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President Biden gave a defensive speech Thursday updating the American public on his plan for withdrawal from Afghanistan. He said that the United States accomplished its mission in Afghanistan, though his administration acknowledged earlier in the day that the two-decade war "has not been won militarily" and that there are ongoing risks to the safety and prosperity of Afghans.
Domestically, the White House is stalled on voting rights reforms: Democrats in Congress can't find a route around the filibuster and conservative courts have throttled historic enforcement options made possible by the Voting Rights Act.
This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, White House correspondent Scott Detrow, Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, and national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.
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Former president Donald Trump filed a lawsuit this week claiming that his rights are violated by social media bans, claims legal experts say are spurious. But there has long been a push for big tech regulation in Washington, and it appears that the wheels are starting to turn.
This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional editor Deirdre Walsh, and technology correspondent Shannon Bond.
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Though crime rates remain well-below historic highs, assaults and murders have spiked since the pandemic began. Democrats in New York picked ex-cop Eric Adams as their mayoral nominee; he's likely to win. Biden traveled to Chicago to talk gun violence with the city's mayor Lori Lightfoot.
This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and WNYC reporter Brigid Bergin.
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More than five hundred people have been charged in what is on track to be one of the largest criminal investigations in the country's history. Now, a House committee is charged with an impossible task: establishing a widely-accepted set of facts about what happened on January 6th.
This episode; White House correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, and justice correspondent Ryan Lucas.
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By 2040, 70% of Americans could be represented by just 30 Senators. And twice in the last two decades, a Republican president has lost the popular vote but won the White House. America's government was built to protect the rights of political minorities, but some critics say the system has become too unfair. What does this mean for the future of U.S. politics?
This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, national political correspondent Mara Liasson, and senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving.
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Chief Justice John Roberts used to be seen as a solid conservative, but as the center of conservative politics moved to the right so did the justices appointed after him. Now with a 6-3 conservative super majority on the court, what role does the chief justice play?
This episode: Congressional correspondent Susan Davis, legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, and special guest Tom Goldstein.
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President Biden did not meet his goal of 70% of Americans having one shot of the vaccine by July 4th, and some hot spots are flaring up in red states with a new variant looming. But there are signs across the nation that the country has radically curbed the spread of the virus. Plus economists are now predicting an ever quicker recovery for the economy.
This episode: Congressional correspondent Susan Davis, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, science reporter Pien Huang, and senior economic correspondent Scott Horsley.
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Former President Donald Trump's family business and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, have been criminally charged by the Manhattan district attorney's office in a case involving alleged tax-related crimes. The former president was not charged, but it's his name on the business. How could this impact him?
This episode: Congressional correspondent Susan Davis, justice correspondent Ryan Lucas, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro, and journalist Andrea Bernstein (author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power).
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