The new podcast Somebody documents Shapearl Wells’s quest to find out what happened to Courtney Copeland, her 22-year-old son who wound up with a bullet in his back outside a Chicago police station in 2016 and died soon after. On April 30, Topic Studios, The Intercept, and Chicago-based journalism nonprofit Invisible Institute presented a live conversation and listening session focused on Shapearl’s experiences confronting Chicago Police and challenging the city’s long-standing racial disparitie...
May 01, 2020•49 min
While the statistics are grim, the harsh reality is how the Trump administration — as well as some governors and mayors — handled this crisis made the situation much more deadly than it should have been. New York Magazine writer Zak Cheney-Rice discusses how the economic, social, racial, and gender injustices that predate this pandemic have impacted the most vulnerable people in the United States. He also discusses Trump’s incompetence, Joe Biden’s strategy of being seldom seen or heard, and how...
Apr 29, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Hidden behind the scenes of protests against Democratic governors is the role of radical fringe groups, gun enthusiasts, and right-wing financiers, some with ties to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Author Jeff Sharlet discusses the rise of right-wing religious extremists, influential members, their broader strategy, and how the shutdown protesters are being used as disposable pawns in a much longer game. Sharlet’s books “The Family” and “C-Street” chronicle the history and strateg...
Apr 22, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Across the United States right now, there are over 32,000 people in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE. Tucked away in remote corners of the country, ICE’s detention centers have long had issues with providing adequate medical care, and have been proven breeding grounds for disease. Just last year, an outbreak of mumps overtook dozens of ICE facilities, infecting nearly 900 detainees. For the tens of thousands of people currently detained by ICE during the...
Apr 17, 2020•17 min
On March 4, 2016, Shapearl Wells wakes up to a bamming at her door. It’s the police, telling her that her 22-year-old son, Courtney Copeland, has been shot. Detectives tell her Courtney drove his BMW to a police station for help. But Shapearl’s grief turns into suspicion when police start asking her questions, so she launches her own investigation into her son’s murder, teaming up with journalists from the Invisible Institute to confront the cops and find the truth about Courtney's death. This w...
Apr 15, 2020•30 min
Bernie Sanders has suspended his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president as the country continues to be rocked by Covid-19 cases and hospitals are struggling to obtain basic supplies. The U.S. has seen almost 20 million unemployment claims in just the past few weeks while new data is revealing that Covid-19 is killing African Americans disproportionately in some major cities. What we are witnessing in stark reality is — contrary to the rhetoric of American greatness — a mask now bei...
Apr 10, 2020•49 min
Milwaukee’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Jeanette Kowalik, discusses the Wisconsin Supreme Court's reckless disregard for public safety as they force the state to conduct in-person voting. Dr. Kowalik analyzes why some 70% of Covid-19 deaths in Milwaukee are African Americans and why the city has declared racism a public health crisis. She also analyses the expected consequences of Tuesday’s crowded voting lines at limited number of polling sites across Wisconsin. Author and scholar Dr. Ibram X. Ken...
Apr 08, 2020•1 hr 11 min
Workers at Amazon, Instacart, and Whole Foods have gone on strike demanding safe work conditions. Amazon has already fired one organizer and continues to pump out misinformation and propaganda as Jeff Bezos continues to rake in billions of dollars. We hear from the fired Amazon manager Christian Smalls and talk to Jacobin magazine reporter Meagan Day about her reporting on the conditions of some essential workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, Joe Biden’s campaign against Medicare for All...
Apr 01, 2020•1 hr 19 min
As Congress continues to negotiate a bailout, Republicans seem intent on exploiting the crisis to enrich Wall Street, while Democrats offer meek resistance. Matt Bruenig of the Peoples Policy Project breaks down the various proposals in Congress, compares the U.S. plans with other countries’ responses, and lays out some of the tenets of what a bailout for the people should look like. Meanwhile, the fate of more than 2 million people locked up in U.S. jails and prisons hangs in the balance as cor...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 3 min
After weeks of downplaying the seriousness of the virus and at times implying it was a hoax, the Trump administration has announced a series of government responses to the crisis. While some actions, such as expanded testing, emergency aid to states and production of medical supplies, are aimed directly at protecting public health, serious questions abound about the economic survival of millions of people. Organizer Mariame Kaba discusses the realities facing some of the most vulnerable people i...
Mar 19, 2020•44 min
The U.S. failed to respond quickly to the coronavirus and as it spreads, it is likely to overwhelm the outdated and overwhelmingly privatized health care infrastructure. Author Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill discuss the bipartisan ruling coalition that created and supported a health system where profits are more important than public health; how the corporate vultures are circling the crisis, and how ordinary people are rising to help each other. They also discuss the Democratic primary and the ...
Mar 17, 2020•51 min
With Michigan and other states voting in primaries today, the justice movements backing the Sanders campaign are making the case that nominating Joe Biden to take on Donald Trump is a grave risk. Poet Aja Monet and organizer Astra Taylor discuss the mini-manifesto from a multi-generational, multi-racial coalition of feminists: “ Rising for a Global Feminist Future with the Movement to Elect Bernie Sanders .” As Biden’s campaign seeks to keep him away from open microphones and limit his public ap...
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr 19 min
It’s Super Tuesday and the battle lines are drawn in a campaign that will not only determine who will face Donald Trump in the general election, but also the future of the Democratic Party. The Intercept’s Lee Fang discusses who is funding and running the Biden campaign, the role of dark money in the attack against Sanders, and the looming influence of super delegates. As the Democratic establishment intensifies its battle to ward off a Sanders insurgency, former Hillary Clinton adviser Peter Da...
Mar 03, 2020•53 min
As Bloomberg launches a massive attack ad campaign against Sanders ahead of the South Carolina and Super Tuesday primaries, Sanders is facing a multi-pronged battle against the most powerful political and economic forces in the country. From Columbia, South Carolina, Rev. Jesse Jackson discusses the red-baiting of Sanders, offers his views on Democratic Socialism, and suggests Bloomberg should have run against Trump in the Republican primary. Jackson, who won the South Carolina primary in 1984 a...
Feb 26, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Billionaire former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has announced he is going to unleash a spate of attack ads against Sanders; while Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden are harping about comments Sanders made on 60 Minutes where he praised Cuba’s literacy efforts. The red-baiting attacks on Sanders are most definitely going to increase this week ahead of the South Carolina primary Saturday and next week’s Super Tuesday contest. Sanders is simultaneously battling his challengers and an often ...
Feb 25, 2020•43 min
Last month, The Intercept's research editor Margot Williams reported from Camp Justice at Guantanamo Bay during an extraordinary moment in the 40th pre-trial hearing for the five men accused of plotting 9/11. The men are being charged with crimes that can result in the death penalty and pre-trial hearings have been continuing in this case since 2012. During this hearing, the architect of the CIA's torture program, Dr. James Mitchell, was brought to the war court as a witness. This was the first ...
Feb 21, 2020•23 min
As Bloomberg nears a half a billion dollars in paid ads for his presidential campaign, he is intensifying his attacks on Bernie Sanders. Meanwhile, the red-baiting smears against Sanders are resurfacing as he surges in national polls. NYU Professor Nikhil Pal Singh, author of "Race and America’s Long War," dissects the record of Bloomberg, what his candidacy says about the state of electoral politics in the U.S. and discusses Bloomberg’s “racial terror” tactics in New York. Attorney Diala Shamas...
Feb 19, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader talks about the state of the Democratic primary, the corporate DNC panic over Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and what would happen to the Democratic party if Sanders wins. Nader also discusses a phone call he had with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just before the impeachment process began. As Michael Bloomberg buys his way into the Democratic primary, he is plastering the airwaves with hagiographic advertisements that ignore his a...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 1 min
While the Iowa Democratic Party has thoroughly fumbled reporting official results of Monday’s caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign has released figures showing a significant lead. The Intercept’s Washington D.C. bureau chief Ryan Grim reports from the ground in Iowa and traces the rise of today’s progressive moment to Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign. Producers Jack D’Isidoro and Elise Swain speak with caucus-goers in Ottumwa, where meatpacking union workers in the first satel...
Feb 04, 2020•35 min
Donald Trump’s legal team, including Allan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, argue that the president cannot be impeached for abusing his power. As the battle over Bolton testifying before the Senate intensifies, The Daily Beast’s Spencer Ackerman discusses the longterm impact of the trial on extreme executive power. He also describes his report that Saudi Arabia plotted to kidnap a critic of the regime on U.S. soil and the Cold War rhetoric deployed by the House Managers. While Bernie Sanders and Eliza...
Jan 29, 2020•54 min
Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is already unfolding as a Mitch McConnell-coordinated farce. The charges against Trump are serious, but they beg the question of why Congress has never impeached a president for war crimes. None of the three Senate trials of a president was for imperial crimes committed in plain sight, despite a long history of presidents invading countries, killing civilians, and torturing prisoners. Constitutional and international law scholar Marjorie Cohn discusses the trial ...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Jeremy Scahill hosts a live discussion in New York on the unfolding crisis with Intercept senior columnist Mehdi Hasan, reporter Murtaza Hussain, national security editor Vanessa Gezari, and senior news editor Ali Gharib. They discuss what the latest developments mean for Iran and the U.S. and how tensions have rapidly escalated since Donald Trump came to office. Will Trump’s current posture hold, or will he order more violence? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 15 min
Other podcasts make money from advertising and corporate sponsors. We don’t have ads — Intercepted is powered by its members. When you support Intercepted, you become a part of the journalism that holds the powerful to account. Become a member — together we can make a difference. If you become a sustaining member at $10/month, we’ll send you our stylish Intercepted t-shirt. This is a community effort. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a difference. Generous support of listeners like you...
Dec 29, 2019•2 min
Former senior health insurance executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter explains McKinsey’s role in our insurance nightmare and how Pete Buttigieg is using industry talking points to attack Medicare for All. Potter also discusses his career working for insurance giants, soaring medical costs in the U.S. and his role in killing Hillary Clinton’s health care initiative in the 1990s. Propublica reporter Ian MacDougall discusses McKinsey’s relationship with the Saudi regime, its work for Rikers...
Dec 18, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Monday marked the five year anniversary of the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s executive summary on the CIA’s torture program. The former top Senate Intelligence Committee investigator, Daniel Jones and his team combed through 6.3 million pages of CIA records. Jones discusses the years-long battle with the Bush and Obama administrations to make public the findings of this still-classified 7,000 page report. In this bonus episode, Jones expands on the torture report findings. Jones...
Dec 11, 2019•1 hr 36 min
As Washington D.C. remains focused on the Trump impeachment, Daniel Jones, the former top Senate Intelligence Committee investigator into the CIA torture program discusses the years-long battle with the Bush and Obama administrations to make public the findings of his still-classified 7,000 page report. Jones, the subject of the new feature film, The Report, starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening, discusses his findings. He tells the story of how the CIA, under John Brennan, spied on the Senate...
Dec 04, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Other podcasts make money from advertising and corporate sponsors. We don’t have ads — Intercepted is powered by its members. All donations are welcome. You can make a one-time gift or become a sustaining member. If you become a sustaining member at $10/month, we’ll send you our stylish Intercepted t-shirt. This is a community effort. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a difference. Generous support of listeners like you is what makes our fierce and independent reporting possible. Do wha...
Dec 03, 2019•2 min
Jeffrey Sterling was indicted in 2010 on charges under the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking sensitive national security information to then-New York Times reporter James Risen. Sterling discusses his time as a CIA case officer and how his internal complaint about Operation Merlin, a half-baked CIA scheme that had tried to disrupt Iran’s nuclear weapons development, led to his firing. Sterling explains the discrimination suit he filed against the CIA and how there is no evidence that he was th...
Nov 27, 2019•43 min
Iranian-American author and analyst Hooman Majd discusses a century of history marked by intervention and threats from major world powers. Beginning with Britain, Russia, and Germany battling for control of Iran’s oil, Majd and Jeremy Scahill discuss the CIA coup against Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, the Islamic revolution, and the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and how Washington has repeatedly tried to bring down the government of the Islamic Republic. The Intercept’s investigativ...
Nov 20, 2019•56 min
Early Monday morning, a few minutes past midnight, The Intercept published a major series of investigative stories based on a cache of more than 700 pages of secret Iranian intelligence files detailing years of “painstaking work by Iranian spies to co-opt the country’s leaders, pay Iraqi agents working for the Americans to switch sides, and infiltrate every aspect of Iraq’s political, economic, and religious life.” On this special episode of Intercepted: The Intercept’s Murtaza Hussein and New Y...
Nov 19, 2019•37 min
