Background Briefing: February 11, 2026

Trump Has Finally Found His Roy Cohn in the Disgraceful and Corrupt AG Pam Bondi

We begin with the disgraceful behavior of the Attorney General of the United States in her appearance today at an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee at which she constantly referred to a binder full of opposition research barbs prepared to attack Democratic members instead of answering their questions in a performance designed to please an audience on one, Donald Trump. Joining us is Adam Klasfeld, Editor-in-chief of All Rise News. A senior journalism fellow at Just Security, he has served as a legal contributor for MSNBC’s The Last Word and as the senior legal correspondent for The Messenger, the managing editor for Law&Crime, and a reporter for Courthouse News. He was prominently featured in the documentary “Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?”, which premiered on the Starz Network and the UK’s Channel 4, discussing Jeffrey Epstein’s thwarted prosecution.

 

The Trump and Republican Plan to Prevent a Blowout Electoral Loss in November: The SAVE Act

Then we analyze the SAVE Act that Trump and the Republicans are trying to push through to rig the next election which addresses the non-existent problem of voter fraud by disenfranchising 21 million Americans who don’t have copies of birth certificates, half of the country that doesn’t have passports and millions of married American women who have changed their names. Joining us is David Daley, the author of Antidemocratic: Inside the right’s 50-year plot to control American elections, as well as the national best-seller Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, which has been credited for kickstarting the national movement to reform redistricting. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Salon and his journalism has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times and the Atlantic, among other publications.

 

How to Fight the Oligarchy and Reclaim America With Positive Populism

Then finally, as a reactionary and greedy oligarchy led by the grifter-in-chief which already controls the Supreme Court, has bought the Republican Party wholesale and is in the process of buying the media, we will speak with Charles Derber, a professor of sociology at Boston College. A lifelong social justice activist, his work focuses on the crises of capitalism, globalization, corporate power, militarism, the culture of hegemony, the climate crisis, and peace and global justice movements. His recent books include Turnout!: Mobilizing Voters in an Emergency, Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Fuels Extinction and What We Can Do About It, How We Win: Energizing Strategies, Voters, and Agendas and Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations, and the Quest for Democracy. We will discuss his latest book, just out, Fighting Oligarchy: How Positive Populism Can Reclaim America.