Leah Remini Slams Trump Administration’s “Close” Relationship with Scientologists: “Scientology Hopes to Take Over Our Government”

Leah Remini‘s A&E docuseries Scientology and the Aftermath may end tonight, but she has plenty more material if she’s interested in a spinoff. In a new interview with The Daily Beast, Remini discussed her “phase II” strategy against the Church, certain episodes that were shelved by the network, and the Trump administration’s “close” ties to prominent Scientologists, including singer Joy Villa and cable news host Greta Van Susteren. When asked about the Trump-Scientology connection, the A&E host said that she wasn’t surprised, explaining, “This is all part of the policy of Scientology, which is to infiltrate to take over.” Continued Remini, “Scientology hopes to take over our government.”

During their wide-ranging discussion, The Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern asked Remini about the “weird trend” of Scientologists becoming “very close to members of the Trump administration.” Remini corrected his word choice, saying, “Very close? Very close?! No, close! Close, babe. Close.” Remini then brought up Villa, a singer who “infiltrated the White House” after she wore a “Make America Great Again” dress to the 2017 Grammys. “[Trump administration officials] have no idea what they’re dealing with, and I’m disappointed that they’re not seeing through Joy Villa’s bullshit,” said the docuseries host. “I mean, you only need to look at her social media to see whose [political] side she was on before, she wears that Trump dress, and then she gets her failing career going.”

Remini went on to discuss lobbyist Greg Mitchell, who met with Vice President Pence, and American Power & Gas execs Jim Bridgeforth and Tom Cummings, major Scientology donors who “recently met and posed for pictures with President Trump,” as Stern put it. “They should do some research, said Remini. “There’s a policy in Scientology dealing with the public image … and it’s to infiltrate real churches, control governments, control government agencies. This is all part of the policy of Scientology, which is to infiltrate to take over.” Added the star, “This is all part of the game of Scientology. Scientology hopes to take over our government.”

Back in February, The Daily Beast reported that an episode about the Danny Masterson allegations were being shelved by A&E following a smear campaign conducted by the Church of Scientology. When asked about the Masterson episode — which has since been turned into tonight’s two-hour finale special — as well as other shelved episodes, Remini called out the network for their lack of transparency. “It’s certainly heartbreaking when you have survivors coming forward who want to talk to you because they trust you, and for whatever reason … those reasons are not given to me,” she said. “There were also a few other shows that were shelved, and it was very painful for me and Mike to not have our audience see those episodes.”

Remini explained that these other shelved episodes included a breakdown “about the directives of Scientology’s ‘Fair Game’ policies, which are probably 1,000+ policies on how to destroy people who speak out against Scientology, how to infiltrate government agencies, how to lie to the police — and how to lie to the authorities in general.” Another buried episode followed a woman who did a welfare check on her uncle after he disappeared into the Church 30 years ago. “[The Church] sent PIs to this woman’s house — she was a grandmother — to scare her, and for some reason we couldn’t air this episode,” said Remini. “They didn’t give me an answer, but to me, there’s no good answer.”

Read Remini’s entire interview with The Daily Beast here. The two-hour series finale of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath airs tonight, Monday, August 26, at 9/8c on A&E.

Where to stream Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath