The War in Ukraine has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and left entire cities in ruins. It’s a human tragedy on an unimaginable scale. But beyond the death toll and destruction, the conflict represents something even larger: a flashpoint in the ongoing battle between democracy and authoritarianism, sovereignty and imperialism. Escalation is a gripping narrative podcast that delves deep into the complex and often fraught history of the relationship between the United States and Ukraine. Co-produced by Goat Rodeo and Lawfare, this eight-episode series unravels the decades of diplomacy, political scandals, and high-stakes decision-making that shaped this alliance, now tested by the largest land war in Europe since World War II. This is the feed for Lawfare Presents. A home for limited run series and specials from Lawfare and Goat Rodeo.
Produced by Goat Rodeo.
Lawfare
This series is made possible by the generous support of DeleteMe. To learn more about DeleteMe, visit www.joindeleteme.com
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Matt Zeller deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, where an Afghan interpreter saved his life. Matt spent years trying to get him resettled in the United States and saw the problems with the SIV program firsthand. Together, they started lobbying to fix it in Washington, DC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Fred took a job as an Afghan interpreter in 2004. He ended up serving side-by-side with American soldiers for more than 13 years. But when the Taliban started targeting him after a mission, Fred started looking for a way out. The SIV program was supposed to help. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 2003 the US started another war with the military invasion of Iraq. There, soldiers, aid workers, diplomats and politicians saw the threat that local interpreters, translators and partners faced for their work. That’s when Congress created the SIV program for Iraqi interpreters and then recreated it for Afghanistan. But it quickly became clear that this program wasn’t working as intended. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
In order to tell you this story, we need to start at the beginning. After 9/11, the CIA set their sights on al-Qaeda’s base in Afghanistan. When the military invaded that fall, people up and down the chain of command learned that, in order to fight this war, the US needed local partners to help. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From Lawfare and Goat Rodeo, this is ALLIES: A podcast about America’s eyes and ears during 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On January 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Their goal was to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, and they intended to do it by disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes. President-elect Joe Biden's victory would not be official until that count was complete. The Capitol was breached and lawmakers and staff were evacuated, while rioters assaulted law enforcement offic...
A brand new podcast from Lawfare. Weekly long-form conversations with fascinating people at the creative edges of national security. Unscripted. Informal. Always fresh. Chatter guests roll with the punches to describe artistic endeavors related to national security and jump into cutting-edge thinking at the frontiers where defense and foreign policy overlap with technology, intelligence, climate change, history, sports, culture, and beyond. Each week, listeners get a no-holds-barred dialogue at ...
The pardon power was designed to be a tool for correcting wrongs. Any system of justice applied to a whole nation is going to have failures. A pardon is there to correct miscarriages of justice—and injustice. It was always believed that if a president abused his pardon authority, it would be so appalling to so many, at such a gut level, that the checks on the President would instantly kick in: He’s be impeached, forced to resign, voted out. Trump pushed this theory. And the results were worrisom...
In this episode, we consider the problem of foreign interventions in American political campaigns—and what to do about it. And we’re also going to look at how Trump blocked and tackled the free press, especially when it reported on Trump’s foreign ties. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In our first episode, we explore some of President Trump’s most brazen transgressions—the conflicts of interest, the self-dealing and those elusive tax returns. In the run up to his inauguration, Trump created a sort of original sin when it came to his conflicts of interest, proclaiming that he is above any conflict of interest norms and regulation. Throughout his presidency, Trump continued to challenge any transparency when it came to his personal dealings and conflicts while in office. Virgin...
The Impeachment Trial concludes with a final vote on the Articles of Impeachment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Impeachment Trial continues with Day 12. Senators are given time to make statements pertaining to their vote of impeachment happening the next day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Impeachment Trial continues with closing arguments from House Managers and White House Counsel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It’s January 31, 2020. It’s the 10th day of the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump. I’m Margaret Taylor, Senior Editor at Lawfare. Today, Senators listened to the arguments of the parties, and then voted 49-51 not to call new witnesses or subpoena new documents. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney voted with Democrats, but the vote was nonetheless unsuccessful. Senate leadership then offered a new procedural resolution to govern how the trial would conclude over the com...
On the 9th day of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Senators have a second day to ask questions through the Chief Justice to house managers and white house counsel. As Senators pass their questions on small cards in 5 min rounds, the question of the testimony of witnesses and documents looms large over Friday’s proceedings. This is the Impeachment, Day 9. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Impeachment Trial continues, as questions from Senators are asked of House Managers and Counsel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's January 28th, 2020. It’s the seventh day of the impeachment trial of president Donald J. Trump. The president's team of lawyers wrap up their arguments in defense of the president. Over the last two days of the trial, senators heard about 10 hours of presentations from White House Counsel, Pat Cipollone, and his team, along with the president's personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, former independent counsels, Robert Ray and Kenneth Starr, as well as professor Alan Dershowitz. Today, they wrap up...
It’s January 27, 2020. On the sixth day of the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump, the President’s team of lawyers resume their arguments in defense of the President. On Saturday, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his team began their presentation, spending two hours summarizing their arguments. They continue today, just as press reports indicate that former National Security Adviser John Bolton wrote in his not-yet-published book manuscript that President Trump told Bolton in Au...
This is Day 5 of the Impeachment. In this short session, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone opened the case for the president’s defense, laying out what the defense believed are the stakes of impeachment. He noted that the defense would focus on facts that, he asserts, the House Managers ignored in their presentation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today, the fourth day of the Impeachment, the house managers wrap up their case. They close their arguments on Trump’s first article of impeachment, and then turn to the second--obstruction of Congress. Today is their last chance to speak before the President’s counsel presents their case. The managers have left everything they have on the gallery floor. For the past three days, they have spoken for eight hours or more, trying to convince the senators before them that Trump should be removed fro...
Today is Day 3 of the Impeachment -- the House Managers continue their cases to the Senate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today is Day 2 of the Impeachment -- the House Managers bring their opening cases to the Senate. They walk through the chronology of Trump’s interactions with Ukraine, as well as the other central figures involved. They also stress the need for documents in this trial, urging Senators to subpoena where they see fit. With today marking the first day of opening arguments, the trial is just getting under way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
It’s January 21st, 2020. A month ago, the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Now the United States Senate must decide whether to convict the president and remove him from office. Chief Justice John Roberts has been sworn in and is presiding over the first day of the trial. There’s no report this time; no definitive document laying out what happened. Instead, there is a trial. House impeachment managers will present the case a...
On January 21, 2020 The Impeachment Trial of President Donald Trump will begin. Each day, on the Senate floor, the case for and against his impeachment and removal from office will be made to Senators. During this trial there will be dozens of hours of speeches, testimony, and procedures. Impeachment is one of the most consequential actions taken by our government. And while the proceedings of the impeachment trial should be carefully heard by each and every American, the reality is most do not ...
It Friday, March 22, 2019. It’s been nearly two years since Robert Mueller was first appointed Special Counsel. Now, he’s ready to submit a final report to the Attorney General. He has uncovered a sprawling and systematic effort by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. And he’s developed a mountain of evidence about the president’s efforts to obstruct his investigation, things like witness tampering, ordering the creation of false records, and trying to fire Mueller himself. But Mueller’s go...
We’re almost at the end of our story. This episode will cover the final set of activity that the Special Counsel examines for possible obstruction of justice: the president’s behavior towards his long time attorney Michael Cohen. Unlike the other possible acts of obstruction in Volume II, which mostly occur after Trump takes office, the relevant conduct towards Cohen spans the entire time period at issue in the Mueller investigation. It starts all the way back before the campaign. To Trump Tower...
It’s January 2018. Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are in a whole lot of trouble. The past is catching up to them. Three months earlier, they’d both been indicted on multiple felony counts and now it looks like there might be even more charges coming. Gates is getting nervous--they’re facing many years in prison. Manafort tells Gates to relax. He’s talked to the president’s personal counsel. He says they’re going to “take care of us.” Manafort tells Gates he’d be stupid to plead guilty now, “just s...
It’s February 6, 2018. Don McGahn is back in the Oval Office with President Trump and the new White House chief of staff John Kelly. The New York Times has just published a story reporting that, back in June of 2017, Trump had directed McGahn to have Mueller fired and that McGahn had threatened to resign rather than carry out the order. The story doesn’t look good. Trump says: “You need to correct this. You’re the White House counsel.” Trump wants McGahn to say it never happened. But McGahn know...
It’s May 17, 2017. White House Counsel Don McGahn is in the Oval Office with the president. McGahn’s job is to represent the office of the presidency, which isn’t quite the same as representing the president personally. It’s a delicate line to walk, and Trump hasn’t made the job any easier. McGahn is supposed to act as the point of contact between the White House and the Department of Justice, to ensure all the rules are being followed. But the president has made clear, he’s not interested in fo...
It’s March 7, 2017. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the nomination of Rod Rosenstein to be the Deputy Attorney General. Rosenstein’s whole career has been leading up to this moment. He’s a non-partisan sort of guy. He’s served under both President Bush and Obama. Now he’s being elevated to the role of running the day to day at DOJ. But this hearing is about more than just confirming a new deputy attorney general. On March 2, five days earlier, Attorney General Jeff Session...
