Tag: pope francis

Briefings

Background Briefing: August 20, 2018

On By gram

 

Could Trump Have a Pecker Problem?

We begin with another close confident of Donald Trump who has been subpoenaed by Robert Mueller and the Southern District of New York but is not getting the attention Michael Cohen or Omorosa is getting even though he could provide even more damning and damaging evidence if forced to testify.Ann Louise Bardach, a PEN USA Award-winning journalist joins us to discuss her article at The New York Daily News “Donald Trump’s Pecker Problem: The tabloid publisher may have more on him than Putin does”. We examine the long and close relationship Donald Trump has with David Pecker, the CEO of the tabloid empire AMI, and how after almost destroying Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political career, Pecker then threw his support behind him via the tabloids to the point where Pecker takes credit for having Arnold elected as Governor of California. And the same is true of Trump who has always been tabloid fodder, but thanks to Pecker his opponent Hillary Clinton was Pecker’s main target during the presidential election when he ran stories about her such as “Sociopath Hillary Clinton’s secret psyche files exposed” and how she had gained 103 pounds. We will assess what it will take for Pecker to rat on Trump given how much during their 20 year relationship they conspired on “catch and kill” stories which are sitting unread in Pecker’s “favor bank”.

 

The Pope Responds to the Church’s Latest Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Then we discuss the latest eruption of child sex abuse scandal bedeviling the Catholic Church involving 1,000 victims molested by 300 priests over 70 years in Pennsylvania which has prompted Pope Francis to issue a letter to the 1.2 billion faithful condemning the “atrocities” of priestly sexual abuse and cover- up, writing “We showed no care for the little ones: we abandoned them.”  David Gibson, Director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University joins us to discuss his article at The New York Times “Will Pope Francis Take His Own Advice for Church Reform?”

 

Is Trump Forcing a Mistrial in the Manafort Case by Jury Tampering

Then finally we speak with an expert on criminal law and criminal procedure, Laurie Levenson, who holds the Chair in Ethical Advocacy at Loyola University Law School. She served 8 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and joins us to discuss whether President Trump tried to force a mistrial in Robert Mueller’s case against Paul Manafort. We discuss whether Trump is guilty of jury tampering since he spoke out on the first day of jury deliberation praising his former campaign manager as a good guy who is getting a raw deal.