The Report, Part VI: Back Channels

The Report, Part VI: Back Channels

It’s December 29, 2016. The Obama administration announces that it’s imposing sanctions on Russia, as punishment for election interference. Michael Flynn has been tapped to become Trump’s national security advisor when the new administration takes office in January, but it’s still the transition period. Flynn is taking a few days vacation at the beach, when he sees the news. He grabs his phone and texts the transition team at Mar a Lago. He writes “Tit for tat with Russia not good” and says that the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak is reaching out to him today. Flynn calls Kislyak and asks that Russia not escalate in response to the sanctions. Apparently, it works. The next day, in a surprise move, Putin says that Russia won’t retaliate. Trump tweets, “Great move on delay (by V. Putin). I always knew he was very smart.”

In the sixth episode, we tell the stories of Russian policy outreach to the Trump campaign, a story that begins during the campaign and accelerates after Trump unexpectedly wins the presidency in November 2016. The story of the Russian efforts to reset relations with the incoming administration begins with a policy speech Trump delivers at a hotel in Washington D.C.; it runs through a resort at a remote island in the Indian Ocean; it runs through the U.N. Security Council, Mar a Lago and the Dominican Republic, and it ends with the president’s national security adviser resigning in disgrace.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(2880)

Lawfare Daily: Unearthing and Reckoning with the Intelligence Excesses of the Cold War

Lawfare Daily: Unearthing and Reckoning with the Intelligence Excesses of the Cold War

Lawfare Senior Editor Michael Feinberg sits down with Matthew Guariglia and Brian Hochman to discuss their new book, “The Church Committee ReportRevelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation into...

4 Feb 55min

Lawfare Daily: Misogyny and Violent Extremism with Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Lawfare Daily: Misogyny and Violent Extremism with Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a professor at American University, discusses her new book, "Man Up: The New Misogyny & the Rise of Violence Extremism," with Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor Daniel Byman. She exp...

3 Feb 51min

Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Jan. 30

Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Jan. 30

In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Senior Editor Eric Columbus sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Anna Bower, Roger Parloff, and Molly Roberts to discuss the FBI search of the election cente...

2 Feb 1h 28min

Lawfare Archive: Discussing President Trump’s First Batch of Executive Orders

Lawfare Archive: Discussing President Trump’s First Batch of Executive Orders

From January 27, 2025: In a live conversation on January 23, Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes spoke to Lawfare Senior Editors Scott R. Anderson, Anna Bower, Quinta Jurecic, and Alan Rozenshtein...

1 Feb 57min

Lawfare Archive: Judge Cannon Dismisses Classified Documents Case Against Trump

Lawfare Archive: Judge Cannon Dismisses Classified Documents Case Against Trump

From July 16, 2024: On July 15, Judge Cannon granted former President Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith for the alleged mishandling of classified documents...

31 Jan 58min

Lawfare Daily: The Thousands of Lawsuits Challenging Pres. Trump’s Mandatory Alien Detention Policy

Lawfare Daily: The Thousands of Lawsuits Challenging Pres. Trump’s Mandatory Alien Detention Policy

Kyle Cheney, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, speaks to Lawfare Senior Editor Roger Parloff about the thousands of habeas corpus cases he has pored through challenging a Trump administratio...

30 Jan 38min

Rational Security: The “Pawing at Scott” Edition

Rational Security: The “Pawing at Scott” Edition

This week, Scott sat down with his Lawfare colleagues Alan Rozenshtein, Eric Columbus, and Molly Roberts for a deep dive into two of the week’s big national security news stories:“Slipping Down the Sl...

29 Jan 1h 13min

Lawfare Daily: Trump, Greenland, and the International Order

Lawfare Daily: Trump, Greenland, and the International Order

The crisis over President Trump's threats to annex Greenland appears to be over for now. But the second- and third-order consequences continue to unfold as NATO allies try to manage their relationship...

29 Jan 42min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
i-retten
stopp-verden
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-gukild-johaug
fotballpodden-2
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
nokon-ma-ga
rss-ness
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden