Tommy and Ben are on the Trump corruption beat, including Vietnam’s fast-tracking of a Trump golf project for favorable treatment, the administration pushing Elon Musk’s Starlink on foreign countries, the president’s grotesque dinner for buyers of his memecoin, and Cory Booker’s embarrassing vote for Charles Kushner to be ambassador to France. Additionally, they talk about the reduction of National Security Council staff and how its operations are changing for the worse under Trump and the administration’s hostility to international students. Also discussed: the tragic killing of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington, Israel’s widely denounced new method of distributing aid in Gaza, Putin’s ongoing humiliation of Trump, North Korea’s failed battleship launch, Japan’s rice crisis and how a joke cost a government minister his job, and the crucial role a biscuit tin plays in New Zealand politics. Finally, Tommy speaks with Representative Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, about the dangers of politicizing intelligence, how the war in Gaza might be fueling terrorism, and more.
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CHAPTERS
0:00 - Intro
3:15 - Trump's corruption
13:38 - Trump's crypto dinner
19:50 - Cory Booker votes for Charles Kushner
21:20 - National Security staff cuts
27:36 - Pausing student visas
33:03 - Ads
36:11 - D.C. shooting
41:56 - Gaza updates
51:26 - Ukraine-Russia War updates
55:15 - North Korea shipwreck
58:01 - Rice crisis in Japan
1:02:45 - Biscuit tin
1:05:34 - Ads
1:08:00 - Jim Himes interview
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Photos courtesy of AP Photo Archive
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