Episode 134 | Texas, Epstein, FBI—Trump’s Triple Distraction Plan

It's Complicated

Renato Mariotti

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can Trump distract his base from his involvement in the Epstein files scandal? Asha and Renato discuss the Ghislane Maxwell interview and the “Russia hoax” distraction. Plus, why Trump wants the FBI to arrest Texas legislators. Stay tuned to the end for another big announcement for It's Complicated! Virtual Meet and Greet Aug 13th: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=ulj-YG6M8kS_691M0FALjfmFfLYa_OpBnph9e1Co8ftUQjlOV1hIN0s3SjhSODc0WkMyV1I5WFpZNCQlQCN0PWcu&route=shorturl Cruise with us: https://www.travelstore.com/group-travel/its-complicated-cruise-2026/ Asha Substack: https://asharangappa.substack.com/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/its-complicated Follow Asha on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/asharangappa.bsky.social Follow Renato on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/renatomariotti.bsky.social Follow Asha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asha.rangappa/ Follow Renato on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renato.mariotti/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Legal AF Substack: https://substack.com/@legalaf Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF by MeidasTouch podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So, Asha, what is the Trump administration's strategy to distract the public from his involvement in the Epstein saga?
0:07.2	Eh, it's complicated.
0:13.7	I'm Asha Rangappa. I teach national security law at Yale University.
0:18.7	I'm a former FBI special agent agent and I'm a legal and national
0:22.4	security analyst. And I'm Renata Marietti. I'm a former federal prosecutor, a practicing lawyer,
0:28.8	and a legal analyst. And we're here to help you understand topics that can't be boiled down
0:33.9	into a sound bite or a ski.
0:45.3	So what are we in week five of Galangate? Well, it's the, you know, the Epstein saga.
0:48.3	It's been interesting to see.
0:50.3	I mean, I was seeing some reports maybe earlier today, Asha, that the entire administration
0:55.9	team is coming together.
0:58.4	Like, they're kind of huddling together.
1:00.1	The Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, everyone's like huddling together
1:05.3	to figure out how do we handle this Epstein problem.
1:10.2	It's like the biggest crisis of the Trump presidency.
1:13.1	Yeah, apparently vice president J.D. Bans is having a strategy session at his residence.
1:19.6	Well, there you go. I mean, there's the, the, the, or should we say a strategiary session?
1:27.0	Well, you know, here's the thing. I mean, you know, it's funny in a way.
1:31.2	But it's serious stuff that essentially there is, I would say,
1:36.7	disinformation and public manipulation campaign aimed to try to convince Trump supporters
1:43.8	that like up is down and left is right.
1:46.3	You know, it's very 1984.
	...

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