Encore: Waco | The New Messiah | 1
American Scandal
Audible
4.5 • 19.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2022
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1993, a massive conflict erupts in rural Texas. The federal government launches a siege against the Branch Davidians, a religious group based in the outskirts of Waco. What follows is the longest firefight in the history of American law enforcement. And it’s a battle that ends in tragedy. But the standoff has its genesis years before. It’s then that Vernon Howell comes looking for a new religious community to call home. He finds it with the Branch Davidians, and soon, he begins working to seize power.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to American Scandal add-free on Amazon music, download |
| 0:05.8 | the app today. |
| 0:08.7 | This is a special encore presentation of our series on the Standoff in Waco, Texas, which |
| 0:13.5 | originally aired in 2020. |
| 0:15.0 | It's an investigation of a shocking story that sparked a national debate about religious |
| 0:19.5 | freedom and the power of the federal government. |
| 0:21.8 | We hope you enjoy. |
| 0:22.8 | A listener note, this episode contains references to adult content and language, and contains material |
| 0:28.7 | that some might find offensive. |
| 0:30.7 | It's the morning of February 28, 1993. |
| 0:45.9 | Outside Waco, Texas, the sleek pickup truck pulls into a dirt lot. |
| 0:50.3 | The truck door opens and a man steps out into the cold morning air. |
| 0:53.8 | A wind whistles lightly and rustles the grass along a prairie. |
| 0:58.1 | The man's name is Robert Rodriguez. |
| 1:00.5 | He's 42 with thick, dark hair and a linebacker's physique. |
| 1:04.7 | He cuts the truck's engine, and gazes at an unassuming cluster of wooden buildings, |
| 1:09.1 | known as Mount Carmel Center. |
| 1:11.9 | Rodriguez knows far more about Mount Carmel than he cares to. |
| 1:15.4 | He's met many of the men, women, and children who live here. |
| 1:18.6 | All members of a religious cult called the Branch Dividians. |
| 1:22.6 | They're more than 100 strong, and the group is led by a man named David Kuresh. |
| 1:27.3 | Rodriguez knows that Kuresh is a high school dropout, whose given name is Vernon Howell. |
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