Background Briefing: June 16, 2022
The Internal White House Battles Between Pence and His Lawyers and Trump and His Legal Charlatan John Eastman
We begin with today’s hearing by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection which focused on the role of Trump’s unrelenting pressure on Vice President Pence to follow a bogus legal theory and violate the Constitution so that Trump could remain in power after losing and election his top aide told him repeatedly that he has lost. Joining us is Jennifer Taub, a legal scholar and professor of law at the Western New England University School of Law who previously taught at Harvard Law School. We discuss today’s details from those in the room of the internal White House battles between Pence and his lawyers and Trump’s outlier and legal charlatan John Eastman.
The Fed’s Interest Rate Hike and Its Impact on the Markets and Economy
Then we get an analysis of the Fed’s interest rate rise and its impact on the market and the economy and speak with Robert Hockett, who has first-hand experience working at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and continues to consult for a number of US federal, state and local legislators and regulators. He drafted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” resolution for the House of Representatives and officially advises her on economic policy and is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a Professor of Public Policy at Cornell University. His latest books are Money from Nothing Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve and Financing the Green New Deal: A Plan of Action and Renewal and he has and article at Forbes, “Liquidity Reserves and Commodity Reserves: A Marriage Proposal.”
Growing Tensions Over the Taiwan Straits
Then finally, with growing tensions over Taiwan following warnings by China for the US not to enter the Taiwan Straits, we speak with Michael Swaine, director of the Quincy Institute’s East Asia program and one of the most prominent American scholars of Chinese security studies. Previously, he worked for nearly twenty years as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace specializing in Chinese defense and foreign policy, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian international relations. He also advises the U.S. government on Asian security issues and his books include Remaining Aligned on the Challenges Facing Taiwan and Conflict and Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Strategic Net Assessment.