Background Briefing: June 29, 2022

 

Our Borderlands With Mexico Are Becoming a Graveyard

We begin with yet another tragedy on the southern border on Monday with 51 migrants found dead in a tractor-trailer outside of San Antonio, Texas. Joining us is Jean Guerrero, an opinion columnist at the Los Angeles Times and previously an investigative border reporter for NPR, the PBS NewsHour and other public media. The recipient of an Emmy, she began her career at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires as a correspondent in Mexico City and is the author of Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir and most recently, Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump and the White Nationalist Agenda. We discuss her latest article at The LA Times, “Unending deaths of migrants, driven by desperation and U.S. border policies” and what can be done to break up the callous human smuggling networks and the role of volunteer groups trying to rescue migrants from death in the desert as our borderlands with Mexico become a graveyard.

 

The Likelihood That Giuliani and Flynn Will Go To Jail and That Meadows, Clark, Eastman and Trump Will be Indicted

Then, following yesterday’s explosive testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson, we explore the likelihood that Giuliani and Flynn will go to jail and that the DOJ is already building cases against Meadows, Clark, Eastman and Trump. Joining us is David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and bestselling author of The Making of Donald Trump.  A 13 year veteran of The New York Times, he won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting that uncovered loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code and he has uncovered so many tax dodges that he has been called the “de facto tax enforcement officer of the United States”. Also the co-founder of DCReport.org, his latest book is The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family and we discuss his latest article at DCReport.org, “Liz Cheney sends conspirators a message.” 

 

Did Sweden and Finland Sell Out the Kurds in Their Deal With Turkey to Enter NATO?

Then finally we examine concerns that the deal Sweden and Finland made with Turkey to join NATO involves selling out the Kurds who have sought refuge from Erdogan’s lawless repression. Joining us is Kani Xulam, the director of the American Kurdish Information Network. A native of Kurdistan, he has worked closely with members of the U.S. Congress and their staff to seek the freedom of Kurdish parliamentarians imprisoned in Turkey.