March 29 - Did Trump's Lawyer Obstruct Justice?; Manafort's Right-Hand Man Still Works for Russian Military Intelligence; Trump Fires the Head of the VA at the Urging of a Koch Brothers Front Group

Full Program

Part 1

We will begin with revelations in The New York Times that Trump’s lawyer John Dowd who recently quit, engaged in obstruction of justice when he allegedly signaled to General Flynn and Paul Manafort’s lawyers that their clients would be pardoned by Trump if they did not cooperate with special counsel Mueller, joins us. Jed Shugerman, a professor of law at Fordham Law School and author of “The People’s Courts: Pursuing Judicial Independence in America”. He is currently working on anti-corruption Emoluments litigation against Trump and we will discuss a case against Trump International Hotel now in Federal Court in Maryland as well as the possibility that Mueller is now looking at Dowd. We also address the hazards of working for Trump which is apparently why Trump is scouring the bottom of the barrel in terms of legal talent, since it is likely that Dowd did things for Trump that could result in serious legal jeopardy or disbarment for Dowd. A situation which has prompted a lawyer who was considered by the White House for a job, George Conway, the husband of Kellyanne Conway, to troll Trump in a tweet commenting “This is flabbergasting”.

Part 2

Then we examine the latest court filing by Robert Mueller in which it is made clear that the FBI consider Paul Manafort’s right hand man in Ukraine Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for 10 years for the International Republican Institute in Moscow and before that was with the GRU, is still working with Russian Military Intelligence. Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harper’s in legal affairs and national security, joins us to discuss how it was Kilimnik who offered Putin’s friend the oligarch/gangster Oleg Deripaska who loaned Manaford $30 million, private briefing by the Trump campaign.

Part 3

Then finally we will speak with Phillip Longman, a senior fellow at the Washington Monthly and the Open Society Institute and author of “Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Healthccare Would Work Better for Everyone.”  He joins us to discuss Trump’s firing of the head of the VA who is to be replaced by the White House physician Ronny Jackson, and the extent to which this change which was championed by the Koch Brothers front Concerned Veterans for America, is all about privatizing the VA to benefit bottom-feeding Trump’s cronies and Republican Beltway Bandits.