Trump vs. Fed Chair Powell, Clintons Subpoenaed on Epstein, Hulk Hogan Passes Away： AM Update 7⧸25
Episode Stats
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Summary
Trump takes his fight with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to the Fed s front door, as questions grow about a multi-billion dollar renovation project and the future of interest rates. Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee approves a motion to subpoena the Clintons and other prominent former officials in relation to Jeffrey Epstein. Let Trump-a-mania make America great again!
Transcript
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I'm Chris Hadfield, astronaut and citizen of planet Earth.
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Join me on a journey into the systems that power the world.
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No politics, just real conversations with real people shaping the future of energy.
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It's Friday, July 25th, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
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It's called the old post office, and it's a much bigger project than this,
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President Trump taking his fight with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to the Fed's front door,
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literally, as questions grow about a multi-billion dollar renovation project
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I never thought that we would be questioning the Clintons and others with respect to the Epstein files.
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The House Oversight Committee approves a motion to subpoena the Clintons
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and other prominent former officials in relation to Jeffrey Epstein.
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And legendary wrestler and Trump fan Hulk Hogan passes away.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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President Trump putting on his hard hat and channeling his past career on Thursday afternoon,
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taking a field trip to the Federal Reserve headquarters, currently a massive construction site,
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to inspect the costly renovations running wildly over budget.
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The tour coming amid dozens of calls by President Trump for Fed Chair Jerome Powell
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Chairman Powell insisting he will finish out the remainder of his term, which ends in May 2026.
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On July 1st, Chairman Powell telling reporters his decision to leave interest rates steady
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Chair, would the Fed have cut more by now if it weren't for the tariffs?
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In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and where essentially all
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inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs.
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Trump administration officials contending the new tariffs are not fueling inflation,
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citing recent data showing the rate remaining within expected ranges.
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President Trump post-tour on Thursday, reiterating his belief that rates need to come down.
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We have to get interest rates lowered in our country.
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Our country is the hottest in the world right now.
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But the one section, people are pretty much unable to buy housing because the interest rates
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People that didn't even believe in tariffs are saying, what a great move that was.
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And if you took it down three points, not a little bit, but three points, if you got
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us down to one, we would save more than a trillion dollars, basically with just a paper
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Just a move of the hand saying we're going to lower interest rates.
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While President Trump may often express displeasure with Powell as head of an independent body,
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the Fed chair cannot legally be fired without cause.
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The renovation project, originally approved in 2017, estimated at about $1.7 billion, now
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running upwards of $2.5 billion, providing a potential line of attack for the Trump administration.
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On July 10th, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vogt, writing a letter to Powell,
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The president is extremely troubled by your management of the Federal Reserve System.
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Instead of attempting to right the Fed's fiscal ship, you have plowed ahead with an ostentatious
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Comparable federal building renovations cost many orders of magnitude less than the office
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you are building for yourself on the taxpayer's dime.
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Powell defending the renovations as necessary given the scope of the project, renovating two
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historic buildings more than 90 years old, writing, quote,
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Both buildings were in need of significant structural repairs and other updates to make
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the buildings safe, healthy, and effective places to work.
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President Trump telling reporters last week the $2.5 billion price tag on the renovation to be,
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quote, sort of a fireable offense, though following up later to say it's unlikely he will fire
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Powell unless, quote, he has to leave for fraud.
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On Thursday, President Trump giving his impression of the project following the tour as only he can.
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Well, I see a very luxurious situation taking place, let's put it that way.
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And I was given a very nice tour by the head of construction.
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And, you know, look, if you look over here, they're trying to open up the basement.
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When you open up a basement, first of all, it's the worst space.
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Always a basement is the worst space in a building.
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And it's also the most expensive space to build.
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It would have been good if they didn't build it.
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It would have been good if they didn't do certain other things.
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If you look at the kind of protection in the hall, have you been able to get in the hall?
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I mean, that was a lot of money just to protect it for a period of time.
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Look, there's always Monday morning quarterbacks.
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Emily Jashinsky, host of the MK Media Podcast Network show After Party, which airs Mondays and
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Wednesdays at 10 p.m. live on YouTube, asking the president whether what he saw at the Fed
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It's a very complex thing that could have been made simple.
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And the great hotel that everybody in this group knows very well, it's called the old post office.
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And it was down, it was taken down to the steel.
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For the most part, taken down, you know, you've seen it go up.
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And I built it quickly and I built it for $200 million.
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That's got marble bathrooms, the top fixtures, the best of everything.
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Mr. President, if the rates are hurting families in the country, why let that keep going for another
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And I believe that he's going to do the right thing.
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The next Federal Reserve conference is set for next Wednesday, when Mr. Powell is expected
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to announce his latest decision on interest rates.
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Coming up, the House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena the Clintons in relation to the Jeffrey
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Epstein case as the DOJ interviews imprisoned associate Ghislaine Maxwell and real American
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A House Oversight Committee voting on Wednesday to approve subpoenas to former President Bill
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Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other high-profile individuals
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with possible links to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
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In addition to the Clintons, the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement approving subpoenas
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to all former FBI directors from 2001 through 2017, meaning James Comey and Robert Mueller,
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as well as former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions,
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The Oversight Committee also passing a motion directing Chairman James Comer to subpoena the
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That motion, including two amendments, the first requiring the DOJ to include the release
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of all communications between all Biden administration officials, including President Biden and the
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The second requiring the DOJ to redact any personally identifiable information of victims
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and possible child sex abuse material prior to release.
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Chairman Comer on Thursday telling reporters the committee will move quickly to serve these
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The others that happened yesterday, we're going to move quickly on that.
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All the names that were mentioned are names that have been mentioned in the past with respect
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So I'm surprised that the Democrats went along with subpoenaing Bill and Hillary Clinton and
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I think we all know that Maxwell was at the wedding of Chelsea Clinton.
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So certainly they had a relationship with Maxwell.
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I never thought that we would be questioning the Clintons and others with respect to the
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But the Democrats voted in a bipartisan manner yesterday to do that.
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So what I've told people all week, the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have been very
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interested in this Epstein ordeal for weeks now.
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And I told Mike Johnson that our members wanted to pursue that.
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So it's not like there was any cover up from the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee
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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell and her legal
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Maxwell is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges for her role
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in helping procure underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse, as well as her own
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Details of that meeting are not yet available, and it's unclear if they will be made public.
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This as the media erupts over a Wall Street Journal report headlined, quote,
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Justice Department told Trump in May that his name is among many in the Epstein files.
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A sampling of the coverage from NBC, CNN and MSNBC here.
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A new report by the Wall Street Journal revealing the DOJ told President Trump months ago that his
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President Trump was told by the Attorney General that he is in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
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It comes as Trump, who previously helped stoke Epstein conspiracy theories, suddenly tries
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Despite the attention grabbing headline, the details proving less scandalous.
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Bondi, quote, told the president at the meeting that the files contained what officials felt
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was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the
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President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were once neighbors in Florida, socializing publicly for
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The two reportedly had a falling out in 2004, before Epstein was indicted for soliciting prostitution
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in 2006, then ultimately in 2008, pleading guilty to one count of soliciting prostitution
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and one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
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In any event, he reached those pleas as part of a highly controversial plea deal.
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Epstein was sentenced to only 18 months, where he was allowed to leave the jail for 12 hours
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a day, six days a week, on a work release program.
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Trump spokesman Stephen Chung responding to the journal's reporting, quote,
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The fact is that the president kicked him out of the club for being a creep.
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Iconic wrestler and American patriot Hulk Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, dead at the age of 71.
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Clearwater police in Florida confirming on Thursday morning cardiac arrest as the cause of death.
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In June, E! News reporting Hogan had undergone a reportedly successful neck surgery,
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though in recent weeks, rumors swirling that the legendary Hall of Famer was on his deathbed
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On Tuesday, former manager Jimmy Hart posting on X, Hulk is doing great, doing phenomenal.
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Six-time world wrestling entertainment champion, twice inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame,
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Hulk Hogan is credited with the explosive rise of wrestling's popularity in the mid-1980s.
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Hulkamania sweeping the nation like wildfire, fans roaring as Hulk Hogan tore his shirt apart,
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That bravado later turning political, Hogan embracing President Trump,
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even delivering a barn burner of a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
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With the power of Donald J. Trump and all the Trumpites running wild,
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And like Donald J. Trump said, America is going to be great again.
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But what happened last week when they took a shot at my hero?
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And they tried to kill the next president of the United States.
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President Trump posting Thursday to Truth Social, quote,
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Hulk Hogan was MAGA all the way, strong, tough, smart, but with the biggest heart.
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He gave an absolutely electric speech at the Republican National Convention
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that was one of the highlights of the entire week.
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He entertained fans from all over the world, and the cultural impact he had was massive.
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To his wife, Skye, and family, we give our warmest, best wishes and love.
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I am a real American, fight for the rights of every man.
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live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east,
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