“Catch and revoke” — the phrase sounds like something from a dystopian thriller, but it's Secretary of State Marco Rubio's very real characterization of the Trump administration's new one-strike visa cancellation policy targeting foreign students. A State Department spokesperson said that "full social media vetting" will be used for visa interviews and will be ongoing while the student remains in the U.S. for studies. On this week's episode of The Intercept Briefing, host Akela Lacy speaks to an...
May 30, 2025•41 min•Season 2Ep. 23
LATE SUNDAY NIGHT, police in El Salvador arrested one of President Nayib Bukele’s sharpest critics, Ruth Eleonora López , an anti-corruption attorney who has spent years exposing government abuses. “[She] is one of the strongest voices in defense of democracy,” says Noah Bullock, her colleague and the executive director of Cristosal , a human rights group operating in northern Central America, including El Salvador. López, a university professor and former elections official, heads Cristosal’s a...
May 23, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 22
As Elon Musk steps away from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, the chaotic legacy of his aggressive assault on federal agencies continues to reverberate throughout the government. Musk’s goal — slashing $1 trillion from the federal budget — has fallen far short. At most, it has cut $31.8 billion of federal funding, a number that the Financial Times reports is “ opaque and overstated .” Notably, the richest man on Earth’s businesses have received a comparable amount of government...
May 16, 2025•33 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Donald Trump’s all-caps executive order on policing — “STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS” – is less about policy and more about intent. And that intent is clear: To give Trump direct control over local law enforcement and further shield police from accountability. As journalist and author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop” Radley Balko puts it, “It’s a statement of intent and whether or not Trump is able to do a lot of the more per...
May 08, 2025•44 min•Season 2Ep. 20
The Intercept Briefing is sharing a recent live podcast recording The Intercept's Senior Politics Reporter Akela Lacy joined about the unlawful detention of Rümeysa Öztürk — a graduate student who was seized by federal immigration agents for co-authoring an op-ed in her school's newspaper. The live event, hosted by Question Everything with Brian Reed – which you can listen to on KCRW – and the Tufts Daily where Rümeysa published her op-ed, gathered journalists, editors, and attorneys, including ...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 17 min
This week, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., joined forces with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., to introduce ambitious Medicare for All legislation that would provide comprehensive coverage to every American without premiums, co-payments, or deductibles. The move comes at a striking moment — with Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, the bill's passage remains unlikely. In this week's episode of The Intercept Briefing, J...
May 02, 2025•31 min•Season 2Ep. 19
On the eve of his second inauguration, Donald Trump did something no U.S. president had ever done: He launched a meme coin. The cryptocurrency — whose value hinges more on hype than utility — surged to an all-time high of $75.35 a token. The next day, First Lady Melania Trump dropped her own meme coin, debuting at about $13 a share . Both coins have since tumbled, but on Wednesday Trump’s token briefly bumped up again to $15.47 before dipping. The latest surge came after the coin’s officia...
Apr 25, 2025•20 min•Season 2Ep. 18
In this week’s episode of The Intercept Briefing, we examine the case of Mohsen Mahdawi , a Palestinian student whose decadelong journey toward American citizenship ended not with the oath of allegiance, but in handcuffs. On Monday, the Columbia student arrived at his long-awaited citizenship interview in Vermont. Instead, immigration agents arrested him, and he now faces deportation to the occupied West Bank. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., who represents his district, is outraged and told The Interc...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Donald Trump’s presidency continues to challenge all conventional understanding of executive authority. His administration's extensive use of executive orders has reshaped the political landscape, testing established laws , ethical boundaries, and institutional norms. Among those raising alarms is Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who has consistently questioned what happens when governmental powers are directed against the very citizens they were designed to protect. On this wee...
Apr 09, 2025•31 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Tesla’s stock plummeted more than 30 percent in the first quarter of 2025, losing its post-election gains, as the electric vehicle pioneer grapples with an unexpected challenge: a consumer revolt against CEO Elon Musk's leadership of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and his political alliances. Once celebrated across the political spectrum, Tesla has transformed from an environmental icon into a political flashpoint. Tesla dealerships have become symbols, explains Lara Sta...
Apr 04, 2025•28 min•Season 2Ep. 15
The ongoing conflict in Gaza has emerged as the deadliest war for journalists in modern history. Two Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli attacks just this week, underscoring the extreme risks faced by reporters in the region. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 165 journalists have been killed since October 2023 — a staggering number that surpasses the total journalist fatalities during the entire span of World War II. The conflict has escalated to a critical p...
Mar 28, 2025•26 min•Season 2Ep. 14
“Anything that shows solidarity of Palestine is being mischaracterized quite erroneously as antisemitism. That’s the way in which they are trying to get us to stop speaking about Palestine,” says Momodou Taal , a Cornell University graduate student and activist now facing deportation after challenging the Trump administration in court. The risks of political speech have escalated dramatically for international students like Taal. He spoke to The Intercept Briefing yesterday, undersco...
Mar 24, 2025•23 min•Season 2Ep. 13
After breaking a two-month ceasefire, Israel launched an assault on Gaza on Tuesday, killing more than 400 people in pre-dawn strikes. The death toll continues to climb as airstrikes persist, and Israel pushes forward with a ground invasion. At least 200 children have been killed in recent attacks, according to UNICEF . The assault — the deadliest in over a year — came after Donald Trump gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to break the ceasefire. Netanyahu has wa...
Mar 22, 2025•41 min•Season 2Ep. 12
When government agents surrounded Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and his pregnant wife outside their New York City apartment over the weekend, it marked a chilling escalation in the battle over free speech in America . Those agents weren't enforcing immigration policy; they were sending a message about the consequences of political expression. After serving as a negotiator during campus protests against Israel's war on Gaza, Khalil became the target of what his attorney called...
Mar 13, 2025•39 min•Season 2Ep. 11
In an address to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump once again cast himself as a divine savior of the American people.“I was saved by God to make America great again,” he claimed as he recounted the failed assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. During his 100-minute speech, Trump made direct appeals to the Christian right, a major segment of his base: “This will be our greatest era. With God's help over the next four years, we are going to lead this nation even higher.” He...
Mar 07, 2025•48 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP are in peril after the House Republicans passed a budget resolution this week that proposes massive $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, alongside $2 trillion in spending reductions. The math doesn’t add up: There is no realistic way to achieve the necessary savings without slashing entitlement programs that the most vulnerable Americans depend on. While the Republicans claim they won’t cut these programs, they are simultaneously setting up eventual changes. Hous...
Feb 28, 2025•34 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Swift and sweeping changes have marked the first month of Donald Trump's return to the White House. Having promised to "fix every single crisis facing our country," Trump wasted no time in making his mark — signing an extraordinary 36 executive orders within his first week in office. On this week’s episode of The Intercept Briefing, politics reporters Jessica Washington and Akela Lacy assess the full scope of changes. Lacy is surprised at how ill-prepared people, especially Democrats , were for ...
Feb 19, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Less than a month into Donald Trump's second term, his administration's aggressive restructuring of the government and flirtation with defying court rulings threaten to spark a constitutional crisis. "He could have done all of that lawfully, and instead what he's done is testing the limits of his power in a way we have never seen in this country," says retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner . During a press conference on Tuesday, Trump dismissed concerns about executive overreach and claimed he wou...
Feb 14, 2025•28 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Donald Trump has unleashed a "flood the zone" strategy: a cascade of executive actions aimed at rapidly reshaping the federal government and the country. The scope of changes is staggering: massive reductions in the federal workforce, the dismantling of USAID , signaling departments of labor and education are next, and the firing of Justice Department prosecutors. Trump granted Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" team unprecedented access to the Treasury Department ...
Feb 07, 2025•36 min•Season 2Ep. 6
After 15 months of Israeli bombardment, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are returning to northern Gaza as part of the first phase of the long-awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. During his inaugural speech, President Donald Trump pledged to be a peacemaker and claimed credit for securing the deal. But mere hours after promising peace and unity, Trump’s actions and rhetoric pivoted. After his inauguration, he signed an executive order lifting Biden-era sanctions agai...
Jan 31, 2025•31 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Silicon Valley’s biggest power players traded in their hoodies for suits and ties this week as they sat front and center to watch Donald Trump take the oath of office again. Seated in front of the incoming cabinet were Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Trump confidant and leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. Apple CEO Tim Cook, Sam Altman from OpenAI, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew also looked on. For an industry once skeptic...
Jan 24, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 4
What can we expect when President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term on Monday? This week on The Intercept Briefing, we ask Intercept reporters what’s on their radar as a new president and a Republican-controlled Congress take office. They’ll be watching the tentative ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the brazenness of oligarchs seeking to profit from the new administration, and threats to reproductive healthcare. Trump’s biggest policy promise has been immigration, with...
Jan 17, 2025•34 min•Season 2Ep. 3
The Supreme Court is poised to decide a landmark case on Friday that could reshape social media in America. At stake: TikTok must either break from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or cease U.S. operations entirely. While the government frames this as a critical national security measure, the short-form video app and its creators and users see a direct challenge to First Amendment freedoms. This tension sits at the heart of a broader debate about digital communication and national interest...
Jan 09, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Few journalists have ventured as deep into the shadows of American power as The Intercept's James Risen. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Risen waged a remarkable seven-year battle against the federal government to protect his sources , risking imprisonment to defend press freedom. As he prepares to retire from journalism, he joins this week's Intercept Briefing to reflect on his extraordinary career with longtime friend and colleague David Bralow, The Intercept’s general counsel. Recently, Ri...
Jan 03, 2025•41 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Originally aired November 15, 2024 In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, Democrats and those on the left are grappling with what comes next. On The Intercept Briefing podcast this week, columnist Natasha Lennard critiques the Democratic Party. “You can’t be both at once: You can’t be the party of Wall Street, and you can’t be the party of the working class,” Lennard says. By acquiescing to Silicon Valley and Wall Street, the Democrats failed again “to offer a robust politics tha...
Dec 27, 2024•25 min
Among a president’s most profound responsibilities is the power to grant clemency. Now, as President Joe Biden's first term winds down, he faces mounting calls to use that authority to commute the sentences of the 40 men on federal death row. Donald Trump's final months in office marked a stark shift in federal execution policy. After a 17-year hiatus, his administration executed 13 people — the most under any president in over a century. While Biden halted this practice, advocates warn that a s...
Dec 20, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 8
The unexpected toppling this weekend of the Assad regime by rebel forces brought a swift end to Syria's 13-year uprising-cum-civil war and over half a century of authoritarian rule. Syrians around the world have celebrated the development , with thousands walking free from the regime's hellish prisons. But in the aftermath, the situation remains volatile. Israel has struck targets inside Syria and moved troops deeper into the occupied Golan Heights , while international powers jockey for i...
Dec 13, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 7
For years, Donald Trump has vowed to go after his critics and journalists. As he prepares to reenter the White House, he’s nominating loyalists, like incoming FBI director Kash Patel, who have pledged to do the same. The Trump administration may soon have a new weapon to target perceived enemies. On this week’s episode of The Intercept Briefing, we discuss the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or H.R. 9495. Last month, the House passed H.R. 9495, which would give ...
Dec 06, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Continued campus protests against the Gaza war have sparked heated debates around free speech, academic freedom, and the role of universities in addressing global issues. This spring saw an outpouring of students demanding that their institutions divest from Israel. Since then, universities have taken sometimes draconian measures to stop protests before they even begin. On this week’s episode of The Intercept Briefing, Intercept reporters Akela Lacy and Jonah Valdez, who have been followin...
Nov 27, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 5
As the clock winds down on the Biden presidency, Democrats have a limited window to act. Come January 20, Republicans will control the executive branch and both houses of Congress. On this week's episode of The Intercept Briefing, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa. , acknowledges the need for swift action, particularly on the war in Gaza, prison pardons, and immigration. “I’ve been on calls with advocacy groups around immigration,” she says. President-elect Donald Trump's promises to conduct mass depor...
Nov 22, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 4
