Question Everything

Ashley St. Clair is Fighting X – And Tried To Stop This Episode

Last week, host Brian Reed interviewed former MAGA influencer and the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children, Ashley St. Clair, in front of a live audience in New York. After they walked off stage, St. Clair laid into Brian over the questions he asked. She then demanded that we not release the interview publicly and asked to speak to our lawyers. Here is that interview, uncut. In it, St. Clair talks to Brian about her landmark lawsuit against xAI, the artificial intelligence company behind Grok, which generated millions of sexually explicit deep fake images of her and other women. xAI is owned by St. Clair’s ex, Elon Musk, and Brian asks her to share stories and insights from her relationship with Musk to help people understand his erratic and offensive behavior. Brian also asks St. Clair about her years as a major figure inside the right-wing propaganda machine. It's those questions that seemed to bother her most.  Find video highlights of the live interview on our new Instagram account [https://www.instagram.com/questioneverything.podcast] – @questionverything.podcast. The full video is available at our Substack [http://questioneverything.substack.com].  Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com]. The live taping was presented by OnAirFest. Our fact-checker reviewed this live, unedited conversation. We were not able to independently verify St. Clair’s remark that Musk’s devices were seized during French authorities’ search of X’s offices. Likewise with St. Clair’s recollection that she saw a Grok-generated image of a 4-year-old girl in a Bluey microprint bikini, and her claim that immigrants were getting on planes with boarding passes that didn’t have any name on them. We reached out to Musk and xAI for comment, but they did not reply. Guests: * Ashley St. Clair Please support the organizations that support this show: * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION  [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.

How a Tiny Newsroom Helped Bring Down Hungary’s Authoritarian Leader

Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian grip on Hungary became a model for the American right. He hollowed out the country’s democracy and turned much of the media into a government megaphone. Then a small newsroom called Direkt36 [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/] exposed a plot [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/titkosszolgalati-nyomasra-tortent-hazkutatas-a-tiszat-segito-informatikusoknal-aztan-kibukott-egy-gyanus-muvelet-a-part-ellen/] against the opposition party involving a mysterious political operative, a young IT worker, a raid on a boat in the Danube and a whistleblowing police captain [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/megszolal-a-nyomozo-aki-belulrol-ismeri-a-tisza-elleni-muvelet-ugyet/]. A few weeks later, Orbán was ousted from power in a landslide election.  Sean Cole reports on the investigation, called the Hungarian Watergate, and what it shows about why an independent press still matters.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com]. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com]. Guests:  * Zsuzsanna [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/zsuzsi/]Wirth [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/zsuzsi/], Direct36 investigative reporter * András [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/andraspetho/]Pethő [https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/andraspetho/], Direct36 editor * Marius Dragomir [https://journalismresearch.org/tag/marius-dragomir/], Director of the Media and Journalism Research Center Please support the organizations that support this show: * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION  [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.

From Drilled: Carbon Cowboys

While we’re heads down working on a bunch of great new episodes, we’re sharing the first episode of the new season of Drilled. In it, award-winning climate journalist Amy Westervelt exposes how Republican corn ethanol mogul Bruce Rastetter sold "sustainable aviation fuel" to world leaders from North Dakota to Brazil. The problem is, his “clean energy” project does nothing to help climate change.  Drilled: Carbon Cowboys follows the land grabs, pipelines, and political power stopping real progress from being made. Find Drilled [https://lnk.to/CCQuestion] wherever you get podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus. [pushkin.fm/plus] Please support the organizations that support this show: * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION  [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.

‘Kick Him Off The Bench.’ A Judge in Trump’s Pulitzer Case Gets a Prize

The Freedom of the Press Foundation just filed an ethics complaint against Florida Judge Jeffrey Kuntz, who has been nominated by President Trump for a lifetime federal court appointment. They want him stripped of his gavel and his law license. Why? Judge Kuntz was one of the judges who ruled in Trump’s favor in his peculiar defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board. The Freedom of the Press Foundation claims the judge handed Trump this victory while, behind the scenes, he was seeking a nomination from the Trump administration for a federal judgeship. While Judge Kuntz’s nomination is being considered by the Senate, we revisit an episode we first aired in February 2025 about this strange lawsuit against the organization behind journalism’s most prestigious award.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com]. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com]. Guests: * Ben Smith [https://www.semafor.com/author/ben-smith], editor-in-chief of Semafor [https://www.semafor.com/] and co-host of the Mixed Signals podcast [https://www.semafor.com/hub/mixed-signals-media-podcast] Please support the organizations that support this show: * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com/QUESTION [https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=question] for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.

Can a Chatbot Convince Conspiracy Theorists of the Truth?

Like millions of others, Gordon Pennycook’s older brother has leapt down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and Gordon says he’s tried to change his brother’s mind, without success. Which tracks, if you’ve ever debated a conspiracy theorist — it can feel impossible to pull them back to reality.  If anyone was qualified to convince his brother, though, it’s Gordon, who’s a psychology professor at Cornell University where he studies why people believe things that aren’t true. So Gordon wanted to put this question to the test: Is it actually the case that conspiracy theorists rarely change their minds? He and a team of researchers ran an experiment using an AI chatbot to rebut people’s theories. And the results were very surprising. In fact, they ended up changing Gordon’s mind about conspiracy theories, and the people who believe them.  Sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com] and we’ll share the Debunkbot from Gordon’s study, where you can test out your own beliefs. Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com].  Guests:  * Gordon Pennycook, Cornell University, Associate Professor, Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow Please support the organizations that support this show: * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com/QUESTION [https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=question] for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.