The Intercept Briefing

Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen analyzes the fallout from the Trump-Putin summit, what Putin actually wants from Trump, and the indictment of 12 Russian GRU officers. The Intercept’s Micah Lee offers a technical analysis of the indictment of Russian intelligence operatives. NYU professor Nikhil Pal Singh talks about the ahistorical analogies used to describe Trump and l’affaire Russia. Ex...

We're off this week, but we'll be back with a new episode of Intercepted on July 25th. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, 33, is running for governor of Michigan on a campaign of creating a single-payer health care system, raising the minimum wage to $15, legalizing marijuana, and a sweeping overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system. He discusses his campaign, his views on the Democratic Party, the Flint water catastrophe, and why he believes he can accomplish his agenda despite the powerful...

Legendary reporter Seymour Hersh on what he thinks of Donald Trump, his analysis of the Trump/Russia story, and some wild stories from his new memoir, “Reporter.” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt recounts the latest on the immigrant families that are being ripped apart and separated indefinitely, and shares personal stories of the victims he represents in a nationwide class action suit against the Trump...

The Intercept’s Ryan Devereaux talks about his recent reporting in the border state of Arizona and paints a harrowing picture of the human toll of family separations by ICE. Alice Speri lays out her investigation of sexual abuse by ICE officers and contractors in immigration detention centers.  Sohail Daulatzai discusses his new book," With Stones in Our Hands: Writings on Muslims, Racism and Empi...

As TV pundits gasped at the sight of the North Korean and U.S. flags side by side and Trump treating Kim Jong-un as an “equal,” most Koreans supported the summit. UC Santa Cruz professor Christine Hong talks about the significance of this moment, how the U.S. has sabotaged peace in the past and what an end to the war might look like. Tom Engelhardt, editor of TomDispatch, shares an essay on Americ...

 While Paul Manafort enjoyed the comforts of his Hamptons mansion on house arrest, Winner was denied bond, kept in a jail and has been subjected to a public smear campaign by Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department. She was the first whistleblower charged under President Trump and her treatment is unprecedented. Former drone technician-turned-whistleblower Lisa Ling talks about the campaign to free Winn...

ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have become authoritarian shock forces, operating with impunity, ripping children from their parents’ arms, and enforcing the anti-immigrant edicts of Trump and Sessions. But the horrors did not start with Trump. This week on Intercepted: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is challenging one of the most powerful Democrats in the country for his Congressional seat....

Journalist Allan Nairn analyzes Trump's rise to power, the agenda of the extremist Republican Party, and dissects the latest on the Trump/Russia investigation. Author and retired psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Kaye discusses the U.S. Army Field Manual and its Appendix M. This document is the current U.S. policy on the treatment of foreign detainees. Kaye explains why some of its currently “approved” tac...

Blacklisted academic Norman Finkelstein discusses his meticulous, scholarly documentation of the collective punishment of Gaza, “the largest concentration camp in the world.” The son of two Nazi concentration camp survivors, Finkelstein is an incendiary academic whose work has infuriated the Israeli government for decades. His latest book, "Gaza: An Inquest Into its Martyrdom," has not been review...

As a bipartisan gaggle of spies and politicians lobby for Gina Haspel to become CIA director, we look at how after World War II, the U.S. and its allies prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American POWs. Journalist Matt Taibbi talks about Trump, Russia, Putin, Stormy Daniels and the liberal embrace of authoritarianism. Sarah Jaffe reports on the teachers’ strikes across the U.S., the fi...

Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council confronts the lies and propaganda emanating from Israel and the White House on Iran and nuclear weapons. As Trump prepares his Nobel Peace Prize tweets and the afterparty for his upcoming summit with Kim Jong-un, Christine Ahn looks at U.S. war crimes in Korea, Pyongyang's strategy, and the quiet revolution that swept Moon Jae-in into power in S...

Ralph Nader is the best known public advocate in modern U.S. history, and has run for president four times. On this special episode of Intercepted, we are going to dig deep into several issues facing the country and the world right now. Nader rose to prominence in the 1960s after blowing the lid on extreme safety issues with General Motors and other car manufacturers’ products. His book, "Unsafe a...

Ralph Nader analyzes the state of the Democratic Party, the DNC lawsuit against Russia, and lays out the John Bolton threat. Whistleblower and Senate candidate Chelsea Manning talks about prison, comparisons to Edward Snowden, and her campaign. And artist Ricardo Cortés ("Go the Fuck to Sleep") talks about the secret history of the coca and cola in your Coke, his post-9/11 coloring book about xeno...

Intercepted presents "Evening at the Talk House", an original play by Wallace Shawn.  Part 3 of 3.  All it takes is complacency to enable the dirty work of an authoritarian regime. Cast: JANE - Annapurna Sriram; DICK - Wallace Shawn; ROBERT - Matthew Broderick; TED - John Epperson; NELLIE - Jill Eikenberry; TOM - Larry Pine; ANNETTE - Claudia Shear; BILL - Michael Tucker Based on the original U.S....

Intercepted presents "Evening at the Talk House", an original play by Wallace Shawn.  Part 2 of 3.  As drinks and hors d’oeuvres are consumed, small talk evolves into more sinister topics. Cast: JANE - Annapurna Sriram; DICK - Wallace Shawn; ROBERT - Matthew Broderick; TED - John Epperson; NELLIE - Jill Eikenberry; TOM - Larry Pine; ANNETTE - Claudia Shear; BILL - Michael Tucker Based on the origi...

Intercepted presents "Evening at the Talk House", an original play by Wallace Shawn.  Part 1 of 3.  A group of writers and actors reunite to celebrate a collaboration from their past. But the world is now very different. And so are they Cast: JANE - Annapurna Sriram; DICK - Wallace Shawn; ROBERT - Matthew Broderick; TED - John Epperson; NELLIE - Jill Eikenberry; TOM - Larry Pine; ANNETTE - Claudia...

Historian Andrew Bacevich and Jeremy make the case against escalating U.S. military action in Syria even if Assad’s forces were behind the attack. The acclaimed novelist Arundhati Roy talks about her new novel, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness," and offers insights on Kashmir, Narendra Modi, Trump, and more. Actor and writer Wallace Shawn (My Dinner with Andre, The Princess Bride) talks about the...

Yousef Mema, a 24-year-old nursing student in Gaza who witnessed the massacre, describes the killings and the aftermath and he has a message for U.S. lawmakers. Then, key narratives about the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooter, Omar Mateen, and his motives and alleged accomplices are falling apart. The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald talks about the new information. We speak to two DA candidates in Calif...

Famed women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, who has a case against Trump that may result in her deposing the president, analyzes the legal battles ahead for the president. Former national security briefer to George HW Bush, Ray McGovern, talks about John Bolton, Russia, and the CIA’s twitter account engaging in domestic propaganda. The Intercept’s Ryan Grim and Alex Emmons talk about Kushner, the...

In the debut episode of The Intercept’s new podcast, Mehdi Hasan sits down with independent senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to discuss why the mainstream press ignores so many of the economic issues that affect the lives of average Americans: poverty, homelessness, and inequality. Subscribe at theintercept.com/deconstructed or search for Deconstructed on your podcast platf...

Jeremy digs deep into the U.S. legacy in Iraq.  Mehdi Hasan, host of the new Intercept podcast "Deconstructed," talks about the commercial that 60 Minutes ran for the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and the war in Syria. Matthew Cole talks about how, before becoming FBI director, Chris Wray supervised an investigation that found that Blackwater founder Erik Prince likely broke U.S. laws. Th...

The Intercept’s Matthew Cole and Jeremy analyze the major re-shuffle in Trumpland and what it means for the future of the planet. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who led the investigation of Erik Prince and Blackwater for years in Congress, analyzes the ongoing scandal over his alleged role in the Trump era. Musical artists Ana Tijoux and Lila Downs talk about the politics of colonialism, neoliberalism, and...

This week we're taking a step back to look at the larger implications of the Trump administration. Rebel historian and professor Alfred McCoy breaks down the history of America's geopolitical maneuvering and how it has shifted under Obama and Trump. He explains why Trump reminds him of disgraced former British Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden. We also speak to acclaimed hip-hop artist Felipe Coron...

In 1958, a Virginia couple, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, married in the District of Columbia. About four months after their marriage, the Virginia county they lived in issued a criminal indictment charging the Lovings with violating Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage. Mildred was black and Richard was white. Their case, Loving v. Virginia, eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. And it...