The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

Miles Taylor is a national security expert who served in the Trump administration as chief of staff at the US Department of Homeland Security, where he published an “Anonymous” essay in The New York Times, blowing the whistle on presidential misconduct. He later published the #1 national bestseller A Warning, revealed himself to be the author, and launched a campaign of ex-officials to oppose Donald Trump’s reelection. He’s worked as an advisor in the George W. Bush administration, on Capitol Hill, and as a CNN contributor. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Blowback, and the host of the “The Whistleblowers” podcast.

Miles is a true patriot, is full of great stories and anecdotes, and is a pretty funny guy (come for his Trump impression, stay for the 'spooning'!)...all of which makes for an insightful, entertaining conversation. Miles takes us back through the surreal, chaotic, dysfunctional and dangerous Trump White House; the emotional and physical toll it took on him personally; and the existential threat the 4x-indicted GOP front-runner continues to pose to our democracy, especially should he become president again.

Miles also answers the one question no one else has asked him, and he reveals his favorite musical artists of all time!

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Kevin Krim is President and CEO at EDO, the TV outcomes company, a leading platform measuring predictive behaviors driven by Convergent TV advertising, and co-founded over 8 years ago with actor and filmmaker Edward Norton and Daniel Nadler. Prior to EDO, Kevin was the General Manager & SVP of CNBC Digital and previously held leadership positions at Bloomberg, Yahoo, and LookSmart, and began his career with McKinsey & Co. He is the co-founder and chairman of the non-profit Lulu & Leo Fund and its flagship Choose Creativity initiative.

Kevin is also one of my 'tragedy buddies'. On the afternoon of October 25, 2012, his wife Marina returned to their Upper West Side Manhattan home with their 3-year-old daughter Nessie to the gruesome discovery that their two other children Lucia and Leo, 6 and 2, had been murdered by their nanny. Kevin shares their inspiring journey through the healing process and their efforts to build the children's legacies through their amazing education non-profit, which can be supported at choosecreativity.org.

Kevin is also an accomplished digital media entrepreneur, and we close out the conversation with a discussion about his company's work, the latest trends in television advertising, and what the future holds for how people view and experience content.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Julianna Margulies is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award winner currently starring as Laura Peterson on Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. She previously starred as Alicia Florrick on the long-running hit CBS show The Good Wife, which she also produced, and was one of the original cast members of ER. More recently, Julianna’s starred on critically acclaimed series including Billions and The Hot Zone...and is the author of her memoir, Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life. She’s been involved with Project ALS, Erin's Law, is also a board member of the New York City-based MCC Theater company, and is the founder of the The Holocaust Educator School Partnership at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

After a brief chat about this Season's The Morning Show, Julianna and I have a brutally honest in-depth conversation about the barbaric October 7 attack on Israel by terrorist organization Hamas; the ensuing war; the outbreak of rabid antisemitism; the mis/disinformation being spread; and the frustration and anger felt by Jews that too few are standing up for us here and abroad.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Mark Chiusano covered George Santos as a columnist and editorial writer at New York Newsday. His new book, "The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos", comes out November 28th.

Join us for this insightful, entertaining chat about wild and wacky world of George Santos!

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

John Fugelsang is a Drama League nominated actor, comedian, and broadcaster who hosts the acclaimed "Tell Me Everything" series on SiriusXM. He's been a regular on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News and hosted "Viewpoint" on Current TV. He’s sold out theaters across the country with Stephanie Miller, Hal Sparks and Aisha Tyler on The Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour. He was also the co-host of 'America's Funniest Home Videos' for 2 seasons. And his acting credits include 'CSI,' Becker,' 'Coyote Ugly,’ 'The Girl On The Train,' "Somewhere In the City," 'The Whole Truth,' ‘Maggie Black,’& the award winning 'Coexist Comedy Tour.'

Join us for this fun chat about the comedy biz, religion, politics and more!


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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Jonathan Greenblatt is the CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). He leads all aspects of the world’s leading anti-hate organization, whose mission since its founding in 1913 is to fight the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. In 2022, he released It Could Happen Here, a book that sounds an alarm, warning that hate and systemic violence is gathering momentum in the United States, and that violence on a more catastrophic scale could be just around the corner.

Join us for this critical in-depth conversation about the barbaric October 7 attack on Israel by terrorist organization Hamas, the ensuing war, and the subsequent explosion of rabid, often violent antisemitism in America and abroad.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Gershon Baskin is an Israeli writer, columnist, author and one of the most recognizable names in the Middle East Peace process. His dedication to creating a culture of peace and environmental awareness, coupled with his impeccable integrity, has earned him the trust of the leaders of all sides of the century old conflict. He is the Director of the Holy Land Bond, a new fund aimed at investing in housing projects for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, integrated housing projects for Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in Israel’s “mixed cities”.

Gershon is the co-founder and former co-director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. During the Premiership of the late Yitzhak Rabin, he served as a special advisor on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established by Mr. Rabin. In 2011, after five years of negotiation with Hamas, he successfully brokered the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Join us for this insightful, riveting conversation about an extremely complicated, nuanced, volatile situation involving the barbaric October 7th attack on Israel by terrorist organization Hamas, the ensuing war, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, hostage negotiations, and the desperate need for peace between Israel and Palestinians. And perhaps even more significantly, Gershon provides honest, balanced historical context for this centuries-old conflict in the region

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Alexandra Pelosi has written, produced, filmed and directed 15 HBO Documentary Films. She started off her career at NBC News where she served for a decade as a field producer. Covering the campaign of future-President George W. Bush led to her first documentary, Journeys with George. Since then, she has been making films that take the temperature of the American political landscape. She is also the author of two books, Sneaking Into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Campaigns Into Freak Shows, and Citizen USA: A 50 State Road Trip.

This is such a fun, insightful, riveting chat about politics and movies with one of America's premier documentary filmmakers. We discuss her early career and inspirations; Trump and Trumpism; the chaos in the House; the 2024 election; the January 6, 2021 insurrection, which is the subject of her most recent films, last year's Pelosi in The House, and her new HBO documentary, The Insurrectionist Next Door; and more.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Dr. Sheila Nazarian is an Iranian-American board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills and the star of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Skin Decision. She is also a mom, wife, humanitarian and activist.

Join us for this important discussion about the Israel-Hamas war, the rise in rabid anti-Semitism, and what lies ahead for Israel, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Gaza and the overall struggle for peace in the region.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Daniel Byman is a professor and Vice Dean at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the director of the Security Studies Program there and a Senior Fellow with the Transnational Threats Project at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He’s also a part-time Senior Advisor to the Department of State as part of the International Security Advisory Board and a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, as well as a Professional Staff Member with both the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (“The 9-11 Commission”) and the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. He’s written widely on a range of topics related to terrorism, insurgency, intelligence, social media, artificial intelligence, and the Middle East. He is the author of nine books, and his most recent is Spreading Hate: The White Power Movement Goes Global.

Professor Byman shares his keen insights on the Israel-Hamas war; the threat of escalation from Hezbollah/Lebanon and Iran; the need for Egypt to broker peace; post-war Gaza; Israel's and Bibi Netanyahu's political future; the rise in rabid anti-Semitism; Donald Trump, Trumpism and domestic terrorism; the threat to America from China; and more.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud