Vibes Only

How CBS Torched Its Own Reputation (Eliza Orlins Full Interview)


Listen Later

This is the one we promised. Our full, unedited conversation with our first guest of Season 3; with public defender, creator, and iconic Survivor player Eliza Orlins. A slice of it ran in Thursday's episode. Here's the whole thing.


Eliza anchored "Cover to Cover-Up," 24 straight hours live streaming a reading of the Epstein files, Cory Booker filibuster style, after Steve Schmidt and the Save America movement connected her with the redacted reading room in Tribeca. She takes us inside how it actually came together, the overnight scramble to fill the midnight to 7:30 AM hours, and what it felt like to read victim testimony out loud for a full day.


She has been on the Epstein beat since 2018, when she watched the Manhattan DA's office quietly request a downward departure on his sex offender registration level, something she says she had never once seen in 15 years of public defending. She walks through what is actually in the files, the two million plus pages still hidden, the improper redactions in the pages we do have, and the Treasury documents that implicate Jamie Dimon and the banks. Then she makes the point that lands hardest: in every horrific case she ever read as a public defender, there was at least the promise of accountability. With Epstein, the richest and most powerful men in the world (Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Leon Black) have faced none. The reading room is now going on the road and opening two blocks from the White House, just in time for Trump's birthday.


There is more here than made the Thursday cut. Eliza gets into the Democratic "autopsy," Rob Flaherty's much more honest version of it, and why she thinks the left is decades late on building real creator infrastructure because no one is watching cable news anymore. It is the clearest case we have heard for why shows like this one exist.


Then things get a bit more personal as Eliza explains why she believes she will never be invited back to Survivor after she publicly torched CBS over its hard right turn, the $16 million settlement, Bari Weiss taking over CBS News, and a returning contestant's on air antisemitic rant. There are Survivor 50 hot takes, a MAGA alliance theory, and a Roy Moore connection you will not see coming.


A programming note: this episode includes discussion of child sexual abuse and trafficking. Listener discretion advised.

Send us a text!

Watch us on Youtube

Follow us on Instagram 

Oh, we're on TikTok too

Follow Brian on IG 

Follow Glennis on IG

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Vibes OnlyBy Brian Derrick & Glennis Meagher | Political Strategists

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

201 ratings


More shows like Vibes Only

View all
The NPR Politics Podcast by NPR

The NPR Politics Podcast

25,797 Listeners

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang by Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

9,123 Listeners

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness by Sony Music Entertainment / Jonathan Van Ness

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

19,054 Listeners

Pod Save America by Pod Save America

Pod Save America

87,529 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,948 Listeners

Lovett or Leave It by Lovett or Leave It

Lovett or Leave It

25,143 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,508 Listeners

Runaway Country with Alex Wagner by Runaway Country with Alex Wagner

Runaway Country with Alex Wagner

12,854 Listeners

Hysteria by Hysteria

Hysteria

7,307 Listeners

Strict Scrutiny by Strict Scrutiny

Strict Scrutiny

5,866 Listeners

What A Day by What A Day

What A Day

12,372 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,950 Listeners

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

10,745 Listeners

Offline with Jon Favreau by Crooked Media

Offline with Jon Favreau

2,318 Listeners

Good Hang with Amy Poehler by The Ringer

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

12,143 Listeners