Ellie Leonard joined Zev Shalev on Friday the 13th, and the two announced a new show.
5️⃣ Epstein Petition Hits 218
Thomas Massie's petition to force a second Epstein files vote passed 218 signatures, with every Democrat and four Republicans. Speaker Mike Johnson said Massie did it "for attention" and is "trying to cause chaos on the way out." Leonard said the bill would let survivors and Congress sue the Justice Department, but may shut out other lawsuits, such as journalists', and survivors who have not yet come forward. She said Rep. Jamie Raskin searched the full files for Trump's name and got about a million hits, against roughly 5,300 in the released files.
4️⃣ The Circle Gets Smaller
A woman giggled on the line before Trump came on C-SPAN's new primetime show. Leonard's guess: Natalie Harp. Stephen Miller now runs the White House, and Cabinet secretaries reach Trump only through him or Chamberlain Harris. Shalev expects Katie Miller, with no title, to shepherd the lobbyists while her husband controls access. Leonard: "It's the people with no titles who are the most dangerous."
3️⃣ Zelensky's Two Rooms
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff sat with Putin in the Kremlin, then briefed Volodymyr Zelensky in Ireland. Shalev pointed to a clip of Zelensky turning the glasses on the table upside down. Shalev: "He looks like he's been kept hostage." Leonard: "Nobody's going to sit down and eat or drink anything with the Kremlin." Next week Trump meets Xi: "three against one," Shalev said.
2️⃣ War Talk as Prices Hit 6.5%
Israel's spy chief, Roman Gofman, was in Washington for talks on the Iran war, Axios reported, as Benjamin Netanyahu presses Trump to resume it. Wholesale prices rose 6.5% on the year, the most since 2022. When Joe Biden left office, the rate was 3.5%. Shalev warned of stagflation. Leonard's grocery test: two boxes of foil for $28.
1️⃣ Lutnick Takes the Fall
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that four departments wanted Megaspeed blacklisted "for months. But Commerce has the pen." Shalev's read: Howard Lutnick is being set up to take the fall for Trump, who knows far more about the chips. But Lutnick "has a lot of dirt on the president." Leonard noted that Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein shared a wall on 71st Street in New York for 20 years.
OUR NEW SHOW “THE INVESTIGATORS”
THE INVESTIGATORS, a new Narativ show with Shalev and Leonard, launches Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET. Congress is about to open hundreds of investigations, and the show will watch the investigators. Also: a heckler at the Majority Democrats' conference in Denver accused Hakeem Jeffries of taking private-equity money; Jeffries answered, "Remember, y'all, I grew up in Brooklyn." Leonard writes The Panicked Writer. Shalev thanked the week's fill-in co-hosts: Anne P. Mitchell, Lev Parnas, Wajahat Ali, Guy Kawasaki and Leonard.
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