Skullduggery

This week, thunderous explosions rocked the Ukrainian Capitol of Kiev, as Russian forces unleashed another blistering attack of cruise missiles on the city and other regions throughout the country. The attacks targeted energy facilities and other critical infrastructure, cutting off the water supply for 80% of Kiev's residents. It was yet another reminder that despite recent gains by Ukrainians on the battlefield the brutal war that Russia launched last February shows no signs of abating, even as the risks of escalation seem to grow by the day. Is there any hope for diplomacy? Or is the world stuck watching a bloody stalemate in a conflict that has no end in sight? We talk to the CIA former top Russia analyst, George Beebe.

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There may be no institution in American more consequential or divisive than the United States Supreme Court. Under the leadership of Justice John Roberts, the court has upended campaign finance laws, undermined the 1965 voting rights act, affirmed a previously unrecognized constitutional right to gun ownership, and this year embolden by its new 6-3 conservative majority struck down the constitutional right to abortion. Decisions that have had a profound impact on our politics, not to mention the daily lives of millions of Americans. But there is more coming up. This coming Monday, on Halloween, the Supreme Court will revisit another politically charged issue. Should affirmative action continue to play a role in college admissions? And coming soon, Senator Lindsay Graham have to testify in a Fulton County investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. We discuss with two longterm court watchers, Leah Litman a Law Professor at the University of Michigan and Jess Bravin of the Wall Street Journal.

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A few month ago, Democrats were upbeat, believing fervently that they had a decent chance of beating the historical odds and retaining the control of the United States congress. The Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade had energized women across the country, while President Biden scored some major legislative successes. Most notably a climate change bill, that they a bit deceptively labeled, the Inflation Reduction Act. But today, with the midterms less than two weeks away, a new gloom hangs over the party's prospects. The polls consistently show rising prices, the economy, and crime to be the dominant issues preoccupying voters, playing to the GOP advantage. Where do things now stand? We talk to Democratic pollster Mark Mellman to get his state-by-state breakdown. And then we check in with Republican consultant Brian Robinson on two showcase races in Georgia.

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"We don't have a client, we weren't here to move some legislative agenda item. We were here to kick the s**t out of Donald Trump." That's from veteran political consultant Rick Wilson talking in a new five part documentary about the groundbreaking SuperPac he and a handful of other Republican consultants founded called The Lincoln Project. The group raised nearly 90 million dollars during the 2020 election, using the cash to create devastating attack ads hammering Donald Trump and his MAGA allies. As election day approached two years ago, The Lincoln Project was getting tons of attention, and Wilson and his confederates were congratulating themselves on their ability to use their attack dog skills to stop the threat to democracy posed by the then President. But how effective really was The Lincoln Project? The documentary now airing on Showtime takes an unblinking look at the controversies surrounding the group and brings up important questions about what they say about the state of modern politics. We talk to the film makers Karim Amer and Fisher Stevens.

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With three weeks before the midterms, the outlook for control of the US Senate and possibly even the House, remains as it's been for some time. A jump ball in which either party can yet prevail. But there is little doubt that there is growing anxiety among Democrats, with inflation, gas prices, and crime, consistently ranking as the top concern among voters, outranking the fallout from January 6th or the alarming number of Republicans running for office who still endorse Donald Trump's election denying nonsense. But are Democrats talking about the right issues? And crafting their messages in ways that connect with that segment of the electorate that actually determines the outcome of elections. veteran Democratic consultant Lis Smith says no, and she's got some advice for them in her new book, "Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story." We talk to her about how she sees the midterms and what she's learned as a female advisor to a parade of Democrats from John Edwards to Elliott Spitzer to Andrew Cuomo, all of whom have had problems over their relationships to women.

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Liz Cheney, Wyoming's Congresswoman, revealed the January 6th Committee's final card at yesterday's hearing. Subpoena to Donald Trump to testify and to provide documents about his role in the events that lead to the attack on the US Capitol. It was a surprise move by the panel at the end of its final public hearing in which it revealed some new details about alarming intelligence warnings to the secret service about the potential for violence that day, as well as compelling footage that day as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer huddled about how to get to the business of the day certifying Joe Biden's victory in the Presidential election back on track. The hearing, like all the earlier ones, got gavel to gavel coverage on cable TV and played big in major newspapers across the country, but it hasn't moved the needle it terms of public opinion. And just as important, hasn't brought the Justice Department any closer to bringing criminal charges to against the former President. We discuss with Matt Miller, former Chief of Public Affairs of the Justice Department under Democratic Attorney General Eric Holder.

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President Biden in an exchange with CNN's Jake Tapper, vowed there will be consequences for Saudi Arabia in light of their decision to join with Russia in cutting back oil production, a move guaranteed to help Vladimir Putin and his war with Ukraine, while at the same time, jacking up gas prices for American consumers. The Saudi move jolted the White House, coming barely three months after Biden famously fist-bumped the country's de facto ruler Mohammed Bin Salma, the very same Crown Prince, who according to US intelligence, approved the operation that brutally murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But what should those consequences for the Saudis actually be? Biden didn't say. But one Senator, who has been one of the most outspoken on the issue is Connecticut's Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. We talk to him about the US-Saudi relationship and the war in Ukraine as well as this week's nearly billion dollar verdict against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for his lies about the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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It may have been the biggest investigative scoop of this year's election. This week, The Daily Beast reported that Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for the US Senate in Georgia and a staunch opponent of abortion rights, paid for a girlfriend's abortion in 2009 - sighting documents that included a receipt from the abortion clinic, an image of a seven hundred dollar check from Walker, and a "Get Well" card signed by the former football star. Walker immediately denied the story. And insisted that he had no idea who the accuser was. But then The Daily Beast followed up with an equally astonishing story, that the woman was actually the mother of one of his children. What prompted the woman, still anonymous, to come forward now? And what impact will this have on one of the most important Senate races in the country? We talk to The Daily Beast reporter who broke the story, Roger Sollenberger, and Yahoo News' own Jon Ward. And then we chat with Slate's Dahlia Lithwick about the new Supreme Court term and her new book, Lady Justice.

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It may be the most pressing question facing the world at this perilous moment. Is Vladimir Putin bluffing or not when he threatens to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine? Nuclear weapons analyst Joe Cirincione says we need to take the Russian president seriously. "We should believe Putin that this is not a bluff," he writes in a recent op ed in The Washington Post. In fact Cirincione points out, Russian military doctrine has been transformed under Putin's leadership. Where once it called for the use of nukes only when the very existence of the Russian Federation was under threat, it now contemplates their use in response to quote, "large scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security." A big difference to say the least. And one more alarming now than ever given that Putin has declared the eastern regions on Ukraine sovereign Russian territory. What might a Russian nuclear attack in Ukraine look like? And what would and should be the United States and NATO's response? We talk to Cirincione and game out the ever more frightening possibilities.

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The election of Donald Trump six long years ago began an unimaginable period of time in our history, when the United States was lead for the first time by a President who neither knew or subscribed to the fundamental tenants of our Constitution. And frequently acted to undermine them. So write Peter Baker and Susan Glasser in their new book, The Divider. It maybe the most comprehensive account yet of Trump's presidency. The zig-zags in policy, the clashes and in-fighting among his aides, the incessant attempts to use the power of his office, not to advance policies in the national interest, but to benefit his own personal and political interests. We talk to Baker and Glasser about what they've learned, including their account of Trump's still puzzling relationship with a scary autocrat very much dominating the world stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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