Sidebar With Katie Phang - 6/3/2026

Hey everybody, I'm Katie Fang. Welcome to the Katie Fang News Channel. It's Tuesday. It's 5.30 Eastern. For those of you that are joining me live, welcome to Sidebar Live. You know how much I love this opportunity to be able to hang out with y'all live. I know that many of you are going to be joining me from the main Midas Touch Channel. If you are, thank you. Huge, huge, huge appreciation for... I call them my little brothers, Brett, Jordi, and Ben My Salas for all of their support. It's one of those days. It's a day ending in Y. And so it is a shit show in the United States of America this Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026. Let's get started because I have an exciting special guest to get us kicked off today. But some of the kind of breaking news that has been breaking all day is how incompetent and ill-prepared our United States is from a national security standpoint. Look, I don't love Tulsi Gabbard, but I will begrudgingly give her some credits as she occupied the role of Director of National Intelligence. I mean, the credit is very, very, very short. But when you compare Bill Pulte, to Tulsi Gabbard. I mean, it's really an apples to oranges comparison here. Bill Pulte, let's take a look right now at what Donald Trump decided to shove down our throats today about him. Here's the truth social post. Bill Pulte, who currently wears the following hats for our government, director of the federal housing finance agency and the chairman of the Fannie Mae Freddie Mac. He will now be the acting director of National Intelligence. Now, you'll note in this truth social post by convicted felon Donald Trump, nowhere does it say that Bill Pulte has any experience whatsoever in national security, nor does he have any experience with having intelligence. And I mean that in the most literal of senses. The immediate reaction from Congress, from people who actually know what the hell is going on in our intelligence community was swift and damning. Check this out. This is the statement that was issued by ranking member Congressman Jim Himes from Connecticut. He is the ranking member of our House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. And he says, despite the law, because of course, why obey the law in the United States that requires the Director of National Intelligence to actually have an extensive national security background and experience? Trump's choice for acting DNI, Bill Pulte, quite literally, has no relevant experience with intelligence or national security. His brief career in public service has shown only that he is willing to abuse his office to attack Donald Trump's political enemies. It's potentially catastrophic for national security. Putting Pulting in charge of ODNI, which is the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, makes a mockery of the very real national security challenges our nation faces. At the very least, he should undergo a full security clearance process before he's allowed access to our most sensitive intelligence programs.

Let me ask you guys a question. Okay. I mean, listen, this is really serious shit, people. I don't care how much I want to sit here and crap all over Bill Pulte and his lack of qualifications here. Did you know this job was created after September 11? Like after 9-11? I mean, this role was created to protect us as Americans. So this is a very serious job. But when you hear no Republicans stepping forward and being like, this guy's our guy. Bill Pulte, man, I know if I was in a national security scenario, that's a guy I'd want to have on my team. In fact, the fact that Senator Cotton was like, oh, I have no observations on the matter. You notice how this is the past the hot potato energy, but did you hear what Senator Cotton said? And this is actually really important. He said that he's looking forward to shrinking the role of DNI. So, in fact, this is not going to be the original. director of national intelligence capacity that we've seen, which is also something that makes you want to scratch your head. And so one last quick sound before I bring in our special guest, I mean, if you had to ask somebody about Bill Pulte's qualification, I'm sure you would go to Dr. Mehmet Oz to tell you. Deal. There were 11 million people in the program. We've perverted that. Yes, sir. Doctor, thank you. Since you're here speaking on behalf of the administration, part of the reason we're asking about the president's decision to appoint Phil Bill Pulte to be the head of director of federal intelligence is it's been four hours when we've been asking the White House why he's qualified to do so. You're a heart surgeon or a heart doctor? Yeah. Would you recommend a patient go see someone who isn't? You're asking the question with the premise that Bill Pulte is not qualified. I don't know anything about his situation. And I appreciate you want an answer. I'm not going to be the one giving it to you. Go ahead. Thank you so much. I wouldn't go to Dr. Oz either for medical treatment. But all kidding aside, this is an incredibly important job. And I wanted to make sure that you and I that we all understood what the hell is going on for this job and why Bill Pulte being put up as the acting DNI is actually dangerous. dangerous for us from a national security standpoint. So I'm bringing in right now a dear friend, a colleague, and a brilliant, brilliant legal mind when it comes to all things national security. And that's Bradley Moss. Brad, my friend, it's good to see you. It's good to see you, Katie. How are we doing? I don't know, Brad, how are we doing? Because this is your freaking jam. This is your lane. This is your wheelhouse. This is your Baileywick. I could go on and on. And we were saying tongue in cheek that, you know, the country's now going to be in a really dangerous placing yet I guess we shouldn't be joking about it because I'm really worried about this Bill Pulte guy.

Yeah, I mean, think about this. We're in the middle of this, you know, on and off war with Iran. We've got, you know, we're still trying to negotiate stuff with Ukraine, between Ukraine and Russia and the head of intelligence. It's going to be Bill Pulte. I mean, the guy's younger than me. And thank you. I'm only 45. I'm not that old. But he's still in his late 30s. He's a nepo baby. He hasn't had a job outside of what daddy gave him. Somehow started a private equity fund in his 20s. And now he's managed through political donations to get himself, you know, hired in these spots in the administration. And what did he do? in his current role he walked in and the first thing he does is start rummaging through mortgage documents for Letitia James and adam shift trying to find something to make garbage criminal referrals this is the guy who's going to oversee the multi-trillion dollar intelligence community it's offensive and it's ridiculous this position has existed for two decades and for the most part every president Democrat Republican, no matter how ideologically opposed you might have been to one or the other, they all picked people who were at least credentialed, who had the qualifications to fill the role. You may not have agreed with their policy positions, but you knew they at least understood the role. They had the background. We've had admirals, generals, we had Avril Haynes, we had, you know, Clapper, we had all these people with extensive national security experience. And now our national intelligence, our entire intelligence community is looking. to Bill Pulte give me a break so listen you know talk about why this job is so important obviously Bill Pulte is not qualified he there is a law right brad that says you kind of actually have to have extensive experience in national security and intelligence to be able to have this job. Is it because he's acting DNI that means that he doesn't actually have to go through Senate confirmation so nobody really cares if it actually meets the legal definition of this job title? Yeah, you know, credit to Donald Trump, he found a loophole. in the law within the laws of how he could kind of fit these acting people and he did it in the first term he's starting to do it again now the loophole he's using is the federal vacancies reform act which is going to let him put Bill Pulte in this acting role for 210 days he knows Bill Pulte would never get confirmed as the d and i but he can stick him in this acting role under that statutory exception for 210 days giving time for trump to nominate an actual director if that nomination fails. Let's say he picked you, Katie, to be the DNI and say you went up for Senate confirmation and it failed. Bill Pulte could get another 210 days and they can do that twice. In theory, they could keep him through failed nominations in this acting role for the remainder of the term, more or less all the way up until I think June or July of 2028 and he would never have to face Senate confirmation. And as you noted in that intro.

This was one of the main recommendations coming out of 9-11. We had the 9-11 commission. We were trying to look at over at how the intelligence community had bungled it. They had information on the hijackers, but information got siloed and nobody was talking to each other. And so we missed it. We didn't have that chance to stop them. This was why they created this role in 2004 was to make sure there was one person overseeing all the intelligence information, one critical player. And that's what these people have done over the last 22 years. Bill Pulte was in middle school when this job was created. He has no background in this role. Yeah, Brad, you actually mentioned this a couple of minutes ago, and I want people to understand. Prior to serving as the head of FHFA since last March of 2025, he actually had an investment firm and served on the board of Bill Pulte Group, which is a home construction company founded by his grandfather. Prior to him joining the administration last year, he and his wife donated a million dollars to Trump's political activities and PACs. I mean, the guy literally... has no experience that would lend itself to being able to make any of us as Americans feel better about our national security. Correct. He just doesn't have the experience as a managerial side. He doesn't have the experience from the on the ground exposure. He never served in the military. He never worked in the intelligence community. He's never worked in the Congress on intelligence matters. Everybody who has served in this role in the past has had at least one, if not multiple of those types of credentials. Even Tulsi Gabbard, who you had mentioned, had at least some background. She had served in military. She had something to expose her to this world. This is not just like walking in running real estate mortgages and looking over paperwork to see where you can find an inaccuracy. This is national security. This is... quite possibly the most important power of the federal government and the one that is the most important role in authority and obligation of the executive branch. Bill Pulte knows nothing about this world. He has no understanding of what's involved in it. And it makes you wonder why he's there unless, sadly, it's going to be to do the same thing he did at FHA, which is start looking through sensitive records, trying to find anything. anything he can use to smear the name of other political opponents of the president and put in garbage criminal referrals that go nowhere. Garbage in, garbage out, as they say, Brad. I'm glad you brought this up. Since he's been the head of FHA, he's made multiple criminal referrals to the DOJ, and that's pretty much how we know that he has earned his stripes in the very mob-like world of convicted felon Donald Trump. He's made allegations of mortgage fraud against former Congressman Eric Swalwell, Senator Adam Schiff.

New York Attorney General, Letitia James, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. I mean, some of these have actually made it to the point where there have been failed indictments, right? But, Brett, that has nothing to do with national security, these mortgage fraud allegations, and yet... as most people do in this administration, they audition every day to be able to be, you know, poll position when it comes to number one ass kisser of Donald Trump. Oh, yeah. You should have to wonder if that was what he did which has access to mortgage documents, which are personal financial details but aren't national security secrets. Now he's going to have access to the crown jewels of the intelligence community. What intelligence intercept is he going to start declassifying and releasing? What is he going to start doing to politicize the intelligence process, not to advance the name of the U.S. government, but to advance a political objective of Donald Trump? towards political dissent. If anybody happened to catch today on Steve Bannon's show, as they were talking about Bill Pulte being put into this role, they're already talking up the idea that he's there to root out domestic opposition. That's how they view this guy. He is there. I'll rummage through the dirty laundry in the paperwork. Don't worry about my reputation. I'll fine with doing it for Donald Trump. kind of guy and that's almost certainly what he will be doing in this role as the acting dnai Brad, how can he do that if he doesn't have national security clearance? Well, the first thing that they're going to have to do is process him for a clearance. And as we've seen, Jared Kushner somehow got a clearance, a whole bunch of people in this administration somehow got clearances. If Donald Trump says he gets the clearance, guess what? He gets the clearance. Nobody can stop him from giving it to him. And even if Donald Trump personally doesn't intervene, I have to imagine he probably could personally get cleared. I don't know if anything. criminal or nefarious in his background that would stop him from getting cleared having a random political ideology issues. He's being investigated by the government accountability office right now for his random ass bullshit referrals. You mean to tell me like this guy is going to be the head of our national intelligence while he's being investigated by the GAO? I would not put it past the security office to say that doesn't concern us. We're still going to clear him all the same. I would not put it past them for a cabinet level official. For you and me as normal individuals coming into the government for clearances, I'm sure it'd be a prom. For a cabinet official, it wouldn't shock me in the slightest. Okay, I need you to do the connect the dots. I have incredibly smart, very bright, intuitive viewers that are watching right now and others that will be tuning in later.

Let's talk about Section 702 of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It is due to expire. There is a push to be able to basically let it live for a few more years. I think maybe another three more years. Talk about why your spidey senses are tingling like mine are right now about this idea of having surveillance. It's supposed to be for foreign actors, but we all know they've been using it for Americans. Talk about how that works with this announcement of somebody like a Trump lackey, like Bill Pulte, and it being the Director of National Intelligence. Yeah, I would almost have zero confidence that any limitations, any reforms that Congress might think of imposing on a 702 certifications, which someone in Bill Pulte's role would have to certify that he would ever agree to them, which raises a whole new question. And this is what's been coming out of the hill all day. There's already talk that they're going to tie to an extent 702 passage to any issue of Bill Pulte being nominated that Republicans are already saying you don't get both. If you want 702 to be reauthorized and you want to still have these authorities, that man cannot be nominated as the part as the act as sorry, as the actual director of national intelligence because it's even a bridge too far for these Senate Republicans. clear that DNI is the one that makes those certifications for 702 authority. He would oversee what the restrictions are. I have no confidence that he would agree to anything that would undermine Donald Trump's retribution campaign on that front. Brad, talk also about how unusual it was for DNI Tulsi Gabbard to be running across the country, quote unquote, rooting out election fraud. Basically taking over the laboring or of the big lie, okay? And running around and saying that there's election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, we saw her physically present in Fulton County in Georgia when they seized original votes and ballots and all of that information. And the Office of the Director of National Intelligence seized voting machines from Puerto Rico to probe them for, quote, security vulnerabilities based on claims that Venezuela had hacked the machines, even though we all know that that was bullshit and that never happened. And the ODNI, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, worked closely with this guy named Kurt Olson, an architect of Trump's 2020 election denial lie, who was hired by the White House to investigate claims relating to that vote. in the 2020 election. Now you have Bill Pulte, who I think is even more of an ass kisser than Tulsi Gabbard was. And now he's going to have access to the ability of that office to see stuff. I mean, Brad, the timing speaks a lot. Not only is it the FISA 702 stuff, but I also know we got these big midterms coming up in November. Yeah, it's a complete perversion of not only the role of how elections are administered, and the federal government's not supposed to be doing this, obviously, but it's a perversion of what the purpose was of the DNI. It was never meant to have any role in any of this. No other DNI would have thought about showing up an election, an election office to oversee seizing of ballots. That wasn't their job. That was maybe the FBI's job, but that was generally handled by state authorities. That's why we always have elections locally.

run. So yeah, Tulsi Gabbard showing up there that day with the black hat and the black coat and trying to look like she's a spy or something like that was ridiculous. But they're running not only Kurt Olson, they're running Sidney Jerome Powell's fantasies right now. They're looking into these ideas of Venezuela hacked it and the Italians through, you know, your thermostats changed the votes and everything. They're running down every little conspiracy theory that ever popped up in Donald Trump's brain because of the various hacks that showed up between November 2020. and January 2021, trying to tell him that someone had stolen it. And he's got the intel community trying to run down every little idea. He doesn't even care if he gets it proven. He wants the stories. He wants the Kairans. He wants the headlines about how they're investigating it and how they're finding things. That's what he wants because it creates that image. All he wants is the smoke. He doesn't care if they find fire. Ooh. Yeah, and sometimes perception can be more powerful than reality. So if you have somebody like Bill Pulte as the director of national intelligence running all over the country claiming that they have, quote, found election fraud in these different jurisdictions and in different cities, then it's just stoking this fear about the integrity of the elections coming up. Correct. And mind you, they'll color it with very professional language. Oh, you know, the DNI is just coordinating with all federal authorities in these efforts to ensure that nothing untoward or illegal happened in 2020, to review the ballots and the processes to make sure that there was no foreign interference. And how dare you question, you know, the good faith nature of this assessment? Putting aside that they have no... formal authority to do any of this, nor is it remotely within the scope of their obligations. And again, it goes back to this idea that the entire reason created this office may no longer function the way we had envisioned. And one of those things that if Democrats regained power at some point, especially not just in Congress, but in the executive branch. That's going to be one more line item of reform of what do we do with the ODNI going forward? Can it survive the era of Donald Trump and his just utter corruption? Well, Bradley Moss, maybe what's good for the goose is good for the gander eventually. I don't know. We'll see, right? Yeah, never really know. Because when we take back power in November, I guess we'll end up seeing what oversight looks like over shit like this too. Bradley Moss, my friend, thank you for stepping up. to bat and helping us really appreciate the magnitude of this. Again, we can mock Bill Pulte for all of his deficiencies, which are legion, but the seriousness of this type of appointment, even in an acting capacity, really should underscore how unsurious this administration is and this president is when it comes to important things like, I don't know, real national security and not bullshit domestic terrorism. But Bradley, thank you so much for getting us started. I really appreciate it. Of course.

Thanks. And look, folks, the brilliance, and I should have said, y'all should always follow these amazing guests like Brad Moss. I mean, there is really nobody. Him and Marks Aid are just killing it when it comes to national security. But look, I want to show you something right now, and I hope you are all paying attention because this video of Bill Pulte has so many threads to pull. I don't even know where to start, but I want you to listen to it and watch it carefully because it's pretty fucking outrageous. Watch now. Here's the first ever, man, live fucking dildo slap on the PP live. Bill Pulte, look at this fucking thing. All right. Come on. Harder, Daddy. All right, fine. There you fucking have it. The first dildo slap in history live. So, Bill, this says Bill Pulte fucks. All right. Thank you. And then if you notice on, it's got a tramp stamp with a butterfly. I like only the young. One ass cheeks. Yes, it does say, it does say only the young on the back here. Only the young, December 14th. That looks pretty badass. We have a mushroom stamp on the head of it and bed bath on one cheek and GME. Oh, fuck. GME on the other. I got too excited there. So that's Bill Pulte that you saw on the right of that video. You know, Republicans are very interesting, right? For people that really like to be up in our shit and they want us to sit there and be all anti-LGBQ Plus, there were two men playing with a dildo, slapping each other with a dildo. Right? I mean, I'm just telling you what I just saw. I saw two men, white Republican men slapping each other with a dildo in their faces. But then we segued into the award that was given to Bill Pulte. And this is what I want to focus on and not the dildo slap. I want to focus on the award. Quote. Bill Pulte fucks only the young. And just in case we didn't hear the only the young part of it, Bill Pulte made sure that he set it into the microphone so that we didn't miss that. So I'm going to say it again that the award that was given to Bill Pulte, it looked like a woman because one of the guys there said there was a tramp stamp of a butterfly, whatever. But then Bill Pulte, his award said, quote, Bill Pulte fucks only the young. That is about as on brand as we can get with the GOP, right? With the party that continues to protect pedophiles. I mean...

I don't even, I don't even, I got nothing. I got nothing after that. I just, I got nothing. I really do. That is the person that's going to be the director of our national intelligence program. That's the person that's going to protect you from Russian and foreign interference in our elections. That's the person who's going to protect us from terrorists that commit acts like 9-11. Quote, Bill Pulte fucks only the young, that guy? In the dildo slap? Thanks, convicted felon Donald Trump for making us feel so much not safer, I guess, including the young girls. Here's a thing that was caught by our amazing friends at Midas today. When you put into the Google search engine, Bill Pulte, check out this result that comes up. Bill Pulte, quote, businessman and former United States Director of National Intelligence. It looks like Google has pulled a Carmack on us. And if y'all are too young to remember Johnny Carson as Carmack the Great. But apparently Google has already predicted that Bill Pulte will be the, quote, former director of national intelligence. How fast is he going to be the former? If I was a betting woman, I'd say pretty damn fast. But in fact, you know, all we have to do, you just got to go to the prediction markets because I'm sure they already have bets. at Polly Market and at Calci on how many lettuce heads is it going to take for Bill Pulte to serve as the acting director of national intelligence. Folks, that is the lead-off story for Sidebar today. Yet another incompetent, unintelligent, unserious person for an incredibly serious job in the Trump administration. Let's move on to some quick updates on. One of my most important topics, as you guys know about me, especially here at Katie Fang News, by the way. By the way, we did not hit our subscriber goal by June 1st, but it's only June 2nd and we're still only 4,000 subscribers away from 600,000 subscribers here at Katie Fang News. So if you can like and subscribe, get others. If all of you that are tuning in right now were to go and just get maybe five or 10 other people to subscribe, we would hit our goal. All righty, let's quickly move on to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. And Jeffrey Epstein, but let's start with the $1.776 billion slush fund, which you know I say is the theft of American taxpayer money. Today, this is what Todd Blanche said under oath to Congress. Take a listen because if you hear the ringing of the bells, it is the death knell of that slush fund. Take a listen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Attorney General, I wanted to ask a few questions about the anti-weaponization fund. We know that the department has agreed to pause this effort until at least June 12th. I wanted to ask what your plans were for the fund after June 12th. So thank you. So look, we're not moving forward with the fund. You're right that there's a date that in the case in the East District of Virginia in June, but we are not moving forward with the fund. period. The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund. Not moving forward ever. Correct. Oh, there's no more fund then. Well, to the extent there was a fund. Remember, the fund wasn't set up yet. There were no commissioners named. There was no claimants brought anything in front of, there was no claims made yet. So, yes, we're not moving forward with the fund. You and associate... Look at that. There is no fund. So... Trust but verify is the phrase. We had heard something coming out from this administration that there would be no moving forward on the fund. We now heard Acting Attorney General, Ta Todd Blanche, who by the way is the one who issued the orders to be able to put it all together, that there will be no fund ever. And my applause to Congresswoman Grace Meng, who's a fantastic congresswoman from New York, that was asking the questions right there. Like all things in this administration, it's not all sunshine and roses and daffodils here. So they may not be moving forward with the $1.76776 billion slush fund. However, However, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro did get Todd Blanche to admit that, you know, the settlement agreement, quote unquote, that was entered into in that collusive lawsuit down here in Florida, that that amazing federal judge is ordering to be reopened, hopefully, based upon the fraud that happened to even get to that settlement agreement. You may not get the slush fund, but according to Todd Blanche today, that we're not going to audit, trump his families or his businesses, that part still stands. That is why it is important for Judge Williams to continue to probe into the fraud and the collusion that brought that bullshit lawsuit in the first instance so that we can unwind the entirety of that settlement agreement, including that bullshit IRS, no audits, no prosecutions, no civil processes, no civil investigations, nothing against Trump his family and his business entities. If you have nothing to hide. Why are you hiding? All righty. And Todd Blanche, his headaches continue. Not only do we have a date in my lawsuit against him of June 30th. Thank you to Judge Emmett Dan Sullivan on my motion for preliminary injunction. But today.

Today in the Epstein files investigation, Ranking Member Congressman Robert Garcia, one of our heroes at House Oversight, he just sent a letter to James Comer dated today stating that the videotaped transcribed interviews of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel should be done immediately. regarding the DOJ and the FBI's handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates during her testimony on Friday in her, quote, transcribed interview. Remember how I talked about this, right? Not under oath, not on videotaped, and she could refuse to answer certain questions. This is what Pam Bondi did say. Quote. I did not lead every aspect of this effort or conduct that document review myself. I delegated oversight over this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. During questioning, Pam Bondi invoked Todd Blanche's name more than 30 times pointing to him as the person responsible for DOJ's actions involving the review withholding and botched release of Epstein-related. records. Pam Bondi also indicated that it was Todd Blanche's decision to conduct the highly unusual interview of Glenn Maxwell. Pam Bondi also has named FBI director Kash Patel as having a role in the collection and release of Epstein-related materials. And so Robert Garcia and others are requesting immediately a videotape transcribed interview of Todd Blanche N. Kash Patel. And I'm going to tell you right now that issue is going to happen. I don't care what James Comer says. That shit is going to happen. Some not so good news, but it is a good news for accountability. House Ethics Committee, I'm not sure if you saw this news, has confirmed they are investigating Congressman Jimmy Gomez over allegations of sexual misconduct. Congressman Gomez has basically said the following. He has said, I'm going to pull up. I want to make sure I don't do misattribution of what he said. He said years ago, I made personal mistakes outside my marriage that have caused real pain to my wife and family. Although my actions were consensual in nature and haven't violated the law or house ethics rules, that doesn't diminish the impact that these mistakes have made on those I care about the most. I take full responsibility and have committed myself to working through the pain privately with my wife and family. I sought professional assistants to help recenter and heal the relationships. I sincerely apologize to my wife, family friends, and the people that I have the privilege to serve. And he goes on and on. The investigation into Congressman Gomez dealt with an allegation that he was caught kissing an aide who worked for a different member of Congress in a backyard party in 2023. But while investigating the House Ethics Committee's investigative panel learned of other allegations of sexual misconduct against Congressman Gomez that are now being investigated. Yep, folks, look.

We can't have it both ways, right? True believers in what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If we're finding conduct and misconduct, we got to call it out. It doesn't make a difference who it is. So let's see what happens with the South Ethics investigation. But that is part of the breaking news from today. But there's been so much it might have escaped your notice. And at this time, we are very, very quickly going to take a brief, brief, brief break. But don't, don't leave. We're going to listen to one of our amazing sponsors for Katie Fang News. Remember how excited I am to make sure that we do have sponsors. They help me be able to be here with you and for us to be able to do this together. So take a quick listen to one of our sponsors. After my late father passed away, there were some really hard conversations about what happens with my mom. Is there enough money to cover the funeral expenses? What happens on the day-to-day moving forward? I'm talking a real gut check moment where you have to acknowledge that a lot of this should be dealt with before a moment in your life happens like that, which is why I want to talk to you about ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds. You can apply in minutes and you get same day coverage. What kind of coverage? Well, up to $3 million in coverage, and some policies are as low as $30 a month. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions. So take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash fang. That's Ethos, E-T-H-O-S. dot com forward slash fang my last name p h a and g application times may vary and rates may vary you've heard me talk about one skin before and whether you're someone who tries every new skin care product that hits the market or you've been using the same one or two things over many years at some point most of us realize that our skin just isn't keeping up the way it used to and that's what one skin changed for me it didn't just make my existing routine better it actually works differently than anything else i've ever tried as we age some skin cells just stop functioning the way that they should. Longevity scientists call them zombie cells, and that's what's actually driving your visible signs of aging. The fine lines, the loss of firmness, the dullness that creeps in over time. And one skin's OS1 peptide was specifically engineered to address those problems. So you're getting everything you expect from great skin care with OS1 doing something most skincare was never built to do. I love my OS1 body moisturizer so much. I've now turned on my mom and my friends to one. skin's amazing products, and you really don't need a complicated routine to get healthier, younger-looking skin. Born from over a decade of longevity research, OneSkin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. And for a limited time, try OneSkin with 15% off using the code Fang. That's my last name, P-H-A-N-G, at OneSkin.co-Ford slash Fang. That's 15% off, OnSkin.co4. slash fang. After you make your purchase, they're going to ask you where you heard about them from. So please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Kevin, I see you. Yes, Trump is driving my signs of aging. And that's the reason why I do. I do pitch one skin because it is amazing, actually. Y'all know I wouldn't be saying it if it wasn't. And

CS-99, I guess that's what I would say, c.s.99, thank you for not minding sponsors and ads when it comes to independent media. Think about all the ads that you have to watch if you ever watch anymore, but why would you watch mainstream legacy media when you could watch all of us here on independent media and get the news straight, no chaser? All righty, moving on to our next topic of conversation for Sidebar Live. quickly, I want to make sure that y'all know what's happening with this illegal, unauthorized war against Iran. I call it the art of the no deal. Maybe one of you can chime in in the comment section of the show today and tell me what the latest status is of the deal, because frankly, nobody can keep track. So what's happening right now? Well, Israel and Hezbollah continue to do strikes against each other, despite Trump saying that both sides have agreed to de-escalate. Clearly, Israel and Hezbollah didn't get the memo that they're supposed to be de-escalating. Tisk, tiske. Now, what does Trump do, though? He stupidly posts on Truth Social the following. He says he had a, quote, very productive call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which y'all can only imagine what those calls were like. But we will actually get into those details in a second. He says, no troops going to Beirut from Israel and any troops on their way have been turned back. Likewise, I had a very good call with Hezbollah and they agreed that all shooting will stop. Israel will not attack them and they will not attack Israel. He posts that on June 1st yesterday at 129 p.m. And of course, what just happened overnight, Hezbollah and Israel are attacking each other. So again, they're clearly, A, not getting the memo from Trump. And B, even if they are, they're wiping their asses with what convicted felon who's completely weak and impotent wants from them. Marco Rubio racing today to make clear, though, that Donald Trump did not speak. with anybody from Hezbollah. I mean, why would you assume that, seeing how that's what he posted on truth social? Marco Rubio saying it, quote, came from Hezbollah but through Lebanese authorities. He wanted to make sure that no president, like Trump, has been communicating with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group in Lebanon that has actually achieved terrorist organization status and designation by the United States. I mean, the scramble to cover Donald Trump's ass is pretty real. But remember I just said you a second ago? Wouldn't it be interesting to be the fly in the wall to listen to the conversations between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu? Well, here's the latest reporting today. You might have missed it. Earlier on Monday, Iran threatened to abandon negotiations with the U.S. because of what's happening by Israel and Lebanon. So Trump...

decided during a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday that he would call him, quote, fucking crazy because he's upset about Israel derailing the possible deal, no deal talks, no talks with Iran to be able to resolve this war. Trump also accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of being, quote, in. ungrateful. And according to multiple sources, Axios reports, this is exactly what Donald Trump said to Benjamin Netanyahu. Quote, you're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this, end quote. Trump was pissed. That's the adjective that is being reported. And at one point yelled in Benjamin Netanyahu, quote, what the fuck are you doing? U.S. official reporting Trump knew Hezbollah was shooting at Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu was escalating in a disproportionate way. Israel has been expanding its ground operations against southern Lebanon. Here's the other thing, though, that's interesting. Apparently, the reason why Trump is also mad is from what he said, you'd be in prison if it weren't for me referencing the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu has been facing criminal charges as a result of allegations of bribery and other misconduct by him and Benjamin Netanyahu's wife. And that because of this war, that's been going on, not only. Gaza, but now because of this war with Iran, that this has been one of the reasons why Benjamin Netanyahu has not been put into prison in Israel. So I think it's very interesting because even after this call where Trump, quote, schooled Benjamin Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu said, I am not going to stop attacking Lebanon and targets in Beirut if Hezbollah keeps on attacking Israel. So what does that tell you? Again, neither Iran, Hezbollah, Benjamin Netanyahu, nobody's listening to Donald Trump. That's the bottom line. Nobody's listened to him. Nobody really cares. In fact, take a listen to what Marco Rubio had to say today. Because, you know, as Americans, we want to know what's happening with this war, right? Because it directly impacts us. And we also have, and you know, I always say this. At least 13 active service members have died in this illegal war against Iran. But listen to what Marco Rubio had to say today about when we're going to see a deal. Because remember, we're supposed to have had a deal. How many times? Like 69 times, 89 times we've had a deal. Take a list of Marco Rubio, though. We are in talks. And I say talks because talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland. Okay. They're very different. They require the use of intermediaries, unfortunately. But there is the prospect before us, which could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. It could happen next week. that for the first time, certainly in my memory, they have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago or just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention, much less into discussions about. That is not a guarantee that ultimately will lead to a deal that's acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people, but we'll be able to engage them in a process to truly test the proposition of how far they're willing to go.

What nuclear capabilities? I thought we were told that they got rid of those when they bombed the shit out of them last year. What happened? Now they still have the nuclear capabilities. And by the way, I hope you listened to what Marco Rubio said, who's our secretary of state. could happen tomorrow next week maybe at some other time i mean nobody knows when it's going to happen but you know what you'll know it when you see it it's kind of like what obscenity right i'll know it when i see it um and then listen it's not just Marco Rubio this is what donald trump had to say on cnbc when he's asked about these peace talks with around I said, do you think the negotiations are over now, or is this a bluff by the Iranians? The president said, I don't care if they're over, honestly. I really don't care. I couldn't care less. If they're over, they're over. If they're not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I think they started to get a little boring. The president said he thinks that the Iranian side was tapping us along. That is, that they were stalling for time. Ultimately, on oil prices, the president was confident that he said, Oil will be dropping like a rock. He said, ultimately, if the Iranians want to try and have a nuclear weapon, I will blow them up to Kingdom Come. He said what this is all about for him is a strongly held conviction that the Iranians should not ever be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and that American voters will tolerate higher gas prices, as long as they know what the goal is here.

what you're feeling right now. It's called gaslighting. What is the goal? Can anybody tell me in the chat what the goal is? Because nobody has ever said what the goal is. Regime change, elimination of nuclear capabilities, because Benjamin Netanyahu told us to do it. I mean, what is the goal? And then are you as an American? Because I'm an American too. I mean, they don't look at me like I'm American, but I'm an American too. Are you as an American? Are you willing? to withstand all of this increase in basic necessities and prices for same because because that's what Donald Trump says you're willing to withstand i mean donald trump's bored the big baby the toddler in chief is bored he is bored with this peace talks and he doesn't really care i don't care i saw the best instagram reel the other day and it was POV, point of view, life with a teenage girl. And let me tell you right now, my daughter is 11, not even a teenager, but you know what? It's very Donald Trump. What da? I know what. That is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is bored. He doesn't want to be dealing with the drama of peace talks because he doesn't give a shit. And while he sits there and not give a shit about us, why don't you check this out? The war has cost American families $100 billion between increased military funding and higher oil prices. This comes from Moody's Analytics, this guy named Mark Zandi. The chief economist posted this on X. I know cesspool that it is, but we tolerated here, right, for the info. Chief economist at Moody's Analytics folks says the following, $100 billion, the estimate of the cost of the Iran War to American households. That's nearly $750 per household, including additional U.S. military costs and the higher energy and other prices resulting from the war. But here's the problem. The financial pressure continues to mount on middle and lower income households. And in this article, they talk about how tax refunds and stuff may have given people a little bit of a financial boost, albeit, I'm sure, for those of us that pay taxes, because it's not like any of those SOBs are paying taxes in the billionaire class, right, including Donald Trump. But, you know, what's crazy is that... Any type of little bump you got from that tax refund, it's now gone. Right? And so $100 billion in ticking is what this war costs. The war that Trump says he's bored about. the war where he's trying to sit there and try to, you know, bully Benjamin Netanyahu into something and Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't care. The war that Marco Rubio says, eh, we'll get an interim deal, not even a deal, an interim deal at some point. And then Donald Trump telling NBC News, we've been talking about this deal too much if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good, right? And that could be for a, quote, long time.

And we come full circle. Do we not hear at Sidebar Live? We have an incompetent leader that's running our country into the ground. And as we said at the beginning of Sidebar Live, he points incompetent people to deal with critical issues that impact us the most. What is the moral of the story, ladies and gentlemen? Vote like your life depends on it. And I know all of you do that. I know all of you have been to vote.org to check on your registration status to make sure you are registered to know where your polling place is going to be as we get closer to November. But look, it may seem far away. And yet today is June 2nd. And before you know it, the midterms are going to be upon us. So. Go to vote.org, check on your registration status. Make sure you're registered to vote. Like and subscribe. All of you that are tuning in right now, get 5, 10, 50 other people to subscribe to Katie Fang News. I will be back with more new episodes. But of course, as always, what do I always say? Well, you know what I always say. But I do say thank you. Thank you for the privilege of your time. I know you can be doing other things. When you join me here, we are a family. We are a community. I am incredibly grateful that we are all fighting on the right side of history. And in the meantime, be mad, be outraged, man accountability. I am off to rattle some cages. But in reality, too, I'm off to celebrate my 11-year-old's graduation from fifth grade today. Thank you all for making this possible. I appreciate you. See you tomorrow.