Host Brian Stelter breaks down the latest indictment against Donald Trump with Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, NYU professor, and co-host of MSNBC’s “Prosecuting Donald Trump” podcast. The “variety of sources of evidence” in the DOJ’s election case against Trump is “rock-solid,” says Weissmann, and the forthcoming trial, he adds, should not be viewed through a political lens, but about “whether we are going to adhere to the rule of law.”

Host Brian Stelter talks with Marc Caputo, national political reporter at The Messenger, about Ron DeSantis’s early stumbles on the campaign trail, as he trims staff and shifts strategy. The Florida-based reporter breaks down why his state’s twice-elected governor (and Fox-friendly culture warrior) has so far failed to wrest the MAGA mantle from Donald Trump. 

Host Brian Stelter discusses the cultural impact of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” with Vanity Fair Executive Hollywood Editor Jeff Giles and Senior Vanities Correspondent Delia Cai, along with the state of an industry in disarray as actors join writers on the picket line.

The Trump-loving Congresswoman just got booted from the far-right Freedom Caucus, yet is wielding more power than ever on Capitol Hill. Host Brian Stelter talks with author and New York Times staff writer Robert Draper about Greene’s political path, from pushing QAnon conspiracies to working closely with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (and feuding with Lauren Boebert.) “I’ve never seen this level of school-yard taunting and juvenile misbehavior,” Draper said, “that I’ve seen amongst these Republicans.”

Host Brian Stelter talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery about the historic challenges of building a multiracial democracy, the focus of his new book, American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and The Cost of Progress. The pair also address how race plays out in the courtroom, on the heels of the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions, and in the newsroom, where journalists, at times, struggle to provide clarity and context.

Host Brian Stelter goes deep on the state of California with Vanity Fair special correspondent Joe Hagan, whose feature on California’s crises is stirring debate this week, and Marisa Lagos, a government and politics correspondent for KQED in San Francisco. They discuss the state’s pressing issues, from homelessness to climate change to crime, along with how California’s challenges are perceived by locals and portrayed in the national media.

CBS News's Robert Costa joins Brian Stelter to dig into the existing indictments against the former President — and take a close look at the swirling waters ahead. "What has happened here with January 6," Costa says, "remains a systemic shock to the American system." Costa, who co-authored "Peril" with Bob Woodward, says "witnesses, lawyers to witnesses, people familiar with the investigation" into election interference have said the probe is "moving like a shark beneath the water."

Michael Waldman, CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice and author of the new book, THE SUPERMAJORITY, joins VF’s Bess Levin and Claire Howorth to discuss new SCOTUS rulings from a polarizing, polarized court; the ongoing ripple effects of the leaked Dobbs opinion; and the way Donald Trump’s legal issues are shaping up. 

The ousting of the CNN CEO Chris Licht on the heels of a damning magazine profile is just the latest symptom of an old order’s waning adroitness across legacy media, digital media, and social media. This week on Inside the Hive, Delia Cai and Hive staff writer Charlotte Klein discuss the prescient Licht profile and what it reveals about media’s larger state of crisis—one where Tucker Carlson has turned to Twitter, once promising players like BuzzFeed News and VICE have failed, and everything just kind of feels like the depressing Succession finale. 

On this week’s episode, Brian Stelter talks to Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman and NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik about how Rupert Murdoch’s empire is covering the early stages of the 2024 Republican race—and whether Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis will emerge as the Fox News favorite. Plus, the trio of Murdochologists assess threats to the 92-year-old patriarch's power coming from Elon Musk and elsewhere.