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FBI's Unusual Hiring Change, Trump's Kennedy Center Clash & Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran's Tour · The Breakfast Club

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: The FBI changed its hiring rules, and one very unusual
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: change had senators from both parties asking the same questions.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: What about the bestial? Tell me what it said before.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And Congresswoman Joyce Beatty says President Trump came after her
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: personally during a heated Kennedy Center meeting, and she says
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: she gave it right back.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: He went into a tantrum. I mean, let me just
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: make it simple. It was the most unprofessional thing that
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: I've ever witnessed.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: And Macklemore is out of Ed Sheeran's U.S. tour after
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: what he said on stage.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: One of the reasons why I wanted to come on
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: this tour was because I wanted to stand up here
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: on stages and stadiums across America and say two words
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: that are very near and dear to my heart.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: We'll tell you what it is and why the fallout
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: is getting even bigger. It's Thursday, September 17th. From the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Black Effect Podcast Network, I'm Amy Brown. This is Front Page,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and here are the day's biggest stories. Stay with me.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: If becoming an FBI agent was ever on your career list,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: apparently some things in your past may not automatically rule
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: you out anymore. So the FBI has changed its hiring
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: standards for people who have stolen from an employer, paid
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: for sex, or engaged in bestiality. And that last one
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: got a lot of attention during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Republican Senator John Kennedy wanted FBI Director Kash Patel to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: explain why the Bureau made the change. Let's listen.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: What about the bestiality? Tell me what it said before.
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: It automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side. Obviously,
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: we are never going to hire the criminal.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: This side of what? The bestiality?
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: So you disqualified the animal? Why would you even get
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: into bestiality?
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: We are not into bestiality, but a lot of these individuals.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I know you're not, but you changed— But I'm.
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: Trying to explain it.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: Hang on.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: You changed the qualifications and mentioned bestiality. If Joe participated
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: in bestiality, not as the animal but as the human,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: don't you think he ought to be disqualified?
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: If he voluntarily did it, sure, but if he was
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: trafficked into it— Okay.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: How do you involuntarily do it?
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: In a lot of these cases, when human traffickers, who
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: are some of the worst individuals on planet Earth, they
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: don't just traffic you for prostitution. They traffic you for
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: degrading acts of all kind and they force you into
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: that type of conduct. And some of these individuals would
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: go on to be law enforcement officers who qualified to
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: be law enforcement officers and later applied to the FBI.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: But Democratic Senator Dick Durbin challenged that explanation, saying the
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: policy itself refers to applicants who engage in the conduct,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: not specifically trafficking victims. So here's what actually changed. Stealing
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: from an employer, paying for sex, and bestiality used to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: be automatic disqualifiers. Now, under certain circumstances, the FBI can
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: review those applications on a case-by-case basis. For bestiality or
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: animal cruelty, the conduct must have happened before the applicant
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: turned 18. The FBI says it's not lowering its standards,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: it's allowing the Bureau to consider the circumstances surrounding what happened.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: And senators now want to know how many applicants have
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: actually been affected by those changes. And now to the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Kennedy Center, which is now closed after a fight over
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: President Trump's name on the building got personal. The Kennedy
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Center says it's running out of money and needs major renovations.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Trump says he can help raise that money to save it,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: but he wants recognition for doing it. In fact, the
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: board laid out 10 different ways his name could appear
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: on the building. One would say the Kennedy Center was, quote, renovated,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: restored and sustained through the generosity of President Donald J.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Trump.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Another would say restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: But on Tuesday, a federal judge said no, ruling the
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: board cannot put Trump's name on the building or grounds
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: without approval from Congress. And just hours later, the Kennedy
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Center board voted to close the building. Trump says the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: center needs major repairs, but he also says those renovations
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: will not begin unless the courts allow his name to
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: go back on the building. And during that meeting, Ohio
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who sued to get Trump's name removed,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: said she and the president got into a heated exchange.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: He went into a tantrum. I mean, let me just
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: make it simple. It was the most unprofessional thing that
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: I've ever witnessed or been a part of it. He
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: went into name-calling from everything, from trying to say that
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I was an obstructionist, I was dumb. He said he
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: was going to hold me responsible for... if something fell
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: out of the ceiling and killed someone. And I told him,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: I said, you're already killing people.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: We're at war.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: We also have people who are starving. You're doing this.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: And then he wanted to talk about how great he
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: was with developing and he didn't know anything about me,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: but I had never done anything. This was the biggest.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Thing I had done.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: So I reminded him that he had more bankruptcies than
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: anybody in the room. I was not going to let
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: him bully me, intimidate me. And the facts stand for himself.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Trump says he's willing to take the fight over his
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: name all the way to the Supreme Court. For now,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the Kennedy Center is closed and the ruling has been appealed.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: And the renovations Trump says the building needs are tied
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: up in the fight over whether his name can go
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: on it. And finally today, McLemore is officially out of
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the rest of Ed Sheeran's U.S.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: Tour.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: This started after McLemore performed at MetLife Stadium in Jersey
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: earlier this month. During his set, he stopped the show
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: to talk about Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Let's listen.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: I've been trying to figure out a way to say
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: this all day. One of the reasons why I wanted
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: to come on this tour was because I wanted to
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: say two words that are very near and dear to
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: my heart. Free Palestine.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: I said free Palestine.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: I want those words to be loud and clear so
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: West Bank know that we have not forgotten them. And
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: this next song was inspired by the bravery of of
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Columbia University students who led an encampment movement that mobilized
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: the entire world, opened up hearts, myself included. So thank
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: you to those students that risked their diplomas, that risked
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: their tuition, that risked their scholarships, that stood up and
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: said no. CUAD students, Students for Justice in Palestine, and
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: Jewish Voices for Peace, thank you guys. To all of
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: my Jewish brothers and sisters, Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: My message is for peace, love for all human beings
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: to be treated with dignity, respect and equality. So I
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: say free Palestine. I say free Lebanon. I say free Cuba.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: I say free Congo, free Sudan, free all people in
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: America living in fear over this terrorist organization ICE. None
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: of us will be free until we are all free.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: This song is called Hen's Hall.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: After that, several venues reportedly told the tour they would
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: not host the shows if Macklemore remained on the lineup.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: McLemore says New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft helped lead
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: that effort. Kraft has confirmed that he objected to McLemore
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: performing at Gillette Stadium. He says the decision was based
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: not only on McLemore's comments at MetLife, but what Kraft
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: described as a broader history of rhetoric and imagery that
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: has been offensive and hurtful to members of the Jewish community.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: And Ed Sheeran says dropping Macklemore was not his decision.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: He says the tour promoter made the call after venues
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: said they would not host the shows with Macklemore on
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the bill. Macklemore had been scheduled for eight of the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: final 10 U.S.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: States.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: And he says if losing the stages brings more attention
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: to Palestinians than, in his words, It was the most
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: successful tour he's ever been on. That's your front page.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: I'm Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought to you by
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the Black Effect Podcast Network.