Background Briefing: October 1, 2018

On By gram

Full Briefing

 

Republican Sabotage of the Latest FBI Investigation

We begin with the apparent attempt by the Republican Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to circumscribe and limit the FBI inquiry into Judge Kavanaugh to only four witnesses while President Trump was claiming it was an open and broad investigation. A former 16 year veteran of the FBI, Michael German, now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, joins us to discuss how in an investigation limited to one week, already three days out of the seven have been lost and only now that Trump has bowed to pressure from the press to allow FBI agents to follow leads, is the investigation on the right track. We  assess what former Director of the FBI James Comey meant when in an op-ed in The New York Times he referred to limits on the investigation as “idiotic” and explore what evidence could be gathered to support the accusations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in terms of finding the location of the alleged sexual assault and the bedroom and bathroom she described. And since, as the Republicans keep reminding us that Kavanaugh has already had six FBI investigations, we look into whether there is corroborating evidence in past inquiries that was either overlooked or not followed up on.

 

Today’s Blow to Right-Wing Conspiracy Theorists

Then we discuss today’s blow to right-wing conspiracy theorists with the right-wing Washington Times apologizing for a story they have retracted that falsely claimed a staffer with the DNC, Seth Rich, who was murdered in a botched robbery in a Washington suburb in July of 2016, was a part of a conspiracy involving his brother Aaron who supposedly received money from Wikileaks for the hacked DNC emails. Mark Fenster, a Professor at the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida and author of “Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture”, joins us discuss how Sean Hannity, Fox News. Sean Spicer and President Trump all pushed this absurd and cruel conspiracy theory to distract from the meddling by Russia in the 2016 election.

 

California Now at War with the Federal Government Over Net Neutrality

Then finally we speak with Jamie Court, the President of Consumer Watchdog, a consumer group that has been fighting corrupt corporations and crooked politicians since 1985. He joins us to discuss the bill California’s governor signed on Sunday night to strengthen protections against abuses by Internet providers which immediately provoked an injunction from the Justice Department putting California officially at war with the Federal Government over net neutrality. We discuss how AT&T slowed down Internet service to Fire Departments who were in the midst of fighting California wildfires because the new FCC rules allow them to speed up or slow down service depending on how much customers can afford to pay.