December 3 - Leaks From Inside Trump's Transition Reveal a Need to Pay Back Russia for Throwing the Election; Trump Lashes Out at the FBI; The Republican's Massive Gift to America's Oligarchs

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an update on the Mueller inquiry now that Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has pled guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the special counsel. Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harpers in legal affairs and national security, joins us to discuss the emails leaked to The New York Times that shed light on how much Trump’s transition team knew about communications and active involvement with the Russians that are illegal under the Logan Act which prohibits private citizens from working with a foreign government against the United States. We assess how much jeopardy Jared Kushner faces since he lobbied members of the UN Security Council behind the back of the U.S. government on behalf of Israel and whether Trump ordered Flynn to contact the Russian Ambassador and Vice President Pence knew about Flynn’s activities.

Part 2

Then with Trump now tweeting criticism of the FBI, we will speak with Asha Rangappa, a former FBI Special Agent who specialized in counterintelligence investigations, about the central role that FBI counterintelligence played in revealing secret contacts the Trump transition team was making with the Russians and others, and how the acting attorney general at the time Sally Yates was fired for warning Trump based on evidence from FBI counterintelligence that Flynn was compromised by the Russians. We will also examine what Trump’s Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarlane meant when she wrote to Trump’s top advisors about how Trump should pay back the Russians by easing sanctions because Russia “has just thrown the USA election to him”.

Part 3

Then finally as the Republican so-called tax reform bill makes its way through conference towards an expected signature by the president, we will look into how this massive reward to the donors will further embed and entrench an American oligarchy while the 99% who have not had a raise since the late 1970’s will be left paying more for less of their share of the American pie and will soon see their social safety net cut in order to pay for the deficits caused by the Republican trillion and a half dollar gift to the oligarchy. An expert on American and global oligarchy, Jeffrey Winters, the author of “Oligarchy”, joins us.