Month: January 2022

Briefings

Background Briefing: January 19, 2022

On By gram

 

The New York AG Lays out a Pattern of “Fraudulent and Misleading” Practices by the Trump Organization

We begin with the pattern of “fraudulent and misleading” practices the Trump Organization has been engaged in laid out in court papers in a civil case brought by the New York State Attorney General who is also investigating Trump in criminal cases with the Manhattan DA. Trump has employed his tried and true tactic of delay in an effort to block the New York AG from questioning him and two of his children under oath and we speak with David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and bestselling author of The Making of Donald Trump.  A 13 year veteran of The New York Times, he won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting that uncovered loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code and he has uncovered so many tax dodges that he has been called the “de facto tax enforcement officer of the United States”. Also the co-founder of DCReport.org, his latest book is The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family.

 

Biden’s Second Press Conference on the Eve of His First Year in Office

Then, with only the second press conference held by President Biden going on today lasting for almost two hours on the eve of his first year in office, we speak with Andrew Feinberg, a reporter covering the White House and Congress for The Independent. He joins us to discuss his latest articles which are “Biden gets lowest approval poll in presidency and 70% think country headed in wrong direction’” and “Justices Gorsuch and Sotomayor seek to play down mask row – but without addressing accusation” as well as assessing how Biden handled the press.

 

An Expert on Democracy and Its Discontents on America’s Slide Into Authoritarianism

Then finally we speak with Thomas Zimmer, who teaches twentieth-century U.S. and International history at Georgetown University’s BMW Center for German and European Studies, with a focus on the Transatlantic history of democracy and its discontents. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg in Germany and he joins us to discuss his article at The Guardian, “America must take steps now to avoid a slide into authoritarianism.”