Off The Record With Paul Hodes

Lying. Hypnotizing. Gaslighting. Did Texas’ “serial killer whisperer” and his questionable tactics ensnare an innocent man? An amazing new podcast from journalist Maurice Chammah and the Marshall Project called "Just Say You’re Sorry" poses all of those questions and ultimately asks, what’s the price that we pay for a sense that we’ve closed the books, when we might be closing them on the wrong page? Maurice Chammah is a staff writer and the author of "Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty," which won the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Work-In-Progress Book Award. His work has been published by The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times.

It's our July mailbag! Your questions and comments answered, including: Why won't the media report more on the DeSantis Guantanamo Bay story? What's about to happen with the Trump case in Georgia? Does Jack Smith have a major ace up his sleeve against Trump? Is Jim Jordan going to be sued for his role in the Ohio State scandal? Who are the top five Dems who could be replacement White House contenders? Are Trump voters...hiding?

The panel discusses the eerie parallels on a day when Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu both made new legal maneuvers to stay out of prison and regain (or regain) power. Also, what does a new grand jury empaneling mean in Georgia. And is Biden crushing it when it comes to our alliances?

As we record this on the morning of July 11, Israel has once against broken out in massive protests after an overnight vote in their Parliament that pushed forward the far-right governing coalition’s plan to limit their judiciary. Protestors see the plan as nothing less that a more stealthy version of the overt power grab that Prime Minister Netanyahu announced in January and that led to a shutdown of the country in March. One of co-founders of the pro-democracy protest movement is Gilead Sher. He is a former Chief of Staff and Policy Coordinator to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and a senior peace negotiator. He joins us with an update on what is happening and why. Further Reading: subscribe to former AP lead Mideast reporter Dan Perry's substack. See Gilead Sher's Times of Israel article.

Every so often, the political guru that the Washington insiders listen to delivers one of his deep dive analysis memos on what’s going on under the surface in politics. And everyone drops everything to see what he had to say. So when Doug Sosnik delivered his newest analysis -- explaining what the 2024 election will come down to and what four key voting blocs would decide the outcome -- we knew we wanted to bring all of our listeners and viewers the voice that the pros listen to. Doug served as a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton for 6 years, including as the White House Political Director, and he’s gone on to advise over 50 U.S. Senators and governors. Fortune 100 corporations, foundations and universities for 35 years, including the National Basketball Association, the Motion Picture Association of America, CNBC. And he Doug co-authored a New York Times bestseller, Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.

The Supreme Court wrapped its term with a rush of rulings, including in a pivotal case that pitted issues of free speech against anti-discrimination laws. Except, the case was built on a fantasy: a web designer who had never designed a website, and a request from a gay couple that never existed. So was the Supreme Court duped? And is the Court veering outside the mainstream of public opinion, or reflecting it? Also, is Ron DeSantis flailing with a bizarre new ad as his poll numbers tank?

When the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful, rejecting affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, it created more questions than it answered about the future of racial diversity in elite college admissions. Dr. Stephanie Hall is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a leading expert on college accountability, and she joins us to describe what the impact of this decision could be in practical terms.

A major new poll has good news for Donald Trump. But somehow, it has even better news for President Biden. Strangely, it also brings unsettling news about how Americans view our system and the choice that they are determined to make, yet seem to hate.

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are descending on New Hampshire at this very moment to hold dueling political events, as new national polling shows a widening gulf between them, and between Trump and the rest of the field. Why is Trump growing his lead, and will that last?  Also, MAGA shenanigans hit the US House of Representatives, and the results would be funny if they weren’t so sad.

When the Supreme Court issued a surprise ruling on Congressional maps last week, it not only created a pathway for Democrats to re-take the House in 2024, it also kept critical protections first enacted in the Voting Rights Act that the Court has otherwise chipped away in recent years. Michaeleen Crowell worked on reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act for civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, and she joins us to explain what has happened and what the future might hold for voting rights.

Matt Robison joins legendary radio broadcaster Howard Monroe to analyze the American crossroads that we reached yesterday: a twice indicted former President - whose case is being overseen by a political crony who could let him off the hook - and a minefield of bad outcomes ahead. What do we know from legal scholars, polling, and history about what could happen next?

Law Professor Steve Vladek was in the middle of explaining a pivotal Supreme Court decision to us when he delivered us some chilling news: a little-used legal rule would allow Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon to overturn a guilty verdict in the classified documents case and set Trump free even if he is convicted. Professor Vladek explains what this is all about. Plus: what does that key SCOTUS decision mean, and what is the Shadow Docket and why should we be paying more attention to it?

Matt Robison and Cliff Schecter tackle listener questions in part two of our mailbag. Can MAGA family members be persuaded? What is happening with the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas scandal since it disappeared from the news? Is Casey DeSantis even crazier than Ron? Did Mark Meadows flip? Can we, or should we, have Congressional term limits? What happened to Sydney Powell? Can we recall Congressman George Santos? Will a Trump conviction matter? All this and more!

Former President Donald Trump is going to be indicted again, this time on federal charges stemming from his secreting away classified documents from the White House. Former prosecutor and Congressman Paul Hodes runs through why we are seeing these charges, what we can read in to the fact that the Department of Justice is bringing them, and why they could spell deeper legal peril for Trump than the state charges we saw two months ago. Also: should Trump be treated differently than other defendants? Why does his history of criminal behavior matter? And why are so many Republicans so deep into the cult of Trump that they can't shake out of it as the charges mount?

One of the upsides of the fact that we now have 20,000 subscribers and climbing on the Blue Amp channel on YouTube is we have a really big interactive community that can throw questions at us and that we can give responses to, and vice versa. If you are interested in participating in a future mail bag, then just So when we asked them to throw questions at us, they came through bigly! Today, we cover three great ones about the Department of education, a pivotal Supreme Court ruling, and who needs a Supreme Court anyway?!?

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu didn't just decline to run for President. He issued a dire plea to fellow Republicans to turn away from their current course of culture war and wedge issue politics, before they destroy themselves. Also: why is Biden so accomplished and yet so unpopular? The panel unpacks Matt Robison's Newsweek article on that question, and the eerie rise of RFK Jr. First of a Two Part Episode.

This is PART TWO of our show on how do you teach your kids about money, without making it a chore for you? We're once again bringing you an episode from Financial Life Planning with Matt Robison and Financial Advisor Mike Morton. Do you offer an allowance? Is it tied to chores or some other ‘work?’ Do you give your kids the freedom to spend their money with abandon or try to control what they buy? Have you had an honest discussion about college and the immense expense associated with higher education? Plus: Giving freedom to kids to spend their own money - and allowing the ‘failures’ that come with some of those decisions Chores - Do you pay your kids to be a contributing member of your family? When and how to talk to teenagers about college expenses

Congressional insider and former Chuck Schumer right hand man on policy Ryan McConaghy joins to grade Matt Robison's argument that the debt ceiling deal was a huge win for President Biden, and also evaluate whether it was a win for Kevin McCarthy as well, and what the real world impact will be. Then: can Congress accomplish anything else after this? And will Senate Democrats finally do away with an arcane procedure that is slowing down judicial confirmations?

Were there clear political "winners" and "losers" in the debt ceiling deal that will prevent a total meltdown of the American economy? Or is this a much more nuanced situation? Could everyone have actually come out ahead? The panel points out how you can tell. Also, why the sudden Republican agreement to impeach their hardest-charging warrior?

How do you teach your kids about money, without making it a chore for you? We're once again bringing you an episode from Financial Life Planning with Matt Robison and Financial Advisor Mike Morton. Do you offer an allowance? Is it tied to chores or some other ‘work?’ Do you give your kids the freedom to spend their money with abandon or try to control what they buy? Have you had an honest discussion about college and the immense expense associated with higher education? Plus: Giving freedom to kids to spend their own money - and allowing the ‘failures’ that come with some of those decisions Chores - Do you pay your kids to be a contributing member of your family? When and how to talk to teenagers about college expenses