Thomas Grove on Reporting from Inside Putin’s Prisons with Evan Gershkovich, David Schweikert’s Meeting with Elon Musk, and Dan McLaughlin on Biden’s Pardons

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck and Sam first welcome Thomas Grove of the Wall Street Journal to share his experience writing with Evan Gershkovich, recently freed from Russian imprisonment, on a front-page story exposing what is going on inside Putin's Russian prisons. Thomas also analyzes Syria’s faltering regime, examining whether Russia’s focus on Ukraine sped up its collapse and what this means for Israel’s strategic outlook. Later, Congressman David Schweikert joins to discuss his recent meeting with Elon Musk, where they explored hundreds of modernization ideas to streamline government spending. He also highlights the critical tax policy debates Congress must tackle in 2025. Finally, Dan McLaughlin of National Review joins the show to dissect Biden’s pardons, the Daniel Perry case, and his article Progressives Are Mad at What Obama Did to Our Health Insurance System. In Kiley’s Corner, discover how the McDonald’s employee who tipped off police about Luigi Mangione could claim the FBI or Crimewatch reward, and delve into the shocking twists of the Melody Farris trial, including her revelation of the alleged real killer she has been protecting for six years.

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About our guests:

Thomas Grove covers the confrontation between Russia and the West for The Wall Street Journal. He is based in Warsaw. Before that Thomas covered Russia for more than a decade and he has traveled to Ukraine regularly since Russia's invasion. He writes on Russia's military, the arms trade and the Russian defense sector as well as great power competition. He started his career in Istanbul with Reuters writing about the economy and the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP. Thomas has since reported from across Central Asia, the Caucasus region and the Middle East. You can follow him on X @tggrove.

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Congressman David Schweikert is serving his seventh term in the United States Congress. He holds a seat on the Ways and Means Committee and is the current Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee. He is also the Vice Chairman of the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, Chairman of the Valley Fever Task force, is the Republican Co-Chair of the Blockchain Caucus, Co-Chair of the Tunisia Caucus, and Co-Chair of the Telehealth Caucus.

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Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute. You can follow him on X @baseballcrank.

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