Eric and Eliot return from Thanksgiving to dissect the revelations from the Washington Post about the double-tap strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September. They discuss whether the strike was a war crime, the resignation of SOUTHCOM Commander Admiral Alvin Holsey, and the administration’s larger objectives in Venezuela. They also address the Department of Defense IG report on Signalgate, and explain why it does not constitute a ‘complete exoneration’. They conclude with a discussion of the Witkoff-Kushner “mission to Moscow”, the corruption crisis in Ukraine that ousted Presidential Chief of Staff Yermak, and the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the Trump cronies lining up to do business deals in Russia once the Ukrainians can be forced into submission.

Show Notes:
Former White House Counsel Bob Bauer on the Venezuela boat strikes:
https://www.execfunctions.org/p/the-boat-strike-presidency

Wall Street Journal Report on Witkoff & Kushner's Plans for Peace:
https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-u-s-peace-business-ties-4db9b290?

Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.