Sidebar With Katie Phang - 6/24/2026

This is Sidebar Live with Katie Fang here on the Katie Fang news channel on YouTube. As always, number one, thank you. Thank you for the privilege of your time. I know it's valuable. I always want to make sure that I bring something new, interesting, and a little bit deeper into the weeds so that you are armed with the knowledge. to be able to spread some education because if there's something that's lacking out there, it's people using their critical thinking skills. Number two, if you like what you have been seeing and hearing on the Katie Fang News channel, like and subscribe. It is free and a reminder that I will give you. If you don't get the chance to actually watch us here at Katie Fang News, you can actually... do a pod on this. We actually have all of these episodes also available wherever you get your podcast. It's Katie Fang News. So let's get started. As you all know, I have brought a one of its kind so far. lawsuit against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for violations of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. We do have an upcoming hearing on June 30th, a week from today in front of a federal judge in D.C. Judge Emmett Dan Sullivan, you may remember him. He famously told Michael Flynn that he thought he was a traitor. to the American people. That is the draw that I got in terms of my judge. We do have a hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction. That is next Tuesday, June 30th. We'll give you all the information as we get ready to prepare for that hearing with my amazing lawyers at the Public Integrity Project, but also thereafter. But I bring up my lawsuit against Todd Blanche as the perfect example of ways that accountability is being sought against one of the greatest enablers in American history, an enabler to convicted felon Donald Trump. somebody who knows Trump inside and out as he served not only past tense as personal counsel to Trump, but I would say present tense. The man has been auditioning on the daily for the permanent role of Attorney General, and I suspect, and I would submit that he was secretly probably doing some palace intrigue to facilitate and expedite the... of Pammy Joe with the bad hair out of the role of Attorney General of the United States. Why? Because Todd Blanche has coveted the role of Attorney General. In the 50 years I've been on this earth, I've never heard an AG say. And I asked Senator Sheldon Whitehouse last week, had he ever heard an AG or an acting AG ever say that they love the president of the United States? No. That was awkward when Todd Blanche told Donald Trump, I love you, sir. But the reason why it's important is, look, there are lawsuits that can be brought, which we'll get into a little bit more. But there's also ethics and bar complaints, and these are actually incredibly powerful.

Why? Because as a member of a bar, you are allowed to practice law in a particular jurisdiction. Let me be clear. I am a member of the Florida Bar. I can practice in its state courts. And I am not a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, for example. So I cannot practice in the Pennsylvania courts unless I am admitted. on someone else's license that is also in good standing like myself now the federal courts are different as well you actually have to be a member of the bar of the federal courts and not just All of the federal courts in Florida, for example, you have to be admitted to the southern, middle, and northern districts in the state of Florida. So there is a rigor, and understandably so, for lawyers to be able to practice. It makes sense. You not only have to have the substantive competence, but you also have to be able to meet the ethical requirements to be a member of the bar. That's what we say when we say they are a member of the bar. In this incredible ethics complaint, 73. Pages. Democracy Defenders Fund. And full disclosure, you all know that I work for Democracy Defenders Fund as a senior advisor. Lawyers defending American Democracy, Eldad, and a group of, are you ready? 101. Former federal and state judges have now filed a bar complaint within the New York State Bar Against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. It is incredibly important because, again, If you don't have the ability to practice law, you do not have the ability to enable. Now, let me be also clear, you don't have to be a member of the bar to be the attorney general. But I would submit, if you end up losing your bar or getting suspended or getting your license suspended or having some type of action, disciplinary action taken against your license, it obviously speaks to your fitness of character and your ability to serve. And as we are just... Deemrolling towards July 15th and 16th, which are the dates of Todd Blanche's Senate confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, any and all, any and all work that can be done to highlight the deficiencies of somebody like Todd Blanche must be done. And that's why I'm bringing to you today, Chris Swartz. He is one of the leading, brilliant minds at Democracy Defenders and one of the architects behind this incredible 73-page ethics complaint that's been filed with the New York State Bar. Chris, thanks for getting us started here at Sidebar Live at the Katie Fang News Channel. Why don't you start kind of high level and get the viewers who are tuning in now?

Get them up to speed on what this bar complaint is all about. First off, thanks for having us, Katie. So this bar complaint that we brought, as Katie said, with Democracy Defender's Fund, lawyers defending American democracy and 101 judges, former judges, is all about identifying this trend of activity that... acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has engaged in that violates his professional responsibilities, core responsibilities of competently and diligently representing the United States' interests, of not having conflicts of interest in matters that he works on, on preserving the integrity of the judiciary and the judicial system. And we highlight three broad areas. where he has just not, and we bring these allegations up where he has not shown himself to be fit in conducting his activities on behalf of the United States. The three areas are one, this egregious settlement agreement between the President Trump, his family and the Trump organization and the IRS, which is in no ways a real case. The Department of Justice never showed up. An attorney should at least show up to represent their client. They never showed up at court. And we're willing to give away $1.776 billion, as well as waive all of Donald Trump and his family and the Trump organizations passed tax liabilities, an amazing, unprecedented waiver of liability. The second thing we talk about is the politicalization and the webinarization of the Department of Justice to go after President Trump's political foes, including the James Comey indictment, where he was indicted for taking a picture or having a picture of seashells arranged in 86, 47. I mean, that is just an amazing thing to indict somebody on. I've heard of people being indicted on something as limited as a... a ham sandwich but never on seashells. And then the third is just the way that the Department of Justice approached the Epstein files from day one. And Todd Blanche has been central to this. He has worked on all the primary memos. He worked on the attorney protocol on how the attorneys were supposed to look at the documents and how they're tagged them. He scoped the release. He was central to the transfer of Just Ghislaine Maxwell to that minimum security camp, FPC, Brian. And today, we still don't have any insight into the 2.5 million pages that they've withheld on any number of bases that aren't found within the law that Congress passed on top of the fact, Katie, as you know, that they have released.

nude photos, pictures of victims' names, identifying information that was supposed to be maintained. This is not protecting the United States' interest. It is not competent and diligent representation of the United States' interests. And so we went through... all of these actions to identify what were the professional responsibility issues and to alert the New York Bar, the New York Attorney Grievance Committee so that they had a, they could make an informed decision and investigate further to determine whether Todd Blanche should continue to be an attorney licensed in the state. Chris, let's get into the procedure in a minute, but I wanted to underscore some of the language that is contained within the summary of this 73-page bar complaint that's been filed. You remind the, and as you noted, it's directed to the attorney grievance committee in the Supreme Court of the state of New York. You remind them in this ethics complaint that Taub Todd Blanche took an oath. of office, and that oath required Todd Blanche to, quote, bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office he occupies. You then go on to say that there is an obligation of all government employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain. Todd Blanche is an attorney for the government and is the representative of the United States and the Department of Justice. How important is it for people to understand that the role of Attorney General of the United States is not to serve as personal counsel to one individual, but technically he's got a duty to all of us as citizens of the United States. That's absolutely right. And it is a core and fundamental misunderstanding. And I don't think actually it's a misunderstanding because it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a misunderstanding of his role. Donald Trump is not Todd Blanche's client. The client are the American people. the Department of Justice, the statutes that are written down by Congress, they say, we want you to go out and protect the American people from evil-doers. We want you to work on policies that help the American people. That doesn't mean taking billions of dollars or almost $2 billion and giving it over to this slush fund when there's no congressional authorization to do that. And it certainly doesn't mean releasing victim information. from the Epstein files because you're spending all your time redacting co-conspirator names and the names of government officials, which were supposed to be released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Those types of mistakes happen because Donald Trump and Todd Blanche have this relationship where Todd Blanche thinks that Donald Trump is his one and only client.

And that every other action, and at least that's the way I see it, but every other action that he's taking really is to support Donald Trump as opposed to saying, hey, what is in the best interest for the American people right now? Chris, the other thing, too, is I want folks to also understand the import of 101 former federal state and former federal and state judges signing off on this complaint. We've already seen unprecedented action taken in the Trump versus IRS bullshit, bullshit down here in the Southern District of Florida, with judges that were filing the amicus brief, at least 35 of them. And now we just have a brand new one that got dropped just a couple of days ago from former tax officials. I mean, there are people lining up to sign off. on these incredible documents, briefs, motions, whatever you want to call them. But in this instance, Chris, I have never seen 101 former federal and state judges, not lawyers, but judges, that are signing off on a bar complaint for one government official. Yeah, this is really important. These judges... were responsible at times for overseeing the ethics in their courtroom, for overseeing ethics. Some of them sat on bodies that oversaw professional conduct. They care about the integrity of the judicial system. They care about the integrity of the Justice Department, who are, in effect, not just government attorneys, but they are also wardens of the court. they're supposed to be there taking care of the American peoples and the public's business. And when they go astray, it is striking. to judges. Judges have long had a presumption of regularity for the Department of Justice, a belief, a default belief, well, the Justice Department is going to do the right thing. And when these Department of Justice attorneys have been bringing cases that look vindictive, selective enforcement, actions that undermine the core responsibility of a trusting Department of Justice, is shocking, I think, to the conscious. And that's why we are seeing people come out and support these actions saying, we need the rule of law to click in. We need to have people to stand up. And we need to have these individuals who are using their law licenses in a way that appears to be unethical to be looked into. Because it is imperative that the public can trust the legal system. And that is why I think we are saying so many judges step up and take it on their own responsibility to speak out on this issue.

And let me be clear, this exists separate and apart from even action that is being taken by federal judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida, who is also investigating fraud being perpetrated on the court when it came to that collusion lawsuit by Trump against the Treasury Department and the IRS. You know, Chris, I would say, and the question for you is the following. When I was practicing law full time before I went to MSNBC, I was the chair of a grievance committee in... the Florida bar in Florida. And as the chair, we would get a bar complaint. And after it was substantiated enough to be able to be advanced to our committee, I would then assign an investigator from the committee. It would be a member of my committee who would go and they'd be able to use subpoena power. to get documents, they would be able to interview people, they would make a presentation to our committee, and then we would decide to either advance it farther, where then would be fully prosecuted by a prosecutor of the Florida Bar. Talk a little bit about what people could expect next in this instance, because when I look at the three areas you mentioned, the Trump versus IRS lawsuit, the potential violations of the New York rules of professional responsibility, when I look at the abuse of the Justice Department authorities to target personal and political opponents of the president, and you identify. identify James Comey, Kilmar Abrago-Garcio, which I think is incredibly powerful for somebody to look into other matters. And then finally, Epstein-Files Transparency Act, this has teeth in that the New York State Bar could also assign people to investigate and get information. And this would, again, travel separately and apart from any other investigation that's being done by another federal judge, for example. That's right. So what we're hoping the next step is that they need to formally take it on and determine that an investigation is necessary. And the reason why we wrote the complaint that we wrote it is because, well, first off, because it writes itself. It is a document that really is like the book of life. Every day you wake up and there's another page that could have been added to this complaint. But we wanted to highlight that this isn't some one-off instance. This is a trend that sort of is foundational fundamental to what we see in these allegations with Todd Blanche. So the New York Bar, the New York Grievance Committee. I will then look at it and they will make a determination about moving forward with an investigational look very so much what you're talking about, Katie. Well, Chris, I just want to say thank you for getting a started here at Cybar Live today. I am thrilled to be able to read and look at all the allegations. And look, it's definitely stuff that people are tuning in are aware of. But again, there has to be a path towards accountability. And things like my lawsuit is one way of doing it. But bar and ethics complaints also are another way of doing it. So I appreciate you at Democracy Defenders, the work you're doing there as my colleague, Eldad, as well as these 101 former federal and state judges.

for signing off on this and for kind of taking the lead on trying to make sure that people are aware of the unethical and corrupt behavior of Todd Lange. Thank you so much, Chris. Absolutely, Katie. Thanks. And folks, look, this is the kind of work that is happening in these pro-democracy coalition organizations like Democracy Defenders Fund. And, yeah, am I biased, of course, because I'm a part of that organization? It's not because I believe that because I'm a part of that organization that I think the work is important. You can see that this is the kind of work that's being done. And it's protect democracy. Democracy forward. It's Mark Elias and the work he does at the Elias Law Group. It is the ACLU. It is all of these amazing organizations that say, you know what? We're not asleep at the switch. And this is the type of conduct that has to be called out. Now. I want to highlight a few things for you that are really important so that you can understand how we connect the dots here at Katie Fang News. There has also just been posted at just security.org, an incredibly, incredibly helpful resource by our good friend Ryan Goodman. Todd Blanche is targeting the DC bar to remove ethical guardrails for the Justice Department. Folks, this comes on the heels of Pam Bondi. who last June. Let me tell you something. Her brother, Brad Pam Bondi, ran for the president of the D.C. bar and he lost by a landslide. I remember I was getting all the emails from the D.C. bar about this race that was happening. Since then, the Trump administration has tried to take over control over D.C. Court of Appeals. Why? Because that is the court that would deal with administrative disciplinary issues with regards to members of the D.C. Bar. Now, Pam Bondi. has been trying to basically undercut any of the power of these bar associations. Listen to this. What happened was Pam Bondi, when she was still working at the DOJ, was working on a rule that would give the attorney general through the DOJ's office of professional responsibility the right to review in the first instance any allegations made against DOJ lawyers like Todd Blanche and requests that the state bar disciplinary authority suspends their parallel investigations or disciplinary proceedings until the completion of OPR's review. In other words, Pam Bondi started this, Todd Blanche is continuing this, this idea that lawyers at the Department of Justice can do whatever the hell they want to do. And that bar complaints like the ones we just heard about would have to be put on the back burner, quote, until the Office of Professional Responsibility concluded its own internal investigation. Well, you and I both know what that means. That means they would slow roll any type of investigation into the bad conduct of these DOJ lawyers. And I've covered at Katie Fang News. You guys have heard how many of these DOJ lawyers have been getting in trouble by judges who have been calling them out?

even threatening contempt because of either lies, misrepresentations, or failure to take action that the court has ordered them to do. And so Todd Blanche has brought a lawsuit last month against the DC bar to help whom? Jeffrey Clark. Do you remember Jeffrey Clark? One of the lead architects of Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the lawful result of the 2020 presidential election, that Jeffrey Clark got a recommendation because the DC bar said, you know what? We actually want to disbar your ass because of attempting to make intentionally false statements in that letter. that Jeffrey Clark drafted about the lies involving the 2020 election. The D.C. bar suit, lawsuit that's been brought against it by the Department of Justice says that the bar's case against Jeffrey Clark is a, quote, example of weaponization. Now, the D.C. bar is incredibly powerful. I mean, why would Pam Bondi's brother, Brad Pam Bondi, be trying to run for the presidency of it? The DC Bar oversees lawyers in the District of Columbia, which includes what? DOJ headquarters and the DC U.S. Attorney's Office. And who runs the DC U.S. Attorney's Office? Janine Box of Wine, Piro. Folks, do you see how it's all interconnected here? Do you see how incestuous this is? They are all trying to take care of each other's asses. They're all trying to protect and shield themselves in ways so they can do more criming and more bad behavior and they can do it without any fear of retribution or punishment. In addition to that, in addition to that, We have now seen, though, another lawsuit being brought against Todd Blanche. Now, this just broke today. This is a watchdog organization called American Oversight. They filed suit today against the Department of Justice. Why? Because the DOJ has been dragging its ass with regards to a FOIA, a Freedom of Information Act request that was served concerning. Todd Blanche's involvement in two matters while he's been working at the DOJ. One has to do with the review and release of The Epstein Files. And the second is Todd Blanche's involvement in an attempt by the Department of Justice to make sure that special counsel Jack Smith's second volume concerning Donald Trump's violation of the Espionage Act and the classified records laws. Remember that? The Mar-a-Lago case? Well, we want to see and we want to know at American Oversight the DNA and fingerprints of Todd Blanche on trying to block that from coming forward. Now, here's where it gets just even more ridiculous. Who was one of the lawyers for Donald Trump when he was being federally prosecuted by former special counsel, Jack Smith?

Todd Blanche. So what American Oversight did is a little bit ago, they served a FOIA request on the DOJ, and they were specifically seeking specific information, communications, emails, calendar invites, text messages, and messages sent through encrypted or third-party platforms regarding Todd Blanche's involvement in the Epstein files, including Glenn Maxwell's transfer to that club fed. They also wanted to know how involved with Todd Blanche while at the DOJ and trying to stop the release of Volume 2 of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation. Now, we also know that federal judge Aileen Cannon, who's sitting there in Fort Pierce, okay, in Florida, that she entered a court order barring the release of Volume 2. I tell you time and time again. If you have nothing to, you know, be worried about, then what are you hiding? It has to do with the Epstein files, and it has to do with volume two of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report. Now, even more accountability is coming a knocking for Todd Blanche. Federal judge in Virginia. said to the Department of Justice, and specifically Todd Blanche, hey, do you remember how I ordered you to actually have to file a status report confirming that you are not moving forward with this $1.8 billion slush fund, which is tantamount to theft of American taxpayer dollars? Well, the DOJ decided to play cute and fast and loose on Friday. On Friday, they filed this status report that you see in front of you. And they pretty much put in there, they said, hey, federal judge, we've already told you in our written briefs and we said it in an open court that we're not going forward with the anti-weaponization fund. So this status report is basically telling you back the hell off because we've already said it and we don't have to do anything more than what we've done. And you know who signed off on the status report? Stan Woodward. Do you remember him? Oh, yeah. Stan Wordward was representing whom? Oh, convicted felon Donald Trump's co-defendants, in which case, the Mar-a-Lago federal prosecution. Remember those guys? Walt Nauta, Carlos DiOlavera. Yeah, Stan Wardwood. Remember how I said it was all incestuous and they were all intertwined and all connected? Well, there you go. But what did the judge say? Ah, this judge was like, hell to the no. This is the judge who entered the injunction in the first place saying, nope, you can't move forward with this anti-webinization fund because I don't agree with its legality. So this judge basically said, I'm going to set for hearing now a hearing. And if you look at the order in front of you, and it's kind of small, she has set a pretrial conference for Wednesday, July, I think it's 8 or 9th at 11 a.m. And she's pretty much also setting a pretrial conference on this lawsuit. Why? Because she doesn't believe the DOJ. And this gets us back to the very beginning of this conversation that we started today.

which is you have lawyers that are working in the federal government in what I have always called the largest, most powerful law firm in the world, the Department of Justice. And you have federal judges that are pretty much saying, I don't believe you, you don't have credibility with me. And so I'm requiring more and you have to comply. I have never in more than 25 years of practicing law seen this many federal judges or judges in the state court level. step forward and call lawyers on the mat for their behavior. And before you come at me and say, oh yeah, Katie, but where's the teeth? I'm going to tell you right now, it all eventually comes home to roost. The wheels of justice move a lot more slowly than we want them to, but trust me, there is accountability. So I wanted to make sure that you guys understood that it is all connected, all of it. All of it is connected, including stuff like, I don't know, putting Bill Pulte over in the role of Director of National Intelligence so that he can wreak havoc with our upcoming elections. And then people like Jeff Clark can write memos that will help facilitate stealing those elections. It's pretty fucking remarkable, huh? We are going to take a really quick break right now. We're going to listen to one of our sponsors because, again, celebratory action here. Katie Fang News has sponsors. It means that your support is getting us somewhere. Take a listen. One thing I've learned from covering legal and political stories is that important information rarely arrives in a neat organized package. More often it comes through conversations, interviews, sources, you know, discussions, those quick exchanges that happen throughout the day. And sometimes the difference between remembering a detail and forgetting it can completely change how you understand a story later. That's one reason I've been using Plod. Plot creates AI-powered wearable devices that help capture and organize information from real-world conversations. It's designed for interviews, meetings, discussions, calls, and all the moments when you're processing a lot of information and you don't want to lose those important details. Plot automatically turns conversations into searchable notes, summaries, and action items, making it easier to organize information and to find what you need later. So instead of focusing on the documentation, you can focus on the listening. And honestly, that's where the value comes from. It's trusted by over 2 million users worldwide, supports transcription in 112 languages, and is built with enterprise-grade privacy and compliance standards. I have the Plaud Notepin S. So whether I'm preparing for my interviews, covering legal, political stories, or organizing thoughts for my shows, this helps me capture important details without interrupting my workflow. And it's great. I'm able to put it on this lanyard and it goes everywhere with me or I can put it on a magnetic pin. It just kind of works with everything that I am doing. And so for anyone who spends their day listening, researching, interviewing, and analyzing information, Plod makes sure important details don't slip through the cracks. up to 20% off with code fang at plod. a.i slash fang. That's p-l-a-ud.a-i-slash-fang. Getting a good night's sleep is a rarity these days, whether it's the stress and anxiety of the times we're living in, or maybe like me, you have some insane household that you're trying to maintain. I mean, it's a variety of things. But once I discovered cozy earth sheets,

All of that was over. Those sleepless nights gone. Why? Because of my enhanced sleep quality. Cozy Earth Sheets creates this thing where there's cooler temperatures. And once the temperatures are cooled, my body's a natural drop in core temperature at night helps me sleep better because there's the release of melatonin. It's a hormone that helps regulate sleep. And that leads to faster sleep onset. And I sleep just better. because of my cozy earth sheets. There's actually a 100-night sleep trial that you have with them. Try them for yourself. Every detail is designed to feel effortlessly comfortable. Returns are easy, but I suspect that after you feel this level of comfort, you're not going to want to let those sheets go. There's also a 10-year warranty. Why? Because these sheets are built with care and precision. In true comfort? It's meant to endure. So discover how care and every detail transfer in simple routines into moments of true comfort and ease. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code fang for up to 20% off. That's code fang, P-H-A-N-G for up to 20% off. And if you get a post-purchase survey, make sure you mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Experience the craft behind the comfort and make everyday feel intentional. Again, grateful that Katie Fang News has sponsors and grateful for those sponsors. And please go and check out those products. Now, look, we have to talk about the latest in the war against Iran. I believe that we do not have a deal. I believe that we have never had a deal. I believe that this has just been a smoke and mirrors ploy by convicted felon Donald Trump to distract from everything else that happens to be going on. It's not just me. Take it from the Senate. Today, the United States Senate adopted a resolution directing United States president, convicted felon, Donald Trump, to remove military forces from Iran. Now, the final vote was 50 to 48. And let me be clear. And actually, let's read it right now. The resolution's actually on our screen. It directs the president. to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war, which we don't have, or a congressional authorization for use of military force against Iran. Something else we don't have. The vote was 50-248, if you're asking me, who defected from the GOP side? I'm going to let you know right now. Rand Paul. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Bill Cassidy joined Democrats in voting for this war powers resolution. One Democratic senator voted against it. I'll let you take a second. Please chime in the chat right now who you think that Democratic senator was. It's really not that difficult. I'm sure y'all can already guess. You know what? I won't even answer. Y'all will put it in the chat. So it was a 50 to 48 vote. Now, this is the 10th time, ladies and gentlemen, the 10th time that our United States Senate has voted on an Iran war powers measure since Trump launched his illegal war of choice in February of this year. And only the last couple of times has it actually been, quote, successful. But here's the thing.

This is known as a, quote, concurrent resolution. So it doesn't require any type of sign-off by Trump as president. And so by definition, it doesn't have the carry, it doesn't carry the force of the law. So it's still an important, an important move by our electeds to show that we also believe that there is no real deal or real ending to what is happening with Iran. And look, don't take my word for it either, right? Because as of right now, felon Trump continues to lie about a, quote, deal having been reached. Take a quick listen to what he had to say today. This should have been done for 47 years by other presidents. And we have Iran in a position where their military has been totally wiped out. Their leadership has been wiped out. Their radar has been wiped out. Everything's been wiped out. They have... They have not a good negotiating position. But despite that, and money that we'll be taken out of Iran is going to go to our farmers to give corn, soybeans, wheat to Iran because they have a hunger problem. They have a food problem. They have a medicine problem. They've got a lot of problems. And they have an inflation. Their inflation now just at 300%. So they have a lot of problems. All lies. All lies. All lies. Iran does not have a 300% inflation problem. I mean, look, I didn't bother to listen to see if anybody in mainstream media actually followed up and said, excuse me, Mr. President, why do you lie consistently about what's happening when we could easily fact check and know that it doesn't have 300% inflation in Iran? But let me tell you that there are some very key Republicans that are saying, yeah, whatever this deal is. It doesn't smell right to me. You got Roger Wicker, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chair from Mississippi. You got Tom Cotton from Arkansas. And you have Ted Cruz. They're all pushing back on this quote memorandum of understanding, which if you guys follow me, you know. Under the law, an agreement to agree never makes an enforceable binding contract. In this instance, we are now seeing how this deal is blowing up in real time as if it was ever reached. Let's focus on a couple of key areas so that you understand right now what is the status of the stupidity of what is happening with Iran. Let's talk about the Strait of Hormuz. It's so obvious that Iran has now figured out that it can leverage its control. and dominion over the Strait of Hormuz as a huge choke point and for leverage against the United States as well as other foreign nations. So this is the latest news and I thought it was so outrageous and I made sure to talk about it with Congressman Jim Himes earlier today when we were talking about the war with Iran. So.

Iran created something called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority in May. That Gulf Strait Authority now demands that vessels to receive safe passage through the street of Hormuz have to sign up for a new mandatory Iranian insurance policy. Well, what are you insuring against Katie? You may ask. Oh, I don't know, getting your damn vessel blown up in the middle of the fucking street of Hormuz, which, by the way, wasn't happening until Donald Trump launched his illegal war of choice in February. A new insurance company has now been created, dedicated solely to the straight of Hormuz. Now, shipping experts are saying, oh, this is a way for Iran and Oman. who share the Strait of Hormuz to be able to assert control over that entire waterway of the Strait of Hormuz. And it's interesting because when you speak to these shipping experts, they all say that this is uncharted territory, no pun intended, I am sure. And isn't it funny how Donald Trump has once again fuck things up beyond all recognition? These insurance demands being made by Iran... only came after the MOU was signed. Didn't exist before. But as a result of the MOU, and in order to reopen the street, a rounds like here, you got to get this insurance. We will offer you this insurance, but you must pay us. Oh, and hey, by the way, The future negotiations that we're going to be having over the strait, yeah, we'll figure out those details then. So listen to this. This dedicated straight of Hermuse insurance company would collect payment against potential risks of using the straight of Hormuz. You want to know what the insurance is protecting against? Things like risk of attack. and the detention of mariners. Issues that were created by Iran after the United States and Israel attacked Iran beginning in February and retaliated by striking commercial vessels. Iran. is now weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz in a way that is incredibly creative and is causing a lot of strife. Why? Because under international law, you're not supposed to charge a toll or some type of associated fee to use an international waterway. But Iran put its thinking cap on. That's not a toll. We understand. We are providing a service through this insurance that is required to be purchased, and as a result of this insurance, we will collect our fee. So the service we are providing, it is legal under international law. Wink, wink. People are equating this to the mafia.

It sure would be a shame if something happened to your beautiful store. You should probably contribute to the safety patrol that happens by us of this neighborhood. Same exact shit. But I want to make something perfectly clear. So when you talk about this with people, especially Republicans that you may know that supported Donald Trump, I want you to be able to tell them that none of the shit was transpiring until Trump launched this illegal war. in February. So there will be more to deal with with the straight of Hormuz because that was, quote, not negotiated in the MOU. Again, an agreement to agree, not a binding contract. Let's talk about nuclear inspections and nuclear capabilities. Last week's sidebar, we had the amazing and comparable Alexandra Bell from the Atomic of the Bulletin, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and all of her experience dealing with nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons, and she warned, like I did, that any deal with Iran had to have definitive terms regarding nuclear... capabilities because Trump unilaterally pulled out of the Obama JCPOA in 2018. Well, let's talk about the nuclear component of all of this because this is important. Yesterday on Monday. JD Vance doing his stupid bearded, what did Jim Himes call it, a bearded victory dance, said that Iran had agreed to let U.S. inspectors back in to look at its nuclear sites. What did Iranian officials today say? Sike, don't know what the hell you are talking about. We have never made any such commitment. Folks, this is why you got to put it in writing and you got to actually have a deal. A memorandum of understanding that doesn't even include a specific deal term does not make it an enforceable deal. Ishmael Baghei, spokesman for Iran's four ministry telling media, there is no plans whatsoever to invite inspectors to nuclear sites that have been hit by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes back in June of 2025. You remember those? The ones that Donald Trump said, we obliterated their nuclear capabilities? Oh. Sounds like there's shit that should still be looked at, including enriched uranium, which Alexander told us last week could be all over the country of Iran by now and not even located in one of those sites that it used to be. Iran has blocked inspectors from most of its nuclear sites since last year's attacks by Israel and the U.S. And ever since Trump pulled out of the JCPOA in 2018, Iran has scaled back inspections, limiting it to very little, again, courtesy of Donald Trump. Previously, President Barack Obama's JCPOA.

gave access to international inspectors. But after Trump said, I don't like it because it had something to do with Barack Obama because Trump is a racist SOB, he said, we're not doing this anymore. So Iran said, fine. We'll go and we're going to run. I want you guys to stop and think for a hot second. 2018 to 26 is a long-ass time for Iran to be building its nuclear program. I want you to set on that for a second. Now, Trump says now, These people in Iran are lying about the nuclear inspections. Quote, if they did not agree to this, there will be no further negotiations. I'm sorry, we excuse me, while I yawn, yawn out of the boredom of hearing yet another empty threat from convicted felon, Donald Trump. That is the nuclear situation with Iran. In fact, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva in a separate news conference, Ali Bahraini, saying, It's just too early to discuss these things. In other words, an agreement to agree does not what create a binding agreement? Let's talk about money. Money makes the world go around. Let's talk about the release of assets. This is an incredibly important thing. Now, sanction funds. The U.S. is supposed to have released $12 billion in Iranian seized and sanctioned assets. Now, Iran suspected to receive $24 billion in its frozen assets. The initial $12 billion tranche would be released. And during the 60-day negotiation, the further $12 billion would be released. So it's $12 billion upon signing of the MOU and the agreement that was supposed to happen last week in Switzerland. And then another $12 billion in the next 60-day window of the quote negotiations. If a final agreement is actually signed, then Iran will get as much as $50 billion. I want to be clear. This is separate and apart from the 300 billion that Trump is giving to Iran that the United States is taking point on to structure this development thing. This is entirely different. These are frozen assets that were as a result of sanctions against Iran. Now, Trump and JD Vance. are trying to tell us, because they think we're stupid, that the released assets, this $24 billion at a minimum, that that is supposed to be used to buy American goods. Remember how I played that sound from Donald Trump earlier, which was him saying, what? Oh, yeah, let me tell you something. All of that is going to go towards our American farmers to bail them out for soybeans and stuff like that. What does Iran have to say? Oh. Ali Barani, the Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Iran is the only country to decide what to do with its assets, which are going to be defrozen. And so I reject any claim about that if there would be any role for any other country to have an influence on those decisions or on those processes. So think about this. If Iran gets its hands on a minimum of 24 billion in unfrozen assets, guess where you think they're going to put them? Because, again, you have the same ideologues, just younger, with more fervor, that are now controlling that country. They're going to go towards what Iran's revolutionary guard corps, right? It's just going to go to...

Fund what? It's not going to fund democracy people. So Donald Trump has pretty much opened the American checkbook and said, oh, those seized funds, which we could use. No, no, no. We're going to give them back to Iran. So those are your assets released. And last but not least, because this is incredibly important, if you guys remember that MOU said that all of these regional allies were going to sign off on this agreement. And who was that contemplating? Oh, Israel. Israel and Lebanon, but we all know how this works. Lebanon's president saying, quote, today, we will accept nothing less than the end of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon and the collapse of foreign mandates together for our only choice is our national sovereignty. And our sole bet is the Lebanese state, which alone and nothing else protects everyone, preserves the freedoms and the dignities of all. What did Benjamin Netanyahu say in response to that? Oh, our troops have full freedom of action to thwart any Hezbollah direct or emerging threat against invading soldiers of Israeli citizens in the north. Does that sound like a peace deal? I submit to you know. In fact, just today, Israeli soldiers, excuse me, fatally shot two people in southern Lebanon. I'm going to tell you what both sides said about these deaths. Israeli military claiming several men riding a bulldozer approached Israeli troops near the southern Lebanese city of Naba Thier. If I pronounce it wrong, I apologize. The Israeli soldiers fired warning shots at the men then acted to, quote, remove the threat. Israel claiming the men were, quote, Hezbollah terrorists pretending to be civilians but did not offer any evidence or corroborating proof. Hezbollah said, nope, the men that were killed were civilians. And Lebanon's state-run news agency said the two men who were murdered have been working with emergency services to open roads and to retrieve bodies left in the rubble by past Israeli attacks. Look, I don't got to tell you that this is a serious problem. And this is why there is significantly no deal with Iran. This is why we have a problem, because right now, right now, we have just pretty much unfettered, armed conflict, Israel, Lebanon, Gaza, you name it. I'm telling you, this is a significant problem, especially, especially when Trump is not doing anything vis-a-vis Benjamin Netanyahu. Not an apologist for Hezbollah. telling you right now, never been an apology for Hezbollah, never been an apology for terrorists, never been an apologist ever, even for Iran and the atrocities that it's been committing on its people. But this, this is not diplomacy and this is not good geopolitical strategy. This is Donald Trump fucking up the world order because he's too stupid to do it any better. And that, my friends, is the latest news involving the war with Iran, which still is ongoing because why would the Senate adopt a war powers resolution if anybody really believed that this war was over? Let's end today's sidebar quickly with some good news. Don't always have it, but we can always find it. Let's start with this. Are you ready? Alligator Alcatraz, concentration camp in my backyard of southern Florida.

is shutting down permanently. Number one, let's give a round of applause to the lawyers and the advocates and the people that were fighting to expose what was happening at Alligator Alcatraz and to get that place shut down. Guess who was the federal judge that ordered its dismantling? Do you remember? It's a little bit of trivia. Judge Kathleen Williams. Who is she? She has the Trump versus IRS case. She's the one who's reopening it to look into the collusion and the fraud. for Judge Kathleen Williams. Okay. Ron DeSantis has now ordered the quote, full demobilization of Alligator Alcatraz. Now, if you're a Floridian like me, prepare to be even more angry. It may have been shut, it may be shut down. All vendors receive the notice. It should be shut down by Monday. It costs $1.2 billion in Florida taxpayers money. to be able to put this piece of shit concentration camp up and running. Last week, the final few detainees were either deported to a third country. more illegal stuff, or they would transfer to another detention center, which, as you know, I've covered here, means they were going from one shithole to another really bad shithole, courtesy of the Trump administration. You want to know the irony of why they are, quote, doing a full demobilization of it. They have safety concerns over the start of our hurricane season. Oh. But I thought Ron DeSantis and that piece of shit Attorney General Utmire, whatever the hell's name is said, this was such a great facility and it'd be able to withstand, you know, the weather conditions. I guess not. Now, here's the irony too. Remember I said the $1.2 billion? Well, if you were a vendor and you receive this notice that you have to be demobilizing, you can now charge the state of Florida a demobilization fee that will run into the tens of millions of dollars. And so again, Florida taxpayers be mad. Like me, outrage and demand accountability because that bill that we've been footing for this concentration camp, it keeps on ticking upwards. Ron DeSantis says we're going to get reimbursed, but apparently we already submitted $608 million to the federal government last year in 2025 for reimbursement has never been received. Upside, I'm glad. I'm glad, even though I'm out of money as a Florida taxpayer, I'm relieved that at least one concentration camp gets shut down and hopefully will never ever be reopened. Here's another bit of some good news I just posted this afternoon. Per a source familiar, the following transcribed interviews will be conducted by House Oversight starting on Friday, June 26, the... infamous Leon Black, who has his own dirtiness. He will be sitting for a transcribed interview Friday, June 26th, Tuesday, June 30th, Doug Banned, Democrat. July 15th, Kathy Rumler, if you did not catch my episode yesterday here at Katie Fang News Breaking Down.

why her puff piece, apologist puff piece in the Times trying to launder her reputation for her house oversight interview and why all of the evidence that we've been able to see so far suggests that she's not being forthright about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Please check it out. It's on the YouTube channel, but she sits for her transcribed interview July 15th. Alan Dershowitz, folks. July 20th, Alan Dershowitz. We'll come for a transcribed interview. He's got a lot of answers that he should give. And then just daily, July 23rd. I want to remind everybody the following, okay? I am not thrilled that these are just transcribed interviews. It means that they are behind closed doors. They are not under oath. They are not videotaped. They just have a stenographer, in other words, a court reporter present. I hate that. I agree with all of you. I will say, here's the upside. One, lying to Congress is still a federal offense. So even in the absence of an oath, if you look at some of the prior transcribed interview transcripts, they make it clear to remind the witness that lying to a congressional body like House Oversight is still a federal statute punishable by serious prosecution. Number two, because there is still that federal statute that you cannot lie to Congress, we are getting testimony from witnesses that can help us open more doors, for example. They did a referral to the DOJ or a recommendation for further investigation to the DOJ into Frederick Fakhai, the celebrity hairstylist, and Philip Levine, the former mayor of Miami Beach, based upon information given by Sarah Kellan, footnote, with whom I actually struggle with her credibility as well. But there are more names and more information that is being gleaned. And I will say this. When, not if, Democrats are back controlling all levers of power. You will see these people hauled back pursuant to subpoenas, which means they will be videotaped, which, by the way, if you got a problem with that, take it up with James Comer. He is the chair of House Oversight, and he actually dictates whether or not it is videotaped or not. I'm just letting you know. But they'll be videotaped. They will be under oath. and they will continue to be transcribed and they should be public. So there is recourse, but I do want to say that I am happy to see that House Oversight is continuing to forge along and forge ahead in its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, Glenn Maxwell, and others. And yes, for those of you that were nice enough to give me credit for the work I did on that Kathy Rumler episode yesterday, yes, I can tell you that House Oversight has been in contact with me. about some of the information that I had in that episode in preparation for that. There is genuine efforts being made by people like Congressman Robert Garcia, Yasiman Ansari, Melanie Stansberry, Jasmine Crockett. The list goes on and on. These are people who care that are Democrats on House Oversight, and they are pushing this investigation as much as they can. But the only thing I can tell you is when you don't have a majority, as we know it's hard.

There is a power trifecta in the House Senate and the Oval Office right now by the GOP. And so voting has consequences as we know, which is why when we win in November, we take over control and it'll be both chambers folks. Pay attention to who's up for election. You know that that's important for me not only on the state level. but also on the federal level. I want to thank you again for joining me here at Sidebar. Always chime in and let me know what other things we should be covering, but I always want to make sure that you leave here armed with more information that you have when you come in. I want to say thank you for your patience. I know you don't love the ads. I see your messages in the chat, but they're important because I'm an independent media, folks. I don't get a salary. I'm not working for MSNBC anymore. So. Sometimes we've got to suffer through that, but it also means sponsors believe that the work that I'm doing here at YouTube is important and important enough to be able to support. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Be mad, be outraged, demand accountability. You know me. I'm off to rattle cages. I know you rattle them too. I'm grateful for you. I'll see you on the other side.