The battle between the FBI and the House Intelligence Committee continued to worsen yesterday, as FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the FBI has "grave concerns" about the release of the Nunes memo because of material omissions of fact. Meanwhile, Congressman Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and the actual author of the Nunes memo, announced his retirement.
Today the hosts continue the weekly series "Criminal Injustice," highlighting the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Paul Wright, the founder and Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), join the show.
The United States is facing a crisis of epic proportions in opioid addiction. The problem is so severe that the lifespan of the average American has actually declined for the past two years. That's all because of opioid deaths, and West Virginia has been particularly hard hit. Brian and John speak with Travis Boothe, an organizer with the Morgantown Tenants Union.
President Trump has signed an Executive Order that will keep the military prison at Guantanamo Bay open indefinitely. The President also said in his State of the Union address earlier this week that he wants to start sending more prisoners to Guantanamo, a reversal of the Obama Administration's policy of winding down the population there. Jeremy Varon, a professor at the New School in New York and an anti-Guantanamo activist, joins the show.
Lifetime doping bans against 28 Russian athletes were overturned on Thursday, throwing the International Olympic Committee's policy on Russian doping into chaos. The decision means that the athletes' clean 2014 test results will be reinstated, and they may all seek in the Winter Games next week in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Alan Moore, a specialist in sports governance and the host of the Capital FM Sports show based in Moscow, joins Brian and John.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is in China this week, working on a trade deal with Beijing that offers Britain as what she calls "a reliable, competitive base in Europe." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said British-Chinese relations were in "a golden era." Jude Woodward, London mayor Ken Livingstone's advisor on culture and creative industries and the author of the new book "The US vs China: Asia's new Cold War?", joins the show.
A federal judge yesterday dismissed all charges against Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, who had been accused of a variety of crimes related to corruption. Menendez already had gone on trial, which ended in a hung jury. A judge subsequently threw out seven of the 18 charges. The Menendez case was a test of anti-bribery laws in the wake of a 2016 decision which narrowed their scope. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
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