Background Briefing: November 14, 2024
Trump’s Choice of an Unqualified and Incompetent Ideologue to Head the DOJ Who Has Been Investigated for Sex Trafficking an Underaged Girl Across State Lines
We begin Trump’s cabinet picks minus the just-announced outrageous choice of RFK Jr. to head up Health and Human Services which we will cover later. Today we discuss Trump’s choice of recently resigned Congressman Matt Gaetz to be the Attorney General in spite of an outstanding verdict from the House Ethics Committee. They have investigated accusations of Gaetz’s sex-trafficking a 17 year old girl across state lines, a case federal prosecutors dropped only because the girl is now a porn actress and the pimp who arranged drugs and girls for Gaetz is such a sleaze with a long record, neither would be useful witnesses for the prosecution even though they insist Gaetz is guilty of the charges and more. Joining us is Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of the new corporate watchdog group True North Research and Court Accountability. She has served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government–as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department, as Chief Counsel for Nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a Deputy Chief of the article 3 judges division for the U.S. Courts.
Trump’s Choice of a Fox Propagandist, Grifter and Supporter of For-Profit Colleges That Rip off Veterans to be Secretary of Defense
Then we look into Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, a devoted Fox News propagandist and grifter who hawks dubious products and supports for-profit colleges that rip off veterans. Joining us is an expert on the military and Special Forces who has covered the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine, Robert Young Pelton, an author, filmmaker, journalist, and explorer. He is the publisher of Dangerous magazine and has a first-hand perspective on the war on terror from direct contact with the world’s most infamous jihadi, rebel and insurgent groups. His books include: The World’s Most Dangerous Places, Come Back Alive, Three Worlds Gone Mad, Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror and his autobiography, The Adventurist. He is currently working on a documentary about Jared Kushner’s secret deals ahead of the Abraham Accords which lined Kushner’s pockets.
Trump Wants a Member of a Fringe Hindu Cult and Fan of the Syrian and Russian Dictators to be the Next Head of Our Intelligence Agencies
Then finally we assess the lack of qualifications of Trump’s choice as Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, a member of a fringe Hindu cult who praised the Syrian dictator claiming he did not use chemical weapons on his own people and regularly parrots Putin’s talking points, even praising him with Alohas a few days after he invaded Ukraine. 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 has 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 at the CIA from 2014 to 2017. His books include Dividing Divided States, Beyond the Great Divide: Relevance and Uncertainty in National Intelligence and Science for Policy.