The Lincoln Project

• Epstein's Entrapment with Julie K. Brown

  Journalist Julie K. Brown -- whose Miami Herald reporting in 2017 and 2018 led to additional charges for Epstein and identified nearly 80 of his victims -- sits down with Rick to unravel all of the significant details that the public might not know yet, or might not be paying attention to. Blowing the lid off of an already UNBELIEVABLE story (again), Julie sheds light on the victims' stories, Epstein and Maxwell's extensive child trafficking network, the colossal names woven into the network, why investigators should follow the money, and, of course, the unprecedented sweetheart plea deal Alex Acosta (who'd later slither into the role of Trump's Labor Secretary in 2017) handed to Epstein during his 2008 criminal case in Palm Beach County. Rick and Julie also untangle the important details surrounding Epstein's 2006 Palm Beach investigation where a Victim's Rights Lawsuit (filed after the sweetheart plea deal) exposed a chummy email paper trail between the Prosecutor's office (i.e. Alex Acosta's office at the time) and Epstein's attorney. For more of her investigative groundbreaking reporting, please check out Julie's book "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story" and her Miami Herald 2017-2018 investigation here→ https://www.miamiherald.com/topics/jeffrey-epstein• • • • • Get your copy of Julie K Brown's book, "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story," and follow Julie on X at @JKBjournalist. Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• You're Holding the Smoking Gun, Donny

  This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is that America has spoken, and we're not letting the Epstein cover-up go. America is locked on target, and justice for the sexual assault victims matters. Exposing the truth about Donald Trump matters. Maybe we're growing up as a country? After ten years of distraction whack-a-mole, maybe we've matured and are no longer taking his bait. Facts are louder than the lies, and Trump can't rewrite or reframe his involvement in the Epstein/Maxwell narrative. A poll came out this week that Trump is losing one in three MAGA voters. THIS is the smoking gun, and Trump's fingerprints are all over the handle.  • • • • • Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com.  Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Killing the Press: Russia's Early Red Flags

  Russian expats, anti-authoritarian journalists, and co-authors Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan join Rick this week to share their heroic story of fleeing Russia in order to give the rest of the world a picture of how people within the country reacted to the war in Chechnya (and now the invasion of Ukraine), how the death of journalism paved a path for state-run misinformation channels, and what the future looks like, structurally, once Putin eventually dies in the future. The militaristic system that Putin shaped is primed for yet another dictator to step into power, and although Russians remain hopeful to one day be able to return their government back to the people, this realistically won't happen for many generations...until the country is finally repaired. Their book 'Our Dear Friends in Moscow' describes a "broken generation" in Russia, and how their friendships back home broke apart over the Putin's actions in Ukraine and the Russian state's condemnation of the West. Coming from a real life encounter with authoritarianism, Andrei and Irina warn us about how it became that way and where we are on that trajectory. • • • • • You can find Irina Borogan @irinaborogan on X, and Andrei Soldatov @AndreiSoldatov on X. Also, please check out Irina & Andrei's newest book 'Our Dear Friends in Moscow' wherever fine books are sold! Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com.  Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Foul Stench of Todd “Carte” Blanche

  This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is the foul odor of the Epstein files -- and now Todd Blanche meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida. Blanche, who was Trump's personal attorney throughout cases brought from 2020 through 2024 is now serving as the Deputy Attorney General under the Trump Administration. Backed up by numerous photos and previously released court documents that can be found online, Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker who is currently serving a 20-year sentence in Tallahassee for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade. She has been friends with Trump for years. Maxwell's defense attorney, David Markus, happens to be friends with Todd Blanche (imagine that). Just google "For The Defense with David Oscar Markus" and you should see a podcast published on June 2, 2024. Now, today when Blanche met with Maxwell, what do you think that conversation was? Do you think their conversation was recorded or unbiased and substantiated notes were taken? Do you think Blanche threatened Maxwell -- take the deal or else we will send you to an international prison, or be careful you don't *slip* in the shower? Listen, even without the possibility of undocumented threats, Maxwell has nothing to lose and everything to gain from a transactional deal with Blanche, and therefore Trump. Whatever they want her to say, is there ANYTHING that makes you think she wouldn't say it? It's not like she's someone to stand on morals and principles...as a child sex trafficker. There's a zero percent chance that she would push back and hold to the truth of the matter, as the truth doesn't serve her own interests either. They are offering Maxwell a bribe to lie about Trump. Maxwell is the last loose end -- and nothing she says can be trusted (if it ever could be). Blanche technically doesn't represent Trump in this matter, his role is to serve the AMERICAN PEOPLE and their interests. But we all know who Blanche *thinks* he works for. The corruption in the DOJ reeks, and it makes Watergate look like a ladies' afternoon tea party that forgot to file permit paperwork in a small town. Thank you to the whistleblowers -- be careful, but keep it up. Members of MAGA are finally waking up and the Epstein files are the lynchpin to their long-anticipated epiphany about Trump. Today, the QAnon Shaman reversed course and refuted that Trump was *his* president in a post on X. Benny Johnson, Theo Von, and Candace Owens are all finally scent of Trump's rank odor. The Epstein files are Trump's achilles heel -- and if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a f*cking duck.  • • • • • Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com.  Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• More Everything Forever: AI, Crypto, and Silicon Valley's Hype Hijinks

  Calling all AI prompstitutes/askholes, crypto whales, and everyone who grew up nerding out on Science Fiction...this episode is for you! Special guest Adam Becker, an astrophysicist, author, tech journalist, and scientific philosopher, joins Rick to dissect Silicon Valley's beating heart: techno-futurism and the Silicon Valley bros. Inspired by all of the weird stories he's heard at parties in the Bay, Adam decided he wasn't wearing enough hats already and wrote two books on the subject matter: What is Real?, about the unfinished quest for the meaning of quantum physics, and MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. You all know Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Sam Bankman-Fried (not to mention the BIG power players like Google), but have you heard of JD Vance's friend and soft-cult leader Curtis Yarvin, or Netscape creator Marc Andreessen, or co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies (the surveillance state technology used in China) Peter Thiel? The PayPal Mafia spawned a LOT of bizarre shit, including the launch of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel's careers AND a lifelong rivalry. That’s only the beginning. Cover your keyboards, folks, Rick and Adam are brewing some piping hot Silicon Valley tea, so pull up a chair and the guys will spill it with you. • • • • • Walk, nay, RUN to purchase smartypants Adam's latest book, More Everything Forever, which speaks to this moment. Also, please check out some of his work — @FreelanceAstro on Instagram, and his website is https://freelanceastrophysicist.com. Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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