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The MeidasTouch Podcast

Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 4/9/2026

09 Apr 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.28 - 21.803 Ben Meiselas

Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Mycelis and this is your Breaking News. We've got a lot to discuss as we are focused on what's happening with this purported ceasefire negotiations. It seems to be a ceasefire at this point in name only, as you'll recall.

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21.783 - 50.743 Ben Meiselas

Donald Trump and his regime here in the United States agreed to all of the 10 negotiating positions of Iran and agreed to negotiate within the Iranian 10-point framework, which was a complete surrender by Donald Trump, not just in this war, but a surrender of the United States position globally when you go and you look through what these 10 points actually say.

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50.723 - 56.523 Ben Meiselas

So then after Donald Trump agreed to the 10 points, kind of typical Trump, J.D.

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Chapter 2: What are the current developments in the ceasefire negotiations?

56.543 - 78.206 Ben Meiselas

Vance, Trump regime fashion saying, ah, we never agreed to those 10 points. It's a misunderstanding. Iran agreed to our 15 points. And there must have been, I don't know, maybe Iran's parliament leader doesn't speak good English. And that's really what happened. But no, no, no. Those aren't the 10 points that we agreed to when Donald Trump posted we agreed to Iran's 10 points.

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79.227 - 110.243 Ben Meiselas

And so what's been happening is... Donald Trump and Netanyahu, who committed to certain things in this 10-point plan, they've been violating it. Yesterday, you had the most violent and extreme attacks on Lebanon since the wars begun by Israel. 250-plus individuals were killed, mostly civilians, dying in Beirut, over 1,000 casualties throughout Lebanon. during the day.

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110.264 - 130.291 Ben Meiselas

I mean, the suburbs of Beirut absolutely, you know, blown up. I mean, at the same time, you know, we've seen some Iranian drones and strikes on nearby Arab nation neighbors where the U.S. and Israel have interests, you know, and you focus on the Strait of Hormuz and what's going on there.

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Chapter 3: How did Donald Trump's agreement impact U.S. relations with Iran?

130.331 - 160.819 Ben Meiselas

And Iran really hasn't let any tankers through. They let a Oil ain't getting through the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran said, at most, at most, we're going to allow maybe 12 ships a day through. Whereas before the war started, 150 ships were able to traverse through the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran has given a guidance of how ships can access Hormuz.

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160.799 - 184.775 Ben Meiselas

The Strait of Hormuz, they have to be given permission by Iran. They have to pay Iran about $2 million or more to be able to have the permission to leave. That payment is made in usually a cryptocurrency payment. Iran decides and prioritizes which ships can go. But Iran said, until it becomes clear that the U.S.

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184.835 - 204.283 Ben Meiselas

and Israel are negotiating within the framework that they said they were going to negotiate within, we're not going to open up the Strait of Hormuz to the U.S. and Israel and allies of the U.S. We'll keep letting China and Russia and Iran countries that negotiate with us on a bilateral basis.

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204.884 - 233.095 Ben Meiselas

We'll let them traverse the Strait of Hormuz, but we're not going to let anyone else through the Strait of Hormuz. And so oil prices continue to rise again. They're over $100 a barrel. They're now up 11% in 24 hours. We're seeing, again, this really setting into the marketplace that Donald Trump, yet again, announcing This deal that he says is great, but it's a total surrender.

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233.175 - 255.538 Ben Meiselas

And Iran, with their control of the Strait of Hormuz, they're just saying, OK, do what you want to do. But we're going to control the Strait of Hormuz, and we're prepared for war again if you're going to continue to attack Lebanon. And one of the terms was no attacking Lebanon. That's just what it said.

255.518 - 276.233 Ben Meiselas

what it said in the deal right and then trump and jd vance like oh that's not what it said in the deal that's not what it said i mean just these are the 10 points and if you're like well what's this list this literally comes from the iran national security council's list 10 points they've been talking about this for many weeks donald trump said that he agrees to the 10-point plan.

276.453 - 278.115 Ben Meiselas

And there's only one 10-point plan.

278.675 - 304.24 Ben Meiselas

It says commitment to non-aggression, continuation of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of uranium enrichment by Iran, lifting of all primary sanctions, lifting of all secondary sanctions, termination of all UN Security Council resolutions, termination of all Board of Governors resolutions, payment of compensation, reparations to Iran, withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, cessation of war on all fronts, including against Hezbollah and Lebanon.

304.22 - 326.03 Ben Meiselas

The U.S. again picked the mediator here, Prime Minister Sharif of Pakistan and Prime Minister Sharif. When he announced this deal, he specifically said this includes Lebanon. And that's where we're at. I mean, you have MB Galibaf, Iran's leader of their parliament. He just posted, time is running out with an hourglass.

Chapter 4: What are the implications of the recent violence in Lebanon?

438.539 - 453.883 Rob Bonta

But to address the three points, first of all, he talked about an attack that allegedly happened on Iran and how that was a violation of the ceasefire. Ceasefires are always messy. An hour after the president announced the ceasefire, the Iranians launch a bunch of missiles. Then the Israelis responded.

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456.326 - 478.925 Ben Meiselas

I mean, if that doesn't give you utter humiliation that that's the position of the United States right now, then maybe they don't understand English. I mean, you work through. The mediator you picked, again, the Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif, who you've elevated to this position. I think the US drafted the social media posts from Prime Minister Sharif.

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478.965 - 501.629 Ben Meiselas

That's what New York Times was posting today before they posted it on social media, right? There's wars being fought on X in social media. And Prime Minister Sharif in his post said that Lebanon is included in the deal. I mean, that's where we're going to talk more about what's going on with this, you know, this ceasefire and name only. We'll get to that.

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501.71 - 525.64 Ben Meiselas

But, you know, there was breaking news before we started here. And some of the breaking news was that Melania Trump, did you all see this? Melania Trump out of nowhere holds a press conference to talk about Epstein and to deny that she had any connections with Epstein and said that we need to have congressional hearings on Epstein. And then reporter Jacqueline Alimany

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526.177 - 549.61 Ben Meiselas

Donald Trump while he was in a meeting, and this is what reporter Alimani writes, just got off a quick call with President Trump who said he didn't know anything about Melania's statements prior to her going on camera, but that he was in a meeting about the war and couldn't speak further. She didn't know him, he added, before hanging up, referring to Epstein, that he had no knowledge.

550.131 - 563.852 Ben Meiselas

She just held a press conference in front of the entire nation on the Epstein files. And Melania Trump says, I mean, there are multiple. Just show the photos of Melania with Epstein. You can go through them, you know, one by one. There they are.

564.053 - 564.233

I mean.

564.517 - 590.07 Ben Meiselas

There's emails in the Epstein files of Ghislaine calling Melania Sweet Pea. Hey, Sweet Pea, how are you? Thanks for your message. Actually, plans changed again. I'm not going to be able to see you, Melania says to Ghislaine back in 2002. How are you? Nice story about Jeffrey Epstein in New York Magazine. You look great on the picture. I know you're very busy flying all over the world.

590.15 - 605.638 Ben Meiselas

How is Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back to New York. Have a great time. Love, Melania. That New York Magazine piece is the piece where Donald Trump said that Epstein's a great guy, loves women on the younger side, but great guy to be around with.

Chapter 5: How is the Strait of Hormuz affecting global oil prices?

606.279 - 615.516 Ben Meiselas

And here's what Melania said during her presser. Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been percolating, is what she says. Here, play this clip.

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617.605 - 660.61 Melania Trump

The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000 at an event Donald and I attended together. At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings. Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been calculating on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories are completely false.

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662.992 - 694.103 Melania Trump

I'm not a witness or a name witness in connection with any of Epstein's crimes. My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements, or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter. I have never had any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any...

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695.382 - 713.661 Ben Meiselas

I want to bring in California Attorney General Rob Bonta making news today as well. Let's bring in Attorney General Bonta if he's here. Great to see you. I don't know what timeline. you know, where we're living in right now. I mean, you and I were going to talk about another topic, which we still will.

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714.262 - 735.103 Ben Meiselas

And then you have this, you know, this purported ceasefire where there were certain terms that were publicly discussed that Trump's saying, maybe the other side didn't understand English when They said they agreed to the 10-point plan. I mean, it was a complete surrender. You have that. And then that's how I start the report.

735.404 - 746.247 Ben Meiselas

Then right before I go live, Melania Trump on her own apparently holds this press conference and talks about the Epstein files. And then later on, she asks that there be...

746.227 - 772.639 Ben Meiselas

a congressional investigation while donald trump saying it's a complete hoax i guess before going into any of the legal stuff uh attorney general about when do we get out of this med i mean this is this is madness this is this is this is not normal this is not the way it's not the way a country should be behaving right when do we get out of this madness as soon as possible please you know it's uh you know midterms around the corner uh maybe uh

772.619 - 798.542 Unknown

Hopefully, that'll have the outcome that I hope for and bring some sanity and reasonableness and thoughtfulness and compassion back to American leadership. It's interesting what's happening. with Trump's mishandling of Iran. He seems to be, you know, treading water and scrambling and backpedaling and, you know, toggling back and forth, just like he did with his tariffs.

798.602 - 818.438 Unknown

And, you know, meanwhile, gas prices are surging and people are not happy. And he's the guy who promised no endless wars. And he's in one. He's also the one who wanted the Nobel Peace Prize and demanded it. He got the FIFA Peace Prize instead. And so... And then, you know, for... the first lady to have her own press conference on the,

Chapter 6: What was Melania Trump's surprising press conference about?

2440.069 - 2470.939 Ben Meiselas

Not all the time, but a lot. And especially in war, governments lie. And so you have to look at propaganda, then you have to look at what's happening, right? With your own reporting, with videos on the ground, with other reporting, and you try to understand, like paint a picture of what is really happening here. And one of the things I pride the Midas Touch Network on is,

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2471.392 - 2502.192 Ben Meiselas

really digging into it and saying, look, here are the images of what's happening in Lebanon right now, in Beirut, after a ceasefire was announced. Do I understand that in Kuwait, in the United Arab Emirates, in other areas, that there have been sightings of Iranian drones and these governments are saying that they've shot down Iranian drones?

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2502.233 - 2520.68 Ben Meiselas

And if there are Iranian drones, would that be violations of the ceasefires? Well, yeah, but like... What happened in Lebanon yesterday was an absolute massacre of human beings, of mothers and children, of fathers, of brothers, of sisters, of grandfathers.

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2521.901 - 2555.475 Ben Meiselas

To see ceasefire announced and the mass casualty event that took place yesterday, put aside your politics and just be a damn human being for a moment. As you see that, pull that up again, the headline. Israeli strikes led to the highest single day death toll in the war in Lebanon. The highest single death toll day was after a ceasefire was announced.

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2556.376 - 2586.439 Ben Meiselas

So I don't know how you don't draw the conclusion logically that the goal of that was to have Netanyahu break the ceasefire, that that was the goal. It says, according to Axios, citing an Israeli official, Israel will not consider Lebanon as part of the currently in place ceasefire framework during negotiations with Lebanon.

2587.28 - 2613.622 Ben Meiselas

Israel-Lebanon negotiations on the disarmament of Lebanese Hezbollah are set to commence in the coming days. That's their position. That's the position that they may have had before. Okay, but Donald Trump agreed to something else. Same way he agreed to have Iran control the Strait of Hormuz. The same way he agreed to all of these other terms. That's, again, just the facts.

2613.702 - 2640.461 Ben Meiselas

And put aside politics. I mean, these are human beings who were murdered and massacred in Lebanon yesterday. When I looked at the photos and you see the families, the little girls and boys and just people, if you don't shed a tear for life, then I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on. Talk about some other facts as Donald Trump's posting that.

2640.481 - 2666.723 Ben Meiselas

Here's what Donald Trump wrote as well. This is how he's framing the issue. Numerous agreements, lists, and letters are being sent out by people that have absolutely nothing to do with the U.S.-Iran negotiations. In many cases, they are total fraudsters, charlatans, and worse. They will be rapidly exposed after a federal investigation is completed.

2666.703 - 2683.222 Ben Meiselas

There is only one group of meaningful points that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these negotiations. These are the points that are in the basis on which we agreed to a ceasefire. It is something that is reasonable and can easily be dispensed with.

Chapter 7: How are Trump's actions perceived in the context of international politics?

3617.727 - 3626.455 Ben Meiselas

We'll see you on that show. I can't wait to do that show with my brothers. Thank you everybody for watching. We're grateful for you. Shout out, Midas Mighty. We'll see you next time.

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3629.776 - 3641.912 Unknown

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