Background Briefing: May 20, 2025
Trump's Deference to Putin and His Unwillingness to Press For a Ceasefire and Sanction Russia If It Refuses Stuns European Leaders We begin with the phone call Trump had with five European leaders and Zelensky after his call with Putin yesterday that left them feeling...
Background Briefing: May 18, 2025
Putin Plays Trump Again Not Showing Up For Farcical "Peace" Talks in Istanbul We begin with a former US Ambassador to Ukraine who recently returned from that country under relentless Russian attack with 9 civilians killed yesterday by a missile that hit a bus....
Background Briefing: May 15, 2025
Trump is Using the Birthright Citizenship Case to Get the Supreme Court to Stop Federal Judges From Blocking His Agenda Nationwide We begin with today's Supreme Court's oral arguments on birthright citizenship which turned out to be all about Trump's effort to stop...
Background Briefing: May 14, 2025
Trump Lifts Sanctions on Syria Calling Its New Leader, a Former Islamic State Fighter, "a Young Attractive Guy" We begin with Trump's meeting with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa alongside MBS and with Turkey's Erdogan joining by video after which Trump praised...
Background Briefing: May 13, 2025
Trump Signs a $142 Billion Weapons Deal In Saudi Arabia, Not the Peace Deal With Putin He Expected To Sign, But He Still Hopes to Sign a Deal With Iran We begin with Trump's first overseas trip prioritizing Saudi Arabia at the top of his foreign policy agenda as he...
Background Briefing: May 12, 2025
Whistleblower Reveals Russian Recruitment of Musk and Thiel We begin with the explosive revelations in a documentary just aired on ZDF the German public television network that features a former FBI counterintelligence special agent Jonathan Buma who worked against...
Background Briefing: May 11, 2025
Manhandling Congresswomen and Arresting a Mayor Makes it Clear We Already Have an Authoritarian Government We begin with the thuggery of a masked American Gestapo unleashed on the Mayor of Newark and three members of Congress at an ICE detention facility in New...
Background Briefing: May 8, 2025
The 267th Pope is an American and a Peruvian Citizen Who Spent 2 Decades in Peru as a Missionary We begin with the 267th pope elected today, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who has taken the name of Pope Leo XIV and is an American although also a Peruvian citizen...
Background Briefing: May 7, 2025
After Claiming the Houthis Have Cried Uncle, Next Week in Saudi Arabia Will Trump Announce a Nuclear Deal With Iran? We begin with Trump's triumphalism in claiming the Houthis have cried uncle and don't want to fight any more and assess the likelihood of a broader...
Background Briefing: May 6, 2025
The Unprecedented Monetizing of the Oval Office by the Most Corrupt President in US History We begin with the unprecedented monetizing of the Oval Office by the most corrupt president in US history, Donald Trump. Joining us is Frank Vogl, former senior World Bank...