The Intercept Briefing

This week on The Intercept Briefing, we're re-sharing a conversation we first aired on March 7, 2025 – a conversation that’s only grown more relevant since it first aired.  It’s a deep dive into the right-wing Christian ideologies shaping Donald Trump’s inner circle, featuring journalist and author of “ Wild Faith ,” Talia Lavin, and Intercept politics reporter Jessica Washington.  As Tr...

A tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Iran announced Monday appears to be holding. President Donald Trump made the announcement after unilaterally dragging the U.S. into the conflict and authorizing strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites using 30,000-pound bunker busters .  Israel attacked Iran on June 13, just days before Iran and the U.S. were set to resume talks in Oman over the country’s...

In the wake of the political assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, prominent right-wing figures moved quickly to assign blame. Utah Sen. Mike Lee pinned the killings on “ Marxism .” Elon Musk pointed to the “ far left .” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, said it “ seems to be a leftist .” But the facts quickly told a different story: The suspect, 57-year-old Van...

Across the country, demonstrators are preparing for a weekend of protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, Donald Trump's planned June 14 military parade , and Trump himself . Ground zero for these demonstrations is likely to be Los Angeles, where heavily armed ICE agents have carried out raids at churches, graduations, parking lots, and scores of other gathering spots...

At a recent rally at U.S. Steel in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump stood in front of a row of workers in hard hats and safety vests and proclaimed, “We're right now on the verge of passing the largest working class tax cuts in American history.” He framed his “Big Beautiful Bill” — a massive tax cut for the wealthy — as a blue-collar blessing.  The sleight of hand is classic Trump, and what makes...

“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...

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, inc...

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 overstat...

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” Radl...

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 th...

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 o...

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 to...

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 occupi...

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 g...

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 environmen...

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 jour...

“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 drama...

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 gav...

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 durin...

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 great...

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 Republ...

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 f...

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...

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 s...

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 rhe...