Latest news with #TheTaraPalmeriShow
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Michael Cohen Shares Details of 'Only' Trump-Epstein Case He Worked On
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Michael Cohen, formerly President Donald Trump's personal attorney and so-called "fixer," said recently on a podcast that he never met or spoke to Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell and "only" ever worked on one case involving allegations of criminal sexual conduct. Newsweek reached out to Cohen via email for comment. Why It Matters The Trump administration has received blowback for weeks now for questions from the public and some lawmakers regarding the president's true ties to Epstein. The wealthy financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving dozens of women and girls as young as 14. High-ranking officials within the Trump administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi, promised either during the presidential campaign or once in office that files about Epstein would be available for public consumption. After a July memo by the FBI and Justice Department said there was no Epstein "client list" and that no further charges would be brought, allegations and conspiracies have swirled—even leading to a meeting reportedly including Patel, Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Bondi, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. What To Know Cohen, whose relationship with Trump all but vanished after he served a prison sentence for charges of tax evasion and tying Trump to the Stormy Daniels scandal, spoke with journalist Tara Palmeri on her podcast, The Tara Palmeri Show. She asked Cohen about his knowledge of Trump's friendship with Epstein and whether allegations leveled against the president could be perceived as true in some instances. Cohen then discussed a Trump-Epstein case he worked on about a decade ago, before he and the president officially cut ties. "And as far as the only case that I was involved with was a Jane Doe, an infant, by and through her mom, Mary Jane Doe, as legal guardian," Cohen said. Michael Cohen departs from his home in New York City on May 14, 2024. Michael Cohen departs from his home in New York City on May 14, 2024. DavidHe was referencing a lawsuit filed in the months before the 2016 election by an anonymous plaintiff using the name "Katie Johnson." That lawsuit, filed in federal court in Riverside, California, in April 2016, named Trump and Epstein as defendants. It claimed the men held Johnson as a "sex slave" in 1994 when she was 13 and forced her to perform sex acts. A judge dismissed the case in May that year, ruling that the complaint didn't raise valid claims under federal law. "I turn around and I receive this summons in a complaint, and the aversions in it are awful. They're despicable," Cohen said. "It talks about the basic rate of an underage female claiming and alleging that Donald was involved in it and all that other nonsense. I ended up taking a private investigator and trying to find out who this person was. "We went to the address that allegedly this minor lived at in the Bronx. Well, lo and behold, the investigator responds back and says, 'The only thing that's there is an empty parking lot. There's no building there, it's an empty lot.' I reached out to the lawyers and I asked them, 'Have you ever met your client?' Their answer was no. I said, 'Well, how the hell did you sign the case up?' And they're like, 'Listen, we screwed up...'" Palmeri also asked Cohen about any ties to Trump, Epstein and Maxwell. He replied that "trolls" attempt to include him in such allegations. "I've never met Jeffrey Epstein," Cohen said. "There's so much misinformation, disinformation, malinformation about me, which goes all the way back to the Steele dossier. "I've never met [Maxwell]. I've never spoken to her, you know," Cohen said. What People Are Saying Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday: "We know that Jeffrey Epstein had a lot connections with left-wing politicians and left-wing billionaires. And now President Trump has demanded full transparency from this, and yet somehow the Democrats are attacking him and not the Biden administration, which did nothing for four years." Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, on X in July: "For years I've been demanding release of the Epstein files, and I was hopeful this administration would do it. When it recently became apparent that no one was seriously working on it, I moved to force a vote on legislation to release the files. Is your congressman on board?" What Happens Next Maxwell, who was jailed for 20 years in 2022 for various crimes related to sex trafficking over her role in grooming girls for Epstein to abuse, was recently transferred to a minimum security prison in Texas shortly after meetings with Blanche over two days in July. Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California said this week that the Epstein survivors would join them at a news conference on September 3.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Biden fundraiser-turned Trumper has spectacular meltdown in podcast interview
A former fundraiser for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who switched her allegiance to President Donald Trump following his election win, fell apart spectacularly in an interview about her upcoming tell-all book. Lindi Li accused podcaster Tara Palmeri of 'ambushing' her, after she was asked a relatively simple question about the contents of the book in which she had 'unfettered access' to parts of the White House. The 34-year-old served as the Democratic National Committee Mid-Atlantic Regional Chair and stumped for vice president Harris during the 2024 presidential election. Following Trump's win, she now describes herself online as a 'DNC critic supporting the GOP.' Li is currently working on her new book titled Unburdened and reportedly claimed in it that Biden had given her 'free reign of the White House.' Challenged about this claim by Palmeri on a recent episode of her podcast, The Tara Palmeri Show, Li attempted to answer vaguely – before becoming visibly flustered and frustrated. 'You could go to places that were usually cordoned off,' she said, to which Palmeri replied: 'Like where?' Li added: 'Like when you go there on a tour, it's usually roped off. Or at Christmas parties, it is like, areas are, you're just not allowed there.' 'Like what parts?' Palmeri pressed her. Li responded: 'I wasn't in the residence. I don't know the specific part, the names of the parts…. I don't know what you're trying to get at.' Palmeri noted several other details of the book that Li claimed were 'still in draft form' and being written by a ghost writer, prompting the recent Trump-convert to become irritated – saying she had asked Palmeri's producer not to share details of the text. 'It's not even done. So you're sharing a form that's, like, really rough and I specifically… he promised me that you wouldn't be sharing this rough draft… it's not ready to be published and you're sharing a draft that's not done,' Li said. Palmeri then questioned why Li would write something in her draft book if it was not a fact, to which Li began to become more flustered, reiterating she had not written specific parts of the book. After more back and forth, Li – visibly annoyed – asked Palmeri: 'Are you just here to ambush me? Like what is going on now?' After the sweeping Democratic loss in the presidential election in November, Li was one of the first within the party to blame the result on over-progressiveness – including the selection of Harris' running mate Tim Walz.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Did This Far-Right Troll Get Trump's National Security Adviser Fired?
Laura Loomer sowed doubts about Mike Waltz, Donald Trump's departing national security adviser, during a meeting in the Oval Office last month that resulted in the dismissal of multiple staffers on the National Security Council. In a podcast interview on The Tara Palmeri Show released Thursday, Trump's favorite far-right conspiracy theorist said that she'd had concerns about Waltz's loyalty after he signed off on the hiring of individuals who'd previously criticized the president. In the infamous meeting where she presented her so-called evidence to support the firing of several more traditionally neoconservative foreign policy hawks, Loomer had wanted to present a supposedly damning video of Waltz to the president too. Loomer claimed she'd been unable to show the video to Trump because Waltz had entered the room, but she shared the video on Palmeri's podcast. Loomer played a 2016 advertisement for an anti-Trump PAC featuring Waltz, in which he criticized Trump's statement mocking service members who'd been captured in combat. 'It's something that I just personally can't stomach,' Waltz said in the video. 'So if you can't stomach it, why do you want to work for President Trump? If you can't stomach it, why do you want to work for the administration?' asked Loomer, who evidently has a strong stomach for moral bankruptcy, as she has described herself as 'pro-white nationalist' and a 'proud Islamophobe.' The far-right activist clarified that she hadn't been gunning for Waltz during the meeting. 'No, I was not trying to fire Michael Waltz. My question is, if Michael Waltz is telling the president of the United States that these people are good people, that he personally signed off on, and that he personally vetted, well, what does a Michael Waltz vet entail? And is it biased, given the fact that he himself has made anti-Trump comments in the past?' she said. 'I wasn't trying to get him removed, I was just making the point that, you know, he's not exactly a Trump loyalist,' Loomer said. Loomer was adamant she hadn't been trying to get Waltz sacked, and claimed she was simply doing her due diligence while stressing her own enduring loyalty to the commander in chief. 'I don't want you framing this as, 'Oh, Laura Loomer tried to get Michael Waltz fired!' I didn't go in there trying to get him fired, I was just making the point that I'm a Trump loyalist. I never said—I never campaigned against Trump. Michael Waltz was working with a PAC that was trying to actively campaign against Donald Trump in 2016. So my point was, Michael Waltz is not going to have the same standard of loyalty that I have because he himself was a Trump hater, right? So I was trying to explain that,' she insisted. 'But how would that not make Trump want to fire him?' Palmeri asked. 'I think it's important that President Trump see these things,' Loomer replied. She said that she didn't know if Trump had been made aware of the video before tapping Waltz. When Palmeri asked the White House whether Waltz had ever spoken to Trump about his critical comments, a Trump administration official responded with the following statement: 'Mike has supported President Trump since after the primaries of 2016. He is a steadfast supporter of the president's America First agenda, and works everyday to implement it.' Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, are expected to leave their posts by the end of the day Thursday, but Trump announced that afternoon that he was nominating Waltz to serve as the ambassador to the United Nations. Crucially, it's not clear that Waltz was removed from his post over concerns about loyalty. The hapless national security adviser had been the subject of multiple scandals during his brief time in the Trump administration, including mistakenly inviting a reporter to join a Signal group chat about plans to bomb Yemen.
New York Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
David Hogg clashes with an irate James Carville over Dem primary plan, calls on him to ‘win elections'
Democratic strategist James Carville and Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg sparred over the best strategy to help the party win elections in a heated debate on Wednesday. Tensions between the two began weeks earlier when Hogg announced plans to spend $20 million through his political organization Leaders We Deserve to primary-challenge older Democrats in blue districts. Democrats were split on this strategy, with some anonymous committee members calling out Hogg for spending money on Democratic primaries over beating Republicans. Advertisement Carville attacked Hogg's plan as the 'most insane thing' he'd ever heard and questioned whether he was breaching his 'fiduciary duty' as a party head. 'Does he really think the problem that we're facing in the United States today is because we got 65-year-old Democrats in office? Why don't you take on a Republican? That's your job,' Carville asserted on CNN. He also referred to Hogg as a 'contemptible little twerp' in a comment on NewsNation, which Hogg responded to on CNN shortly afterward. 3 March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg speaks during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. AP Advertisement 'Carville believes in a politics of being timid, of hiding. I believe in fighting, and that is what people want to see right now from the Democratic Party,' Hogg said. The two finally met to hash out their differences on 'The Tara Palmeri Show' on Wednesday. When the topic of Hogg's primary plan came up, Carville criticized it as 'abominable' and 'jacka–ery of the highest level' for prioritizing pushing out Democrats over beating Republicans. Hogg shot back that the party is capable of both. Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Advertisement 'You have to understand the nuance here—' Hogg said. 'I don't,' Carville interrupted as the two began talking over each other. 'There's no nuance to it. It's just flat-out wrong. That's money that could be used to beat Republicans to beat Democrats.' 'Here's the deal, James,' Hogg asked. 'What is your plan to deal with our abominable approval rating?' 3 James Carville poses for a portrait at the 27th SCAD Savannah Film Festival on October 31, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. Getty Images Advertisement 'Win elections!' Carville shouted. 'Win elections, you see, against Republicans.' He added, 'You want my strategy? It's to win elections. It's not to win an election in Queens which you don't ever run against a Republican. It's to help Democrats win elections.' Hogg and Carville ultimately came together on the desire to 'elect the best Democrat possible' and the party's problem with reaching male voters. Both also criticized former President Biden for refusing to drop out of the 2024 presidential race until July. In an X post after the podcast aired, Carville clarified that he still supported Hogg and that the DNC 'needs him.' 3 James Carville and David Hogg argued over the best way to elect Democrats during 'The Tara Palmeri Show' on April 30, 2025. ouTube / Tara Palmeri 'Just called @DavidHogg111. He reminded me of the story of, after the battle of Shiloh, Henry Halleck urged President Lincoln to fire Ulysses Grant. Lincoln said: 'I can't fire him. This man fights.' David Hogg fights. The DNC needs him,' Carville wrote. Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC for comment. Advertisement Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin recently criticized Hogg's strategy in a conference call last week. 'I've said to him, if you want to challenge incumbents, you're more than free to do that, but just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be neutral arbiters. We can't be both the referee and also the player at the same time,' Martin said. 'It's important for us to maintain the trust that we have built with Democratic voters and to keep our thumb off the scale as party officers,' Martin added.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
James Carville Slams David Hogg For 'Jackassery' Before They Agree On 1 Big Thing
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville went head to head with Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, slamming Hogg over his approach to securing wins for the party in upcoming elections. 'You want my strategy? It's to win elections,' Carville told Hogg on Wednesday's episode of 'The Tara Palmeri Show.' Tensions between Carville and Hogg mounted last month when the 25-year-old's organization, Leaders We Deserve, announced plans to spend $20 million to elect younger Democratic primary challengers in traditionally safe, blue districts. 'What we're saying is we need to make room for a new generation to step up and help make sure that we have the people that are most acutely impacted by a lot of the issues that we are legislating on — that are actually going to live to see the consequences of this,' Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, told The New York Times. Hogg's message did not sit right with the 80-year-old Carville, who called the plan 'the most insane thing' in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. 'Does he really think the problem that we're facing in the United States today is because we got 65-year-old Democrats in office? Why don't you take on a Republican? That's your job,' Carville said. After weeks of intense disagreement, the two Democrats appeared on Palmeri's show to debate their differences. Carville maintained his stance, calling Hogg's plan to vote out sitting Democrats 'jackassery of the highest level.' 'There's no nuance to it,' Carville said. 'It's just flat-out wrong. That's money that could be used to beat Republicans.' Hogg responded that his plan is, in part, meant to address the sinking approval rating within the Democratic Party. 'I worry if we don't address the approval rating that we have right now from our own base, it's going to be a lot harder to win back the House, so what do we do to address that?' Hogg asked. The two eventually found some areas of agreement, including their belief that President Joe Biden should have dropped out of the 2024 presidential election sooner. Hogg said he regrets not calling for Biden to drop out in 2023, something Carville said he did in 2022. 'Frankly, that's one of my biggest regrets, is not saying that, and I'm thankful that you did, James, and I'm not going to forget that mistake that I made, and that's why I'm trying to speak out now and do what I think is right in this moment,' Hogg said. 'Don't feel bad,' Carville said. 'If I would have been you, I would have never done this, if I'd have been 25 years old and wanted some future in Democratic politics. I was able to do it because there was nothing they could do to me.' As Carville reassured Hogg, Palmeri exclaimed, 'Aw!' Carville praised Hogg on X following the episode, writing, 'The DNC needs him.' 'Oh God!': James Carville Marks Trump's First 100 Days In 'Big Time' Fashion James Carville Slams Bill Maher As 'Supremely Naive Man' Over Trump Meeting James Carville Blasts DNC Vice Chair's 'Most Insane' Plan Against Party
