FBI caught in bombshell scheme - Another Day - Brian Tyler Cohen

BTC: Kash Patel's FBI targets another journalist. Finally, America's true criminals are being held to account. This is just another day.

Goons, ruffians, evildoers, every nation on Earth has to deal with these repugnant foes, and America is no different. But at the top of that list sits the worst of the worst, journalists.

[cut to video from The Hill]
Lindsey Granger: According to new reporting, the FBI looked into a New York Times reporter after she wrote a story about Patel's girlfriend and the use of FBI resources to provide her with security and transportation.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Thank God our tax dollars are being put to good use. I don't know about you, but I don't want my FBI focused on terrorists or cyber criminals or hate groups armed to the teeth. I want my money to be used on two things. providing SWAT team security detail for Kash Patel's girlfriend and hunting down the reporter who informed us that America was providing SWAT team security detail for Kash Patel's girlfriend. Let's hear how all this went down.

[cut to video from Morning Joe]
Michael Schmidt: In this instance, the FBI looked at whether a reporter for the New York Times in simply doing what is widely considered routine reporting uh question asking protected by the First Amendment whether that action was stalking and whether that that there was stalking that was going on towards the director's girlfriend.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Ah reporting or stalking a source of constant confusion. I mean, on one hand, this reporter may have simply tried to ask Kash Patel's girlfriend a few questions for her article, but on the other hand, she may have done it with a note like this [image of note with cut-out magazine letters], which would definitely change things. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

According to the New York Times, in preparing the article about Mr. Patel and Miss Wilkins, Miss Williamson followed normal procedures for a journalist working on a story, which typically involved reaching out to the subject and seeking a variety of perspectives. In this case, Ms. Williamson contacted numerous people who had worked with or knew Miss Wilkins and Miss Williamson was never in Miss Wilkins presence.

I believe that is called journalism. It's not stalking. If anything, asking for details about someone from their former co-workers sounds a lot like what women have to do before going on a date to make sure they're not going out with a stalker.

So, can you tell me a little bit more about Jeff? Like, let's say I look out my window after our date. Would you say there's a good chance he'd be standing there watching me? But here we are. You mess with Kash's girlfriend, you're going to pay the price because that's how devoted this grown man is. Well, not so devoted that this 46-year-old would put a ring on his girlfriend's finger after dating her for 3 years, but whatever. Rings are pricey and he can't use our tax dollars on that because that would be unethical.

The point is, Kash has got this reporter in his sights, which means they are in some deep shit.

[cut to video from Morning Joe]
Michael Schmidt: Justice Department officials learned about what the FBI was doing and thought it was uh really outside the norm. They thought that the Justice Department officials thought that it was retaliatory and they did not think that there was a legal basis to move forward.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Even Donald Trump's DOJ looked at the actions of the FBI and said this was a bridge too far. Trump's DOJ, which had to be infuriating for Kash. I mean, how do you even cope with that kind of news?

[inset video of Kash celebrating with the USA Hockey team]

BTC: Yep. Still one big mystery. But in all honesty, who could have even foreseen these actions being taken by Kash Patel's FBI because if there's one thing we know about this government agency director before he got confirmed, it's that he respected reporters and their First Amendment rights?

[cut to video at CPAC 2024 from RSBN]
Kash Patel: We collectively join forces to take on the most powerful enemy that the United States has ever seen. And no, it's not Washington DC it’s the mainstream media, these people out there in the fake news.

[cut to studio]
BTC: That's right. You think ISIS hates America? They've got nothing on journalists. I have to say, it's so odd to see our Republican led government trying to censor people when I seem to recall them having a bit of an issue with it a few years back.

[cut to video from The Five]
Jeanine Pirro: Elon Musk calling Twitter a crime scene.

[cut to video from Mornings with Maria]
Guest: This is the industrial censorship complex at work.

[cut to video from Fox Business News]
Guest: This was censorship by mainstream media. Censorship, an attempt of censorship by Joe Biden.

[cut to video]
JD Vance: I really believe, as partisan as things are, that if the shoe was on the other foot, that if the FBI was telling Facebook and Google and other entities to censor Democratic viewpoints, we would be up here saying, "This is a travesty and it's a threat to the First Amendment."

[cut to studio]
BTC: Well, now that shoe is on the other foot, and I've yet to hear JD Vance's big, "This is a threat to our First Amendment speech." But maybe he couched that sentiment in another speech, and I just missed it. In fact, JD thinks this administration is doing a hell of a job.

[cut to video from Forbes News Service]
JD Vance: We believe in free speech in the Trump administration. We are fighting every single day to protect it.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Hell yeah, they are. You know, like how the FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter, how FCC chair Brendan Carr is trying to intimidate and silence late night comics like Jimmy Kimmel and Steven Colbert, and how they banned the Associated Press from the White House briefing room for refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. And just as a side note, I got to say for an administration with such bitterness and hatred toward the trans community, they sure are sticklers about getting called by the right name.

Or how about the Pentagon? No wonder our war with Iran is such a disaster. Maybe it's because their war on journalists back home is taking up too much of their time.

[cut to video from Morning Joe]
Jonathan Lemire: So at a time of war, the Department of Defense is removing media offices from the Pentagon. A spokesman said yesterday an area of the building known as correspondence corridor, which reporters have used for decades to cover the DoD, will close immediately…

[cut to video from Deadline White House]
Reporter: …and move them to a so-called annex that will “be available when ready.”

[cut to studio]
BTC: Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that the construction of this annex will fall slightly behind schedule and eventually look like this? [image of trash dumpster with hand-painted Press Annex sign]

Look, I don't want to say that this Republican party and this administration are weaponizing government to target their enemies, so I'll let these people say it instead.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Bill Hemmer: The Justice Department has now subpoenaed the former FBI director, James Comey.

[cut to video from 60 Minutes]
Scott Pelley: In recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms, orders with the power to destroy them.

[cut to video from The Takeout]
Guest Host: The Justice Department has subpoenaed multiple high-ranking Minnesota officials. Among those to receive subpoenas are Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

[cut to video from Inside Politics]
Dana Bash: What about Comey, Adam Shifty Schiff, Letitia? They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done. [reading Trump Truth Social post]

[cut to video from Morning Joe]
Mika Brzezinski: The Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, is asking the Justice Department to take legal action against former CIA director John Brennan.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Wow. Jim Jordan of all people. That's so crazy because back in 2023, there was this House subcommittee that was created called the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and the person who created it was Jim Jordan. I guess he's also good at wrestling with his own blatant hypocrisy.

The reality is these people are worse than hypocrites. They are hypocrites who wear their hypocrisy as a badge of honor. Every single issue these people spoke about, campaigned on, fundraised off of are things they are now doing. Republicans held hundreds of town halls, rallies, and conventions warning Americans that if Democrats ever regained power, it would be the end of times. That those evil commies would destroy your country. They would weaponize the government. They would get us into intractable wars overseas. They would cut your health care. They would increase inflation. They would drive up the cost of groceries. They would drive up the cost of gas. And worst of all, they would destroy your First Amendment rights.

But it turns out for all the talk, for all that bluster, they are the government weaponizing, warmongering, healthcare cutting, inflation increasing, grocery and gas price jacking, censorious big government party they were warning us about. And I know that's a tough pill to swallow so for any GOP members watching, maybe someone can help give you something to wash it down?

[inset video of Kash Patel celebrating with USA Hockey team]

BTC: Maybe someone else?