Karoline Leaves It + Epstein Updates (w. Congressman Garcia)

0:06 Welcome to Brief Recess. I'm Michael Foot, I'm Melissa mel Branch. Today we're going to talk about the most extra pilot that I had on United Airlines. We're going to talk about Caroline Leave It on Red. We're going to ask you who would play us in a movie, because I don't think we we figured it.

0:23 Out, we did you, A.

0:24 Lot of people have done me and so Suspurgan on the Street originalized, I'm sorry, I can't be laughing.

0:30 No, you can't be laughing.

0:31 We're going to talk about the lynchings in America and all the things going on with marginalized communities right now. And we also have Congressman Garcia who is going to be joining us to talk about the Epstein Files. We are going to also answer all of your questions from the DMS. So stick around. We got a bone to pick with me. We use the ulsh.

0:51 You got a bone to pick, well, many people, but you especially Yeah.

0:57 What happened show me on the all.

1:01 So let me tell you something, mister. I'm on Traders and now I'm famous, and I'm too big for my breitches. I'm not on Traders and now I'm too.

1:13 Good speak for I don't even have britches yet.

1:16 Well, let me tell you what happened. So my friend TJ shout out to TJ set me a message and said to me the following.

1:24 Oh no, oh no, there are receipts. I hate being held to care.

1:28 I know this is today at two forty two pm, and it's I don't know what time it is now, but.

1:33 It's four forty one.

1:34 Okay. I just saw your friend Michael in the West Village and I called out to him twice, and in true trade or fashion, he ignored me.

1:43 Okay, who do you think you are? I am never First of all, I love attention. So if someone's calling my name out and I hear it, I want to engage. I did not hear that.

1:55 Okay, well, you know, look to camera someone you apologize to teach right now, CJ, C TJ. You know what it feels like. I'm gonna tell you all the things. It feels like. It feels anti lesbian. TJ is a lesbian, it feels anti black. It feels anti is a gay, lesbian, black person six and tall with the little dog who lives in Brooklyn. It feels anti all those.

2:24 That's t J and I just got the name wrong too, Damn. I'm sorry, TJ. I really TJ does sound kind of awesome. I would love I would love for the shout out.

2:35 Where the little dog and I don't really love little dogs, but the childa is kind of cute.

2:39 Okay not you already cover it for DJ. Okay, So here's my message to TJ. I love I'm a clinical narcissist. I love attention. So if there's any world in which I'm going to be getting it and I know about it, I'm there. So TJ, that's how you know I did not hear you. I also think me and my dog Jack are both going deaf at the same time because I.

3:06 Didn't ask IDJ you were with Jack.

3:09 The both of us are just loosing it, truly, because and Brad is like making fun of the dog for being deaf. I'm like, stop making fun of him.

3:18 Well, yeah, I've told you. We make fun of Arthur Weasley sometimes my see legged cat who sometimes doesn't land the landing, and then sometimes we laugh at him.

3:31 You said not land the landing and reminded me I was on a plane the other day. I was flying out of LaGuardia the way this pilot had what could only be described as an unmedicated panic disorder and access to a loud speaker. I was like, this is the worst thing. I have a fear of flying, but I've gotten over it, and so now I fly all the time.

3:56 I'm totally fine. But the way I was regressing, because I'm sitting there, the guy next to me, I could tell his nervous and I'm already like, brother, like I'm not going to help you put your mask on if shit gets weird. Like you're not a child, You're a fully grown man. You're a consultant. And I'm rereading your emails like it's fine anyway. So I get on the plane.

4:18 They're taken off and it's we've had these crazy storms all summer long in New York. And the pilot comes on the plane. We're pulling back from the gate. He goes, oh my god.

4:29 Oh my god. You never want to hear that from your pilot.

4:32 Doctor all right, like, I've gotten over my fear of flying, but this is maybe gonna this is this is disturbing. And he says, I don't believe. And so the guy next to me is like twitching, And so now He's kind of sucking me into the drama. You know how you have the friend who will kind of like beat you into the bullshit.

4:54 Yes you continue.

4:59 I'm like, Melissa won't believe what happened. Hmm oh wait, my straws here. I stabbed myself in the.

5:05 I cannot see here. I cannot save your eye again.

5:10 Put that. Make that the YouTube screen, Michael did he lose an eye of this episode, and this will be the photo.

5:18 And that'll just be me with turning my turning my back to it because I refuse to do it ever again to fix your eye.

5:24 Winking took Michael Boca's eye out this episode. And then he's like, they just told us. He said, look out the window to the right, folks.

5:34 And now everyone's looking.

5:35 Everybody's people are like, oh, what is it?

5:37 What is it?

5:38 We're lucky lou rubbernecking on the tarmac. He said, look at this line. They just told us that they're suspending takeoffs and we're gonna have to wait in this line.

5:48 What kind of drama, queen did you have as a pilot? What airline is this?

5:51 It's whoever is making the covers of our YouTube? Is the is the pilot. It's Christina from exactly right, and so I can see the thing backing up from the door to the plane. So I'm like, why don't we control all delete and get that just right back here. We can all go get off and get a Panera.

6:09 No, they will not, they won't. They would rather let you rot on that plane for you.

6:14 Get one of the Panera lemonades that kills people. Let me get that. Why I got to wait here with this guy who's freaking out. So then I'm not kidding. Three minutes later we're in the air. Oh, this pilot he was like, oh yeah, And so had he not told anybody, no one would have known.

6:31 I know.

6:31 So then it was like that the whole flight. He was like, we are going to have unprecedented turbulence, the most unbelievable turbula. He said, hold onto your wig, bitch, it's going to be an orbit. And I'm not kidding. Not a drop of my drink was spilled. It was filled to the brim. I didn't feel a thing. Okay, this man, I'm coming for you, United, I'm coming for United Airlines. Melissa is unimpressed.

6:58 I'm unimpressed because you're a liar, A lying liar who lies and you do it for attention, But I mean speaking of being sick of shit. Hey, folks, I don't know anything about Traders.

7:18 Oh are they're asking you?

7:20 I'm sorry, people are asking me questions and I want to be clear. I'm going to say it again. Not only do I not know, but until Michael told me that he was going to be on Traders, I had actually never heard.

7:32 Of Traders before the first person asked.

7:34 Right, And so I don't know anything. And if I did know, I wouldn't tell you.

7:44 So this is why you guys could send her your worst secret, because she will keep it, not give a shit and maybe even forget about it. Likely, like Melissa, people tell her things they wouldn't tell the priest, like it is unbelievable.

8:03 We're so very creepy.

8:04 So they're in confessional. Ms Malbranch I have sent.

8:10 Yeah, so, but but honestly, genuinely.

8:13 Leave her alone. I'm more likely to leak than her to ask me for sure. I stole this from Trader set. Oh did you I stole this from the Castle?

8:23 Oh that's nice.

8:24 I kind of like get the word Droom team gave it to me.

8:26 To wear, so okay, they they gave it to you or you stole it.

8:30 So they gave it to me to wear on the show, but maybe not the show A show. They gave it to me to wear on Traders, but I don't. It was unclear if they gave it to me to wear home. So when I was packing up my stuff, I was like, they.

8:44 Were like to take it on purpose.

8:46 Yeah, okay, because there's matching pants. Do you have the pants not on me today?

8:50 No? But do you own the pants?

8:52 I own the pants.

8:53 And is it the same hand strike with the flowers.

8:55 Yeah, it's the same. So I could wear this to like a summer wedding or or a birthday already, wherever you want, wherever you want.

9:02 I like it.

9:03 Thank you if you if you're listening, it's like a pin striped zip up jacket with sequin flowers on it. Yeah yeah, but yeah, so I took it. I took a Trader scot this for me, But everything else was my clothes that I wore on the show. Okay, yeah, this was in my bag when I went to a detention center today. I had court this morning.

9:21 Did you wear that? No?

9:23 But I had just I tried to dress like you know, normcore Republican, like a blue suit with a red tie. I tried to really get into the drag of it. Okay, the Republican woman makeup filter.

9:36 With like carolines. The holes in her lip from.

9:39 The fillers in the lip.

9:41 That's right, maybe that's why she's quitting.

9:44 Baby, Let's get into a sidebar.

9:47 Let's get into a sidebar.

9:48 They put that bitch on the plane that was due to get shot down. They said, you know, let's load her up cargo style. They said, you know what, miss Levitt, you're going to be front first class this trip for no reason. She's like, why am I on the plane alone?

10:05 Where did everybody go? Echo?

10:07 It's just like, what is that out the window? Babe? It's Turkey trying to shoot the plane down. Mess And they literally were Trump snuck onto the other plane in like the food truck, right, I know, like how they sneak Taylor Swift into the car into the festival. They're sneaking her in and a bucket and a mop. Damn.

10:26 This administration makes me care less and less about everything, like it just feels anyway, it doesn't matter. I all of this stuff is so distracting. Yes, oh no, I'm sorry, it's not actually distracting. They're they're throwing all this stuff at us in order to distract this from like the actual funck shit that's happening.

10:46 Like, why would Turkey want to assassinate the president in that alleged assassination plot?

10:55 Right?

10:55 Like what is going on?

10:56 Apparently, if we were to believe them, he's it's it's a miracle. He made it out alive of every situation.

11:02 Yes, yeah, Anyway, comment below if your boss has ever asked you to potentially die for your job?

11:10 Right, has your boss ever basically thrown you in front of them?

11:14 Right? You survive today, threw a pizza party celebrating, you know, instead of a race. Right. Okay, so she's out, she's out of here.

11:23 Whatever.

11:25 Let's get into algorithm is showing? Actually, is anything coming up on your algorithm lately? Because I've been getting Trader stuff. I've been getting The Odyssey. Honey, people still can't see miss Imax. I went and saw it. I didn't see it in imax. Okay, it was like looking at a movie through a keyhole. Oh no, I'm like, why is it?

11:45 Anne Hathaway's ear I can't even see her. She's not even in focus. Our cameras are in focus better than theirs.

11:53 Well, we have great cameras.

11:54 And writing, but like Christopher, our budget's not a quarter billion dollars. I know, Nolan, miss Boots, what are you doing? Because why is that diva? Why is that camera out of focus? Really it was out of focus. I could not see anything.

12:11 Was it dark or out of like I.

12:13 Was cleaning my glasses thinking it was me. I'm serious, I seriously was so sick of you, because like people are going to comment and say, Melissa actually hates Michael.

12:22 And he's afraid of I mean, today, it's true, it's true. Today, it's true. Today, it's true. That's interesting that you felt he was out of focus. What I always feel like about movies is that everything is so dark that you can't see anything, and not just movies, but like TV shows. I don't and again I know, keep on referencing Game of Thrones, but like I'll never there was some battle where I literally went up to my TV and was like Twitter, Yes.

12:53 Everyone was like, is it's so dark? Is this a faith based battle scene? We have to assume that it's okay that something.

13:00 We have had faith that something happens.

13:02 This is the audio only. No, it's really annoying. It is really annoying, very very annoying. A lot of shows are like that, and I think HBO is the problem. Like that is like where a lot of that goes down because there have been a couple it's not just.

13:17 To be fair, it is not just HBO because I have seen movies in the theater where I'm like, this is what I'm just going to guess what happens.

13:27 Is it glaucoma or is this movie dark? No, it's the movie.

13:30 It's the movie. It's dark. My eyes are fine.

13:31 Yeah, I like saw TikTok about it. That like if it's an imax, like if you move a little as an actor, yeah, an imax camera in a non imax theater, it's going to look like you want out of focus. So the actors obviously have to move. Well, yeah, it's like an action movie.

13:49 Well, and also they're alive. It's not a photograph like people like move around, they breathe, they get a little itch.

13:57 That is it's annoying because they're going to win like a bunch of awards for best not for the brief Recess Awards. I don't think they're going to win. Who would win? Who would play her?

14:11 Who would play you in the movie?

14:12 Who would play me?

14:13 And?

14:13 Yeah, I want to say and not a joke one, not a joke answer?

14:18 Yes, who would play you in a movie? A real like.

14:22 We're going off looks or in mental illness?

14:26 I'm asking you a serious question and you want to fuck around?

14:28 Who would want to play me?

14:30 Yeah? No, not going state them?

14:33 Kind of looks like me if we put glasses on him?

14:37 Okay, he is bald and is he tall? I feel like he might be Pokito Maas. No, I think he's short.

14:42 He could kind of you know what.

14:44 I actually have no idea.

14:45 I don't know who's yeah, but let's.

14:47 Let's just say that it doesn't necessarily matter all that much if they look like you or not, because there's makeup, there's prosthetics. Right, So if there was going to be a movie about your life, who do you think would play you? Living or dead? I'll make it easy for.

15:05 You living like play me? Well?

15:07 Yes, no, like legitimately who would be you?

15:09 I would want someone like older. I don't like when people are like aged, like the agent actor to.

15:15 Look you'd rather them? I would rather them up.

15:20 I would rather be played by someone like deep in their forties than a twenty five year old whipper snapper that they're like trying to make look like me, you know what I mean. But would you don't want some hard story shave his head, you know, like, don't do that to that poor man?

15:34 But would you want somebody who is significantly older than you playing you as a young man? Because I think that's a story.

15:43 Of my life for going a Benjamin Button. Yeah yeah, Joseph.

15:47 Gordon Lovett, Okay, Joseph Gordon love.

15:49 Rename Wonder Oh the low key guy. Oh, I don't like it would be great because he could shave his head and he is in his forties.

15:55 Yeah yeah, yeah, I like that.

15:56 I like that.

15:57 I actually have no idea who could who could play you? I don't know, living or dead. I don't know in my in my brain dying Carroll only because I think she's fucking fierce. But like, I can't Whitney Houston.

16:10 She was green and monte guard. No, like in a dramatic role. I'm not like, no, no, no, no, We're going to do the musical of.

16:20 Sing it, No, not not Whitney Houston. I think I think that Whitney Houston was like too beautiful, do you know what I mean? Like she was like ethereal beautiful. So no, I think it needs to be somebody. And Dian Caroll was gorgeous. So I don't know who I think I am.

16:39 But it's like a hard question to ask somebody.

16:42 Yeah, okay, you know, yes, coming below Meissa, whos going to play Melissa? Who's gonna play Michael? Like out of curiosity, who's going to play? When there is a movie about the horrible accident? Is it going to be?

16:56 Do you think it'll be like iHeart Studio.

16:58 Lifetime movie or like a movie movie I.

17:00 Wanted market post lifetime movie, like with the little the chime before the commercial break, you know what I mean? And then it would be like this episode brought to you by Panthers.

17:11 Right, or depends preparation, h or like when you've got what is it heartburn into gestion diarrhea. We're gonna ship this a little bit more serious now, so your algorithm is showing so this is gonna be a little bit disturbing, So a little bit of a trigger warning. However, I do think it's really important. There have been in recent months weeks, I think even there have been two African American people found hanging in trees in Mississippi. And here's what I want to say about that. And I've said a little bit about this on my personal social media.

18:04 Black people living in the United States of America do not hang themselves in trees. They we do not do this. We do not do this. I am not suggesting that things don't happen and that they and that we do not die by suicide. Of course we do, but not this way.

18:21 I honestly don't know how many people generally in America die by suicide from a tree hanging in a like a public space like is that? But I don't even know if that's like a fair and I.

18:34 Have and I and I no, no, no, and I don't know. But I am going to extend myself and say pretty certainly that as black people, we do not do that. And I think what I really think I find disturbing about it is also that when that happens, the default of investigatations are to just say that this person died by suicide, even if there are things that happen like when the body is examined, and there's no way that somebody could have actually done that to themselves. And I think it is especially and not to sort of put a blight on the entire state of Mississippi. However, Mississippi does have a very dark, problematic history of lynching black people in trees, so that all of this feels very forbidding for both. It just feels wrong. It feels and

19:37 I think especially in this climate where we are living in a country where especially this particular administration, this president especially who seems to have it out for black people.

19:50 Yes, he's literally racist and goes out of.

19:53 His way to show that I want us to be on alert for things like that. To say it again that Taja Fortune, the Marchrabian Trey read that these two young African American people in Mississippi were found hanging in trees. And I am going to say that that is not what happened. That these two did not do this to themselves.

20:20 Someone did this to them.

20:22 And the other thing is that like these things are deemed suicide by local police right right, which is so distressing in Mississippi, immediately saying suicide and.

20:33 Washing their hands of it.

20:34 Well, because they walk among the police.

20:36 Well, that's exactly what it is. And so I just and I don't think we're hearing enough about things cases like that because I know you guys didn't know about it until I sort of brought it up.

20:50 I know about it, oh you did.

20:51 But like I think again, it is what is it that we are engaging with on social media?

20:56 Right? I get like ultra progressive, but like I'm an echo chamber, but I know a lot of people didn't. So when I was resharing it, a lot of people were like, what like? And I think people assume because police were badges during the day that they don't wear a hood at night. And I think that the possibility that there is corruption among a police force that's charged with investigating all deaths, regardless of race and ensuring that justice is served, I mean we're seeing it with Nolan Wells.

21:25 Also that the way in which these cases are investigated, it is not getting the credit that is due. The life is not valued as much as.

21:34 And just generally when there are crimes like this that are committed against black people, the justice, if there is ever any justice that is served, is not because the law enforcement in the area has decided to do the right thing. It is because other black people and allies, the literal public right caused a fuss George Floyd. If people did not make a fuss about George Floyd, what would have happened?

22:08 Completely agree, And there were so many people before George.

22:11 Oh yes, we were one hundred percent. And that's what it is. We are living in a time where everybody has a camera in their pocket, and if not for that, what would happen?

22:23 Right? And it's also like the public outcry bringing attention to these issues is what manages to get the attention from the mainstream media. Eventually. It's almost like the media reacts to the reaction of the public rather than the actual incident, right, rather than the actual murder.

22:45 It really is unreal, and it's just it's really disturbing. And I, you know, just generally, I worry so much about young people, right, And you know, it's so interesting to be at an age where you're looking and you're just like, oh, young man, young woman, you know, and I worry about them because I feel like, obviously, I'm sure that there are many people who love these young kids, but I just feel like, what we're missing is community, and as a member of this community, I want to protect these young people. That's the feeling that I have.

23:26 And obviously I can't do anything about what is happening to somebody in Mississippi other than call attention to it, right, So that's all that I've got, So I want to do that. It's worrying, it's distressing, it makes me very angry, and I feel like I want us to be able to call attention to it so that these things don't just disappear.

23:51 And it's also like when we call attention to it, let's say that someone is held accountable, if that's possible. We keep coming back to this question of like that's not justice, right, No, justice is that person not dying? Justice is this didn't happen? Right?

24:09 Yes, I mean I don't know that that's justice or sort of the way that we would like to imagine that our society should operate, right, Like people should not be getting murdered in the street. That should not be happening, right.

24:26 Leadership has to be held accountable in any organization, whether it's the federal government or a company or a nonprofitship ever, right, And the worst actor in any organization is always the one that sets the tone for culture and always sets the tone for behavior. It's always the worst behavior of the leader that infects an institution, whether it's a nonprofit, a company, or the federal government. So Trump was not in Mississippi. He did not lunch this woman. No set the tone for the way racists are treated in America.

25:04 I think what he has done is and this is not new. A lot of people have said, this is that he, you know, instead of making America great again, he made it safe to be racist. Yes, literally, because he is the sort of the great racist in chief.

25:20 Literally. Right the first term he was saying the quiet part, he was saying it quietly. It was a dog whistle. Now it's out loud.

25:27 Now it's just out loud. And so these people feel safe, they feel like they will be protected. And so and I know you and I have talked about this before, but when it comes to who's taking care of us? Right, So, like the members of the LGBTQ community have to protect themselves, members of the black community have to protect because the people that should be protecting us are not. And not only are they not protecting us, it seems as though they're going out of their way to remove us, to quiet us. That's what it feels like. That's what it feels like. And so again, when when something happens to a trans.

26:11 Person, right, I was just going to talk about trans right.

26:14 When something happens to a trans person, because it feels like trans folks are under attack. It feels that the communities that we belong to need to, yeah, put those names front, up front, so that everybody hears about it. Right, So when when there is somebody like Trey Read or when there is somebody like Taji Fortune, it is up to us to bring that to the front.

26:42 Some At this point where it's like these white gay influencers that are all over Instagram, I don't fucking care about your photo on Fire Island in a swimsuit if you are not also like I just like that shit pisses me off so much. Like you're a New Yorker, you live in Hell's kitchen, you're a gorgeous white gay man who like is enjoying his life out and proud, and you have like a big following. You also need to call out the most vulnerable members of your community, like there are like white gay men, especially if they're hot, have so much. I'm seriously, no real, they're like posting on the shit of just like like off to Abitha and it's like, yeah, that's great. I haven't seen a single post from you, and you've got two hundred thousand

27:34 followers and you haven't said anything about trans rites or about people who are getting murdered because they're not like non binary, or you're you're just not calling attention to any of the things in your own community and you have all this power, agency and privilege Like that shit drives me fucking crazy. I'm like, and you're saying that you're part of, you know, a group that is other, but you won't speak up for the people in your own community that are don't enjoy those same privileges you do.

28:03 What do you think that's about? If you? If you, I mean, and we don't know, right, we don't know what people are thinking.

28:08 We don't know what people are thinking. But I think it's about pulling up the ladder behind you. I think it's about I see this happen in a lot of different communities. Someone gets a seat at the table. It's the Latinos who voted for Trump. It is the literal like Latinos for Trump community, which the leader of that group got deported by the way, right, you know. And so it happens in so many communities, whether it's communities of color or the gay community, that this this. I got a seat at the table and there was only one.

28:42 Seat, and I don't want to share.

28:44 And I don't want to try and make room and scooch over, you know what I mean.

28:47 And you know what you mean.

28:48 And it's like, I don't know the psychology behind you. Yeah.

28:51 My grandfather used to always say, you know, with privilege comes responsibility. Yeah, And I think that for people who I think have felt othered in the past, they are afraid to feel that way again away from that film, and they want to get away from that feeling so bad that they pushed down on anybody else. And I'm not and you know, and again I don't know the psychology behind that either. And I'm not necessarily trying to find an excuse, but you know, I'm always wanting to know, why is somebody like this, Why is somebody doing this?

29:27 And maybe that's why I think some people might feel like they are not qualified to make a statement like that because they don't know enough, and I think that they are not giving people the benefit of the doubt because you can say, you know what, I don't know a whole lot about this, But here's a story that I heard. I have it on good authority that it is a real story. This thing that happened to this trans person. It is not okay, And I want to take a moment away from my skincare routine, which is okay, right, and it's okay.

30:09 To tell skincare routine. Add there's actually.

30:14 This woman that I follow who is a makeup artist. Yeah, she's gorgeous and she's beaten the face, but while she is doing that, her voiceover is talking about something serious. Yeah, I love her, And at the end of the of her of her content, she'll had to listen to the products that she used.

30:37 Right.

30:37 So she's she's doing the thing that she's famous for, right, her hair and makeup, but the voiceover behind it is talking about something serious. I think that that is such a good use of her platform because she's doing the thing her sponsorships or whatever, and she's talking about something serious.

30:58 But I don't know that an enough people think that they are in a place to do that, and I also think, like you said, people are.

31:07 Afraid of losing their seats.

31:09 Losing their seats.

31:10 Yeah, I will say, you don't have to be trans to post about No, you don't trans person who was murdered or someone who is getting hate crimeed. You don't have to be black. I post about the black girl Mississippi who was lynched, And actually, if you are not, you actually really should right because people are people hear from me all the time about immigrant rights, about gay rights, about what's going on in the news, what person of color was murdered. They're hearing from you, Like there, I actually do a lot of that, and I get excited because I know a lot of my following is white and in suburban communities. So I'm like, cool, if these folks that follow me start to share with their community, that's where we see the movable middle actually get impacted

31:57 or hear about these stories too, Middle America, where maybe they're not going to be exposed to people like you and me who walk down the street. And so that is where I'm like, Okay, you have a response, You really have a responsibility. Folks who are in those suburban, super white communities, maybe there are no people of color in your community, or no immigrants in your kids' schools.

32:25 Those are the folks who I would love to be sharing more of those stories because, like I said, I mean, I'm in an echo chamber so much.

32:31 Yeah, I think the other thing is that so I'm a black woman, right, so this is something that bothered me, but sometimes I think that the people of a specific community are.

32:48 Tired so sick I having to talk about there.

32:52 So that like you said, right, so like I'm not a gay man, yeah, but if or a trans person, but if something happens to a gay man or a lesbian or a trans person while that community, I'm sure they're doing everything that they can, but maybe I give them a little bit of a break, let them rest, and then I then use whatever voice I have to bring attention to this other issue. And so you as a you know, as a white man, gay or not, but you have heard a story about a black person and maybe it's then you say, you know what, I'm gonna let the black community rest a little bit, correct, so that maybe it's now your turn to bring attention to it. Do you know what I'm saying? And I know that you do that, but it is in a

33:42 very general way. I think that sometimes I don't have to be Asian to think that an Asian hate crime is problematic, right, and then maybe I should say something about it and let the Asian community gather themselves.

33:59 So many Haitian people are following you. You share a story about Haiti, following has already seen it.

34:04 Right exactly, But if I share it.

34:06 It's like, oh, okay, a lot of people don't know what's going on.

34:09 In correct, they don't know what they don't know what's going on.

34:12 So everyone, like everyone who follows you, they're like, yeah, I've got a cousiner is there right now?

34:16 For sure? Right? But like maybe the people who and I don't have a huge following at all, But maybe the people who do follow me are not really tapped into trans issues, and maybe I came across something and I will say, hey, you know what, this is the story that I heard. This is terrible or this is wonderful.

34:36 It could be a wonderful story, and I will put attention to it, and maybe the people who follow me who are not tapped in will be like, oh, that's an interesting thing or that's a really horrible thing. Let me then pass it along. It's I think and again that is community, right, Yes, that is community.

34:56 Don't have to have a huge following to have that community. No, you don't.

34:59 You don't. And followers correct, and you know, build ninety people that you know, maybe somebody else they pass it on and some information happens.

35:08 Yeah, let's get into a deep dive. We have a guest, we do. We're talking to Congressman Garcia. We haven't talked to him in a long time. Became a fan of the pod, came on the show months ago, very early, very early on a year ago, and he's back. We're going to talk to him. So you may notice when we go into deep dive kind of look a little different.

35:29 A little bit, and the setting will be different, and you'll know the bits will be different.

35:34 When it's forty miles a rough highway. The lighting in my home, I'm not saying, Melissa will.

35:40 No am I home too.

35:42 Okay, it's not studio lighting, it is not, so buckle up. This is a great time to switch to audio. Actually, we won't have the studio lighting, the vasoline over the lens in our home studios.

35:56 So be forgiving, be kind, yes, and.

35:58 We will be right back with Congressman Garcia. Ye, welcome back to Brief re Sis. This is under oath where we take a deep dive into a hot topic that is all over your feed, that is in the headlines this week. Right now, we are pleased to share that we are joined by Congressman Robert Garcia, who represents California's forty second district, covering Long Beach and southern Los Angeles.

36:21 He was born in Lima, Peru, and he's the first openly gay immigrant in Congress. He's the former mayor of Long Beach, and he serves as the ranking member of the House Oversit Committee currently reviewing and investigating the Epstein Files. Please join me in welcoming Congressman Robert Garcia.

36:38 Welcome, Yeah, happy.

36:39 To be back.

36:40 Thank you. It's good to see you you too.

36:42 So we thought it'd be great to have you on the show because Todd Blanche is now the Attorney General, and I know that you have been intimately involved in everything that's happening with the Epstein files and the investigation therein as Oversight Committee leader. What do you believe Todd Blanche knows that Congress still needs to get out of him in regards to the Epstein files, Well, I think.

37:08 First a couple of things are important. People need to recognize that only half of the Epstein files have been released. About three million documents have not been released. So imagine an investigation where half the evidence has not been released to the public. And we honestly believe that some of the more incriminating information inn agency communication, possibly obviously conversations with the President and or others. A lot of that exists in this batch of files that hasn't been released to the public. In addition to that, we know from Pam Bondi, the former ag that Todd Blanche basically directed this whole operation at the White House. I mean, this whole White House cover up has been really a Todd

37:47 Blanche creation. And we know from reporting that he was there with Susie Wilds, with JD.

37:55 Vance, with Mark Rubio, with the bunt of other folks as well. So you did act, she questioned Pam Bondy, and she shifted responsibility very clearly for the Epstein files to Todd Blanche. So what did she tell you that made you think? You know? Blanche is now the person Congress most needs to hear from, right when you were talking to Pam Bondi about this, well, she.

38:17 Mentioned him, I think thirty five times as the person in charge of leading the Epstein investigation at the DOJ, and so she clearly pointed all of the energy on Todd Blanche. And like the survivors themselves have said that Todd Blanche has been tentral I mean, this is the guy, by the way, that directed the move of Glene Max Roll from a really secure facility to a less secure kind of like club fed environment facility, which no one explains to us to this day as to why that happened.

38:46 He went to go meet with Glaine Maxwell one on one. We still didn't know what happened in those kind of conversations. We don't know why she's getting special treatment. So everything always points back to Todd Blanche, and I think it's important people to remember also this someone that was Donald Trump's former personal lawyer. This is not some career DOJ official or some well known former state ag. This was Donald Trump's lawyer for a long time who is now the Attorney general.

39:13 So you've been demanding that Todd Blanche up here before the committee and submit to an interview regarding the Epstein investigation. What has the response been since you've issued that demand.

39:29 So obviously we're in the minority as Democrats, and so who the folks at control? Who comes in are the Republicans and the chair of the Oversight Committee, James Comber, who leads Republicans, my counterpart, he's committed that he were going to bring in Todd Blanche. He kept saying, Oh, if he gets confirmed, he'll come in. So we've been again asking the question, when is he coming in? Because he needs to pats on the Epstein investigation. So time's a ticket. It's time for him to come in.

39:54 Down right. Why hasn't that happened yet?

39:57 Look, I think there's no question that Todd Blanche is lead being the White House cover up. He's trying to exonerate President Trump. Donald Trump and Epstein we're best friends. For ten years. People were being trafficked from mar al Lago to Epstein. And so there's enough there as including all the other powerful men around the world that have engaged with Epstein to abuse and rape women and children, and we need to get to the truth. And Todd Blanche keeps leading this cover up.

40:25 Is there an expected timetable when he absolutely has to be spoken to and people need to ask him, or at this point, because Democrats are in the minority, it's sort of out of I hate to use this word, but sort of out of your control, do you know what I mean?

40:41 Yeah, I mean, look, unfortunately, at the end of the day, the control of who comes in to testify and when is up to the Republicans. It's only been there have been some cases where Democrats have been able to force a subpoena emotion where we've had a few Republicans join us to win very slim margins of votes.

40:58 But that's rare.

40:58 We can get we you know, we maneuver that when somehow we kind of spring it on them, or we get a couple of people that we pick people off that want to support the investigation. But at the end of the day, this is James Comber, the chair's decision. He has promised and said it publicly dozens of times, and he wants to have Todd Blanche in. And so we expect and I hope that when we're back in session in September mid September, that we have Todd Blanche actually in.

41:23 Here's hoping you've said this week that Blanche is trying to expand executive privilege in a way that could obstruct the Epstein investigation. What could that prevent Congress from getting? They are we only we already only have half the files, So what would that actually do if he was able to do that? And like, how do we stop it?

41:44 So the files themselves are a piece of evidence, right, Interviews with survivors are a piece of evidence. Interviews that we that we have with a bunch of folks involved in the Epstein orbits all part of the evidence. Another important part of data and information that we need are communications within the administry. Who talked to who about the Epstein files? Was there a cover up? Who directed that cover up? And one of the very first things Todd Blanche does now that he's ags, he puts out this new guidance. It says, I'm going to expand executive privilege.

42:11 Executive privilege essentially means that he president Republican or Democrats. It's all been all this way in the past, has some level of confidentiality between himself and another member of his administration, and there are certain topics perhaps that might be national security or whatever else that covers that. What he has now said, is that executive privilege actually is so broad that it's the president and anyone else outside the administration that they may view as like a key advisor.

42:37 And so what that really means now is that Donald Trump can be having conversations or directing things with people outside of government and they're still considering that executive privilege. That's illegal. We think it's unconstitutional. It's not going to hold up in court. But it's an example of what Todd blanch is trying to do to protect Donald Trump.

42:55 And it allows now for Donald Trump, on any issue around Epstein, or anyone else for that matter in the administration, to somehow claim that they can't release that information because it's executive privilege, and it's retroactive by the way, So it's things that Donald Trump could have talked about when he served as president. In the last couple of.

43:12 Years, millions of Epstein related files are still being withheld. We only have half the files. The victims have seen no justice Gallain Maxwell meets with Todd Blanche and gets a cushy prison upgrade. What is the most important category of documents the public hasn't seen yet from the Epstein files is there something you've seen that the public hasn't seen yet.

43:41 Most of what Congress has seen, the public has seen. I think there's been some things that have been redacted to protect certain survivors that we haven't seen, but the public has seen most of what we have seen on the actual files. What we still don't have is, we believe is a lot of communication between administration officials, officials and the president and or different things that they view as executive privilege, I mean, anything to do with the President of the United States. They have this blanket executive privilege strategy which which we don't think actually can aligned with the law. And so there's a lot of Donald Trump information and files that we believe still exist with the DOJ we have not seen, and that is incredibly problematic.

44:27 We also don't have any information about who has been directing the cover up and why. Why from day one were they saying that we're going to release the files but then didn't. Why'd they call it a hoax, Why'd they say there was nothing else to be released, Why they docks, Why do they docks some of the survivors.

44:41 All that information has also not been released to us, and so that's We're not going to stop until we get all the files released and until there's justice. And we don't care who's implicated, whether the Republicans or Democrats or independents. We could care less your party, how much money or wealth you have, but if you actually abused, trafficked, raped children or women, you should be held accountable. And the fact that there has been no accountability for so many of these men is why we're in this fight.

45:09 We've got to get justice for the survivors.

45:11 We do. Agreed, agreed.

45:13 Thank you so much, Congressman for joining us. I appreciate you and all the work that you're doing. I look forward to where this investigation is headed. It's so important, So thank.

45:22 You, Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

45:30 Welcome back to brief recess. Wow, that was such a great conversation with the Congressman Garcia. It was really interesting when he was talking about skydiving. He was talking about his first time bungee jumping. That was incredible.

45:43 I had some serious critiques about Odyssey.

45:48 He said it wasn't focused in that my eyes are going well.

45:51 That I believe, but he took issue with the plot.

45:54 Should we pretend that we just like ran back here from our homes. Like, oh, who back in the studio, thanks, guys, like bed knobs and broomsticks, you're just like zooting back and forth. Let's get that's a throwback. That's a throwback. CJ knows childhood the nineties. You remember bed knobs and broomsticks?

46:14 No idea, Oh oh my god.

46:17 In the nineties, I was a grown adult.

46:22 I was watching children.

46:23 I was out making terrible life choices. No.

46:26 When was bed nabs and broom stix was like the eighties. It was like ogg. It was like back in the day when, like CG. I was like a guy just like with a marker on the camera. It was a bunch of white kids travel on a bed that flies everywhere.

46:39 Never in my life. You've never even heard of her in my life?

46:42 Who is she? Who would play her? She's like she looks like the sound of music lady. But it's like Angela Landsbury that's right, yeah, okay. And it was like you touched the bed and it would fly away, so insane, and that would fly to a magical land. Angela Lance very rest in peace.

47:03 Miss.

47:04 She invented the term her movie Gaslight is where the term gaslighting comes from yeah, sorry, not to like man'splain no no.

47:11 No, no, no, no no no. I didn't always know, but I happen to know.

47:15 Sorry to man slain. Guys, everyone's like we know in the comment. Okay, welcome back to what's the show? Briefly, we're going to read all the wicked and wild freakiki things you send in and only one thing about Traders.

47:31 Friends, what do I always say while Michael is a lawyer, I hate.

47:36 You so stupid, I'm ready to go.

47:41 Sorry, friends, what do I always say while Michael is a lawyer, He's not your lawyer, So get your own all right. Well, apparently people are very invested in the fact that Michael is in Traders. So here, here's the thing, is that we understand that for everybody out there who cares.

48:01 About this sort of thing, not Melissa.

48:03 Well no, it's it's news to you.

48:06 Right unless that's my emergency call.

48:08 But as his emergency contact, I already knew all about this, So it just feels like chatter. And like I said, people keep on asking me.

48:16 Questions and I'm not telling you leave her alone. Also, I'm not even.

48:21 On the show Melissa alone.

48:23 She's drunken outside. I'm not even on the show anymore. And Melissa is calling them saying call the pluck. She's like, get.

48:30 Jesse, yank yankin. So we're going to read a few but actually super grateful that people had been chiming in. So we're going to read a few. A few comments our friends and former guests. Ben Hopkins, I'm in every chat freaking out right.

48:51 Really is? And he was, and he kept putting me in the chats.

48:54 Was he really?

48:55 I I don't know who this is. It Isebuela. Okay, someone said see something, say something, really, Michael, So no more walking past choking victims. Okay, am my defense, I was like nineteen and drinking and doing drugs and just being a mess. So well maybe that's not a very good defense. But in my defense, he wasn't. I didn't think he was choking. I thought he was barfing. Okay, So I kept moving, I kept I took a hike. Yeah, I said, cross the street if you see me coming, all right, across the street. If you're choking. I don't want to see that.

49:33 Mar Mar's words. I want Melissa's my emergency contact. Also, I'm a good one. I'm a good one. I don't know why this is funny, but this is funny to me. A wild Geese bookshop, but Diva better get ready to have salmon for breakfastness booth, better than going to Rikers. I'm so excited. What's really funny about that is that they are obviously referencing something that I don't understand, and I still think it's funny.

50:01 So they feed you salmon all the time in Scotland because it's like Scottish salmon.

50:05 Yeah, and it's so I'll say, is it the smoked or.

50:09 Any any of salmon? Is just the freshest salmon because it's coming right from the boat.

50:15 Yeah, I know.

50:15 And so well you're going to You're going.

50:18 To Ireland and Scotland and Scotland.

50:21 When are you going?

50:22 I think yeah soon. I think by the time this episode airs I would have I'll be there.

50:28 And they're doing actually I wanted to tell you about this. In Ireland, they're doing a thing where they'll pay you eighty thousand pounds euro to buy a rustic old house there and fix it up.

50:41 Isn't it for people with Irish heritage though? My ancestor, Yeah, it is the the colinis are part of my ancestry. It goes to France, which does coct it, but it's not Ireland. Although there was like two percent, it's the you know, the big numbers don't really do it because you kind of figure them out.

51:05 It's one little surprise.

51:06 But there was like a surprise. And I want to say, was like japan, who's that guy?

51:12 She said?

51:13 It was interesting.

51:14 I was just like, you listened to the Gwen Stefani Harajuku album once and you're doing in your twenty three and me came back two percent Japanese bananas.

51:24 Anyway. Okay, wait, the wild unicorn is really annoyed, they say so. Most of them are social media influencers. Dumb. I like the UK version where they are actually everyday people.

51:37 Okay, Like, I'm not an everyday person?

51:41 Are you? Are you not an everyday person?

51:43 I don't. I think I am. I have to like Melissa's look at me like, I'm not.

51:51 No, No, Melissa is not looking at you like that. I'm looking at you to see, I think, because the hole that you're digging for yourself and I want to see how deep you'll dig in before you step in.

52:02 I'm normal. Okay, I'm a normal New Yorker. Yes, I got I go to work every day. Sure I eat that. I eat the sloppy bowl of greens that they serve up at the private equity own lunch spots.

52:17 Kappa Bolel's good and like anyway I am. I'll make my own salad, thanks very much. I'll get my greens from the farmer's market green sauce. Oh, what about it?

52:28 Okay? So I'm marinating chicken breast. I did like a couple of spoonfuls. Is that normal amount? Yeah? Okay? Is there a lot of salt in it? Or should I be salting the chicken?

52:36 There is salt in it, okay, But I always feel like chicken is like one of those things.

52:42 That kind of chickens like a deep breath. A chicken breast, it's like eating a deep breath. So I mean, I'm having chicken, it's got to have a lot of rice with it, with sauce on that, and a salad and dessert and.

52:58 Dessert when you when you when you're eating dessert at home? Right?

53:03 Yeah?

53:04 How soon after dinner are you eating diner immediately?

53:08 What if there is a salty, savory flavor in my mouth. I want it gone.

53:13 Okay, well you just an argument with Andrea because Andrea will immediately finish eating dinner and right away.

53:22 Yes, I don't want to have like garlic in my taste in my mouth or whatever. The dinner taste was lingering.

53:30 So immediately I been hanging out.

53:32 I want to eat like a peach, a banana, like some sort of fruit.

53:38 Email after dinner, Yeah, you have had the chicken, the rice, the vegetables, and then.

53:44 I go right to dessert, okay, and then I'm done. And then it's like it's over, like there's no bedtime snack, Like I stop eating at like eight, and then that's like.

53:53 I think that I think having dinner and then immediately.

53:59 Having Who do you agree with coming below?

54:01 I mean I don't care fight me. No, I mean if you can find somebody I don't know eaters.

54:06 What do you mean just taking four hours to get doing a cheese course? What is that? No?

54:10 No, no, no, I just don't understand why if you have finished eating dinner at five thirty that at five thirty one you're already eating a piece of I mean, I.

54:18 Don't get my wrinting shoes on. And go, but like I do, it is.

54:21 Within fifteen minutes. Yeah, oh that's no.

54:24 Wait what about you? What do you do? You want to vibe? You want to hang out? I wait, she's lounging.

54:29 I usually if I want something sweet after dinner, and I usually do. I'm not saying that that's the problem. It's it's like I have dinner and now I'm sitting on the couch and we're watching TV.

54:40 And now they're like, oh, I could go for it.

54:42 I'm going to go have whatever.

54:44 Yeah no, oh my god, no, I'm why. I'm like, let's go, all right, let's roll.

54:51 You should have married Andre then, because that's what that dude is.

54:54 Listen and he does that, he gets yeah, he can call me because I'm right there with them.

54:58 It's weird. It's so weird, so weird. So I'm going to read two things that people have said that I appreciate that I did not realize that I was doing that, but now I have realized it. So I think this person is Helene h sixty three oh seven, And they say, I absolutely adore you to endlessly, well thank you. Just the amount of like like like that were put between every other two words drove me insane. You are both too intellectual for such a massive overuse of a filler word. Helene, you are right.

55:44 What's the handle?

55:46 Heleen? H e e N.

55:49 I thought it was my dad because he tells me that all the joy. Oh my god, my dad calls me all the time and says, you have to stop saying like I'm sorry. I grew up on the Paris Hill and TV show. I grew up on me in Paris Hilton and then the Nicole Ritchie.

56:04 Yeah, but I didn't and I do it to everyone I know does it? And and Helene, you are correct.

56:11 I know.

56:11 And I think that those of us who do that don't even realize that we're doing it.

56:17 And Helene, if you're worried about us, worry about the gen Z because they're saying they're saying skibbity toilet, they're saying sky racy.

56:26 That six seven. I don't even I still don't understand what that is.

56:30 I don't want to know. Is it a gang thing? And I won't go near. I don't care what the street names are. The intersection is, Oh, this is funny.

56:46 I didn't see this. This is cute. I love when something is good about me? Am I alone in that Lisa Lisa Lisa Sullivan says, I should have been watching y'all live all along. But let's look and Carrio as scene with just her face.

57:02 She can, she really can. You would have been a great silent film star as well, just like she did the thriller dance move for it. Just now, Okay, okay, I.

57:17 Really want to read this because I was talking to c J from Yay Gadget, and this is a review on the Apple podcast. It's a fun podcast, and I like how it feels like a casual conversation about what's going on in their lives and current news. My only complaint is the constant mm hmm uh huh, Melissa says while Michael is talking every once in a while. Sure, but it's too much and it's distracting. Sometimes I just give shut up. Sometimes I just skip the episode if it's too much. If they could reel that in the podcast will be much better. Yy Gadget, let me say something to you the no no, no, I'm not going to get them. I'm gonna get me. Because the day that I read this, within a few moments, CJ had sent us the link to the last episode, you know,

58:08 so we so folks who don't know we we review the episodes before the give notes. And I read your comment and I'm listening to myself uh huh and h a million times and now it's in my head similarly to the like like like, I do not realize that I am doing that. And here's why I think. I don't have an excuse for the like likewike, But the uhuh is because I want Michael or whoever it is, to know that I am listening, and so I am trying to let them know. I think that I am engaged into what they're saying. But I can appreciate how annoying that is to listen to because I heard it and it annoyed me. So now you do less, I'm gonna.

59:01 Try, and I think that's great. Yeah, you took the feedback.

59:04 I did take the feedback.

59:05 CJ has like a little like plug and he just unplugs my mic when Molyss's talking because he's like, shut this fucking guy up, and then he just goes and then when it seems like I'm going to talk, he plucks it back in. You have to react somewhat to one anomalist is not saying anything. Oh man, next week, it's a cardboard cutout. All right, let's do one more, Okay, Heather and lebar Bartholomew wrote in and said your podcast the best. It's so good on road trips. My boomer husband asks if we can listen to it on road trips.

59:40 He listens to one local college sports podcast, So trust and believe this is I praise, Oh my God. Speaking of my boomer husband, I'm listening to the episode where you discuss the woman who would foot shortening surgery and you were concerned that a smaller foot would not support a tall body. That does sound like something that we were concerned about. And I still am. Melissa's not responding at all to anything. I'm saying. I'm so mad right now.

1:00:08 We're gonna have to dub her. Move your mouth, and we're going to put words in it. We're going to dub her and make sure it's a compliment about me. Uh, Leather says, my husband sixty three and has a size nine.

1:00:20 Foot standing up.

1:00:31 This was he listened to show lying down on the street.

1:00:35 Do you remember the episode that she's talking about. It was a it was a trans person who was It was a trans woman who was having foot feminization surgery, so they were trying to make her foot smaller, which I get. But if she was tall and broad feet that went along with that. Now that her foot is smaller, what are we going to do?

1:00:57 Yeah?

1:00:57 Is she like a But it looks like this woman is saying that we.

1:01:03 Bull's wobble but they don't fall down. If you know, you know he is not amused. Well, he's going to hate this seriously though, How do you stand? How are you agile functional human in this world? I agree? I agree? Really tall people with tiny feet please write in. I want to know if you fall down more? Are you taking little little stippy steps, tippy step steps, tippy tappers, toast tippy toes. Are you a jogger with tiny feet?

1:01:31 How does that work?

1:01:32 Well? So here's let me again. I don't know big dogs. Well they but they go with the rest of you. Yeah, I'm a big But her husband that this woman is talking about, who's tall and has smaller feet, he has always had those feet, right, He's always been as tall as.

1:01:49 He is gotten his whole life has been able to right.

1:01:52 So I was I'm wondering about the person who grew up with these feet and now has made them smaller. Right, that person, I'm much more.

1:02:03 It's short, little finance guys who get the leg lengthening surgery and they've got really like get their legs busted, and they get them taller. Yeah, you know so, and they go from being five to three to five four. You know, it's like they go through all this horrific sea and their legs are an excruciating pain.

1:02:22 You know, I wonder. I mean, I've said this before, but I'm gonna ask it again. Do you ever feel like we're running out of shits to do to ourselves? So because and because to my short king's out there, you are okay the way that you are.

1:02:43 Yeah, come set on my lap.

1:02:48 I got a snugyacker wrapum in those pouches.

1:02:52 I love a little short guy. They're so cute. Let me give you a piggyback ride, all right, get me out of here.

1:02:59 Let me give you opion is you're a giant.

1:03:04 Anyway, to Heather's husband, I'm assuming he who listens to local college sports radio and as small feet, I just want to say, Cayler Murray, can you pick it on? Iverson mugs, bogus, Wes Welker. There you go, Heath, that.

1:03:19 Is saying things, but I don't understand.

1:03:21 That's for you, he said, speaking in tongues. Yeah, I don't started.

1:03:24 Yeah, okay, I'm assuming that these are sport references.

1:03:28 I thought it was, and the cast of Hereditary it was it was. He started speaking. He said, I help him on. Damn. He started speaking in tongues. Thank you so much for watching this episode, even if it was a little chaotic, and I look forward to seeing you next week. This has been Brief Recess. I'll see you in court. I think I got to actually check the doc ut. This has been an exactly right production. Recorded at iHeart Studios, Posted by me Michael.

1:03:58 Foot and me wellissam Albranch. Our producer is CJ. Ferroni.

1:04:02 This episode is edited by Mark Schroeder.

1:04:04 Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain, and our guest booker is Patria Cottner.

1:04:09 Our theme song was composed by Tom Brifogel with artwork from Charlotte Delarue MNSA Lilac with photography by Brad Obono.

1:04:16 Brief Recess is executive produced by Karen Kilgareff. Georgia hart Stark and Danielle Kramer.

1:04:21 You can find me on Instagram at Department of Redundancy Department or on TikTok at Michael foot.

1:04:26 And I'm on both Instagram and TikTok as Melissa Albranch.

1:04:29 Got legal questions, reach out at brief Recess at exactlyrightmedia dot com. Listen to brief Recess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, and of course we're a podcasts with video. Search for brief Recess on YouTube