[0:00]Last week, it was a long shot. Today, legislation to release the Epstein files now a presidential signature away from being the law of the land. President
[0:11]Trump mocks affordability as a kind of a new meaningless political buzzword. House Budget Committee Chairman Jody Arrington joins us on that inflation,
[0:19]jobs, and his future after Congress. Scott Jennings has a new book on Trump's second term and what he believes Trump critics miss and keep missing about him,
[0:31]MAGA, and what Jennings calls a political revolution. Hello everyone, I'm Major Garrett in
[0:45]Washington. Let me welcome you to the Takeout. And so the survivors wait. Legislation to release the Epstein files, long lacking political traction,
[0:55]is now only missing President Trump's signature. That signature may come today or tonight. The president, as you know, likes to sign bills and executive orders
[1:04]in front of the cameras. Therefore, the survivors will look to choreography for clues to the seriousness of Trump's implementation intentions. Remember,
[1:16]Trump does not need this legislation to release Epstein files at the Treasury and Justice Department. He has always possessed that power. Another reminder, on July 7th, the Justice Department said
[1:27]a thorough review of all available evidence led it to conclude that no new investigations or prosecutions were warranted of anyone in Epstein's orbit.
[1:36]But Trump last week ordered new investigations into Democrats, prompting reporters today to ask Attorney General Pam Bondi what changed
[1:48]>> information that has come for information. Um there's information that new information, additional information and again we will continue to follow the
[1:58]law to investigate any leads. If there are any victims, we encourage all victims to come forward. Um, and we will continue to provide maximum transparency under the law.
[2:10]>> You can decide for yourself if that answer contradicts in part or in full the blanket summer declaration from the Justice Department that no new
[2:20]investigations or prosecutions were warranted and that the Epstein matter therefore was closed. Survivors forced this matter to be reopened. Forced a
[2:31]political shift that moved Trump from implacable and insulting foe of Epstein legislation to begrudging well the signature should it come will
[2:42]tell us all how to finish that sentence. We have more on our agenda tonight. Day two of the courtship of Saudi Arabia's king in waiting as Crown Prince Muhammad
[2:51]bin Salman is given fanfare just short of a state visit with implications for US arms sales, peace efforts in the Middle East, artificial intelligence and
[3:01]investment. Also, Margaret Brennan joins us with the latest on a new Trump administration push to end the war in Ukraine. And Scott Jennings, I bet you have heard of him on his new book on
[3:12]Trump's second term. Spoiler alert, he is impressed. We begin with Nicole Killian on Capitol Hill. Nicole, catch us up on the day's events and an interview you had with one of the many
[3:24]Epstein survivors who have been pushing for this day to come. >> Yeah, that's right, Major. And look, after that near unanimous vote in the House, we saw the Senate act swiftly by
[3:35]passing uh the House bill through a unanimous process known as unanimous consent. This morning, the Senate received that bill from the House, officially passing it. And so now, uh,
[3:47]the ball is in the president's court to sign this measure into law. As you mentioned, there were a number of survivors here on Capitol Hill for that vote. Many of them very emotional after
[3:58]it happened. I spoke with one of those survivors, Jenna Lisa Jones, who actually is a Trump supporter, but said that she was concerned about the way in which the president has handled this
[4:10]entire saga. and take a listen. >> You supported the president. >> Yes, I did. I I definitely did. He ran his whole campaign on releasing these files and that was very very important
[4:21]to me. And then he did a flip and then that had to what the what what is going on? And that makes you have to question why? Why? If
[4:31]it's not you, who is it? Who are you hiding for? What are you hiding? What is it? Because it's so easy. You literally ran this. You said you wanted to release us.
[4:42]We're still waiting. And then you keep flip-flopping and playing with our emotions. And that's just not fair. And then we get to deal with it. It's it's
[4:51]retraumatizing. So, as you heard her there say there, you know, this has kind of been a retraumatizing experience, you know, in terms of the president's position at one
[5:02]point trying to encourage Republican lawmakers not to sign on this to this measure only to then back off of that, saying that he would in fact sign this
[5:12]bill. Obviously, that is of some relief to Jenna Lisa Jones and other survivors when that finally happens, but uh certainly she and other survivors
[5:22]believe that this has been a long time coming. >> And Nicole, also on their minds, how the administration will put this law whenever it is that President Trump, if in fact he does sign it, does sign it, how it goes into force, how they
[5:34]implement it. >> Yeah, that's right. Well, based on this legislation, uh, the Department of Justice and the Attorney General only have 30 days to make the Epstein files
[5:44]public, but there is already concern that that effort could potentially be stymied by this new investigation that was ordered by the president into Democrats potential ties to Epstein.
[5:56]That being said, I also spoke with Congressman Ro Kana, who was an author of this bill, and he said even if that is the case, he believes that there is sufficient information out there that
[6:07]can still be released, even if this investigation hinders or limits part of the release. >> Nicole Kellian on Capitol Hill, thank you so very much. For a second day,
[6:19]President Trump touted his relationship with Saudi Arabia and the United States, his relationship with his crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman. Here's the president earlier today at the US Saudi
[6:28]Investment Forum here in Washington. The partnership between our two nations is among the most consequential in the entire world. And together, the crown prince and I are making an alliance
[6:40]stronger and more powerful than it's ever been before. We are joined now by Nancy Cordis, north law of the White House. One of the most consequential in the world. That's a pretty big
[6:50]statement. >> Yeah. Uh today was all about the president touting just how close he and the crown prince and by extension his country Saudi Arabia are. He made the
[7:01]case repeatedly major that um he has a stronger relationship with Saudi Arabia than any of his predecessors. And um there were none of the sort of
[7:13]embarrassing issues cropping up today um that that the president was so unhappy with yesterday. Most notably uh the killing of Jamal Kosigible back in 2018.
[7:24]The president and the crown prince did not take questions from the press today. Instead um they were at the Kennedy Center to uh talk not just about their close personal relationship but uh their
[7:35]close and growing financial relationship. the president touting one bill one trillion rather dollars worth of investment that the Saudis say they're going to be making in the US. Um
[7:46]it is worth noting that they have made claims like that before and um the the dollars didn't all end up coming in at the end of the day during the first Trump term. So we'll be watching to see
[7:57]if there is a greater investment this time around. I'm >> really glad you brought that last point up, Nancy, because I was on that trip in 2017 to Saudi Arabia. There was tremendous declarations from the
[8:07]president about investments that were going to come from the Saudis in the United States, sales of this and sales of that. Lots of corporations were there and a great description of jobs to be
[8:18]created the United States because of all these transactions. And yet you and Ouija Jen and others on our team at the White House went back and looked at the numbers from the Trump administration and they just simply don't match those
[8:29]declarations. >> Sure. Now it it is true that the Saudis are in a slightly different position uh now than they were during the first Trump term. They have made no secret of
[8:40]the fact that they are very eager uh to uh compete with um the largest nations in the world when it comes to technology when it comes to AI. And in order to do
[8:51]that they need to buy massive amounts of that technology from the United States. Um they also look to the US for military equipment. So, uh, the president just announced this week he's going to be
[9:03]selling F-35s to the Saudis for the first time. They're interested in buying, uh, magnets, rare earths, materials, all kinds of things that, um, that they would be interested in
[9:13]purchasing from the US, no matter who was president. Um but but definitely the fact that Trump and the Saudis have such a close relationship uh a close business relationship going back decades as well.
[9:24]Um uh greases the wheels if you will and um this is an ongoing conversation. In fact, the president bragged at one point that he can call the crown prince at any hour of the day or night and talk to him
[9:36]about anything that's on his mind. >> Nancy Gordis north on the White House. Thank you so very much. US officials are now in key for the Trump administration's renewed push to
[9:46]try to end Russia's war against Ukraine. Amid this push, Russia's war continues. Overnight, aerial attacks killed at least 25 people, injured dozens more.
[9:56]Margaret Brennan, chief foreign affairs correspondent and moderator of Face the Nation joins me now to discuss. What do we know, Margaret? Well, this is a highly unusual trip and it's a big decision for President Trump to send any
[10:07]of his officials to Ukraine because he's largely tried to disengage in terms of a presence in Kev. But uh he has sent in the head of the army, the uh top general
[10:18]as well of the army and military officials. And this is significant. Uh Ukrainian officials tell me tomorrow they expect President Zalinsky to meet with Dan Driscoll who is the army
[10:28]secretary. And the mission includes yes feeling out the potential for getting back to those ceasefire talks that Ukraine and the US had agreed to the
[10:37]parameters of but without Russian buyin. But it's also to talk about military technology development and to understand what's happening on the battlefield. And as our Ellie Watson has reported um it
[10:48]was the White House who chose this Pentagon official to I guess find a way for the military minds to to be meeting rather than that of the diplomats. You had the army secretary Driscoll on Face
[10:59]the Nation. He said this about Ukraine and what can be learned from it. Please listen. >> There's not a single person I know that doesn't think that is an incredible treasure trove of information for future
[11:10]warfare. I think a lot of the questions are how do we actually execute on the president's agenda of peace in that part of the world.
[11:19]So Margaret, uh, is there something that constitutes new suggestions to the Ukrainians about what the United States thinks the
[11:30]contours of a peace resolution might be? >> Well, we know that Trump and Zillinsky agreed to freeze the line of conflict along the existing battle lines, not necessarily for Ukraine to seed that territory permanently back to Russia,
[11:41]which is what Russia claims. It was Russian and Ukraine knows it was right. it's been Ukrainian territory um and for some time. So we know that broadly and
[11:52]the idea of security guarantees were broadly agreed to but nothing beyond that point. Remember President Trump put more sanctions on Russia oil and gas just last month because Russia was not coming to the table with those terms. In
[12:04]terms of what Driscoll is arriving with is a little bit more of a battlefield assessment. We know at the same time there's this parallel effort. Days after President Trump put those sanctions on
[12:15]Russian oil and gas, he still allowed for a top Russian adviser to Vladimir Putin, this gentleman, Carol Demitri, who's a businessman, uh, to meet in Miami with his envoy, Steve Witoff. We
[12:27]knew it was happening at the time. We knew they were talking broadly about outlines of a plan. Axios has reported it's now down to 28 points. We have not confirmed that. None of the European officials seem to have been briefed on
[12:37]it uh, in terms of specifics. So the allies aren't looking at it as necessarily a serious offer. They are looking at Secretary Driscoll being in Kev is a very important thing to watch.
[12:48]Why he was chosen as the person to represent the United States and what he comes back with. Now, in terms of what the return to the United States is, and what Secretary Driscoll was speaking about there, there is an argument among
[12:59]Ukraine hawks within Republican circles that Ukraine is a testing ground for the future of modern warfare and that the United States is learning quite a lot when it comes to artificial
[13:11]intelligence, drone, anti- drone technology, and to view this not as a loss for the United States to invest in the conflict uh and its military space,
[13:20]but as a as a win longer term. term. So Driscoll, who is charged with modernizing the drone force, is very much focused on that portion of it. Russia's been buying Iranian drones, and
[13:31]by the way, in recent weeks, we've seen a number of incursions into European airspace of drones believed to be Russian. >> Ukraine has a laboratory. It very well may be, but it's a bloody laboratory for
[13:42]sure. Margaret Brennan, thank you so much for that. The artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia's latest earnings report came in just moments ago and higher than Wall Street expected.
[13:53]The world's most valuable company reported $57 billion in third quarter revenue. This comes as investors have expressed concern over the possibility of an artificial intelligence bubble.
[14:03]Let's bring in Kelly O'Grady from the CBS broadcast center. Kelly, it is often said that the stock market isn't the economy and we should probably say that Nvidia is not the stock market. Oh, it sometimes feels that way.
[14:15]That's right, though. It is part of your 401k. Probably a decent part given how much uh investors have really buoyed this company. Look, I was just listening to the beginning of the earnings call.
[14:26]It's going on right now, but Nvidia earnings was said to be the most important day of the year for Wall Street and investors are really happy about this. You mentioned, you look at
[14:36]the third quarter, they beat on revenue, they beat on profit. major though I always take that forwardlooking approach of great we love to see the demand what
[14:45]comes next they are projecting 65 billion okay they came in at 57 billion for the third quarter they're looking at 65 billion in revenue for Q4 and that's
[14:56]compared to what Wall Street was expecting at 62 billion so what does this tell you though about the AI bubble it could still very be that there is an AI bubble but what Nvidia does is they
[15:07]make the building blocks that all of these companies that are spending hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars in total across the market on AI. They just need there to be an AI
[15:17]race for them to win because there's so de so so much demand for their chips that it does tell us that the AI frenzy is alive and well. The spending is alive and well, but it's not going to
[15:28]alleviate investor fears that those companies that are spending a bunch are not going to turn a profit at some point. Right? That's really the point behind the AI bubble that there's so
[15:39]much invested in these companies, but it's not reflected at the underlying foundation. >> And Nvidia, we should point out, a $5 trillion company, the only company on
[15:49]the globe with that $5 trillion designation. Quickly, we're in post shutdown phase, but we are still going to be missing some of the things that might have been created in terms of
[15:59]government data had there not been a shutdown. >> That's right. We are getting the September jobs report tomorrow. That's going to be a really important one for the Fed, but they cancelled the October data and that's going to leave the
[16:11]Federal Reserve when they meet in a couple of weeks. Everyone's expecting an interest rate cut in December. It may not come, which that might impact the market. But yeah, that people are going to be looking and saying, you know, what
[16:22]do I do here? Tomorrow's going to be important, but let's remember that it's backward-looking. This is back in September that that data is from. >> Breaking it down beautifully as always. Kelly O'Grady, thank you so very much. I really appreciate it. Still to come,
[16:33]Nick Fuentes denies the Holocaust and admires Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Now he wants to influence Republican candidates and voters ahead of the midterms. His rhetoric and following,
[16:45]which is noticeable among young conservative men, is now dividing the MAGA movement. We explore that. [music] Plus, 37 members of the US House are not seeking reelection next year. That's a
[16:55]10-year high. Texas Republican Congressman Jody Arrington, chairman of the budget committee, is one of them. He's here to tell me why it's [music] time to go. And Seymour Hirs is one of the most important investigative
[17:06]reporters of [music] the past 50 years. Now his life is under a microscope. A new Netflix documentary does something quite unusual. It gets under Hersh's
[17:16]skin. The director joins us. The takeup [music] returns in 90 seconds. Welcome back to the ticket. We've moved
[17:30]over here to the conversation corner. 27-year-old Nick Fuentes is a MAGA adjacent podcaster with an audience in the millions. He's a white nationalist who traffics and anti-Semitic tropes and
[17:41]is unremittingly hostile to gay rights and civil rights. As we have discussed here on this program, Tucker Carlson recently interviewed Fuentes without pressing him on his fringe views that
[17:51]has divided and continues to divide the conservative MAGA movement. Now, Fuentes wants to play a role in GOP mobilization leading up to the midterm elections. Tanner Naw joins me now with fresh
[18:02]reporting on Fuentes's intentions. Tanner is with the Free Press, which you guys probably know, owned by CBS's parent company, Prime Mount Sky Dance. Tanner, it's good to see you. Thanks for joining us. >> Thanks for having me.
[18:11]>> So, what are Nick's intentions and what are the implications of those intentions for the broader MAGA Republican party and movement? Yeah. So Nick's uh intentions in his own words is to
[18:22]infiltrate politics uh to take over the Republican party and uh bring it in line with some of his more extreme views that are racist, anti-semitic, and um opposed to uh people of color. Uh it's something
[18:34]that he's been planning on doing, something that he talks about in his stream nightly, but this move to create a foundation is really the next step in that. >> And how would he make that real? How is
[18:44]he going to try to do this? Is he raising money? Is he going to do voter mobilization things? Is it beyond the podcast and streaming space? >> Yeah. So, my report of the free press outlines how he is revamping a America
[18:56]First Foundation, which is a 501c4 that allows him to raise money from major donors, uh, create programming, >> will not disclose them and be able to give those to candidates moving forward
[19:08]>> in the midterms. And explicitly, he wants to influence the midterms to be more in line with with his agenda. >> And what does the Trump White House, if anything, think about this? >> You know, it's unsure. We talked to some
[19:19]White House officials. Some of them brushed it off. Some of them said it's very unfortunate that Nick Fuentes has such a large following um and that some of those voters might be vocal and might demand that that some of these
[19:30]Republican candidates cater to their interests. It's unclear um just because it's such an online phenomenon, but going forward it's something that GOP operatives are definitely going to be looking at. and the Tucker Carlson of
[19:42]it. How based on your reporting is that being evaluated and being debated within the conservative and MAGA movement. >> Absolutely. It is completely fracturing uh and stoking these these huge
[19:53]arguments. Um the Tucker Carlson interview with Nick Fontes got millions of views. Uh it brought Nick really into the spotlight in a way he hadn't been before. Um and >> the terminology I've heard glazing.
[20:03]>> Glazing. Yes. Yes. Tucker Carlson, it was not a combative interview. It was quite friendly. Um, it was much more friendly than it was with someone like Senator Ted Cruz that uh Tucker interviewed uh just a few months ago.
[20:15]>> And lots of people within the movement, MAGA and conservative, have spoken out about this. And it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, Tanner, that it
[20:25]is in part a generational divide. young men for whatever set of reasons, maybe they don't know enough about history, maybe they need a little bit more history about the Holocaust, about World
[20:35]War II, about who Stalin was, who Hitler was, but for whatever set of reasons, they have, at least for the moment, gravitated in Nick's direction. That's
[20:45]given him a kind of accumulated online clout, has it not? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Nick Fuentes is wildly popular online. He does a nightly stream that goes for hours, but online
[20:56]on Instagram and X, these uh these sound bites are 30 seconds to a minute long and they as has been said are very very uh uh racist, anti-Semitic sometimes. Um
[21:07]and these sell these sell online and there's a large contingent of young people particularly they call themselves gapers. There's fans that are really coming of age and and entering uh you
[21:18]know staffs and politics and and growing up and getting into the halls of power. So, um, it's something to watch and it's something that the Republican party is going to have to contend with and and it is generational in terms of older versus younger.
[21:30]>> And you use that term groper. Is there a definition a understood definition of what a groper either thinks or believes? >> So, so a groper is a broad term that Nick Fuentes uh coined.
[21:42]>> He did. >> He did. Yes. So, it is singular to him. uh this sort of parasocial relationship between him and his fans uh during the nightly streams. Uh the Rippers uh you
[21:52]know kind of um are anti-semitic, racist. They have very very fringe views on basically all >> they're kind of anarchist too. They really believe in either a
[22:03]constitutional republic or the democracy we've come to understand and live with and enjoy for now going on 250 years. >> Absolutely. And there's a certain amount of nihilism to it. uh they're opposed to a lot of institutions traditional
[22:14]conservative uh views on free markets. They're anti-ree market. They're anti- uh civil rights. Uh but there's a sort of co coalesing around these fringe
[22:24]populist um you know figures and camps from right to left. There are some progressives that have have been more friendly to Nick Fuentes just on the basis that he's provocative and really
[22:35]takes it to the establishment. >> And I've seen the quote many times was to burn it all down. >> Absolutely. Yeah. And what is that? Is that definitionally uh can we figure out
[22:46]what that actually means or is that just a abstract concept that some of the movement fear could take on real world consequences? >> I see I think it's something that's abstract. Um I think the abstract
[22:57]burning it all down really doesn't have a core mission. But in another way, the establishment of this 501c4 is kind of an indication that he doesn't want to burn it down. He wants to burn it down
[23:08]and build something up larger, more more powerful, more in line with his his views. So, while burning it down is certainly provocative and gets his base going, I think tactically he wants to
[23:19]build something in the ashes. >> Very quickly, Tanner, do you think at any point in the next year, the Trump White House is going to have to take on Nick Fuentes? >> I believe so. Especially with this coming of age of young voters, people
[23:31]that are working in Republican politics, it'll be prudent for the administration to take this on head on and make a decision to whether they want to make peace or take them on. >> 10 and free press, great reporting, great perspective. Thanks for your time.
[23:43]I appreciate it. >> Texas Congressman Jody Arrington carried Trump's tax and spending bill, big one. [music] You know, they called it beautiful, over the finish line. Well,
[23:53]now he joins a long list of lawmakers saying, "I'm done." He joins me next on the takeout [music] to tell us why. Welcome back. As you can see, I switched
[24:07]chairs here during the break. More than half a century, Pullet surprise winning investigative journalist Seymour Hirs found stories other reporters missed. They just simply missed him. His efforts
[24:18]to bring them to light led him to be denounced by top US government officials. his career. Now, the riveting subject of the upcoming Netflix
[24:26]documentary, Cover Up. Watch. >> People want to talk about stuff they did that was wrong and stupid. All you had
[24:36]to do is just let their voice be the story. There's a history of America that's so hard to write. I was always writing stories that got certain people mad.
[24:45]>> This Kirch is a he's probably a communist agent. Sai, last week you broke a story about an army lieutenant who was accused of murdering 109 Vietnamese civilians.
[24:57]>> Nobody's willing to say, well, you know, the army's lying through its teeth. >> Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Pitus, who directed and produced Cover Up, joins me now. Laura, it's great to have you with us. Thank you for joining
[25:09]me. I watched the documentary. Congratulations. There's a lot to get to, but the the one thing I want to let my audience know is, and I alluded to this earlier in the show,
[25:20]>> this was a long time effort of yours, years and years and years trying to persuade Seymour Hirs to agree to talk. And then once you began talking, you found out things he was uncomfortable
[25:32]with, and you really got under his skin a little bit. >> Yeah. Well, it took me 20 years to convince him to do this film. I first asked him in 2005
[25:44]and he was very gracious but he said no way and then I kept asking every few years and then finally he he came around to it. I think he followed my work and he knew the work I'd done around the NSA and Edward Snowden and I think he saw me
[25:56]as a little bit of a fellow outsider journalist and had some respect for that and uh co-director Mark Oenhouse and he had collaborated on other films. So yeah, we we talked him into it and
[26:06]hopefully um we drew him out a little. Yes, there's a phrase that's used early in the documentary where he's always going where nobody wants you.
[26:16]>> That's a kind of an encapsulation of Sai Hersh's career. >> Totally. Yeah. I mean, Sai is known for breaking some of the most important stories. He's angered every president
[26:26]he's ever reported about. um his the stories that we focus on in the film. I mean there are many but the key ones are the massacre in MI um that happened during the Vietnam war that Sai won the
[26:37]Pulitzer for as an independent journalist. It was a story that nobody wanted to to touch but he broke it. He he reported also on the CIA um the MK Ultra program which was using LSD for
[26:49]mind control and then um the in the rock war the um the torture at Abigra prison. So these were all stories that made some enemies but were some of the most
[26:59]important um journalistic stories that that have been broken. >> And he talks to you about how these develop and it's fascinating to listen
[27:08]to his explanation how these stories develop. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean what we were trying to do with the film is really show how investigative journalism works and and
[27:20]slow down time and see how he gets a tip and how he follows it and and so with the Mi massacre, it was first he had he heard that there was a trial, then he heard a name and then there was a lawyer. So he really we wanted to walk
[27:31]the audience through how this kind of journalism works and the kind of push back it received. Um when he reported it, it didn't make it didn't make a lot of friends in the in the government or in the military. But he also, you know,
[27:43]interestingly, it was because of the MILI reporting that he developed some of his best sources because there were so many people within the government that were also very critical of that war. And
[27:54]so, yeah, he's um he's known for, you know, making some enemies and also for just having incredible sources um one of the uh one of the characters in the
[28:03]documentary is paper. >> Paper. Yeah. lots and lots of paper, documents, notes, paper, paper stacks, files, etc.
[28:13]>> Things that are evidentiary that you need to lean on as an investigative reporter to verify and to tell people when they accuse you of lying or being a propagandist or anti-American or
[28:24]whatever, you got the goods, >> right? That's right. I mean, thank you for noticing that. We spend a lot of time size um uh notebooks which he's kept for decades and they become they
[28:35]are actually a character in the film and we we look at them we use them as as in part of our uh tool when we were developing questions for the interview and we film them. Um you see in when he
[28:46]first is breaking the Abu Grape story it says you know death by torture you know you see in his notes and and then he he ultimately reports that story. So yeah, we really wanted to show how
[28:57]investigative journalist is empirical and evidentiary and to show the audience those um that that >> and in Abu Grae's case, as he says in the documentary, you needed documents,
[29:08]but you needed more than anything else pictures. >> Yeah. I mean, in both ca in both of these stories, and both in Mili and and
[29:18]with Abu Grae, the the the atrocities, they were they were documented. Um uh and so although that's not his first way that he broke the
[29:28]story that that those photographs ultimately came forward and yeah I mean those photographs [clears throat] they're undeniable right in terms of what you see. I mean you can't look at those photographs and not be horrified
[29:39]of Abu Grae or of you know young babies um murdered um with with their mothers holding them. I mean they're these are horrifying atrocities. >> When you watch the documentary you
[29:50]understand when you keep digging you keep finding. Laura Pitus, thank you very much. Cover up premieres on Netflix. >> Write this date down. December 26th. Standing by on Capitol Hill, soon to be
[30:01]retired Texas Congressman Jody Arrington. I'll talk to him about his retirement plans, Congress, [music] the economy, bunch of other stuff next on the Takeout.
[30:12][music] Welcome back to Takeout. Thanks for hanging out with us. Here is a look at what else we and now you are watching
[30:22]this evening. The Department of Justice has just moments ago filed an appeal in a federal judge's order that it hand over grand jury materials to James Comey's defense team. It comes as the
[30:34]DOJ earlier today admitted in court that the grand jury reviewing evidence against the former FBI director did not review the final copy of the indictment against him. Now, that could be a
[30:44]technical error or a fatal flaw in this prosecution. >> [music] >> The judge is reviewing that question. Comey's lawyers also argued today his indictment is quote vindictive and
[30:54]selective. The lawyers showed social media post from President Trump where he urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and other political adversaries. Billionaire businessman
[31:05]Tommy Styer is running for governor of California. Just announced that today, joining seven other Democrats and three Republicans. The 68-year-old Democratic mega donor was one of the largest
[31:15]contributors to Proposition 50, which approved new redistricting in California to benefit Democrats. It's not the first attempt for Styer at elected office. You might remember he sought the Democratic
[31:26]nomination for president in 2020. So, since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race in 2024, this phrase, passing the torch, has sort of
[31:36]circled around politics, mostly among Democrats, calling on veteran lawmakers to step aside, make way for a new generation of political figures. Well, someone has decided to do that. He's not
[31:48]that old. He's 53 and he's Republican. Jody Arrington, chairman of the budget committee. Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us. It's always good to see you. U let's get to some some today news. You met with the Treasury Secretary, Scott
[32:00]Bessant, on deficit, debt, and the economy. What's up? >> Yeah. Well, he he met [snorts] with me and some of my fellow budget hawks. We
[32:10]talked about how we've experienced the first decline in the deficit to GDP in almost 10 years if you control for COVID. And so that's headway. We talked
[32:20]about some of the fiscal constraint we had in the bill, the one and a half trillion in spending reductions. We talked about how important growth is to that equation of reducing our
[32:31]indebtedness and restoring the fiscal health of our country. Um we talked about trade and sort of settling in on these trade deals so that we can get maximum traction and and we can give
[32:42]predictability and certainty to businesses so they can make use of that 100% expensing uh tax relief provision that was in the big beautiful bill. So, a lot of things uh with respect to the
[32:54]economy, but the big thing was this metric that he put out there when he was being confirmed uh by the Senate of 3%
[33:03]deficit to GDP as uh the benchmark for stabilizing the debt. And we're twice that. We're over twice that today. We're at World War levels of debt and pandemic
[33:14]levels of deficits. But uh if we continue to do what we've done, grow, namely, and reduce spending, uh where we can on both discretionary and entitlements, uh we will get there. It
[33:26]helps to have some of this tariff revenue. I don't think it will be at the level we're seeing it now as deals uh settle. But again, uh what is the philosopher who who is the philosopher
[33:37]who said if all you can do is crawl, crawl. We're crawling. We're walking maybe briskly, but we got to start running because we're getting closer and
[33:45]closer in my view to uh what could be fiscal irreparable harm to the country, economic irreparable harm uh if we don't
[33:56]uh stave off a debt crisis that looms large over the horizon. >> Mr. Chairman, President Trump spent a lot of the time since the election and Tuesday last mocking this term
[34:05]affordability. Do you mock it? No, I I think that was the issue in the last election. That and safety and and
[34:16]all the the chaos and the the crime and the the the feeling of being under siege because of the open border, but that and
[34:24]the you know 21% uh uh increase in the price of goods. So, I think uh the issue of affordability is real and I think the
[34:33]middle and lower income folks uh are continuing to have a struggle when it comes to health care because that's been front and center. Don't think the answer
[34:43]major is to throw more good money after bad. Obamacare has not solved the affordability issue and we can go through the data but it's made it worse. But there are bipartisan ways to reduce
[34:54]the cost of care altogether. I I use one because it's a really straightforward and relatively simple example. Today we pay hospitals to reimburse them for
[35:05]Medicare services at a higher rate than we do physician groups. And what has happened is uh we're we're losing $150 billion that we ought not to be spending. But we're also having all
[35:16]these physicians associate with big hospitals. So we're losing competition. Patients and families are losing choice. And guess where I got that idea for a
[35:25]health care reform? From Obama's budget, Biden's budget, Trump's budget. So that's one. I could give you several examples of where there is common
[35:36]ground, consensus potential, and we ought to be working hard to make sure that the biggest tax right now on working families, uh, which is health
[35:45]health care starts to come down. Um, it's not about insurance. It's about affordability and the cost of care, which by the way, healthc care is driving the debt, too. A third of the
[35:57]cost of the federal government of the 7 trillion we spend is on health care. And that's not getting any better. It hasn't gotten better. Mr. Chairman, I want you to make some news here. I think you can.
[36:07]You might want to. Reconciliation is a process that can deal with healthcare. That's how Obamacare got through. There's pending question about Obamacare
[36:18]tax enhanced tax credits. Are Republicans going to use reconciliation to address that issue this calendar year or early next? We're going to first do everything we
[36:31]can to work with our Democrat colleagues. As I mentioned, one reform, there are a number of them uh in Medicare Advantage. there are some to change with the medical loss ratio and
[36:43]other provisions of the ACA where there's common ground. So that should be our first uh effort because that's more sustainable. Would we use reconciliation for health care among other things?
[36:54]Absolutely. Why wouldn't we use every tool at our disposal and put the policies in place that we believe will make health care more competitive and
[37:04]healthier and give more transparency and choice to uh to the to patients and families. I I we have the answers. We have to have this goes back to having the collective courage to do it. You got
[37:16]to believe that what you do will result in the things that you say it will result in. And I'm encouraging my colleagues to lean into that after we reach out and try to work uh with our Democratic colleagues.
[37:27]>> Mr. Chairman, 30 seconds. Why are you calling it quits? >> Uh because George Washington set the best example for that. He he's he basically said with his actions, this is
[37:39]no country for kings. I don't believe it's a country for for career politicians. This is the career. Uh I mean Congress and congressional service should be a short stent in stewardship
[37:50]and not a full-time and long-term job. So I'm going back to Mount Vernon to God's country out in West Texas, which you're very familiar with and I'm looking forward to it and so are my kids.
[38:02]>> Native of Plane View, Texas, where I have actually been not once, not twice, but many times. Congressman Jody Arrington, chairman of the budget committee. I thank you for your time, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Next, a new book takes
[38:12]a positive look, that's for sure, at President Trump 2.0. The author, Scott Jennings, [music] joins me next right here on The Takeout. Welcome back. Tomorrow marks 10 months
[38:30]since President Trump's second inauguration. A new book evaluates quite favorably Trump's second term. It's called A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and
[38:40]Fought for Western Civilization. Its author Scott Jennings. He's also former deputy director political affairs for George W. Bush. That was a long time ago. Scott, it's great to see you. Thanks for joining us. Let's go to the
[38:52]title, Common Sense. In our polarized, negative polarization political world, is there a consensus about what is common sensical
[39:02]anymore in America? Well, I chose the title, by the way. Thanks for having me on. I I chose the title because a revolution of common sense is a phrase that Trump actually
[39:11]used himself in his inaugural address. And when he said it, I thought, boy, that that would make a great title of a book because it's kind of how he has rebranded the Republican party and the conservative movement. I asked him once,
[39:23]I said, are you more of a conservative or just common sense guy? And he said, well, most of the time conservative is common sense, but you know, he left a little wiggle room in [laughter] there to operate. So, look, I I think where
[39:34]he's been successful, he's taken issues in which most people know what the common sense view is, and he's kind of gotten on the right side of it. Uh, take boys and girls sports for instance, or
[39:45]putting boys in girls locker rooms. It's a I called it an 8020 issue once, but I think it's a 9010 or a 955 issue. Take paper straws, you know, a minor thing, but again, something that annoys people.
[39:55]So, yes, I do think there's room for common sense. I just think sometimes in our in our politics uh with Trump, his opposition u you know they reflexively
[40:06]oppose everything he does even if it happens to be the common sense thing. >> And the western civilization part of the subtitle for those some in the Trump movement they do believe that the 2024
[40:16]election was about the future of Western civilization that it was either cracking in the middle or cracking at the edges but cracking somewhere. Did you subscribe to that belief? And what is it
[40:26]about Western civilization you think the Trump 2.0 agenda is preserving? >> Well, yes, I did subscribe to that. It's one of the reasons I strongly supported
[40:36]the president. And look, I like some Republicans, I've been on a little bit of a roller coaster with him over the last 10 years. Uh, but I think we're no longer just arguing about day-to-day politics. I do think we are arguing
[40:48]about and fighting for the future of the West. And I don't know if he knew he was signing up for it or not, but I think Donald Trump right now is leading the fight for the future of the West on the world stage, trying to end these wars in
[40:59]the Middle East. I think he's made righteous decisions there in our own culture in America, reversing the mass migration crisis that we had been suffering. So, look, I I think Western civilization is under assault. I think
[41:10]there's a lot of political actors in our society who would like to tear it down and reinstall something much much different. Uh, and I think a lot of conservatives uh, from different wings of the movement and different wings of
[41:21]the party are united on this one belief that the West is at stake. Uh, and Trump is our fighter for it right now. >> Scott, how does Trump's persistent 2020
[41:30]election denialism sit with you? >> Uh, look, I understand his position on it. I think he lost the 2020 election and I think he won handily and u
[41:41]overwhelmingly the 2024 election. I think people brought him back because they had some buyer remorse about moving away from him in 2020 and they wanted to get the country back on track. So, look,
[41:51]I'm I'm somebody who's been a respector of election results and I didn't like it when people tried to say George W. Bush was an illegitimate president. Uh, and I didn't like it when the Democrats argue
[42:02]that Trump was illegitimate in 16. And so, uh, I tend to think when we have elections, we respect the results and we live to fight another day. That's what he did and he got back to the White House and it's the greatest political
[42:11]comeback in modern American history. >> Tell me about Jeff and Sherry Jennings. >> Oh, my parents. Well, my dad Jeff was a garbage man and a factory worker from
[42:22]West Kentucky. He was the first person to tell me Donald Trump was going to be the next president. And I of course told him he was full of crap. But he was >> That was way back when. Way back when, right? >> Yeah. Oh, way back at the very beginning
[42:33]of uh of Trump getting involved in national politics. But >> what was your dad on? What's that? >> What was your dad on to? What did he see
[42:43]and discover before the rest of us? >> Well, my dad was a bluecollar Western Kentucky Union Democrat, the biggest Clinton guy I knew. And he, like a lot of those folks out in middle America,
[42:54]perceived that the political elites had stopped paying attention to people like him, had left our communities and rural middle America behind. and they heard Donald Trump speaking in a way that they
[43:05]imagined that they would speak if anybody ever bothered to put a microphone in their face. And he knew it right out of the gate and I didn't. And he was right and I was wrong. Not the only time in my life that's happened, but while I was writing the book, the
[43:16]president gave me his hat one day, signed it for my dad and I was able to give it to him and I I admitted to my dad, you were right and I was wrong. Here's a hat from Donald Trump. [laughter] >> Scott, what's the political information distribution complex? You've got 30
[43:28]seconds. Well, it's this web of Democrat operatives and media people in Washington DC who are often wrong. They've been wrong about Donald Trump a lot. I was certainly part of it and was
[43:39]wrong about Donald Trump a lot myself. But I think his victory in November 2024 kind of marked the defeat of that information distribution complex that controlled our narratives but didn't necessarily control the truth.
[43:50]>> Scott Jennings, I appreciate the time, sir. Good luck and thanks. Happy Wednesday, everyone. This is the Takeout. Relentlessly curious, reliably civil, occasionally clever. of the daily
[43:58]report is coming up next.