Top FBI Officials Could Testify Against Trump

“In any high-stakes matter, you are going to want to talk to anyone in the vicinity of a conversation,” says law professor Samuel Buell, a former federal prosecutor. “It doesn’t mean that they end up as trial witness. But at an investigative stage, you are going to talk to all of these people. You want their stories locked in. You want to know if what they have to say would help you or hurt you.”

Watch More on CNBC

Is U.S. Diplomacy Under Friendly Fire?

After six months of the Trump administration, America’s professional diplomats are reportedly “desperate” for a foreign policy — or even for something to do. They complain that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has walled himself off from the diplomatic corps and that he’s being walled off from the White House. Political scientist Peter Feaver, a former national security adviser to Presidents Clinton and Bush, talks about the concerns.

Listen to More on KCRW

 

 

 

Why Tax Reform Should Address Inequities in Health Subsidies

“Realistically, the unraveling of Obamacare Exchanges and the pyramid of perverse incentives created under the Medicaid expansion will have to be addressed,” writes Chris Conover, a research scholar at the Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research. “In the course of addressing tax reform, Republicans have a golden opportunity to take a bold step that make the task of each easier. I am hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.”

Read More in Forbes

 

Trump White House Tests Capacity For Outrage

The president signed his hotly contested travel ban on visitors from selected Muslim-majority countries at the Pentagon and publicly opined about how troops had voted for him and complained about the news media in front of military audiences. The comment was a mistake, says political scientist Peter Feaver. “While there is a legitimate role for senior brass to explain military affairs to the public, it is not good for civil-military relations to have the military viewed as a special interest group pleading for bigger budgets.”

Read More in The New York Times

President Trump Wades Into Venezuelan Row

Donald Trump has threatened to take strong and swift action against Venezuela if President Nicolas Maduro imposes constitutional changes. That “signals a change in U.S. thinking,” says Fuqua professor Patrick Duddy, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela who now directs Duke’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. “Today’s announcement suggests Washington is considering much broader sanctions.”

Listen to More on the BBC