Day: August 4, 2026

Briefings

Background Briefing: August 4, 2026

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Could the Ellisons Walk Away From Their $111 Billion Takeover of Warner Brothers?

We begin with the guest essay in today’s New York Times by David Ellison trying to assure state’s attorneys general and the Hollywood community blocking his merger that the real opposition to his $111 billion takeover of Warner Brothers are concerns over the future of CNN which he argues are unfounded, even though his previous purchase of CBS has led to a right wing slant in the network’s coverage along with the firing of prominent hosts Trump didn’t like. Joining us is William Cohan, a former senior Wall Street investment banker for 17 years at Lazard Frères & Co., Merrill Lynch and JPMorganChase, as well as a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, and, most recently, Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon. He is a founding partner at Puck News where his latest article is, “Ellison’s Escape Hatch & The Zaslav Lottery Ticket.“

 

Two Craven Republican Senators Accepted Worthless Assurances From Blanche Who Faces an Uncertain Confirmation Vote in the Full Senate

Then we examine the craven collapse of two Republican senators holding up the confirmation of Todd Blanche as Trump’s AG who accepted worthless assurances that Trump’s slush fund and IRS immunity would not be revived. Joining us is Lisa Graves, one of the nation’s foremost experts on the right-wing influence on the US Supreme Court and other levers of power. She leads True North Research and co-hosts Legal AF and has served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government, as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department, as Chief Counsel for Nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a Deputy Chief of the article 3 judges division for the U.S. Courts. She is the author of the new book, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights.

Trump Gives Iran One Day to Make a Deal Over Hormuz Which They Are Doing With Oman Not the U.S

Then finally we speak with Harrison Mann, Associate Director for Campaigns and Policy at Win Without War, a progressive national security advocacy network. His advocacy and public commentary focus on reforming U.S. Middle East policy and illuminating the connections between foreign and domestic policy. He is a former US Army major assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency who resigned in protest of the Department of Defence’s support for the Israeli military during their war on Gaza. With Trump giving Iran one day to open the Strait of Hormuz, we discuss the Iranian deal with Oman over traffic in and out of the Gulf which does not involve the U.S.