Tuesday, September 15, 2026 Today, Donald Trump Jr's Bahamian wedding was bankrolled by the Kremlin; a whistleblower says federal agents may have broken the law in search of voter fraud; an IG report details abhorrent conditions at the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp; the President is holding the Kennedy Center hostage threatening to close it if he can’t put his name on it again; a Trump-appointed judge has issued a second block on the Postal Service’s mail ballot rule and the DOJ has appealed it to the Supreme Court; Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland held rare talks Monday to break away from the United Kingdom; the EPA has revoked the rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions; staffers say Mitch McConnell will return to the Senate this week; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Today, Donald Trump Jr's Bahamian wedding was bankrolled by the Kremlin; a whistleblower says federal agents may have broken the law in search of voter fraud; an IG report details abhorrent conditions at the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp; the President is holding the Kennedy Center hostage threatening to close it if he can’t put his name on it again; a Trump-appointed judge has issued a second block on the Postal Service’s mail ballot rule and the DOJ has appealed it to the Supreme Court; Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland held rare talks Monday to break away from the United Kingdom; the EPA has revoked the rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions; staffers say Mitch McConnell will return to the Senate this week; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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Msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Today, Donald Trump Jr's Bahamian wedding was bankrol the Kremlin. A whistleblower says federal agents may have broken the law in search for voter fraud. An inspector general report details abhorrent conditions at the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp. The president is holding the Kennedy center hostage, threatening to close it if he can't put his name on it again. A Trump appointed judge has issued a second block on the Postal Service's mail ballot rule, but the DOJ has appealed it to the Supreme Court. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland held rare talks Monday to break away from the United Kingdom. The Environmental Protection Agency has revoked the rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions. And staffers say Mitch McConnell is back in the Senate. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Dana, welcome back, my friend. It's good to see you.
Thank you. Good to see you, too. Thank you for covering me while I was out. super disappointed to see Mitch M. McConnell rolling out of his house toward the Senate today. I'm shocked. I am shocked that he's alive. I'm not gonna lie.
Yeah, I guess he gave a statement. He's there. He's gonna vote on this farm bill and we'll talk about that a little bit. You've got a story. But I just want to break in here and say, today at noon Pacific time, the links for election night watch party tickets will go out to patrons of this show and clean up on aisle 45. So make sure you check your junk mail in case you didn't get it. That's noon today, Tuesday, September 15th, noon Pacific time. And later in the show, I'm going to be talking with Adam Klassfeldt from All Rise News and we're going to talk about Don Jr's Russian funded wedding, which is just an Incredible story from ProPublica.
I'm not surprised. we've got a quick one from Politico is reporting that the GOP lawmakers believe Senator Mitch M. McConnel Donald is going to return to Capitol Hill this week ending that three month health related absence, that they wouldn't put out any sort of any video proof of life. And that's all according to four people granted anonymity to disclose private conversations. Now, the senator staff has told senior Republicans that he will be back at the Capitol in time for a Wednesday committee vote on the farm bill which stalled earlier this summer amid his absence. That's according to three other people with direct knowledge of the Matter who were also granted anonymity. His vote, by the way, it's actually needed to get the GOP written farm bill out of the Agriculture Committee after Chair John Boozman told Politico that he is intending to have another vote this week.
Yeah, and, you know, as we're sitting here, he just arrived on Capitol Hill and gave a brief statement, but wouldn't take any questions. So he's there. He's back. Like you, I am frankly shocked.
If he get into any questions. I'm wondering if he, if he lost his, his ability to speak. I don't. I want to see if this is a thumbs up, thumbs down. Does he just push a button? Do you have to say anything when you vote on the Senate floor? You just push a button.
Right, Right. You just push a button.
Yeah. It'll be really interesting to see.
Yeah. And, yeah, I guess he did give a verbal statement. I haven't listened to it yet, but it was short and he didn't answer any questions, so.
Got it.
Anyway, he's there.
All right, everybody, we have tons of news to get to, so let's hit the hot notes.
Hot notes.
All right, first up from democracy docket, the Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court in a filing Monday to lift a new lower court order completely blocking the US Postal Service from implementing mail voting restrictions that stem from Trump's March executive order attacking mail voting. In a ruling Sunday, U.S. district Judge Carl Nichols in D.C. fully barred the USPS from executing any part of its mail voting rule, including allowing states to voluntarily comply with the restrictions. That's a step further than Telwani. Judge Talwani, I'll get into that in a second. The judge sided with Democrats, the League of United Latin American Citizens, lulac, and the NAACP in finding that the agency likely overstepped its authority in adopting the restrictions at all last month. Now, the DOJ wants that decision stayed alongside US District Judge Indira Talwani's September 4th order against the USPS rule. The department previously asked the Supreme Court to pause her block, and the court could rule on that any minute now. Judge Nichols ruling, like I said, went further than Talwani's. While her order barred USPS from compelling states to comply with the new postal rule, Nichols, whom Trump nominated in 2018, said that states complying with mail voting orders even voluntarily, would create even more confusion and misunderstanding. So he is taking it a step further and not allowing states to voluntarily use this new system at the post office.
Oh, boy.
Yeah, we'll see what the Supreme Court says.
Breaking news, everyone breaking news.
The U.S. supreme Court has declined to allow Donald Trump administration to implement postal service rules restricting mail in voting. The Supreme Court has denied Trump's bid to go forward with his postal service rule restricting mail in voting. Huge news. We'll have more tomorrow.
All right, this next one's from the Post. Leaders of the John F. Kennedy center of the Performing Arts, because that's its name, installed by President Donald Trump, say the center is on the brink of bankruptcy. Really? He bankrupted something that's shocking. And argue that putting the president's name on its facade and thus ensuring its fundraising efforts may be the only way to avoid imminent, and I quote, certain fiscal collapse. According to documents obtained by the Washington Post. This is just fucking classic. I mean, come on.
Oh, yeah, it's totally going bankrupt because of Joe Biden. And the only way to rescue it is to put Donald Trump's name back on it again.
Right, because it wasn't incredibly successful for all these years with just Kennedy's name on it before you fucking ruined this place. The bleak assessment is laid out in a 57 page packet distributed to the center's board of trustees ahead of a special meeting Tuesday when the Trump led board is scheduled to consider two resolutions aimed at addressing twin crisis confronting the National Performing Arts Center. Those are one, financial. Financial. The other is physical. Center officials said that they could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts within a matter of weeks and argue that publicly recognizing Trump could secure his help, raising enough money to keep the institution afloat. Okay, what happened to all the money, the fundraising money they had? Didn't they have money pouring into $200 million into a special fund?
Huh? Uh-huh.
Center officials are also recommending that the board close its main building immediately, warning that remaining open would endanger lives. Board approval, which seems likely means the center could close as early as Tuesday. The presentation makes clear that Trump's support hinges on getting public credit for his involvement. The financial resolution says Trump has offered to, and I quote, raise the necessary funds to keep the center from bankruptcy while the building undergoes a sweeping renovation. But it says Trump is unlikely to provide fundamental oversight of that project or lead a financial rescue without appropriate recognition of his role. Yep, go fucking break it and then go fucking fix it. That's his. That's what he does to everything. He lights the fire and then he. He plays the job of firefighter and then makes the fire worse.
And he can totally raise money for
it now, but he won't unless
they put his name on the building.
That's right. Trustees are being asked to choose among 10 texts that could be placed on the building's exterior beneath its, including one reading renovation, Restoration and Endowment, Overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund. Yeah, that's short. That's going to look fucking great on the side of the building, by the way. Welcome back, everyone. I have a lot of fucks to give. Apparently out loud. Lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty, the Democrat from Ohio, wonderful Kennedy center trustee who has sued to keep Trump's name off the building, blasted this new proposal. This constant effort to add Donald Trump's name to the Kennedy center facade is the definition of insanity. That's what lawyers Norm Eisen, Fabulous and Nathaniel Zelensky said in a statement, went on to say, this is now the third attempt to deface this sacred memorial and turn it into a vanity project for one man's ego. We're still now Trump is taking the center hostage and threatening to in effect kill it unless he gets his way. This has to stop. He's just a fucking egomaniacal child.
Yep, yep, I can totally pay for it, but, you have to put
my name on the front again. Like, oh God. All right, next, from Le Monde France.
This is wild.
The leaders of the main Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish separatist parties are holding rare talks on Monday, September 14, aiming to advance their campaigns to break away from Britain. That's what they announced in a statement. Scottish Nationalist Party leader John Swinney rune aplore with of Plaid Kymeru in Wales. I'm probably pronouncing that improperly. And Michelle o' Neill of Irish Republican Sinn Fein said they would meet in Cardiff to press for self determination votes in their territories. The leaders added they would quote, look at how the parties can work constructively with one another by identifying practical areas of partnership around economy, energy and European and international cooperation. The leaders will also call on the British government to prepare, plan and facilitate constitutional change in Wales, Scotland and North Ireland.
Now.
The meeting comes only days after Trump said he would back a united Ireland. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out a vote in Northern Ireland. Scotland held a referendum, if you'll remember, in 2014, they narrowly voted to remain part of Britain and governments since have ruled out an immediate rerun. The independence parties are not the biggest in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments for the first time since devolution measures started in 99, Sinn Fein has been the biggest party in Northern Ireland's assembly since 2022. The regional parliaments have key powers on health, education, housing, transportation and environmental matters along with some tax gather. So this is an interesting development that these opposition parties are meeting to discuss breaking away from the United Kingdom.
All right. By the way, did you see Trump getting asked about this? He just sounded like a demented person just talking in circles about something he had absolutely nothing, no knowledge of and didn't understand.
Pretty much.
All right. This next story is from the Associated Press. The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it is repealing rules that limit planet warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas gas, and announced that it is taking a separate but related step to prevent future administrations from regulating climate pollution from power plants. That's insane. The rule change first proposed last year represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Joe Biden's administration and Barack Obama to address climate change and clean up industrial pollution. Environmental groups decry the change, saying it would come at a cost to Americans health and further degrade the environment. Revoking the Biden Arab power plant rule would save the industry more than $300 billion in costs and help unleash American energy. This is from the epa.
By the way.
The change will allow utilities to make the best decisions of their ratepayers rather than be forced to close aging or inefficient plants. This is again what the EPA Assistant Administrator Aaron Sabo said. The power plant rule, to take effect soon after publication in the Federal Register, is expected to face imminent legal challenges. Environmental groups are also likely to challenge the separate rule proposed Monday that could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The proposal, expected to be made final next year, allows an EPA's action earlier this year revoking a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for US Action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. The February action eliminated all greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and trucks. The new plan would apply similar logic to a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants. The power plant rule is among nearly three dozen environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in early 2025 when he announced that he called, and I quote, the most consequential day of deregulation in American history. These old folks, and some of them aren't, I know they're young, they do not care about this environment. Greenhouse. They don't care about any of this. The fires, the flood, the fact that there's two hurricanes in the ocean at the same time. You know, hopefully one of them takes out Mar A Lago, like they don't care about any of this shit. It's all. The bottom line is money. That's it.
Yeah. I'm wondering when they're going to change the name of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Environmental Destruction Agency, because that's what they've become.
Absolutely.
Next up from NBC. Some immigrants detained at Florida's now shuttered Alligator Alcatraz were confined in outdoor cages only slightly larger than telephone booths, for more than an hour at a time, according to a new by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector general. Now, just preface this by saying the DHS inspector general is one of two out of 19 that Trump didn't fire when he came into office. His name is Kufari. I think he helped cover up the deletion of Secret Service text messages after January6. This is a bad dude. Like Jamie Raskin has forever been calling for this guy's resignation. He's been under investigation before, but he has actually put out this scathing report. And I think it actually might have something to do with maybe Donald Trump's ire against Ron DeSantis rather than giving a shit about what happened at the concentration camp. But I digress. I'm just speculating here, but this watchdog report marks the first time a government agency has confirmed the existence of cramped cages at the South Florida detention facility. Amnesty International found in a report published in December, based on interviews with detainees and a tour of the facility, that the cages were used to punish detainees and amounted to torture, sparking a congressional investigation. DHS Inspector General inspectors visited the facility in January as part of its congressional mandate to inspect detention facilities. The IG's report found the small metal enclosures were roughly 4ft by 4ft and facility staff members described them as calming areas for detainees to de escalate and have some time alone. The DHS OIG finds that Florida's Alligator Alcatraz failed to meet six different categories of detention standards, standards set by this Department of Homeland Security, by the way.
Wow.
So it's a low bar already. Medical care, food service, personal hygiene, recreation, environmental health and safety and those special management units. DHS OIG found that detainees were not provided clean water or safe food. One freezer used to store food was broken. Detainees were not given clean water. Each cell had a single five gallon water jug. That's it. And you got one cup and it was never cleaned for your entire stay. OIG also found Alligator Alcatraz violated basic hygiene standards. People were only permitted to shower on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, no other time. The showers themselves were infested with bugs. And in addition, toothpaste was pretty much impossible to obtain. The OIG have found that Florida violated standards requiring people be given minimum six hours of recreation per week on at least four days. Instead, Florida only permitted people one hour, three days a week. So this is a scathing report by Not a Good guy, which says a lot.
Yep, I liked, I, I like stuff like this because then I feel like they're going to turn on each other. Let them destroy each other. All right, this one's from the Times. Investigators may have broken state laws under the direction of top homeland May have homeland Security leaders as part of an expansive effort to find non citizens on the nation's voter rolls. This is according to federal whistleblowers account released on Monday. The authorities are required agents to examine at least 40 voters a day. This is what the account said, suggesting a rushed pace that raises questions about the thoroughness of the investigation. The effort has relied on questionable data and has likely improperly flagged U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. This is what the whistleblower said in a nearly 30 page report. Just a reminder, everyone check your voter registration now, especially if you're in Texas. One of my friends actually was marked, suspended. Same part of that whole million people that they knocked off the voter roll. So just check them. Just, just do it. And if, you know, if you're not in Texas, why not just go check, make sure you're still registered. Now the whistleblower report provided to Senators Chuck Schumer and Alex Padilla, both Democrats, they offer an inside view into what the Department of Homeland Security is calling the unlawful voter initiative. The New York Times revealed last month the existence of the operation, which has deployed hundreds of federal agents to scour voter rolls managed by the state in a widespread hunt for evidence of voter fraud. The investigation stems from Trump's long standing fixation on non citizen voting, which doesn't really happen despite decades of research showing that is vanishingly rare. The whistleblower also questioned the legality of a crucial part of the operation, with investigators effectively posing as individual voters by using personally identifiable information compiled from both internal and external sources such as birth dates or partial Social Security numbers, to look up voter records. The whistleblower report suggested that agents were worried that creating records that relied on potentially faulty data could amount to falsification of records, which would be a federal crime. Additionally, agents were instructed to look for evidence that naturalized citizens had registered to vote or cast ballots before they were granted citizenship. Agents who came to believe that the source data was faulty grew Reluctant to flag individuals based on that data. Again, this is all from the whistleblower. And I quote, in other words, the report says the current process is knowingly sweeping. Known US Citizens in as potentially unlawful voters. Everybody check your voter registration.
Yeah, this was that report that, we did a while back about DHS inspecting state voter rolls and posing as voters themselves, which is, you know, according to this whistleblower, probably definitely a crime.
So, and this is, I think, all
to put together that national voter database, the Save S A v E database,
with which the US Postal Service would
check against, you know, those databases to, to see if somebody wasn't there properly or they shouldn't get a mail ballot, stuff like that. Like, really, really shady stuff.
Hey, Ag, real quickly, will you remind me? Cause I'm still so impressed that even in this world we're living in, there's still people that are coming out as whistleblowers and doing the Lord's work and the Goddess's work. Who do those accounts go to that they're actually getting to the press? Because everything is run by Republicans, I feel like. But somehow these are still getting to the press. So who's getting the whistleblower accounts?
Well, like, for example, the whistleblower report that came out in January about DHS confiscating, and ICE confis getting, you know, certain things or, or the USPS whistleblower, they went through whistleblower aid, which includes David Kligerman, who I had on the show a while back to discuss a FOIA request that I filed based on one of what one of his whistleblowers said, that DHS memo that says you can go. Go into homes, ICE can go into homes without a judicial warrant, for example.
Right.
Those whistleblowers come from whistleblower aid. And we actually have a fundraiser. They're a nonprofit organization. And so, you know, through either my FOIA requests or this kind of whistleblower report, if you want to support them, you can go, to their website.
And we have our own, like, custom
URL to raise money for them. Whistlebloweraid.org beans and we've really, really helped their organization quite a bit. So that's one way. There's also other law firms, but you basically go to a National Security Councilor whistleblower aid type situation where they are, you know, a private nonprofit that helps you get your information to senators like Schumer or Whitehouse or Blumenthal or wy.
Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. No problem.
No problem at all.
I know, I asked the question. The people want to know too. I mean, some people do, but totally.
All right, everybody, we have good news to get to. But first you're going to hear me talk to Adam Klassfeld about this bizarre story that Don Jr's wedding was bankrolled by an oligarch, a Putin backed oligarch. Just, just brazen corruption. But like, you know, what do we do? We just report on it. So that's what we're going to do next. And then we'll be back with the good news, which we sorely need. So stick around. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody. I spend a lot of time thinking about my own diet. And there's no reason why I shouldn't do the same for my cats because they are clearly far more picky than I. But I found Smalls and now I don't have to worry about it anymore. With Smalls, their diet is something I can now trust. I know. I wish it were this easy to be healthy when I feed myself. Are you spooked by commitment, though? You can try Smalls risk free. They'll refund you if your cat won't eat their food. Go to smalls.com dailybeans you'll get 60% off your cat's first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life. One of the first things I noticed after switching to Smalls was the changes in their coats. The cats looked shinier. less shedding, fewer hairballs. Small uses fresh, gently cooked recipes made with 100% human grade ingredients and no preservatives. So it's easier on their little tum tums. And it turns out a good balanced diet can. With less shedding and fewer hairballs and more silky shine, it's a vast improvement over our old cat food. It's also highly convenient. Smalls is delivered straight to your door. And like I said, they have that guarantee. So they get your money back if cats won't eat the food. But mine love it. They race toward the bowl every single time. And all of that means I don't have to find time to stop by the pet store or just to grab dinner. It offers everything I've been looking for. And the babies love it. So stop serving your little carnivore Ebola. Process shortcuts for a limited time because you're a part of our audience. You get 60% off your first order. That's huge. Pl free shipping, free treats for life. When you head to smalls.com dailybeans that is 60% off your first order, y'. All, plus free shipping and free treats for life. Just head to smalls.com dailybeans and thank you Smalls, for sponsoring this episode. Hey, everybody. A, growing business does not always need another employee. Sometimes it needs the right expert for the right project at the right time. On upwork, you can find highly skilled freelance professionals for specialized work and bring them in without every project forcing you to hire someone more permanently. You have flexibility to add one person for a short time, or even several specialists working together whatever best fits your needs. And growing businesses need that flexibility. When a project needs extra support, upwork has got you covered. Then you can scale back as soon as that project is done, saving you money over the long run so you can use it to do what you do best, which is building and growing your business. Upwork gives you access to freelance professionals across software development, design, marketing, business operations. You can browse profiles, review past projects. You can get help defining the role before making a hire, which helps take the guesswork out of the process. Thousands of growing businesses already use Upwork for both one off projects and for ongoing support. And more than 170,000 freelancers are on the platform that have five star ratings. That gives you plenty of experienced people to consider. Contracts and payments also handled all in one place. Making it simple. Signing up is free. Posting a job is straightforward, so you can focus on finding the right expertise instead of managing another complicated system. When you have deadlines and goals of your own that you need to focus on, that's your precious energy and time that's on the line. So visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That's Upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow up. W o r k.com upwork.com hey everybody.
Welcome back.
I'm Alison Gill.
This is the Breakdown or the daily beans, depending on where you're listening, to this interview. I am joined today by, by
our good friend Adam Klassfeld from All Rise News.
And we are gonna be discussing the ProPublica reporting that Don Jr. S Bahamas wedding was bankrolled by the Kremlin. Basically, an oligarch named Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expenses, including renting out the private island, and appears to have just met Don Jr. Only recently. So that's what we want to discuss today. So everybody please welcome Adam Klassfeld from All Rise News.
Thank you very much, Alison. It's a crazy story that you, know ProPublica's investigation gets wilder and wilder and they don't dispute a word of it. You know, Don Jr. And his new wife issued a statement and they essentially accept the truth of it and they're, defending it. it's, it's astonishing how brazen it is. Yeah.
And also remember when we were all sort of poking fun at Don Jr. Because Donald Trump, his father, refused to attend the wedding. I also wonder what role that played, in this or vice versa. If he was like, well, I don't
want to open up another Russia hoax,
can of worms or, or what. But he stayed away and I'm wondering if this had anything to do with it.
You know, I wonder what will happen when he's inevitably asked that question. And I assume that he's gon just do exactly what Don Jr. And his wife are doing right now, are saying fake news without describing anything.
He'll lunge at the reporter and say, who are you with?
What is that? That's a stupid question.
Right, right, right, absolutely. But just to kind of like get the details of this investigation, the man's name is Umar Kremlev. He is sanctioned. His, his entity, I believe it's called Healthy Fatherland, if you can imagine, an Orwellian name to that effect, is sanctioned by the Ukrainian government for its role in abducting children in the guise of rehabilitation. That's the oligarch, the Putin tied oligarch at the center of this story, whose bankrolling is six figure payments of their lavish Bahamas wedding, paying for the fireworks display, paying for, the private island bash that apparently lasted three days. To the extent that they quibble at all about this, they point out that the very specific part of the celebration, that they bankrolled was this lavish celebration following the wedding. It's astonishing, the brazenness and that it's out in the open. It's not denied. They actually thought that this statement where they confirmed the details of the reporting, and that's now what the Wall Street Journal is saying. I mean, Don Jr. Confirms this Putin tied oligarch paid for his wedding. but they called them fake news after confirming the accuracy of the reporting. They're just defending, as if this is a normal thing that a person who meant Nothing to Don Jr say:5 years ago, I mean, this was, these were people who he recently met. There was this really wild detail in the story where, you know, ProPublica did their due diligence. They reached out to Don Jr. For comment. They reached out to Eric Trump for comment. So notably, Don Jr. Didn't dispute a thing. And then Eric Trump said, I never heard of this guy. I never heard of Umar Kremlov and the, Kremlev. Excuse me, and that, you know, I never heard this name before in my life. Which raises a question, you know, is it just a transparent lie or is Eric Trump so unobservant that he has no idea, about out who's bankrolling his brother's wedding? Ah, you know, it's incredible story.
Yeah. Let's do a little, going back in time a little bit. I had a whole podcast about the Mueller investigation and people with ties to Russia and the first Trump, era. And if we go all the way back to, you know, early 2016, mid-2016, when the Republicans are putting together their party platform, it included softening the language about giving Ukraine lethal weapons, talked about lifting sanctions on certain Russian oligarchs, and it talked about a peace plan with Ukraine floated by Manafort, who used to work for a guy named Viktor Yanukovych, a Putin backed separatist in Ukraine. And the idea was to give the Donbas region, the eastern region to Russia and put Yanukovych back in charge of it, who had fled to Moscow after he was ousted. Right? And this is all before Zelensky was elected. and then, you know, this was all in response to the initial attack on Ukraine by Russia in 2014, with which there were, there were multiple sanctions slapped on Russia by the Obama administration. So we got that background. Then this past December, November of 2025, Wyckoff and Kushner pitched that same peace plan to Zelensky after meeting with Russia, right? And Zelenskyy said, no, we're not ceding There's a 20 part peace plan. And it was funny. They're like, one of the sticking points is that Zelenskyy refuses to cede any territory to Russia. And that's always been, since 2014, the stance of Ukraine. And so for them to then have this lavish wedding paid for by Russian oligarchs, and we don't even, I mean
we, you know, we don't even have
to get into the $2 billion from MBS to Kushner. But Kushner and Wyckoff go back just this week, right? They had to take a train in, to Ukraine after speaking, with Putin and glad handing and laughing and whatever, and once again tried to push this 2016 Ukrainian Peace Plan on Zelenskyy, who again refused to cede any territory. So the timing is really interesting. It just seems like, money keeps flowing in twice a year from Russian oligarchs in the form of whatever. whether it's donations through the NRA or, you know, whatever. You know, whatever. All this money m. Maybe donations through, Michael Cohen's essential consulting firm back
in the day, or whether it's a
few hundred thousand dollars for a wedding. And they keep trying to push this peace plan that they've been cooking up and probably helped got him elected in 2016. and it keeps failing, and everyone except, you know, and everyone is mad about it. I don't. You know, it just seems like, some expert said, look, you don't just drop a few hundred thousand dollars in a private island on someone without expecting something in return.
Absolutely. And it's interesting because earlier this morning, I had a interview with Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse. And the expected topic of our conversation when we were scheduling this interview was the fact that the Trump DOJ has been stonewalling the Polish government, among other foreign governments, in their ongoing investigations. In the case of Poland, they're trying to find out Epstein's possible ties to Russian intelligence. And the Trump DOJ is stonewalling that investigation. And the reason that I reached out to Senator Whitehouse about that is that he has been hammering this point that Trump Russia has never ended, and Trump Epstein, Russia is a separate story. Matter of fact, earlier this year here in March, he went to the floor of the Senate, spoke for nearly 48 minutes, and the speech where he's detailing the connections between Donald Trump and the Russian government and Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, and Jeffrey Epstein and the Russian government got so much attention. I think it's at something like 5 million views on YouTube. And one of the points that he's trying to make is that. That it was a real story back then. It is a real story right now. It has explanatory power about things that are ongoing. The constant attempts during Trump's second term to force Ukraine into surrendering territory, into blaming Ukraine for the price of oil that has spiked because of Trump's decision to declare war against Iran, and that this is all a, very serious story. And there's some sort of odd poetic justice that as we're scheduling this interview, you know, hours before the story pops up. Right, this story pops up, that we find out that Trump's son, Don Jr. Has his wedding underwritten by an oligarch who's close to Putin, who has been sanctioned by the Ukrainian government for this horrific organization. You know, the accusations here are that this organization is responsible for Abducting Ukrainian children under the guise of rehabilitation. It's hard to think of a more sort of black mirror plot, twist there. And he's the. You know, it's not like they're old childhood friends. And if they were, that would raise a whole different sort of questions. But I mentioned this statement earlier, just how surreal that this is what they're going with. Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us after our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend and something for which we were, and remain, incredible, incredibly grateful. They're leaning into this. They're saying this, this Putin tied oligarch is just such a good friend, albeit one who we met only a couple years ago, and that this is something you, know. How dare they. The, the fake news aspect of this is that you should be disturbed that a Putin tied oligarch has decided to underwrite this in their words, extraordinarily generous wedding gift that they decided to craft this statement. And I only read a small portion of it and decide, yes, that's the public face that we want in, response to this story. Just, it speaks volumes of what they think, the type of brazenness they think that they can get away with and they can expect the public to stomach. So I think that there's a, A certain degree of miscalculation here that they think that Trump was extraordinarily successful in saying Russia, Russia, Russia, did not, you know, kind of downplaying it as Russiagate, and that the public had moved on. I think perhaps many, people in the traditional news media have moved on from it. But it's. I think the public is recognizing that it's a real story with explanatory power for everything we're seeing, going on, the bullying of our allies, to the benefit of our adversaries.
Yeah.
And when you step away from the names and the players, when you just think about the fact that a Russian oligarch funded the wedding of someone who just received a $620 million rare earth defense contract. I mean, just the implications of conflict, of interest or potential blackmail are there. And it's funny that you bring up blackmail, with regard to Epstein and Senator Whitehouse, because that's been a real touchy point for Trump and people in his orbit. I'm remembering when, the July 6th memo came out from Pam Bondi and Kash Patel about the Epstein investigation, saying, there's no client list, there's nothing here. We're closing all the investigations. And by the way, there's no blackmail. Which sort of came out of nowhere, like apropos of nothing. Then we learn later, after some of
the release, forced release of some of
these discussions, that a survivor, had reported that Trump and Epstein had been talking about the issue of blackmail. We could take it all the way back to him firing Comey over the notorious pee tape and Christopher Steele dossier about potential conflicts of interest in blackmail. So that, see, like, it's almost like a reflexive control situation where people really haven't. The media's been turned off to this. They haven't been asking about blackmail in a really long time. But I think a lot of us in the early days of the Epstein reporting from Julie K. Brown, for example,
in the first Trump term term
were like, is this how Russia got a lot of its blackmail material and kompromat on people? We have Leon Black, who's paid Epstein $150 million, who refused to show up for a deposition under subpoena in front of Congress. And now we have Republicans on that committee saying we might need to refer this to the Department of Justice for contempt, of Congress. But, you know, when we talk about this,
I just don't.
I guess I'm just like, why is it taking so long to unfold and unravel? but something else that I wanted to, you know, bring up is that recently the Office of Legal Counsel for the Department of Justice expanded the universe of what is considered executive privilege to include non governmental employees who would be people like Wyckoff and Kushner and Don Jr. For example. So all the little pieces seem to be coming together and pointing in one direction. But like you and I have been reporting on this for a decade, kind of saw the writing on the wall. It's just now the receipts are coming out.
Right? And to go back to my conversation with Senator Whitehouse, one of the things we talked about is right now the Democrats in the Senate and the House don't have subpoena power. But that could change. And very recently, Senator, Ron Wyden released a report about, you had mentioned Leon Black. it was a follow the money investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. And one of the points that Senator Wyden made in that report was he didn't have the cooperation of Republicans in the Senate. So everything he put in his investigation titled Looking the Other Way about how major financial institutions ignored red flags of Epstein sex trafficking, was that everything in this report is what we have without subpoena power, without the ability to access the suspicious activity reports known as sars. but here's what we know about the universe of them. Here's what we know about Jeffrey Epstein transactions in Russia. what Senator Whitehouse was calling attention to was the fact that the Polish government, to your point, Allison, is looking into what are the ties between Jeffrey Epstein and the Russian government. If there's someone, if there's an intelligence service that's well placed to get to the bottom of that, or an investigative service to get to the bottom of that, it would be the Polish government. Government, and that the Trump DOJ is stonewalling this, sent some alarms for Senator Whitehouse. He, did talk about the possibility of these investigations gaining some steam if Democrats were to take over the Senate or the House, that there would be a real opportunity to look into this. And one other thing from the, that 48 minute speech that I alluded to on the Senate floor, he pointed out in that speech, Senator, Whitehouse, that one of Trump's reactions to trying to downplay the Epstein in the Epstein files, he called it a hoax. The same thing that he said about the Russia investigation, but also when confronted about it, he said, it's just like Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. And, there's a reason. And, yeah, but I'm, you
know, I think that's an important point that you make about the subpoena power, because a lot of folks are like, oh, even if we flip Congress and get subpoena power, Witkoff's not going to show up or he's going to take the Fifth. If we subpoena, you know, these recalcitrant witnesses who are going to claim executive privilege under this new OLC thing. Yeah, sure, but that doesn't count. That doesn't speak to third party subpoenas. Subpoenas of bank records, subpoenas of phone records, subpoenas of toll records, subpoenas of third parties who would be well within the statute of limitations to be held in criminal contempt of Congress if we take the White House in 2029, if they don't respond. And so why would a third party company refuse those subpoenas? And that's where the evidence, like a lot of the evidence will lie. Poland can cooperate with a Democratic Congress, and we can get to the bottom of stuff without necessarily having the help of, you know, Witkoff, who's probably not going to come in and openly testify without taking a fifth or something along those lines, or reclaiming executive privilege along those lines. So I Just wanted to point that out.
Right. And one of the other points that was brilliantly made in the article, and perhaps it's an obvious point, is that Don Jr. Didn't need Umar Kremlev to pay for this celebration he made. His estimated self worth is about $300 million.
His dad made $2.2 billion in 2025 and could have gone to his son's wedding if he just footed the bill right.
And so it was. This was a decision. This was a decision to have his good friend of a couple of years, Umar Kremla, of, do this lavish celebration in the Bahamas. And that. It's the shamelessness of that. It's the. And the. There was. You know, there's never any necessity to have a Russian oligarch, underwrite your lavish wedding, but to the extent that, you know, he in particular had no. There was no reason for it. And that just raises a whole other. Their list of questions.
It sure does.
Well, thanks for sharing that information about, your interview with Senator Whitehouse and, appreciate you coming to talk to us about this is, you know, I don't want people to get desensitized to these blockbuster stories and be like, oh, yeah, it's pretty par for the course. It really shouldn't be. So I appreciate your time today. I encourage everyone to follow and subscribe to All Rise News here on Substack so you can get the latest and greatest from Adam Klassfeld. And, thank you so much for coming on and talking to me about it.
My pleasure. Always a pleasure, Allison.
All right, everybody, we'll see you next time.
Thanks for listening, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Good news, everyone.
Then good news, everyone.
Good news.
All right, everybody, send it in. Flood the zone with sunshine. We need all your good news. We need to microdose in your hope. It can be little good news or big good news or last week good news or 40 years ago good news. Maybe a story you like to tell when you're sitting around with friends or your favorite street joke or some misheard song lyrics. You can send in your good trouble suggestions or give a shout out to a spouse or a loved one or a business partner or a nonprofit you want us to know about self Shout outs are encouraged. We know you're awesome. Tell us why. maybe, you know, a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one. And then all you got to do is attach a photo to pay your POD pet tariff. And it can be your pet or an adoptable pet in your area, or a random animal on the Internet. It can be family photos, baby pictures, photos of your favorite signs, protest signs, overpass, freeway overpass protests are always amazing. anything you're making or creating, or even just a nice sunset. Whatever it is, send it all to us dailymeanspod.com and click on contact. First up is your good trouble Good trouble today. There are 49 days to go until midterms and a lot of work to do. QUOTE 2026 is the most consequential midterm of our lifetimes. As election day grows closer and closer, critical races across the country will determine control of the House and the Senate. And we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. So here's what you can do. There are opportunities to support from anywhere, door to door. Canvassing is the most direct and effective tactic to have substantive voter conversations in the most critical districts. But if you can't trav or you're not down to go door to door, you have a massive impact through remote options like phone banking and text banking from home. Races in Maine, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Alaska, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and now Kansas are all critical. And we're going to talk about some of these super close races. South Carolina with Annie Andrews and Darlene Graham Nordone Their neck and neck neck in South Carolina.
Jesus.
And so our help is super critical. So visit the DNC's Battleground Support Hub and attend the next virtual volunteer info session. It's tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16th, at 4pm M. Pacific Time. It's only 30 minutes and you can learn how you can make a decisive difference in the 2026 midterm elections from wherever you are.
I love it. I love it. I love it. I can't believe it's only, four, nine days. That's okay. That's okay. Okay.
I know. it's upon us.
All right, next up for Anonymous, no pronouns given. I have a question. I know that you can't get everything being that it's free, but regarding good news, good trouble, or activist links, doesn't that limit the amount of activist participation? Ah, good.
Ah, question. Anonymous. we don't have anything that isn't free, so, all links from our guest interviews, good trouble, good news segments are in the show notes for every show and free for everyone. So just check the episode description anywhere you're listening to the show and you can get those. Yeah, we don't put that stuff behind paywalls. we don't put anything Behind a paywall.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Thank you, Ag.
No problem.
You want me to take the next one?
Yeah, go for it. Look at this amazing picture.
This is from Anonymous as well. Pronoun. She and her Good morning, ladies of the beans. Welcome back, Dana. Thank you. Anonymous. I have some good news and a shout out. The Lieutenant Governor of the state of Utah has stood up to and said no, she will not turn over the voter information to the government. Our governor doesn't have that same intestinal fortitude she has shown she has a backbone. For my POD pass, I have included a picture of my brother and myself many decades ago. Happier times for sure. Also, a hawk that landed on the fence. Thank you for all your activism and fundraising. I start each day with you. Keep up the good work and necessary work.
Incredible. Look at this adorable little sibling.
I love this. And that's a beautiful hawk.
Boy, they let you get close.
Yeah, they did.
I mean, I'm assuming there was some
zoom involved, but I'm usually if I'm within, if I start walking and they're 30ft away, they're like, peace out.
So mine's all grainy.
Anonymous.
Thank you for that. Next up, Alyssa Pronoun. She and her hi AG and dg. I recently visited Coastal Wilds. It's a local zoological park in coastal Delaware that houses a variety of wildlife from all over the world. While you can do animal encounter tours there, we opted to do the self guided walkabout of the property and got to see so many beautiful, cute, friendly, unique animals including camels, otters, capybaras, spider monkeys, kangaroos, sloths, zebras, tortoises, interesting birds and owls among others, as well as chickens and roosters that just sort of wander the property. What an amazing experience. These animals are so well cared for. They're friendly, they're entertaining. Particularly the swinging spider monkey who appeared to clean his ear, sniff it, and then eat whatever he pulled out of it. He also bent over and showed us his backside. I'd say the highlight of the experience was that we got to feed a camel. These friendly, gentle giants swiftly took the food from our hands with the lightest touch. I could go on and on praising you guys, but I'll keep it brief and just say thank you for your level headed factual news with swearing. Fuck yeah. You're truly appreciated beyond words. Pod tariff is photos from our day at the zoo. A zebra and the camel we got to feed. Look how cool this is.
Look.
Hey buddy.
Hey buddy.
Very cool. Thank you for that.
All right, next up from William Pronouns he and him. Labor Day weekend, Saturday. My little pupper starts throwing up every time he eats. Sunday was the same. Try the pumpkin chicken rice. Same issue issue. Labor Day, Monday. It's too much. My lady and I go to the vet. Blood test negative. But the X ray.
Yep.
A plasticized cardboard bread bag clip at the juncture of the intestine and the colon. Surgery. He came home today. Huge bag of meds. But he's home. And all things being equal, will be fine. Staples will come out in about 10 days. Super fun and expensive series of events. But my little baby potato is home. Home. Him and his 2 year old brother are great actually. Same parents. The first photo is a combo. Him and his surgical onesies. No cone of shame. And a photo from the week before. His name is Sir Remington Steel Wiggle bottom. Yes, that Remington Steele. Second photo was his two year old brother, Sir Reginald Chauncey Wigglebottom. And me, his papa. A photo of the two boys and then a pure fan service photo for Dana and aj. That's my elder son when he was a chubby little chubber. Now he's the University and has 5 inches taller than me. I'm sorry for the novel, but I hope you enjoy it.
Oh, look at these little corgis.
Oh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
The baby.
The rolls on that arm, I want eat them. Oh my God. So cute. So cute.
Love, love.
And William, I'm a fan of the surgical onesie as well, as opposed to the cone of shame. So sending all the healing vibes to Mr. Wigglebottom. Next up, BT Pronouns he and him. Hello from Butler, Pennsylvania. My good news today is I just dropped off my son at college in Chicago. He's going to do awesome. Also, he listens to the podcast daily and will be totally embarrassed that I'm sharing his baby picture with you all. But I wanted to share baby pictures for Dana and a bird watching picture from my time in Chicago. Congratulations, BT's kid going to Chicago and going to college. And that's a lovely bird watching photo.
And look at the B baby.
So cute. Thank you for telling everyone. I was coming back and I needed to see baby pictures.
I did. I knew it. I love you.
All right, from Anonymous. No pronouns given. I'm a school nurse who works in California. Title 1 schools which serve kids who are at a socioeconomic disadvantage. I want to give a shout out to a nonprofit organization called Vision to Learn. They come around to the schools in my district and do vision screenings to every single child at the School, school. Then if they need them, the students will get an eye exam at the school and a pair of glasses that they can pick out themselves. This is at no cost to the family. My favorite day is when they bring the glasses to dispense to the kids. The kids are so excited and they look adorable in their new frames. Attaches a photo of my pit bull, Vivian.
I love those videos where kids like put glasses on for the first time or put hearing aids in for the first time and their eyes get rid of.
know me tells me, look at. That's also how I looked when I put hearing aids in for the first time. FYI.
Oh yeah, I hear.
I was like, what's that noise? And the doctor was like, my feet on the carpet. And I was like, people can hear that. She's like, yeah, people can hear that. Yeah, totally.
Look at this sweet Vivian. Adorable pitbull.
Thank you, Anonymous.
Next up from Carolyn. She her. Good day to you fair women of Benoni. Back in the day when Saturday Night Fever was all the rage, I worked in the pay and save sign shop. That's a shout out to all you in the Pacific Northwest who remember us. While the latest Bee Gees hit played, co worker Connie asked, why are they singing about a bald headed woman? Ah, honey, that's more than a woman. All these years later, I still sing along using Connie's lyrics.
Nice.
For my pet tax, I give you Steiner. Yes, the little five pound boy was named after Gloria. And although he has gone, he's been gone some 35 years, he's still number one in my heart. Sweetest boy ever. Love you, love you both. Keep the faith everyone. We will get through this. Carolyn, I love that you named your dog Steinem 35 years ago.
Oh my God.
Seriously, look at this sweet baby.
Thank you.
All right, here we go. I'm SG pronoun She and her Hey G and D. G Tea. I stumbled across your podcast this summer. After the daily beans kept showing up on my apple carplay asking it to play a different daily news podcast, I finally gave in and listened and I'm so glad I did. Your delivery and humor keep me informed and feeling hopeful, which is a challenge on most days. So thank you. My good trouble submission is a block print my husband created of you know who right where he should be on a roll of toilet paper. He's made other protest block prints, but I thought you'd like this one the best. Thanks again for doing what you do do. This is really cool.
Wow.
Also, I'm not sure I'd want him that close to my body. But this is also very cool.
Yeah, the block print, the art is amazing.
Exactly.
That's incredible. Well, thank you, everybody, for flooding the zone with sunshine and sending in some baby photos for Dana's return.
Let's keep it up.
Let's keep it going because we need to all microdose in your hope. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. Do you have anything, Anything on your mind?
I mean, I've got some shows coming up for new listeners or people that are just catching the good news for some reason. This first time, I've got tickets left for my show. And September 23rd in Chicago, and of course, the funny fest October 9th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And then doing a really fun, cool event in Seattle on November 7th. It's basically gay bingo. drag queens, me, Amazing people. They've been doing it for years. So any of those events you can get on my website, danagoldberg.com, hit my tour schedule. Just a little note, and I know I've gotten some emails from people for some reason. There's something going on with the mobile app on my tour schedule. And when you go to scroll, it just does an error. If you can look it up on a computer. Do that for now until we get this little bug fixed. So it's danagoldberg.com tour, and, you should be able to go right to it, but try it out on a computer for a little bit.
Word. Thank you so much, my friend. All right, everybody, we'll be back in your ears tomorrow. You can come see us over on Beans Talk if you want to see our shining faces in a video podcast. We do it, every weekday, and it's just a, you know, a few minutes. We just cover some important standout story from the day, or one of, you know, one important topic. and then we also have a moxie moment at the end where you get, like, a little bit of joy from whatever fun video my best friend or Dana or someone else has sent me throughout the day. Check that out at the MSW Media Media, YouTube channel. I'm like, what. What's that site called again, Dana, over on the YouTube. That's where that is. So, everybody, we'll be back tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family. I've been ag.
I've been tg, and them's the beans.
The daily beans is written and executive produced by Alison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit msw media.com msw media.