Skullduggery

Latest Episodes:

The Jan. 6th Endgame (w/ Robert Costa) Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

In AG Merrick Garland's speech on the eve of Jan. 6th he "vowed to pursue the perpetrators of the violent attack “at any level,” and promised to “follow the facts wherever they lead.” The investigation into the event that took place just a year ago on the US Capitol is not limited to the more than seven hundred rioters who have already been charged with breaching the Capitol barricades, assaulting Capitol Police Officers, and threatening the lives of members of congress as well as the sitting Vice-President of the United States. And whether or not they were present that day. So, who does he mean? And does that mean potential charges against Donald Trump himself? Robert Costa of the Washington Post joins to talk about all the latest surrounding the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6th attack.

GUEST:

Robert Costa (@costareports)

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Get Robert Costa/Bob Woodward's latest best-selling book Peril - Here
Yahoo News' Caitlin Dickson's latest story on AG Garland's speech about Jan. 6th - Here

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The Steal That Never Happened (w/ Mark Bowden & Matthew Teague) Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

We are just days away from the one year anniversary of Jan. 6th, that now infamous dark day in the history of the US where our own people attack the US Capitol in order to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the next President. Leading up to that day, a vast amount of wild and ridiculous conspiracies about how the election was stolen and rigged, were spreading quickly without an ounce of evidence to support them. "Stop the Steal" had become the new catchphrase of Trump's supporters, serving as a spring board and call to action by those who had been convinced it was true. How far did it go? Where did those supporters take action? We all witnessed Jan. 6th on our televisions, but what most of us didn't see was what happened on the local level, state by state, county by county. Authors of the book, The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It -- Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague, join us to discuss the lead up to Jan. 6th as well as some of the wildest claims and conspiracies that millions of people still believe to this day.

GUESTS:

Mark Bowden (@MarkBowdenwrite), Journalist, author of The Finish, Black Hawk Down, Worm, Greatest Game ever Played
Matthew Teague (@MatthewTeague), Nieman Fellow 2019; exec. producer of feature film Our Friend

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Buy The Steal by Bowden/Teague - Here.
Yahoo News story debunking urinal/election fraud conspiracy - Here.

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Taking on the Proud Boys (w/ AG Racine) Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are now central to the investigations into the events of Jan. 6th. More than thirty Proud Boys have been indicted by the Justice Department for the attack on the US Capitol. And just this week, a Federal Judge overseeing many of those cases, upheld the department's position that the defendants can be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding. Meaning, they can be sentenced to lengthy prison terms of up to twenty years. As this situation intensifies, DC's AG Karl Racine is taking another route. He's filed a civil suit against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the events, calling the attack, "a coordinated attack of domestic terrorism." AG Racine joins us to discuss.

GUEST:

District of Columbia's AG Karl Racine (@AGKarlRacine)

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Yahoo News Article on Racine's lawsuit filing against Proud Boys / Oath Keepers - Here

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The Build Back Better Debacle (w/ Max Rose) Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Joe Manchin has been pushing back on the furious attacks from the White House and his fellow Democrats over his refusal to support President Biden's Build Back Better bill. Manchin's quote that he, "just can't get there to back the bill," was a crushing blow to the Biden administration and appeared to stun top officials and Democratic leaders. A bill that would in their view sharply reduce child poverty, help working parents by dramatically expanding child care, and take major steps to address climate change. And perhaps just as significant that the failure to pass the bill undermines Democratic arguments that they and Biden can actually get things done. Thereby seriously hurting the party's chances of retaining control of congress in next fall's midterm elections. Former NY Democratic Rep. from Staten Island - Max Rose - joins us to discuss the aforementioned in addition to why he himself is running again to win back the seat he lost just a year ago to Trump supporter Nicole Malliotakis.

GUEST:

Frm. Congressman Max Rose (@MaxRose4NY), Serving the people of Illinois. Majority Whip and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

The reaction from the Climate Community after Manchin kills BBB Bill - Here
Max Rose seeks rematch to win back his house seat - Here

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Durbin's Doubts (w/ Senator Dick Durbin) Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

Biden said this week that domestically, there is nothing more important than voting rights. And yet as with Build Back Better, his nearly two trillion social spending bill, there seems little prospect that a voting rights bill can pass before the end of the year. Not so long as two democrats Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin remain admittedly opposed to changing the Senate's filibuster rules that allow a minority that allow a minority of members to block passage of just about anything. Nobody has been in the middle of the fight for voting rights and much else on the democratic slate then Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. He joins us to discuss the aforementioned bills and the prospects of anything getting down not only before Christmas, but next year as well.

GUEST:

Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin), Serving the people of Illinois. Majority Whip and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Isikoff's story on Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin - Here

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Operation Whistle Pig (w/ Jana Winter & Hugh Handeyside) Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

This week, our Yahoo News colleague Jana Winter discovered the existence of a secret investigations unit inside the Department of Homeland Security. It was snooping into the private lives of journalists as well as congressional staff members and others. They were pulling phone records, travel records, personal contacts, and much else. All of this under the guise of cultivating them to help with the legitimate government investigation into, of all things, cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This secret unit launched an initiative called Operation Whistle Pig that targeted journalists. Informally, it called itself W.O.L.F. - way out there in left field. Winter joins us to discuss as well as an ACLU lawyer, Hugh Handeyside, about why this is so alarming.

GUESTS:

Jana Winter (@janawinter), Investigative Correspondent @YahooNews
Hugh Handeyside (@hhandeyside), Senior Staff Attorney, @ACLU National Security Project

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Jana Winter's Operation Whistle Pig story - Here.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, House Homeland Security Chair's reaction to story - Here.

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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A Tale of Torture (w/ Mohamedou Ould Slahi) Dec 10, 2021

Show notes

The Mauritanian is a powerful film about a young man named Mohamedou Slahi who was held for fourteen years in GTMO. He was accused of being an Al-Qaeda operative who recruited the hi-jackers for the 9/11 attacks. He was once viewed as one of the most significant high-value detainees and under direct order of then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld he was subjected to special interrogation methods. He was beaten, kicked, and smashed across his face. Subjected to extreme cold and sexual humiliation by female interrogators. And also threatened with execution during a boat ride where he was force-fed sea water. Slahi himself joins us on this episode of Skullduggery to talk about his experience and his eventual release after wrongful prosecution.

GUEST:

Mohamedou Slahi, fmr. detainee at Guantanamo Bay & best-selling author

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Slahi's best-selling book turned movie - Here
Isikoff's story on Mohamedou Slahi - Here

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with feedback, questions or tips: SkullduggeryPod@yahoo.com.

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Bob Dole: End of an Era (w/ Scott Reed) Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

The death of Bob Dole this week at the age of 98 has reminded the country just how much Washington and the Republican Party has changed since the days he ruled the roost as Senate Majority Leader. Although a stalwart partisan who was once known as Richard Nixon's "hatchet man," Dole also believed firmly that politics and government had a purpose - to get things done, to pass legislation that actually made a difference in voters. Even if it meant reaching out to the other side, listening and respecting what they had to say and forging compromises. An approach that seems almost entirely foreign in politics these days. We're joined by veteran GOP strategist Scott Reed who managed Dole's 1996 campaign for President.

GUEST:

Scott Reed, top Republican political strategist and former executive director of the Republican National Committee

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Scott Reed's recent piece on Dole in The Dispatch - Here
Yahoo News' piece on the passing of Bob Dole - Here

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Supreme Court Greenhouse Effect (w/ Linda Greenhouse) Dec 04, 2021

Show notes

Supreme Justice Sotomayor grilled the solicitor general of Mississippi on what it would mean for the court's legitimacy if it does what Mississippi wants it to, overturn Row v. Wade. "Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts." This revealed that the court is deeply divided. Is this a result of Trump getting to name three Supreme Court Justices? If overturned, what happens next on the state level? We discuss with Linda Greenhouse who has been covering said court for over forty years.

GUEST:

Linda Greenhosue (@GreenhouseLinda), covers The Supreme Court & Law for the @nytimes

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES:

Linda Greenhouse's new book: Justice on the Brink - Here.
Linda Greenhouse's New York Times Profile- Here.

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us with feedback, questions or tips: SkullduggeryPod@yahoo.com.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A debriefing on the President's briefers (w/ David Priess) Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

After Donald Trump was elected President, the CIA started briefing him on the threats facing the country and other developments the could affect national security interests. From the outset, there was a problem. Trump, while occasionally polite and willing to listen, was rarely impressed with what his briefers had to tell him. He didn’t want his briefing every day. And he wasn’t interested in getting a written brief either. “He doesn’t really read anything,” his chief CIA briefer explained. “In an hour’s discussion, there might only be eight or nine minutes of real intelligence,” said the director of national intelligence. What is remarkable about these comments is that they come from a new book written by a former CIA inspector general and released by the CIA itself. It’s called, Getting to know the President. What does it say about the CIA that it would put out a tome that discloses somewhat embarrassing details of a President it once served? We talk to David Priess, a former CIA briefer himself.

GUEST:

David Priess (@DavidPriess), Lawfare Publisher/COO, cohost @ThatWasChatter pod, fmr. CIA

HOSTS:

Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)

RESOURCES: