5️⃣ The shot he didn't take
Asked what Democrats could impeach him for if they win Congress, Donald Trump said he could have done "very bad things" to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Hussein Obama but thought it "inappropriate." Then: "I've had my shot and still do." People have told him "let's go get them," he said, and he told them no, "you can't do that to the presidency." Zev's read: he is trying to talk Democrats out of impeaching him by reminding them what he could have done. Dean translated it as a man afraid of what happens after Nov. 3.
4️⃣ Camp David on county land
Asked whether he would call it Camp Donald, Trump said the course is "already called Trump International" and that the military and the Secret Service suggested making part of it a retreat for presidents. "This wouldn't be for me," he said. The club's lawyer wrote Palm Beach County on Sept. 3 for county land the club would pay to build on. Zev doubts the Secret Service ever asked, and calls it a land grab four weeks before an election.
3️⃣ The Senate is in play
Democrats need four seats and the map offers seven. Cook moved North Carolina to Likely Democratic and Kansas to a toss-up, Inside Elections projects two to four pickups, and Republicans hold the chamber 53 to 47. In Texas, James Talarico leads Ken Paxton 51 to 49 at Fox News, and a third tape from the same donor meeting has Paxton blaming the war. Zev and Dean both read the leaks as Paxton's own doing, which puts distance between him and Trump without a public fight.
2️⃣ The Epstein untouchables
Ellie Leonard joined from New York after Tuesday's protest asking MoMA to drop Leon Black from its board. Black has denied every allegation and has never been charged or convicted. She walked through where he stands: House Oversight subpoenaed him for his NDAs, he skipped the deposition, the House held him in contempt, and he sued the committee. Zev's four men in the Epstein record with no charges: Howard Lutnick, still Commerce Secretary, Black, Paolo Zampolli and Trump. Zev wants the new Congress to open a special investigation into all four on its first day.
1️⃣ Told to leave, with WHO waiting
Trump says he has "a call set up" with Putin, and the Kremlin says nothing is arranged. Dean read the Oct. 6 U.S. Embassy alert, which repeats the Level 4 advisory telling Americans in Russia to depart immediately. The World Health Organization says it is ready to support the Russian authorities if they ask, and nobody outside Russia has seen the lab. Zev: 12 days in, Russia has given two numbers, 197 contacts and two possible deaths. "You don't quarantine six hospitals when nothing is going on."
Thank you Brodee Myers-Cooke, LC - Silence is Complicity, Lyudmila, Hold On, Mr.E, Jess Odell, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell and Ellie Leonard! Join me for my next live video in the app.
