Taylor Swift Courtside at Knicks NBA Finals, NYT Epstein Cover Up Bombshell, & Rep. Mark Takano on Political Influencer Disclosure

Taylor Swift Courtside at Knicks NBA Finals, NYT Epstein Cover Up Bombshell, & Rep. Mark Takano on Political Influencer Disclosure

From The Moment LIVE! Politics & Culture, Explained by The Moment LIVE

June 12, 2026 · 53 min · Episode 69

About this episode

The episode discusses the NBA Finals, a New York Times bombshell on Trump's Epstein cover-up, and features Rep. Mark Takano discussing political influencer disclosure legislation.

The Knicks are in the NBA Finals and New York City is losing its mind — Taylor Swift was courtside, Wemby got egged, and why Meredith is rooting for San Antonio too. Then: the New York Times dropped a bombshell excerpt from the upcoming Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan book — inside the situation room where Trump's inner circle scrambled to cover up his involvement in the Epstein files. Susie Wiles, JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt, Kash Patel, Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche were all in that room, and one of them is leaking intel. Then Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39) — former public school teacher for over two decades— on the PAID Act, his new legislation that would require political influencers and creators to disclose when they've been paid by a candidate or committee, how enforcement would work through the FEC, what happens when a PAC pays an intermediary, whether it has bipartisan support, and where the line is between creator economics and journalism standards. Plus: art and literature are having a moment. Read more books. Next Tuesday: Rachel Lindsay. Topics: Knicks NBA Finals Taylor Swift courtside Wemby, NYT Epstein cover-up Maggie Haberman Jonathan Swan book, JD Vance leak, Susie Wiles…

People in this episode

Hosts: Meredith Lynch, Rebecca Sananès

Guest: Mark Takano

Topics covered

  • NBA Finals
  • Taylor Swift
  • Epstein cover-up
  • political influencer disclosure
  • Mark Takano
  • creator accountability
  • bipartisan support

Keywords

  • Taylor Swift
  • NBA Finals
  • Epstein
  • Mark Takano
  • political influencers
  • FEC
  • PAID Act
  • bipartisan
  • creator economics
  • journalism standards

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times, FEC, PAID Act

Places: New York City

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