159. The Royal Arrest: Why Trump's Epstein Problem Won't Go Away

Welcome to the rest is politics US with me Katy Kaye in Washington DC. Catty, good morning. I'm still here in the Cayman Islands, getting ready for snow unfortunately. Yeah, you don't look like you're in a jail cell somewhere in the UK, so I guess that's an upgrade. No, no, not thank God, not that. But I mean that is uh history breaking. So tell us what's going on this morning. I mean I was shocked to hear it, but go ahead.

Yeah, not since sixteen forty seven has a member of the British royal family been arrested. That was Charles I who ended up losing his head a couple of years later. That's unlikely to happen. This time around, however, we are going to be talking about the arrest of former Prince Andrew. over suspicions of misconduct in public office.

all relating from the release of the Epstein files. We're gonna talk about that, but we're really gonna talk about that in the context of American politics and what by comparison is or isn't happening over here on this side of the Atlantic in terms of accountability. Um and then we are gonna look at how the Trump administration has sort of fired the gun on the starting block for the midterm elections and has shifted into battle mode with a big meeting with members of the cabinet and Republicans.

trying to reassure Republicans that they really are focused on those messages of affordability and

Donald Trump is gonna be straight on message and super disciplined and is gonna campaign for Republicans. No, I'm just joking. Uh they were anyway talking with Republicans and trying to reassure them that the White House, if not the President, is gonna stay on message when it comes to the midterm elections. Let Start, Anthony, with this news that I woke up to here on the East Coast that Andrew, formerly Prince Andrew, has been arrested um on suspicions of misconduct in public office.

Searches are being carried out at his address at his two homes uh in the UK. The police raid of course follows the release of all of those emails from the DOJ. This has captivated attention of on television channels here in America I know because my phone is now ringing off the hook asking me if I'll go on and be a royal correspondent. I always try and pretend I'm not say to them I'm not a royal correspondent, I know more about American politics but

There we go. I'll be talking about Andrew for the rest of today. But what I thought was interesting and it highlights Anthony for me is this again, this kind of extraordinary discrepancy between What's happening in the UK and even in Norway where you've had three people uh who are either under investigation or have had a cloud put over them or have had to leave their jobs?

And the UK where you've had three government officials uh impacted by this, you've had Andrew of course uh now arrested over the Epstein files. And what's happening here in the US, and I think it was particularly brought into relief this week because you had Les Wexner, who we spoke about when we did that little series on Epstein, who was really the sort of guy who made Jeffrey Epstein, who helped him with his finances, who bankrolled him at the beginning.

Leswexner was deposed by the House of Representatives and none of the members of the Republican caucus on that committee bothered even to turn up for the deposition. All of the Democrats flew to Ohio to depose Les Wexner, who's now in his mid eighties, and they came out saying, you know, they were appalled, but particularly they were appalled by the fact that no Republicans showed up And it's like here there is accountability in the private sector, but if you are a Republican

You're effectively, it looks like, being protected at the moment. That's what it looked like from the Ohio depositions. And that contrasts so much with the UK.

Whereas the King said today, the rule of the law is the rule of law. It doesn't matter whether you are a prince or a former prince or an ordinary civilian, the law still applies. Let me just ask a few questions because I feel like when I read the case They're suggesting in his official capacity he shared confidential information with Jeff Epstein, governmental

information. When he was a trade representative for the UK government. Exactly. When he's a trade representative. So in the United States the pushback would be, well, the the principal co conspirator uh Gollaine Maxwell is in jail. The principal where the allegations were made, Jeff Epstein is dead. And so the other stuff being in the flight log, having an email with him, not criminal.

Um, and then we'll talk a little bit about the three million documents that haven't been divulged and all the things that haven't been unredacted. But I guess my question to you, Caddy, is they have him right in the gun sites and tell us a little bit about uh the United Kingdom, the rule of law, the subordination of everybody, including the royal family, to that law. And how do you think that differs now in the age of Donald Trump?

Look, that's a a great question. Um and actually I was asked about that on television this morning. We have to be very careful because obviously the rules in the UK and the rules in the US are very different when it comes to even reporting on cases like this. So these are all Allegations.

Nothing is proven. Andrew is innocent until found guilty. But the difference, it seems to me, that is particularly stark. Well, there are two differences, because somebody made the point to me a little bit what you've just said.

that actually the co conspirators with Geoffrey Epstein either dead or in prison, and anyway There are no senior government officials who have been implicated in the Epstein scandal in the US in the way that they were in the UK, where you've had Peter Mandelson, the former

British Ambassador to America also under investigation. And the difference here in the US is that it's private citizens, whether they're in business or and whether they're in academia who have been implicated, but we haven't had government figures giving him documents uh that they shouldn't have been giving him in order to get favours

from him. I don't know what that says about the two systems and whether there were Brits who wanted money more or something more or girls more from Epstein than there were in the US. But actually I'm not sure that's quite true because if you look at it

I mean you have got the Clintons implicated and being deposed by Congress. You've got Howard Lutnick who is Implicated not in the sense that it Anyone has said that he did anything criminal, but he's now a senior government official who has lied about his relationship with Geoffrey Epstein. And obviously Donald Trump, who I spoke to a member of the Oversight Committee, a Democrat on the Oversight Committee this morning.

Um, who said to me that he'd reviewed the unredacted files, Suhas Subermanyan, who's a Democrat from Virginia who's seen the files, and he said Donald Trump is all over those files. We don't know whether he has done anything criminal yet, but he is all over those files, on the plane, at the parties. So it's not that there are people perhaps who should be facing more justice in the US who aren't facing justice. It's just I think we haven't

got there yet. We haven't got the kind of full fallout of the files yet. I I do think there is a difference in the i what this says about the justice system, with the king very clearly saying, look, no one is above the law And Republicans and Donald Trump seeming to protect Howard Lutnick and not even bothering to turn up to the deposition of Les Wexner. Yeah, I mean listen, I mean they've got the hammer down from Donald Trump. They control the House and the Senate.

Uh, you're not gonna prosecute anybody. Todd Blanche said we're not gonna prosecute anybody. And then now the goal is to make sure that there's no smoking guns. in any of the files, either redacted or unredacted. And so far we haven't had the smoking guns, right? I mean we should be clear about that at the moment. Aaron Powell There are allegations and again I'm bolding and highlighting allegations. Uh Ted Lou has made allegations, you and I have

talked about this off the air that Trump was raping children. Now again, I don't know if this is true or not. Uh but he's suggesting that it's in the document. We'll have to see if that unfolds.

Seen any evidence of that? And he's a Democrat. You have another thing going on, and this is this is important for uh uh UK listeners, people outside the United States. There was a non prosecution agreement that was rendered in two thousand and eight. by Alex Acosta, who was the US attorney in Florida. that negotiated and criminally prosecuted Epstein and in the case there were co-conspirators that came to him with evidence related to Epstein and he sort of signed an omnibus to protect

unnamed co conspirators. So there's a lot of people taking cover related to that as well. And remember Acosta w we we we heard in the news reports he subsequently denied it, but Akasa was told he said to go lenient on Epstein because there was some intelligence related matters associated with him. And you know, what's the craziest story about Epstein, he does this stuff, he pleads to a minor

situation. He goes to jail for a very limited period of time. He comes out, he tells the New York community that he was completely exonerated a BS case, which is pri probably why all these people continue to cling to him. And then he continues his nefarious behavior. So it's an interesting situation that we're all in because we all know there's stench everywhere. Uh, but now are you gonna be able to take the criminal procedure processes in the United States and are you gonna be able to use them

to put people in jail. And I think the short answer to that is no, Caddy. And I have said this to you for six months. You and I have been talking about this. You and I did a special on Jet Epstein. I said with Donald Trump in the position that he's in, uh, nothing is gonna happen. Now the the big irony of all this is when Joe Biden was in the position that Donald Trump was in, nothing happened, Caddy. So so try to if you can square that for me. Why we're enraged now, but when Biden had the files

uh there was no enragement. I think that comes from the fact that this started as largely a MAGA issue, right? It was MAGA pushing for the release of the files and Donald Trump adding his voice to that push for the release of the files when he was out of office. So there was not a big call from Democrats, because I actually think that you're right. This is so partisan.

And Democrats were probably worried about what this would say about Bill Clinton. And so they didn't particularly push for the release of the files. The voices pushing for the release of the files during Joe Biden's presidency were coming overwhelmingly from the right.

And then Donald Trump gets into office and decides, actually, you know what? I don't want to release these files. And so the MAGA base keeps on pushing. But there is an element, I think what you're saying is so true of what it has exposed, and you said this a few weeks ago, was that the damage of the Epstein issue is what John Ossoff

in Georgia called for, which is the labelling of this as the Epstein class. The idea that there is a group of powerful people who will protect other powerful people. And at the moment The spotlight is on Republicans because it's Republicans who are in office, it's a Republican who is in the White House, and it's Republicans who are being seen to protect other powerful Republicans who might get caught off. In the Epstein file. So for example, that hearing I was talking about

that happened this week with Les Wexner, who was the sort of guy who kind of got Jeffrey Epstein started. He helped finance him. As members of Congress said, you wouldn't have Jeffrey Epstein without Les Wexner. Last October Les Wexner donated two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Republican National Committee.

A couple of weeks before Republican Ohio Senator John Hustard voted to block the release of the files, guess what happens? Les Wexner donates$116,000 to his Senate campaign. So you've got Senior Republicans taking money. from a guy who is potentially very implicated with Jeffrey Epstein, even though now he says, Oh, well actually I was just conned and I was naive. But they're taking money from Les Wexner. Of course they're not gonna try and do the maximum now.

To get this guy held accountable, or to push harder, or to get his name unredacted in the files, or to see if there is any criminality, they've just taken one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars from him, or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from him. So you're right, this started I mean this started under Biden, but it did start as a magration. And one thing I was wondering today was And I want to get your take on this.

Now that it's become a sort of democratic issue and you've got Democrats flying to Ohio to depose Les Wexner, and it's coding in this weird cultural tribal world that we live in, it's coding as a Democrat issue. Does that mean MAGA kind of drops it? Or do they keep their foot on the pedal? You see, I think it's priced in for Magum. So I think, you know, when he said that uh Epstein was a great guy and he liked women, some of them on the younger side and all this sort of stuff.

MAG is like no problem. That's Donald Trump. He's our guy. And that's fine. But I'm just wondering out loud if I'm Donald Trump The former prince has information related to me. And if he goes on trial and there is testimony and there is evidence that has to get forced into the domain, I don't think the United States and the Congress and the FBI

are the only people in the world that have the Epstein files. I'm just not naive enough to believe that. And so how do we know that these files don't go on the public record in a UK court And some of that is like really damaging to President Trump. The other thing he's doing, which I would tell him to stop doing, is he's going after Mandelson. You see all these attacks on former Ambassador Mandelson.

I'd be like, hey, you know, you're trying to score points against Starmer in Labor, and you're trying to help your buddy Nigel Farage. I get that, but you're keeping the drama of Epstein in everybody's crosshairs, if you will, Caddy. And then and then You know, what about Gawain Maxwell? What about all of the things that are going on? in that dynamic. Okay. She's in a low uh security prison now.

She's literally out there saying, I've got goods that are gonna exonerate Donald Trump, i.e., please pardon me. I don't know, maybe his advisors aren't thinking this thing through or or there's something going wrong in the equation. where this could blow back on Trump. And again, three, four, five Republicans get a spine, then he's in trouble. You see what I mean? I mean Mar Marjorie Taylor Green left and m Massy's the only one that's standing up to him but

You get three or four of'em, then he's in trouble. You can't imagine what kind of security Massey now has to have to withstand all the threats he must be getting from Trump supporters, uh which he has by the way spoken about. One of the things that's happened here is that the accountability has been much more in the private sector than it has been around any government officials or elected officials or even some of the top people that were with Epstein.

So you have had people you've had the chairman of Paul Weiss, Brad Carp, has stepped down, you've had Larry Summers, of course, step down from his positions. This just today the news came that Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote speech.

at an AI summit in India because of all the Epstein stuff. Thomas Pritzka has retired as the head of Hyatt Hotels. So you've had government accountability, but because none of those people are being deposed in a court of law They're not spilling any beans, they're just quitting, right? That keeps them quiet. So I guess they don't present much of a threat.

to Donald Trump unless they chose to came up and say something. Could I throw like a wild card in there? Okay,'cause I'm now acting as Glaine uh Maxwell's uh defense attorney. Ooh, golly, poor you. She has a First Amendment right to free speech. And so I'm now gonna play former Prince Andrews defense attorney and Glaine Maxwell's

Hello. Hey, we would like Elaine to testify here in Great Britain. We're gonna do it over Zoom and we're gonna get her to swear on the Bible that it's nothing but the truth. Oh, that's wonderful. Let me call Todd Blanche. Hey Toddy, how are you? Uh Golane is gonna testify by Zoom in the British court. So in other words, if I am the defense attorney for Ghlaine Maxwell, I'm gonna put pressure on Blanche and the DOJ to get my client pardoned.

And so then my client can say, you know, plead the fifth or say, hey, I'm not available for this testimony. But she has a First Amendment right. to provide testimony in that court case, either for or against Andrew. So Gab, what's your reaction to that? Just throwing that out there. I mean, this is stuff that they've got to be thinking about that they're probably not thinking about right now. Yeah.

I think they would rather Ghilaine Maxwell not say very much. That's why they moved her from her high security prison that she was in to what's known as the prison summer camp down in Texas. after Todd Blanche had been down there to talk to her. So I think it is an element of, you know, buying her silence and her cooperation. But one question you said it's baked in about Donald Trump.

And I think you're right. And a lot of people think, Oh, well, he was the access Hollywood tape. We know what Donald Trump is. But I wonder if it's even more than that, that in twenty twenty four he kind of ran as a sort of backlash against accountability, right, around gender or race. He ran against the whole Me Too Black Lives Matter movement.

And a kind of accountability almost became woke. It was all kind of for wusses. So I wonder whether actually Donald Trump's supporters in the same way that he probably will never hold his supporters accountable, and he released all of the January the sixth,

people who were in prison who'd had the riot up on Capitol Hill. They don't really want him or expect him to be held accountable. They don't need him to be held accountable. Even if it came out, even if What Congressman Subramanion is looking for, you know, to see if there is a smoking gun around Donald Trump, there's some kind of crime was committed. Maybe Donald Trump supporters never want him to be held accountable. Maybe they don't really want this stuff to come out either.

Uh yeah, well of course they don't. I mean they want it to go away. That's why, you know, they even though they were the ones that pushed for it. Even they were the ones that were pushing for it for so long. That's what Trump does to you. When you and I first met I said Donald Trump Moves the goalposts on everybody. Uh it's a loyalty test. It is forever a loyalty test. Listen to me, I am such a narcissist.

Caddy, I'm gonna say one thing and I want your allegiance to it. Oh you have m yeah okay. Now I'm gonna say a different thing, totally juxtaposed to that thing, but I still need your allegiance, Caddy.

Oh no no now I'm gonna move it again. Okay, so he's always moving the goalpost on supporters, family members, friends, cabinet members Uh, that's what he does because he needs to prove to everybody or at least in his own uh febral mind, that he's numero uno and that he can do anything and he can get away with anything. And that's what's going on here. But I will say this'cause I I think this is tied into

uh the second part of this conversation because the Congress is now saying, Wow, this is really bad for us. We're gonna likely contain this damage. But you're out there saying you're gonna invade Greenland, you're now moving ships to Iran. You're gonna really hurt us. Okay, we'll leave it there on that topic, Addy. We're gonna go to a break now. When we come back, we'll talk about the White House deputies heading up to the Capitol.

To talk to the congressional leaders and their campaign strategists on the midterm elections. Hello, everybody. A new podcast from Goal Hanger. Hosted by me, Dominic Sambrook. And me, Tabitha Cyrus. As some of you may know, I have been Dominic's producer on the rest is history, and we even did a mini-series last year about all things but.

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at checkout. That's AURA frames.co.uk, promo code politicsUS. This deal is exclusive to listeners, so order yours now to get it in time for Mother's Day. Don't forget to add PoliticsUS at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome back to the restless politics US. Caddy tell us about this. Strategy meeting that took place. The White House this week has been trying to reassure members of Congress, Republican members of Congress, that yes, they get the message.

they do actually need to help them try and win in the midterms and that they have a plan for how they're gonna do that. And it was interesting, they held um the White House's top political team with a whole bunch of cabinet members Scott Bessant was there, Howard Lutnick was there, Kennedy was there, Sean Duffy, the transport secretary, was there, uh Susie Wiles was there, Trump's polster, Tony Fabrizio was there, his political advisor James Blair was there, and a whole bunch of members

of Congress, Republican members of Congress, had this meeting on Capitol Hill at the Capitol Hill Club. I think they wanted this to leak out'cause they didn't do it in a very private room, the Capitol Hill Club, everyone knows what's going on there. And it was the White House's bid, I think, to reassure Republican members of Congress that yes, we are focused on your issues. We understand that your constituents are very focused on

uh affordability, prices, the economy, they want us to keep coming back to those issues. They want us to be driven by the data. We just happen to have a president. I'm sorry guys, we have have a president who is bored of the issue of affordability and he's gonna talk about Iran or Greenland.

or anything else apart from the issues that your constituents are particularly interested in. I thought it was interesting that the White House even felt they had to have that meeting. That I suspect you're right.

Members of Congress are starting Republican members of Congress are feeling a little angsty, right? They can see the polls. They can see the unpopularity of the president, and it used to be that all politics is local, now all politics is national. And they need to know from the White House that the White House

has a plan. I'm just not sure that whatever Susie Wiles presents to them as a plan or James Blair earnestly presents to them as a plan with lots of polls from Tony Fabrizio, Donald Trump's not very manageable. Is he gonna stay on message? Is he gonna

Spend the next ten months campaigning on the issue of affordability and prices. That didn't last very long, did it? My memory was that we were meant to be doing that, but it didn't seem to have lasted very long. More fun to take Greenland. There's a couple of things here though, and uh the so the first one is He could be a political liability going into the midterms. His

People, his staff are saying, and I'm I'm I'm using their words, he's an ungovernable campaign asset, right? That's what his staff is saying. And the Congress knows that. And so I guess what would have to happen, Caddy, for them to go from protection mode on him. to attack mode on him. Remember he is a waning

He he's a waning political asset. So what would have to happen? Go ahead. Give me your analysis. I think the sky would have to fall on our heads at this point. I mean we have been waiting for over a decade now. To see Republicans in the find a reason to decide that they're gonna stand up to Donald Trump and apart from Thomas Massey who mentioned earlier and the odd Republican Senator.

They just don't seem to do it. I had a really good conversation with a Republican strategist who's pretty plugged in, has spent a lot of time with Trump and is is pretty plugged into MAGAWorld. And what he said is that Until this primary season, remember that all of these members of Congress are in the primaries before they get to run in the general election in November. And while they're in the primary season, they're not gonna say anything about Donald Trump.

They're gonna get themselves locked in step with Donald Trump because what are they they're terrified of Donald Trump weighing in on their primary and them not even getting a chance to run. So you're not gonna hear any of them distance themselves from Donald Trump at least until June when the primary season is over. But I wonder even then, you know, the mystery of the kind of enduring mystery of this president.

Ever since he kind of won the nomination back in twenty sixteen and won the election back in twenty sixteen, has been the way that he controls his party. I I don't yes, some of them peel away. We've seen some of them peeling away over Epstein. We saw some of them peel away over Greenland. But I don't see um a big rush for the exits, do you? I I don't, but let me tell you the problems and then I'll make a prediction on this program. So

Number one, Trump has a three hundred million dollar war trust for these congressional midterms. He's got four hundred and thirty seven million overall that he's raised for different issues, America First, et cetera. So He's done something very interesting that future presidents will do. They will continue to fundraise in their lame duck years.

And George W. Bush didn't do it, but Trump did it and it's an interesting thing. You have to give him credit for that,'cause he has some political power because of the money, right? But here's the thing. They're gaslighting people. I'm gonna go to Marjorie Taylor Greene who said and I'm gonna quote from her She said if you had put America first from the start, instead of your rich donor class and foreign policy, you wouldn't have to strategize on how to gaslight Americans, Caddy K.

And all of a sudden she's the truth teller, okay? And she is basically their most vocal, what I would describe as MAGA loyalist. Okay, so it's interesting that her and Massey see themselves as MAGA loyalists, which is different from being a Trump loyalist, right? But but I'm just wanna make this point to you. I think they're gonna get slayed in the midterms.

and I think they're gonna turn on him after a catastrophic midterm loss. Moreover, you know, if there's an economic collapse which is undeniable and attributable to the president's policies They're also gonna turn on him. But they're not gonna turn on him before the midterms. You think they would turn on him if there's a big midterm loss, and I guess you're putting that at like thirty to fifty seats, right? That the Republicans lose. A big a big loss.

They turn on Donald Trump because they feel he's a lame duck and because whoever is gonna take over from Donald Trump, let's say it's JD Vance, they know that that person doesn't have the same kind of fear factor that Trump seems to have over his party that There those members of Congress aren't turning on him because they're afraid of him.

And I guess that what, they wouldn't be afraid of whoever was Trump's successor. Yeah. I th I think I th I think yes, I and I agree. And I think that that's accurate. But just hear me out for a second. This is a broader macro sentiment and you may agree with it or not.

But I feel like we are in a throw the bums out moment in America. Meaning if you went to the average American and said you could jettison every Democrat in the Congress and you could jettison every Republican in the Congress and you could start anew and you could p pick the local baker or you could pick the local librarian to go into the Congress for you.

I would say most Americans would say, Yeah, we would want that. So we're in a throw the bums out mentality. Uh and let me just go over this. Uh the the Democrats, uh, Obama two thousand sixteen. it flips to the Republicans, Trump gets it. Then Trump loses it, it flips back to the Democrats. And then the Democrats lose it if they flips back to Trump and the G O P I think the next flip is back to the Democrats. Meaning in the last several elections the Americans are like

Throw the bums out. If you're in Yeah, whoever whoever it is, there's no loyalty. Yeah, exactly. If you're in, you're the problem. And by the and by the way, let me stipulate Caddy. They would like to throw them all out. Okay. They would I mean it wouldn't just be the Democrats or the Republicans on that given day. It'd be all of them. And so there's the vulnerability.

Uh for the current crop of GOP. Like again, if I was JD Vance, assuming he gets the nomination, I still predict he won't. But but but the you know the the the odds are that he will because most Every vice president has gotten the nomination. Richard Nixon, George Herbert, Walker Bush, et cetera. You know, even Walter Mondale got it from, you know, Jimmy Jimmy Carter's vice president. But but I'm just I'm just saying to you. If he is sitting there thinking about the nomination, he's vulnerable.

He's vulnerable. He's not a popular guy, number one. Maybe he gets a nomination anyway, but he's he's vulnerable and you you can sit around and have a powwow about this. But it's not really gonna do you any good. The bold move would be to break from Trump They're they're on defense in Georgia. He won Georgia by like twenty four points. They have good news here because you look at the Democrats, there was a great new poll out from AP Nork poll showing that the Democrats' view

of the Democratic Party is super low at the moment. Seven in ten Democrats Uh proving money. I mean it's like, you know, they don't even Democrat rank and file doesn't love their party. I think the problem Trump is in at the moment is that and this takes me back to that series that you and I are recording for our founding members on Donald Trump. Donald Trump has always had this belief That if you tell people a lie often enough

they will believe it. You know, I'm the most successful businessman in the world. I am the best real estate mogul in the world. I am the best Playboy there has ever been. I have the biggest crowds at my inauguration that there's ever been and people will believe it. Um the big difference now, a Republican pointed out to me, is that he's telling them lies about how they feel, not about how he feels. So he's not telling them Donald Trump is rich, he's telling them they are rich and they're like

I'm not rich. I don't believe this lie you're peddling to me because I don't feel it. I feel that prices are too high. I feel the economy is bad. And I think it kind of exposes a disconnect between Trump and his supporters, and because he is so desperate not to believe that people don't like him and that they don't like his policies, he's not kind of waking up to that enough. And maybe he can turn the economy round. It's a long way till November. We get all of that, all of those caveats.

The election is not being held today, it's being held in whatever it is, eight months time. But I do think he's kind of got away with he thinks I can just tell people the economy is great and they feel rich because that has always worked for me. You know I like the role play, Katie. Let's role play. Okay. I'm uh Senator John Cornyn.

I'm waking up to prediction markets that say that there's a forty percent chance now, up from twenty percent, there's a forty percent chance now that the Democrats take the Senate. I wasn't in a vulnerable position. I'm a you know, uh incumbent senator from a red state, but I've got uh I've got uh a challenger nipping at me now. And I'm now calling you, you're my campaign strategist, and I say, Hey, uh, Donald Trump has not approved a plan, a spending plan for the three hundred million dollars.

Why do you think he hasn't approved that spending plan? And am I here in the great state of Texas gonna receive any of that money from Donald Trump. And you say what? I say Donald Trump is probably gonna put his support behind your challenger, who's a MAGA devotee.

although he's been smeared in a scandal, Ken Paxton, including allegations of bribery, uh, that led to him being impeached by the Texas State House in twenty twenty three, um, all round not particularly popular guy, but Ken Paxton loves Donald Trump, and Donald Trump thinks that John Cornyn has opposed him one too many times, and as we are seeing with New York, And as we are seeing with DC, Donald Trump is not above using budgets as weapons against people who have opposed him.

So I suspect that's what's gonna happen in Texas. I mean, Texas we should have a longer conversation about Texas at some point because it is a super interesting Senate race that has just kicked off this week. early voting started in the primaries in that Senate race. And on the Republican side you've got Cornyn, who is a conservative Republican, just not as magger as Donald Trump would like him to be, being challenged by Ken Paxton, who's probably going to win.

for the Republican as the Republican nominee for the Senate seat. Let me interrupt Catty because you're my campaign strategist and I'm Senator Cornyn and I've been on the public record saying That if Ken Paxson is at the top of the ticket, we're gonna have an election day massacre. You mean to tell me that Donald Trump doesn't see that, Caddy Kay? And you're telling me he's not gonna help me, Caddy Kay? No, he's not gonna help you, Senator Cornyn, because you've opposed him one too many times.

He thinks that a MAGA candidate can be elected because you know what? He'll endorse Ken Paxton, he'll put his weight behind Ken Paxton, and he is convinced. that whatever Donald Trump wants, the MAGA faithful will vote for. But I spoke to somebody who's a political scientist down in Texas this week who told me that even his father, who is a Trump supporter,

and loves Donald Trump will not vote for Ken Paxton. I think I think Donald Trump's reading I think he's reading the Republican race all wrong down in Texas. Okay, so I'm I'm bringing this up for a specific reason. I think this was a very big part of that strategy session. I think that they've gone to Trump's staff and said this SOB is uncontrollable. But he's gotta support Corny.

If he doesn't support Cornyn, there's gonna be a cascade effect here that's gonna be very, very damaging, not just in the Senate, but also in all of these down races and all these congressional races in Texas and uh Texas is not due to demography and demographic changes. is not as red as it once was, Caddy. And so I'm just bringing this up because this is an example

of what the congressional leaders and their political strategists are trying to do with the White House. But can I help these guys out? Because see I know I know the Trumpster, okay? So let me help these guys out. Forget it. And by the way, the three hundred million dollars, he's not giving it to you. Look, I'm scratching my nose. For you people on YouTube. Okay, he's not gonna give it to you. Okay. Can I tell you why he's not gonna give it to you? Because he doesn't give a shit about you.

He cares about Donald Trump. And that money he's looking at. He's saying, hey, I may be able to use that money to fly around in. I may have to renovate more-a-Lago and I can figure out a way to get that money shoveled into some other account to help me with that. And I guarantee

As we're sitting here, there will be minimal amounts of that money used in these races. Yeah, there'll be ceremonial amounts. If he goes full jihad and decides to back Paxton, will he send him a five million dollar check? Sure. But this guy is not going to help you. He wants you to lose. He wants you to be nobody's after he leaves, which is a sign of his narcissistic greatness. In his free brile old man's mind. And so those are the facts, Caddy. So just let these guys know.

You're barking up the wrong tree, fellas, so keep it up. Okay, that's all we have time for this week. But if you would like more, uh you can get it on our Founding Members episode, where we are joined by a very special visitor who had a question about Jeffrey Epstein. that you had a chance to answer.

Anthony, I'm gonna leave it there. That's called a cliffhanger. I mean I mean it's another great sales pitch by Caddy. Please become a founding member and go to the rest of politicsUS dot com. It's a lot of fun on those programs. And we'll see you guys next week. Thanks again.