Background Briefing: August 21, 2018
The Law Is Closing in on Trump from Two Directions We begin with a dramatic day in federal courts in Virginia with Paul Manafort found guilty on 8 counts, 4 for tax fraud, 2 for bank fraud and I for hiding foreign bank accounts and in Manhattan Michael Cohen...
Background Briefing: August 20, 2018
Could Trump Have a Pecker Problem? We begin with another close confident of Donald Trump who has been subpoenaed by Robert Mueller and the Southern District of New York but is not getting the attention Michael Cohen or Omorosa is getting even though he could...
Background Briefing: August 19, 2018
What Can be Done to Constrain Trump and Avoid a ‘Wag the Dog’ War We begin with the letter signed by 70 top intelligence officials in support of the former head of the CIA who had his security clearance revoked by Trump, with others on Trump’s enemies list soon...
Background Briefing: August 16, 2018
Trump’s Dog Whistles Are Now a Howl We begin with the coded racial politics that Trump used in his campaign and continues to deploy in his presidency with an escalating fury of late in which his dog whistles have turned into a howl. Ian Haney Lopez, a Professor...
Background Briefing: August 15, 2018
Trump, with Erdogan’s Help, is Driving Turkey Into Chaos We begin with the wreckage that Donald Trump’s ego-driven erratic personality is causing on the world stage as back home in the domestic arena he tweets out racist insults at his former protégé and...
Background Briefing: August 14, 2018
Russian Media Suggests Trump Needs Putin’s Help to Rig the Midterm Elections We begin with an examination of the Russian media’s coverage of Donald Trump who is routinely referred to on State TV as “our president” with a political joke doing the rounds on...
Background Briefing: August 13, 2018
The Embarrassing Amateurism of the Trump White House We begin with the unprecedented amateurism at the Trump White House which allowed the reality TV star Omorosa, the executive branch’s most highly paid staffer, to record her firing by Chief of Staff Kelly...
Background Briefing: August 12, 2018
A Former White Supremacist on the “Unite the Right” Rally We begin with the “Unite the Right” rally of Neo-Nazis about to take place in Washington D.C. opposite the White House in Lafayette Park on the one year anniversary of the violent confrontation between...
Background Briefing: August 9, 2018
Puerto Rican Government Admits 1427 Died From Hurricane Maria Not the 16 Trump Claimed We begin with the government of Puerto Rico quietly admitting that the death toll from Hurricane Maria was 1,427 not the 64 they originally announced or Donald Trump’s number...
Background Briefing: August 8, 2018
New US Sanctions on Russia for the Use of a WMD The Growing Similarity Between Putin’s Kleptocracy and Trump’s America Then, with the Manafort trial underway revealing exorbitant corruption and Trump’s former campaign manager’s shadowy ties to...