The Dworkin Report

Scott speaks with Billie Jean Winner-Davis, whose daughter Reality spent years in federal prison for revealing Russia’s cyberattack on America’s elections in 2016. Reality’s mom shared some of her frustrations, several of her hopes, shots of her wisdom, and situations she personally experienced through years marked by the most unexpected events, and recently punctuated by her reunion with her daughter. 

Billie’s daughter still remains under carceral control with an ankle bracelet and very active probation even though there’s a zero percent chance she will reoffend after spending one of the longest sentences ever served for leaking a public record.

But she hasn’t given up hope on getting a presidential commutation or pardon of sentence even though the pardon attorney’s office is filled to the brim with other requests. And that’s why Billie Jean Winner-Davis made an impassioned plea to President Biden during our conversation.

Scott speaks with Brittany Winner, whose sister Reality Winner just got out of federal prison after disclosing a classified record from the NSA revealing Russia’s attack on the 2016 election. Besides all of the many reasons why we would interview Brittany, there is one she raised that people might not be aware of; as she explains, her whistleblower sister Reality’s body is free, but she is still muzzled from speaking to the media by the rest of her sentence and court controls. 

She explained why her sister made the decision to leak records to The Intercept and what she was doing at the time she made that decision which might actually surprise you. She even explains precisely what spurred Reality Winner to engage in an act of selfless heroism in service of our country.

Scott Dworkin speaks with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn (part 2). Officer Dunn will be one of the first officers called to testify in front of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection against Congress.

We released part one of our interview with Officer Dunn last week, after the most-watched right-wing extremist Fox News opinion host mercilessly attacked him for having personal, political views so we advanced the release of this first part of a gripping two-part interview with Officer Dunn so the public can learn more about him as a person and as a cop.

In the first half of our discussion, Officer Dunn told us about his background as a football player, who is close to earning his master’s degree and wanted to give back to his community by working in the field he’d always dreamed of pursuing: being a cop. We left off just after he told us about the start of what he calls his worst day as a police officer which he described succinctly as “the worst day ever.”

Scott Dworkin speaks with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn. Officer Dunn will be one of the first officers called to testify in front of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection against Congress.

Last night, the most-watched right-wing extremist Fox News opinion host mercilessly attacked him for having personal, political views so we advanced the release of this first part of a gripping two-part interview with Officer Dunn so the public can learn more about him as a person and as a cop. 

This podcast is also what America needs to learn about the people who invaded the Capitol to end our country's unbroken chain of peaceful transitions of power by seditiously stopping the final electoral college vote from the officer's firsthand account of the nakedly open racism he had to endure. Here's an excerpt:

"Politically, when you're out there doing that job, you don't think about anything except for doing your job effectively. I'll see congressmen who've made statements about January since then. I disagree with that at that moment. When I see them, I don't immediately think 'Oh, yo, you the one who's thinking?"

"No, I'm just like, 'Hey Congressman, good to see you.' And then like afterward, I'd be like, 'wait a minute.' But my initial instinct is to do my job and make sure that everybody's good. I can have my political beliefs, you know, outside of doing my job but it doesn't affect me doing [the job they need and all. Like I said, I take pride in it and doing my job."

"It's bigger than me, you know?"

Scott speaks with award-winning journalist and author Edward-Isaac Dovere about his new book, “Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump." Isaac spent the 2020 campaign on the road for The Atlantic after leaving his post as Chief Washington correspondent for Politico. 

The advance copy of his book made global news the moment it came out because he reported President Obama’s private thoughts about his successor. If you follow the news or Democratic politics, you’ll want to read his deeply detailed book about the start of the Biden-Harris ticket, the dramatic ups & downs of Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and how Democrats reacted to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss by building activist networks.

Dovere also spoke with President Biden early in the first hundred days of his presidency and included that material in the book. “Battle for the Soul,” tells two stories. One, about President Biden, defined himself within the campaign and produced a winning ticket. Secondly, it is the story of why Joe Biden is operating the most progressive administration since LBJ.

Disclosure: This post uses affiliate links.

Scott speaks with Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) about her new book "Heart of Fire: An immigrant daughter's story" which chronicles her humble beginnings that led to her five-decade career in public service. Her fight to protect the vulnerable recently culminated in getting the typically obstructed Senate to pass her bill making it illegal to commit hate crimes against persons of Asian-American and Pacific Island (AAPI) descent, like herself.

Surprisingly, the senator from Hawai'i revealed that some of her Republican colleagues believed that her hate crimes legislation could have gone further in criminalizing racial violence, but she saved her clearest disdain for the junior senator from Missouri. But it's not unusual for the now-outspoken Sen. Hirono to express her true feelings after years of adapting to the fight against the Republican party's war against democracy.

Disclosure: This post uses affiliate links.

Scott speaks with novelist Gregg Hurwitz about his latest New York Times bestseller "Prodigal Son" his latest installment in the OrphanX series and his political activities that spanned the partisan divide, as well as his writing for The Bulwark. He even revealed for the first time how his own personal experiences partly inspired the creation of Evan Smoak, the heroic assassin from his book series.

"I didn't want to just write within publications that are read by people who agree with us already, because a lot of what I was trying to do is figure out ways to make good faith arguments, to win them across," Hurwitz explained about his deep dive into political writing. "And to understand that the value set that we, that we hold as liberals can be talked about through conservative language and a conservative understanding that lets them then make a good faith choice whether we represent some of their interests and values better than Donald Trump and the Trump Republican party does."

Disclosure: This post uses affiliate links.

Scott speaks with Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) about his decision to file a bill to expel newly sworn Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) from Congress. The Representative was unsparing about his dismal opinion of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) whom he described as "owned by QAnon and the QAnon believers and the hard right."

Additional video of Rep. Greene leaving the White House before the insurrection riot and then glorifying violence afterward has emerged since Gomez took action, adding weight to his push to remove the QAnon conspiracy theorist from the House. The Congressman from Los Angeles also explained how House Democrats plan to pass a Covid-19 relief package and get it to President Joe Biden's desk, and the importance of advancing his agenda early on. 

In this candid interview, Rep. Gomez finished with a message to Senate Republicans who are sitting in judgment of the upcoming trial to disqualify the disgraced ex-President Donald Trump on charges of inciting the Capitol insurrection on January 6th.