May 18 - Watergate and Now Trumpgate?; A Top Republican's Claim That "There's Two People I Think Putin Pays: Rohrabacher and Trump"; Sessions Revives the Failed War on Drugs

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with Donald Trump’s childish and self-defeating criticism of the special counsel just appointed to investigate his ties to the Russians and speak with John Dean, the former Counsel to President Nixon and Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. The best-selling author of “Conservatives Without Conscience” who is now an analyst on CNN, he joins us to discuss the comparisons now being made to Watergate and Trumpgate and Trump’s propensity to make things worse for himself by attacking the press, the CIA, the FBI, James Comey and now Robert Mueller. We also look into the possibility that Trump will make a terrible choice by appointing the Republican’s favorite Democrat, former Senator Joe Lieberman as the next Director of the FBI and how that will be received at the FBI and within the Department of Justice.

Part 2

Then we analyze what the number two Republican in the House Kevin McCarthy said in June of last year in a private meeting with Paul Ryan and top Republicans where he remarked that “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump”, then after some bemused laughter he interjects “Swear to God”. After at first denying this to the Washington Post, once Paul Ryan was told there was a tape of the conversations, McCarthy’s bombshell was brushed off as an attempt at humor. Gustavo Arellano, the editor of the OC Weekly joins us to discuss his local congressman the former Red-baiter turned Putin-lover, and an article by Matthew Croker in the OC Weekly “Putin Payin’ Dana? Rohrabacher Claims He Man Crushes on Vlad for Free”.  

Part 3

Then finally we examine the revival of the failed war on drugs by Attorney General Sessions and look for underlying motives in wanting to fill the already full jails again with young black men and re-criminalize marijuana while ignoring a national epidemic of opiate addiction from prescription drugs. Inge Fryklund, a former Chicago prosecutor who wrote “Our Disastrous Afghan Drug War” at the request of the U.S. Army War College after spending five years in Afghanistan advising the US Army and Marines, joins us to discuss her article at Vox “I prosecuted drug offenders in the ‘80’s. It was a disaster. Why is Sessions taking us back?”