The News Agents - USA

There were so many signs that Graham Platner was a flawed candidate. A history of offensive social media posts, A tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. A sexting scandal. And last month, a series of ex-partners accusing Platner of erratic and angry behaviour. But it wasn't until this week, when a woman told CNN that she had been sexually assaulted by Platner, that his position became untenable as the D...

President Donald Trump made more than $1bn last year from business dealings in cryptocurrency. This week's disclosure shows his crypto earnings now far overshadow income from his real estate business. On this week's episode we ask why nobody seems to have too much of a problem with it? Later, we discuss this week's Supreme Court judgments, where Trump's plan to over-turn the right to birthright ci...

There was something of a political earthquake in New York overnight. Three left wing Democratic candidates, endorsed by Mamdani, sweeping out established Congressional characters and hailing in a new era of progressive politics in the Big Apple. Mamdani's political stardust shows little sign of waning - is he now the most powerful figure in his party? And what does that mean for the future of the...

"Congratulations to all!" Read the President's tweet on truth social. Nominally, this was about the end of the (self-imposed) Iran war. But it’s also possible Trump was congratulating himself on his 80th birthday, which somehow managed to hijack the 250th Independence Day anniversary. So why was there a cage fight on the White House lawn? What does Joe Rogan really make of Trump now? And why - if...

How should Democrats be feeling today about their Senate candidate for Maine? Graham Platner has a Nazi tattoo, a dodgy past and quite a lot of baggage. But his fans call him an authentic voice that’s ready to shake up the election in a seat they just can’t seem to win. We ask journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan what’s going on in the Democratic Party more widely - and as turmoil strikes the he...

Trump wanted taxpayer money set aside for a 'slush fund' critics feared would be used to payout millions for his January 6th allies. But in a rare act of defiance, Republicans have killed off the plan before it could become reality. Why did Trump’s own party draw the line here? Was it a principled stand, a political calculation, or a sign that some Republicans are growing nervous about defending e...

Ken Paxton - Texas Attorney General - and a politician with a string of sleaze investigations behind him - has just been anointed by Trump as the Texas Senate candidate. Has Trump made a terrible mistake here? Why are the Democrats licking their lips? And is a blue seat in a deep red state starting to seem possible? Later, Philadelphia congressman Brendan Boyle on Trump’s slush fund, the mid term...

Donald Trump announced a $1.776bn new scheme this week labelled an 'anti-weaponisation fund' to compensate citizens who've been mistreated by the US justice system. Who could the President have in mind as in need of compensation? How about the January 6th rioters? Well they are stepping forward in their droves to state their intentions to claim millions from the IRS - and Trump seems to be cheerin...

Did Trump really mean to tell Americans he wasn't thinking of their financial situation "at all" when he went to war with Iran? He repeated it several times so we can assume it was no slip of the tongue. The democrats are delighted. His allies are dismayed. Expect that line to get played on a loop. But has Trump stopped worrying about the economy for everyone except his own family? And has he give...

Overnight in Indiana ,Trump showed the grasp he still has over the Republican Party where the candidates he’d endorsed for the State Senate won their primaries against the moderate Republicans that had stood up to his attempts to gerrymander. It's remarkable in itself that Trump was at all invested in the races - these are local politicians earning $33,000 a year - and yet his influence proved key...

Fiona Hill served in Donald Trump's first administration and is one of the most authoritative voices on geopolitics. She advised on his Russia strategy and matters of national intelligence - before becoming a witness in his impeachment in 2019. She has worked up close and personal with the President. And, as the war in Iran rages, and Putin continues to try and chisel Trump away from Europe's posi...

Voters in Virginia have approved changes to their electoral map which essentially makes it easier for Democrats to win. Republicans argue they’ve been disenfranchised - and they’re right: It’s ugly. It’s unfair. But it’s not illegal. What’s more, they've already done the same thing in the red state of Texas. So are democrats finally learning how to play dirty? Is it enough to win? And are they pre...

Has Trump’s erratic behaviour and threatening rhetoric over the last few weeks rendered him unfit for office? The question seems an obvious one to House Democrats - who are petitioning to remove him under 25th amendment. They won’t succeed. No one ever has. But it raises a bigger question of how many and for how long those around Trump are prepared to stand by and do nothing. Miles Taylor was in t...

Besides Trump's threat to eliminate Iran, something else remarkable happened this week. A string of Republican Congressmen finally found the courage in themselves to come forward and criticise that threat. Trump's actions in the Middle East are a disaster for his colleagues. Gas prices are up, the affordability agenda is in tatters, and America looks on course for a humiliating military defeat to...

Things just aren’t going well for Donald Trump right now. Forget the Iran war, his spectacular NATO fallout, rising gas prices, Trump’s just heard that the construction of his 90,000ft ballroom will have to be paused after a judge told him he was the White House steward and not its owner. The affordability crisis in America is spiking as his poll numbers are tanking. Is he looking for a speedy way...

Vast sums of money was traded before President Trump's now famous attempt to announce an Iran peace deal on Monday. The speculation was that those with prior knowledge had capitalised by insider trading. Today we’re joined by Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman to explain why this sounds highly plausible, and why there’s no ethics investigation even if it’s true. Later - was Meta and Google...

The first resignation over the Iran war came yesterday. Oddball Joe Kent, Director of counter-terrorism, said he disagreed with President Trump's war. Are others starting to feel the same? Loud voices in MAGA are telling Trump he’s got it wrong. What happens now? We talk to Jason Greenblatt, White House special envoy to the Middle East during Trump's first term, about what Trump is trying to achie...

Despite being at war, America's commander in chief President Trump has been busy hosting election-style campaign events ahead of important midterm elections. It was billed as an "affordability tour", a chance for Trump to hammer home the ways in which his presidency will make voters feel better off. But predictably, at a rally in Kentucky, Trump went off script. He used the platform to repeatedly...

Why did Trump decide to strike Iran? Was it the US that started the war? Is it even a war? Listening to senior figures in the administration and in MAGA it's not entirely clear. The accounts are confused, contradictory, and seem to change by day. What is clearer is that the American public don't support the action. Polling suggests only one in four Americans back the strikes - and a series of Trum...

Has the DOJ withheld documents from the Epstein files that relate to allegations against President Trump? That's the accusation from senior Democrats after an NPR investigation found that more than 50 pages of FBI interviews and notes from a conversation with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse when she was a minor were removed from the dataset. California Congressman Robert Garcia is callin...

Senator Mark Kelly is a former astronaut, a Navy pilot, and was almost Kamala Harris VP pick. Now he’s weighing up a run for the presidency himself in 2028. He came into the News Agents studio this lunchtime to tell us why Trump is helping his cause by threatening to have him “hanged“ and why it’s important for European leaders, including Starmer, to push back on Trump’s bullying. The News Agents...

Trump is trying his best to manifest good polling numbers. But the raw numbers as they stand are dire for the President. This week, we talk to top pollster Doug Sosnik, who was at Bill Clinton’s side for six years, about political shamelessness, polling and 'the Epstein class'. The News Agents USA is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

In an exclusive interview with Emily, Amy Wallace - who co-authored Virginia Giuffre's posthumous memoir - warns that lives are being put in danger by the way that the US department of justice has handled the Epstein files. Why are victims' names appearing unredacted but possible perpetrators are having their names concealed, and testimony against them omitted entirely? Donald Trump has told Ameri...

The actor Billy Crudup, known for The Morning show, Jay Kelly, and Almost Famous, is bringing the Western to the London stage in High Noon. It's an allegory of McCarthyism and Hollywood’s “black list ". This week, he joined Emily in the studio to discuss why he’s drawn to stories of moral cowardice and why he finds it so easy to speak up right now. The News Agents USA is brought to you by HSBC UK...

The deadline to release the Epstein files is now over a month old. Last night, a congressional committee confirmed Ghislaine Maxwell would appear before it in a hearing on February 9th. Although she may choose to say little. The vote in Congress last November created a legal obligation on the government to release the Epstein files. So what happens now if the justice department refuses to comply?...