Background Briefing: November 6, 2023
Trump on the Witness Stand in a Case He Has Already Lost
We begin with Trump in the witness stand today in a $250 million fraud case he has already lost in which the judge repeatedly told him to answer questions and not make political speeches, at one point imploring his counsels to rein in their client. Joining us to reconcile the exposure of Trump as a business fraud and a make-believe billionaire with the latest New York Times poll that has Trump ahead in 5 of the 6 key swing states is Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor and Chief Assistant City Attorney in San Francisco who has won cases of significance in the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. He currently serves as counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and we discuss his article at CNN, “Why Trump is so ill-prepared for his testimony today.”
An Expert on Palestinian Issues Examines the Possibility of the End to the Agony in Gaza
Then we examine the possibility of an end to the agony in Gaza with an expert on Palestinian issues who was an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. Joining us is Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is the co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. His books include The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917- 2017 , Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. has Undermined Peace in the Middle East and The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. We discuss how peace emerged out of the 1973 war with the Camp David accords but with an Israeli public so incensed by the brutality of the Hamas butchery of women and children, this time around it is less likely that Israelis will be open to a two-state solution although that has never really been on the table.