Skullduggery

President Biden this past Monday doubled down on his charge that Vladimir Putin's Russian forces were committing war crimes in Ukraine. Biden referenced the grotesque images emerging from Bucha showing Ukrainian citizens, their hands tied behind their backs shot and killed by Russian soldiers, their bodies dumped on the streets. Eye-witnesses describe the discovery of mass graves and reports of looting, rape, and other atrocities. Coming on top of Russian missile strikes on a maternity ward and other residential areas. The latest evidence would seem to cry out for a full-scale investigation for war crimes. But how would a war crimes prosecution actually work? And is there any realistic chance that Putin himself would be held accountable? We talk to Stephen Rapp, who formally served at the State Department as US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes.

GUESTS:

• Stephen Rapp, Fmr. United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice

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RESOURCES:

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In the aftermath of the social protests inspired by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer, a wave of progressive prosecutors were elected across the country dedicated to rolling back the tough on crime lock-em-up policies that have defined criminal justice in this country for decades. None of those prosecutors have proven more controversial than Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón. From his first day in office, Gascón - a former street cop, issued sweeping directives to put an end to cash bail, the death penalty, life sentences without parole, and the prosecution of anyone younger than eighteen as an adult without exceptions. But today, as violent crime rates in Los Angeles and across California spike, Gascón's reforms have triggered a ferocious pushback. Including from his own prosecutors who sued him for his efforts to bi-pass California's so-called "three strikes and our out" law. Now, Gascón is facing a well funded recall campaign that has already raised over three million dollars. Will Gascón survive the effort to remove him from office? And if he doesn't, what message will that send to progressive prosecutors across the country. Gascón joins us to give us his take on what he still thinks he's gotten right as well as some of the admitted mistakes he's made.

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RESOURCES:

• Isikoff & Romano's latest piece on DA Gascón - Here.

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A little more than two years ago, Pete Buttigieg rocketed to political stardom when he emerged from seemingly nowhere to become a leading Democratic candidate for President. He had to say the least an unusual resume. A combat vet who served in Afghanistan, openly gay, and Mayor of South Bend, Indiana. A town with a population barely over one hundred thousand. Yet Buttigieg stunned the political world by winning the first out of the block Iowa caucus, at least in terms of delegates. Buttigieg didn't get the nomination of course but he was tapped by President Biden to serve as his Secretary of Transportation. A job that puts him in the middle of some of the country's most pressing issues from soaring gas prices to shoring up decaying infrastructure. He's also got some thoughts on the wave of anti-LGBTQ laws being passed by state legislatures across the country. He joins us to discuss these topics and more.

GUESTS:

• Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete), US Secretary of Transportation

HOSTS:

RESOURCES:

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's comments about Buttigieg on electric cars and bathrooms - Here.

Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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This past Saturday night during a political rally in Atlanta, GA railed against Brian Kemp. This is the latest example of his enduring grudge against the state's Republican Governor for the cardinal sin of failing to back his bogus claims that it was he, not Joe Biden, who won Georgia's electoral votes in the 2020 election. Trump's resentment of Kemp has prompted him to endorse the GOP challenger to the Governor, former Senator David Purdue which is shaping up to be a make or break primary that can well determine just how much sway the former President has over the Republican voters. If Perdue pulls out a primary win Trump will undoubtedly be viewed as the ultimate GOP kingmaker clearing the way for him to retake the Republican nomination for President in 2024. But if Kemp prevails, and at the moment he has a solid lead in the polls, it could well be a sign that Trump support is fading far more than Washington pundits have acknowledged. Which will it be? We talk to Greg Bluestein, the lead political reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the author of the new book Flipped: How Georgia turned purple and broke the monopoly on Republican power.

GUESTS:

• Greg Bluestein (@bluestein), @AJC politics, @nbcnews contributor, @politicallyga pod, Author of “Flipped”

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RESOURCES:

Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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Marie Yovanovitch, former US Ambassador to Ukraine, testified before congress back in November of 2019 about the notorious phone call during which then President Trump trashed her to the new President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. He commented that she would, in Trump's words be "going through some things." It was the moment that the world first heard from Yovanovich, a veteran US Diplomat who had devoted her career to serving the former Soviet Republics, and in the process becoming one the country's leading experts on Ukraine only to be dumped as ambassador because she was not perceived as promoting the corrupt interests of the American President and his cronies. She's now written a book that imparts what she learned about Ukraine and about Vladimir Putin's Russia. Lessons that are all the more important in the wake of Russia's brutal invasion. As Ukraine remains under siege and millions of its citizens flee for safety, we'll talk to Yovanovich about what those lessons were and what Americans should know about them.

GUESTS:

• Marie Yovanovitch, Fmr. US Ambassador to Ukraine

HOSTS:

RESOURCES:

Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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Ukrainian President Zelensky delivered a powerful message to a joint session of U.S. Congress Wednesday morning. Zelensky invoked the memories of America's darkest moments. "Remember Pearl Harbor," he said, "Remember September 11th." Death from sky visited on Americans just as death from the sky is now being visited on the Ukrainian people. He showed a gut wrenching video showing charred bodies, fleeing refugees, and bombs, one after another destroying Ukrainian cities and killing civilians. He praised President Biden for the help he's provided so far but then implored him to do more. If not a "no fly zone" then more air defense systems, more planes, more weapons to fight the Russian aggressors. We discuss the takeaways from Zelensky's speech. We'll also listen to an excerpt from our talk with the former chief of the Ukrainian Air-force about what the Ukrainians really need. And finally, we'll listen to the comments of the former top C.I.A. official about Vladimir Putin's murderous past and what that can mean for the future of Ukraine.

GUESTS:

• Dan Hoffman (@danielhoffmanDC), Ret. CIA Station Chief in Moscow

HOSTS:

RESOURCES:

Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Face the Nation last Sunday gave the green light to a Polish proposal to send MiG fighter jets to Ukraine to help that country fight a relentless Russian invasion. But by the end of the week, the deal was off. President Biden vetoed the idea after US intelligence and Pentagon officials raised concerns that, among other factors, the introduction of the planes would provoke the Russians even further and lead to an escalation to the conflict. It was to be sure a bitter disappointment to the Ukrainian government who's president Volodymyr Zelensky has been literally pleading with the west for more firepower to save his country. We are joined by a man in the middle of the controversy and much else involving the Ukraine crisis, the new UN Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski.

GUEST:

• Amb. Mark Brzezinski (@AmbassadogTeddy), UN Ambassador to Poland

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RESOURCES:

Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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Journalist Andrei Soshnikoff, with the help of insider Lyudmila Savchuk, exposed the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm set up by a Russian Oligarch close to Putin. It was a new disturbing phenomenon in the global information wars. This was the moment American's came to know the concept of fake news and disinformation. This came to forefront thanks to the groundbreaking work of the aforementioned Russian investigative journalist Soshnikoff and whistleblower Savchuk. who was disgusted by the murder of Boris Nemtsov. But the ability of Russian journalists to cover the news has now been challenged as never before. In the wake of Putin's latest and more vicious assault on Ukraine, the Kremlin has launched a harsh new crackdown on the press. Threatening journalists with up to fifteen years in prison for spreading "false information" and banning them from even referring to the events in Ukraine as a war. Soshnikoff joins us to discuss the state of Russian media. And also, Maryan Zeblotskyy, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament joins to discuss the latest from Western Ukraine.

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Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield declared that, "The international community must be unanimous in demanding Russia's forces stop their dangerous assault." This, after the aftermath of reports that Russian forces bombed a Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor. This was the latest sign of the ferocity of the Russian attack, an invasion that continues unabated including reports of cluster bombs and widespread attacks on civilians. Is there anything the United States and its western allies can actually do to stop the madness? Congressman Tom Malinowski, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a former top State Department Official under President Obama, who spent years trying to punish Russian misbehavior joins to discuss.

GUEST:

• Rep. Tom Malinowski (@RepMalinowski), (D-NJ) - member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

HOSTS:

RESOURCES:

Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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President Zelensky is having one powerful performance after another in defense of his country, Ukraine. He's refusing to back down even as Russian troops close in on his Capitol and the city's frightened residents huddle in air-raid shelters to escape the invaders bombs. The Ukrainians from all accounts are putting up a fierce resistance volunteering in droves to wage battle using aging guns, Molotov cocktails and in some cases their very bodies to slow the Russian advance. But how long can the Ukrainians hang on? And how far is Vladimir Putin prepared to go to crush them? Mark Savchuk, a coordinator for Ukrainian journalists joins us from Kyiv to talk about what's going on right now in the heart of the battle. Also, Dan Hoffman, a former CIA station chief in Moscow, joins to discuss what to make of Putin's bizarre erratic but unbelievably brutal behavior.

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Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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