[0:00]I don't care. That's President Trump on Tuesday's House vote to seek release of the Epstein files. He cared when he thought he could stop it, but he can't.
[0:09]Plan B. Fold. Immigration raids come to Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing arrests and fear. Florida GOP Representative Maria Elva Salazar says
[0:20]there is a better way. And she explains the FEMA director resigns. Was he about to be fired? And a federal judge finds quote a disturbing pattern of missteps
[0:30]in the prosecution of James Comey. [Music]
[0:42]Hello everyone. I'm Major Garrett in Washington. Welcome to the Takeout. President Trump can count. That much is clear after his stunning reversal on tomorrow's House vote on the Epstein
[0:52]files. After public and private lobbying proved futile, and Trump concluded he was facing a lopsided defeat, the first sizable break of House GOP unity of his
[1:02]second term, Trump did what most politicians do when facing certain defeat, pretend they don't care or work the procedural angles to contain said
[1:13]defeat. Trump may bury the Epstein files legislation in the Senate. He certainly has the clout to do that, at least for now. But Trump thought he could bury the matter in the House and that didn't
[1:23]work. We will discuss what that means with an Epstein survivor here very shortly. Before folding on the Epstein vote, Trump called Georgia Congresswoman
[1:34]Marjorie Taylor Green, you can see her here in March, sporting a Trump was right about everything hat, a traitor and a lunatic. Taylor Green once heckled President
[1:46]Biden during a State of the Union speech. Until very recently, she backed Trump on every single big legislative fight. Green even amplified his election denialism in 2020.
[1:57]But she broke with Trump on Epstein, and that began an arangement that might be singular. Or it might foreshadow tensions within the MAGA movement that could point to
[2:08]more breakups and heartache to come. Another part of that story is Trump's nonchalants about Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson. This audience is read in enough on politics. I don't need to give
[2:19]you the chapter and verse. But Carlson's credulous platforming of a Holocaust denier, a Hitler and Stalin apologist, and a self-described reactionary
[2:29]Christian nationalist has for three weeks now split the conservative movement on generational and ideological lines. Trump tried to wave it all away over the weekend, giving Carlson and
[2:40]Fuentes, remember Trump dined with Fuentes in 2022, a I don't know much about it all pass. The White House says it's merely trying to tamp down
[2:51]distractions, which these new MAGA fault lines might be, or they might point to something deeper and more destabilizing. We will explore that tonight. To start
[3:01]us off, we turn to Nancy Cortis at the White House. Nancy, there was a reversal and then the president met with reporters this afternoon and was asked directly if he would sign this Epstein
[3:12]files legislation and he dodged and did not answer. >> He dodged and did not answer, but he did say Major that he supports uh
[3:24]Republicans getting behind this measure to uh force DOJ to release it. So, uh, while he's still playing a bit of cat and mouse about how he will come down
[3:34]eventually, he's sort of releasing Republicans, if you will, those, uh, who, uh, are are wary of crossing him, uh, releasing them to vote yes tomorrow,
[3:45]as a growing number of them were indicating they would on this bipartisan measure to force DOJ to release all of the Epstein files. And it was a bit of whiplash because as you pointed out as
[3:57]recently as this weekend, he was calling Marjorie Taylor Green a traitor because she dared to support this measure early on. And he was saying that any
[4:07]Republicans who got behind it or who talked about the Epstein files were were stupid and were falling for a Democrat hoax. Now he says he has nothing to
[4:17]hide. So he is fine with the vote. He just doesn't want it to distract from all the progress he's making. Nancy, as you know and our audience might well suspect, the president is not
[4:29]a bystander here. The Justice Department, as has been made evidently clear through this entire administration, Trump 2.0, works for the
[4:39]president, he has the power to tell the Justice Department, >> yes, >> and the Treasury Department, which also has files on Epstein, to release them
[4:47]all. Like right now, >> uh, he could do that. He has not done that. He has um taken a variety of
[4:56]positions on that in the past major. He has said that he wants everything to be be released. Uh then he has backtracked. Now he has retracted and said he's fine
[5:06]with it all coming out. But he did um show today once again just how much he does have influence over the Department of Justice. He said DOJ is investigating
[5:17]Jeffrey Epstein's Democratic friends, people like former President Bill Clinton and uh Larry Summers. Um individuals who President Trump said really spent time with Jeffrey Epstein,
[5:29]much more time than he did uh who perhaps went to Jeffrey Epstein's infamous island. He called last week for DOJ to investigate within hours. The
[5:39]attorney general said yes, she would. She assigned a powerful US attorney to do just that even though it was only four months ago. Major that the Department of Justice said there wasn't
[5:51]enough evidence to investigate anybody else related to the Epstein files. >> Nancy Cordis starting us off tonight in the North of the White House. Thank you very much. >> Jeffrey Epstein survival. Danny Benky
[6:03]joins me now. Danny, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for joining me. >> Thank you for having me. >> First, I know it's not diff I know it's difficult. It's not pleasant, but let my
[6:12]audience know in whatever terms you want to discuss it, your relationship with Epstein and the apartment complex in New York. >> Yeah. So, I was recruited in 2004. I was
[6:24]17 years old. Um, a woman approached me and said that I could make some money as a masseuse. Um, I was a dancer. I come from the dance world.
[6:35]>> Yeah. Aspiring ballerina. Um, and so this woman approached me and said, "You know, it sounds like you know body work, right? You know, you're a dancer. Um, and you should come and meet this this
[6:47]gentleman um on the Upper East Side." Um, and so I went and uh at first it
[6:55]started as just a job and then um my mother unfortunately had a brain tumor and um was very very ill and I found the scans. I had thought that Jeffrey's
[7:07]money had come from the medical profession. He had all of these um pictures around the house of naked women and there was one uh particular
[7:17]sculpture that was of a brain and we didn't really have the internet the same way that we do now, right? And so um I think the only thing the only piece that was out there on Jeffrey at that point
[7:28]was man mystery money man or mi >> money man of mystery. Um, so we just didn't have a ton of information on him, but so I had brought him my mother's
[7:38]scans and um, he the world shifted for me. He basically leveraged them um, and said that they would withhold he would withhold care for her um, if I didn't
[7:49]either recruit more girls to massage him or that I was going to have to do a lot more. Um, and I I did not recruit anybody. Um it I was so ashamed of what
[8:01]I was already doing there. Um and so basically >> the exploitation increased after that. >> Yeah. I mean the abuse increased. I mean
[8:12]it was it was full-blown sexual abuse. Um and for a year um and once I knew that my mother was going to rehabilitate and be okay, I was able to extricate
[8:23]myself from that position. But you know, you have to remember the incredible manipulation. It was a systematic manipulation that would occur. Um, even
[8:34]from the very beginning, he would talk about other ballet dancers that had been to the mansion and um how like ABT was amazing and he had so many girls that were massage or massuses from ABT
[8:45]because they knew American ballet theater. Yeah. Um I don't know if any of this is true of course but um but you know he would talk about these big ballet companies and you know of course
[8:57]part of me was like well that's my world I understand that world >> he might be entry into this world might give you credibility or introduce me to people >> and he said that he would often use um that piece that was always oh do you
[9:08]want to meet a ballet master at New York City Ballet I know everybody and of course those were people that I admired quite a bit um and so he he was looking for the in all the time, right? I never
[9:20]quite found it with me until he had the brain scans and then that piece um you know, you could feel the shift in the room where I knew >> changed the power dynamic. >> The power dynamic. That's exactly right.
[9:30]And the abuse of power was extreme. Um and yeah, so from that moment forward, >> for you and those in this very
[9:41]unfortunate community of survivors, what do the Epstein files represent to you? What do you think they will teach the American public if they are ever fully released?
[9:51]>> I see my 16 my 17-year-old self in those files. I see for I think many of us survivors looking at who we were then
[10:01]with all of our hopes, all of our dreams, all the things that we were aspiring to, all the promises that he made. Um I think that it brings us right back to that place. Um, I want to be
[10:11]able to hug my 17-year-old self and say, "It's all going to be okay. Other women will not have to go through this and mean it." And right now, I don't I don't necessarily feel that. I think without
[10:22]the transparency, we don't even know what the process to accountability is, right? We need to have that clear path of looking through the emails and it's a
[10:32]lot. You know, I understand it's a lot. um >> and financial records and >> all of it >> who might have assisted in one way or another financially or some other means. >> Yeah. And I think you know a lot of the
[10:43]time survivors are getting just name names and then that'll be the the road there. But first of all it's very scary to come forward and name a ton of names of powerful people. Um but also survivors are doing it through
[10:55]litigation. And I know I have a piece of litigation out there for um the accountant um and the lawyer of the estate. Uh there have been many other pieces of litigation that have been
[11:06]brought forward that have named names and I even saw like somebody dressed up for Halloween with um the list the list you know so we there are there is a lot out there to that you can point to but
[11:18]we need the facts before we can move forward >> and as you watch Congress wrestle with this what are your thoughts what do you want them to do >> I well we want them to release everything as I me just mentioned the president
[11:29]could do this himself >> it would be great um I mean it's again for You've heard it so many times, right? We we talk about this on every like you've heard from a ton of survivors. There are thousand of us and
[11:39]we always say this is not political. It is a human issue. It is a moral issue. It is what I would ask my tiny 5-year-old son to do. Just do the right thing, right? Release everything so that
[11:50]we understand the full breadth of what we're even looking at. Um, so I just I just hope that everybody does the right thing so that anybody who has done any
[12:00]harm is just brought in for accountability and so that we can see some justice. >> I want to play for you sound yesterday from Meet the Press. Republican Senator John Baraso, please listen. >> We'll take a look at it. If it passes
[12:11]the House, we'll see what it says and we all want accountability and and transparency. But to me, this is not about truth. It's not about uh justice. This is about an attempt by the
[12:23]Democrats to make President Trump a lame duck president. >> How do you evaluate that? >> Yeah. Um, we have >> not about truth, not about justice.
[12:35]That's >> we have survivors on both sides. We have >> the aisle politically, >> Republican, we have Democratic. We have some that don't want to be political at all and are like, I don't follow
[12:44]politics. Like, we we are so human. Um and so I think in looking at that and we even have had survivors step forward and say I voted for Trump. I am a Republican. Right. So I think that um
[12:55]>> and even say it's not about him. >> Totally. And it's not. And I guess that's the whole point here, right? Is that we keep coming into this political realm and this political arena, but
[13:05]actually it's it's it's just not at its core. It's just not because I think it's we are every woman. We are actually a cross-section of the American people and of it's a great representation of
[13:16]American women. Um, when you look at our faces, we are all races, religions, creeds, political affiliations, like it and our stories are pretty close, I
[13:27]would say, for a lot of us. And we didn't know each other going into this. When you have a thousand women, right, you think about that number, a thousand, and you have at least 24 who are very
[13:37]forward- facing right now. And we're all saying the same thing regardless of our background, regardless of anything that came before. We're saying, "This is important. We need to stop this. We need
[13:48]to stop this from perpetuating for those girls who I, you know, I'm a choreographer. I teach dance. And um I often, you know, I'm teaching the girls
[13:57]that were the age that I was. And so I'm watching them and I'm thinking to myself, we just have to make it safer for them. We have to make sure that, you know, I every once in a while I'll overhear something and I'm like, that
[14:08]feels really unsafe. That feels like a really hard position that you've been put in. And it t just takes me right back to my own trauma. And I think um we just have to make sure that they're
[14:19]growing up in a very, very safe world. >> Danny Bansky, I appreciate your time. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Still to come, federal judge's striking language on the Justice
[14:29]Department's conduct in the case against James Comey. Very stern rebuke handed down to President Trump's handpicked prosecutor. FEMA's acting director has stepped down for just 6 months on the
[14:40]job. The resignation comes as officials have criticized the AY's response to the deadly floods that struck Central Texas in July. And Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Salazar on her
[14:52]legislation. She says it will fix an immigration system she calls broken. The takeout returns in 90 seconds.
[15:00][Music] Welcome back. A federal judge is taking the Department of Justice to task in its
[15:10]handling of the Comey case. James Comey, former FBI director. Judges ordered the Department of Justice to turn over all grand jury materials to lawyers for Comey. That is highly unusual. Judge
[15:21]William Fit Fitzpatrick criticized the Trump appointed prosecutor Lindseay Halligan for making quote fundamental misstatements of the law in her
[15:31]paperwork against Comey. Comey has pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress and obstruction. The current scheduled trial date January 5th, but recent events makes that a bit murky. Here now,
[15:43]CBS News justice correspondent Scott McFarland. Pick it up from there, Scott. The judge not only acknowledged this is rare, the judge even said this is extraordinary, that he has ordered the handover of grand jury materials,
[15:53]including an audio recording from the grand jury to the defense. That type of material is supposed to be secret, but the judge said he has so many concerns this case might have been tainted, and Comey's rights might have been violated
[16:05]that he feels it's necessary to ensure Comey gets a fair deal here. Among the nearly a dozen things, major that the judge laid out as concerns or items to
[16:14]be flagged is what the US attorney said to the grand jury in securing this indictment. According to the judge, Lindseay Halligan, the US attorney, newly appointed suggested to grand
[16:24]jurors that James Comey might might not have the capability of testifying in his own defense or might have that capability of testifying in his own defense. What's more, the prosecutor
[16:35]told the grand jury that among the materials that she'll present to them, there could be more or better evidence still to come in addition to what's in front of them. Now, those are among the
[16:46]things the judge said are potentially issues that could impact the case and could potentially lead to a dismissal. >> And there have been some developments this afternoon, as I understand it,
[16:57]Scott, with Leticia James's attorneys and some new filings in that pending case. They want the case dismissed against Leticia James as well. Her defense team does. The same prosecutor, same federal court system, the Eastern
[17:09]District of Virginia. What Leticia James has argued today is that her case should be dismissed because of gross misconduct and gross misbehavior in the bringing of the case. She cites any number of
[17:20]things, including an argument that the US attorney there, Lindseay Halligan, was unlawfully appointed, brought in there simply to get political retribution against her. She makes an
[17:29]argument that Trump directly called for this prosecution, that it is a revenge tour. And she spells out an argument against a man named Ed Martin Major, former US attorney in DC at the start of
[17:41]the Trump administration. She says Ed Martin was outside her house doing photo ops before the case was brought. She calls that stalking and says his misconduct is inexplicable. She makes this as her latest argument to get her
[17:53]criminal case dismissed. >> Scott McFarland coming to us from the broadcast center in New York. Thank you very much. The acting head of FEMA, David Richardson, has resigned. He faced
[18:02]criticism for his handling or lack of handling of the deadly Texas flooding in July. That was Fourth of July weekend. Officials tell CBS News Richardson was
[18:12]unreachable for several hours once the flooding commenced, but he says he was in constant contact throughout that disaster. after taking the job in May, he issued a stern warning to staff who
[18:23]he worried would get in the way of change he intended to bring to the agency. Listen, >> don't get in my way. If you're one of those 20% of the people and you think
[18:35]those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not cuz I will run right over you. >> Ganga is here with me now to discuss this development. Uh sometimes in
[18:46]Washington, Nicole, when people resign abruptly, it's to avoid being fired. >> And that is exactly the situation that played out here, Major. But to be clear, Richardson's resignation was a matter of
[18:57]when, not if. For weeks, there had been rumors circulating that he was due to leave uh FEMA by the end of hurricane season. Hurricane season ends next week. So, we're a little bit earlier than
[19:09]that. But notably, uh, we are just one day after the due date for FEMA's review council report. Uh, so this is a report that is meant to show how FEMA will be
[19:20]re-imagined under the Trump administration. And many critics of Richardson, both within the president's orbit and within the Department of Homeland Security, felt that he might not be the correct messenger to sort of
[19:31]lead that change. But as you alluded in the introduction, Major, this is a a a fairly controversial man whose uh tenure was as brief as it was controversial at
[19:42]the Department of Homeland Security. >> And is FEMA going to exist in any recognizable form based on what we're able to deduce from this rather significant set of reforms? >> Well, it would take an act of Congress
[19:53]to change it. We're yet to see what is in the report itself, but this is an agency that has come under fire both during the Biden administration and most recently during the Trump
[20:03]administration. And at its helm, Richardson did many things, including on his first day on the job, tell officials, I will run you over. Now, he was a former Marine, so disaster
[20:14]management wasn't exactly in his background, but he went on to lead uh some would say quite poorly that disaster response over the Fourth of July weekend in Texas. He was
[20:24]unreachable major, not only for hours, but really for two days. He was vacationing with his sons, and he received much criticism for that. He made a gaff saying he didn't know that
[20:34]there was a hurricane season. Uh so at a certain point even within this administration major it becomes clear that a leader is becoming more of a distraction and at that point needs to
[20:45]leave. As for what's next in terms of the agency I think it's a matter of debate who will be appointed to permanently lead the agency and I think whoever's put there will say a lot about
[20:57]the direction this agency is going. If it's someone like Bob Fenton who has been the acting administrator before, who is seen as a career a solid uh leader at FEMA with a lot of background
[21:08]in this field. For now, Karen Evans is in charge. She was formerly at SISA. She had been FEMA's chief of staff for several months. And so, she'll sort of
[21:18]ride this next few weeks until the administration determines really what is the future of FEMA and who is going to lead that future there. And that next leader is a Senate confirmable position. Is it?
[21:29]>> It is meant to be. Yes, Major. It hasn't been for several months, but it is meant to be. >> Nicole Skanganger, excellent stuff. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Still to come, lawmakers are moving new
[21:39]bipartisan legislation that seeks to reform the US immigration system. Republican Representative Maria Salazar is one of the authors of the so-called Dignity Act. She joins me next here on
[21:49]the Takeout. Welcome back to Takeout. Welcome to the
[22:00]conversation corner. The last time extensive immigration reform passed through Congress was 1986. And believe it or not, as a very young reporter at the Las Vegas Review Journal, I covered
[22:10]stories about how that law signed by President Reagan would be implemented. Right now, Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Salazar is working to pass a bill she has described as the
[22:21]Dignity Act. She introduced it in July. She was on this program the day she introduced it to talk about it. She's got a new book, Dignity, Not Citizenship. She makes the case that new
[22:31]legislation in this space should bring undocumented workers quote unquote out of the shadows, but not necessarily make them US citizens. Congresswoman Maria Salazar is here with me now on the set.
[22:42]Thanks for joining us. >> My pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity. >> So, can you be a member of our society with dignity and not be a citizen? Well,
[22:52]it's it's it's um it's a sign of the times and is the art of the possible, which is what politics is all about. So, you have a group of 10 to 15 million people who have been here for more than
[23:03]5 years. I'm not talking about those who came in under the Biden administration who have been working in construction, hospitality, and agricultural. They have been contributing to the economy. They have American children. They do not do
[23:15]not do not have a criminal record. And those people, of course, they are illegal. Sure, they are. they broke the law. But maybe we can make them pay a
[23:23]fine um force them to give us 1% of their salaries and uh and then let them stay so they can continue contributing to the number one economy in the world
[23:34]which makes us uh the number one uh it will provide us with the number one uh military in the world. >> And what would their status beholders would they be uh permanent residents?
[23:46]>> What would they be? They will have dignity for seven years and they can always apply for another seven years and then after that another legislator can come and determine what are we going to do with them. But not right now. It took
[23:58]us 40 years to get here. So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to bring some common sense to the Republican party and I'm telling you that the only guy who can really make this happen is called
[24:08]Donald Trump. That's why I dedicated the book to the to him and saying, "Hey, you could be for immigration, what Lincoln was for slavery, and Reagan was for communism." >> You you pray that he'll read it and
[24:19]consider these arguments. >> Well, I I I I dedicated it to him saying, "You don't got to read it. The only thing you have to do is embrace the concept." >> In the book, you write, "I'm a product of America's immigrant story." >> Yes.
[24:31]>> America took my family in when no one else would. My parents arrived the United States as political refugees from Cuba with only $5 in their pockets and the clothes on their backs.
[24:41]Could they have met the standards that your legislation seeks? $7,000 a year over seven years plus 1% of their income and no possible hope of ever getting
[24:52]Medicare or Social Security even though their taxes would pay into that system. >> The thing is that the Cubans came in legally because Cubans had a they were political refugees >> had a status. Right. Correct. And they
[25:03]were able to come in because of Bay of Pigs, because of, you know, the Cubans have we have been very close to the United States. And we had the the most cruel dictatorship in the Western
[25:13]Hemisphere, Fidel Castro. But I'm talking about those people who did break the law, >> who who came in, and that's a civil offense, is not a criminal offense according to the books. So since they do
[25:24]not have a criminal record, meaning that they have not raped anybody, I'm not talking about DUIs. I'm I'm talking about people who are clean. >> Yeah. and can pass a background check without any problem. >> And they have been here for more than five years and they have been
[25:36]contributing to the economy and we need them now. >> Congressman, you know the word you're trying to avoid because it came up after the Simpson Moli Act was passed in 1986.
[25:46]It wasn't very many years when those on the right said that was amnesty. >> Correct. >> And amnesty has become a letter A. >> Yes. letter. Right.
[25:56]>> Right. That nullifies anything that's in the reformist category. >> You got it. >> And that's why you say this is about finding what's possible. >> Correct. Which is not amnesty and not
[26:07]citizenship because I'm asking my colleagues. So define amnesty. Amnesty could be anything. I think that amnesty is what the illegals have. >> Define it. >> Well, I think amnesty is what the
[26:18]illegals have now. They have free roads, free schools, and free hospitals because they're not paying anything. I mean, you have people that have been here for 22 years and they have not paid any taxes
[26:29]or they have been working. >> Well, they've they paid state income taxes when they go to the shop and they they >> Medicare, social security tax, they pay sales taxes. >> Some of them, >> but I want everyone because this is this
[26:40]bill will then bring everyone out of the shadows, will make them pay taxes, pay a fine, and pay a levy. So, that will create two pots of money. >> So, when you have this conversation, what do you hear back? You still hear
[26:51]from Republicans nervous that it still could be interpreted as amnesty. >> Sure. >> And they can't do what they because they can't move. >> Correct. >> And I'm I'm bringing something that is solommonic to the president and to the
[27:02]GOP, which is not amnesty, is not citizenship, is dignity. Dignity is a biblical word. And we are a Judeo-Christian nation. We're the best
[27:12]country on earth, the most noble. Don't we know it? Cubanameans, first generation. Don't we know what a great system we have? I was a news reporter. I was in Central America and South America
[27:23]for many years. I know exactly what we bring to the world. So, we got to keep that. And for that reason, I want to bring a new a new block of voters to the GOP.
[27:33]>> And you want to end, I gather it, or maybe make less intense the immigration raids going on. Well, I think that we are making a mistake because ICE should
[27:44]be dedicating the the $150 billion dollars that we assigned under the BBB that money that we're giving to ICE. ICE Homeman is a good guy. ICE Homeman. Yes,
[27:54]that's right. The head of ICE is he's a good man. I'm not I'm not criticizing ICE because they are just following instructions. I just would like the White House to understand that we need
[28:05]to give another set of instructions to ICE so we can then those instructions >> that you go look for the bad ombres like the president said go look for the
[28:14]rapist for the trenda for the MS-13 for the for >> not for the folks outside Home Depot. >> That's right. Don't touch the ones who have do not have a criminal record have
[28:25]been here for more than 5 years. Bring them out of the shadows. give them an opportunity to live a dignified life in the promised land, not be an American citizen because you know what? They
[28:35]don't care about voting. They don't care. And I know that because I know I belong to that community. I I can speak clearly for them and say all they want to do is raise their American children,
[28:46]be here, go home for Christmas, go bury their mother, be able to come back, buy a home or issue a credit card. And the economic boom this will bre will be will
[28:57]bring will bring trillions of dollars to the economy for the next 10 years. It will bring two pots of money. 70 billion dollars and 50 billion. 70 billion will go back to the treasury. This
[29:08]legislation will not cost one penny to the taxpayers. Hey, it's not perfect. I'm human, but it's pretty good. >> Before I let you go, are you going to vote on the Epstein file question? >> Of course. Of course.
[29:20]>> Release >> there. Of course. I always said it from the beginning and and and I and yes, there are lines that you don't cross. >> Okay, >> I've seen cross them. So, we got to make >> Thank you for the opportunity. May the
[29:31]Lord bless us. >> Thank you. Still to come, she was once President Trump's MAGA warrior. Now he's calling her a traitor. How the two went from friends to what feels like very
[29:42]much political adversaries. More on that next here on the Takeout. Welcome back to Takeout. Here's a look
[29:54]at what else we and now you are watching this evening. Indiana State Senator Greg Good has been the victim of a swatting incident coming just hours after President Trump criticized him and other
[30:06]Republican lawmakers in Indiana for not redrawing the state's congressional map. On Friday, the Indiana State Senate Republican leader said that chamber simply did not have enough support,
[30:16]meaning enough votes, to move forward with redrawing the state's congressional district map. Police say the Good family was unharmed in that swatting incident. It was another brutal day on Wall
[30:27]Street. The markets closed in the red for the third day in a row, plagued once again by declines in the tech sector. Wall Street continues to be on edge as it awaits key earnings reports this week, most notably from artificial
[30:39]intelligence and chip giant Nvidia. September jobs report is also expected to be released Thursday. The FAA has lifted all restrictions that were put in place on capacity for airlines during
[30:51]the government shutdown. That emergency order impacted 40 significantly sized airports and slashed thousands of flights, meaning those flights were cancelled. Many others were delayed.
[31:02]Airlines resumed regular flight schedules this morning. The number of flights canceled over the weekend was at its lowest point since that order took effect. President Trump clashes with
[31:13]some Republicans, including one-time ally Marjorie Taylor Green, over the Epstein files. He has also weighed in gently on another Republican feud,
[31:24]whether it was wrong or in any way inappropriate or politically tonedeaf for Tucker Carlson to interview white nationalist Mick Fuentes. Here was
[31:34]the president on that topic. >> We've had some great interviews with Tucker Carlson, but you can't tell him who to interview. I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don't know
[31:44]much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out. Let him, you know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide. >> Uh, decide what those words certainly
[31:55]caught Fuentes's attentions. He went to social media rather and said thank you to the president. Here for analysis, David Brody serves as chief political analyst for the Christian Broadcasting
[32:05]Network. In addition to that, you are very readin on the Trump world, MAGA world. You've interviewed the president many times. You know many in his inner circle. And you know as well as I do, David, we've talked about this on the
[32:17]program last week and the week before this Tucker Carlson Nick Fuentes encounter >> the platforming of someone who is an admirer of Hitler, admirer of Stalin,
[32:28]does not believe in democracy, wants a white nationalist America dominated by white men. He says it those are not my words. And he's also an anti-semite who denies the Holocaust. Mhm.
[32:39]>> This has created this tremendous generational schism within the movement. >> Do conservatives believe in this or that? >> We're about to find out in the next couple years. We don't know the answer
[32:49]to that. I mean, that's the truth of the matter. Uh the concern here is that it's coming from Tucker Carlson. I mean, that that that's the big issue here. Uh you know, what what he did not ask Nick
[33:00]Fuentes in that interview. You know, you just played that clip of President Trump. I mean, President Trump is right in the sense of no one's saying, "Look, this is not a free speech issue." >> No. No, let yourself out. Let him out.
[33:10]>> But what speech represents the future of the MAGA movement? And what does he have to say about that future? >> Mhm. >> On Hannity last week, the vice president was asked
[33:21]>> this semi-rhetorical question by Sean Hannity. You know, the president wants to pick the ticket and JD Van said, "Yes, I know that." Meaning the president wants to take an active role >> what the future of MAGA is.
[33:32]>> Yeah. Can you take that active role and be agnostic on what Nick Fuentes does or doesn't represent? >> I think President Trump will do what he does, which is to be agnostic until he doesn't have to be. And I think
[33:44]eventually that's going to come down to potentially a JD Vance, maybe a Marco Rubio. He's been talking up Marco Rubio a lot. And I think that's kind of a proxy war, if you will. JD Vance, more populist, Marco Rubio, a little bit
[33:54]more, let's call it, a bit more neocon. Uh maybe not the full neocon that he once was, but for sure that is the two different worlds right now in Trump orbit. But can MAGA survive if someone
[34:05]like Nick Fuentes, and I know he has a following, among young male conservatives, is a rising voice who is opposed to gay rights, opposed to trans rights, opposed to
[34:16]>> minority rights in some ways, and is an anti-semite and a Holocaust denier, all these things that he says about himself >> and he wants to be platformed and wants
[34:26]to have a role in all of this. >> I don't see it happening. I really don't. Uh, having said that, >> how does it how does it get short? How does what's the offramp for that if Trump doesn't say anything about it? JD
[34:37]Vance doesn't say much about it and lots of other Republicans don't say much about it either. >> Well, Nick Fuentes loves to believe he has some sort of platform. Don't get me wrong, 5 million or whatever his social media following is and he's got some
[34:47]young males that are following him. But this idea that he has some sort of political movement behind him or an organizational movement behind him just isn't true. And I think it can be snuffed out, if you will. And I put that in air quotes. Please, we're not trying
[34:59]to say anything when I say snuffed out uh by a JD Vance or someone like President Trump that will eventually have to kind of weigh in even more so than they already have.
[35:08]>> And Nick was no fan of Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Turning Point USA is going to continue. Erica is the >> living embodiment of that continuence. It has grown since
[35:20]>> the horrific, massively tragic and traumatizing death of Charlie Kirk. Is that a counterpoint to Nick in some ways or no? Well, sure. I mean, I I think what's the Charlie Kirk movement, if you
[35:31]will, has been has been taking off like wildfire and then all of a sudden we see this, right? And a lot of people are concerned specifically that this has come at a really bad time, especially with the I hate to call it momentum, but
[35:42]we saw a lot of faithful momentum after Charlie Kirk. And there was a lot of folks saying, "Hey, it's time uh for a new spiritual revival." And we saw that and then all of a sudden this plays out,
[35:53]you know, and we call, well, we like to call that a little bit of spiritual warfare in the faith world. In other words, something good comes and all of a sudden something bad is right behind it. >> And Tucker knows what's going on. >> As the saying goes, he knows what time
[36:04]it is. What is he what is he trying to do? >> Well, I mean, look, I mean, he believes that he has a great relationship and he does with JD Vance. And I think this is, like I said, going forward, I think this
[36:14]is all about what the Republican party looks like in 2028. Is it going to be a JD Vance type party with a Tucker Carlson behind behind him? I think that's going to be problematic quite
[36:25]frankly for JD Vance because I think the Tucker Carlson him saying what he's saying is such a problem in the conservative world. You know, there's this uh circle if you will and the the
[36:36]Nick Fuentes and I'm I don't want to call say it with Tucker Carlson quite yet, but Nick Fuentes is not part of MAG. He's not part of he's not even far right. He's anarchist right in the circle, if you will. Kind of close to the anarchist left. Tucker Carlson
[36:47]definitely making his way that way. >> David Brody, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for coming in, breaking this down for me. Anytime. I really do appreciate it. >> Are the Epste Epstein files the first political issue that President Trump
[36:58]simply cannot control? He's tried that's been elusive. Our reporter panel will weigh in on that and many other issues when we come back here on the Takeoff.
[37:07][Music] Welcome back to the Takeoff. First it was no, now it's yes. President Trump says House Republicans should vote that
[37:18]way. Yes, on releasing the Epstein files, saying there's quote nothing to hide. Even though, well, the president could have them released himself by passing the House and Senate, but we're
[37:29]not there yet. Even if it passes the House vote scheduled tomorrow, it could be buried, as I mentioned at the top of the show, in the Senate. We don't know exactly where the GOP leaders are on that, but for more insight, I want to
[37:40]bring in Matt Brown and Shelby Taco. Matt is politics reporter press. Shelby, White House correspondent for Semaphore. So
[37:50]in the Oval Office, President Trump was asked directly, "Do you support do you want the Senate to pass this and would you sign it?" Matt, he didn't really say anything that was definitive on that
[38:00]particular specific question. Yeah, it's been really remarkable over the last 48 hours or so from President Trump where after weeks if not months of him whipping on the hill, pushing back on the release of these files and on this
[38:12]effort by >> whipping we mean pressuring Republicans to vote >> opposing the effort by Republicans. Yes. Um by Democrats and um some outstanding Republicans such as Congressman Thomas Massie and his Ursel ally Marjgerie
[38:23]Taylor Green to release these files. Now that it seems that after maybe 50 to 100 we were hearing um Republican members of Congress may have backed the effort to support this, he's now seemingly changed
[38:34]his tune and said that this is something that he can get behind as long as with multiple caveats we should note, but also equivocated on whether or not now that you're seeing some Republican senators be pressured on this, including some allies like Senator Rick Scott and
[38:46]others, um Senator Ty Tberville has come out and said that he'd vote for this. You're seeing President Trump have to adjust himself to the situation where Congress is feeling so much pressure on this that they're shifting even from his long-standing position.
[38:58]>> Shelby, there's an old saying in politics, if the parade is passing you by, run out in front of the parade and pretend like you're leading it. >> Yeah, exactly. And that I think is is exactly what's happening here. You know, I think the president saw the writing on
[39:09]the wall. He did try hard to convince Republicans to drop this and I think he realized at some point that wasn't working. I also think it's notable, you know, people close to Trump who talk to
[39:19]him often, Trump allies have been confused about why he is opposing all of this. And so I do think that there have been conversations, right? I have talked to people close to the White House who
[39:30]have noted that they've talked to the president and sort of made that argument of this isn't going away, just let it happen. And so clearly something changed the president's mind and now he is
[39:41]supporting it. And I do think that his uh his comments this weekend saying, "Okay, fine. Release the files. The House should vote for it," is going to convince at least some senators to back
[39:53]it probably would have opposed it because Trump was opposing it. >> Exactly. Marie Taylor Green is not the only figure in this story, but she's not an insignificant figure because she
[40:03]supported this initiative when the White House was opposed to it. Did so knowing that would probably incur the president's wrath. That wrath this
[40:13]weekend came to full flower. Traitor, lunatic, not endorsing her. And Marjorie Taylor Green was on CNN yesterday talking about a new type of politics, a
[40:24]friendlier, less aggressive, less pugilistic rhetorical form of politics. And Dana Bash did what we all supposed to do. remind people of what their past record has been and said, "You know
[40:34]what, Congresswoman Green, you weren't really concerned about rhetorical excess, except now that it's creating possible
[40:43]threat matrixes for you." And here's was her response. >> I would like to say humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic uh
[40:55]politics. It's it's very bad for our country. I am committed and I've been working on this a lot lately to put down the knives in politics. I really just
[41:05]want to see people be kind to one another and we need to figure out a new path forward. >> She also said it was a fair question to remind her of her past, which is a new
[41:16]place for Marjorie Taylor Green to be. Yeah, it's kind of a remarkable uh shift from Marjorie Taylor Green, this kind of reinvention of herself, but I also think it speaks to the broader question that
[41:28]this fight between Marjorie Taylor Green and Donald Trump speaks to the broader question of what is going to happen to the Republican party after Donald Trump leaves office in 2028. And you're seeing
[41:39]how I think Marjgery Taylor's green fight with him is kind of a a smaller example of that much broader fight of what is the Republican party going to stand for and who is going to be the
[41:51]next leader. >> Matt, it's a prism into what this future might or might not hold. >> Absolutely. I mean, for years we've discussed how Trump has almost an elemental bond with the Republican base in so many different ways. There are very few >> and that elemental bond is with him as
[42:02]well. There are very few people in the party who have a similar connection to GOP voters in this day and age, but Marjorie Killer Green is often one of them where she really does understand where this base is headed, what they're feeling,
[42:13]and she in a lot of ways has listened to her constituents sometimes to the great frustration of many people in the Republican and Democratic parties, but on this issue of the Epstein files and on other issues on America First policies, she is echoing what a lot of
[42:25]conservative um GOP voters who backed Trump have said, and that is leading to some of the fissurers in the party that you're seeing right now on which direction does the GOP Pico on the Epstein files, on foreign policy, on
[42:35]economics. Um, her schism with Trump, I think, really gets to so many of those divides. >> Shelby, I got 40 seconds. Zoran Mani, mayor elected New York City, communists. We're going to hold money back. Now,
[42:46]Trump keeps saying, "We're going to meet with him. We want everything to work out in New York." >> Yeah. I mean, I think that this is um an example of the president kind of thinking ahead, right? Saying, "I'm going to I'm going to invite him to the
[42:58]White House. I'm going to say, "Let's meet." But at the same time, I've talked to so many Republicans who say they plan to make Zoran Mdani sort of the face of the Democratic party because they think
[43:08]that it's going to be sort of a losing thing to make him the face because he is so progressive. And so I do think this is an example of the president saying, "Well, I'm going to try my best, but now
[43:19]it's up to him, right? He's sort of he's sort of leaving it up to the other side." >> Shelby Taco M Brown, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Happy Monday, everyone. This is the takeout. You know who we are, but I'll remind you in case you
[43:30]forgot. Relentlessly curious, reliably civil, and just occasionally clever.