Briefings

Background Briefing: April 21, 2019

On By gram

 

Has Trump Dodged Another Bullet?

We begin with the path forward following the release of the Mueller Report which nobody has read except for those who compiled it as well as the Attorney General who has done a cleanup job for the White House burying the incriminating evidence in the report while distorting its findings to shape the public’s perceptions in favor of Trump. David Rothkopf, a visiting professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, joins us to discuss how Trump, who has been one step ahead of the sheriff throughout his life, appears to have dodged another bullet. And thanks to Barr’s tenacious cover-up, there is no way forward for the congress in terms of impeachment unless and until they have the complete report containing the most damning information, evidence and leads. As the focus now moves from the legal to the political arena, will assess what are the strongest elements of the case against Trump which appear to come from efforts by those close to Trump like his White House Counsel who refused to carry out the president’s orders and do what Don McGahn called “crazy shit”. And now that all the adults have been purged from the White House and that Trump only listens to Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, the question arises, who will pry Trump’s fingers from the nuclear button?

 

Glaring Evidence of Collusion in the Mueller Report

Then we look into the strongest evidence in the Mueller Report revealing the Trump campaign’s collusion with the Russians and speak with Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and author of the new book “Russia’s Crony Capitalism”. A former Swedish diplomat who served in Moscow and Kyiv, he joins us to discuss Paul Manafort’s blatant collusion with the Russian military intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik as well as today’s elections in Ukraine where a comedian has won the presidency.

 

Why Investigate Someone You Can’t Indict?

Then finally we assess the legal absurdity of having the highly touted great prosecutor Robert Mueller and his crack team spend 22 months investigating someone who at the end of the day they cannot indict. Aziz Huq, a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and co-author of “How to Save a Constitutional Democracy” joins us to discuss what appears to be Mueller’s intention in spite of having his report intercepted by Barr, for the congress to follow up on the work that he has done, however inconclusive it might appear to be from what we’ve been able to see of it so far.