking about right there? I mean, by the way, if you look at what else is happening in this godforsaken regime, like, you thought it was bad enough when this guy Thomas Fugate, this 22-year-old guy who's fresh out of college, who had no experience in national security, was named by the Trump regime as the main Department of Homeland Security official, tasked with overseeing government extremism. He was the main counterintelligism official. Thomas Fugate III, a 22-year-old, no experience. But you want to know who the deputy was? Now, we learned about the deputy counterintelligence official over at the Department of Homeland Security. There she is right there. Julia Vervaro, and she's a notorious sugar daddy person. What do you call it? Sugar daddy person? Jeremy, you were awfully quick with that. Jeremy says you call it a sugar baby. Okay. I'm going to go with sugar daddy person. But Jeremy tells me it's a sugar baby. How can I do this segment seriously now? But this was the deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism. She would be on all of these websites where she would talk about searching for a sugar daddy. One of the sugar daddies, this divorcee who spent $40,000 bankrolling, her, there's all these tech, the relationship went wrong. She wanted more money from him. Again, she's 29 years old on these sugar daddy sites. She found this sugar daddy. She wanted him to pay her more money while she's the deputy assistant secretary of counterterrorism. And then this guy, Robert Bianchi, is like, he then blows the whistle on his sugar baby. This is stupid. This is true. This is really what happened. Because he believes, and rightfully so, that this poses a national security threat. And it does because this is a compromise. As I've said before, let me be very clear. Like I said this also with Christine Ohm's husband on the bimboification. He was into Christine Ohm and her husband, they judge people. They attack people, they make people suffer. But behind closed doors, her husband was into bimboification, humiliation. So he would dress up as a woman and he would fill his chest with triple E or quadruple whatever it is, triple E breasts because that's what he was into. And then he would want women who look that way to humiliate and shame him on video. Like that's what he was into. And as I said before, it's not for me to as long as what you do is safe and consensual and I'm not going to pry into any family dynamics, but I obviously don't want situations where families are being broken apart and things are being hidden or concealed. But if you do things safe, consensual and in private, and that's what you want to do, I'm not going to mock any of this. But the issue becomes public service, the hypocrisy, national security, and these types of issues. What I will certainly call out is the behavior of Donald Trump's Department of Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez de Riemer, who was fired this past week as well. I mean, because her behavior, using our taxpayer dollars, it was alleged to go to strip clubs with other people in the Department of Labor. Her husband was accused of sexual misconduct within the Department of Labor building, such that he was banned, I believe, from going into the Department of those released allegations against him. Then all of these vacations on the taxpayer dime. While it should shock your conscience that this behavior is taking place, it also is not shocking that it's taking place because Donald Trump is a sexual predator. I mean, he's a real vile thing, like his whole life he was. So the perversion, all of the things that you're seeing, that's what goes on in that guy's head. He's a sicko. I mean, he's like Epstein's closest friend, the guy's a sicko. We shouldn't forget they're covering up the Epstein files, right? I'll talk about that in a moment, but this guy's a sicko. This is what he attracts. Again, I'm not going to judge what you do in your private. I'm not shaming the underlying conduct. Again, if it's safe, if it's consensual, I don't know what do they call it? Like king shame, I'm not going to shame your things, whatever you do. I really want to be, I think it's important. I don't know, everyone is into things that's not, the government shouldn't be prodding into this. No one should be. But when you become a public servant and you've now compromised the safety of my daughter, of my community, of my state, of my country, of The Meidas Mighty, of our friends and family and all the people you know, when that now is compromised with this mess right now, yeah, you better believe I'm living and you better believe we should call it out right now. What the hell is going on here? Now, just pivoting for a moment to Epstein, you know the updates, right? Donald Trump is working with James Comer to get Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon. I know we knew that was coming, but it's very, very much coming. James Comer admits it. Politico writes, go back to that one again. Oversight chair, James Comer told me, members of his panel are open to a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell so that she would share info with Congress. Do we have the specific quote from the Politico article? I think I highlighted it. I'm not sure if I gave you. There it is. When asked whether he believed it was a favorable deal to issue a pardon return for Maxwell's testimony, Comer said, a lot of people do. My committees split on that. He added, declining to name the people on his panel who support granting a pardon. I don't speak for my committee. You literally do speak for your committee. You're the chair of the committee. Your job is actually to speak on behalf of the committee. You're the chair of the Oversight Committee. Your job is, you speak for the committee, OK? And you went on the record, and you said that there seems to be lots of members who believe Ghislaine Maxwell, a child sex trafficker, should get a pardon, right? And now we also learn that the Republicans want to shut down all further hearings on Epstein and all further subpoenas and depositions. And instead, they want to turn everything into so-called round tables. They want to go from hearings, under oath, deposition subpoenas to round tables. And the round tables would be not under oath, and they would be basically just complete charades. Or as my younger brother, Jordy, says, charades. And it would just be total BS. That's what they want to turn it into. Jeremy, I'm not sure if I gave you the assets, though, here. But if I did, do we have any of the Lutnick clips of Lutnick being cross-examined on Epstein and what Lutnick's response was? Yeah, let's just play one of them for everybody. Let's play it.

Speaker 2:
[57:48] If President Trump has even a shred of concern about accountability for Jeffrey Epstein's enablers, he would fire you too. Beyond AdFin, what other financial ties do you have to Jeffrey Epstein?

Speaker 7:
[58:05] As I said, I'm going to answer all these questions.

Speaker 2:
[58:07] Beyond AdFin, what other financial ties? You're the Commerce Secretary. We have a right to ask this question and get it answered.

Speaker 7:
[58:15] Again, I'm not going to spend the budget day discussing something. I've set aside time to spend on this topic with your House colleagues.

Speaker 2:
[58:25] Let me switch topics.

Speaker 1:
[58:27] Let's go cut to our Washington, DC., Bureau Chief Scott McFarland with an update on this all. Let's bring in Scott McFarland, Jeremy.

Speaker 8:
[58:36] Let me tell you, this is going to be one of those days, one of those days in which we hear a lot about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and the political crisis the Epstein files are causing for the Trump administration. The latest reports that Ghislaine Maxwell is trying to angle for a pardon or perhaps getting closer to securing a pardon and again, trying to get a court to vacate her conviction and the sentence for sex trafficking have raised the hackles again and raised the profile of this Epstein files crisis for the Trump administration. Rajakrishnan Murthy has asked the Department of Justice to hand over any records that they may have gotten from Ghislaine Maxwell or from her attorney in which they're discussing a pardon.

Speaker 5:
[59:17] I heard that Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney is now saying that she's going to be pardoned. Are you kidding me? That is absolutely insane. I've already introduced a resolution saying that she should never be given any form of clemency or leniency given that she perpetrated this ghastly sex trafficking ring with thousands of girls. She never admitted to it. She hasn't served any time showing no remorse. Absolutely no, no, no to any kind of pardon for her. And by the way, what the heck is the DOJ doing with regard to this particular investigation? They've had two arrests. They still have not produced all the Epstein Files. 3.5 million pages are missing from the production. And they're now talking about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell. This is crazy.

Speaker 8:
[60:07] And there was this report late on Wednesday that the House Oversight Committee was considering some clemency for Maxwell to get her to testify. It's been pushed back on by Republicans. I talked about it on CNN with Jake Capper and explained why that thing is just a non-starter. Oh boy, try to find a Democrat to vote for that thing. It's like playing the Powerball. You could win, but you're not going to. You could find a Democrat to support giving her clemency. You will not. So let's start there. This thing is politically cancerous to all who touch it. I can't imagine they're going to find a critical mass to support that toxic idea.

Speaker 9:
[60:41] But okay, they don't need that if it comes down to whether or not President Trump does pardon.

Speaker 10:
[60:45] And maybe it's, maybe he's crazy. Maybe President Trump is thinking about doing it and this is providing cover for him in some way. Like, oh, look, members of the House Oversight Committee want it. Although we should note Chairman Comer did not say that he wants it one way or the other.

Speaker 8:
[60:58] But there are other issues too. If Pam Bondi was to show last week for a deposition under subpoena and did not, members of Congress do not like being circumvented with an issue of subpoena. And Robert Garcia of California has said he believes both parties support an effort to either get this thing back on the calendar, to fight a contempt finding against Pam Bondi. Expect to hear more about that.

Speaker 1:
[61:24] Well, we'll be reporting on that soon as well. I want to thank Scott McFarland. Great report. And just everybody, throw up blue hearts if you are all subscribed to Scott McFarland's YouTube channel. It's at Scott McFarland News. Make sure you all subscribe there. I see 14,000, 15,000 people who are watching this concurrently live. So make sure you all subscribe to Scott's channel as well and get his updates throughout the day as the MeidasTouch Network continues to expand. As you know, I do a live show with Brett and Jordy at 5 Pacific 8 Eastern today. Look forward to seeing everybody who's here. Join me and my brothers this evening for more breaking news. Oh, we released a new video on the MeidasTouch YouTube channel. A lot of work today. So as soon as this ends, go jump in and watch the latest video as well. So watch the latest video on the MeidasTouch feed as soon as this ends. Just go and click to the main feed and watch the one that we just dropped during the show. And then go check out Scott McFarland's YouTube channel. Thanks everybody. I'll see you tonight with my brothers, 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific. Shout out Meidas Mighty.

Speaker 6:
[62:33] Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at meidasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at meidasplus.com.

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