cover of episode Trump SCREWS his Entire Cabinet with LATE FRIDAY PICK

Trump SCREWS his Entire Cabinet with LATE FRIDAY PICK

2024/11/23
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The MeidasTouch Podcast

Key Insights

Why did Donald Trump appoint Kelly Loeffler as Secretary of Agriculture?

Kelly Loeffler was a significant fundraiser for Trump's campaign and has a background in agriculture through her family's farming business, which received substantial government subsidies.

What is Kelly Loeffler's background in agriculture?

Her parents were corn and soybean farmers who received over $1.4 million in federal crop subsidies. Her brother, Brian, received $1.3 million, and her sister-in-law, Molly, received $671,000 in subsidies.

How did Kelly Loeffler's financial status change after her marriage?

She married Jeffrey Sprecher, owner of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, significantly increasing her wealth.

What controversies surround Kelly Loeffler's financial dealings?

She faced allegations of insider trading during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to calls for a criminal investigation. Her husband's $1 million donation to a Trump PAC coincided with the cessation of the investigation.

What role did Kelly Loeffler play in the 2020 Georgia Senate election?

She was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp but lost the election to Raphael Warnock.

How did Kelly Loeffler's stance on COVID-19 relief funds contrast with her family's receipt of agricultural subsidies?

While her family received millions in subsidies, she opposed providing an extra $600 in relief to Georgians during the pandemic, calling it counterproductive.

What is the connection between Kelly Loeffler and Bakkt, the crypto company?

She was the former CEO of Bakkt, a subsidiary of her husband's company, ICE. Bakkt later announced its sale to Trump Media, which coincided with her appointment as Secretary of Agriculture.

How did the stock market react to the news of Bakkt's sale to Trump Media?

Shares of both Bakkt and Trump Media surged significantly, with Bakkt's stock price increasing by over 162% due to volatility.

What was Kelly Loeffler's response to the January 6th Capitol attack?

Initially intending to object to the certification of electoral votes, she reconsidered after the attack, citing the violence as a direct assault on the democratic process.

Chapters

Introduction to Kelly Loeffler's background and her appointment as Secretary of Agriculture by Donald Trump.
  • Kelly Loeffler was a senator from Georgia appointed by Governor Brian Kemp.
  • She lost to Raphael Warnock in the 2020-2021 election.
  • Loeffler is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, owner of the Intercontinental Exchange.

Shownotes Transcript

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So let's talk about Donald Trump just naming Kelly Loeffler as his Secretary of Agriculture. She used to be a senator from Georgia. She was actually appointed in that position by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. She lost.

back in, what was it, the 2020-2021 election period to Raphael Warnock, the current Democratic Senator of Georgia. Okay, she is the wife of Jeffrey Sprecher. He owns a company called ICE, which is the international or the Intercontinental Exchange, which is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. And Kelly Loeffler is

really made her money, her marrying into massive wealth with Jeffrey Sprecher. But her parents were farmers. They were big agriculture subsidy recipients, which is interesting because on the other hand, Donald Trump's head of HHS, Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., kind of rails against big ag farmers.

So, you know, it'll be interesting to see that tension there. Let's explore Kelly Leffler's background here. Let's talk about her parents for a second. Don and Linda Leffler, Kelly's parents, lifelong corn and soybean farmers.

Don also ran a trucking business that moved farm equipment since 1995. Her dad, Don, received $1.2 million in federal government funds for crop subsidies. And her mom, Linda, received $214,000. You know, her brother also, Brian, has received subsidies.

About $1.3 million in benefits. Brian has received more subsidies than anyone in Stanford, Illinois. And then after her marriage, Molly Leffler began to receive farm subsidies after her marriage to Brian Kelly's brother.

And she received subsidies in the amount of $671,000. So lots of government subsidies there. It's interesting because during COVID, Kelly Loeffler railed against people in her own state getting an extra $600,000.

When you go and explore Leffler's background as well, she's the former CEO of a crypto company called Bakkt, B-A-K-K-T, which is a subsidiary of her husband's company, Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE. And what's interesting right now is that Bakkt,

BAKKT recently announced that it would be selling itself to Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, right before the announcement of Trump appointing Loeffler as Secretary of Agriculture. Kelly Loeffler also was one of the biggest fundraisers for Donald Trump this cycle.

Here was the article about Bakkt being sold to Trump Media, and that caused the stock price of both Bakkt and Trump Media to increase significantly. Trump Media is in advanced talks to buy the cryptocurrency trading firm Bakkt.

The Financial Times reported Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the talks. The news sent shares of both companies soaring. Trump Media, which is majority owned by Trump, shot up by double digits minutes after the Financial Times reported this.

And then it says shares of Bakkt, which was created by Intercontinental Exchange. Loeffler's husband, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, skyrocketed more than 162% among repeated halts due to volatility. Kelly Loeffler, a previous CEO of Bakkt, is the co-chair of Donald Trump's inauguration committee. Loeffler, who is married to Intercontinental Exchange CEO,

Jeffrey Sprecher left as Bok's top executive in 2019 when Georgia Governor Brian Kemp appointed her to the U.S. Senate seat, vacated at that time, and then she lost when she was running against Raphael Warnock.

Here was an important moment during that debate with Warnock. We know that Kelly Loeffler's family have accepted, read that over $3.2 million in farm subsidies from the government. Meanwhile, she said it would be counterproductive to give Georgians $600 of relief. So why would it be counterproductive to help ordinary Georgians in the middle of pandemic? Here it is right here. Regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

You dumped millions of dollars of stock in order to protect your own investments. And then weeks later, when there came an opportunity to give ordinary Georgians an extra $600 of relief, you said you saw no need and called it counterproductive. Why do you think it's counterproductive to help ordinary Georgians in the middle of a pandemic? Notably also, Donald Trump's former Attorney General pick Matt Gaetz

who withdrew his name after additional details about the child sex trafficking investigation into him surfaced. We have him on videotape attacking Kelly Loeffler by basically saying that her husband bought that Senate seat for her, and he calls it a reverse dowry. Here, play this clip. Now, I understand that Kelly Loeffler has a lot of money.

I say she has a lot of money. I think we all know what's really going on there. A seat in the United States Senate should not be a reverse dowry paid in the greatest country in the world. Here's some other data points we have on Kelly Loeffler as well that I think is notable. The companies that she's led have had to pay $8 million fines for compliance failures.

She was implicated in an insider trading scam based on her position. And there was a lot of calls for a criminal investigation. The Department of Justice

I was either contemplating or had began a criminal investigation into Kelly Loeffler around that kind of 2020 time period for potential insider trading. And then her husband gave a million dollar donation to the Trump Political Action Committee.

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Get $5 off your next order at magicspoon.com/midus. Or look for Magic Spoon on Amazon or in your nearest grocery store. That's magicspoon.com/midus for $5 off Magic Spoon. This was a video that we put out around that time about Kelly Loeffler. It was called Looting Loeffler. And all we did here was put clips of reporting, including reporting by Fox.

at this time, who was going after Kelly Loeffler at this time. Here, play this clip. One senator in particular irks me.

a Senator Kelly Loeffler, not elected, but appointed just a couple months ago. - Records show Loeffler and her husband, whose company owns the U.S. Stock Exchange, sold stock valued between 1.3 and $3.1 million. - Kelly Loeffler bought and sold stock shortly after a classified briefing on the virus. - They knew the market was gonna tank, and they sold based on that inside information. - Some of the holdings she shed were in energy,

automotive, retail, and airlines. - Look, Ray, it's not just what she sold, but it's actually what she bought. She bought things like Amazon, Citrix Systems, a company that obviously was gonna do well during a shutdown. - While still reassuring citizens that the US was prepared. - We have Americans across the country

who have seen their 401ks plummet. Were you trading on inside information about what was coming? Folks, this woman is knee deep in the swamp and she just got there. Apparently our use of that video when we put it out in 2020 inspired Kelly Loeffler's lawyers to claim that the video makes several false, misleading and ostentatious claims.

It inaccurately has a voiceover that Kelly Loeffler bought and sold stock shortly after a classified briefing on the coronavirus, immediately after the ad proclaims that Kelly Loeffler and her husband, that they knew the market was going to tank.

And they sold on that inside information. Perhaps most outrageously, the advertisement edits together footage from an interview that falsely makes it appear that Loeffler was nodding her head yes in response to a question from an interviewer asking, were you trading on inside information about what was coming? At the conclusion of the advertisement, the on-screen text reads,

fire-eluting Leffler. Not only are these claims demonstrably false, they are intended not just to mislead your viewers, but indeed to lie to them. In fact, despite the shiny graphics and snide voiceover that the Midas Touch uses to make these unfounded and sensationalist claims, there is simply no truth to them. So I want to give you a fair, I want to give you their perspective that they deny all the things. They say all trades and other decisions are managed by multiple third-party advisors.

without Loeffler's knowledge or

or involvement. But as you saw from that, I mean, we're just using what Fox News was saying at the time. It was with Judge Jeanine Pirro was saying, here's the report. This one's a funny one. This one goes back to November, 2020. This is Michael Popak right here. And here's what Popak said. This is 2020 Michael Popak reporting on Loeffler. Play this clip. - Recently, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission

decided to drop insider trading charges against Senator Kelly Locklear of Georgia. That decision only happened after her husband, the head of the New York Stock Exchange, made a $1 million donation

to a super PAC that is in favor of Trump. He makes a donation for $1 million, the largest donation he's ever made in political history. A month later, the investigation against his senator wife is dropped. The American people suffered tremendously with the drop in the stock market and the closure of Main Street businesses starting in March. Senator Loeffler obtained

insider confidential information about the COVID crisis in January of 2020, three months before the rest of the public learned of the extent of the virus and its impact. The new Biden administration must continue the investigation and the prosecution. And here was another report here that we did back on December 3rd, 2020 on Kelly Loeffler. Here, play this clip.

Oh, goodie! Senator Kelly Loeffler has a new ad she's running in Georgia. Do we need someone who understands how it feels like waiting on that paycheck?

waiting on a paycheck? Okay, this isn't an exaggeration. She is literally the richest person in the Senate. She's worth half a billion dollars and her husband owns the New York Stock Exchange. Hell, she lives here. The place probably has got its own zip code. And while Kelly campaigned in a Kia to look like a woman of the people, she actually owns a private jet purchased after the Trump tax bill added a new write-off for private jets because

Washington works for rich people when rich people run Washington. This is why it is so important we vote for people who actually represent us, not another rich opportunist looking for tax breaks and stock tips. That should also be noted now as Donald Trump's cabinet takes shape,

You have Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, net worth $2 billion. You have Linda McMahon, Education Secretary, net worth $3.2 billion. Kelly Loeffler, Agriculture Secretary, net worth $800 million. Elon Musk, the head of the made-up

Doge Committee, net worth $315 billion. Vivek Ramaswamy, Doge, net worth $906 million. You have Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary, $1.1 billion. Dr. Oz, who's going to be running Medicare and Medicaid, net worth, who's previously called for privatizing it, net worth $200 million. Then you have Chris Wright,

Energy net worth $150 million right there. I'll leave you with this because here, Kelly Loeffler, this was after January 6th. She was originally going to object to the election. And then after the insurrectionist stormed the Capitol, let me just show you what she said so you can see how, this is again, this is my opinion, how morally kind of malleable

You know, she is. Here, play this clip. Mr. President, when I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider. And I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors.

The violence, the lawlessness and siege of the halls of Congress are abhorrent and stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objected. My objection was intended to protect the sanctity of the American democratic process. And I thank law enforcement for keeping us safe.

I believe that there were last minute changes to the November 2020 election process and serious irregularities that resulted in too many Americans losing confidence, not only in the integrity of our elections, but in the power of the ballot as a tool of democracy. Too many Americans are frustrated at what they see as an unfair system. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for the events that took place in these chambers today. And I pray that America never suffers such a dark day again.

Though the fate of this vote is clear, the future of the American people's faith in the core institution of this democracy remains uncertain. We as a body must turn our focus to protecting the integrity of our elections and restoring every American's faith that their voice and their vote matters.

America is a divided country with serious differences, but it is still the greatest country on earth. There can be no disagreement that upholding democracy is the only path to preserving our republic. I yield the floor. Well, there you have it, Donald Trump's pick.

Secretary of Agriculture, let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 4 million subscribers together.