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Faultline Haditha Even The Government Hasn't Heard This From Michael Epstein · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. There are a ton of podcasts out there. Aren't
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: they saying something like a million four or 4.1 million
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  Speaker 1: or twazillion or gazillion? Where are you going to find them?
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  Speaker 1: That's been my goal to create arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net, 21 different
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  Speaker 1: podcasts in one place. One of the biggest ones, that voice.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: That voice, yeah, from NBC's The Voice. I've spent the
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  Speaker 1: past 11 years with those who have been featured. Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's listen to their conversations. Only on Arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net. Enjoy
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: your exploration. I got to tell you something. In all
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  Speaker 1: my years of broadcasting, I've never heard a podcast like
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  Speaker 1: this to where it is so in-depth and you're giving
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  Speaker 1: us things that really aren't propaganda-based. I mean, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: just so proud of you for really doing your homework
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  Speaker 1: on us.
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  Speaker 2: Can I say that makes me so genuinely and intensely
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  Speaker 2: happy to hear.
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate that from the bottom of my heart.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I've been on this thing forever
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  Speaker 2: and to have Somebody I don't know, listen to it
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  Speaker 2: and have that response just means the world to me.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's one of those things where, I mean, it's,
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  Speaker 1: it's what, it's almost like, you know, exactly where we
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  Speaker 1: are in our car or in our office and you're
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  Speaker 1: sharing a story. There's such a thing as just doing
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  Speaker 1: a new story. Like we get a five o'clock every
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  Speaker 1: night on NBC and then they're sharing a story and
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  Speaker 1: frontline here really puts us right there in that seat
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  Speaker 1: to where we're experiencing it as it is happening. And that's,
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  Speaker 1: that's what I love about it is that you really
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  Speaker 1: did pay attention to our side as well.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, look, as a documentary filmmaker, I'm very
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  Speaker 4: much of the opinion that your job, my job, is
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  Speaker 4: not to advocate.
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  Speaker 3: For my subject.
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  Speaker 2: My job is to advocate for my listeners or my viewers,
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  Speaker 2: which is to say to advocate for the truth.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you've got information here that the government doesn't
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  Speaker 1: even know you've got. I mean, that to me, of course,
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  Speaker 1: I'm giggling like a child because You know, that to
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  Speaker 1: me is everything that I live for as a broadcaster. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what ended up happening was, you know, I, I
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  Speaker 2: got access to the investigation through the Marine who had
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  Speaker 2: been charged with 18 counts of murder.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Frank Woodridge.
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  Speaker 2: And Frank claimed that he was innocent. The government claimed
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  Speaker 2: effectively that he was a mass murderer. And, um, The
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  Speaker 2: way I got access meant that the government couldn't know
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  Speaker 2: and that I had to be protected if they did
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  Speaker 2: find out from being served with a subpoena and having
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  Speaker 2: to hand over all of this video that I was
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  Speaker 2: shooting inside the investigation. And I solved that problem and
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  Speaker 2: we went forward. But what it meant was that for
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  Speaker 2: years and years, I filmed without the government knowing Not
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  Speaker 2: only that I was filming, but what.
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  Speaker 3: I was filming.
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  Speaker 2: And ultimately, you know, the stuff that I ended up
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  Speaker 2: getting was explosive.
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  Speaker 3: It's all on the podcast, Faultline Haditha.
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  Speaker 2: And it's all– also, you can watch it on YouTube
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  Speaker 2: and on our socials, Instagram, blah, blah, TikTok. But really,
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  Speaker 2: YouTube is the experience that I would turn people to
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  Speaker 2: because you can see this thing play out. I mean–
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  Speaker 2: I'm the only person, to my knowledge, I don't want
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  Speaker 2: to overstate it, but to my knowledge, I'm the only
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  Speaker 2: person that's ever been allowed to film in a military
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  Speaker 2: courtroom during proceeding. And that footage you can see on
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  Speaker 2: YouTube now of a Marine testifying, demonstrating what he did
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  Speaker 2: in this bedroom where two women and five children were murdered.
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  Speaker 2: And he's the government's key witness, by the way, in
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  Speaker 2: this case. And, you know, I also was able to,
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  Speaker 2: when this whole thing, when the trial ended, I kept
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  Speaker 2: going because there were so many unanswered questions. And as
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  Speaker 2: you say, I was not satisfied with leaving myself or
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  Speaker 2: my listeners with unanswered questions. Your job is to seek
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  Speaker 2: the truth out no matter where it takes you. So
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  Speaker 2: that meant getting, to my mind, the real hero of
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  Speaker 2: this story, NCIS Special Agent Mike Maloney, who was the
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  Speaker 2: senior most forensic investigator analyst inside the NCIS. He was
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  Speaker 2: assigned specifically to this case because of who he was.
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  Speaker 2: Mike's among the best people I've ever met. I just
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  Speaker 2: have so much admiration for that guy. He pursued the
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  Speaker 2: truth at a great personal and professional cost. He ended
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  Speaker 2: up with PTSD out of this case, and it cost
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  Speaker 2: him his career. It cost him his career because he
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  Speaker 2: knew the government had given immunity to.
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  Speaker 3: People who were almost certainly guilty of murder. They had
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  Speaker 3: made them witnesses. He told the government that they were
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  Speaker 3: putting up people who.
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  Speaker 2: Were lying and they did it anyway. And Mike just
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  Speaker 2: never backed down. He was told to back down. He
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  Speaker 2: got emails and letters. He was being followed by the government.
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  Speaker 1: At one point.
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  Speaker 3: And he never stopped.
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  Speaker 2: So, you know, I'm grateful for all the accolades that
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  Speaker 2: people arrow that you are giving me, but to me,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not the hero.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just a conduit. The real hero is, is, is Mike.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Michael Epstein coming
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  Speaker 1: up next. The name of his podcast is fault line Haditha.
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  Speaker 1: This is in depth. This is one of a kind.
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  Speaker 1: We are back with Michael Epstein. In reality, don't you think, Michael, though,
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  Speaker 1: that the reason why so many people are drawn to
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  Speaker 1: this podcast is because we're used to the Barducci's and
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  Speaker 1: we're used to the Clive Cusslers who have written stories
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  Speaker 1: such as this. And you are giving us the authenticity.
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  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, we're all breathing now because
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  Speaker 1: we feel like it's like, oh, my God, they're not
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  Speaker 1: making up these stories. Yeah, listen, I.
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  Speaker 2: Think one of the great strengths of this story is,
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  Speaker 2: as you say, it's happening online.
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  Speaker 3: In front of you. I mean, or listen, you know, you're,
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  Speaker 3: you're immersed in it. Uh, I, one of the personal
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  Speaker 3: costs I paid was I couldn't.
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  Speaker 2: Make it public at the time because there was a
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  Speaker 2: criminal investigation.
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  Speaker 3: And I had to wait for it to end.
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  Speaker 2: But, but you as the listener or the viewer, you're
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  Speaker 2: immersed in it. You know, we're going to be releasing
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  Speaker 2: audio later this week on YouTube. Uh, Mike Maloney went
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  Speaker 2: into one of the homes where there was a charge
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  Speaker 2: of execution that four Marines were, that two Marines executed.
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  Speaker 3: Four Iraqis, excuse me.
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  Speaker 2: And Mike had with him his little digital audio recorder,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like those little note takers that you carry.
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  Speaker 3: Around with you.
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  Speaker 2: So Mike's in that room along with Tom and is
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  Speaker 2: uncovering in real time all of this forensic evidence, I mean, DNA, blood,
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  Speaker 2: blood spatter, bullets, shell casings, bullet trajectories, a broken window.
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  Speaker 2: And you can hear him discovering the evidence in real time.
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  Speaker 3: And I got that audio and I put it up on,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's going to be up on YouTube.
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  Speaker 2: I think tomorrow is when we're going to launch it
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  Speaker 2: or maybe, uh, yeah, probably tomorrow. Um, That stuff nobody
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  Speaker 2: has ever heard. And so you can be in the room.
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  Speaker 2: And that's part of what I love about this process here.
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  Speaker 2: Not only talking to folks like yourself, but the podcast
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  Speaker 2: is one creative voice. It's my opportunity to do the
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  Speaker 2: storytelling on a much larger canvas than you ever could
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  Speaker 2: do on a documentary.
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  Speaker 3: But you also wanna see people's face. You want the emotion.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, as I say, I took Frank back into
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  Speaker 2: the room where the government said he murdered this family
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  Speaker 2: and he claimed he didn't. And he claimed he'd forgotten.
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  Speaker 2: And I videotaped that moment and I'm in the room
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  Speaker 2: with him standing like two feet away from literally two
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  Speaker 2: feet away from where the government.
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  Speaker 3: Said he stood.
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  Speaker 2: And it was clear he was lying to his lawyers
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  Speaker 2: because he said something to me on camera. that when
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  Speaker 2: they saw it, they realized their client had been lying
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  Speaker 2: to them for years.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
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  Speaker 2: And then decided, and then decided to confront him when
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  Speaker 2: we got back to the camp Pendleton and they let
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  Speaker 2: me film that. So the lawyers confronting their client is
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  Speaker 2: in the podcast and also on YouTube. Eventually it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be a couple of episodes up. Um, So the
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  Speaker 2: whole thing has been, to be honest with you, very trying.
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  Speaker 2: You know, one of the reasons why I'm, first of all,
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  Speaker 2: so grateful to iHeart and doing this the way I
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  Speaker 2: am is that none of the legacy media, none of
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  Speaker 2: the traditional broadcasters or streamers were willing to take this on.
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  Speaker 2: I finished the film, took it to the Tribeca Film Festival,
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  Speaker 2: got some of the best reviews of my life and
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  Speaker 2: could not sell it.
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  Speaker 3: And I was not willing to give up. I knew
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  Speaker 3: people would care about this.
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  Speaker 2: I knew it was a good story, but I just
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  Speaker 2: knew people would enjoy listening to it and watching it, um,
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  Speaker 2: aside from all the other stuff. Uh, and so I
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  Speaker 2: turned it into a 13 part podcast and I didn't
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  Speaker 2: want the video to sit on.
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  Speaker 3: My hard drive. So, you know, you know, I, I
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  Speaker 3: went around.
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  Speaker 2: The gatekeepers and I went directly to people like yourself
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  Speaker 2: and to the public and people are getting up to
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  Speaker 2: listen to the story, which I urge them, Fault Line Haditha,
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  Speaker 2: and then watch the video.
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  Speaker 3: And it's great.
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  Speaker 1: Ten minutes with you is just not going to be enough, Michael.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to reach out to you because I've got
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  Speaker 1: more questions for you. And I've done research on everything
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  Speaker 1: that you're doing. And I really do want to reach
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  Speaker 1: out to you. And so we can continue this conversation.
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  Speaker 3: A hundred percent. You have my contact information. I quite seriously,
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  Speaker 3: very happy. As much time as you want, as much
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  Speaker 3: time as you need. I am here for you.
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  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant? And please enjoy your conversation with
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  Speaker 1: everybody today.
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  Speaker 3: Okay. I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 3: the time. Seriously.