Ben Smith

I mean, it's a real throwback, right?

Bill Clinton being hauled in front of a congressional committee.

This is like, it's the 90s all over again.

And actually, in some ways, a reminder of it.

Yeah, that...

you know, house investigations going after presidents on both sane and crazy grounds are like genuinely not a new development in American politics and American life.

The Clintons, you know, went through lots of this stuff in the 90s, some of it serious, some of it nutty.

Yeah, and I think, you know, this is the consequence of the release of the Epstein files.

They're just kind of spreading like an oil slick and anybody who's in them is getting, you know, is getting sucked in.

Yeah.

I mean, first of all, it's an honor to be here with my Mixed Signals co-host, Max Thomas.

Immediate plug.

Yeah.

But I think more broadly, there's kind of two things happening here.

And one is that obviously Donald Trump is using the power of the White House and of these federal regulatory agencies to try to pull the media in his direction, and it's working.

There's no question that his pressure led to change the direction of CBS News.

And the thing about Trump is he's not going to let you do it subtly.

It's important to him that everybody knows that he's exercising his power.

And so when Tony comes to the White House, he says, hey, congratulations on your new job, Tony.

You know, I got it for you.