Skullduggery

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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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It’s a legacy of the progressive era in American politics. Voters in California get to recall State office holders if they don’t like the job they’re doing without waiting for the next election. It’s facing one of its biggest tests this week when Gavin Newsome, the liberal democratic governor who was elected by a whopping twenty-four percent margin in 2018 will face a recall fueled by discontent. Yahoo News’ political correspondent Andrew Romano as well as former GOP strategist turned academic who’s studied the recall movement help sort out the confusing details of the said election. 

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On that gorgeous Tuesday morning twenty years ago, Kristen Breitweiser was one of thousands who’s lives were shattered forever. Her husband Ron, a Senior VP at a brokerage firm was working on the 94th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower when Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked the plane that crashed into the building. The second wave of a terrorist attack that killed nearly three thousand. Breitweiser soon emerged as one of the most outspoke 9/11 family members, a trained lawyer that prodded lawmakers to create the national commission to investigate the attack. And ever since she’s embarked on a tireless campaign demanding accountability for the terrorists and for those in authority who allowed the attack to happen. As the country commemorates the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, we talked to Breitweiser about her own recollections of that terrible day and what still needs to be done. And then we talked to Karen Greenberg, Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, and the author of a new book about how 9/11 transformed the country's politics. 

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Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

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It has been the law of the land for forty-eight years, women have had the constitutional right to abortion. This was a decision made by the Supreme Court back in 1973. But this week, the court with no written opinion allowed to go into effect a harsh new Texas law that effectively eviscerates the landmark decision of Roe v Wade. The new law bans most abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant and makes no exception for rape or incest. And it deputizes private citizens to file lawsuits who aids or abets an abortion. Dahlia Lithwick joins to discuss. Then, outspoken Congresswoman Susan Wild of Pennsylvania weighs in on the Biden administrations handling of Afghanistan. A sign of some discontent within the Democratic Party.

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Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod

Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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