Grounded with Jon Tester & Maritsa Georgiou

Apologies to everyone who noticed the blurry video in our live stream this morning— it seems the Montana WiFi overlords are not playing well with us. We uploaded the clean version here so you can watch it without frustration!

Former Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg (or Mayor Pete, as we lovingly call him) is in Big Sky Country this weekend stumping for the Montana Plan, an effort to make the effects of the Citizens United decision a moot point—with hopes the effort will spread to other states. Last week, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed a similar measure into law.

Basically, Montana has the authority to remove corporations’ power to spend in politics through corporation laws which are controlled by the states—other states can follow suit. While Hawaii’s measure passed through the legislature, Montana organizers are putting it to the voters with a ballot initiative.

We couldn’t let Mayor Pete come to town without having him join us for an in-person podcast episode. We touch on the Montana Plan, but also discuss 2026, how to restore trust in our institutions, and what the Democrats need to do moving forward. Plus, we talk about soaring costs and the redistricting wars. Plus, does he ever lose his cool?

While Pete didn’t make any major headlines about what his future holds, he did discuss the new book he’s working on and what he would do if he happened to find himself in a famous office now decorated with gold accents.

Thanks to the University of Montana School of Journalism for letting us use their studio! You can watch the live stream of Sec. Pete Buttigieg’s Butte town hall HERE!

It's our 100th full episode! We love any chance to talk to our friend Katie Phang, especially when we get to talk about the historic lawsuit she filed against the U.S. Department of Justice over its botched handling of releasing the Epstein files. We talk about the complaint, the bipartisan support she’s getting from lawmakers, and the outcome she’s hoping to see. Plus, Katie’s take on the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey over a picture of seashells, the war with Iran, and the ballroom.

We have a lot to unpack after an eventful weekend. We discuss the 60 Minutes interview with President Trump about the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the 60-day mark to the war in Iran, and a new look for the National Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. Plus, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joins JT & MG to discuss ICE raids, homelessness, and funding for wildfire victims. She also talks about her state’s upcoming primary both for the mayoral and gubernatorial races.

We unpack Saturday night’s timeline after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and how it unfolded across town at the Substack party for new media.

It’s being reported the security checkpoint was breached at 8:34 p.m. I received a text from my mom 9 minutes later telling me there was a shooting at the WHCA dinner at the Washington Hilton. I looked around the room at the Renwick Gallery, just across the street from the White House, and party goers were seemingly unaware of what was happening.

We started to get bits of information from different reporters in the room at the Hilton—but it wasn’t clear to anyone exactly what happened. At one point we heard the shooter was dead only to then hear there were no injuries. Then we heard there were injuries and someone else heard there were two gunmen.

It was a chaotic night and we still have a lot of questions to get answered about how this unfolded. Sending love to all of my friends who were at the event.

Talking with Scott MacFarlane was a great way to kick off the new week, even if it had to start in the 6:00 a.m. hour in Montana because of seeding on the Tester farm.

Scott (NOT SETH) joined the independent media space earlier this year after leaving his correspondent role at CBS News.

We talked extensively about his indefatigable reporting on January 6 defendants, why traditional journalism rules don’t apply today, and how to restore the norms. Plus, we discuss the regularity in which legacy media platforms misinformation, what he tells his kids about the future of politics in the U.S., and his favorite congressional cafeteria food. And no, he’s not related to Seth MacFarlane.

Don’t miss the seeding progress update at the end!

On Jan. 23, 2020, then-Rep. Adam Schiff delivered his closing arguments in the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

“No constitution can protect us if right doesn’t matter any more. And you know you can’t trust this President to do what’s right for this country," Schiff said at the time.

We discuss the relevance of those words when applied to Trump 2.0, how the conflict with Iran compares to the intelligence he received during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and his concerns about the end game. Plus, what’s next for California’s jungle primary to elect the next governor now that Eric Swalwell has withdrawn from the race amid sexual assault allegations.

This is a repost from Heather Cox Richardson's channel Monday, when JT & MG join her to discuss the Citizens United decision, exorbitant amounts of money in politics, and the Montana Plan! Plus, organizations (like End Citizens United ) trying to combat the effects of big money in politics and what YOU can do about it.

It’s a month that starts with A, which means Jon Tester becomes increasingly harder to schedule because of work on the farm (April means planting; August means harvest). That said, many people have been asking where he’s been, so we attempted a Tractor Time with Tester episode that we came very close to pulling off… until his phone died.

We asked Ellie Leonard to join us to discuss Melania Trump’s surprise statement to the White House press corps and how a deported Brazilian model (and her now deleted posts on X) could be part of the story.

We dissect the timing, the tweets, and the relevance with Ellie, along with growing calls for Rep. Eric Swalwell to resign from Congress and drop out of the California gubernatorial race as new allegations of rape, sexual assault and misconduct come to light.

We also discuss Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s crushing defeat after 16 years in power (and after VP JD Vance stumped for him), along with failed peace talks with Iran.

Big thanks to former White House counsel Ty Cobb for joining us on Grounded this morning. We shared some laughs and also talked about some very serious concerns about the rule of law, the Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, the president’s threats to pull out of NATO, and more. Plus, how he came to work for the first Trump administration and his memories of his friend, former FBI director Robert Mueller.