Decoder with Nilay Patel

Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the FEC works, how it tries to defend elections from foreign influence, and why the Commission is currently immobilized by a lack of "quorum" — in other words, it doesn't have enough members to launch or conclude any investigations. Weintraub talks about pending legislation to make advertising and campaign contributions more transparent, and explains how the FEC's current paralysis may undermine the cybersecurity of the 2020 presidential campaign. Plus: How she pushed back on President Trump's evidence-free claims about voter fraud in New Hampshire.

Featuring:

Ellen Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub), chair of the Federal Election Commission

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Barack Obama's former cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel, now the CEO of the nonprofit Cyber Threat Alliance, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about the state of US cybersecurity heading into the 2020 elections. Daniel says the proposed solutions to election hacking may just cause new problems: "If you can track your vote," he says, "I can track your vote."

Featuring:

Michael Daniel (@CyAlliancePrez), president and CEO, Cyber Threat Alliance

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, one of the FTC's two Democratic commissioners, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the state of antitrust problems in the tech industry, the history of pushback against the FTC for alleged over-enforcement, and whether it is under-enforcing the law today. Slaughter also talks about her objections to the $5 billion fine against Facebook that the FTC negotiated this year, the limitations on its speed and fining power, and its investigation of YouTube for COPPA violations, which led to a $170 million fine. Plus: The actions the FTC has taken against Uber and TikTok, why it was so permissive of tech M&A during the Obama administration, and why Slaughter doesn't think the US needs a new internet regulatory agency.

Featuring:

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter (@RKSlaughterFTC), FTC Commissioner (@FTC)

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Mark Warner, the senior US Senator from Virginia, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about several interconnected policy issues affecting the 2020 elections, including the security of voter registries, the expectation of social media manipulation by Russia and other hostile foreign powers, and the newly announced impeachment inquiry into President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Sen. Warner also talks about the potential of regulators breaking up tech giants and how the US government's relationship with those companies has improved since 2016, yet still calls for more oversight of their unprecedented power. Plus: Why he's "cautiously optimistic" about Republicans in the Senate embracing election reform and new privacy laws, his proposal for incentivizing companies to invest in their workers, and how Warner thinks Congress might be able to fix Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act without repealing it wholesale.

Editor's note: This interview was recorded the morning of Wednesday, September 25, before the release of the White House memo with a "transcript" of Trump's call with Zelensky.

Featuring:

Mark Warner (@MarkWarner), US Senator from Virginia

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

If you haven't already, check out Kara's past interviews with Rep. Adam Schiff and Whistleblower Aid CEO John Napier Tye.

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John Napier Tye, the founder and CEO of Whistleblower Aid, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how his non-profit law firm helps people seeking to legally expose corruption in the government and at private companies. It recently worked with a whistleblower at MIT, connecting them with New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow to discuss the university's cover-up of funding that had come from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; Tye also discusses the US official who reported President Trump's phone call with the president of Ukraine, the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013, and how whistleblowers can protect themselves from criticism and retribution. Plus: Will we always need whistleblowers?

Featuring:

John Napier Tye, founder and CEO of Whistleblower Aid (@wbaidlaw)

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Recode's Kara Swisher talks with Hermitage Capital CEO Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager turned human rights activist and his son, Josh Browder, whose company DoNotPay helps consumers fight everything from parking tickets to the Equifax leaks. They talk about the different ways they have pursued justice for relatively powerless people, their entrepreneurial journeys, and how both the Putin regime and mega-corporations have taken advantage of the internet.

Featuring:

Bill Browder (@BillBrowder), Hermitage Capital CEO

Josh Browder (@JBrowder1), DoNotPay CEO

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about their new book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. They talk about how Kantor and Twohey reported stories about sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein; how Weinstein's network of lawyers and advisers kept his misconduct under wraps; and how the story help launch an ongoing reckoning around power imbalances between men and women worldwide. They also explain why they interviewed Christine Blasey Ford, the college professor who testified in Congress that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.

Featuring:

Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor), New York Times investigative reporter and co-author, She Said

Megan Twohey (@mega2e), New York Times investigative reporter and co-author, She Said

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of the private equity firm The Blackstone Group, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence. Schwarzman — a longtime advisor to President Trump — also discusses his scholarship program that teaches future leaders how to do business in China, how he would like to see policymakers address populist anger, and the big economic trends he and Blackstone are currently pursuing. Plus: Can we fix the H-1B visa program without simultaneously addressing other forms of immigration?

Featuring:

Steve Schwarzman, CEO of The Blackstone Group and author of What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence.

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why he's still running for the Democratic nomination in 2020, the threat of job automation and his proposed "robot tax," and how de Blasio thinks about the future of transit in New York and beyond. He also talks about how the plan for New York to become one of Amazon's "HQ2" locations fell apart, and why he supports both a national privacy bill and tougher antitrust action against Facebook and Google.

Featuring:

Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio), mayor of New York City and 2020 presidential candidate

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her campaign to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020. Williamson explains why she's still in the race even though she didn't qualify for the third debate and talks about what she has learned from running as an non-establishment candidate, negativity and anger on social media, and how she thinks about the tech industry — and vice versa. She and Swisher also discuss her entrepreneurial journey, her divisive comments about religion, vaccines, and medication, and what Williamson would do if she were CEO of Twitter.

Featuring:

Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson), 2020 presidential candidate

Hosts:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.

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Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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