Extreme weather is taking a toll around the globe, with intense storms battering parts of Europe, and historic drought revealing long-submerged relics in other regions. China is also wrestling with one of its hottest, driest summers on record. A bitter recall campaign forced Chesa Boudin, San Francisco's progressive district attorney, out of office in June. But critics of his replacement, Brooke Jenkins, say her new policies are troubling. And in headlines: a car explosion killed the daughter of...
Aug 22, 2022•19 min
A federal judge in Florida announced Thursday he is "inclined" to release parts of the affidavit that led to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago earlier this month. That means it could be made public, giving the Justice Department a week to submit its redactions. Meanwhile, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to tax evasion – and agreed to testify in a broader investigation of the company. And in headlines: Israeli forces raided the offices of...
Aug 19, 2022•21 min
CDC director Rochelle Walensky announced Wednesday the agency is making big structural and cultural changes, following widespread criticism over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of Crooked’s America Dissected, joins us to discuss what that overhaul will look like, and why it matters. And in headlines: a deadly explosion erupted at a mosque in Kabul, Liz Cheney hints at a White House bid after her defeat in Wyoming's House Republican primary, and former Vice Preside...
Aug 18, 2022•20 min
The CDC recently reported that new monkeypox cases in New York City appear to be slowing down, though new cases are slowly rising nationwide. Dr. Carlton Thomas, an advocate for queer health and sex positivity, joins us to talk about the stigma surrounding the disease, and safer sex practices for people who are at higher risk for exposure. And in headlines: President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, former Trump White House lawyers were interviewed by the FBI over sensitive doc...
Aug 17, 2022•19 min
More allies of former President Donald Trump will have to appear before a special grand jury in Georgia in the coming weeks, as part of the criminal investigation over possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 election. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, is now a target of that probe. And as millions of people across the country face the effects of extreme weather, a new poll finds that fewer Americans are concerned about how climate change will impact them personally. And in headlines: ...
Aug 16, 2022•23 min
The Justice Department is investigating former President Donald Trump for potentially violating three federal laws related to handling government documents, including the Espionage Act. That's according to the unsealed search warrant executed at his Mar-a-Lago residence last week. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s Strict Scrutiny, joins us to discuss Trump's mounting legal problems. Meanwhile, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint bulletin warning of an uptick in violent thr...
Aug 15, 2022•25 min
Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unexpected announcement yesterday to address the FBI search for confidential documents at Donald Trump’s home at Mar-A-Lago. The Washington Post reports some of those documents involve nuclear weapons. Because of increasing online and in-person threats to FBI officials, Garland went to great lengths to emphasize that the search was in the public interest and not politically motivated. The House is expected to vote on the Inflation Reduction Act today. It ...
Aug 12, 2022•18 min
Former President Donald Trump pleaded the Fifth Amendment during depositions for the civil case against him by New York state. The strategy could be advantageous for him since anything revealed could be used in the criminal case against Trump by Manhattan’s District Attorney. Jury selection began Wednesday in Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit against Los Angeles County. Vanessa Bryant is the widow of Kobe Bryant and the mother of Gianna Bryant, both of whom were killed in a helicopter crash in January of...
Aug 11, 2022•18 min
The FBI raided Donald Trump’s Florida property Mar-A-Lago on Monday. A New York Times source says agents were searching for classified documents the former President might’ve taken with him after he left the White House. But the event was just one of several developments in the past few days involving Trump records kept from the various teams investigating him. Ilya Marritz, co-host of the podcasts "Will Be Wild" and “Trump Inc,” helps us round up all of Trump’s mounting legal battles, including...
Aug 10, 2022•25 min
Three men were sentenced in federal court for their role in the February 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery. The man who shot Arbery, Travis McMichael, and his father Gregory McMichael were sentenced to life in prison. William Bryan, who was with the McMichaels that day, got 35 years. A new study published in the Nature Climate Change journal found that climate change can worsen the spread of infectious diseases like malaria, cholera and anthrax. It also details how climate disasters can wreak havoc o...
Aug 09, 2022•20 min
Hot Take’s Mary Annaïse Heglar joins us to talk about the Senate passing the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday. It now heads to the House this week where it’s expected to pass. One of the main pieces of the legislation addresses the climate crisis, but the bill ultimately falls short of many activists’ demands. And in headlines: Indiana’s banned nearly all abortions, President Biden is now negative for COVID, and Lake Mead revealed another set of human skeletal remains. Show Notes: NPR: “Democra...
Aug 08, 2022•21 min
The U.S. declared a federal public health emergency over the monkeypox outbreak on Thursday after the states of New York, California and Illinois did the same recently. A Russian court convicted WNBA star Brittney Griner of smuggling illegal drugs into the country and sentenced her to nine years in prison — all because she had less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. And in headlines: the Justice Department charged four police officers for violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights, the N...
Aug 05, 2022•17 min
Far-right talk show host Alex Jones took the stand on Wednesday in one of his many defamation cases. Jones has spent the last decade lying repeatedly about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting and claiming that it was a hoax. In headlines: Republican Congresswoman Jackie Walorski died in a car accident, the Justice Department is investigating over 100 cases of threats made against election workers, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan. And we chat with Zayd Dohrn, host of Crooked’s “Mother Country...
Aug 04, 2022•23 min
Abortion access in Kansas will be preserved because yesterday the state overwhelmingly voted against a referendum designed to open the door to abortion bans. Meanwhile, the Justice Department sued Idaho on Tuesday over that state’s abortion law — the first lawsuit filed against a state’s anti-abortion law by the Biden administration since the Supreme Court overturned Roe. California declared a state of emergency on Monday to combat the outbreak of monkeypox. New York and Illinois have done the s...
Aug 03, 2022•23 min
Kansas votes today on whether the state’s constitution should still explicitly protect the right to an abortion. Ashley All, a spokesperson for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, joins us to discuss how she’s been organizing ahead of the vote. And in headlines: the U.S. killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShaun Watson was temporarily suspended, and Capitol rioter Guy Reffitt was sentenced to over seven years in prison. Show Notes: Kansans for Constitutional F...
Aug 02, 2022•21 min
Indiana state lawmakers on Saturday moved one step closer to banning nearly all abortions. The vote puts the state on track to be one of the first in the nation to enact new abortion restrictions after Roe V. Wade was overturned. President Biden tested positive for COVID again over the weekend. He had one of the uncommon “rebound” cases after taking Paxlovid. And in headlines: Ukraine’s President ordered a mass evacuation from the Donetsk Province, Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell passed away,...
Aug 01, 2022•17 min
Senate Democrats reached a deal on a historic climate spending package – thanks to a surprise reversal from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who previously rejected the measure. Judges in North Dakota and Wyoming both put temporary holds on abortion bans that would have taken effect in those states this week. And in headlines: the U.S. economy shrank again, torrential rains triggered devastating floods in eastern Kentucky, and Pope Francis ends his week-long tour of Canada today. Show Notes: T...
Jul 29, 2022•19 min
The U.S. announced Wednesday that it has officially proposed a deal to Russia for the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner as well as former Marine Paul Whelan. Griner also got the chance to speak for herself in court during her trial. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75% on Wednesday, continuing its efforts to bring down inflation without causing a recession. This is the fourth rate increase this year, and it comes as inflation continues to hit record levels. And in headlines: the...
Jul 28, 2022•13 min
WNBA star Brittney Griner is set to testify in Russian court today for the first time since being detained back in February at a Moscow airport. Her defense team hopes that her guilty plea will be taken into account by the court as a mitigating factor in its sentencing. Russia said on Tuesday that it will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024. This would end decades of partnership between the country and NASA – which is led by the United States – and Russia will reportedly build...
Jul 27, 2022•15 min
Pope Francis apologized on Monday to a crowd of survivors, advocates and others in Alberta, Canada, for the Catholic Church’s historic role in the mistreatment, abuse and even death of Indigenous children throughout the country. We wanted to put the spotlight on Indigenous people and how they reacted to the Pope’s apologies after decades of working for this moment. And in headlines: a sixth, lesser-known co-defendant in the Central Park Five case was exonerated; Myanmar’s military executed four ...
Jul 26, 2022•13 min
About 71 million Americans live in places that were dangerously hot on Sunday. Temperatures from Texas to Arkansas, from Washington DC to Massachusetts faced temperatures that were so high that they were a public health risk. Pope Francis arrived in Canada on Sunday for what he has called a “pilgrimage of penance” to acknowledge and apologize for the wrongdoing done to Canada’s Indigenous people by the Roman Catholic Church. One of his focuses is the historical abuse that children endured at the...
Jul 25, 2022•20 min
President Biden tested positive for COVID. He’s fine, but remember — everyone 6 months and over is eligible for vaccination, so get yours today. The January 6th Committee met in prime time last night for its final hearing of the summer. They went moment-by-moment over the 187 minutes where former President Donald Trump failed to stop the mob. Brian Beutler, Crooked’s own Editor-in-Chief and host of the pod Positively Dreadful, joins us to recap the hearings so far. And in headlines: the House pa...
Jul 22, 2022•23 min
A bipartisan group of senators announced a new bill on Wednesday that aims to protect election integrity. The legislation would make it clear that former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election was not okay. Monkeypox cases are spreading throughout the U.S. and the vaccine rollout has hit some bumps. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” tells us what we need to know about the outbreak. And in headlines: President Biden issued executive orders to addre...
Jul 21, 2022•20 min
The House passed the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday with bipartisan support. The law would mandate that all states recognize same-sex marriage and formally repeal the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, which federally outlawed same-sex marriage. Meanwhile the White House is hoping to pass a “slimmed down” version of Biden’s domestic policy bill through Congress soon. But to do it, they need the support of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin — the same man who dealt a huge blow to the Presid...
Jul 20, 2022•20 min
Heat waves are devastating people in Europe and North America this summer. In the U.K. it’s hotter than the Sahara Desert, and in the U.S. 35 million Americans are currently living in places with excessive heat warnings this week. The ACLU published “thousands of pages of previously unreleased records” on Monday about the government surreptitiously collecting people’s private information without a warrant. The report shows that the Department of Homeland Security — including border protection an...
Jul 19, 2022•22 min
None of the 400 law enforcement officials on location at the Uvalde mass school shooting in May did anything for over an hour to stop the gunman who eventually killed 21 people, mostly children. That’s according to a new report released by Texas officials on Sunday. Patients around the country are reportedly having medical care delayed or denied over concerns from doctors and hospitals. Those providers fear that treating some pregnancy-related medical emergencies would run afoul of the abortion ...
Jul 18, 2022•19 min
The House will vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act today in an effort to codify abortion rights — but without a Democratic majority in the Senate as well, it probably won’t go anywhere. Congresswoman Barbara Lee joins us to discuss what Democrats can actually do on a federal level to protect access to abortion right now. A 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio had to cross state lines to Indiana a few weeks ago to get an abortion. Her story has garnered national attention recently, specifically ...
Jul 15, 2022•21 min
Consumer prices are up 9.1% over this time last year, according to new inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the highest inflation rate in 40 years. President Biden landed in the Middle East on Wednesday and will be there until the end of the week. His administration is focused on building support among Israeli leadership for the Iran Nuclear Deal. And in headlines: School surveillance video of the Uvalde school shooting was released, Sri Lanka’s freshly ousted president fle...
Jul 14, 2022•14 min
As the U.S. sees another rise in COVID cases, White House officials are working to give all adults access to a second vaccine booster shot. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” tells us what we need to know about the Omicron sub-variants driving the current surge in cases. And in headlines: California residents can now sue gun companies when their products cause harm, Twitter officially sued Elon Musk, and this year’s Emmy nominations were announced. S...
Jul 13, 2022•20 min
The House Select Committee investigating January 6th is back in action with another hearing today. Dan Pfieffer, co-host of Crooked’s “Pod Save America,” gives us a refresher on what we’ve learned so far and what to watch for today. And in headlines: Russia is ramping up its attacks on eastern Ukraine, a Minnesota judge struck down most of the state’s abortion restrictions, and actress Lea Michele will replace Beanie Feldstein in the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl." Show Notes: Crooked Coffee i...
Jul 12, 2022•18 min
