We all heard the tape of the phone call eleven months ago. President Trump telling Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State, he should overturn the election results and declare that he, not Joe Biden, won the Peach State in last year's election. "President Trump is using what he believes is the power of his position to threaten me if we don't do what he tells us to do Raffensperger writes about the phone call in his new book called Integrity Counts. Essentially accusing then President Trump of criminal conduct. Raffensperger could end up being a crucial witness in the still ongoing investigation of Trump's conduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Raffensperger joins to discuss said book as well as his upcoming hopes for re-election.

GUEST:

• Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState)

HOSTS:

RESOURCES:

• Trump's infamous phone call to Raffensperger - Here.

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The new TV series, DOPESICK, showcases the big lie that a new opioid drug Purdue Pharma was pushing - oxycontin - was safe, effective, and most importantly not addictive. Well, it was. And the new drug had been blessed by an FDA official who later went on to work for, you guessed it, Purdue Pharma. This is the story of the billion dollar drug company run by the Sackler family and how they pushed this product out to the masses creating an addiction to a dangerous narcotic. Danny Strong, the director and writer of the DOPESICK series as well as the author of the book it's based on, Beth Macy, on this episode. Yahoo News' own Jon Ward joins as well to update us on Steve Bannon, who recently appeared in court after originally defying his subpoena.

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"His second term is going to start with a bang, that we can guarantee you." So spoke former White House Counselor Steve Bannon on his podcast Jan. 5th, seeming to foreshadow the horrific events of the next day at the US Capitol. The country, he told his listeners, was about to go through a constitutional crisis that would make the impeachment of Donald Trump look like a Sunday picnic. Did Bannon know what was going to happen on that dark day in US history? Did he encourage it? He was issued a subpoena to turn over documents, he denied. Now, he's been indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of congress. How will this all play out in court? And how long will it take? Evan Osnos also joins to discuss his new book Wildland: The Making of America's Fury. A book that charts how we got to Jan. 6th in the first place. A story in which Bannon plays a role.

GUEST:

• Evan Osnos (@eosnos) - Journalist & Author, staff writer @NewYorker

HOSTS:

RESOURCES:

• Buy Osnos' new book Wildland: The Making of America's Fury - Here.

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For more than a century has had on the books a concealed carry law that permits individuals to carry a weapon only if they demonstrate they have a special need for one to protect themselves from a threat on their lives. This week, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge from that law from an NRA affiliated group arguing that such restrictions are an unconstitutional violation to a citizen’s right to bare arms. Gun control advocatesfear it’s something that could end up in the Supreme Court, which now has a solid 6-3 conservative majority. Two authors, both with a book out about the NRA and guns - Ryan Busse and Tim Mak - join to discuss where America is headed when it comes to guns, gun violence, and those that lobby for open carry.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin took to the House floor last week to lay out exactly what is at stake in the battle of Steve Bannon's refusal to testify before the Jan. 6th Select Committee. Few members have done more to get to the bottom of what happened that day than Raskin and punish those who were responsible. Before being elected to Congress, he was a Constitutional Law Professor. It was he who led the charge to impeach former President Trump over his role in inciting the attack. But even if Raskin, who's leading the charge once again gets Bannon to testify, what will they actually learn? And what do they believe the investigation might actually uncover? Raskin himself joins to discuss.

GUEST:

• Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin), Rep. from MD's 8th Congressional District, on @rulesdemocrats, @housejudiciary, @oversightdems, & @houseadm_dems

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In recent weeks, a television series has been airing called American Crime Story: Impeachment that explores the events leading up to the impeachment of then U.S. President Bill Clinton. The story, mostly told through the eyes of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, seemingly conflates and at times completely fabricates the truth to inflict maximum drama while depicting key role players involved with varying degrees of accuracy. Yet, at other times, completely nails exactly what was actually said and/or happened. One of those characters is Skullduggery's own Michael Isikoff who was the original reporter piecing together the landmark story that would change Clinton's Presidency forever. Our hosts, whom all three were involved - Isikoff and Klaidman both at Newsweek at the time, Bassetti who was in the room for Lewinsky's depositions - weigh in on what the show gets right and what it gets wrong.

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In late September of 2019, Congressman Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, gathered with his staff to read a remarkable document just released by the Trump Whitehouse. It was the transcript to the phone call Trump had that July with Ukrainian President Zelensky stating, "I'd like you to do us a favor though..." then pressing Zelensky to launch an investigation of Joe Biden and his son Hunter. At this point, Schiff had muttered to himself, "Holy Shit." He thought in that moment that he had acquired the ultimate smoking gun. He then lead the charge in Trump's first impeachment. This is a scene he recounts in his brand new book, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could. Flash forward to today. How have the effort of Schiff and others been trying to purge Trump from politics? And what lessons has he learned to help guide members of his fellow January 6th committee as they seek to get to the bottom of Trump's role in one the darkest days in American Democracy? Congressman Schiff joins to breakdown his book and weigh in on where we are and could be headed.

GUEST:

• Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff), Rep. from CA's 28th Congressional District, Chairman of the House Intel Committee @HouseIntel

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Just days before the Republican Convention in 2016, 150 Tech executives and investors published a stinging open letter condemning the man the party was about to nominate for President. Donald Trump’s candidacy the tech moguls wrote was fueled by “anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas, and a fundamental belief that American is weak and in decline.” 

That was undoubtedly the view that most of the big players in Silicon Valley. But there was one who had a decidedly contrary view. Peter Thiel was the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir. And was the first outside investor in Facebook giving him instant entree and more than a little clout with the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. And Thiel had gone all in for Trump. Speaking at the convention, donating more than one million dollars to a Trump Super PAC. And later serving on his transition team as he sought to place figures who share his unorthodox views of the world in high places in the US Government. 

How much influence did Thiel have during the Trump era? And how much power does he yield today in the insular world of Silicon Valley. Max Chafkin, author of the new book about Thiel called The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, joins to discuss. 

GUEST:

• Max Chafkin (@chafkin), Features Editor/Writer @BW, Author of The Contrarian

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US Central Command’s top general Kenneth McKenzie last week had to make one of the most painful mea culpas in the history of the US Government’s war on terror. A drone strike intended to save the lives of US soldiers had ended up taking the lives ten innocent Afghan civilians. Seven of them were children.  

A rare acknowledgment that a tool the Pentagon and CIA have relied on for years to target terrorists was in this instance tragically botched thanks to sketchy intelligencethat confused a civilian aide worker with an ISIS suicide bomber. McKenzie came clean, only after reporters on the ground exposed the Pentagon’s mistake raising new questions about how many other civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen have also been killed in US drone strikes. And how does this affect the Biden administrations planned use of “over the horizon” drone strikes to prevent Al-Qaeda resurgence in the country we just abandoned? 

Joe Cirincione joins to discuss the botched strike and where we go from here.

GUEST:

• Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione), Analyst, Author, Distinguished Fellow @QuincyInst, Fmr. President @plough_shares, VP @amprog, Hill rat.

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