Good morning, I’m Thom Hartmann, and you’re watching Raw America.
We’ve got a lot to cover this morning. The Justice Department is hemorrhaging prosecutors in Minnesota. CBS News is being forced to answer for its newest hire’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The Clintons agree to testify before Congress. And the Trump administration’s botched release of Epstein files has exposed victims while protecting powerful men.
But before we dive in, I need to be direct with you. Raw America exists because outlets like CBS have been taken over by people more interested in pushing ideology than reporting the truth. We started this outlet as a people-powered response to oligarch-controlled media. We don’t answer to billionaires—we answer to you. If you value journalism that holds power accountable, please support our work. Subscribe, share, and consider becoming a supporter. We genuinely cannot do this without you.
Now let’s get into it.
Minnesota Prosecutors Flee Trump’s Weaponized DOJ
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota is collapsing. Eight more federal prosecutors are heading for the exits, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. This comes after six veteran prosecutors walked away last month in protest over the Justice Department’s refusal to investigate the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother gunned down in her car by ICE agents.
Among those leaving is Ana Voss, the civil division chief. She’s been drowning in hundreds of wrongful detention petitions since Trump’s immigration enforcement operations ramped up across Minnesota. The office normally employs at least 50 attorneys. They’re now down to just nine.
Let me say that again. Nine federal prosecutors left to handle all federal cases in Minnesota.
Why are they leaving? Because the higher-ups are forcing them to use their public powers illegally and unethically. They’re being told not to investigate when federal agents kill American citizens. They’re being pressured to prosecute people for protesting at churches.
And here’s the tell. Chad Mizelle, former chief of staff at Trump’s DOJ, posted this on social media: “If you are a lawyer, are interested in being an AUSA, and support President Trump and anti-crime agenda, DM me. We need good prosecutors. And DOJ is hiring across the country.”
Translation: loyalty to Trump is the only qualification that matters. Legal expertise? Ethics? Integrity? Who needs those when you’ve got a MAGA hat?
Meanwhile, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that all federal agents in Minnesota will now wear body cameras. That’s great. Except it took two dead American citizens and a mass prosecutor exodus to make it happen. And Attorney General Pam Bondi is still arresting people for protesting at a church where ICE conducted raids.
This is what the weaponization of justice looks like. Prosecutors with integrity are fleeing. They’re being replaced with political operatives whose only qualification is loyalty to Donald Trump.
CBS Forced to Address Its Epstein-Linked Star
Now let’s talk about CBS News and why Raw America exists in the first place.
CBS was forced to address its newest contributor’s deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein during Tony Dokoupil’s program Monday night. Peter Attia, a so-called “wellness guru” brought in by CBS’s new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, appears nearly 2,000 times in the latest Epstein file release.
Justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane had to tell CBS viewers about crude, sexual messages Attia sent to Epstein. This is years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution. Dozens of emails show the two men joking about women and referencing a close friendship.
Here’s the most disturbing part. Time stamps reveal that Attia chose to meet with Epstein in New York while ignoring his wife’s plea to come to the hospital where their infant son was in cardiac arrest.
And Bari Weiss, CBS’s new editor-in-chief who built her career railing against “cancel culture,” is reportedly battling to keep Attia at the network. According to The Wrap, she sees firing him as “giving in to the mob.”
This is exactly why we started Raw America. This is the MAGA takeover of mainstream media in action. It’s very simple: It’s regime-aligned media, taken over by right-wing billionaires, in order to shield the powerful from accountability.
Raw America is our people-powered answer to that rot. When corporate media protects the powerful and their friends, we hold them accountable. That’s what we’re building here.
The Clintons Will Testify
Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its Epstein investigation. This comes just days before the House was expected to vote on holding them in criminal contempt for failing to comply with subpoenas.
The Clintons initially declined, arguing the subpoenas were legally unenforceable and that committee chair James Comer was targeting them politically. They sought alternatives, including a voluntary transcribed interview. The committee refused, saying the Clintons were “trying to dodge contempt by requesting special treatment.”
Their attorneys now say they’ll testify on “mutually agreeable dates” and asked the House not to hold its Wednesday contempt vote. We’ll see if this actually happens or if it’s more delay tactics.
DOJ’s Botched Epstein File Release
And finally, the Trump Justice Department’s incompetence is now endangering Epstein’s victims.
The DOJ was forced to take down thousands of documents after admitting that “technical or human error” had exposed victims’ names and identifying information. Several women whose names have never been publicly associated with the case were outed in redacted files released Friday.
Survivors demanded the DOJ site be taken down. The department now admits it’s removed nearly 3.5 million documents to review and re-process them for proper redactions.
Here’s what makes this truly obscene. The files expose survivors while continuing to redact the names of powerful men. Trump appears thousands of times in these files. There are uncorroborated FBI tips accusing him of sexual assault, fresh ties to Epstein and Maxwell, and emails between Epstein and associates that reference the president.
One victim told the FBI how Ghislaine Maxwell tried to pimp her out to Trump and his party pals. But the names of the other men involved remain redacted. Only Trump’s name is visible.
As survivors said in a statement: “This latest release is being sold as transparency, but what it actually does is expose survivors. Once again, survivors are having their names exposed while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected. That is outrageous.”
They’re right. This is a betrayal.
The Justice Department is protecting powerful men while exposing the women they abused. Prosecutors with integrity are fleeing. CBS is protecting Epstein’s friends in the name of fighting “cancel culture.” And Trump is threatening to sue people for reporting on files his own Justice Department released.
This is why Raw America matters. This is why your support matters. We’re building something different here. Something that answers to you, not to oligarchs or corporate boards.
I’m Thom Hartmann for Raw America. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
