The Leslie Marshall Show

John Bolton Out as National Security Adviser; Trump's Intelligence Mishaps Led U.S. to Extract Top Spy from Russia

Leslie begins this episode with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment, where she gives her own take on the freshest political news of the day.

For the remainder of the show, Leslie is joined by John Amato, Founder of CrooksAndLiars.com, an award-winning site for progressive news and media criticism. Started in 2004, Crooksandliars.com was the first website to feature audio and video online, revolutionizing how political news is consumed and distributed on the Internet.

Leslie and John discuss the significance of, and fallout from, President Trump ousting his third National Security Adviser, John Bolton (who says he was not fired, but resigned). Trump will become the first President to have 4 national security advisers in his first term, per CNBC's Kayla Tausche.

They finish the hour by exploring the alarming CNN story that Trump's intelligence mishaps led to the U.S. having to extract our top spy from Russia in 2017.

As per the CNN Exclusive, "The (spy) was considered the highest level source for the US inside the Kremlin, high up in the national security infrastructure, according to the source familiar with the matter and a former senior intelligence official.

According to CNN's sources, the spy had access to Putin and could even provide images of documents on the Russian leader's desk.The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel."

Visit www.CrooksandLiars.com for more of John Amato's work, and follow him on Twitter. His handle is @JohnAmato.

CNN Climate Town Hall Recap; Democratic Debate Preview

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Emily Ngo, Newsday National Political Reporter covering 2020.

The two recap CNN's recent series of town halls on climate change, which included all 10 of the Democratic candidates that will be on Thursday night's debate stage. They also analyze the differences in the climate proposals that each candidate is proposing.

Emily's Twitter handle is @EmilyNgo.

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round table with two guests who discuss climate change, and preview Thursday night's Democratic debate.

The two round table guests are Thomas Oppel and Mark Grimaldi. Tom is Executive VP for the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), a network of businesses and business associations committed to the triple bottom line: People, Planet, and Profit.
ASBC's website is ASBC.org and their Twitter handle is @ASBCouncil. Tom's handle is @tpoppel.

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Democratic Activist. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
His website is BannonCR.com and his Twitter handle is @BradBannon.

Trump Diverts $3.6 Billion Dollars from U.S. Military to Pay for his Border Wall

Leslie is joined by Colonel Cedric Leighton (Ret., Air Force) to discuss President Trump diverting $3.6 BILLION dollars from the U.S. Military and their families to build his border wall that he said Mexico would pay for.

Colonel Leighton is Founder and President of Cedric Leighton Associates, a strategic risk and leadership consultancy serving global companies and organizations.  

He founded the company in 2010, after serving in the US Air Force for 26 years as an Intelligence Officer.

Colonel Leighton can also be seen regularly on CNN, where he is a Military Analyst. 

His website is CedricLeighton.com and his Twitter handle is @CedricLeighton.

Hurricane Dorian: How Climate Change is Fueling Extreme Weather and Hurting Vulnerable Communities

Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock, Communications Director for Generation Progress, and Brent Cohen, Executive Director of Generation Progress and the VP of the Center for American Progress.

They analyze how climate change is fueling extreme weather, like Hurricane Dorian, and hurting vulnerable communities. They also discuss disaster relief efforts, and policy changes that could make a difference in fighting climate change.

The three expert guests for these topics are:

1. Bidisha Bhattacharyya, Deputy Director of Climate and Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Twitter handle: @bidisha_bb

2. Ali Lopez, University of Houston Student (Public Health), Combat Medic in Texas Army National Guard, Volunteer with Team Rubicon (International Disaster Relief), and partner with 350.org on "Houston Strong for Climate."
Twitter handle: @alirislopez16

3. Dr. Anna Scarbriel, Director of Grants and Programs at Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.
Twitter handle: @CommunityFounVI

The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.

Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Brent Cohen's handle is @BrentJCohen.

NAFTA 2.0

Leslie is joined by Roy Houseman, Legislative Director for the United Steelworkers, to discuss NAFTA 2.0.

- Bad trade deals and especially NAFTA have a devastating legacy. Over the past 20 years, the United States lost 5 million manufacturing jobs and nearly 90,000 factories. Some went to China or Vietnam or India. But a lot went to Mexico.

- We hear about workers like those at Carrier and Rexnord, who’ve seen their jobs shipped to Mexico. But workers who have kept their jobs are also still threatened, like tire workers at Goodyear. Goodyear opened a huge facility in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, in 2017 .Workers there make the same products as Goodyear workers in the United States; meanwhile, in Gadsden, Ala., Goodyear laid off 175 workers earlier this year.

- When Mexican workers protested poor working conditions at the Goodyear plant with a one-day strike not authorized by the company-controlled union, they fired 57 of the participants.

- NAFTA was bad for workers in all three countries, pitting U.S. and Canadian workers earning family-supportive wages against Mexican workers subsisting low wages without the protections of real labor unions. In Mexico, unemployment rose and poverty levels remained the same.

- Part of the problem is that Mexican workers don’t have the protections of real unions. New labor laws passed in April would help remedy this, but right now, Mexico has no budget for implementation. And since this requires hiring hundreds of judges and reviewing hundreds of thousands of labor agreements to determine their validity, nothing has changed. Corporatists and other opponents already are attempting to thwart the labor reforms with lawsuits and other actions.

- This is why the renegotiated NAFTA as it currently stands is not acceptable. Without labor enforcement mechanisms built into the agreement, it is meaningless. There is an opportunity here to remedy a longstanding wrong, but we have to get it right.

The website for the United Steelworkers is www.USW.org and their Twitter handle is @Steelworkers. Roy Houseman's handle is @RoyHouseman.

Why the Trump Administration's Proposed Rule to Overturn Flores is a Disaster for Children and Families

Today's guest host is Brent Cohen, Executive Director of Generation Progress and the VP of the Center for American Progress.

Brent is joined by a pair of expert guests to discuss the Trump administration's new attempt to "end a decades-old settlement agreement that had set a 20-day limit for holding children and issue new regulations that could hold undocumented families detained together indefinitely.
The 1997 Flores v. Reno court agreement had set nationwide policy for the detention and treatment of minors in immigration custody.

It requires the government to release children from immigration detention without unnecessary delay to their parents, other adult relatives or or licensed programs." (Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/21/politics/what-is-flores-settlement/index.html)

Brent and his panel explain the horrible dangers that this change would unleash on extremely vulnerable children and families.

 

The guests for this topic are Ginna Green, Chief Strategy Officer at Bend the Arc, and Katy Murdza, Dilley Pro Bono Project Advocacy Coordinator at the American Immigration Council.

The website for 'Bend the Arc' is www.bendthearc.us and their Twitter handle is @jewishaction.  Ginna's handle is @ginnagreen.  The website for the American Immigration Council is www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org and their Twitter handle is @immcouncil.

The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.

Brent Cohen's handle is @BrentJCohen.

State of the Economy Heading into Presidential Election; #Labor2020

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Dr. Robert Shapiro,Chairman of Sonecon, an economic advisory firm, and a Senior Fellow of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
He is an internationally-known economist who has advised, among others, President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Jr., British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and then U.S. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  He was Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs in the Clinton Administration.

The two discuss the state of the Economy and it's effect on the upcoming 2020 elections.

The website for Sonecon is Sonecon.com. Dr. Shapiro's Twitter handle is @RobShapiro.

 

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round table with two guests who discuss the role of Labor Unions in selecting the 2020 Democratic Presidential nominee, and the next President.

The two round table guests are Mike Fraioli and Mark Grimaldi. Mike Fraioli is a Democratic Strategist and the Founder of 'Fraioli & Assocaites,' a political campaign consulting firm dedicated to electing Democrats.

Mike's website is FraioliAssociates.com and his Twitter handle is @MichaelFraioli8.

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Democratic Activist. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
His website is BannonCR.com and his Twitter handle is @BradBannon.

Interview with Richard Painter on Russia & the 2020 Election, Plus Trump's Conflicts of Interest

In this hour of the "Leslie Marshall Show," Leslie breaks down the rough week on Wall Street, as the Dow Jones finished down 623 points.

After "Ripped from the Headlines," she's joined by former Republican turned centrist, Richard Painter, host of "The Politics Podcast with Richard Painter."

Even though Richard may disagree with Leslie on some progressive issues, he's profoundly American, and feels it is his duty to call out the dangerous and inept man in the Oval Office.

How can Progressives, centrists, and even Republicans stand against the Trump administration's disastrous leadership?

Richard and Leslie analyze this, and how it relates to a looming economic downturn.

You can find Richard's podcast at bit.ly/PainterPod and follow him on Twitter at @RWPUSA.

How The Trump Administration is Harming Student Borrowers

Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock, Communications Director for Generation Progress, and Brent Cohen, Executive Director of Generation Progress and the VP of the Center for American Progress.

They discuss how the Trump administration is hurting student borrowers.  For context, last week, Politico announced that it had obtained over 2,000 pages of emails outlining the efforts of student loan industry lobbying groups to persuade the Trump Administration to block states from regulating some student loan companies. One email in particular stood out – a personal email from the CEO of Navient, Jack Remondi, to a top aide to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in September 2017. It asked the administration, in urgent language, to assert that states do not have the authority to regulate federal student loan collection companies. The set of emails, and the fact that the Trump administration did go on to make the declaration that the student loan companies had requested, are a reminder of the corruption that is rampant in the department under Secretary DeVos.

The guests for this topic are Suzanne Martindale, Senior Policy Counsel & Western States Legislative Manager for Consumer Reports, and Mike Pierce, Policy Director and Managing Counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center.

Their website for Consumer Reports Advocacy is Advocacy.ConsumerReports.org and their Twitter handle is @CRAdvocacy. The website for the Student Borrower Protection Center is ProtectBorrowers.org and their Twitter handle is @theSBPC.  Mike Pierce's handle is @Millennial_Debt.

The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.

Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Brent Cohen's handle is @BrentJCohen.

Interview with Author of the New Book, "Talk Radio's America: How An Industry Took Over a Political Party that Took Over the White House"

Leslie is joined by Brian Rosenwald, a University of Pennsylvania historian and founding editor of the Washington Post’s “Made by History” section.

 

The two discuss Brian's new book, 'Talk Radio’s America.'  (Harvard University Press, 2019) 

The book chronicles the rise of conservative talk radio over three decades, puncturing misconceptions about this powerful new media colossus and exploring just what makes it tick. The book reveals that talk radio not only transformed the Republican Party, pulling it hard to the right and turning compromise into a dirty word, but also reshaped the media landscape itself. In the process this new medium fueled polarization and gridlock, and created a political area in which a president Donald Trump was possible.

 

The book can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and wherever great books are sold.

 

Brian's website is BrianRosenwald.com and his Twitter handle is @BrianRos1.

 

You can read the Washington Post's 'Made By History' section at WashingtonPost.com/News/Made-By-History.