America’s Lawyer E96: President Biden signed a bill last week that forces TikTok to either be sold within a year or be shut down – we’ll bring you the details. The federal government has expanded their spy powers with the recent re-authorization of Section 702 of FISA – meaning that the next President of the United States is going to have a powerful new tool to spy on American citizens. And Donald Trump is going completely bonkers now that Republican voters are ditching him for Robert F. Kennedy Junior. All that, and more is coming up, so don’t go anywhere – America’s Lawyer starts right now.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: Hi, I’m Mike Papantonio, and this is America’s Lawyer. President Biden signed a bill last week that forces TikTok to either be sold within a year or be shut down. We’ll bring you the details on that. And the federal government, well, they’ve expanded their spy powers with recent reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA, meaning that the next President of the United States is gonna have a powerful new tool to spy on American citizens. And Donald Trump, well, he’s gone completely bonkers now that Republican voters are ditching him for Robert Kennedy, Jr. All that and more, it’s coming up, don’t go anywhere. America’s Lawyer starts right now.
President Biden has officially signed legislation that says TikTok either has to be sold or be shut down within the next 12 months. The legislation is gonna set up a massive legal battle, and the facts aren’t on the government side on this. You’d agree with this?
Farron Cousins: I agree that the facts are definitely not on the government side. Look, this is something, obviously, we’ve seen it coming in slow motion and we have dissected this from every angle. And I think the most important one is that the talking point about, oh, China could use this to get your data. Even the government itself says that that’s literally never happened and probably will never happen.
Mike Papantonio: And they say we have no evidence of it.
Farron Cousins: Right.
Mike Papantonio: You would think if this was going on the NSA or the FBI or the CIA might know about it. Look, this is just a product of the other tech companies saying, TikTok, we want you to go away. And there’s really good, there’s really good information that points in that direction with Facebook or whatever they’re called today, spending millions of dollars to try to make this happen, right?
Farron Cousins: Yeah. Just in the last, or the first three months of this year, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, Instagram, all that, $7.6 million they spent on lobbying, more than they’ve ever spent in a single quarter. And even though they didn’t specifically mention TikTok, they said they were lobbying on national security concern. Basically all the same thing they’re using to trash TikTok. So, yes, I think at this point it is safe to say Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, is the driving force behind this ban.
Mike Papantonio: Oh, of course. He’s hired a bunch of lobbyists. He’s put millions of dollars into doing away with his competition because it would increase his business by something like 50%.
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: I mean, the numbers are staggering, if he can do away with TikTok. And of course Congress buys into it because they’re getting a lot of money, a lot of money being spread around by Meta. But it’s clearly, this is a jihad by Zuckerberg. I don’t think there’s any question about it. And so you look at this and the arguments are, well, we’re doing this because we’re worried about security. We’re worried about this company finding out about your personal data. Like, really? Like it’s not out there already. Like Meta doesn’t already have it. Come on.
Farron Cousins: Right. I’ve gotten multiple emails from AT&T in the last couple weeks letting me know that, hey, we had a big data breach. Your data was accessed by outside individuals. So we have that happening with our companies here, either by selling it to people or by just not having security to protect their own platforms. So I’m not gonna sit here and be worried about TikTok doing it when I’m getting emails every other week from American companies saying, oops, we accidentally gave your data away.
Mike Papantonio: Right. Okay. So here’s the argument. Simple argument. We’re different. Instagram saying we’re different. Can you identify anything that’s different? Anything at all that’s different about them spying on folks the same way that they’re accusing TikTok of doing? Processing their data, selling the data, they’re doing everything. But we’re saying, oh no, we’re different. The only difference is that Zuckerberg has spread around more money than TikTok. That’s all that’s going on here.
Farron Cousins: Yeah, absolutely. Meta has all the money in the world that they want to spend, and they’re using it. This is what lobbying is all about. If you have the most money, you’re gonna win the day. And so now we have 170 million Americans that use this platform every month. They’re gonna have nowhere to go. And they will be forced to go to Meta, Facebook, Instagram if they want to continue what they’re doing. But TikTok is the number one source for news for people under the age of 30 in this country.
Mike Papantonio: Okay. He signed the legislation. It’s gonna be months before anything happens. This will not stand this, I promise you, will not stand scrutiny by the courts. It won’t. They’re gonna say, well, if you’re gonna do this here, why not do it to Zuckerberg? Why not do it to Musk? Why not do to everybody? If you’re gonna do this, do it with equal protection. Let’s look at the equal protection clause of the Constitution. And there’s no way they just simply say, yeah, we’re gonna do this because we are worried about TikTok doing everything else that all these other companies are doing.
The Department of Justice has reached $139 million settlement with the victims of Dr. Larry Nassar. This settlement happened because the FBI repeatedly, repeatedly failed to take any action whatsoever on the numerous complaints that they received from the gymnast about Nassar’s abuse. They heard it firsthand. They heard the stories firsthand. They had pictures. They had videos. FBI had everything they needed. They had girls lined up saying that this guy is a predator. They did nothing. And you know what? The agent or the agents who failed to do nothing, there were no sanctions. I mean, they got their retirement, they moved on and had they done what they should have done, hundreds, hundreds of people would’ve been protected from this predator.
Farron Cousins: Right. And it’s not just that they went to the FBI one day and the FBI ignored it. This was years of complaints they were making to the FBI, to the Department of Justice, like you said, providing all of this evidence and information. And the FBI did absolutely nothing. They dismissed it. They thought, oh, well these young women, they’re making it up. You know, this guy, obviously can’t do this.
Mike Papantonio: 12 people, oh, they just made it up. 20 people, oh, they just made it up. They had pictures for God’s sakes. They had tangible evidence of what this guy was doing and said, eh, you know, we got other things to do. We’re gonna, whatever that is. I have no idea. But the point to this whole thing is this is a pattern that we see with the FBI and it has to do with, if we look at opioids. Okay. They had tons of information to say that the company’s manufacturing opioids were killing 150 people a day. They had the documents that showed the CEOs that made these decisions. This went on for a decade. FBI did nothing. PFAS, one of the, this chemical that now is in all of our blood, it’s in all of our drinking water. They had all of the information to say, let’s find out who’s doing this. Let’s prosecute, maybe even prosecute the people that are doing this. Zero happened for decades. I mean, we could go on forever. Money washing, terrorist money washing. HSBC caught for money washing, washing money for terrorists and drug cartels. They knew it was going on in the United States too. They did nothing. They just let it roll. Let it ride. And so, one point you say, what the hell do these folks do? I mean, this is the very thing they’re supposed to do, keep predators like that off the street.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And it does make me wonder too, why did they not take action? Why were they trying to protect this guy? Why were they protecting USA Gymnastics? I feel like there’s more to this.
Mike Papantonio: Do you have an answer? Because those are good questions.
Farron Cousins: I really don’t. But there has to be a reason why the FBI did not do this. And I think that’s what needs an investigation. And of course, I think that’s why the DOJ came out with this settlement. Like, oh, okay, we screwed the pooch here. Here’s a bunch of money. Go away. We’re done with this issue. Nobody’s gonna look into it now. We’re not gonna get answers to those questions and we need them because there’s more to this than we know.
Mike Papantonio: Do you think it had to do with the influence of the world gymnastics?
Farron Cousins: It may have it. It may have been, we don’t want to tarnish our reputation heading into an Olympic competition, then we are the focus of all this horrible behavior. Maybe it’s about that image, or maybe it’s something even grosser.
Mike Papantonio: Either way, it’s completely unacceptable and it’s further unacceptable just to say to the guy that dropped the ball, hey, it’s okay. Go into retirement. You’re a good agent. Well, really?
President Biden has signed an expansion of Section 702 of FISA. It’s a powerful tool that gives the government the ability to spy on digital communications without a warrant. FISA’s has been abused constantly over the years. We all know about it. It’s been used to spy on Americans. They’ve had hearing, after hearing, after hearing, where they’ve proven that it’s not just foreign agents they’re looking at. They’re looking at Americans. They’re looking at mom and pop with these mechanisms. Pick it up from there.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. So now we get this not just a reauthorization of 702, but the expansion of it. And that is what is so horrifying here, right? We’re more than 20 years past when we launched this war on Terror with the Patriot Act and the domestic spying operations. We’ve ended those conflicts and we’re still doing this. This doesn’t make any sense. And I think that’s what Americans need to understand is if we’ve ended our war on terror, if we’re the winners of that conflict, why are we still doing this today? Why are we still allowing the federal government to sit there spy on us? Labor unions, environmental activists, protestors of any kind on both sides of the isle.
Mike Papantonio: Journalists.
Farron Cousins: Journalists, members of Congress have been swept up in this.
Mike Papantonio: Yes, yes.
Farron Cousins: And what they do, and what this expansion allows them to do to a larger degree, is if they get this information about an American citizen, they hold it. They don’t use it.
Mike Papantonio: 50 years.
Farron Cousins: Years until they need it. Right. 50 years they can hold it now. And so when it does come out, oh, well this guy’s causing a lot of trouble for the corporations. He’s a union activist. Let’s see if his name is in the 702 database. They search for it and then they destroy the people.
Mike Papantonio: Farron, it’s even worse than that. Okay. That’s bad enough. But what this also does is it broadens the definition of what electronic service provider is. Okay. If you’re taking a look at what they mean by this, it’s virtually anybody who has anything having to do with storing information about you or about me. It could be virtually any entity that stores information. That’s how far this has expanded. They’re trying to say, well, it’s not just the tech companies that we’re gonna warlord over. It’s gonna be anybody. Could be your local cleaner that stores information on the folks that come in there and get their laundry taken care of. It could be anybody. And that’s the expansion where it’s called the ECSP. It’s the electronic service providers, basically in the country. And this opens the door to all of them. They’re all gonna be somebody, hey, when the NSA calls, you better give us that information. Right?
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And people, if you think well, oh no, it’s only for people that have contacts with outside foreign people that are targets. Go back and look at the hearings where innocent Americans have been swept up in this every single year. It can happen to you and it may have already happened to you.
Mike Papantonio: Well, you’re gonna get the comments, oh, well, I’m not worried about it. I’m not doing anything wrong. That is so childlike thinking. I mean, think of how childlike thinking that is. I’m not doing anything wrong, therefore, what am I worried about? Right.
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: That is somebody who hasn’t taken a civics class, hasn’t taken a history class, and has really low information about what the government is capable of doing.
A new poll has found that Bobby Kennedy Jr. is taking a significant chunk of support away from Donald Trump. And Trump now has completely, has had a mental breakdown about the attacks from Bobby. First of all, you’re seeing it every day. One day he is taking away from Trump. The next day he is taking away from Biden. And I heard the characterization, Bobby may be the last Democrat walking around right now. I mean, I’ve really, literally heard that. And what they’re saying is, is that, look, he’s pushed back. He’s trying to push back on the weapons industry. He’s trying to push back on the drug pharmaceutical industry. He’s trying to do something about the disaster that we’re having with our, with the environment. He’s trying to do some things that used to be Democratic issues that we cared about, and that we, that Democrats did something about it. I say we, I’m not a Democrat and I’m not a Republican. Make very clear that. But it sounded like those are issues that people would have some appeal to on the Democratic side. But Trump’s saying, hey, he’s killing me.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And this is very funny because to me, Trump right now has not a Bobby Kennedy problem, he’s got a Hillary Clinton problem. Because think back to 2016, right? You had Hillary Clinton’s people saying, hey, this Trump guy, he’s got no shot. Let’s hype him up and let’s make him the guy. And then we’ll easily beat him. And Trump’s people, all his friends in conservative media, they’ve had Bobby on for months. And it’s basically the only networks that have had him on. MSNBC, CNN, they’re not going anywhere near him.
Mike Papantonio: Oh, no.
Farron Cousins: So you’re making this case, you’re bringing this guy on as a friend to talk to conservatives. So of course, conservatives are gonna look at it and be like, oh, this guy’s not so bad. I like what he’s saying. Sure, I think he’s actually better than Trump now.
Mike Papantonio: If the numbers show that he’s hurting Trump, he will appear on MSNBC, he will appear on CNN, he will be every snowflake’s favorite now who by God, he’s a nutcase, a vaxxer and all this type, all of a sudden he’ll become that Democratic hero. I don’t think it’s there yet. I think basically at the end of the day, he’s gonna take votes away from Biden. I really do believe that.
Farron Cousins: Here is where Bobby has a strength if he continues to make the inroads with the conservatives. And look, I’m not endorsing anybody here. I’m just taking off partisan blinders and just giving an analysis. If Bobby continues to eat away at Trump’s support, Trump right now is in criminal trial. Polls are already showing if he gets a conviction on any part of this, he’s in deep trouble with the voters. So if they’re already moving to Bobby, that’s Bobby’s play. Sit there, wait for Donald Trump to do himself in and then conservatives are gonna say, well, I’m definitely not gonna vote for Biden, but my guy is so bad. Wait a minute.
Mike Papantonio: He could be in play.
Farron Cousins: There’s this guy here. And I think that is strategically a very smart move for Bobby.
Mike Papantonio: I think Bobby has planned that from the beginning. If you want know the truth. I think he’s always thought this is the way it could happen. So anyway, that’s where we find ourselves. The troubling thing to me is, I don’t know if you caught the family going to the White House and embracing Biden. You know what that’s all about? It’s Ethel Kennedy wants access. She wants, the Kennedys want access, the brothers and sisters. They wanna be able to go to the White House and be in touch with that celebrity, that White House celebrity feeling. They want to go to the dinners, they want to go to the special events. To me, it’s nauseating. It’s absolutely nauseating that you would do that to your family. But, you know, that’s how people are. Right. Farron, thanks for joining me.
Farron Cousins: Thanks.
Mike Papantonio: That’s all for this week, but these segments are gonna be posted right here on this channel in the coming week. So make sure you’re subscribed. I’m Mike Papantonio, and this has been America’s Lawyer, where we tell you the stories that corporate media won’t tell you because their advertisers won’t let ’em, or their political connections just don’t allow for it. We’ll see you next time.
Suspicious Activity: That it had helped dirty money flow through its branches around the world, including at least 800. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants provided money and medical goods to terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Jaysh al-Adl. This is a well organized business for these individuals that carry out these attacks. Terrorism is a business and they run it like a business. They knew about what was going on for a decade. They absolutely, absolutely no question about it knew that HSBC was washing money. They had every reason to understand it was for terrorism and it was for drug cartels. Took no action whatsoever.
These banks are involved, their accounts are connected, and they’re using them to mask the transactions. The more complicated they can make the transactions, the more distance they could put between the bad guys and a seemingly legitimate purpose of these funds. They pay $1.9 billion, which is a drop in the bucket compared to what they’ve made. And nobody goes to prison. These CEOs, these bankers that made this decision, they’re safe at home. They know what they’ve done. They know it’s resulted in the death of Americans, contractors and soldiers, not just hundreds but thousands. And we look the other way because they don’t look like criminals. The die cast, the people that are responsible for it, are on Wall Street. And they don’t look like criminals. It’s almost a suspension of disbelief. Sometimes I’ll have people call me and say, is this, is this real? Do they really get away with this? Yeah, they do.
