Trump Takes Aim at TikTok and WeChat
The Lawfare Podcast
President Trump recently issued executive orders aimed at banning TikTok and WeChat from operating in the United States. To discuss the sanction, Bobby Chesney sat down with Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens and Dr. Ronald Deibert. In addition to the executive orders concerning TikTok and WeChat, they also discussed the larger U.S.-China relationship and the role of technology competition in that space.
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The McGahn Decision and Proxy Voting
The Lawfare Podcast
Last week, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington handed down a major en banc decision on the question of whether Don McGahn even needs to show up in response to a congressional subpoena. In a separate case, a lower court ruled on an internecine dispute within the House of Representatives over proxy voting. Ben Wittes spoke with Margaret Taylor and Scott Anderson about what these cases mean for congressional oversight, whether the opinions will stand up on further review and what will happen next.
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Jim Sciutto on Trump and 'The Madman Theory'
The Lawfare Podcast
During the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon employed an unusual scare tactic in his efforts to reach a withdrawal—he led Vietnam to believe he was crazy enough to start a nuclear war, an approach he described as the madman theory. From his first days in office, Trump has employed his own madman theory. David Priess spoke with Jim Sciutto, who has analyzed Trump's foreign policy through this lens and written "The Madman Theory: Trump Takes On the World."
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Chad Wolf vs. the Committee with No Bull
The Lawfare Podcast
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday. He was asked about the recent DHS personnel deployments in the wake of mass protests, particularly in Portland, Oregon. The hearing included some grandstanding and repetition, but we cut out all of the theatrics to leave you with just the questions and answers that you need to hear.
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Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny Explain QAnon
The Lawfare Podcast
Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny, reporters at NBC News. Writing at NBCNews.com, they report on disinformation and misinformation in health and politics. Their work covers a lot of ground, but for this episode, they discussed one increasingly prominent issue on that beat: QAnon, a conspiracy theory built around anonymous posts on an internet forum claiming that Donald Trump is waging war against a deep state and a vast network of child sex traffickers.
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DHS Compiles Intelligence on Journalists … Including our Editor-In-Chief
The Lawfare Podcast
“What if J. Edgar Hoover Had Been a Moron?” That’s the question Lawfare’s editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes asks in a new article about his experience learning that his tweets had been written up in an intelligence report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Quinta Jurecic discussed the bizarre story with Wittes and former Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris.
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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic Staff Report on Diplomacy in Crisis
The Lawfare Podcast
Last week, the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released its most recent oversight report titled "Diplomacy in Crisis: The Trump Administration's Decimation of the State Department." Following remarks by Ranking Member Bob Menendez, Margaret Taylor moderated a panel discussion about the report featuring Tom Shannon, Barbara Stephenson, Bonnie Jenkins and Elizabeth Shackelford.
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Michel Paradis on 'Last Mission to Tokyo'
The Lawfare Podcast
Ben Wittes spoke with Michel Paradis, a scholar of international law and human rights who has worked for more than a decade for the U.S. Department of Defense Military Commissions Defense Organization, where he has worked on a number of the landmark court cases to arise out of Guantanamo Bay. Most recently, he is the author of the book "Last Mission to Tokyo: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raiders and Their Final Fight for Justice."
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Pompeo vs. the Committee with No Bull
The Lawfare Podcast
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. Pompeo was asked about the threats posed by China and Russia, the decision to withdraw 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany, the upcoming presidential election and much more. The hearing did include some grandstanding and repetition, but we cut out all of the theatrics to leave you with just the questions and answers that you need to hear.
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Jillian C. York on Free Expression on a Broken Internet
The Lawfare Podcast
This week on Lawfare's Arbiters of Truth series on disinformation, Kate Klonick and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Jillian C. York, the director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She’s been an activist working on issues of internet freedom and free expression for many years, which gives her a unique perspective on debates over disinformation and platform governance.
info_outlineWhy has modern China prospered in spite of vast corruption? On this episode of ChinaTalk, Jordan Schneider talks with Yuen Yuen Ang, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, about her new book, "China's Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption." She draws comparisons between U.S. history and the China of today, arguing that access money in China functions like campaign finance in the States. They also discuss the implications of corruption for regime stability.