Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 Today, multiple NATO allies refuse Trump's demands to secure the Strait of Hormuz; Temu Himmler Gregory Bovino is set to retire this month; the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in the Haitian Temporary Protected Status case; Florida sheriffs rebel against Trump and Desantis’ mass deportation agendas; a Georgia federal judge says mediation over the FBI raid of Fulton County election offices has been unsuccessful; a federal judge has struck down RFK Jr’s vaccination policies; and Allison delivers your Good News. Dana is out and about.
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
Today, multiple NATO allies refuse Trump's demands to secure the Strait of Hormuz; Temu Himmler Gregory Bovino is set to retire this month; the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in the Haitian Temporary Protected Status case; Florida sheriffs rebel against Trump and Desantis’ mass deportation agendas; a Georgia federal judge says mediation over the FBI raid of Fulton County election offices has been unsuccessful; a federal judge has struck down RFK Jr’s vaccination policies; and Allison delivers your Good News. Dana is out and about.
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Federal judge in D.C. issues new grand jury policy after failed indictments of Democrats | NBC News
What to Watch in Tuesday’s Illinois Primaries — and Where the Money Went |The New York Times
No H.I.V. Aid Without More Access to Minerals: U.S. Ponders ‘Sticks’ Against Zambia | NYT
Kalshi criminally charged in Arizona for operating illegal gambling business | Reuters
Man charged with planting bombs near the Capitol claims he’s covered by Trump pardon | POLITICO
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Today, Illinois heads to the polls for their primary elections. Well, Tuesday, yesterday, because you're listening to this Wednesday. The House Oversight Committee has formally subpoenaed Pamela Joe Bondi to be deposed on April 14. The alleged January 6 pipe bomber is arguing that he's covered by Trump's pardon of the rioters. Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays has charged prediction market company Kalshee with running an illegal gambling operation. Judge Boasberg has issued a new rule requiring Jeanine Pirro's office to notify the court when it fails to get a grand jury to indict a case. The US Plans to withhold HIV medicine from Zambia unless they hand over their minerals M. Social Circle officials cut water to a planned concentration camp in Georgia. And anti Semitic election denier Joe Kent has resigned from the Trump administration over the Iran war. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Hello, my friend. Welcome back.
Thank you for covering me at, a wonderful gala for an organization called jqi, the Jewish Queer Youth in New York. It's just a fantastic organization giving the exactly what it sounds like, the Jewish Queer Youth, a safe haven and a community. And so it was nice to be there. Again, some Broadway performances that were just phenomenal and raised a bunch of money for them. So thank you for covering me.
My pleasure. thank you for doing the work that you're doing. It's so important and incredible. Later in the show, we're going to have a Flip It Blue segment in Ohio's 7th district with Ed Fitzgerald. He's leading the pack. He's leading all the Democrats, and he's leading the Republican incumbent as well. Tomorrow we have Daria Dawson from America Votes, and we'll be talking with Ezra Levin. He's the head of Indivisible. We're going to discuss no Kings 3. So we got a lot going on. Yeah, we have a lot going on this week. It's a mixed bag today. Some good news, some bad news. And before we get to the hot notes, we have some quick hits.
And to make a long story short.
All right, first up, Dana, House Oversight Committee has issued its formal subpoena to Pamela Jo Pam Bondi. She's going to be deposed on April 14 in the committee's Epstein Files investigation. Now, Dana, this is going to be different than the typical hearing because it's. It's a deposition, so it's not like five minutes each yellow party, okay? It's lawyers asking questions and follow up questions, kind of like how Hillary Clinton was deposed behind closed doors. I'm assuming this one will also take place behind closed doors, but we may get the video released from that hopefully within 24 hours. I think the Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton depositions took about two or three days to be released. So we'll see. We just need to demand it from, from our House oversight reps. And I
hope that this is just better because it won't be such a circus, you know, that this isn't, this is serious. And she's going to be questioned by Republicans who want the truth of the Epstein files. You know, I hate to say it, but Boebert and Nancy Mays, as much as I despise them for so many other things, I want to see what they do with her and if she goes burn book, you know, route on them, it'll be really interesting. It'd be really interesting. But another story, CBS, the city of Social Circle has a message for U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement. No water or sewer services for its planned detention center until city officials get some information. On Monday, the city shared a statement saying it has placed a lock on the water meter connected to the warehouse. ICE plans to convert into a facility that could hold thousands of immigrant detainees.
So they're shutting off their water until they get some answers on how this impacts their, I'm assuming their sewage system. I imagine the Social Circle infrastructure cannot support the million gallons of water a day it would take to run this facility. So, yeah, we'll see how that goes. All right, next up from NBC, Judge Boasberg has ordered that the judiciary, the courts be notified when a grand jury rejects Jeanine Pirro and Donald Trump administration's attempts to indict defendants following their failed effort to charge the six sitting members of Congress over their social media video. Boasberg's order requires that the grand jury foreperson promptly and in writing report the lack of concurrence to the duty magistrate judge under seal and that those notifications be maintained in the confidential files of the clerk's office. And of course Andy McCabe and I are going to cover this in more detail on this weekend's episode of Unjustified. But Boasberg keeping on with the hits against Judge Jeanine Pirro, in that district. So she's going to have to notify the court under seal every time she gets a no true bill.
Okay, look at that. All right. And election denier and anti Semite Joe Kent, he's the director of the National Counter Terrorism Center. He announced his resignation on Tuesday. It was really interesting. He actually cited concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he could and I quote, cannot in good conscience back the Trump administration's war. Speaking with reporters in Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he was always thought Kentucky, who he appointed, was weak on security. I'm sorry, you always thought he was weak on security. Have I got a job for you. And if someone in this administration did not believe Iran was a threat, and I quote, we don't want those people
didn't believe they were a threat or. Yeah, okay, so we're not going on facts, we're going on vibes.
No, just beliefs. And, you know, what are you feeling today?
Yeah, he said, I'll know when the war ends, when I feel it in my bones. Like your. Your bones. Spurs or like what I don't understand. And that's really interesting. Joe Kent's a piece of shit. I mean, the letter was full of anti Semitic tropes and, and all that, but, yeah, he's like, I can't support this war. I'm out. Peace. And of course, Donald Trump. I barely knew him. So, anyway. All right, everybody, we have more news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from the time. Democratic voters in Illinois are going to pick nominees in five major open races on Tuesday. That's yesterday. If you're listening to this, on Wednesday, one United States Senate seat and four House contests. It'll provide an important signal of the priorities of the party base heading into the midterm elections this fall. The headline contest for the open Senate seat of retiring Senator Dick Durbin, a, Democrat, features three main candidates who have tussled repeatedly over identity politics. Raja Krishnamoorthy is in it. Lieutenant Governor Julia Stratton and Representative Robin Kelly. Now, both Ms. Stratton and Ms. M. Kelly are black women. And leaders in the black community have expressed fears that they will divide black voters and hand the seat to Mr. Krishnamoorthy, who is an Indian American. Four House Democrats are not seeking reelection. Two retirements, plus Ms. Kelly and Mr. Krishnamoorthy, because he's leaving his seat to run for Senate, creating an unusual number of congressional openings. Special interest groups have poured cash into the breach with an extraordinary sum in super PAC spending, APAC spending, crypto spending, more than $32 million in these four House seats alone. God damn it. All right. Most of the House races are taking place in districts around Chicago where Democrats dominate. As a result, primary winners will do more than provide an early answer to what sells with Democratic voters right now. They'll also be the overwhelming favorites to take office next year. This is not a state that has runoffs if nobody hits 50%. Mmm.
Interesting.
Yeah. In its final stages, the Senate contest has centered on talk of race, representation and cash. Krishnamoorthy would be only the second Indian American ever elected to the Senate, after Kamala Harris. Ms. Stratton and Ms. Kelly are seeking to become the sixth black woman to serve in the Senate. Some. Six. Six.
I can't. I know.
Second Indian American. What are we doing? What are we doing? Some groups supporting Krishnamoorthy have closed the campaign, running ads explicitly boosting Ms. Kelly, drawing accusations that they're trying to siphon the support of black voters away from Ms. Stratt. Krishna Murthy has prepared to run for the open seat for years, outraising his rivals and amassing a $30 million war chest. But Ms. Stratton got her own boost from a super PAC funded by the man who made her lieutenant governor, J.B. pritzker, who's seeking to elect an ally ahead of a potential 2028 run for president. The race is also seen as a test of his sway at home. Right now, all three have run relatively progressive campaigns. Ms. Stratton has promised to abolish ICE as opposition to Trump's deportations has risen in importance for Democratic voters, especially in Chicago. And Krishnamoorthy has vowed to abolish Trump's ICE as well. And the last time he served in Congress. In this next race, Jesse Jackson Jr. Son of Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who recently passed away, was forced to resign and later pled guilty and went to prison for fraudulently spending campaign cash on lavish personal items. And he's making a comeback in Ms. Kelly's seat in Illinois's second district, despite the younger Mr. Jackson and his well known name. One of his rivals, County Commissioner Donna Miller, has received more financial support from a new super PAC with links to AIPAC, about $4.4 million. And then over in Illinois's 9th, this is a hotly contested district, and it was not an open seat when Kat abougazale, who's a 26 year old researcher who built an online following before running, announced her campaign in early 2025, pressing an argument for generational change against Representative jan Schakowski, who's 81. But after Ms. Schakowski decided to retire, the field became more crowded, with Laura Fine, a state senator, and Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, among those who entered the race that has drawn the most outside spending of any house in the state. Much of the money has gone to support Ms. Fine, including 4.4 million from a different super PAC, Elect Chicago Women, which has ties to groups that work closely with APAC. The super PAC spent a further 1.4 million opposing Mr. Biss, now over in Illinois's 8th, the last time Melissa Bean served in Congress, ending with her 2010 defeat. During the Tea Party wave, she was a Blue Dog Democrat. Now, her comeback attempts in the seat that Mr. Krishnamoorthy is vacating has pitted her against Junaid Ahmed, a progressive tech consultant who has the backing of Senator Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and prominent left wing group called Justice Democrats that has targeted moderate incumbents. Ms. Bean has benefited from millions of dollars in super PAC support from sources including AI Crypto and APAC linked groups. Two other candidates in the race, Kevin Morrison, who's a county commissioner, and Yasmeen Bankel, a former aide to Mr. Durbin who's endorsed her, by the way, are also running for this. And then finally, the seventh District, the seat of Representative Danny Davis, who's retiring, has drawn a, particularly large crowd of candidates. Most of the money spent so far has gone to support Melissa Conyers Irvin, a city treasurer who's benefited from nearly $5 million from the United Democracy Project, again an APAC super PAC. Meanwhile, the crypto industry has spent 2.5 million opposing Mr. Davis's pick to succeed him, Lashawn Ford, a state representative who supported regulations opposed by the industry. Other candidates include Richard Boykin, a former county commissioner Keena Collins, a progressive organizer, Anthony Driver, a labor leader, and Thomas Fisher, an emergency room doctor. So I'm going to be glued to my TV watching these returns tonight. And again, keep in mind, nobody's got to hit 50%. Whoever wins the plurality of the votes is going to be the candidate in those districts.
Thanks, Allison. And I just, I mean, I just want to point out how many times we heard connected to AIPAC in that story. And this is not an anti Israel sentiment, so please hear this, but AIPAC is a very funded pro Israel political lobbying group. We know that Netanyahu as well as Bones pressured Trump into attacking Iran. The fact that Israel has so much financial stake in our elections, it is. It should raise a little bit of hair on the back of everyone's knack of why all of these lobbying groups are so, have so much influence in our election as well. I, just like I said, it's not anti Israel. I don't like the government at all. It's Netanyahu. So please let me be very clear that Netanyahu is one behind these APAC groups that are funding even Democrats. So it's not just Republicans. It's also the Democrats that are beholding to another country. That is not America First. That's all I have to say about that. Thank you for letting me get on my little soapbox. All right. this is from the Times. The State Department is. And if you want to know and research aipac, you should. If you've never heard about these connections, it's a little bit terrifying. Okay, this next one's from the Times. The State Department's considering withholding life saving assistance. This is just cruel to people with HIV in Zambia as a renegotiating tactic. I would call it something other than a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to its critical minerals. We are going to withhold life saving medicine. Unless you hand over your minerals, your people will die. I just don't like this kind of politics. It's disgusting. And this is a quote. We'll only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale. A draft memo prepared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio by the department's Africa Bureau staff. That's what it said. And a copy of this memo was obtained by the New York Times. Some 1.3 million people in Zambia rely on on daily HIV treatment that is provided through the decades old US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief known as PEPFAR and on tuberculosis and malaria medications that saves tens of thousands of Zambian lives each year. The Trump administration's considering whether to significantly cut assistance as soon as May to increase pressure on Zambia. Now in. I know. In wake of the Trump administration's broad cut to foreign aid last year, the State Department has been pushing countries to sign new agreements pledging to certain conditions to receive American funds. 24 countries have signed agreements so far worth a total of $20 billion in health aid over five years. In most cases, the main requirement of the recipient country is that its government commit to increasing its own health spending. Okay. While most countries have signed, Zimbabwe government recently walked away from negotiations saying demand about data and biological sample sharing were an intolerable infringement on sovereignty. Activists in Kenya have taken that country's deal to the courts over similar concerns. Unlike the other agreements, which are limited to funding for health programs, the United States is trying to use the deal it is negotiating with Zambia to address a longtime source of Frustration. What it sees is China's unfettered access to the country's mineral wealth. Zambia is one of the world's major copper producers and also has huge reserves of minerals like lithium and cobalt, all of which are key in the green energy transition. While the terms of the deal have not been made public by either government, a draft of the health component seen by the Times says that the United States proposes to give Zambia a billion dollars in health funding over five years if Zambia commits 340 million and new health spending of its own. This is less than half the amount of health assistance Zambia received before the Trump administration took office. The draft memo prepared by Rubio says that getting the agreement signed would involve, and I quote, the potential use of sticks and warn that Zambia could not be allowed to backtrack because the other countries are watching. If Zambia won't sign, and I quote, sharp public cuts to American foreign assistance would significantly demonstrate to aid receiving countries the seriousness of our interest in collaboration and our insistence on tangible benefits under our America first foreign policy. That's what the draft memo says. Zambia has been one of the largest recipients of PEPFAR assistance, more than $6 billion in the last two decades. When the assistance began during the administration of George W. Bush, some 90,000 people a year were dying of HIV in Zambia and health systems were entirely overwhelmed. And I have to wonder what other countries are able to give this sort of assistance to them, because I bet you there are countries capable that could come in and do it and say, then we're going to make sure we keep these people alive. Go fuck yourself. We'll see.
Yeah. And pepfar, that's a Republican program to save lives, prevent HIV deaths.
How far we have fallen as a country.
I know G.W.
bush.
Yeah. I know some, old school Republicans that helped create pepfar, and it's one of the proudest things they've ever done to help save these lives. Just a, complete 180 for the Republican Party.
Yeah.
Next up from Reuters, Arizona's Attorney general on Tuesday filed criminal charges against Kalshee, accusing the Prediction Markets platform of operating an illegal gambling business in the state and unlawfully allowing people to place bets on elections. The charges filed by Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays mark the first time a state has pursued a criminal case against Kalsheek. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. I kind of don't care. Which has been at the center of an escalating battle over the ability of state gaming regulators to police prediction market Operators quote, Kalshee may brand itself as a prediction market, but what it's actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law. That's what Mays said in a statement. New York based Kalshi said in a statement. It lamented that, quote, a state can file criminal charges on paper thin arguments. It said its business was different from sportsbooks and casinos and should not be overseen by a patchwork of inconsistent state laws. States like Arizona want to individually regulate a nationwide financial exchange. A nationwide financial exchange. Uh-huh. And they're trying every trick in the book to do it. The company said companies like Kalshi offer their users the ability to place financial bets on the outcome of a wide range of events, including sports and elections, through the trading of so called events contracts. This is their way around being considered a gambling institution right now. Kalshee has argued that such contracts are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which under President Trump has come to their defense in litigation by states that argue they're operating unlicensed gaming enterprises. Mays office and a 20 count criminal information filed in Maricopa County Superior Court alleged that Kalshee violated Arizona law by accepting bets from residents on events including professional and college sports. And prosecutors also alleged that ki illegally accepted bets on the 2028 presidential race, the 2026 Arizona gubernatorial race, the 2026 Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary, and the 2026 Arizona Secretary of State race. So these companies, you should not,
Yeah, I mean, I can't believe we turned our elections into a gambling thing. That's why I. You gotta follow the money. Like how many people bet on something in the last election and just made out like fucking bandits, you know what I mean? Because they had insider information on all the shenanigans. I just don't like it. Right.
If I'm running for Congress and it's, you know, it's $77 for an event contract that, you know, I'll win and then I drop out. But I place a bet before I do that. Like, come on. Yep.
All right. Thanks, Ag. This one's from Politico. The man charged with planting pipe bombs a Democratic and Republican party headquarters on eve of January 6th of 2021. Y' all remember that day. Says he's protected from prosecution by the sweeping clemency that President Donald Trump creed for participants in the attack on the Capitol. Lawyers for Brian Cole Jr. Filed the provocative motion Monday arguing that the felony charges he faces of transporting and maliciously using explosives should be dismissed because Trump granted clemency to anyone convicted or if charged with crimes related to the events that occurred at or near the United states Capitol on January 6th. Let's go back for a little bit. Do you remember which party this guy was connected to, Alison?
the Republican Party.
Yes, indeed. So I think it's kind of funny, even though I don't think you should just get off that he's now using this loophole to try and get out of these charges.
Well, that's, you know, that's what I was saying, Dana. Like, this guy, like, placing pipe bombs on January 5th to divert attention from the Capitol on January 6th is related to January 6th. It's at or near the Capitol. It's covered by this pardon.
And.
And for Kash Patel to go so hard and to come up with new algorithms to find this guy, which will also be tested in court, is a novel theory. Really puts this case in jeopardy. Like, this guy could walk because of Donald Trump's pardon and Kash Patel's ignorance. Yep.
And this is the quote. Applying governing law to the plain, unambiguous language of the president's pardon demonstrates that the pardon applies to Mr. Cole because his alleged conduct is inextricably tethered to the events at or near the United States Capitol, as Allison said on January 6. This is from Cole's attorneys, Mario Williams and John Shoreman. While the wording of the proclamation Trump issued on his first day in office last year is extremely broad, it refers to cases that are pending and to people already convicted, it's not clear from its face if it fends off future charges. Now, Trump has said he intended his pardon to apply to people he says were treated unfairly when charged with committing crimes on January 6, ranging from trespassing to committing grievance, grievous assaults on police officers. But Cole's attorneys say the pardon unequivocally covers their client. And I quote, the pardon, like it or not, applies to Mr. Cole based on the ordinary and plain meaning of the pardons language as applied to the relevant facts in the case. They also noted that some of those who saw their convictions wiped out by Trump were formally accused in indictments of taking actions before January 6th that fueled the violence that day.
Ding, ding, ding.
Yep. A White House official grants an anonymity to discuss a sensitive legal. Dismissed the argument, said the quote, the pipe bombs were placed on January 5. So the official said via email, the pardon pertained to events at or near the Capitol on January 6th. And clearly does not cover the scenario. Really?
Okay, but like Mr. Cole's lawyer said, like the Oath Keepers and the proud boys who were pardoned, their conspiracy to do this occurred way before January 6th.
Absolutely. People that carried weapons across state borders to this Capitol. All. All under M. Yeah. Because it all had to do with January 6th. Now, the Trump administration is certain to oppose that argument, but officials have also tied themselves in not seeking to expand the reach of Trump's January 6th clemency to cover crimes that had little to do with the Capitol riot. Like these people were saying, like charges of child sex trafficking before were. I should get pardoned for those, too, because I. Whatever. Right.
But even Donald Trump's DOJ argued that some of people who had separate gun charges.
Uh-huh.
Unrelated to January 6th. The DOJ argued that his pardon covers them.
Right. It's insane. That's why this guy. I mean, he's got an argument. The administration has also argued an unrelated case, the prosecution of Rep. Lamonica McIver for alleged assault of an immigration agent, that the administration is treating January 6th defendants who were never ultimately convicted as covered by Trump's pardon. I know.
Good luck. And again, a big problem is going to be the inconsistency in unrelated crimes and the pardons covering them as pursued by the Department of Justice. So, like I said, the Department of Justice wanted pardons to cover unrelated gun charges, but they did not want them to cover unrelated sex crimes charges. And in some cases, they wanted it to cover a, DV and. But then not a, child pornography case. So they haven't been consistent up and down the board. And regardless of what those cases entail, the inconsistency is going to be a big problem for them in this particular battle. And I'm. I'm looking forward to see what happens. Thanks for that story. All right, everybody, we're going to be right back with Ed Fitzpatrick, who's running in Ohio. And, after that, we'll have the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
We'll be right back.
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Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
No problem at all. It is so great to speak to you. So tell us a little bit about Ohio 7th and what the demographics look like, where it is, who's included in that particular district.
Sure. So if you think of the city of Cleveland, these are basically the western suburbs and some of the southern suburbs of Cleveland. So it's mostly a suburban district. It doesn't have any of the city of Cleveland in it. And then it's got a, a rural part of it as you go south. So it's got a couple counties. It's Medina county and Wayne county and Ashland county, which are south, which are a little bit more rural. They're kind of suburban, too. It's, a middle class district. Some of it is kind of like what, you know, we used to call Reagan Democrats, and some of them are more upper middle class that have kind of trended blue, recently. So in parts of the district, the Cuyahoga county part of the district, which is most of the district that's about two thirds of the district, it actually voted for Kamala Harris. And so the district has been trending Democratic. And it's been put on the list of, you know, the top 35 or so districts that, you know, national, nationally, Democratic Party thinks can move from the Republican side of things to the Democratic side of things. So it's a district that has a lot of potential. And we thought that when we got in the race and just the way things have unfolded, it's looking like that more and more.
Yeah. And this is a plurality race. So unlike, you know, for example, the Senate seat with Ken Paxton and, yeah, John Cornyn, you don't have to hit 50%, but there's a pretty big field. Can you, can you kind of give us an overview of the field of Republican and Democratic candidates running for this?
Sure, yeah. There's no runoff. And if you look into, like, the history of runoffs, they tend to be in Southern states, and there's reasons for that that have to do with segregation, as you probably know. So we don't have that most northern states, and we don't have it here in Ohio. So on the Republican side, there was going to be a challenge to Max Miller, but because he is so close to Donald Trump, he's a former Trump staffer. His claim to fame was his nickname was actually the Music Man. He was the guy that was in charge of the playlist at Trump rallies, which is questionable qualification for office. so there was a lot of pressure, even though there was a lot of dissatisfaction with him, even in the Republican Party, because he basically doesn't show up. And we can talk about that. He hasn't done a town hall in two years, so there's a lot of dissatisfaction with him. But the Republicans that wanted to run were basically pressured out of it. And then there's actually eight people running in the Democratic primary. I know most of these folks, they're, you know, there's not big ideological disagreements. Some of us are, are more progressive than others, but everybody is running an aggressive campaign. I, I think we're running the most aggressive. And I would just say that for two reasons. Number one is we did not take people's advice that said, well, look, Donald Trump won this district, so you need to go easy on Donald Trump. I, I, I don't believe in that. I, we're at a point in this country where if you don't speak out about what's happening, then I don't think you deserve to be running running. So we have been very aggressive about what's going wrong with this administration, which is, in my opinion, a total travesty. And we also hit Max Miller on pretty much a daily basis. and we've been just super aggressive about talking to people. By the time the primary happens, which is going to be on May 5, we'll have done 22 town halls, which I think is a record. And the turnout has just been really, it's really been inspiring. and I was active in politics for a long time.
Time.
You just don't see that usually happening. You know, eight, nine months before an election. Something is happening out there in the country, and I think we're, I think we're tapping into it.
Yeah, and I know a lot of our listeners are going to appreciate you looking left instead of looking right when you want to build a coalition, but honestly, the, the way to do it, like you said, is to just look to what the voters and the constituents need and want, regardless of any of that sort of, of previous positioning. We can't do politics the old way. It doesn't exist anymore. And so this kind of canvassing in these town halls are critical to the success of a candidate.
Well, and I gotta tell you, the voters have really, I think, caught on to some of the typical bullshit that some candidates were getting away with. And I'll give you an example. They don't want to hear that if a Democrat makes it to Congress, that they're gonna sit down with Mike Johnson and they're gonna figure out some kind of bipartisan solution. As I always say, look, the Republican Party that I grew up with does not exist anymore. It's a personality cult at this point. And we, have to be ready. I always say there's three things we're going to have to do. We're going to have to legislate, but we're also going to have to investigate and litigate. We're in for a very rough couple years. So even if the Democrats take back the House, which I believe they do, in the Senate, which I think we have a very good chance to do, we're in for some really rocky times ahead until the Trump administration, which I believe is a criminal basically enterprise at this point. And I don't say that lightly, I didn't say that about John McCain or Mitt M. Romney or Republicans in the past. I do believe it about this administration. Until they are out, the job of people in that are going to be the incoming class of Democratic Congress people is going to be to, it's going to be a day by day, hand to hand combat basically politically and that's what we have to be ready for and we have to elect people that know that that's what the mission is and are tough enough to do it.
Yeah.
And I imagine you're hearing at your town halls that people are looking for a fighter and you know, most of the successful campaigns that we're seeing of people who are putting people on the ground canvassing or hearing, hey, we care about affordability and accountability. Now I want to talk about the accountability part first because that's what you just brought up. Your history puts you in an extremely unique position to be able to hold this administration accountable. Talk a little bit about that and what you intend, the levers of power you intend to use in Congress. Assuming we flip the House giving us subpoena power, investigative power, what are some of the specific things you are looking to do with accountability and how does your history, your time as an FBI agent, time as ah, a DA et cetera, working at the office there, how does that inform what you will want to do in Congress with what as far as accountability is concerned?
So when I was in the FBI, which was in the 1990s, I was sent to Chicago and I worked on an organized crime task force. And for those of your, your viewers that know the Chicago area, I worked on a case that had to do with Cicero, Illinois, which is the most corrupt part. This has been going on for 100 years. It's basically where Al Capone had his headquarters. And the organized crime aspect there was completely interwoven into local government. So literally every single department within the city government was basically a criminal conspiracy. They were ripping off the taxpayers in any way that you could think of. So that was my life for several years that I saw how a government can really be hijacked by a criminal scheme, basically. And I kind of thought that was in my past and I would never have to deal with that again. But it is extremely relevant to what's going on now. Fast forward, I get back to the Cleveland area. I said, okay, well that was an interesting, you Know, detour. Then I became a prosecutor. And yes, I did prosecute some, some criminal organizations, but then I went into local government and I eventually took over county government. I was elected to run our county government government. But that was in the wake of a huge corruption scandal where about 40 people ended up being convicted. And by the way, it wasn't a Republican or Democratic thing. Almost everybody convicted was a Democrat, quite honestly. But again, they were part of an attitude that they were in politics to make money. And what I always tell people, I say it in all these town halls, the way that I describe what's gone on in this country is that the wealthiest people in the country have teamed up with the most corrupt people in the country to hijack the government itself for their own ends. That's what I think explains all of the things that have happened in the last year. So what can Congress actually do about it? The fact that if we had control of the House, that we would actually have subpoena power would vastly increase our ability to hold these folks accountable. So we would be able to drag people in under oath. We would have the chair, be unlike some of the recent hearings where we're doing the best we can in the minority, but we would actually have, you know, the gavel at those hearings and we could drag all kinds of people in. Not to mention the fact that we could actually be able to subpoena records. And that can lay the groundwork. It's not going to solve the situation next two years, but it can actually lay the groundwork to hold these people accountable in the long run and then strengthen our institutions so that this never happens again yet.
Yeah, I'm so with you on that. We've been talking about that on a lot of recent, episodes of multiple podcasts that I've been on, is that it lays the groundwork for potentially, if we get the White House back, we get a competent attorney general where these referrals can be made within a statute of limitations. And all of that is in your purview. You understand how all of that works. You know, how to question people and how to do follow up questions that are relevant. And, I think that that's going to be incredibly important for the accountability piece. And you mentioned it's these rich, wealthy people who come in corrupt the government. And that is how it's tied into the affordability piece where the rest of us are all sort of left out in the cold. I know, Hassett was on CNBC today saying, hey, yeah, the Trump administration, you know, sure, American consumers are going to suffer, but that's the least of our worries right now when it comes to this illegal war of choice in Iran. And to just actually put it out there that this administration and that the Republican Party puts you last, you are the least of their concerns as an American consumer, which is how they see you, by the way, human capital stock. Not as a person or a family or a worker or a union member or anything like that. So talk a little bit about pivot now to the affordability part of your platform, because that, you know, like I said, these are the two main things people are looking for.
Well, and, ah, here's the analogy I usually use, and that is that, that it's almost like our house is on fire. So the house of democracy, is on fire. That's all the corruption stuff we've been talking about. You have to put out that fire first. So I do talk about that first. But then the second thing is, how do we actually renovate the house so that it can be something we can be proud of, so it can be the kind of country that we wanted to live in and so that we can start fulfilling some of the social justice goals that certainly anyone that I think is a Democrat, but not just a Democrat, as somebody that just wants something better for the country, how do we do that?
That.
And that's the second part of it. And people want to hear about that. Yeah, they want to hear that you're going to deal with the corruption, but they also want to hear about how you. How are Democrats actually going to make life better for people? And there's a bunch of things we could talk about. One of the things that I really lead with, though, is Medicare for All. And I don't make any bones about it. I say, listen, it's time for the country to finally get serious and start getting ready to enact Medicare for all on a yearly basis. I think we should just start lowering the eligibility for Medicare. We could actually improve Medicare at the same time, and we have the resources to do that. And every time that I hear that it's too expensive to do something like Medicare for All, I say, well, wait a minute, we're spending a couple billion dollars a day on Iran, which was not budgeted for, and yet there's going to be an emergency appropriation to fund that.
Yeah, Pete Hegseth just spent $100 billion last September to justify his bloated budget. $100 billion. But we can't afford SNAP assistance for kids or affordable. There's no doub pay subsidies. Yeah.
And, and this is where politically, you know, I, I know that. Ha. When you talk about Medicare for All, people say, well, that's a progressive liberal idea. That's something that people really do get no matter where they are in the political spectrum. Because there's nobody that I know that hasn't had a struggle with insurance. And I don't talk about universal insurance because quite honestly, to me that makes it sound like, well, you're just going to get a better insurance plan. I've personally had terrible experience where, where either me or my wife or our kids either didn't have insurance or couldn't afford the deductible or delayed treatment because we weren't covered, or we had the treatment that was approved by our physician, but then we had to fight with the insurance company for weeks to get it approved. I'm not really a believer that the for profit insurance model works at all. So in this district alone, there's about 40,000 people in this district, district that are going to lose ACA coverage because of the premiums going up. There's another 25,000 that are going to get kicked off of Medicaid. So you just look at the human cost of that and that cuts across all party lines. So we talk about other things with affordability. I mean, we have a whole series of videos that we've done where we go into a grocery store and we show how the price of bananas or the price of coffee or the price of ham has gone up. So we talk about, about kitchen table issues, but we've also talked about, you know, the price of housing for, you know, first time home buyers. we talk about utility prices which have gone up by about 50% in parts of this district because we're dealing with this whole data center issue and our prices are going through the roof on utility.
Yeah. And then you pile on the energy, crisis, caused by the Iran war and it's, it's exponential.
Exactly. So there's almost m. There's so many things and there's so much. What I, what we're really seeing is there's a lot of buyers report remorse. Look, there's 25% that Donald Trump could do anything and they're going to keep voting for Republican, you know, candidates. And we understand that. But look, in this country it's a landslide if you get 60%. So 25% maybe we're never going to win everybody over. We don't have to win everybody over. Well, when Max Miller only wins with 51% of the vote. And there's so many people that are like, you know what? This is not what I signed up for. That's when we've got a real chance to flip the district.
Yeah, and it's the messaging. I mean, Republicans have been propagandizing Medicare for all for a very long time, trying to convince people it's some sort of radical left progressive idea, when it, you know, it's not. It's something that everybody would love. And when you break it down for people, they're like, yeah, I totally want. I would love that public option. It's not as progressive as, say, VA for all direct government health care, where the doctors work for the government and everybody, you know, works for the government as a nationalized health system. But it's just. It. It blows my mind when you say, are you for Medicare for all? And they say, no. It's like, all right, would you be willing to do a public option with where you explain what it is? They're like, oh, heck yeah. It's that. It's that messaging. And, and, and most people are for that. And our Overton window has moved a lot in the last 15 years since the Affordable Care Act.
It absolutely has. It absolutely has. And we've probably all seen that famous meme, which I think was a real thing, where somebody was holding a science thing, keep the government out of my Medicare. So, I mean, there isn't necessarily a lot of understanding about how it works. But here's the crazy thing about how I think, like you said, the window has kind of changed on this. The polling numbers are that more people are for Medicare for all if you ask them if they're for that, than if you say, are you for universal, health insurance? Now, for some reason, the words, you know, universal health insurance scares people that it's socialized medicine, but they know what Medicare is. If they're not on it already, their parents are or their grandparents are. And so Medicare isn't perfect, but people understand what it is, and they're not afraid of it. And so to me, in a strange way, even though it used to be seen as something radical, it actually polls very well. I mean, it's well over 60% that are saying that they're for Medicare for all, and it does fairly well among independents and Republican voters, too. So I think it's very good messaging.
And my last question for you is, you know, we've talked about the middle class. We've saving the middle class. We've talked about corruption and affordability. I want to ask you what you would do in Congress to hold Congress accountable for some of its actions.
Sure.
Congress needs, I think, quite a bit of reform. So if you could address, you know, some of the things like the thing I love the most about, you know, about, your campaign and other campaigns like it is that, yeah, I want to get in and then, listen, limit my ability to trade stock, for example. So talk about fixing Congress as well, but not only just fixing it that way, but also returning it to a co. Equal status of a co. Equal branch.
So in terms of congressional stock trading, we've already called Max Miller out on that. He made over 100 grand in one month with stock trades. And it was actually kind of a privately held company, which actually means there's even more, less transparency there. And so, there should be an absolute ban and that's a no brainer. And you know what, quite honestly, shame on the Democratic Party for not banning that a long time ago. So I made no bones about that. that's low hanging fruit. We should get that done absolutely immediately. What's really wrong with Congress in general though, in my opinion, is the legalized bribery of the campaign finance system. System. I've seen it from all different angles. I saw it when I was in the FBI. I saw the way that it was corrupt. I saw it as a public official with how much transactional donations happened. It's happening in this race, with our opponent. And so that situation, it's not just Citizens United. Even before Citizens United, the system was a mess. After Citizens United States, it's completely out of control. And I'm for public financing of, federal campaigns, period. People, if you want to know why a politician does what he does, you need to look at where he or she is getting their donations. And if those donations came from the public themselves, then you can eliminate, I think, a lot of the systemic corruption. We're very proud. We've gotten almost 9,000 donors from across the country. And our average donation is almost only about $13. So that's as close to public financing as you're going to see in this country. But we've got to clean up the dark money and the corporate money that is just absolutely turning this into prostitution, political prostitution, quite honestly, with you. Now, once you can kind of liberate Congress, then I think you'll see a better chance of Congress actually asserting itself. We're not supposed to have the executive branch just running roughshod and having an elected king every four years. And I would say that even if we had, you know, a very progressive Democrat. I don't want a Democratic president to get to declare war wherever and whenever he wants to. I don't want a Democratic president to say, I'm going to have this deal with this country with tariffs and Congress has nothing to do about it. So it's not just left, you know, progressives versus conservatives, it's whether or not you believe that the Constitution should be followed, that a Congress, regardless of what it is ideologically, is actually going to be the voice of the people. And that's my problem. Besides all the right wing things that the Congress has done, the fact that Mike Johnson and Max Miller and all of their cohorts have just said, you know what, we're just going to leave everything in the hands of the executive. That's just a dereliction of duty. There's just no doubt. There's just no. I don't know why you run for Congress if that's why. That's what your philosophy is. I don't understand it.
Ah, to break it, you run it. To break it so that you can say that government's terrible. But yeah, I mean, that's the Republican stance, always privatization. Whether it's the privatization of prisons, schools, police, healthcare, elections. They want to privatize everything, and turn it all into dark money so they can hold onto power and keep minority rule. But I think they're going to have a real hard time this election cycle thanks to candidates like you. So I really appreciate that you're running. Can you tell everybody where they can find more information on your campaign? You're ahead of the pack right now in polling, are you not?
We, are. So we took a poll in December and we were actually beating Max Miller by two points. I think it was 40 to 38%. And we do have a primary, although we were ahead of all those folks by double digits. It's looking pretty good. But we do, we have a primary coming up. Ah, like you said on May 5. If people want to learn more about my campaign, our website is fitzgeraldforcongress.com and we're on all kinds of social media, so you can find us there. If you just Google Ed Fitzgerald for Congress, you should be able to find us. And, yeah, if you're in the area, come see us. We're going to do. By the time the primary happens, we'll have done 22, town halls. So if you're in the area, come out and see us and, or talk to us online. Because this, this dialogue that's happening. I was in politics where this just didn't happen. And the fact that it is happening right now, it's really inspirational and we learn from what we hear from people. So, yeah, we'd love anybody wants to reach out to us, we'd love to hear from you all.
right. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time today at Fitzgerald. Everybody. Make sure you're registered. Check your registration. Double check your registration. The primary is May 5th. We know there's always going to be some sort of polling shenanigans going on with this Republican Party because they can't win on policy. So they're going to do their best to try to undermine us in other ways. So again, check that registration. Make sure you're registered to vote, vote, get out and vote in Ohio in the primaries on May 5th. And, and definitely check out Ed Fitzgerald and his campaign. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it.
My pleasure.
Thanks a lot, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone.
Then, good news, everyone.
Good news, good news. All right, everybody, it's time to share your good news. If you've been thinking about sending in your good news, today is the day to do it, right? So anything big, anything small, recent, distant past, any little bit of good news that's happened to you, send it to us. You can also send us a shout out, whether it's to yourself, tell us why you're awesome or a loved one, spouse, kid, parent, a shout out to a government program, non profit that you want us to know about, small business in your area that could use a boost. Anything at all. Share us. Tell us your favorite joke, your favorite street joke, your favorite comedian, your favorite Monty Python quote, your most quotable comedy movie, anything at all. Misheard song lyrics, Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All you got to do to get your submission right on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of anything that you think will make us smile. It can be protest signs, your pet, we can guess the breeds. An adoptable pet in your area, a random animal on the Internet, pictures of goats and chickens. send us pictures of what you're making and creating. You know, if you're knitting or quilting or painting or writing poems or making music. Anything, anything at all. Send it to us daily beanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your good trouble. All right, everybody, today's good trouble. Call your Senators, tell them to block Marqueen Mullin's confirmation as the DHS secretary. Our friends, the fine folks@indivisible.org have a script it and make calling your senator easy. We will have a link in the show notes to blocking Marquene Mullins confirmation as DHS Secretary from indivisible and a senate.gov link to contact your U.S. senators. And like I said, we're going to be talking with Ezra from Indivisible tomorrow. So that's your good trouble.
All right. Thank you so much. This is from Rhonda. Pronounce she and her love you both AG and tg. This is our very, very, very permissive. Just as this is our new foster. It's the picture, everybody. Anna Banana and her no King sign. As you can see, she's exhausted by Trump and his she looks like a pity.
I don't know. What.
What's the, what's the target dog?
Oh, yeah, I don't know. It's a terrible.
He's got a long slou. A long snout like a terrier.
Target dog is a. A bull terrier, I think. Is that what you're going with?
I'm going with bull terrier. Let's see.
Let's see. Bull terrier.
It's the long snout. Is that a bulldog and a terrier mix? Is that what that would be?
Bull terriers?
Probably not.
It's probably not.
Look at this Great King Khan sign with so good Maniacal Trump climbing the Empire State Building. That's amazing. All right, next up, Charlie pronouns he and him shout out to a coalition working to get money out of Michigan politics. It's called Michiganders for money out of politics. And it's mopup m o p u p michigan.org we'll have a link in the show. Notes our pet tax Peanut butter tabby with white and jelly. Link's point. They're brothers and so adorable. While they get along with other cats, they are bonded, often meowing for each other when they want to play or just miss each other. Oh, little bonded pair of boys. I've got a bonded pair too, so I know how that goes. And that was pretty short, so I'll do the next one too. Richard Me m Someone on Blue sky suggested I share my meme with you all. I'm very proud of creating it. FDJT and there's a. A TV photo of Donald Trump asleep, I think. I don't know what's going on with his eyes. And a nice. That's a nice Silhouette of a middle finger. Richard.
It is. Well done. Well done. This is from better than St. Patrick's Day. No pronouns given today. You wish those who celebrate a happy St. Patrick's Day day. You should know about St. Gertrude, who was real and is the patron saint of cats. She's also celebrated on March 17. Some sources say she is also a patron saint of gardening and that her day is the first day to plant. I thought this shot taken in my yard in Mexico is perfect for this day.
Okay, so can we just come live with you? Look at this beautiful. It's absolutely gorgeous garden stone.
I would love to see what the inside of this house looks like, because I bet it's stunning.
Look at all those torties lined up. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so very much for that. Next up, Alice Pronoun she and her hello, beans queens. I just wanted to share some good news. I've been struggling with depression, and this political hatred on the transgender community has only made it harder. So I finally decided to take the bad and make something good out of it. Attached is my latest work, Resist, and I've decided to start my own business and sell my artwork with many more works to come. If you'd ever like to take a peek, especially as time passes, my website is. And I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing this right. Triano art. That's T R I A N O A R T. I would love to hear what you ladies think of this piece. Keep up the amazing work, ladies. You bring sanity to a world of chaos. Look at this. This is amazing.
That is fucking cool. What a great piece.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep, yep.
I can't even describe it. interesting sunset behind the White House. Transgender person fist in the air in front and, like, the silhouettes of Donald Trump. And. And is that. Who do we think that's Hitler on the left?
It looks like it, yeah.
Wow. That's really, really amazing. Beautifully well done.
Sorry, I don't mean to start laughing already, but okay. You'll understand why. This is from BT pronouncing him. Some good news for my favorite Queens of the beans. Charismatic megaplastics was the first episode I
had ever heard, and it's been all downhill from there. That's right.
Right. This is the part that got me. Not long ago, my son was in his room, and I heard him laughing, followed by Dana's voice shouting. Yeah. I walk into his room to see the color drain from his face and fear in his eyes as he quickly shuts off the screen of the monitor to hide his actions from me. Knowing what this could mean for my teenage son, I had him turn it back on, show me what he was doing. To my surprise, I see the Daily Beans podcast. With a sigh of relief, I asked him why he thought he needed to hide it from me and he said it was because of the swearing.
Oh my God.
I'm so sorry, Dad. I assured him it was fine and that I listened to it as well. How great is this? That was a few months ago and now that boy is an 18 year old, progressive, inclusive and loving young man who heads to college in Chicago in the fall. I'm such a proud dad for the way he has turned out and I can't wait to see what he does with the rest of his life. So shout out to him and I'd like to suggest a new good news section Caught in the act, where people are caught listening to your podcast, attached to pictures of him being born and a picture of him now. Thank you so much for being a positive influence in my son's life. His birthday is March 18th.
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. And a really big fuck yeah to your son.
I love that.
Look at this handsome dude. I know. He was like, huh? Oh my goodness.
Wait, is he a Pittsburgh Steelers fan? Sorry, I. No, I'm just kidding.
Amazing.
Oh my God. I love that he turned it off when you walked into the room because of the swearing. Anyway, happy birthday. Look at this baby photo. And then look at that. On his way to college. Hell yeah. Congratulations. All right, next up, Jacob pronouns he and him. I want to make sure this story does not go Uncovered. The United States was the sole country that voted against ensuring this and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and addressing structural barriers. That's something that has been adopted by unanimous consent since the 90s. If you need more evidence that this administration hates women, here you go. There were six. Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. A no vote for the us. The US voted no no after failing to amend certain language from the text, including diversity, equity and inclusion, the effects of climate change on women, the definition of gender, and the reproductive health rights of women and girls. Mike Waltz is our ambassador to the un. Ah. Oh, man. We have a great, picture here of Malala, the Pakistani rights activist, speaking at the UN's observance of International Women's Day this March 9th 9th. We're going to have a couple of links in the show notes for this story for you. Thank you so much for bringing that to light, Jacob. That's unconscionable, but expected.
Yeah. Thanks, Allison. This one's from Marie Pronoun. She and her hi beans Queens. I've been listening for years, and the two of you provide much needed positivity and calls for accountability during these times of despair. I recently traveled to South Africa on pilgrimage with a group from my Episcopal church in Atlanta. While we were there, we learned so much about the evils of apartheid and how Mandela, Tutu and others fought for decades to secure equal rights for everyone. Some so committed that they spent years as political prisoners in solitary confinement. The fact that South African people chose Nelson Mandela as their first democratically elected president in the mid-90s, it wasn't lost on us who see our country going down the same road of classifying people based on their skin color and taking away basic human rights because of of it. Seeing what their country has overcome really gave our group such hope that we've been all craving. The fact an entire country fought for so long and never lost sight of the end goal is truly inspirational. And we pilgrims have all committed to keeping up the good fight here in the United States, no matter what it looks like. For my pod pet tariff, I'm attaching two photos I took on safari. Baby animals with their mama.
Okay. Zebras. There's a baby zebra with the zebra
and a baby elephant with a mama.
God, I love elephants. Baby elephants especially. Yeah. When they whip their trunk around like that and fall around all milk drunk. I love that.
I know.
I just love it. What an incredible trip. That must have been such an experience, Marie.
Yeah.
And, yeah, it's important to think about other countries that have gone through long periods of what we're entering into and came out resilient on the other side. Yeah. Thank you all so much for your good news. Really, really appreciate it. Dana, you're back out traveling, right?
I am. I'm flying to the villages tomorrow, so I'll be in flight and then I've got my show on Thursday night. So thank you for covering me. But for those of you that got tickets, and I know there's a few beans listeners who live in the villages, I cannot wait to see you. We don't have an official meet and greet. I think I'm just going to be meeting some of you after the show, so hang out, because I'd love to meet my beans People.
People. Absolutely fantastic. Have a killer show. Break legs. I'll cover for you.
Thanks. And it's Florida. So the show starts at, you know, 6:30. We're gonna be done by 8. We're gonna be fine. Everyone stay for the meet and greet.
Absolutely. These days I want all my shows to start at ish time and like mama needs to be home in bed by 9:30. And I love that early bird shows with seats that I can sit in, please. That was right. Thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back on your ears tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been dg and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison 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.