Rational Security is a weekly roundtable podcast featuring Shane Harris of the Wall Street Journal, Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare and the Brookings Institution, and Tamara Cofman Wittes, who directs the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. It's a lively and irreverent discussion of news, ideas, foreign policy, and law. There's always a laugh. Often, there are guests. Sometimes there's even Scotch. A production of Spaghetti on the Wall Productions. You can subscribe here or on iTunes.
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The gang from Bombshell joins us for a roundup of the week’s news: President Trump signs an order to keep immigrant families together, trying to defuse a crisis of his own making. Is the U.S. in a trade war with China? And get ready for Space Force!
President Trump returns from a summit meeting with Kim Jong Un, praising the North Korean dictator and castigating U.S. allies. A senior Senate staffer is indicted in an investigation of press leaks. And where did Trump’s Middle East policy come from? Israel and the UAE say a new expose.
Paul Manafort gets in touch with some old friends. Was it witness tampering? Donald Trump discovers an Article II interpretation that would make Hamilton blush. And we’re on the edge of our seats for a Supreme Court decision on the 4th Amendment and cell phone records.
President Trump told Jeff Sessions that he should not recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Trump feuds with the Homeland Security secretary as the administration separates children from their families at the U.S. border with Mexico. And investigators determine that Russia was the source of a missile that shot down a Malaysian airliner in 2014.
President Trump orders the Justice Department to investigate the Russia investigation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo details the administration’s strategy for dealing with Iran. And Trump appears to say that North Korea might not need to get rid of its nuclear weapons after all.
Israel kills dozens of protesters in Gaza as the US opens a new embassy in Jerusalem. President Trump wants to save jobs at ZTE, the Chinese company officials say threatens US national security. And the government has a suspect in the leak of CIA hacking tools.
President Trump decides to undo the Iran deal. Gina Haspel faces a grilling in the Senate. And Devin Nunes wants information that intelligence officials fear could jeopardize a source.
Robert Mueller has lots of questions for President Trump. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran lied about its nuclear weapons program. And John Kelly has reportedly described the president as an unhinged “idiot.”
Gina Haspel faces an uphill climb to become the next CIA director. Former FBI No. 2 Andrew McCabe may face criminal charges. And the Democratic National Committee files suit over the 2016 theft of its emails.
Jim Comey has a few words to say. Nikki Haley is not confused about anything. And Mike Pompeo makes a surprise trip to North Korea.