The Justice Department’s Inspector General released a long-awaited report today saying that former FBI Director James Comey violated DOJ policy when he gave a sensitive memo of a conversation he had with President Trump to a friend, and then asked the friend to leak the memo to a journalist. The Inspector General said the memo contained the names of countries raised in the conversation with Trump, which automatically classified it at the “confidential level,” the lowest level of classification. But the violation was not serious enough to prosecute.
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said on his show that a single source told him that Donald Trump’s loans with Deutsche Bank had been co-signed by unnamed Russian oligarchs. The report apparently was made up out of whole cloth, the White House threatened an immediate lawsuit, and O’Donnell has retracted the entire story and apologized. What does that say about MSNBC’s supposed “rigorous” verification and standards process? Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist, host of the television show “Redacted Tonight,” which is on RT America, and online at www.leecamp.com, joins the show.
Italy’s populist government collapsed yesterday, and President Sergio Mattarella has asked Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti to form an interim coalition government with the center-left Democratic Party. The move would force the hard right-wing League Party out of government and would stave off snap elections. Brian and John speak with Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.
Yemeni government forces have retaken control of Aden Airport from southern separatists in what by all accounts was a night of intense fighting, but by afternoon today, the separatists had regained control of the city itself. More than 30 government troops were reported killed in the fighting. The rebels are backed by the United Arab Emirates, while government forces are backed by Saudi Arabia. The US is providing weapons and logistics to both sides. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, joins the show.
The Washington Post and the New York Times reported today that the US Cyber Command in June carried out an attack that knocked out a crucial database used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to target oil tankers and shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf. This happened just hours after the IRGC shot down a US drone over the Gulf. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group Code Pink, joins Brian and John.
Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.
A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.
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