Narativ with Zev Shalev (Audio)

Michael Cohen secretly taped a two-hour interview with far-right podcaster Patrick Bet-David in early January — and told that audience things he’s never told his Substack subscribers. He said he never wanted to testify against Trump. He called the Russia investigation a “hoax.” He praised Trump as a great baseball player, reminisced about their breakfasts together, and admitted that if someone had shown him “a shred of loyalty,” he would have kept his mouth shut and done three to six months like Allen Weisselberg. “I would never have testified,” Cohen said. “I didn’t want to.” Even the right-wing host seemed stunned.Lev Parnas, who lived that world and broke from it completely, was blunt: this wasn’t meant for MAGA. It was a two-hour plea to Donald Trump. Cohen himself said his Substack audience “would kill me” if they knew. Parnas noted that Cohen never actually cut ties with Trump’s orbit — he still knows Lutnick, still knows Witkoff, still operates in that world. “Michael Cohen never had a mea culpa,” Parnas said. “He never gave up that world.”Cohen also tried to separate the Katie Johnson rape allegation into two different cases on PBD, claiming he only handled a “Jane Doe” complaint. But his own timeline collapsed. He described sending private investigators to the accuser’s address, calling it a “vacant parking lot.” Shalev pulled up the actual location — it’s a house. And the lawyer Cohen contacted turned out to be the same lawyer connected to Katie Johnson. His own words confirmed what investigators had been saying: it was the same case all along.The timing matters. Around that same interview, Cohen advised 100 university presidents on a Yale-hosted call to settle with Trump rather than fight — the exact opposite of what works against Trump’s bullying. He was spotted near Mar-a-Lago. And he published a Substack letter claiming prosecutors coerced his testimony, which Trump himself reposted. Parnas and a team of volunteers drafted a letter to every university president who attended, warning them about Cohen’s motivations and his connections to the Epstein files.Before the Cohen exposé, Shalev reported on his investigation connecting Peter Thiel to Jeffrey Epstein and Russian intelligence. The Epstein archive reveals Epstein arranged meetings for Thiel with two senior Russian officials connected to the FSB — Sergei Beliakov, deputy minister of economy, in 2015, and Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, five weeks before the 2016 election. During this period, Epstein invested $40 million into Thiel’s Valar fund while Thiel was simultaneously one of Trump’s biggest donors and a key member of the transition team. Parnas added that Thiel lent his private jet to Parnas and Rudy Giuliani for a 2018 midterm campaign swing.Meanwhile, accountability is happening everywhere except America. A UAE sultan with close Trump ties was arrested. Norway’s former prime minister was arrested. Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathy Rumler resigned. Prince Andrew faces new charges. Around the world, people in the Epstein files are losing titles, jobs, and freedom. In the United States, Lutnick, Bondi, Witkoff, and Trump remain in power.Parnas also announced that a coalition of independent journalists has established a direct crowdsourcing channel with House Democrats to deliver Epstein file research to Congress, with a 30,000-signature petition to be delivered next week.Subscribe to Narativ and the independent journalists doing this work. The truth has teeth.Narativ Live streams Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 PM ET. Subscribe at narativ.org.Thank you Ellie Leonard, Nick Paro, Cat: Poli-Psych, Lyudmila and Daniel, Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

The White House is in full meltdown — and it’s not because of what’s already come out of the Epstein files. It’s because of what they don’t know is still coming.Lev opened by dropping a bomb: his son Aaron broke news that Howard Lutnick wasn’t just a neighbor of Epstein’s on the island — he was in business with him. This goes far beyond the “my wife said he’s disgusting, I never went back” story Lutnick sold the public. Emails show Lutnick bringing other people’s children to the island, ages 7 through 16, and maintaining contact with Epstein all the way through 2019. With only a fraction of the 3.5 million document dump reviewed so far, the panic inside Trump’s circle is about the unknown — what else is buried in those files.Zev Shalev joined to break down the Russian intelligence angle. He revealed that Epstein held multiple Russian visas from 2002 onward — at least four — and on two occasions listed his destination as Vimpel, an FSB-linked organization, and Putin’s Ministry of Economic Development. Shalev connected this to $1.1 billion in transactions through now-sanctioned Russian banks, at least two Russian women in Epstein’s circle with direct ties to Putin, and the proximity of Russia’s UN office on 67th Street — just four blocks from Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, where Ambassador Churkin was a frequent visitor.Shalev traced the financial warfare back to the late 1980s, when about $50 billion exited the Soviet Union as part of a deliberate KGB strategy to corrupt Western capitalism. Robert Maxwell facilitated much of that money movement. The operation created billionaires out of nowhere, engineered market crashes, and planted seeds that grew into the system now controlling the U.S. government.Lev added firsthand testimony about the Russian mob’s takeover of New York’s underworld — the gas tax scam that generated billions, the weekly runs to Trump’s Taj Mahal casino to launder millions in cash, and the direct lines between the Brighton Beach mob, the Italian crime families, and Trump’s real estate empire.On breaking news, Dean laid out the Tulsi Gabbard whistleblower situation: an NSA analyst intercepted a call between someone in the Oval Office and a foreign intelligence service, taking direction on U.S. policy. Gabbard took a paper copy to Susie Wiles, who ordered it buried. Eight months later, the whistleblower is talking.Lev also revealed that Trump is terrified of the Clinton testimony precedent — not because of what Bill might say, but because if Democrats take the House, Melania gets subpoenaed next.Nick Parro closed the show with a warning about the SAVE Act — disguised as immigration enforcement but designed to strip voting access from 86 million women and anyone who’s changed their name. “This is the new Confederacy,” Parro said. “Come try it, Donald Trump. See what happens.”Share this far and wide — and sign the Epstein petition before Lev hand-delivers it to Congress on February 11th.Oh and Happy Birthdays to Lev and Dean!Thank you Cat: Poli-Psych, Lyudmila and Daniel, Cheech Previti, John Liccione, ESBC NFL And SportsBetting, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell, Lev Parnas, and Nick Paro! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Two separate individuals, calling the FBI years apart, made the same allegation: that girls were murdered at Donald Trump’s Rancho Palos Verdes golf course in California and buried on the property.The allegations appear in documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Both reports describe sex parties hosted by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Trump facility. Both name Robin Leach—host of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”—as present. Both claim a young girl was strangled to death during rough sex. Both say she is buried behind the 19th hole.These are not anonymous tips forwarded without vetting. These are FBI intake documents—reports serious enough to be logged into the Bureau’s National Threat Operations Center system. One was filed in 2021. The other in 2025. Two people. Two separate reports. Years apart. The same allegation.THE FIRST REPORTDocument EFTA01249507, dated June 21, 2021, contains detailed allegations from a complainant identified only as “X.”According to the intake, X called the FBI to report that Donald Trump “knew about and funded underage sex parties” at the Rancho Palos Verdes golf course. The parties were brokered by Ghislaine Maxwell.X claims to possess recordings of Trump, Epstein, and Maxwell “discussing marketing strategies for high profile sex parties” at the facility. In these recordings, according to the document, “Trump stated he was aware of the underage sex parties and charged the house money of the golf course to fund the sex parties.”X witnessed Robin Leach strangle a young girl during one of these parties. “He claims she is buried behind the 19th hole at the Donald Trump golf course.”The complainant says he is “aware of three separate occasions in which girls were murdered and buried” at the facility.X was told that if he ever spoke about what he witnessed, “he would end up in the hole as well.”The document also states that X “gave Maxwell the idea to put cameras in the golf course to review the cartel members and understand how to market the 12 to 14-year-old victims to the cartel.”THE SECOND REPORTA separate FBI intake, filed in 2025, contains a strikingly similar account from a different complainant—this time a woman.This second individual also reported sex parties at the Trump golf course. Also named Robin Leach. Also described a girl dying during rough sex. Also said she was buried on the property.Two people. Two genders. Two separate reports. Years apart. The same allegation.WHAT THE FBI DID NOT DOThere is no indication in the released files that the FBI investigated these claims.No cadaver dogs. No ground-penetrating radar. No search of the property behind the 19th hole.Robin Leach died in August 2018—before either of these reports was filed. He cannot be questioned. He cannot face justice.But the property still exists. The ground behind the 19th hole can still be searched.1994In 1994, Robin Leach sat across from Donald Trump on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” The subject turned to Trump’s one-year-old daughter Tiffany. When asked what she inherited from her parents, Trump replied she had “Marla’s legs.” Then, gesturing toward his chest, he added: “We don’t know whether or not she’s got this part yet, but time will tell.”That same year—1994—a 13-year-old girl named Katie Johnson alleges she was repeatedly raped by Donald Trump at parties hosted by Jeffrey Epstein. Her federal lawsuit describes “extreme sexual and physical abuse” including “forcible rape” over a four-month period.Also in 1994—according to the FBI documents—sex parties were being held at Trump’s California golf course where girls would later be murdered and buried.Robin Leach. Donald Trump. Jeffrey Epstein. 1994.THE FIFTH AMENDMENTIn 2010, Jeffrey Epstein was asked under oath: “Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?”Epstein paused. Then he replied: “Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today, I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir.”What did Epstein know about Trump and underage girls that he refused to answer?“A PIECE OF ASS”Trump’s comments about his own daughters form their own pattern.About Ivanka: “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”Asked what he and Ivanka have in common: “Well, I was going to say sex, but I can’t relate that.”About Ivanka’s body: “She’s six feet tall. She’s got the best body.”On Howard Stern, when asked if he could call Ivanka “a piece of ass”: “Yeah.”About one-year-old Tiffany’s future breasts: “We don’t know whether or not she’s got this part yet, but time will tell.”These are not isolated comments. This is a pattern of sexualizing his own children in public—the same man now accused in FBI documents of funding sex parties with 12 to 14-year-old victims.THE PATTERNAt Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, a former staff member reported in 2019 that two foreign girls are buried in the hills—strangled during “rough, fetish sex” on orders of “Jeffrey and Madam G.”At Trump’s golf course in California, two separate FBI complainants report girls murdered and buried behind the 19th hole.The allegations span decades. The properties span the country. The pattern is consistent: rough sex, strangulation, burial.Survivors have described Epstein’s preferred victims as “waif-ish girls” who “looked younger, were thinner, less strong, felt weak, looked childlike.” When you combine that with men whose thing was to choke girls until they passed out—like Ehud Barak, according to testimony—the likelihood of someone not coming to because someone took it too far is not unlikely.They weren’t going to call the EMT to revive a girl from an Eastern European country who came in with no name. They would just deal with it.Thank you to our panel Lev Parnas, THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali, Ellie Leonard and Kait Justice for the tireless work that you do to expose the truth. Please subscribe and support their individual publications. Thank you THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali, Notes from the Apocalypse, Cat: Poli-Psych, IAMPEGS, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas, Ellie Leonard, and Kait Justice! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Sebastian Junger has spent decades documenting war, and his family has spent generations fleeing fascism. So when the bestselling author of The Perfect Storm, War, and Tribe sat down for Narativ Live, he brought a perspective few others can offer on America’s current moment.His father Miguel fled fascism twice before turning 18 - first from Franco’s Spain in 1936, then from Nazi-occupied France in 1940. “I like to say that because of the fascists, my father spoke five languages fluently,” Junger said. That father became a physicist, raised his son as a rationalist and atheist, and never returned to Europe because he wasn’t convinced fascism wouldn’t come back.Now Junger watches America with the same question in mind. He calls Trump “a wannabe fascist” who “fulfills the definition of fascism” - noting Trump once asked a general if the military could shoot protesters in the legs. “That’s the kind of thing fascists say,” Junger observed. But unlike many on the left, he believes Trump will fail. “Dictators always look good until the last five minutes,” he said, quoting a Czech statesman who watched fascism rise in the 1930s. “Only Franco survived to die a natural death. It’s a very, very unstable form of government.”Junger pointed to Trump’s string of failures - Greenland, the wall, Minneapolis blowing up in his face - and the Democrats winning special elections in conservative Texas districts. “Bloodbaths for the ruling party do not happen in a fascist state,” he said. “We are not a fascist country.” He attributes America’s resilience to 250 years of democratic tradition that Germany in the 1930s simply didn’t have.But the conversation took its most profound turn when Junger described the summer of 2020, when a ruptured aneurysm nearly killed him at his Cape Cod home. He was bleeding internally at a pint every 10-15 minutes, an hour from the hospital. “I was literally a human hourglass,” he said. In end-stage hemorrhagic shock, minutes from death, something extraordinary happened: he saw his dead father.“A big black pit opened up underneath me that I was getting pulled into, and I was terrified of it. And my dead father appeared above me and basically communicated to me: it’s okay, you don’t have to fight it, you can come with me, I’ll take care of you.” Junger, the lifelong atheist, the son of a physicist, had no framework for what he experienced. “There aren’t words in English for what I was looking at. It was his essence. An energy field that was immediately and intimately recognizable to me as my father.”What haunts him isn’t the vision itself - science can explain dying brain chemistry - but the universality of it. “The dying seem to all have the same vision. If you give a roomful of people LSD, they see wildly different things. But the dying see the dead - even people they didn’t know had died.” He can’t quite explain that through brain chemistry alone.The ICU nurse who saved him offered a reframe he’s been thinking about ever since: “Instead of thinking about it like something scary, try thinking about it like something sacred.” His latest book, In My Time of Dying, is his attempt to follow that advice.Junger now lives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side with his wife and two daughters. He doesn’t own a smartphone - “I think they’re ghastly, addictive, and awful” - and plays accordion for strangers in Tompkins Square Park. At 64, having nearly died while his daughters were still babies, he has a different relationship with time. “I’m an older father. I have an awareness of mortality that many younger parents might not have.”When asked what gives him hope, Junger didn’t offer easy comfort. “I don’t think good really won in the early 1940s until ‘45 rolled around. It’s a tennis game.” But he pointed to the brave people who have vowed with their lives to fight sociopaths. “Human morality comes from humans. It’s not divinely directed. And to me there’s great hope there.”His father fled fascism. He will die an antifascist. But he doesn’t think Americans need to run - not yet, maybe not ever. The system is holding. The question is whether we can hold it together.Watch the full conversation on Narativ Live.Sebastian Junger’s latest book In My Time of Dying is available now. His Substack, Tribe, is free to subscribe.Thank you Lyudmila and Daniel, Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, Karen Hinton, Social SLP, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

For the first time, the public has heard Jeffrey Epstein speak at length about the 2008 financial crisis, and what he reveals is stunning. A two-hour interview between Epstein and Steve Bannon, recorded in 2019 and released this weekend, shows the convicted sex offender describing in detail how he advised world leaders and financial institutions during the worst economic collapse since the Depression - all while sitting in a Palm Beach County jail cell. As Zev Shalev explained on Sunday’s special edition, the footage is remarkable because we’ve never heard Epstein discuss anything at this length, and what he says confirms much of what The Greatest Heist investigation has been documenting about his central role in the financial crisis. The interview is believed to be Epstein’s last before his death later that year, and it was apparently part of a media rehabilitation campaign that Bannon was helping orchestrate.The most striking revelation comes when Epstein describes September 14, 2008 - the night Lehman Brothers collapsed. Epstein was in an 8x10 cell in Palm Beach County Jail, wearing a brown jumpsuit, confined to a metal bed with a chrome sink and toilet. A guard informed him that Wall Street was crashing. Epstein was allowed two collect phone calls per day, and he used both of them that night in a way that reveals the depth of his financial network connections. His first call went to Jimmy Cayne, the president of Bear Stearns, the firm that had collapsed six months earlier in March 2008, triggering the crisis everyone was now watching unfold. His second call went to a contact at JP Morgan, the bank that was trying to buy what remained of Bear Stearns. As Shalev described it, Epstein held both phones simultaneously, one in each hand, advising both sides of a major financial transaction from his jail cell during the worst financial crisis in 80 years.But Epstein’s influence extended far beyond those two phone calls. In the interview, he confirms that he was in contact with the Treasury Secretary during the crisis, offering advice on how to handle the collapsing financial system. Even more remarkably, Steve Bannon at one point in the interview reveals Epstein’s client list for financial advisory work - a list that includes Vladimir Putin, the President of China, and the King of Saudi Arabia. Epstein doesn’t dispute this, and the exchange makes clear that world leaders were consulting with him about American financial decisions even as he sat in jail for sex crimes. Lev Parnas emphasized the significance of this timing, noting that in 2019, while Trump was in office, Bannon and Epstein had this level of interest, control, and influence over global financial matters. The interview also addresses whether institutions like Harvard should accept donations from a convicted sex criminal, with Epstein defending the practice by invoking the Derek Bok principle that taking money for good causes is a good thing, regardless of the source.The interview comes at a critical moment as independent journalists continue to dig through millions of newly released Epstein files. @EllieLeonard, who first flagged the Bannon interview footage, has been working late into the night reviewing documents alongside researchers like Kait Justice Justice, and others in a crowdsourced investigation that could be the biggest of all time. Aaron Parnas and Joy-Ann Reid and Lev Parnas continue to advocate for greater transparency Parnas says the DOJ never anticipated would be so effective. As Shalev noted, every single bit of evidence they find confirms they’re on the right path, showing clear connections between financial crimes, sexual crimes, and the network that helped elect Donald Trump. Parnas announced that he and others will travel to Washington DC on February 11-12 to meet with survivors, face Attorney General Pam Bondi, and deliver investigative packages to every member of Congress they can reach. The goal is to ensure that elected officials have the real proof they need to pursue justice, walking the halls of Congress to personally hand-deliver the evidence that has been painstakingly assembled by this growing community of investigators.The full two-hour interview reveals Epstein as articulate and affable, which Shalev acknowledged was clearly the point of the media training exercise Bannon was conducting. While Epstein doesn’t confess to collapsing the 2008 market, he certainly confirms that he was involved and talking to all the key parties at the exact moment when the financial system was in freefall. The footage provides an unprecedented window into how Epstein presented himself, how he justified his actions, and how deeply embedded he was in the global financial and political power structure - right up until the end of his life.PAID SUBSCRIBERS CAN ACCESS A LONGER CLIP OF THE INTERVIEW BELOW. This is a special Sunday edition. For more investigative reporting on the Epstein network and the 2008 financial crisis, visit narativ.org.Thank you Ellie Leonard, Cash Flow Collective, Lesley Jane Seymour, Cheech Previti, Debbie Hupp, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

The Department of Homeland Security says a man “approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm handgun” and “violently resisted efforts to disarm him.”The video shows something completely different.We synced three angles of the shooting. What you see is clear:An agent in a gray jacket pulls Alex Pretti’s gun from his pants while Pretti is restrained on the ground. The agent walks away with the weapon. Pretti is now disarmed. Both arms are secured by federal agents. He cannot move.Then—and only then—do you hear the gunshots.At least 10 shots fired into a restrained, disarmed man surrounded by six federal agents.What Actually HappenedAlex Pretti was filming federal agents with his cell phone. First Amendment activity. Legal.An ICE agent assaulted a woman. Alex intervened to help her.Federal agents tear gassed him.They tackled him to the ground. Six agents surrounded him. Both arms secured.While he was restrained, an agent reached into his clothing and pulled out his legal firearm—Alex had a valid Minnesota permit to carry.That agent walked away from the scene with the gun.Alex was now completely disarmed. Restrained. No threat to anyone.Federal agents shot him anyway.Multiple times. While he was pinned to the ground. While his hands were secured. After his gun had been removed.This Wasn’t a ShootingThis was an execution.Executed by the federal government on a Minneapolis street for filming police and helping a woman.Alex Pretti was 37 years old. He was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. He cared for America’s veterans. He had no criminal record—just two traffic tickets in his life.He was a U.S. citizen exercising his First Amendment right to document what federal agents were doing in his city.And federal agents executed him for it.Stephen Miller Called Him a TerroristWithin hours of the shooting—before any investigation, before Alex’s family was even notified—White House advisor Stephen Miller called Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.”An ICU nurse. Who saved veterans’ lives. Who was filming police. Who was helping a woman being assaulted.Stephen Miller called him a terrorist.They Blocked the InvestigationAfter killing Alex, federal agents prevented Minneapolis police from accessing the crime scene. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension—the state agency responsible for investigating officer-involved shootings—was denied access. Even with a search warrant.BCA Superintendent Drew Evans, with over 20 years in law enforcement, said he’d never seen anything like it. Federal agents controlled the scene. Controlled the evidence. Controlled the narrative.Then they released that staged photo of the gun—the gun their own agent had removed before shooting Alex.This Is the Insurrection Act StrategyThis execution isn’t random violence. It’s part of a documented strategy:* Deploy federal agents to create confrontations* Execute U.S. citizens* Stage evidence to justify killings* Fabricate narratives about “violent resistance”* Block state investigators* Smear victims as terrorists* Provoke local officials* Use “chaos” to invoke Insurrection Act* Remove elected officials* Install federal controlWe’re at Step 6. Governor Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard today. They remain under state control—for now. But that activation is exactly what Stephen Miller needs to claim the state has lost control.Watch the Full AnalysisTonight’s Narativ Live show breaks down the video evidence frame by frame. We show you the agent in the gray jacket. We show you when the gun is removed. We show you the execution.Warning: The footage is disturbing. But it’s important you see what federal agents are doing on American streets.Say His Name:Alex Jeffrey Pretti37 years old. ICU nurse. U.S. citizen. Legal gun owner. No criminal record.He filmed police. He helped a woman. Federal agents tear gassed him, restrained him, disarmed him, and executed him.This is what America becomes when we let it happen.Don’t let them get away with this.Watch the full forensic analysis on Narativ Live. Share this story. The video proves everything.Thank you Dean Blundell, Nick Paro, Cat, John Liccione, Caro Henry, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

This show connects the dots on the last few weeks. Coordinated attacks on Substack from Don Lemon to disinformation operations intensified at the exact moment Substack investigators via Ellie Leonard exposed a secret in Michael Cohen’s files. Tonight’s Narativ Live with Lev Parnas, Wajahat Ali, and Nick Paro revealed the pattern: independent journalists pushed the Epstein story when mainstream media refused to touch it. Then came the discovery of a secret proffer attempt by Michael Cohen reveals he knows more that he is saying. Why does Michael Cohen matter? Because he was Trump’s fixer during the critical period when Trump was allegedly raping children at Epstein’s properties, when multiple women came forward with allegations that were then buried. Cohen admitted under oath he threatened over 500 people to keep them quiet for Trump in 2016, the exact year Katie Johnson accused Trump of raping her at Epstein’s mansion when she was 13, then withdrew her lawsuit after death threats. And that is why Cohen feels he can get a pardon from Trump - if he helps Trump by claiming his testimony was coerced. And Trump may give in because nobody has ever asked Cohen under oath whether Katie Johnson was one of those 500 people he silenced. The clips played tonight demonstrated Cohen’s methods, his access, and his willingness to do whatever Trump needed. That’s why his silence on Epstein specifically is so telling, and why the growing petition demands Ro Khanna subpoena Cohen, Michael Wolff, and Steve Bannon about what they know.As Wajahat Ali emphasized, this is a generational moment, potentially the only real opportunity in the next decade to force accountability before Trump consolidates power further. The independent journalism community forced Trump into defense, attacks on Substack revealed they’re desperate to shut down the investigation.Subscribe to support tonight’s independent voices: Lev Parnas, THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali, Nick Paro and Zev Shalev Thank you THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali, Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, Cat, Cheech Previti, Caro Henry, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas and Nick Paro! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

One year after Donald Trump promised a “golden age,” the president marked his anniversary with a 90-minute press conference threatening to seize Greenland by military force. The first year delivered broken promises across the board: Ukraine war still raging despite Trump’s “24 hours” pledge, inflation rising from 2.3% to 2.7% after his tariffs, 22 million Americans losing health coverage, half the Education Department eliminated, and negative net migration for the first time in 50 years. Tonight’s Narativ Live examined three critical stories revealing the stakes of year two with three extraordinary members of thsi extraordinary community Olga Lautman, Janessa Goldbeck, and Ellie Leonard.🌍 NATO CANNOT SURVIVE Olga Lautman delivered a stark assessment of the transatlantic alliance: “NATO is finished. I can promise you there is not one European country who feels comfortable with Americans today.” She explained that whether Trump uses force to invade Greenland or not, the trust essential to NATO has been irreparably broken. “Once you break that trust, it’s finished. So NATO, as we know it, is finito.” Lautman advocated for a reconstituted alliance excluding the United States and Hungary, while including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, and Ukraine—”the only country that has fighting experience.” She warned that Europe’s biggest obstacle has been itself, but with 1.5 million standing troops and advanced military technology, European forces are formidable. “This is not one of those forces that you can just overrun,” she emphasized, noting the interconnected nature of global conflicts as Russia and China conduct joint surveillance flights near South Korea and Japan.⚖️ FIRST AMENDMENT UNDER SIEGEJanessa Goldbeck, Marine Corps veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, discussed the extraordinary amicus brief filed by 41 former military leaders defending Senator Mark Kelly against censure by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Kelly reminded service members of their duty to refuse illegal orders—settled military law since Nuremberg—and Hegseth responded with formal censure and threats to retirement benefits. “This is an extraordinary story,” Goldbeck explained, noting that filing the brief required these distinguished officers to risk retaliation themselves. The brief emphasizes that veteran participation in public discourse “is not a threat to civilian control of the military—it is a safeguard.” With nearly 100 members of Congress being veterans, plus veterans throughout state and local government, businesses, and the press, silencing these voices would devastate democratic oversight. “If Hegseth can punish a sitting U.S. Senator for accurate statements of law, what protection exists for anyone else?” The case sets precedent for every veteran in America.🔍 THE SASHA RILEY INVESTIGATIONInvestigative journalist Ellie Leonard presented findings from her weeks-long investigation into the Sasha Riley Substack account, which published explosive Epstein claims that spread through the investigative community before raising red flags. Leonards explained her verification process: “I pull police records, I pull court records, I pull obituaries, I pull newspaper articles from the time. I mean, anything that can give me a timestamp and verifiable information.” Key concerns emerged around timeline inconsistencies, particularly claims involving Jim Jordan that didn’t align chronologically. The Bill Reilly reference—matching a name from the actual Epstein investigation rather than providing new information—suggested someone “had picked a name in the Epstein world and sort of matched it versus the other way around.” While Leonard emphasized she cannot definitively prove the account is disinformation, the inconsistencies were significant enough to warrant skepticism. The investigation serves as a critical reminder about verification standards when dealing with powerful networks capable of weaponizing both truth and lies. “If we can’t tell the difference between genuine survivors and sophisticated disinformation, we become tools of the very networks we’re trying to expose.”Three stories. One through-line: institutions under attack, truth under siege, democracy defenders standing ground.Ready to publish! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

“IT FEELS VERY KREMLIN-Y”The ICE agent who shot Renee Good was identified today: Jonathan Ross. In June 2025, Ross was dragged 100+ yards by a vehicle. Documented trauma. PTSD from a vehicle attack.Now this traumatized agent is the alleged shooter of Renee Nicole Good, who Kristi Noem and other DHS officials claim was following the shooter. Video of the shooting reveals the shooter was not hit by the car, yet this agent still killed Good. The odds that the ICE agents did not know who they were approaching is very unlikely considering their facial recognition and surveillance technology.“It feels very coordinated,” I said tonight. “Someone previously dragged, now positioned in a shooting—it seems almost like an active measure.”Olga Lautman said she believed the shooting was organic but agreed that the coordinated reaction to the shooting had the hallmarks of a Russian operation: “Watching Vance today—was I watching the Russian press briefing or American?”She explained: “In Russia, security services latch onto attacks immediately. Everything looks like the Kremlin—manufactured facts, propaganda. Everyone repeats it. This is what it feels like.”Jacob Kaarsbo, former Danish intelligence officer and author of Subverted (releasing February 5), added context about how these tactics mirror authoritarian playbooks: “Trump is in violation of the articles in the NATO treaty already. And Congress should hold him to account. But of course, the GOP in Congress are part of this cult and are collaborators.”Within hours, Trump, Vance, Noem used identical framing: “domestic terrorist,” “violent attack.” Talking points ready. Video edited and released. Trump shared fake ramming video.Actual video shows Ross stepping aside—out of Good’s path—before shooting her point-blank. The “hospitalized” officer? Walking away.Today FBI shut out state investigators. Minnesota Bureau “reluctantly withdrawn.” Governor Walz “pessimistic.” The entire event looks to be swept under the carpet.VENEZUELA: FIVE GOP SENATORS BREAK RANKSToday the Senate voted 52-47 to advance a War Powers Resolution on Venezuela. Five Republicans broke ranks: Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Todd Young, and Josh Hawley.The resolution requires removal of U.S. forces from hostilities without congressional authorization. Trump’s response? He declared the War Powers Act—a law upheld for 50 years—”Unconstitutional.” JD Vance called it “fundamentally fake.”The claim: The President can unilaterally bomb any country, topple any government, occupy any nation indefinitely—and Congress cannot restrain him.GREENLAND: RUBIO’S CASH OFFER NEXT WEEKSecretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed he’ll meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials next week (January 12-18) to make an offer: cash payments to Greenland’s citizens to secede. Reuters broke the details: $10,000 to $100,000 per person. With 57,000 residents, that’s potentially $5.7 billion to convince a population to leave their country.Jacob Kaarsbo, former Danish intelligence officer, put it bluntly: “That whole proposition that a meeting with Marco Rubio will help clarify anything is nonsensical and naive. Marco Rubio will throw sand into the eyes of the decision makers at best. Trump said it today—the Greenland issue could be a choice between Greenland or NATO. Why? Because Trump doesn’t want NATO. Trump is in violation of the articles in the NATO treaty already.”Day 354.Watch: Trump Tyranny Tracker—Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7 PM ETFollow: Zev Shalev | Olga Lautman | Jacob KaarsboThank you Ellie Leonard, Robin Payes, Social SLP, Leah Anderson, Laura A. Drury, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

This morning, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman in south Minneapolis during what the Department of Homeland Security calls “the largest immigration operation ever.”The shooting happened at 34th Street and Portland Avenue around 10:45 AM local time. The woman - a middle-aged white woman not targeted by any investigation - was blocking an intersection when a federal agent approached her vehicle on foot. The vehicle began to drive away. At least two shots were fired. She crashed and died from a gunshot wound to the head.ICE immediately labeled her actions “domestic terrorism.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the woman “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers.”Video of the shooting tells a different story. The footage shows the woman’s car driving away as the ICE agent opens fire - not ramming anyone, not threatening anyone. Just trying to leave.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saw the video. Here’s what he said at a press conference this afternoon:“To ICE: get the f**k out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents are being terrorized and now somebody is dead. That’s on you. And it’s also on you to leave.”Then Frey issued a warning to Minneapolis residents - and it’s the most important part of his statement:“We all know that the agenda of this Trump administration is to create chaos. They want us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city. They want an excuse to come in and show the kind of force that will create more chaos and more despair. Let’s not let them.”This is the trap. This is what they wanted.Three days ago, 2,000 ICE agents were deployed to the Twin Cities. Yesterday, Governor Tim Walz announced he will not seek reelection, ending his campaign amid sustained federal pressure over fraud allegations. Hours later, the Trump administration froze $10 billion in federal funding to five blue states - California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York.Now a woman is dead in the streets of Minneapolis.This is the pattern: deploy federal agents, cut federal funding, force Democratic governors out of office, then use any resistance as justification for military occupation.Frey sees it clearly. He’s urging peaceful protest. He’s asking Minneapolis not to give Trump the excuse he’s looking for.But one woman is already dead. And Homeland Security is calling her a domestic terrorist.After Venezuela, after Greenland threats, after seizing oil and threatening NATO allies - federal force is now being used on American streets against American communities. And when communities resist, ICE opens fire.Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed what the video shows: “It is obviously very concerning whenever there’s a shooting into a vehicle of someone who’s not armed.”The FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are now investigating whether state laws were violated. But the damage is done. The provocation worked. A woman is dead.And 2,000 more ICE agents are coming to Minnesota in the weeks ahead.This is what occupation looks like in a liberal American city in 2026.Watch the full press conference and video coverage at NARATIV.ORGThank you J Dziak, Cat, Robin Payes, Pamela, Noble Blend, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Five years after January 6, Trump is threatening military force against NATO allies while his Justice Department buries Epstein evidence. Tonight Olga Lautman joined to discuss Greenland, then Kait Justice and Ellie Leonard revealed what’s being concealed in the files.The White House confirmed military options are on the table for Greenland. Trump expects to acquire the territory this term. Olga explained the strategy: “He cannot exit NATO because of Congress, so there are two ways to exit NATO. One would be starting a war with NATO countries.” Venezuela proved he’ll use force without authorization. Denmark’s Prime Minister warned a US attack would end NATO and democratic rule. Olga pointed out Europe has triple America’s population and comparable wealth. “All planning needs to be without the United States,” she said. They need a democracy force including Canada, Japan, and South Korea, because NATO can’t defend against the country threatening them.Kait Justice discovered the FBI never searched Zorro Ranch, where Annie Farmer testified she was abused. They searched Manhattan and Little St. James, but no warrant for the ranch Maxwell’s indictment cited as a crime location. Federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to stop investigating in July 2019, then never searched it themselves. The property sold in August 2023 to a shell company formed three weeks earlier. Beneficial owners unknown, sale price secret.The Justice Department released 12,285 files but two million more remain under review. At this pace, completion takes eight years. Trump promised to release everything, now his DOJ buries evidence while he attacks Democrats on Truth Social.Kait also revealed emails from Zubair Khan pitching Epstein a tool designed to manipulate and influence voters. The tool pulled Twitter data but shut down because accessing that data was too expensive. Now Musk owns Twitter, gutted election integrity teams, and spent $290 million on Trump’s campaign. France is investigating X for election interference. America has no investigation.Ellie Leonard discussed Ghislaine Maxwell’s husband Scott Borgerson, who runs CargoMetrics, a shipping data company. Coast Guard Academy background, advanced degrees in law and international relations, then CEO of a global shipping intelligence firm. As Ellie noted, it fits the pattern.Representative Garcia requested Inspector General investigation into FBI failures on Maria Farmer’s 1996 complaint. New Mexico proposes a truth commission for Zorro Ranch. Annie Farmer asked if they protected Epstein because of his government relationships. Same pattern everywhere: crimes occur, investigations stop, files concealed, institutions captured.Narativ Live is available as audio and video. Subscribe to Narativ.org for more investigative analysis and The Greatest Heist series examining the Epstein network.Thank you Caro Henry, Debbie Hupp, Pamela, Leah Anderson, Lalisa, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ellie Leonard and Kait Justice! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

The Air Defense Systems That Didn’t FireWe spent hours breaking down the Maduro capture operation. The anomalies kept piling up. By the end, the panel was shouting at each other about what America just witnessed.At 2 AM Eastern, Delta Force helicopters flew straight into Caracas. Three hours and 34 minutes later, Nicolas Maduro was aboard the USS Iwo Jima heading to New York. Zero American casualties. No equipment lost.That’s the official story. But the anomalies tell a different story.The Stand-DownI laid out the first anomaly: “The Russians have deployed the Buk-M2E air defense system. They have thousands of these in Venezuela. These are very good air defense systems. These are not the kind of air defense systems that would let something like this happen unnoticed.”Venezuela had 5,000+ Igla-S MANPADS. Surface-to-air missile batteries. Pantsir anti-aircraft systems. Su-30 fighter jets. Russia had been shipping them armaments for months.None of it fired.Nick Paro—a veteran who knows military operations—confirmed what I was seeing: “They just went in. They aren’t moving in a pattern that would be avoiding air defenses. They just went in straight in in a straight line formation almost. They didn’t have the shock and awe that we saw in Baghdad because they didn’t have to knock out the air defense systems.”American helicopters flew during a near-full moon—the worst possible stealth conditions—and dropped into the heart of Caracas unopposed.Someone gave the stand-down order.Who’s Running Venezuela?this was a law enforcement operation, Maduro goes to trial and Venezuela’s government continues. Three people had legitimate claims to lead:Delcy Rodríguez - Vice President under Maduro, acting president under Venezuelan law. She’s demanding “proof of life” for Maduro. Marco Rubio is talking to her - which contradicts Trump saying “we’re running it.”Edmundo González - Won the July 28, 2024 election with 70%+ of the vote. The US State Department recognized him as the legitimate president in August 2024. The European Parliament called him “the democratically-elected president.” Trump bypassed him.María Corina Machado - Won the 2023 opposition primary before Maduro barred her from running. Just awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Trump’s response? She “doesn’t have the respect” to run Venezuela.Trump said he’s running Venezuela. But Rubio is negotiating with Maduro’s VP. Meanwhile, the actual elected president and the Nobel laureate are sidelined.The contradictions keep stacking.Twelve Hours, Two StoriesAt dawn, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced narco-terrorism charges. By noon, Trump was at Mar-a-Lago talking about oil.“We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly. We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars. It’ll be paid for by the oil companies directly.”Nick called it exactly what it is: “This is a distraction to get oil and rare earth minerals and do a hemisphere-wide domination effort for the US.”The operation went from “law enforcement arrest” to “we’re running Venezuela” in twelve hours.The Perception DivideThat’s when the panel exploded.Lev Parnas was on. He was Trump’s point person on Venezuela negotiations during the first administration. He brokered oil contracts for 2+ billion barrels. He knows these players personally.“This was coordinated,” Lev said. He laid out the January 1st secret conversations—Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Kirill Dmitriev. “Maduro was effectively handed over. That’s why Trump spoke with such certainty.”A West Point history professor pushed back hard on the coordination theory. Academic skepticism versus insider knowledge.Then Wajahat Ali jumped in with the political angle no one else was seeing: “There’s going to be a massive fissure. America first isn’t just white nationalism. America first is no military interventionism, no support to Israel, no $40 billion to Argentina, and no frigging world policemen and regime change.”Marjorie Taylor Greene is already breaking with Trump on this. Thomas Massie too. The MAGA coalition that voted for “no more wars” just watched Trump invade a country without congressional approval.The debate got heated. Voices raised. Lev apologized to the professor: “I did not mean to, we get passionate in debates, especially some of the stuff that’s going on because I haven’t slept all night. I’ve been on the phone with my sources breaking a lot of the stuff that’s happening.”That’s the divide. Academics seeing historical patterns. Insiders reading chess moves in real time. Progressive analysts watching the MAGA coalition fracture over intervention.What Nobody’s AskingWe covered it for hours. The air defense stand-down. The narrative shift from justice to oil grab. The democratic leaders Trump bypassed. The Cuban intelligence services still running Venezuela’s military. The potential trap American forces just walked into.But the biggest story is the perception gap.Half the country sees a successful operation against a drug lord. The other half sees a coordinated handover that Putin orchestrated, Trump executed, and the media isn’t questioning.The helicopters flew unopposed. The systems didn’t fire. Trump said he’s running Venezuela now.Those are facts. How you interpret them reveals everything about what you think just happened in the Western Hemisphere.Thank you THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali, Lev Parnas, Lesley Jane Seymour, Caro Henry, Debbie Hupp, and many others for tuning into my live video with Nick Paro and Banner & Backbone Media! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

We’ve all had that moment. A friend says you’ve gone too far.This is that conversation. Not because Michael Cohen deserves to suffer. Because people who care tell you the truth.Watch the conversation between Lev Parnas, Dean Blundell, and Zev Shalev. No Fox News gotcha energy. Just concern from people who’ve been through their own transformations.Lev knows transformation. Six years tormented, investigated, vilified. He came through by telling the truth.“The truth will set you free,” Lev told Michael. “You will probably be a hero.”Michael Cohen spent 14 years as Trump’s fixer. He’s testified eight times before Congress. Built a podcast on being the insider who came clean.But on three documented matters, his story falls apart. And they point to a fourth question: what else don’t we know?1. Katie Johnson and the Private InvestigatorsWhen Katie Johnson filed her lawsuit alleging Trump and Epstein raped her as a child, Cohen says he sent private investigators. Wrong address, he claims.Why send investigators to someone accusing your client of child rape?Cohen claims Jane Doe was different from Katie Johnson, but they’re the same lawsuit, refiled anonymously by Lisa Bloom.Either there’s another case he knows about, or he’s avoiding the truth.2. The $95 Million House That Putin BoughtIn 2008, Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev bought Trump’s Palm Beach mansion—formerly Leslie Wexner’s—for $95 million. Trump paid $41 million. The profit was staggering in a collapsing market.Cohen was the lawyer on that deal. In his own book, Cohen writes that Trump told him Putin bought the house.Epstein’s emails suggest Russian money laundering. Senate investigations examined this closely. The evidence is overwhelming this wasn’t ordinary real estate.Yet Cohen dismisses it today as routine. Nothing to see.If you’re coming clean about Trump’s crimes, why protect this one?3. The Vekselberg PaymentsAfter Trump’s inauguration, Cohen received over $500,000 from Columbus Nova—run by Andrew Intrater, cousin of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.They called it “consulting.” Cohen took the money.Vekselberg connects to Ehud Barak, who connects to Epstein, who connects to Peter Thiel. The network is documented. But no Russian oligarch names appear in the Epstein files.Yet Cohen was in the middle, taking Russian oligarch money through American cutouts right after Trump took office.Routine consulting work, Cohen says.4. The UnknownIf Cohen was in the middle of Katie Johnson, Rybolovlev, and Vekselberg—what else?Cohen reminds everyone: 14 years by Trump’s side. Nothing happened without him knowing.But press him on Ukraine, Epstein’s network, Russian operations—nothing. His testimony: Stormy Daniels and clearing his name.Three documented cases. Three dismissals.After 14 years, what else hasn’t he told us?What Shane Yirak FoundShane Yirak at The Firebrand Project just released the third Kushner Files on Affinity Partners—$2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s MBS after Kushner left the White House.Shane traces the pattern: Kushner entered Trump’s orbit from desperation after disastrous deals at 26.Yirak reveals a familiar familial tale of a family grappling with succession issues. It’s well-known that Charles Kushner hired someone to film his brother-in-law with a prostitute, sent the tape as revenge. The family went to the FBI, yet Yirak points out that many of us have missed: Jared stayed loyal.That loyalty—staying silent, protecting crimes—is the what all these stories have in common.The Invitation, Not the IndictmentNobody wants Cohen to suffer.But redemption isn’t a performance. Real redemption means telling the whole truth. The parts that implicate people you worked with. The parts that expose the machine. Not to harm your funders and allies, but to reveal the truth to helps ave democracy.“Just come clean, my brother,” Lev said. Not as a prosecutor. As someone who’s been there.This is people who care enough to have the hard conversation. To invite him to finish what he started.The PatternKatie Johnson. Rybolovlev. Vekselberg. Three documented cases where Cohen was directly involved.In each case, he dismisses it as routine or claims selective memory. He can talk about Stormy Daniels because it’s not structural. He can’t talk about Russian money laundering or silencing rape allegations because those expose the machine.The same machine Kushner entered from desperation. The same machine that compromised Cohen for 14 years.Beyond these three documented cases—what else? What’s the full scope of what Cohen knows but won’t tell?Cohen knows the answers. And he knows what else he hasn’t told us.The people asking aren’t enemies. They’re people who’ve been through this. Who know how hard it is. Who know how liberating truth can be.The door’s open. Come clean completely—or prove us all wrong—about Katie Johnson, Rybolovlev, Vekselberg, and everything else from those 14 years.That invitation stands. From people who care enough to ask.The Kushner Files by Shane Yirak is available at The Firebrand Project. Support independent journalism that asks the questions establishment media won’t. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

📁 Epstein Files Deadline—Will DOJ Actually Release Them?Tomorrow is December 19th, the deadline Trump signed into law requiring DOJ to release FBI’s Epstein files. The silence from Justice is deafening. House Speaker Mike Johnson sent everyone home and closed the House for tomorrow. Dan Bongino, who hyped these files as a podcaster before becoming Deputy FBI Director, just resigned.Today House Democrats released 68 photos from Epstein’s estate—a fraction of 95,000 images. Bill Gates with an unidentified woman. Steve Bannon, whose Wall Street past connects him to Epstein’s financial crime networks. Noam Chomsky on a plane. Text messages recruiting an 18-year-old from Russia. Passages from “Lolita” handwritten on a woman’s body. Redacted passports from Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Europe.This is what they’re showing us. Tomorrow we find out what they’re hiding.🏛️ Trump Renames Kennedy Center After Himself—IllegallyTrump added his name to the Kennedy Center. Federal law explicitly prohibits installing additional memorials there without Congress. He did it anyway.The board “vote” was on Zoom, run from someone’s house. Representative Joyce Beatty tried to object—she was muted. Others with concerns were muted. The White House claimed unanimous approval. It wasn’t.The website already says “Trump-Kennedy Center.” A memorial Congress designated for JFK after his 1963 assassination now bears Trump’s name at the end of a disastrous first year. Maria Shriver called it “beyond comprehension.” The Kennedy family should sue immediately.⚓ Venezuela “Total Blockade” Declared—Act of WarTrump declared a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, designating Maduro’s government a “foreign terrorist organization.” The U.S. military has already killed at least 90 people since September in vessel strikes Trump claims are drug interdiction but provides no evidence for.Venezuela condemned the blockade as “illegal and reckless.” Russia warned of “unpredictable consequences.” Under international law, a true naval blockade is an act of war.Trump’s “largest armada ever assembled in South America” rhetoric sounds like preparation for military action. Watch this space.🏗️ Trump Bypassing Law to Demolish Historic Federal BuildingsA former GSA official filed a court declaration alleging Trump is soliciting demolition bids for four historic federal buildings in Washington, bypassing normal review processes. The list includes HUD headquarters—a brutalist architectural landmark—and buildings with iconic New Deal murals.Trump can relocate departments. But there’s a process for demolishing historic buildings. He’s ignoring it, just like he ignored the process for gutting the White House East Wing.If he gets away with demolishing these buildings, he’ll demolish anything, anywhere. This is the people’s architectural heritage, not his personal property.📱 ICE Scans U.S. Citizen’s Face Before Releasing HimICE agents detained a 23-year-old U.S. citizen in Chicago, ignored his claims of citizenship, handcuffed him, and only released him after scanning his face with facial recognition technology that confirmed his status.There was no legal basis for the detention. The scan revealed the system is linked to multiple government databases, providing instant access to comprehensive personal information through a portable device.Combine this with CBP’s 500 new surveillance drones operating “beyond visual line of sight,” airline data on domestic travelers, and license plate readers—we’re living in a surveillance state. Today it’s deployed against immigrants and people of color. Tomorrow it’s all of us.The pattern is clear: ignore the law, silence opposition, declare victory, surveil everyone.Day 332 is just another day in an administration that treats accountability as weakness and oversight as optional. We’re tracking every development, every connection, every norm violated.Because someone has to.The Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Monday-Thursday at 2 PM ET. Follow @OlgaNYC1211 and subscribe to Trump Tyranny Tracker on Substack. Join me for The FiveStack with Dean Blundell at 3 PM ET.Follow Olga Lautman’s essential tracking of authoritarian developments at Trump Tyranny Tracker on Substack. Join me for The FiveStack with Dean Blundell at 3 PM ET for the top 5 stories of the day.Thank you Nick Paro, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, Jeanne Elbe, Stuart Cohen, Susan Gaustad, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

PENTAGON POINTS FINGER AT HEGSETH AND TRUMPThe Spider-Man meme came to life at the Pentagon today. Spokesperson Kingsley Wilson was asked about the Caribbean strikes and made clear: these were “presidentially directed.” The chain of command “functions as it should.” The secretary and the president “are the ones directing these strikes.” Translation: the military brass is putting daylight between themselves and what increasingly looks like a war crime.Archive footage from Fox News shows Hegseth bragging about watching the strike live. “We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing.” The kind of thing you should not say on television while committing a war crime—but there he was.In 72 hours, the story went from “fake news” to both parties in Congress demanding investigations. Senator Wicker is involved. Republicans and Democrats are using the words “war crimes.” Britain has already stopped sharing intelligence because they don’t want to be complicit in extrajudicial killings.As Olga put it: “They’re all trying to put the liability on this.” The military is pointing at Hegseth. Hegseth pointed at an admiral. Everyone’s saying “he did it.”NOEM BRAGS ABOUT DEFYING FEDERAL COURTDHS Secretary Kristi Noem one-upped Hegseth by openly admitting she defied a federal court order on deportations to El Salvador. The judge reopened contempt proceedings Friday. By Monday, Noem was confessing. “This country has turned into such a banana republic,” Olga said. “I follow autocratic regimes. I’ve never seen anything like it.”KUSHNER IN MOSCOW WITH PUTIN AND DMITRIEVMeanwhile, Jared Kushner was in Moscow meeting with Putin alongside Steve Witkoff and sanctioned oligarch Kirill Dmitriev. This is the same Kushner who asked Russian Ambassador Kislyak for a back channel in 2016, who dined with Abramovich and Vekselberg, whose buildings were financed by Russian money. Olga traced his Russian connections back to 2014-15. It’s a business deal at Ukraine’s expense.PENTAGON BARS AP, REUTERS, CNN—INSTALLS LAURA LOOMERThe Pentagon barred major news organizations from Hegseth’s briefings. Access now goes only to pro-Trump outlets and extremist influencers. Laura Loomer was broadcasting from inside the Washington Post’s former Pentagon office. Russia does this too, Olga noted—except their propagandists are trained professionals who receive morning briefings on what to push.E = MC²: EPSTEIN’S MODELING PIPELINE EXPOSEDThe second hour brought investigative researcher Ellie Leonard onto the show to discuss the House Oversight email dumps—and the picture emerging is darker than anyone imagined.MC2 Model Management wasn’t a modeling agency. It was E = MC², with E standing for Epstein. Three offices: New York, Miami, Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv office provided visa cover, laundering Eastern European women into the United States on O-1 “Einstein” visas through Israeli modeling contracts. JPMorgan financed it all, despite their own employees flagging human trafficking red flags.RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE GRADUATES IN EPSTEIN’S ORBITOlga traced the pipeline directly: Svetlana Pozhidaeva, a graduate of Russia’s foreign ministry academy (MGIMO), sent a lingerie photo to Maxim Russia, got picked up as a model, dropped out of diplomatic training, obtained an O-1 visa through Epstein’s network, and ended up as his assistant—with a mission to infiltrate American AI research. Her grandfather is buried in the Russian equivalent of Arlington Cemetery. He was GRU. Her father signed a lease listing his job as GRU.“There is only one explanation,” said KGB defector Yuri Shvets. “She was an agent infiltrated with the help of Jeffrey Epstein to penetrate the American network linked to supercomputers and artificial intelligence.”THE EMAILS THEY NEVER WANTED RELEASEDEllie has been combing through tens of thousands of emails. The names on her list: Bill Gates, Jean-Luc Brunel, Leon Black, Michael Wolff, the Dubins, Ghislaine Maxwell, Larry Summers, Cathy Rumler (Obama’s White House counsel). The Larry Summers exchanges read like “two 12-year-old girls talking to each other,” she said. “Geeky guys who can’t lay anybody” who suddenly had access to women they could never have gotten on their own.The emails reveal Epstein defending Woody Allen, ranting against Mia and Ronan Farrow, and joking with Michael Wolff about surviving the MeToo movement. “You and I are old news,” Epstein wrote. “Maybe we got missed.” Wolff’s response: “Let’s cross your fingers.”JUDGE BERMAN TAKES CONTROL OF FILE RELEASESJudge Berman is actively involved in ensuring the next document release contains the right materials. Files from as early as 2003 could drop before Christmas. The network connecting Trump, Epstein, Dershowitz, Ken Starr, and Wexner is becoming visible in the documentary record.Follow Olga Lautman at Trump Tyranny Tracker and Ellie Leonard at The Unpaid Panicked Writer on Substack. The Greatest Heist Chapter 4 is now available at narativ.org. This is a public episode. 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The RecordingOn Day 310 of the Trump administration, Bloomberg dropped an explosive scoop: they obtained an actual recording of Steve Witkoff—Trump’s special envoy—calling Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s advisor, on October 14th to coach him on how to pitch Russia’s Ukraine surrender plan to Trump. The call came one day before Trump’s phone call with Putin.Let that sink in. The American president’s envoy was advising the Kremlin on how to sell their demands to make it look like the plan originated from Washington. Witkoff also helpfully tipped off the Russians that Zelensky would be visiting the White House later that week.This isn’t negotiation. It’s coordination. In any functioning democracy, this would trigger an immediate investigation.The “Seditious Six”Instead, the FBI busies itself with more pressing matters—like interviewing six Democratic lawmakers who reminded service members they can refuse illegal orders.Senator Mark Kelly, a decorated Navy captain and former astronaut, now faces a Pentagon investigation that could lead to court-martial. His crime? Stating the obvious: that the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires troops to disobey unlawful orders. Trump called for these veterans to be arrested and executed for “sedition.” Defense Secretary Hegseth labeled them the “Seditious Six.”Indiana CavesIndiana’s Republican leadership caved to Trump’s bullying campaign. After publicly attacking holdout lawmakers by name, calling them RINOs, and promising to primary anyone who resisted his redistricting demands, the state legislature reversed course. Several lawmakers reported being targeted with swatting and death threats. Democracy by intimidation.Foreign Trolls ExposedX’s new “About This Account” feature accidentally confirmed what we’ve been saying for years: much of MAGA’s online army isn’t even American. Accounts like MAGANationX (”Patriot Voice for We The People” with 390,000 followers) turned out to be operating from Eastern Europe. MAGA Scope, featuring Trump in a tuxedo with American flag emojis, was created in Nigeria in 2024. As Olga noted, Nigeria is a known hub for Russian bot operations—these aren’t random scammers, they’re nodes in a coordinated influence network.The FracturingTrump’s approval has sunk to 38%—his lowest of the second term—with a 19-point gap between approval and disapproval. The MAGA coalition is fracturing over Iran policy, the Epstein files, and the Argentina bailout. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene is reportedly eyeing the exit.Keep Ukraine in Your ThoughtsThis Thanksgiving, as Olga reminded us, keep Ukraine in your thoughts. People are still being pulled from rubble after the latest Russian bombardment. Missiles keep falling while Washington pretends to negotiate a “peace plan” that Moscow literally wrote.Follow Olga Lautman’s essential tracking at Trump Tyranny Tracker and Unmasking Russia. The Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Monday through Thursday at 2PM ET.SHOW NOTES: Day 310 TTT — Bloomberg obtains recording of Witkoff coaching Putin’s advisor on how to pitch Russia’s plan to Trump. FBI targets Mark Kelly and “Seditious Six” lawmakers. Indiana GOP caves to redistricting after swatting and death threats. X feature exposes MAGA accounts as foreign trolls from Nigeria and Eastern Europe. Trump approval sinks to 38%.Follow Olga Lautman’s essential tracking at Trump Tyranny Tracker and Unmasking Russia. The Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Monday through Thursday at 2PM ET.Thank you Autumn Morrison, Julie, Gordon Soukoreff, Jann McCarthy, Damara Shanmugan, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Investigative journalist Zev Shalev joined Stephanie Wilson on Freedom Over Fascism Live to break down the newly released Epstein-Maxwell emails from House Democrats, revealing how Jeffrey Epstein coordinated damage control with author Michael Wolff during Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign and managed Prince Andrew’s scandal through Ghislaine Maxwell. The emails expose a sophisticated operation spanning 2011-2019, raising questions about Epstein’s Wolff’s role as intermediary between Trump’s campaign and Epstein, while Zev connected these revelations to his ongoing “Greatest Heist” investigation into Trump-Epstein financial crimes. The conversation traced how billions of dollars moved through Epstein’s accounts—a college dropout fired from Bear Stearns who somehow became a near-billionaire—and why mainstream media continues suppressing these financial crime networks that stretch from the 1980s to today’s political landscape.Thank you Lesley Jane Seymour, Robin Payes, Peter Thomas Lang, Pamela, Noble Blend, and many others for tuning into my live video with Stephanie G Wilson, PhD! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

NARATIV has obtained three previously unreported emails that directly implicate Donald Trump in knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. These emails, sent between 2011 and 2019, show Jeffrey Epstein explicitly stating that Trump knew about “the girls” and asked Ghislaine Maxwell to “stop.”One email reveals that a victim spent hours with Trump at Epstein’s house - but was never mentioned in testimony.Another shows Epstein and journalist Michael Wolff strategizing about how to leverage Trump’s denials for “political currency” during the 2016 presidential campaign.These are Epstein’s own words, in writing, to Ghislaine Maxwell and Michael Wolff.DOWNLOAD THE EMAILS EMAIL 1: “THE DOG THAT HASN’T BARKED” The first email was sent on April 2nd, 2011 - exactly one month after British newspapers published explosive exposés about Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre. Jeffrey Epstein writes to Ghislaine Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him, he has never once been mentioned.” Let me repeat that: A victim spent HOURS with Trump at Epstein’s house. Epstein is noting - with apparent satisfaction - that despite this victim’s testimony to authorities, Trump’s name “has never once been mentioned.” The context here is critical. This email came just weeks after the Mail on Sunday published photographs of Prince Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhouse. Prince Andrew was facing global media scrutiny. His reputation was being destroyed. But Trump? According to Epstein: the “dog that hasn’t barked.” Lev Parnas: “Now We Place Him in Epstein’s Home With a Victim” Lev Parnas, former Trump associate who has been cooperating with investigators, put it bluntly: “Trump kept boasting to everybody that he’s never been to Epstein Island. Well, now we place him in Epstein’s home with a victim for several hours. So these are very damaging.” This email doesn’t just show Trump’s connection to Epstein - it shows Epstein actively tracking which victims could or couldn’t implicate Trump.EMAIL 2: “HE KNEW ABOUT THE GIRLS”Fast forward eight years. January 31st, 2019.The Miami Herald has just published Julie K. Brown’s devastating “Perversion of Justice” investigation.Federal prosecutors are circling. Epstein will be arrested in just five months.And Epstein is emailing journalist Michael Wolff - the author who had unprecedented access to Trump for “Fire and Fury.” Epstein writes: “trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop” “Of course he knew about the girls.” “He asked ghislaine to stop.” This is Jeffrey Epstein explicitly stating that Donald Trump: - KNEW about the sex trafficking operation - ASKED Ghislaine Maxwell to stop These are not allegations from victims. This is Epstein himself, telling a journalist that Trump had direct knowledge. EMAIL 3: “POLITICAL CURRENCY”December 15th, 2015. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. CNN is hosting a debate in Las Vegas. And Michael Wolff emails Epstein with a heads-up: “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you--either on air or in scrum afterwards.” Epstein replies: “if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Now listen to Wolff’s response: “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.” This is a calculated strategy. Let Trump lie about the plane, the house. Then either expose him for “political currency” - or SAVE him to create a debt. Lev Parnas: Trump Was “Part of the Cover-Up” “What we’re starting to see is that Donald Trump was part of maybe the cover-up going back then, protecting himself and maybe laying out Epstein.” This suggests Trump wasn’t just aware of Epstein’s operation - he may have been actively involved in managing the fallout and controlling who got exposed. THE TIMELINE Subscribe to follow this investigation Share this story. Contact your representatives and demand a full investigation into Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Thank you Ellie Leonard, Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, Cat, Cathy R. Payne, Pamela, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

🌍 INTELLIGENCE COLLAPSE: The Five Eyes Alliance FracturesThe United Kingdom suspended intelligence sharing with the United States in the Caribbean after determining that Trump’s policy of bombing suspected drug boats amounts to illegal extrajudicial killing. British officials concluded their intelligence was being used to select lethal targets for strikes that have already killed 76 people. Canada and U.S. military lawyers echo Britain’s assessment: these operations violate international law.“I don’t think people understand how consequential this is,” Olga noted on today’s show. “US and UK have the closest intelligence sharing and are the closest allies forever. And here you have the UK concerned that the information they were providing was used to carry out these killings and they don’t want to be complicit in murder.” This marks the first time in the post-World War II era that Britain has cut intelligence cooperation with America over concerns about complicity in extrajudicial violence. The Five Eyes began fracturing in February after Zelensky was thrown out of the White House. In August, Tulsi Gabbard blocked allied access to Russia-Ukraine intelligence. Last month, Dutch intelligence publicly cut back NSA and CIA cooperation. Now Britain has made the break official and public.🔍 BROKEN PROMISES: Patel’s Betrayal of MI5FBI Director Kash Patel promised MI5 he would preserve a critical FBI liaison post in London that coordinates Five Eyes surveillance, including monitoring of China’s new embassy. He then abruptly eliminated the position as part of his bureau purge, reassigning the agent without notice. The betrayal reveals how Patel’s systematic gutting of counterintelligence veterans serves to isolate America from allied cooperation.⚖️ JUSTICE CORRUPTED: Rewarding Coup Plotters, Hunting InvestigatorsTrump issued “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to 77 allies tied to the 2020 election subversion effort — Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell among them. Many face only state charges his pardons cannot legally touch. The Justice Department simultaneously opened a criminal inquiry into the intelligence officials who authored the 2017 assessment of Russian election interference, issuing up to 30 subpoenas targeting John Brennan, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page. The 2017 assessment was validated by every subsequent investigation, including the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Yet Trump now criminally investigates analysts who reported accurate intelligence because he dislikes their conclusions.🔒 PRISON PRIVILEGES: Maxwell’s Special TreatmentA whistleblower told Rep. Jamie Raskin that Ghislaine Maxwell receives banned privileges in federal prison: custom meals, expedited mail, after-hours recreation, a service puppy in training, computer-enabled visits — all while preparing a commutation request for Trump. “Can you imagine every survivor who this woman basically raped and delivered to wealthy people?” Olga asked. “They’re sitting there locked within their horrors and their mind. And this woman is playing with f*****g puppies.” Meanwhile, Alexander Smirnov — the FBI informant who admitted fabricating the Biden-Burisma conspiracy — vanished from federal custody despite a six-year sentence, officials claiming he was “furloughed” with no forwarding address.👁️ SURVEILLANCE STATE: Mass Tracking Deployed at Public GatheringsDHS deployed the Homeland Security Information Network at college football games and campus protests, integrating live feeds from CCTV, drones, body cameras, and private cameras into real-time facial recognition searches. The surveillance infrastructure operates without disclosure to attendees and far exceeds what the public is told. Testing mass surveillance at football games normalizes the technology before deploying it against political opposition.Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Monday and Tuesday at 2PM ET on Narativ.org. Follow Olga Lautman’s essential tracking at OlgaLautman.Substack.com.Thank you Ellie Leonard, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, Julie, HoldingTheLine, Maureen Drews, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.narativ.orgTara Palmeri has done extraordinary work documenting Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors in Tara Palmeri The Red Letter, giving voice to Virginia Giuffre and the women trafficked to the most powerful men in the world. She brought Bloomberg’s latest: federal prosecutors built a parallel money laundering investigation alongside the sex trafficking case. Simultaneous. And Eps…