Jill Schlesinger is the Emmy and Gracie Award winning Business Analyst for CBS News. She appears on CBS radio and television stations nationwide covering the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign. She is a weekly guest on NPR’s “Here and Now” and writes the nationally syndicated column “Jill on Money”. She is the author of two books, The Great Money Reset and The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money. Jill is also the host of the “Jill on Money” and the “MoneyWa...
Apr 16, 2025•55 min•Ep. 343
Andrew Feinberg has been a journalist in the nation's capital for nearly two decades and is currently the White House correspondent for The Independent, covering the executive branch, Congress, campaigns and political investigations across the United States. He was the first journalist to report on the exact timing of the unprecedented first federal indictment of former president Donald Trump in June 2023. He also broke the story of the Trump White House social media monitoring operation that ga...
Apr 14, 2025•47 min•Ep. 342
Elie Honig is an attorney and CNN senior legal analyst and the bestselling author of Hatchet Man and last year's Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It. He’s a former assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. He also hosts podcasts, writes for CAFE, Vox Media and writes a weekly column for New York Magazine. Elie's back in The Back Room unpacking the latest with the myriad legal cases against the Trump administration. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at Ba...
Apr 12, 2025•48 min•Ep. 341
Kevin Macdonald is a Scottish born filmmaker who’s worked across feature films, documentary and television over the last 25 years. His best known films include: ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, (Oscar win for Best Documentary, 2000) TOUCHING THE VOID, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, LIFE IN A DAY, MARLEY, WHITNEY, THE MAURITANIAN, and his new film, ONE TO ONE: JOHN AND YOKO, which premiered at Venice and Telluride in 2024 and opens exclusively in IMAX on April 11. Kevin is also the co-author of Imagining Realit...
Apr 09, 2025•38 min•Ep. 340
David Enrich is the Business Investigations Editor at the New York Times and the bestselling author of “Dark Towers and Servants of the Damned”. The winner of numerous journalism awards, he previously was an editor and reporter at the Wall Street Journal. His first book, “The Spider Network: How a Math Genius and Gang of Scheming Bankers Pulled Off One of the Greatest Scams in History”, was short-listed for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award. His new book is “Murder the Truth: F...
Apr 08, 2025•39 min•Ep. 339
Victoria Nourse is the Whitworth Professor of Law at Georgetown. She teaches and writes about Congress and the separation of powers. She has worked in the White House for former Vice-President Biden as his chief counsel, and in the Congress, DOJ, and in private practice. Join us for this compelling chat about Trump 2.0, the role of Congress, and the assault on the rule of law and Democracy. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyO...
Apr 07, 2025•31 min•Ep. 338
Andrew Weissmann is the co-host of the popular podcast Prosecuting Donald Trump and is a frequent legal analyst for NBC/MSNBC. He serves on the board of Just Security and writes frequently for it, as well as The New York Times, The Atlantic, & The Washington Post. From 2017-2019 Andrew served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office. His memoir about the Special Counsel investigation, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation , was a New York Times bestsell...
Apr 05, 2025•48 min•Ep. 337
Liza Treyger is an actress, comedian, and podcaster. She’s been named one of Variety’s “Top Ten Comics to Watch,” Rolling Stone’s “Ten Comics to Watch,” and Comedy Central’s “Comics to Watch”, and her first ever hour-long comedy special entitled “Night Owl” just dropped on Netflix. She recently wrapped production on season two of Netflix’s critically acclaimed comedy series “Survival of the Thickest”, and can next be seen in the independent feature “Damned If You Do”. She’s also the co-host of t...
Apr 03, 2025•56 min•Ep. 336
Michael Ian Black is an actor, writer, and comedian who began his career with the legendary sketch comedy troupe, The State. He then went on to co-create several television shows, including Viva Variety, Stella, and Michael & Michael Have Issues. His other tv credits include Ed, Another Period, The Jim Gaffigan Show, and the Wet Hot American Summer franchise. His film credits include This is 40, Sextuplets, The Baxter, and Linoleum. Michael’s written several screenplays, including Wedding Da...
Apr 01, 2025•40 min•Ep. 335
Lindsey Boylan has spent her career in urban planning and public service. She is the former Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Housing for New York and served as Special Advisor to former Governor Andrew Cuomo. She was the first woman to come forward with accusations about Cuomo’s abuse of women and his related abuses of power. An unapologetic feminist, her words have appeared in leading publications including Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, an...
Mar 29, 2025•58 min•Ep. 334
Sabrina Singh is a veteran strategist with 15 years of experience advising national leaders on crisis communications, strategic messaging, and policy issues. In addition to frequently appearing on international and national broadcast TV and digital platforms, she’s advised senior leaders at all levels of government, including Members of the U.S. House and Senate, Governors, the Secretary of Defense, and the Vice President of the United States. Most recently, she served as the deputy press secret...
Mar 27, 2025•23 min•Ep. 333
Amanda Litman is the co-founder and President of Run for Something, a national organization that recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for local office. She's also the author of the book, “Run for Something: A Real Talk Guide to Fixing the System Yourself,” and previously hosted two podcasts, “Run for Something: The Podcast” and “Battleground”. She’s written for Elle, Cosmopolitan, The Nation, Teen Vogue, CNN.com, MTV.com, Buzzfeed, Vanity Fair, O Magazine, Crooked Media, and...
Mar 26, 2025•33 min•Ep. 332
Jocelyn Benson is Michigan's 43rd Secretary of State and is running to be the next governor of the state in its 2026 election. She has become one of the nation’s most prominent leaders in ensuring elections are secure and accessible. Her work overseeing Michigan’s 2020 and 2022 general elections earned her national recognition, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and the Presidential Citizens Medal. She also implemented new voting rights for all eligible Michiganders prior to ...
Mar 24, 2025•21 min•Ep. 331
Jim Acosta is an award-winning broadcast journalist, with 25 years of experience in network television news, at CNN and CBS News. Perhaps best-known for his time as the Chief White House Correspondent for CNN, he has covered six straight presidential elections at the network level. He’s also as an anchor and reporter covering some of the biggest news stories of the last 30 years, including Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War and the aftermath of 9/11. In 2019, his New York Times bestselling book, “T...
Mar 22, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 330
Kara Swisher is the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher, and the co host of the Pivot podcast with Scott Galloway. Both are distributed by New York Magazine. Kara co-founded and was the editor-at-large of Recode, host of the Recode Decode podcast, and co-executive producer of the Code Conference. She was a former contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and host of its Sway podcast. She has also worked for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Burn Book is her third boo...
Mar 18, 2025•28 min•Ep. 329
Brooke Harrington is Professor of Economic Sociology at Dartmouth College. Her most recent book, Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism, which the Financial Times named one of the Best Books of 2024, and the New Yorker highlighted it among the “Political Books That Help Us Make Sense of 2024.” Harrington’s previous book on offshore finance—Capital without Borders: Wealth Managers and the One Percent --won an “Outstanding Book Award” from the American Sociological Association. She is a ...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 328
Gay Valimont is the Democrat candidate in the April 1st special election in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. She’s a gun violence prevention activist with a prior career in sports medicine. In 2012 she joined Moms Demand Action for Gunsense in America, rising from full-time grassroots activist to Florida State Lead. Gay has suffered unfathomable personal tragedy and she’s here to tell her inspiring story of perseverance and patriotism and why this election is so critical to the balance of p...
Mar 13, 2025•29 min•Ep. 327
Chris Matthews is a journalist and political commentator, columnist, author, television host and professor. His 15 years in politics and government includes speechwriter for president Jimmy Carter. Administrative assistant to House Speaker Tip O’Neil. Columnist for the San Francisco chronicle. Syndicated columnist and Washington bureau chief for SF Examiner. Host of MSNBC’s Hardball. His books include 2011’s Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero and his 2021 memoir This Country: My Life on Politics and His...
Mar 11, 2025•30 min•Ep. 326
Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman is in THE BACK ROOM discussing her organization’s litigation against the overreach of the Trump administration in various critical cases relating to DOGE’s unlawful spending cuts, DEI, USAID, immigration and ICE raids, and the successes being achieved in the courts. Don’t miss this very important and inspiring conversation. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by ...
Mar 08, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 325
Joshua Weil is the Democratic nominee for Congress in Florida’s 6th Congressional District. On April 1st he'll be facing Trump-endorsed State Senator Randy Fine in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Mike Waltz, who was selected by Trump to serve as National Security Advisor. Josh is a public educator and a single dad of two boys. He’s worked in Orange County Public Schools at their Alternative Education Centers, and since 2018, with the School District of Osceola County as a secondar...
Mar 06, 2025•24 min•Ep. 324
Adrienne Elrod is a political strategist, government affairs expert and communicator with over 25 years of experience working on Capitol Hill, the executive branch and advising corporate, political and non-profit organizations. She most recently served as Sr. Advisor and Sr Spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. She held this same position for President Biden’s re-election campaign. A veteran of the Biden Administration, she served as Director of External and Gover...
Mar 04, 2025•28 min•Ep. 323
Mimi Rocah was most recently District Attorney of NY’s Westchester County. During her four years as DA, she modernized the DA’s Office, aggressively pursued gun and violent crime, developed ways to better serve crime victims, and instituted sensible criminal justice reforms. Prior to becoming DA, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for nearly 17 years from 2001-2017 rising to become Chief of the White Plains Criminal Division. As an AUSA, she pro...
Mar 01, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 322
SLOANE CROSLEY is the author of The New York Times bestselling books Grief Is for People, How Did You Get This Number, and I Was Told There’d Be Cake. She is also the author of Look Alive Out There and the novels, Cult Classic and The Clasp. Her work has been translated into ten languages. She has been featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, The Best American Non-required Reading, The Best American Travel Writing, Phillip Lopate’s The Contemporary American Essay and ot...
Feb 24, 2025•54 min•Ep. 321
E.J. Dionne, Jr. is a distinguished university professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and a senior fellow and W. Averell Harriman Chair in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is also a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. He is the author or co-author of nine books including, most recently, 100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting. Others include NYT Bestseller Why the Right Went Wrong, Our D...
Feb 22, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 320
Mark S. Zaid is a Washington, D.C. based attorney specializing in crisis management and handling administrative and litigation matters relating to national security, international law, foreign sovereign and diplomatic immunity, and the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts. His clients typically include former/current federal employees, particularly intelligence and military officers, defense contractors, Whistleblowers and members of the media who have grievances, have been wronged or are being i...
Feb 15, 2025•42 min•Ep. 319
Barry Sonnenfeld is a filmmaker and writer who broke into the film industry as the cinematographer on the Coen Brothers' first three films: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and Miller's Crossing. He also was the director of photography on Throw Momma from the Train, Big, When Harry Met Sally, and Misery. Sonnenfeld made his directorial debut with The Addams Family in 1991, and has gone on to direct a number of films including Addams Family Values, Get Shorty, and the first three Men in Black films...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 318
Sabrina Singh is a veteran strategist with 15 years of experience advising national leaders on crisis communications, strategic messaging, and policy issues. In addition to frequently appearing on international and national broadcast TV and digital platforms, she’s advised senior leaders at all levels of government, including Members of the U.S. House and Senate, Governors, the Secretary of Defense, and the Vice President of the United States. Most recently, she served as the deputy press secret...
Feb 10, 2025•34 min•Ep. 317
Deborah Pearlstein is Director of the Princeton Program in Law and Public Policy and Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor of Law and Public Affairs. Her research on the U.S. Constitution, international law, democracy and national security has appeared widely in leading law journals and in the popular press, including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy, and was ap...
Feb 08, 2025•49 min•Ep. 316
Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of global investment firm SkyBridge. He's the author of five books, including last year’s From Wall Street to the White House and Back, and his new book The Little Book of Bitcoin: What You Need to Know that Wall Street Has Already Figured Out (Feb 11). He also hosts the Open Book podcast and co-hosts The Rest is Politics: US podcast. And he’s of course well-known for the 11 roller coaster days he served in the first Trump White House as Com...
Feb 03, 2025•30 min•Ep. 315
Norman Ornstein is an author, political scientist and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He’s is a contributing editor and writer for The Atlantic and has been an election eve analyst for CBS News and BBC News. He was named one of the top 100 global thinkers in 2012 by Foreign Policy Magazine and one of the 250 most influential people in Washington in 2021 by Washingtonian Magazine, and in every year since. His many books include The New York Times bestseller, It's Even Worse...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 314
