The Tara Palmeri Show

Tara Palmeri gets the first account of what happened behind closed doors during Pam Bondi's transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee from Congressman James Walkinshaw (D-VA), who was in the room. Walkinshaw reveals that Bondi repeatedly threw acting Attorney General Todd Blanche under the bus — blaming him for the botched redactions that exposed 70-plus Epstein survivors' identities, for removing the Howard Lutnick photo from the files (claiming it was AI-generated), and for decisions she said she wasn't involved in. But the biggest bombshell: when asked point-blank whether President Trump knew about Epstein's crimes before they became public, Bondi didn't say no — she said "I don't know." Walkinshaw and Palmeri dig into why Harmeet Dhillon accompanied Bondi as a DOJ minder to block embarrassing questions, Bondi's shifting explanations for her "I've got the list on my desk" claim, why the administration is using "privilege" to withhold files in apparent violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the FBI whistleblower who said agents were directed to flag mentions of Trump in the files, and whether Bondi was actually fired because Trump got frustrated with the continued media attention. Plus: the Lutnick island photo cover-up, why no one has investigated Les Wexner or Leon Black, and what a future Democratic Congress plans to do about it.

0:00 – Intro: Congressman Walkinshaw was in the room for Pam Bondi's closed-door interview

4:49 – Bondi blames Todd Blanche for exposing survivors' identities and the Lutnick photo cover-up

9:06 – "Everybody knew about Epstein" — did Trump know about the crimes?

14:00 – FBI agents directed to flag mentions of Trump in the Epstein files

19:04 – The "client list" lie, privilege loophole, and what a future Congress will d
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E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of r**e, beat him in court, and won tens of millions in damages. Now Trump’s DOJ is reportedly investigating Carroll over testimony tied to Reid Hoffman-backed legal funding. I’m going LIVE with Legal AF’s Michael Popok to break down the timing, politics, and legitimacy of the probe.
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Tara Palmeri investigates how Grindr — the gay hookup app born in West Hollywood — has quietly become an unexpected political force in Trump's Washington. During White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend, the hottest invite in town wasn't hosted by a media company — it was hosted by Grindr. And yet almost no elected Republican politicians were willing to show their face, even as the app experienced a massive usage spike during the Republican National Convention and CPAC. Palmeri traces this story back to her own reporting 16 years ago, when she walked through the Capitol, the White House, and the Pentagon with the app open and watched users light up all around her. She reveals Grindr's growing $1.6 million lobbying operation run by Joe Hack — a longtime Republican operative — their work with the State Department to save PEPFAR funding, their bipartisan fundraising strategy targeting Susan Collins and Tammy Baldwin, and the enormous gap between public political performance and private institutional reality in Washington. Plus: why the app was forced to divest from Chinese ownership over national security concerns, why Melania Trump carries symbolic weight among gay Republicans, and how Grindr's party may have been less a publicity stunt and more a coming-out party for a new kind of influence operation.
0:00 – The hottest party in Washington was hosted by Grindr

4:28 – Grindr's $1.6M lobbying operation and its Republican operative running it

8:30 – The gap between public performance and private reality in Trump's Washington
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Tara Palmeri sits down with royal biographer Andrew Lownie to expose what may be the most dangerous dimension of the Epstein scandal: the intelligence operation behind it. Lownie, author of "The Rise and Fall of the House of York," reveals an FBI document describing how Russian and Chinese intelligence services targeted Prince Andrew through women, money, and contacts — and how Andrew was a willing participant, driven by hatred for his brother King Charles. Andrew Lownie details honey traps from Libya to Central Asia, Andrew requesting prostitutes on official trips (including 40 in Thailand — charged to taxpayers), a €10,000 payment for a former Miss Slovakia in Prague, and the deeper question of whether Epstein was just a player in a wider intelligence conspiracy involving Robert Maxwell, Mossad, and the Barr family's Dalton School connection. They also break down why Lownie doesn't believe Epstein's recently surfaced suicide note is real — citing forensic pathologist evidence, mysterious guard payments, failed cameras, and Epstein's own insistence days before his death that it would be "crazy" to kill himself. Plus: Bill Barr's unexplained prison visit, why Epstein's key staff have never been subpoenaed, what Andrew's fall means for King Charles's reign, and why William wants this dealt with before he inherits the throne.

#politics #epsteinfiles #princeandrew

0:00 – Intro: The intelligence operation behind the Epstein scandal
1:42 – The FBI document: Russian and Chinese intelligence targeting Prince Andrew
5:26 – Honey traps, €10,000 for Miss Slovakia, and 40 prostitutes on taxpayer expenses
10:38 – Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine, and the intelligence origins of the Epstein operation
15:41 – The suicide note Lownie doesn't believe — and the evidence for homicide
20:49 – Bill Barr's prison visit, Mark Epstein, and the witnesses never subpoenaed
25:03 – What Andrew's fall means for King Charles and the future of the monarchy
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After my exclusive reporting revealed that former Epstein lieutenant Sarah Kellen identified several powerful men to congressional investigators, I’m digging into the longstanding ties these figures had to Jeffrey Epstein — and the elite political, financial, and social networks surrounding him that reached all the way to the top, including Clinton. Join me for new reporting and a deeper look at the power structure behind Epstein’s inner circle.

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