The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

Jonathan W. Jordan is a historian and an award-winning author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe. He is a regular book critic for The Wall Street Journal and the author of nearly two dozen articles appearing in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, World War II magazine, Military History, and World War II History magazine. He has made numerous live, televised, podcast, and radio appearances.

Jonathan joins me to discuss his terrific new book, IKE AND WINSTON: World War, Cold War, and an Extraordinary Friendship, and how the events and leadership of that era can be applied to the current international political landscape.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Andrew Weissmann is the co-host of the popular podcast Main Justice and is a frequent legal analyst for NBC/MSNBC. He serves on the board of Just Security and writes frequently for it, as well as The New York Times, The Atlantic, & The Washington Post. From 2017-2019 Andrew served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office. His memoir about the Special Counsel investigation, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation , was a New York Times bestseller. He is also a Professor of Practice at New York University and teaches courses in national security and criminal procedure. He also served as the General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and from 2002-2005 he served as the Deputy and then the Director of the Enron Task Force where he supervised the prosecution of more than 30 individuals in connection with the company’s collapse. And he was also a federal prosecutor for 15 years in the Eastern District of New York, where he served as the Chief of the Criminal Division and prosecuted numerous members of the Colombo, Gambino, and Genovese families, including the bosses of the Colombo and Genovese families.

Andrew's back to discuss his terrific new book, Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America, which is on sale May 19. We also discuss Bondi, Blanche, the DOJ SCOTUS, redistricting and more.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He has been working in the field for over a decade, after previous experience at Microsoft and Google. He’s the author of a large body of technical and semi-technical writing on AI alignment, including foundational work on value learning, decision theory, and power-seeking incentives in smarter-than-human AIs.

Nate joins me for a fascinating yet terrifying conversation about the existential threat of Artificial Intelligence, which is the subject of his 2025 book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us. Don't miss this sobering, eye-opening chat you'll never forget!

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Jonathan Vigliotti is an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award–winning CBS News national correspondent whose work has appeared on numerous platforms including CBS Sunday Morning, Face the Nation, 48 Hours, and more. His reporting has taken him to more than forty countries and territories across six continents. He is the author of Before It’s Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America, and his latest book, Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A., which went on sale this week.

Jonathan discusses the origins of the devastating fires in Los Angeles in early 2025, how they could've and should've been avoided, and what the city must do going forward to prevent such a disaster from happening again. He also describes in harrowing detail his own real-time experience navigating through this nightmarish hellscape as he covered the fires.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Elie Honig is CNN’s Senior Legal Analyst. He previously worked for 14 years as a federal and state prosecutor. He is also the national bestselling author of two books, “Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor’s Code and Corrupted the Justice Department” and “Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It”. He writes a weekly column for New York magazine and for Cafe.com, and he hosts two podcasts for Vox Media. He teaches at Rutgers University and is special counsel to New Jersey law firm Lowenstein Sandler. His latest book is, When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ’s Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, will be published September 16th.

Elie and I discuss the latest involving the Epstein cover-up, including Howard Lutnick's recent testimony and Pam Bondi's upcoming interview on the 29th; the mounting Kash Patel troubles; the new James Comey indictment; the SCOTUS Virginia redistricting ruling; the Jimmy Kimmel/ABD/Disney witch-hunt; and Birthright Citizenship.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Pat Ryan represents New York's 18th Congressional District. An Ulster County native and West Point graduate, Congressman Ryan served two tours in Iraq. After returning home, he started a small business before being elected Ulster County Executive in 2019. In Congress, Pat serves on the House Armed Services and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

We discuss the Iran war, Sec Def Pete Hegseth's incompetence, the economy, the midterms and more. And, is he planning to run for president in '28? Tune in to find out his answer!

But first, Andy and The Back Room crew discuss the Virginia Supreme Court redistricting ruling, the war, and Trump's time-and-money-wasting vanity projects. They also share their winners and losers for the week, and Andy rants about Hegseth's attempt to strip Sen. Mark Kelly of his rank and pension.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Tara Setmayer is co-founder of the bipartisan superpac The Seneca Project. She’s a former GOP Communications Director on Capitol Hill and most recently served as a Senior Advisor for The Lincoln Project. She’s a political writer and commentator who’s appeared on MSNOW, CNN and other news outlets, The View, and Real Time with Bill Maher. Her writing has been featured on CNN.com, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, Cosmopolitan, and NBC.com. In November 2020 she left the Republican Party after Donald Trump refused to concede the election to Joe Biden.

Tara is sounding the alarm on the upcoming November midterms, fearing that from Trump to Congress to state and local officials the Republican Party is going to do everything humanly possible to steal the election. Don't miss this important conversation on Trump's corruption and self-dealing, his worsening batshit cray-cray behavior, and how voters can stay informed, engaged and focused on flipping Congress.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Congressman James Walkinshaw represents Virginia’s 11th Congressional District. He serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and its Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, focusing on protecting the nonpartisan civil service, supporting fair pay for federal employees, and holding the Administration accountable. He also serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and both its Subcommittees on Homeland Border Security & Enforcement, and Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Protection.

The Congressman and I discuss the Epstein scandal and the upcoming May 29 Pam Bondi testimony before the House Oversight Committee; the economy, redistricting and the November midterms; and the Iran war, Sec Def Pete Hegseth, and his 'performance' last week before the House and Senate.

But first, in celebration of The Back Room's 500th episode, there's a very special shout-out from our very first guest, Paul Rudd!

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff

Olivia Troye spent almost 20 years in national security, working at the Pentagon, the National Counterterrorism Center under President Obama, and the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump term as Counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. She resigned from the White House in August 2020, and went on to play a pivotal role in the election that year. Over the past decade she’s been an outspoken Trump critic, and spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. She is now running as a democrat for the House in Virginia’s 7th Congressional district.

Olivia and I discuss the Iran war and Sec Def Pete Hegseth's testimony before Congress this week; the cost and impact of the war on the American people and homeland security; her campaign for the open House seat in Virginia's 7th Congressional district; the economy and the midterms; and more.

But first, The Back Room crew discusses Hegseth's "full Bondi" performance on the Hill, the new indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, and the shameful gutting of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 by the Supreme Court in its Louisiana redistricting ruling. Plus, don't miss our winners and losers, and Andy's rant on the White House Correspondent's Dinner.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Mimi Rocah is an attorney who served as District Attorney of Westchester County, NY from 2021-2024. Prior to becoming DA, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for nearly 17 years where she prosecuted and oversaw cases involving violent crime, organized crime, human trafficking, sex trafficking, child exploitation, frauds and public corruption. She’s a frequent commentator on MSNOW, CNN, The Contrarian, Cafe, and numerous podcasts and radio shows on topics relating to law, justice and women’s issues and has written and published dozens of opinion pieces on those topics. She’s an expert in the rule of law, democracy and the corruption and abuse of the justice system and is currently an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law. And, Mimi is writing a book, “Justice Under Siege,” about the Trump Administration’s political takeover of the DOJ and the heroes who have stood up, due out in September 2026.

Mimi joins me to help unpack the new indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud