Trump Iran Oil Problems Are Worse Than People Think & Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent Drop Bombs

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news. It is Thursday, and there is a lot we need to talk about today. But first, a quick announcement. Tomorrow. On Friday, you'll be getting another Philip DeFranco show. make sure you're subscribed. Make sure you have all notifications turned on and hey, maybe even join the text line (813) 213-4423. that said, we've got a lot to talk about right now, starting with this. the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, just went on Tucker Carlson and said that there was zero U. S. intelligence showing Iran posed an imminent threat. retaining that we're being lied to. He said that Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon. He said everyone in the intelligence community knew that striking Iran would endanger U. S. allies and shut down the Strait of Hormuz. And he said the key decision makers were shut out of the room before Trump gave the order. this is Joe Kent. He is a Trump appointee. He's MAGA, and the FBI is now investigating him. so let's get into what he said. Let's get into the baggage that comes with him and why it matters. Because before we dive into the interview, you need to know some things about Kent. Because this isn't just kind of a simple whistleblower story. Kent is not a career bureaucrat who turned on Trump after years of institutional loyalty. is literally a Trump appointee who is MAGA through and through. which arguably makes this even more notable that he's speaking out. But it also it does come with real baggage. during his failed 2021 congressional campaign. Canada call with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, he hired a Proud Boys member as a campaign consultant. He worked closely with the founder of a Christian nationalist group, and he did an interview with a neo-Nazi blogger, though he's also tried to distance himself from the Nazi sympathizers in that orbit. also embraced conspiracy theories, right. Calling that the Covid vaccine and experimental gene therapy. He claimed that the 2020 election was stolen, and he said that the January 6th insurrection was instigated by federal agents. and in his resignation letter, while containing real substantive claims, he also veered into what a number of people have called conspiratorial territory. Right. Because he framed Israel's role not just as influence, but as a sweeping misinformation campaign that Trump was helpless against. And he claimed that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was the result of an Israeli lie. so that's why you've maybe seen a lot of people across the political spectrum accusing him of crossing from legitimate criticism of Israel into explicit anti-Semitism. I preface all that not because I want you to, like, throw out everything he says. Right. He was very high up in the administration. He was close to the operations of this war. But also, I think just as part of my job, you need to know who he is so you can decide for yourself how to weigh in on what he's claiming. so with all that said, right, Ken, central claim is that there was no intelligence showing Iran was about to attack the United States. None. I think this is key. I mean, this would be more challenging to explain. Had the Secretary of State, the president and the speaker of the House not come out and said that we conducted this attack at this time because the Israelis were about to do so. So that takes away the argument that there was an imminent threat, as in Iran was planning to attack us immediately. That just simply did not exist. also said that Trump essentially created a self-fulfilling prophecy. Right. There was no intelligence showing that Iran posed a threat unless the US went after them first in a way that threaten the regime. so by doing exactly that, Trump manufactured the danger that didn't exist before But there was no intelligence that said, hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack. They're going to do some kind of a 911 Pearl Harbor, etc. they're going to attack one of our bases. There was none of that intelligence. on the nuclear threat, which has been the administration's other justification, was equally direct. Was Iran on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon? No. They weren't, you know, three weeks ago when this started and they weren't in June either. I mean, the Iranians have had a religious ruling, a fatwa against actually developing a nuclear weapon since 2004 that's been in place since 2004. That's available in the public sphere. But then also, we had no intelligence to indicate that far to what was being disobeyed or it was on the cusp of being lifted. So the Iranians position when viewed from the lens of the region, was actually fairly pragmatic. And they were preventing, you know, themselves from developing a bomb, but they still wanted the ability. They wanted the ability to enrich. have some components so that they weren't completely stripped of it. then also directly contradicted Trump's repeated claims that nobody predicted the fall out. Right. The attack on allies, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. because it's well known what the Iranians plans were. We knew that they were going to hit our potentially our bases in the region and potentially our allies. We knew about the Straits of Hormuz. All of these things. I think we're fairly well known anyone can say the problem wasn't a lack of intelligence. It was that key people were kept out of the room, Reclaiming that in the lead up to the war, a good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to Trump, saying there had been a robust debate before previous escalations with Iran, but not this time. and noting that when key security officials are not involved, the kind of intelligence that gets passed up to the president is very different depending on who delivers it. And without a level set from the intelligence community, someone like DNI Gabbard coming in and saying, Mr. President, like, here's the full scope of the intelligence, and what it means, you're kind of lacking that sanity check Kent then also went after the regime change argument. Right. Saying the U. S. actively undermined its own stated goal by killing the Supreme leader. we struck the regime, it would only strengthen it. And that's not I think that's just basic common sense. if we do want a real regime change and we want the people to rise up, we want it to happen fairly organically. Going aggressively after the Ayatollah was the last thing that we ever should have done again.

Like I'm no fan of the former supreme leader, you know, like I'm and I however, he was moderating their nuclear program. He was preventing them from getting a nuclear weapon. If you take him out, if you kill him aggressively, people are going to rally around that regime and the next ayatollah that you get. And I think this is the case by all data that we have with his son, the next ayatollah that you get is going to be more radical throughout the interview, both Kent and Carlson, they focused heavily on Israel's role, arguing that Israel will pull the US into this war. And they're driving American policy in the Middle East. The Israelis drove the decision to take this action, which we knew would set off a series of events, meaning the Iranians would retaliate. And I think this speaks to the broader issue, who is in charge of our policy in the Middle East, who is in charge of when we decide to go to war or not, there is real substance to the claim that the United States got wrapped up in this war, in part because of Israel. then also Kenton Carlson repeatedly crossed into what many see as conspiracy territory, most notably when Kent appeared to imply that Israel may have been involved in Charlie Kirk's assassination or in blocking the investigation into it. with Kent claiming that the DOJ prevented his office from investigating foreign ties and Kirk's assassination. President Trump's closest advisers who is vocally advocating for us to not go to war with Iran and for us to rethink at least our relationship with the Israelis, and then he suddenly publicly assassinated. And we're not allowed to ask any questions about that. also had Kent appearing to try to walk that back, saying that he wasn't drawing conclusions and there were just unanswered questions here. But the implication for many, it was clear enough. now, Trump and his administration, they've tried to dismiss Kent, downplay the significance. They've tried to paint him as disloyal with Trump himself saying. I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought you seem like a pretty nice guy. But when I read a statement, I realize that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. now the FBI is reportedly investigating Kent for a possible intelligence leak, sources saying that the investigation was opened before his resignation. But plenty of experts are speculating that regardless of the timeline, Trump is going to try to use this to go after the same way that he's targeted other perceived enemies. and then there's more you've got to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank the sponsor and say, you know, the hardest part of launching something, it's not usually the idea. mean, really think about it. If you've been waiting for the right time to launch your side hustle or business, right, the times now. you know, I get it. Building your website, it can feel way bigger than it actually is. but thanks to today's sponsor, Squarespace, my book club was a some day project that went live in under an hour. team even used Squarespace for our daily newsletter, where tens of thousands of y'all get your PDFs fixed in your inbox every weekday. new polls, giveaways, PDFs show notes all run through Squarespace and like clockwork. Another daily tip issue went out this morning, and your project could be next. it could be easier to do whatever you want, whether it's showcasing or selling content, courses, physical or digital products, whatever you're dreaming up. a big thing that pops up, you know, you want one time payment subscriptions, both done and done. they're amazing templates. Make it look like you hired a designer and their fluid engine editor. It lets you drag, drop, customize, no coding, no stress, no excuses. hey, take that first step today with a free trial at squarespace. com. Email or scan that QR code. Today is launch day. just remember, when you're ready to go live, use code fill to get 10% off and let them know we sent you. but then diving right back into the news, Donald Trump may have lied about American knowledge of an Israeli attack on the world's largest natural gas field, an attack that may be bringing the war into a new phase in which oil and gas facilities are prime targets. and despite claims that the war is on track, the Pentagon's now asking for another $200 billion to fight it. While thousands more troops may soon be on their way to the Middle East. but also with that, where we should start is by talking about how much this war has already cost. because a week after the U. S. and Israel attacked Iran, Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a closed door briefing that the cost of the war had exceeded $11. 3 billion in its first six days. but also reportedly the estimate appeared largely limited to munitions expenditures and not the full cost of the opening days of the conflict. which would include forces deployed to the region, medical expenses and the replacement of military aircraft lost in combat. if the center for Strategic and International Studies estimating that the true cost would have been around $12. 7 billion. you have the Guardian reporting that the first six days of the war therefore cost the same as one year of paying 9% of the country's elementary school teachers medical care for 683,000 veterans, 1. 5 million public housing units for Medicaid, for 3. 6 million children. of course, now, like we're on day 20, so that Senate estimates that the total is now exceeded $18 billion, with the bill growing by roughly half $1 billion every day. it's, it's actually going up slower than the first days of the war, largely because many of those strikes were carried out with some of the most expensive weapons in the country's arsenal. single Tomahawk cruise missile, for example, like the one believed to have hit an elementary school and killed 175 people. It cost around $3. 5 million. the U. S is believed to have fired over 300 of them in the first six days of the war. with the Pentagon having since moved mostly over to cheaper, shorter range weapons. Although, of course, the damage is already done. and that is apparently why it's now asking the white House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran. because the request is reportedly aimed at urgently increasing production of critical weaponry expended as U. S. and Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets in Iran over the past three weeks.

that is, it remains unclear exactly how much the white House is going to ultimately ask Congress to approve, though Trump he has confirmed it will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars range. that also appears to be on top of the $1. 5 trillion defense budget that he said he'd be asking for at the beginning of the year. More than 50% increase from the previous and while getting all that, it could be an uphill battle in Congress. I mean, whatever amount is ultimately approved, will then also take time for the defense industry to increase production with how long, depending on the availability of workers, production facilities and materials needed to build the military's most advanced weaponry. the Pentagon's former acting comptroller, who now analyzes the defense budget at the American Enterprise Institute, telling the Washington Post, just throwing lots of money into the industrial base doesn't necessarily get you things sooner, but you're definitely not going to get it sooner if you don't. the also defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, apparently sees it more simply saying in a press briefing this morning as far as, $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously. It takes, it takes money to kill bad guys. exact also accused Joe Biden of depleting U. S. weapons stockpiles by providing equipment to Ukraine following Russias full scale invasion of the country in 2022. although notably, Biden mainly gave ground based armaments and vehicles to Ukraine, not Tomahawk missiles, which are far more expensive. overall, as a December congress has reportedly approved roughly $188 billion of spending for the war in Ukraine over the four plus years that has been ongoing. But you also may have heard a different number because you had Trump claiming today that the number was actually 350 billion, Trump also blaming Biden, saying that he gave away that money so stupidly. then going back to said he also claimed today that the U. S would be delivering the largest strike package yet in the war. And he continued to claim that this wouldn't be another forever war. Hear it from me. One of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, who watched previous foolish politicians like Bush, Obama, and Biden squander American credibility. This is not those wars. President Trump knows better. then, of course, he declined to say when or how the war in Iran could end, other than saying that the U. S was very much on track and that it's pretty much just up to Trump. it will be at the president's choosing, ultimately, where we say, hey, we've achieved what we need to on behalf of the American people to ensure our security. So no, no time set on that. But we're very much on track. but with that, despite things apparently being on track terms reportedly considering deploying thousands of troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East, this is apparently in addition to reinforcements already on their way, including more than 2000 Marines who are expected to arrive next week. and these new troops would apparently be meant to give him additional options as he weighs expanding American operations in the region, with one option being that they would take part of the mission to secure safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. something sources told Reuters would be accomplished mainly through air and naval forces, but could also mean deploying troops to Iran's shoreline. Right. The administration has also talked about sending ground forces to see Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of Iran's oil exports. and it is also discussed the possibility of putting boots on the ground to secure Iran stocks of highly enriched uranium, Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling Congress more than a week ago that at some point people are going to have to go and get it. but this would also apparently be one of the riskiest military operations in modern American history, not least because one no one knows for sure where it is to if the canister is holding it or pierced, the escaping gas would be both toxic and radioactive. And three if they come too close together, there is the risk of an accelerating nuclear reaction. now with that, you had Trump telling reporters on Tuesday that the ground operations didn't worry him, saying. I'm not really afraid of that. I'm really not afraid of anything. But of course, you know, that's really fucking easy to say when you're not the one risking your life. but that said, you know, for now, this is very much still an air war. And some of the latest strikes are threatening to bring this war into a new phase. I could have an even bigger impact on energy prices and everything connected to that. read, because as we talked about yesterday, airstrikes hit Iran's South Pars gas field, which is the world's largest natural gas field. And contributes to as much as 70% of Iran's total gas production. Now Iran and Qatar. They accuse Israel of the attack, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards warning people to stay away from oil and gas facilities and countries including Qatar, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. and then over the next several hours, apparent Iranian attacks damage the world's largest liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar, which processes about a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas. and then you also had strikes causing fires at two state owned refineries in Kuwait and hitting a key energy export terminal in Saudi Arabia, with officials in the UAE reporting that it had also responded to incidents at gas facilities in an oil field caused by debris from intercepted missiles. and so that in response to the Katari foreign Ministry ordering Iran's military and security attachés, along with their staff, to leave the country within 24 hours, and you also had the Saudi foreign minister warning Iran that his country, as well as others in the region, have very significant capacities and capabilities that they could bring to bear should they choose to do so. and then on the US side, you had Trump seemingly trying to de-escalate things with a post on social media yesterday, specifically in response to the strike on the Qatari LNG facility, writing Israel, out of anger for what is taking place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars gas field in Iran and then adding, The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape or form involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen. though notably with that you at Axios reporting earlier that while the strike on the gas field was carried out by the Israeli Air Force, it was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration, with this being based on conversations with both U. S. and Israeli officials, then afterward. You also had Reuters reporting the same thing to three Israeli officials who said that the US knew all about which would make sense because the Trump administration

previously objected to Israel's earlier strikes on oil depots in Tehran and demanded that Israel not hit energy infrastructure again without U. S. approval. then with that in mind, in his post, you also at Trump promising that in all caps, no more attacks will be made by Israel against the South Pars field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar, with him. Then threatening that if that happened, he would massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars gas field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before. And then adding to that, I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran. But if Qatar's LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so. also with that. Speaking of long term implications, there is no avoiding them at this point. where the strike hit the gas field yesterday, they reportedly did damage to areas that make up nearly 12% of Iran's total gas production. even without that damage, Iran has dealt with crippling gas and electricity shortages for decades. and over the past few months, power plants across the country, they have increasingly been turning to burning something called Massoud, which has been described as a bottom of the barrel crude oil residue. And it's actually banned in much of the world because of just how toxic it is. this it actually created an air pollution emergency even before the U. S. and Israel attacked, then a severe drought didn't help matters. And, of course, the war just makes the situation even worse. then actually, on that note, the Climate Action Network, which is an umbrella group of more than 1900 civil society organizations in over 130 countries. they claim today that the US Israeli attack on Iran meets the criteria for ecocide, saying in a statement, attacks on Iran's oil storage facilities have unleashed massive health and environmental harm burning fuel depots, poisoned air, land, water and lungs that will linger in the atmosphere long after the bombing stops. that in corporations, financial institutions and the arms industry form part of the same fossil fueled war economy that profits from destruction while also accelerating climate breakdown. with that, you know, there are people that are making a lot of money here, even if most of us are losing out. these latest attacks, they said the price of oil jumping by nearly 10% to $119 a barrel this morning got European natural gas prices surging by about 25%. that was before we start to get an idea of the extent of the damage of the Qatar LNG facility. Iran's attacks reportedly knocked out 17% of the country's LNG export capacity for up to five years. that's at the very least, going to cause an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue, just like Trump, you had Iran's foreign minister threatening to do more damage if its own facilities were attacked, again, saying, our response to Israel's attack on our infrastructure employed fraction of our power. the only reason for restraint was respect for requested de-escalation. zero restraint. If our infrastructures are struck again, then on another side of this, you had the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan issuing a joint statement calling for de-escalation, though notably absent from that was any explicit condemnation of the US or Israel saying, we condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces and adding, we express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning. to be very clear, there is still no sign that any of these countries are actually on board with Trump's idea to have them escort ships through the Strait while there is an active conflict. actually on the note of Trump and NATO allies, had him this morning taking a friendly tone with the Japanese prime minister at the white House today, despite her position being virtually the same as NATO's. We've had tremendous support and relationship with Japan and everything, and I believe that based on, statements were given to us yesterday, the day before yesterday, having to do with Japan. They are really stepping up to the plate. unlike NATO, although the whole thing took a turn because, he had this to say when asked about why he didn't inform allies ahead of the attack on Iran. we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted a surprise. Who knows better about surprises in Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay. Right. You know, he's asking me, you believe in surprise? I think much more so than us. yeah, that, that happened on top of everything else. that is the man that so much about what happens next depends on. but then also we should talk about the risk of this war on us here at home. Right. We've got unidentified drones flying over the army base in Washington, where the Secretary of State and secretary of Defense live. right. Military bases in new Jersey and Florida raised their threat levels to the second highest designation. The US embassy in Saudi Arabia has been hit by drones and some experts are now openly asking whether the Trump administration might actually benefit from an attack on American soil. that is where we are right now. no, as far as the specifics with the drones at Fort Leslie, J. McNair is an Army base in Washington, D. C., and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. They both live there. and according to a senior administration official, unidentified drones appeared above the base on a single night sometime in the last ten days. that sparking increased security and conversations about moving the two though as of now, reportedly they haven't been moved. But then with that, you were the chief Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, declining to comment, saying department cannot comment on the Secretary's movements for security reasons. And reporting on such movements is grossly irresponsible. with the State Department also not commenting either. right. A big thing with this is that drone threats, they are straight out of Iran's playbook after the US killed a prominent Iranian general back in 2020, there were similar incidents involving Donald Trump and other officials. also during the 2024 campaign, the Secret Service repeatedly encountered unidentified drones near Trump's team during a press conference in L. A.

and a motorcade through rural Pennsylvania. and with all this in September, you had officials telling Trump that Iran wanted to kill right. In these newest drone sightings are happening as threats to domestic bases and overseas diplomatic posts have escalated to the point of a global security alert. this week, joint base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in new Jersey and MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. Both raise their force protection level two, the second highest designation, meaning of the commander has intelligence indicating an attack is possible. right. MacDill is actually gone into lockdown twice this week, Monday, for a suspicious package that closed the visitor center for hours, and on Wednesday for an unspecified security event that triggered an hours long shelter in place. a big thing is that MacDill is home to U. S. Central Command, the headquarters running military operations against Iran. you know, the fact that it's on heightened alert, it's not just procedural. then overseas, it's worse Tuesday, the State Department ordered all diplomatic posts worldwide to immediately undertake security evaluations, citing the ongoing and developing situation in the Middle East and the potential for spillover effects. also earlier this month, a suspected Iranian drone struck the parking lot of the U. S. consulate in Dubai, sparking a fire with massive plumes of black smoke. with Rubio saying that all personnel were accounted for, but also added our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime. also, Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said that the American embassy in Riyadh was hit by two drones, resulting in minor damage at the embassy closing. Iranian missile and drone attacks have also caused explosions in Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE and other countries where the U. S. has military bases. none of this was unforeseeable. even the New York Times reporting that Western security officials were concerned, even before the initial strike, that Iran could use proxies to conduct retaliatory attacks against American and European targets. Colin Clark, the executive director of the Soufan Center, said at the time the US military campaign against Iran is existential for the supreme leader and the most senior members of the IRGC, I would fully expect Iran to order terror attacks abroad, including in Europe. you know, the US killed the supreme leader. Trump's been talking about wiping out the rest of the regime. So this concern isn't just a hypothetical thing anymore. this is, it's also where the conversation kind of takes a turn, right, that we need to be honest about, even though it's uncomfortable. Because you have some people speculating that the Trump administration might actually benefit from an attack on American soil, for example, the Guardian highlighting that such an attack could give Trump a pretext to declare a state of emergency or even cancel the midterms, Yale historian Timothy Snyder writing, self terrorism might not have been the initial claim, but as time goes by and failures and atrocities mount, its appeal will grow. Trump could think that he has much to gain. The war itself makes terrorism more likely. and then also you would Steven Cash, the executive director of the Steady State, a group of retired national security officers, putting it more directly, saying of course there's going to be retaliation. It's a rational response on their part and then also adding, it may be that this is what Trump's interested in. he has spent a year trying to convince Americans that we are facing a terrible domestic threat. suddenly this unprecedented, unprovoked attack on another country, probably in violation of the Constitution and international law, is going to create the very conditions that he unsuccessfully tried to convince us would justify extraordinary powers of the presidency. now, to be clear, nobody and that includes myself, is saying that the administration is actively inviting an attack. but starting a war that, you know, will provoke retaliation while simultaneously building the legal and political framework to expand presidential power in the event of a domestic crisis is a pattern that serious people in the national security world are pointing at and saying, look at this, please. and whether this setup is intentional or it is just the logical consequence of reckless decision making, it doesn't matter. The threat is real. The conditions are being created in the same administration that didn't plan for the Strait of Hormuz is now responsible for protecting the homeland from the blowback. Right, but then from then, as we kind of wind down today's show, I want to end with a congratulations. And then one final piece of news, so first let me say congrats to April v c x latest weekly winner who just scored $500 in tickets and is going to see Mitski live. for the rest of y'all. That's right. Kiki is still giving away $500 and tickets, and you should definitely answer today if you haven't already. Imagine being the next winner and snagging $500 toward seeing your favorite artist, sporting event or play. I mean, there's like over 70,000 events to choose from. you just got to add code DeFranco to your psychic app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize. No purchase necessary. but with that said, that brings us to the final thing today, and that is that Democrats just stormed out of a closed door meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein files. where they say that she refused to commit to appearing for her subpoenaed deposition. The committee chairman called a congresswoman's questioning, bitching and a second set of impeachment articles against Bondi drop this week. Meanwhile, Epstein's longtime lawyer is testifying today. Bonnie's deposition is supposedly set for April 14th, and we are still exactly where we've been for months. Like lots of political theater, zero accountability. as far as the briefing, you had Bonnie sitting down with the House Oversight Committee yesterday for what was supposed to be a closed door briefing on the DOJ's handling of the Epstein investigation. Democrats, they say it was a setup from the start. claim that they only learned about the briefing at the last minute. There was no press, no transcribers. Bonnie wasn't under oath, no opening statements. Members were just given three minutes each to ask questions. Democrats believe Bonnie held this briefing specifically to try to get out of the actual subpoena. Right. The one that the committee voted on last month and that chairman James Comer formally issued this week, asking her to testify under oath on April 14th. when asked whether she would show up for it, Democrats say that Bondi would only say that she would follow the law would not say, yes. Filibuster, filibuster would not say yes. And it was clear from the minute it started that the attorney general is trying to evade and not attend the mandated subpoena that is put in place. want her under oath because we do not trust her. Why don't we trust her?

Because she's a liar. Look at how that Judiciary Committee hearing went. She was spying on members of Congress when they were in the DOJ looking at the documents unredacted. We want her under oath because she has shown that she is involved in a cover up. so Democrats say, you know, they decided not to play along with this format and use their time to simply ask Bondi if she would appear for the real deposition. But what actually kind of triggered the walkout wasn't Bondi. It was Comber. Representative Yasmin Ansari said that Congresswoman Summer Lee directed a question to the chairman about what he would do if Bondy didn't appear for her deposition and his response. He decided to use that opportunity to say that she was bitching. And that's when we all just hate it and walked out. Comber confirmed the language with his statement being I said Democrats were bitching and wasting everyone's time because time. you and Lee firing back, saying if Comber wants to say I'm bitching, he can do it in a sworn deposition where it's recorded and transcribed. also with this, you had Comber telling reporters that this walkout was premeditated. was very disappointing what the Democrats have done. I believe that was premeditated. They came out clutching their pearls, complaining that, you know, she wasn't interesting questions and things like that. The first three people to ask questions, all they did was complain. said they wanted C-Span in here. They want the cameras and, very, very typical behavior you also had other Republicans defending Bondi, saying that she gave the briefing voluntarily. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon claiming that Bondi did answer questions, noting that she said, I will follow the law at least six times. Dillon, also calling the Democrats behavior that of petulant children and adding so much for wanting the truth. and of course, because all of this happened behind closed doors in a room that Bondi specifically chose to avoid press and transcribers that the public didn't get to see any of so again as some desired. We are just stuck with two completely different versions of what happened. with all this the pressure on Bondi is stacking up fast This week, representative Summer Lee introduced articles of impeachment against her, the second Democrat to do so this month. she has already been obstructing justice. She has already weaponized the DOJ. The DOJ does not have, the right or the privilege of withholding information from an active investigation, ignoring the laws of our land, which the Epstein, Transparency Act is ranking member Robert Garcia also suggested that the committee could hold her in contempt if she doesn't testify. On April 14th. all the while, the depositions are still ongoing. today, Epstein's longtime lawyer is answering questions. was a before testifying, he wrote I did not socialize with Mr. Epstein and I reject is categorically false. Any suggestion that I knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr. Epstein in a sexual abuse or trafficking of women? a statement that many, including those on the committee have been skeptical of given how long he worked for Epstein. know, for now, this is generally where we are, and we're going to have to wait to see if April 14th changes any of this. I will say, and this is my opinion at this point, it feels like expecting accountability from this process. It feels less like optimism and more like muscle memory of like what things should be or had been in the past. But then my friends, you beautiful bastards is where pretty much your Thursday Philip DeFranco show ends. they say pretty much because there's a little housekeeping here at the end. you want to keep getting filled in right now, I got that brand new episode of Crashing Out that just released that I think you're going to really like, still news, which is way more opinion and reaction. also remember you get an extra Philip DeFranco show this week. There's going to be a Friday show tomorrow. the next week, there is more to look forward to because in addition to the Philip DeFranco show, maybe the most unexpected interview we've done yet, got Scott. The was coming on in good faith. you know, whatever you do, let me just say thank you for watching. I love you faces. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.