President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen has turned over to CNN a secret recording he made of his client 2 months before the 2016 election. Mr. Cohen is in the crosshairs of a special investigation into election wrongdoing and appears to be eager to reveal what he knows about the President’s dealings. In the tape that CNN published, Trump and Cohen appear to be discussing a hush money payment to a model named Karen McDougal that Trump allegedly had an affair with. The discussion appears to focus on making the payment through American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer. Here is a short excerpt of the tape. 

Trump’s current lawyer Rudy Giuliani is convinced that the tape exonerates the President but others disagree.

Meanwhile Trump spoke at an event for Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Missouri on Tuesday, and turned it into a campaign-style rally, telling his audience that the tariffs he has imposed on Europe are simply about fairness. He also deployed an Orwellian line about how his supporters shouldn’t believe their eyes and ears. 

Earlier in the day the White House released a $12 billion plan to subsidize American farmers that were being hurt by Trump’s Tariffs. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the emergency aid-package, “is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration the time to work on long-term trade deals.” He stressed that it was not a “bailout” or welfare. The plan comes amid news that a whopping 2.5 billion pounds of meat is piling up in storage facilities around the US as retaliatory measures target American beef, pork, and other meats. The President’s own party is skeptical of the farm bailout plan with some Republicans saying agribusinesses want trade to flow rather than cash. Others wondered if non-agriculture industries hit by Trump’s Tariffs would receive the same compensation for their resulting lost business.

Earlier in the day Trump tweeted defensively that, “Tariffs are the greatest! Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that…All will be Great!” The President is meeting at the White House today with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss the trade war he began.

Trump also on Tuesday tweeted a cryptic and bizarre concern that, “Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!” The tweet of course reflects the opposite of reality.

In Georgia Brian Kemp has won the Republican Primary runoff election for Governor. Currently serving as Georgia’s Secretary of State, Kemp was backed strongly by Trump and has gained notoriety for his racist anti-immigrant bashing. He featured an ad during his campaign claiming he wanted to “round up criminal illegals.” He now faces Democrat Stacey Abrams in November in what is sure to be a closely watched race. If elected Ms. Abrams would be the nation’s first ever African American female gover...

FEATURING JUSTIN ANDERSON – The Trump Administration has capitalized for many months now on the violent killings by gang members of Central American backgrounds, elevating their impact to justify harsh anti-immigrant policies. Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 as it is known, has been a favorite target of Donald Trump, his Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others. Trump has routinely referred to gang members as “animals.”

But what is constantly left out of the debate is that, contrary to the idea that Central Americans countries are exporting violence to the US, it is in fact the US that has exported violence to Central America.

Read Justin Anderson’s piece ‘Key Fact Obscured in Immigration Coverage: MS-13 Was Made in USA’, HERE.

Justin Anderson, writer based in New York whose recent piece for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting is called Key Fact Obscured in Immigration Coverage: MS-13 Was Made in USA.

FEATURING AURORA VICTORIA DAVID – The controversial president of the Philippines just gave his third annual State of the Nation address, and in it, Mr. Rodrigo Duterte dug his heels in on the deadly drug war his government has fought. Duterte mocked human rights advocates for targeting the extrajudicial killings that have cast an international spotlight on the Philippines. Duterte said his concern wasn’t human rights, it was human lives.

The group Human Rights Watch released a statement offering some numbers for the horrors that Duterte has visited upon his country since his rule began in 2016: “more than 4,500 people have been killed in what the Philippine National Police (PNP) calls lawful anti-drug operations, alleging that the suspects fought back during raids. Thousands more have been killed by unidentified assailants throughout the country.”

The Philippines is an ally of the US and under President Donald Trump, Duterte has enjoyed greater impunity. Trump visited the Philippines last year and said nothing about Duterte’s bloody drug war.

Aurora Victoria David, Secretary General of the National Alliance of Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), and a co-convenor of the MALAYA Movement.

At least 60 people have died at a Greek resort near Athens as a devastating wildfire swept through on Monday. More than a 150 people have also been injured in the town of Mati with reports of people rushing into the sea to escape flames. Nearly 700 people were rescued from the waters by the Coast Guard. A number of people died trapped in their cars while others drowned. Among the dead is a six-month old baby. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras has declared a 3-day mourning period. It has been the worst fire in Greece in a decade as Europe struggles with scorching temperatures this summer.

In Los Angeles County where this program is based, residents are experiencing a dangerous 96-hour heat wave, the second such heat wave this month. Global temperatures are significantly rising as a result of human-created carbon emissions.

Iran has dismissed President Donald Trump’s threatening tweet issued in all caps on Sunday.Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif retorted on Twitter on Monday night, “COLOR US UNIMPRESSED: The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them —albeit more civilized ones—for 40 yrs. We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, incl our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS!” After today’s headlines, veteran journalist Reese Erlich will join us to put US-Iran relations into context.

The suspect in Toronto’s shooting has been identified. Twenty nine year old Faisal Hussein, whose parents say he struggled with mental illness, is suspected to have been the gun-toting man who walked through Toronto’s Greektown on Sunday night. An 18-year old woman and a 10-year old girl were killed, and more than a dozen were injured. Hussain is also among the dead. His family released a statement saying, “We are at a terrible loss for words but we must speak out to express our deepest condolences to the families who are now suffering on account of our son’s horrific actions.” They added, “Our son had severe mental health challenges, struggling with psychosis and depression his entire life…While we did our best to seek help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end.”

The controversial president of the Philippines has given his annual state of the nation speech and in it Mr. Rodrigo Duterte dug his heels in on the deadly drug war his government has fought. Duterte mocked human rights advocates for targeting the extrajudicial killings that have cast an international spotlight on the Philippines. Here is part of what he said. The group Human Rights Watch released a statement offering some numbers for the horrors that Duterte has visited upon his country since his rule began in 2016: “more than 4,500 people have been killed in what the Philippine National Police (PNP) calls lawful anti-drug operations, alleging that the suspects fought back during raids. Thousands more have been killed by unidentified assailants throughout the country.” On tomorrow’s show we’ll cover how diaspora Filipinos are responding to Duterte’s rule.

In domestic news, the Trump administration is considering revoking the security clearances of the President’s critics. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Monday,

FEATURING JAMES W. LOEWEN – Barely a day goes by when President Donald Trump accuses the media of being “corrupt,” “failing,” and of course, promoting “fake news.” It has been a hallmark of his Presidential campaign and his presidency. The accusations are accompanied by his own relentless spewing of lies.

Now a new edition of the best-selling book Lies My Teacher Told Me highlights how much of our current discourse is not new.

James W. Loewen, bestselling and award-winning author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Lies Across America, Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus, and Sundown Towns. He also wrote Teaching What Really Happened and The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White and edited The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader. He has won the American Book Award, the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, the Spirit of America Award from the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. Loewen is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Vermont and lives in Washington, DC. He now joins me to discuss the brand new edition of his famous book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your History Textbook Got Wrong, which has a new introduction for the Donald Trump era.

FEATURING REESE ERLICH – President Donald Trump has escalated a war of words with Iran over the weekend tweeting an all-CAPS threat on Sunday after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani remarked, “America must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.” Mr. Trump took umbrage at Rouhani’s words and responded on Twitter on Sunday, “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

Meanwhile, Reuters on Friday published an exposé of a concerted US campaign to provoke criticism of Iran. Based on anonymous sources the outlet found that, “The Trump administration has launched an offensive of speeches and online communications meant to foment unrest and help pressure Iran to end its nuclear program and its support of militant groups.” Reuters also said, “the [Trump] campaign paints Iranian leaders in a harsh light, at times using information that is exaggerated or contradicts other official pronouncements, including comments by previous administrations.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday gave a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California where he condemned the Iranian leadership.

For more information about his forthcoming book ‘The Iran Agenda Today’, HERE.

Reese Erlich, veteran foreign correspondent and author of a number of books about the Middle East and war on terror, including Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect. His forthcoming book is called The Iran Agenda Today.

Two people have died and a dozen left injured in Toronto, Canada, after a gun-toting man walked through a popular neighborhood shooting into restaurants. The shooting began at 10 pm Eastern time on Sunday night in Greektown, Toronto. Witnesses captured the sounds of shots. Police are investigating the shooting spree and struggling to understand his motive. The shooter is also dead although it is unclear whether it was by his own hands or the police. One witness described the suspect as a, “white male in his 30s wearing black clothing.” Unlike the responses of elected officials in the US in the wake of a mass shooting, Toronto’s Mayor John Tory clearly identified guns as the problem saying, “We have a gun problem in that guns are readily available to too many people. The police are doing their best, but they’re operating under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to deal with these guns. And we’ll see what they conclude from this case, but it’s evidence of a gun problem, clearly.”

In Southern California where this program is based, an armed standoff in a Trader Joe’s store in Silver Lake ended in one person dead and several wounded when a man being chased by police crashed his car and ran into the store on Saturday. Associated Press described the incident sparking from, “A feud between a man and his grandmother over his girlfriend staying at the grandmother’s home.” Twenty-eight year old Gene Evin Atkins is suspected to have shot his grandmother and his girlfriend before being chased by police and barricading himself in the Silver Lake Trader Joes where a hostage situation then ensued. Store manager Melyda Corado was killed in the exchange of gunfire between police and Mr. Atkins. Here is one of the store workers commenting to CNN on Saturday. PLAY VIDEO. That’s a Trader Joe’s staffer speaking to CNN during the hostage situation on Saturday. The suspect, Atkins is being held on $2 million bail.

In spite of the US’s epidemic of deadly gun violence, the National Rifle Association is suing the city of Seattle over it’s “safe storage” gun law that fines gun owners up to $10,000 for not safely storing firearms in the interest of children’s public safety. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said about the NRA, “While they go to court – kids go to the hospital.”

President Donald Trump has escalated a war of words with Iran over the weekend tweeting an all-CAPS threat on Sunday after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani remarked, “America must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.” Mr. Trump took umbrage at Rouhani’s words and responded on Twitter on Sunday, “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” Iran shrugged off the capitalized threat. In a speech in Washington DC on Sunday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo castigated Iran’s government.

Reuters on Friday published an exposé of a concerted US campaign to foment criticism of Iran. Based on anonymous sources the outlet found that, “The Trump administration has launched an offensive of speeches and online communications meant to foment unrest and help pressure Iran to end its nuclear program and its support of militant groups.” Reuters also said, “the [Trump] campaign paints Iranian leaders in a harsh light, at times using information that is exaggerated or contradicts other official pronouncements, including comments by previous administrations.”

Meanwhile the President continues to be dogged by news of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

FEATURING HELAINE OLEN – On Thursday Kathy Kraninger, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau faced a contentious hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee. The mid-level bureaucrat, who has no discernible experience in consumer affairs or finance, was grilled by the Democrats on the committee.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in particular – who led the fight to create the agency – questioned Kraninger about her involvement with the Trump Administration’s family separation policies in her current position. Alabama Senator Doug Jones questioned her on whether she would address racial discrimination in lending.

There are many questions about whether Kraninger is qualified to lead the agency. Even the conservative National Review called her “the wrong choice to lead the CFPB,” and opined, “Law students currently doing summer clerkships at the CFPB will have more experience with consumer-credit regulation than the nominee to lead the bureau.”

But perhaps this is by design. Acting CFPB head Mick Mulvaney and President Trump have not hidden their desire to gut the main government agency ensuring ordinary Americans are protected from predatory practices by banks and other lenders.

Helaine Olen is a blogger for the Washington Post’s Plum Line and the Nation. She’s the author of Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry.

FEATURING REBECCA RILEY – The Trump Administration’s Interior Department has decided to rewrite big sections of the law that helped to save the Bald Eagle from extinction. Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday announced the changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would make it easier for new construction projects to be approved in what is being denounced as a corporate giveaway.

The changes will also mean that species that are currently considered “threatened” will not receive the same care as species that are considered “endangered.” The administration is casting its changes to the 1973 law as “streamlining” it to make it work better. But environmental groups are up in arms about what they see as a weakening of protections.

Rebecca Riley, senior attorney in the Nature Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

President Donald Trump has said that he is willing to slap tariffs on all Chinese imports in an interview that CNBC airing today. He said, “I’m willing to go to 500,” which refers to the approximately $500 billion in Chinese products that the US imports each year. 

As the outrage over Trump’s capitulation to Russia’s Vladimir Putin continues unabated, the President on Thursday announced he was inviting Mr. Putin to the US for a visit to the White House this fall and has continued tweeting about his great relationship with Putin. Dan Coats, who is Trump’s top intelligence chief admitted on Thursday at the Aspen Security Council in Colorado that he had no idea about the invitation to Putin. When asked by an interviewer whether he knew what was discussed at the meeting on Monday in Helsinki between Trump and Putin, Mr. Coats said, “I don’t know what happened in that meeting. I think as time goes by and the President has already mentioned some of the things that happened in that meeting, I think we will learn more. But that is the President’s prerogative.”

Trump’s pick to lead the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau had a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday. Kathy Kraninger, who currently works at the Office of Management and Budget, was grilled by lawmakers – some of whom have made it clear they don’t think she is appropriate to lead the CFPB. The Trump administration has made it its mission to undermine the agency. Senator Elizabeth Warren who helped to start it before she was elected, grilled Kraninger about her role in the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. That’s Senator Elizabeth Warren questioning Kathy Kraninger during her Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday to lead the CFPB.

The Trump Administration’s Interior Department has decided to rewrite big sections of the law that helped to save the Bald Eagle from extinction. Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday announced the changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would make it easier for new construction projects to be approved in what is being denounced as a corporate giveaway. The changes will also mean that species that are currently considered “threatened” will not receive the same care as species that are considered “endangered.” The administration is casting its changes to the 1973 law as “streamlining” it to make it work better. But environmental groups are up in arms about what they see as a weakening of protections. On Monday’s show we’ll speak to a guest from the Natural Resources Defense Council about the ESA.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General released its general report on Thursday and in it, called out the EPA’s “oversight lapses” in response to the contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan. The Inspector General, who heads the federal oversight agency, Arthur A. Elkins, said in a statement, “While oversight authority is vital, its absence can contribute to a catastrophic situation.” Mr. Elkins also said, “The agency is actively engaging with states to improve communications and compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to safeguard human health.” The report on Flint comes at a time when the Trump administration is undoing years of re...