A congressional China task force lost its Democratic members earlier this year. But the GOP is sticking with the House China task force. It’s designed to set priorities, coordinate legislation, and reorient Congress’s approach toward Beijing in the wake of the coronavirus.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the leader of the new task force, joined the podcast to explain how Congress is addressing threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party. He also talks about why the Democrats backed out of the project and how the World Health Organization and other international bodies susceptible to Chinese influence must change.

Rep. McCaul is currently serving his eighth term representing Texas’ 10th District in Congress. He is Republican Leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the former Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

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The international community has recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela for over a year, yet Nicolás Maduro’s regime remains in power in Caracas. Last week, a group of ex-Venezuelan soldiers and American mercenaries tried to oust Maduro, only to be quickly defeated by forces loyal to the regime.

AEI’s Roger Noriega joined the show to talk about the attempted coup and US policy toward Venezuela. He explains how the opposition movement has been infiltrated by Cuban intelligence, what the Trump administration should be doing, and how illicit drugs and transnational organized crime in Venezuela affects Americans.

Roger Noriega is a visiting fellow at AEI, where he coordinates the Latin America program. Before AEI, he served as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs in the Bush administration, as the US ambassador to the Organization of American States, and as director of Latin America policy on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Last year, protests dominated Hong Kong after Beijing introduced a controversial extradition bill that would allow citizens to face trial in mainland China. Since then, millions of protesters have taken to the streets to demonstrate against Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party.

Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of the protest movement, joined Dany and Marc to explain why it’s more important than ever that the world stand with Hong Kong. Wong discusses Beijing’s increasingly aggressive measures to contain protests, how the government is taking advantage of the coronavirus, and what the US can do to help those fighting for freedom.

Joshua Wong is the secretary general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto. He was a student leader during the 2014 Umbrella Movement, has been arrested multiple times, and was barred by Beijing from running in Hong Kong’s district council elections in November.

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As Americans began the coronavirus quarantine in mid-March, alarming social media posts and widely circulated texts warned of military-imposed lockdowns and travel bans within the US. New reports suggest that Chinese agents may have played a role in propagating those messages to deliberately sow discord throughout the country.

Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell joined the show to discuss Beijing’s global disinformation campaign and how the Chinese Communist Party has changed in recent years. He also talks about the Trump administration’s Asia strategy and explains what Kim Jong Un’s recent absence might mean for North Korea.

David Stilwell is the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary, he served in the Air Force for 35 years, beginning as an enlisted Korean linguist, and retiring in 2015 in the rank of Brigadier General as the Asia advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He served multiple tours of duty in Japan and Korea as a linguist, a fighter pilot, and a commander.

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As states debate whether and how to reopen in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, local and federal officials are starting to realize that we may have to reopen without reaching the public health milestones outlined by medical professionals.

Avik Roy joined the show to talk about his new report on how to reopen the US economy even if the pandemic endures. He discusses why America must reopen sooner rather than later, realistic timelines for vaccine and therapeutic development, and how countries such as Sweden dealt with the coronavirus without a full lockdown.

Avik Roy is the president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. After training as a scientist at MIT and as a physician at Yale Medical School, he worked at Bain Capital and for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign as a health care policy advisor.

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The coronavirus has cost the US thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. As it becomes increasingly apparent that the Chinese government’s negligence exacerbated the virus’ spread, legal scholars, politicians, and citizens alike have questioned whether America should hold Beijing financially liable.

David Rivkin joined Dany and Marc to outline the legal case for suing China for coronavirus damages. The three debate the merits of the case, whether it’s realistic to expect China to pay, and the legal precedent.

David Rivkin, a partner at Baker Hostetler LLP, is a member of the firm’s litigation, international and environmental groups and he co-chairs the firm’s appellate and major motions team. He served at the Justice Department and the White House Counsel’s Office during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations.

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When the coronavirus first surfaced, conventional wisdom and the Chinese government suggested it emerged from a wet market in Wuhan. However, newly uncovered State Department cables give credence to the theory that the virus may have leaked from a research facility just down the road.

The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin joined the podcast to walk us through the 2018 cables warning of inadequate safety at a Wuhan coronavirus research lab. Rogin discusses the Chinese government’s reaction to the lab origin story, as well as politicization of the virus at home.

Josh Rogin is a columnist for the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post and a political analyst with CNN. He has covered foreign policy and national security for Bloomberg View, Newsweek, the Daily Beast, and Foreign Policy magazine, among other outlets. He was a 2011 finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and the 2011 recipient of the Interaction Award for Excellence in International Reporting.

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Weeks into the coronavirus lockdown, it’s still nearly impossible to find toilet paper at local stores. Americans are getting desperate, and everyone’s asking the same question: When will the hoarding stop?

The Washington Post’s newly enthroned toilet paper expert Marc Fisher joined the show to get to the bottom of the recent shortage. He explains why we’re seeing empty shelves, America’s history of toilet paper hoarding, and the distribution challenges facing toilet paper companies today.

Marc Fisher is a senior editor of The Washington Post, where he reports and writes on a wide range of topics. He has been the enterprise editor, local columnist and Berlin bureau chief, among other positions, over 30 years at the paper. Fisher wrote several Post articles that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016 and the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2014.

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Taiwan, an island just 81 miles off the coast of China, should have seen the second-largest outbreak of coronavirus in the world. Yet, despite lies from Beijing and exclusion from the World Health Organization, Taiwan has emerged as a model for pandemic management. How did Taiwan do it?

Bi-khim Hsiao, Senior Advisor to Taiwan’s National Security Council, joined the show to explain how Taiwan has all but defeated the coronavirus. She also discusses China’s disinformation campaign, cross-Strait relations, and whether Taiwan faces a heightened military risk from Beijing.

Bi-khim Hsiao is Senior Advisor to Taiwan’s National Security Council and a former member of the Legislative Yuan from the Democratic People’s Party. She received an MA from Columbia University and a BA from Oberlin College.

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As the coronavirus continues to disrupt everyday life in the US, many have questioned whether American officials should have seen the virus coming. Is it possible that, as with 9/11, experts’ strategic warnings were overlooked until it was too late?

Former CIA chief Michael Morell joined Dany and Marc to talk about the intelligence community’s role in identifying and preventing non-traditional security threats, such as pandemics. The three discuss parallels to 9/11, the origin of the outbreak, and how the intelligence community should change in the wake of the coronavirus.

Michael Morell is host of the Intelligence Matters podcast and most recently served as deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013 and twice served as acting director. Morell started his career at the CIA in 1980, serving as President George W. Bush’s intelligence briefer, an executive assistant to CIA Director George J. Tenet, the executive director of the CIA, and the director for intelligence.

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