Background Briefing: December 17, 2023

The Top Secret 10 Inch Thick, 2,700 Page Binder of Russian Influence and Collusion That Went Missing When Trump Left Office

We begin with the explosive story at CNN and The New York Times revealing a missing 10 inch thick 2,700 page binder of top secret intelligence on Russian interference and collusion in the 2016 election and beyond that went missing as Trump left the White House in January of 2021. Joining us is Gregory Treverton, a senior adviser with the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor of the practice of international relations at the University of Southern California. He served in government for the first Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, handling Europe for the National Security Council, and was chairman of the National Intelligence Council from 2014 to 2017. His books include Dividing Divided States, Beyond the Great Divide: Relevance and Uncertainty in National Intelligence and Science for Policy.

 

How Trump and His Minions Tried to Doctor the Evidence in the Missing Binder

Then we examine further how Trump and his minions tried to doctor the intelligence in the missing binder to support Trump’s witch-hunt and Russia hoax lies that unfortunately have muddied the waters and left much of the press wary of investigating the mounting evidence as Putin gears up to help elect Trump again. Joining us is Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harper’s in legal affairs and national security. He serves on the American branch of the International Law Association, and has represented a variety of journalists and whistleblowers.

 

The American Right’s Embrace of Franco and the Hungarian Kleptocratic Despot Orban

Then finally we speak with Sebastiaan Faber, a Professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College. He is the author of a number of books including Anglo-American Hispanists and the Spanish Civil War: Hispanophilia, Commitment, and Discipline, Memory Battles of the Spanish Civil War: History, Fiction, Photography and Exhuming Franco: Spain’s Second Transition. He serves as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, whose quarterly magazine is, The Volunteer. We discuss the American Right’s embrace of the fascist dictator Franco along with the Hungarian kleptocrat and despot Viktor Orban who Trump just praised along with Putin.