The Axe Files with David Axelrod

By The Institute of Politics & CNN

What's The Axe Files with David Axelrod about?

David Axelrod, the founder and director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, brings you The Axe Files, a series of revealing interviews with key figures in the political world. Go beyond the soundbites and get to know some of the most interesting players in politics.

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Ep. 439 — Jamie Dimon

04.15.2021

Jamie Dimon assumed the roles of CEO and Chairman of JPMorgan Chase in 2005 and 2006 respectively, just before the onset of the Great Recession. He's been widely credited with steering the bank safely through the global financial crisis, making ...

The Axe Files with David Axelrod episodes:

04.15.2021 Ep. 439 — Jamie Dimon Jamie Dimon assumed the roles of CEO and Chairman of JPMorgan Chase in 2005 and 2006 respectively, just before the onset of the Great Recession. He's been widely credited with steering the bank safely through the global financial crisis, making ...
04.12.2021 Ep. 438 — Sen. Tammy Duckworth When Senator Tammy Duckworth was shot down over Iraq while serving in the US Army, she did not notice at first that her legs were mostly gone, destroyed by the blast. After countless surgeries and hours of rehab, Sen. Duckworth ...
04.08.2021 Ep. 437 — Bud Selig Growing up, former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was enamored with baseball, thanks primarily to his mother’s love of the game. After a brief stint selling cars, he jumped into the MLB, working his way up to commissioner. Commissioner ...
04.01.2021 Ep. 436 — Rev. Dr. William Barber Growing up as the son of an ordained minister, Rev. Dr. William Barber didn’t want to be a preacher. But during his senior year of college he reconsidered, and after a long talk with his father, he preached his first ...
03.25.2021 Ep. 435 — Kara Swisher While using an early iteration of email in the 1990s, tech journalist Kara Swisher, host of the podcasts “Sway” and “Pivot,” had a feeling the internet was about to become a giant story. She jumped on it and became a ...
03.18.2021 Ep. 434 — Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms For Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the last year was full of unexpected challenges and opportunities. She has led her city through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and when summer social justice protests in Atlanta turned violent, Bottoms gave an impromptu ...
03.11.2021 Ep. 433 — Tim Alberta Journalist Tim Alberta got his first taste of Washington, DC straight out of undergrad as an intern for The Wall Street Journal. Since then, he has become a plugged-in political reporter, with a particular focus on the Republican Party. He ...
03.04.2021 Ep. 432 — Rep. Joe Neguse Rep. Joe Neguse first became interested in politics at a young age, inspired by his immigrant parents’ lesson to give back to the country that had welcomed them from Eritrea. He joined student government and got elected to the University ...
02.26.2021 Ep. 431 — Fareed Zakaria As the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the US and much of the country hunkered down under stay-at-home orders, journalist, author and CNN host Fareed Zakaria was already thinking about the future. He began considering the lessons the virus could teach ...
02.18.2021 Ep. 430 — Heidi Heitkamp While former US Senator Heidi Heitkamp was growing up in Mantador, North Dakota, her family made up one tenth of the town’s population. She took the lessons she learned from her small-town upbringing to the Senate, where she served as ...
02.11.2021 Ep. 429 — Daniel Goldman After more than a decade working as a federal prosecutor and legal analyst, Daniel Goldman became a household name in 2020 for his role as lead counsel for the House in the first impeachment trial of former President Trump. As ...
02.04.2021 Ep. 428 — Andrew McCabe Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe didn’t always plan to become an agent, but while interning at the Department of Justice he found himself obsessed with intricate details in case records. The fascination led him to a 22-year career in ...
01.28.2021 Ep. 427 — Rep. Adam Kinzinger Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a sixth-term Congressman from Illinois, recently found himself in the spotlight after he called for former President Trump’s removal from office following the January 6 attack on the Capitol. He was also one of 10 Republican House ...
01.21.2021 Ep. 426 — Doris Kearns Goodwin Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin found she had a knack for storytelling as a child, recounting baseball games inning-by-inning for her father when he’d return home from work. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author has since harnessed that skill into chronicling the lives ...
01.14.2021 Ep. 425 — Joe Scarborough Joe Scarborough had his first media experience hosting a call-in show on public access television to raise his political profile during a run for Congress. He won that 1994 Congressional race and held the Florida seat until 2001 before returning ...
01.07.2021 Ep. 424 — Rep. Ayanna Pressley Rep. Ayanna Pressley got her start in progressive politics at a young age, watching as her mother fought for tenants’ rights as an organizer in Chicago. When Rep. Pressley left college to care for her ailing mother, it didn’t stop ...
12.31.2020 Silence is Not an Option: Black to the Future This week we’re bringing you an episode of Silence is Not an Option, a CNN podcast hosted by Don Lemon. A record number of Black candidates ran for office this year, representing not only their constituencies, but also the diversity ...
12.24.2020 Best of the Axe Files: Tony Blinken Antony "Tony" Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State, first met Biden more than 15 years ago when he served as staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Biden chaired. Blinken went on to serve as ...
12.17.2020 Ep. 423 — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the House by storm when she beat out 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, winning on a staunchly progressive platform. She is often portrayed as the embodiment of the liberal left, both by the media and ...
12.10.2020 Ep. 422 — Dan Rather As a young reporter, Dan Rather was no stranger to getting the story by any means necessary, whether that meant sneaking off to use the office phone at Lyndon B. Johnson’s ranch or chaining himself to a tree during Hurricane ...
12.03.2020 Ep. 421 — Abby Phillip Growing up, journalist Abby Phillip wanted to be a heart surgeon. But a college service trip through the South caused Abby to reconsider. Inspired by reporters of the civil rights era, she turned her focus to journalism. A CNN reporter ...
11.19.2020 Ep. 420 — Sen. Mitt Romney After failing to win the presidency in 2012, Senator Mitt Romney suggested he might be done with national politics for good. But after a move to Utah, the two-time presidential candidate, former Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital co-founder decided to ...
11.12.2020 Ep. 419 — Gov. Andrew Cuomo Governor Andrew Cuomo was just over a year into his third term as Governor of New York when Covid-19 first reached his state. While he was a well-known political figure before, his daily press briefings became must watch television as ...
11.09.2020 Ep. 418 — David Plouffe David Plouffe is a veteran Democratic political strategist who served as Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager and later as senior advisor to President Obama. Just days after the 2020 race was called, David sat down with his former business partner ...
11.02.2020 Ep. 417 — Jon Meacham As a child, historian Jon Meacham would find artifacts from Civil War battles while playing in the Chattanooga hills. To him, history was always tangible. He liked finding the line from the past to the present, a sentiment that has ...
10.29.2020 Ep. 416 — Mandy Patinkin Mandy Patinkin may be a well-known, award-winning actor and singer on the big screen and stage, but these days he’s trying out a new medium: social media. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mandy has been uploading videos ranging from heartfelt moments ...
10.26.2020 Ep. 415 — Nina Totenberg As a young reporter, Nina Totenberg once got a tip about a robbery underway at the local bank. When she called the bank to confirm, one of the burglars answered the phone. Her career has since taken her from covering ...
10.22.2020 Ep. 414 — Susan Page As a high school senior facing college applications, Susan Page had a choice to make. Should she follow her passion for playing the oboe and go to music school? Or should she allow her love of journalism to guide her? ...
10.19.2020 Ep. 413 — Peter Baker and Susan Glasser Journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser met while working together at The Washington Post. While they spent long hours together in the newsroom investigating the Monica Lewinsky scandal, they didn’t realize they lived on the same block until a colleague ...
10.15.2020 Ep. 412 — Amb. John Bolton As a young man, Ambassador John Bolton often found himself as the lone conservative in a sea of anti-Vietnam War liberals, whether at his private Baltimore prep school or during his years at Yale. But Bolton never wavered from his ...
10.12.2020 Ep. 411 — Bob Costas Sports broadcaster Bob Costas loved baseball from an early age. As a kid, Bob would sit in his father’s car, tuning the radio to find baseball games taking place hundreds of miles from his home on Long Island. Since his ...
10.08.2020 Ep. 410 — Sen. Sherrod Brown Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown announced his first campaign for public office as a college senior at a one dollar-per-plate fundraiser in a Yale dining hall. He won that race and joined the Ohio state legislature at just 22 years old. ...
10.05.2020 Ep. 409 — Nicolle Wallace Nicolle Wallace, host of MSNBC’s Deadline: White House got into Republican politics partly by chance. After a brief stint in broadcast news, she applied to work for both a Democratic and Republican member of the California assembly. The Republican offered ...
10.01.2020 Ep. 408 — Tim O'Brien Journalist Tim O’Brien took a winding path to reporting. He built bridges in Peru, studied karate in Japan, taught in New York City, and earned three graduate degrees before landing in journalism for good. His reporting eventually led him to ...
09.28.2020 Ep. 407 — Sen. Bernie Sanders Senator Bernie Sanders first got involved in social justice movements as a University of Chicago student fighting against segregated housing. Today Sen. Sanders is one of the most recognizable figures in Washington, widely credited with pushing more progressive policies into ...
09.24.2020 Ep. 406 — Jeff Daniels Growing up in small-town Michigan, Jeff Daniels seemed destined to join the family lumber business. But after a teacher spotted his acting talent, his life took a turn down a different path. Jeff’s award-winning career has spanned nearly three decades ...
09.21.2020 Best of the Axe Files: Michael Phelps Everybody knows Michael Phelps as the most decorated Olympian of all time. Phelps’ hard work, determination, athleticism, and competitive drive were on full display in the pool as the world watched him smash record after record. Motived by his own ...
09.17.2020 Ep. 405 — Nikole Hannah-Jones When Nikole Hannah-Jones was a high school student at a predominantly white school in Waterloo, Iowa, she complained to a teacher that the school newspaper wasn’t covering stories that mattered to Black students. He told her she had two options: ...
09.14.2020 Best of the Axe Files: Vladimir Kara-Murza Vladimir Kara-Murza was just 10 years old during the Russian Democratic Revolution in 1991. Witnessing a revolution was a formative experience that led to a lifetime of pro-democracy activism. In 2018, Vladimir sat down with David to discuss Putin’s Russia, ...
09.10.2020 Ep. 404 — Brian Stelter Brian Stelter, CNN chief media correspondent and host of Reliable Sources, got his start in journalism at a young age. At just 8 years old he would call up the local news station after a blizzard to report how much ...
09.03.2020 Ep. 403 — Chasten Buttigieg Chasten Buttigieg rose to national prominence in 2019 as the husband of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. He quickly gained attention for his role as the only LGBTQ+ spouse on the campaign trail and his witty Twitter account. He spoke with ...
08.31.2020 Best of the Axe Files: Khizr Khan One of the most moving speakers at the 2016 Democratic National Convention was Khizr Khan, who felt compelled to address a national audience after then-candidate Donald Trump’s attacks on Muslims and immigrants. Mr. Khan, who grew up in Pakistan, spoke ...
08.27.2020 Ep. 402 — Rep. Jim Clyburn When Rep. Jim Clyburn was growing up in the 1940s and 50s in segregated South Carolina, his parents had an important message for him: study hard, work hard and dream big. That lesson stayed with Rep. Clyburn, whether he was ...
08.24.2020 Ep. 401 — Jonathan Karl Jonathan Karl was a young reporter for the New York Post when he first interviewed Donald Trump in 1994, following a tip that the newly married Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were staying at Trump Tower. Trump gave Jonathan ...
08.20.2020 Ep. 400 — Speaker Nancy Pelosi For the 400th episode of The Axe Files, David is joined by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has never been a stranger to politics—her father served in Congress and later became the mayor of Baltimore, a position her ...
08.17.2020 Best of the Axe Files: Sen. Kamala Harris When David sat down with Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) in March of 2017, the last thing she wanted to do was discuss whether she would be a candidate for higher office in 2020. Now, as Joe Biden’s running mate, she’s ...
08.13.2020 Ep. 399 — Tina Tchen Tina Tchen, CEO and President of TIME'S UP, didn’t set out to become a champion for women’s rights. But in 1978 she fell into a job in Springfield, Illinois, which happened to be at the center of the fight for ...
08.06.2020 Ep. 398 — Rep. Karen Bass Rep. Karen Bass is a fifth-term Democratic Congresswoman from California and the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Watching the Civil Rights movement as a child first sparked Rep. Bass’ interest in politics. She got her start as an organizer ...
08.03.2020 Best of the Axe Files: Justice Sonia Sotomayor This week we revisit our November 2018 conversation with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She joined David to discuss her remarkable personal journey from the Bronx to the highest court in the land, how her background as a prosecutor and ...
07.30.2020 Ep. 397 — Gov. Larry Hogan Maryland Governor Larry Hogan grew up around politics—his father was the first Congressional Republican to call for former president Richard Nixon’s impeachment—but spent decades in business before running for governor of his home state. In his first months in office, ...

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