Background Briefing: April 28, 2021

 

Feds Raid Giuliani and Victoria Toensing’s Law Firm and Confiscate Electronic Devices

We begin with Federal investigators searching the apartment and office of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani at 6 AM this morning where they confiscated electronic devices in an investigation that began with the arrests of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman in 2019. They were trying to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden in Ukraine and are due to go on trial in October. Joining us is Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harper’s in legal affairs and national security and we discuss Giuliani’s vulnerability under FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act since it appears he was doing business with anyone and everyone around the world who wanted access to Rudy’s close friend and client, the President of the United States. The investigation was stalled by former Attorney General Barr but with a new head at the Justice Department it apparently has picked up steam and was prompted by concerns that records might be shredded since the expectation is that Rudy’s dealings in Ukraine, Venezuela, Mexico, Romania and a number of African countries were shady at best but more likely to be illegal.

 

Veteran Diplomat Ambassador Chas Freeman on China and the Middle East

Then we speak with veteran diplomat Ambassador Chas Freeman who was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the former Director for Chinese Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and the principal American interpreter during President Nixon’s opening to China in 1972. We will discuss how China and Russia are growing closer as strategic partners militarily, diplomatically and economically and in a worst case scenario, if Russia were to go to war against Ukraine, China might take advantage of the U.S’s distraction by moving on Taiwan. 

 

Biden’s $1.8 Trillion Plan to Tax the Rich to Pay for Education

Then finally we look into President Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan which he will be announcing to a joint session of Congress beginning when this program ends at 9 PM ET. The plan involves raising money from unpaid taxes and increases in taxes for the rich which will be invested in the nation’s education system, with universal free pre-kindergarten education and free community colleges for all Americans. David Halperin who was White House speechwriter and special assistant for national security affairs to President Clinton, joins us to discuss how investing $109 billion in community colleges instead of wasting $30 billion a year on crooked for-profit colleges is a great step forward.