The News Agents - USA

US prosecutors have charged Donald Trump for attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 Election. It’s the second federal indictment brought against the former president in as many months. We knew this was on the way. So why is he still the leading Republican to be president? And why doesn’t the party care ?On this episode of The News Agents USA, two former Republican congressmen - one of whom challenged Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election - go head to head on whether Trump is the right person to lead the Republican Party into the 2024 election. Trump still dominates the field.Ron de Santis keeps saying the word “ woke “ but Republican voters just keep getting turned off by him. And Hunter Biden’s business associate has claimed Joe Biden joined more than twenty work calls with his son - while he was Vice-President. A pretty major breach if the current president was improperly involved in his son's business proceedings, but how damaging could that be for the current incumbent of the White House?Editor: Gabriel RadusPlanning Producer: Alex BarnettSocial Media Editor: Georgia FoxwellVideo Producer: Will Gibson-Smith

Why is Ron DeSantis losing ground in the polls to an unknown? Why is the new Barbie film driving American right-wingers mad? And why did a young American soldier dash across the border to seek refuge... in North Korea?Editor: Gabriel RadusSocial Editor: Georgia FoxwellVideo Producer: Will Gibson-SmithThe News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

As we settled into News Agents USA HQ, the breaking news that Trump may be set to face trial for a third time, and criminal proceedings for a second time, wafted in. We talk to the Washington Post's Olivier Knox about what this means for Trump, his rivals and the ever-quickening race to be the next incumbent of the White House.Joe Manchin, the highly influential Democrat Senator of West Virginia, seems to be flirting with an independent run for the White House, forging a ticket with a former Republican Governor of Utah. What are third parties like in the US? Is it even possible to get close to the presidency without the backing of the two major US parties?And... don't send sensitive emails without checking who you're sending to. A lesson for the Pentagon, who, instead of sending private emails to staff, accidentally sent the missives to the government of Mali.

Joe Biden meets Rishi Sunak in London before flying out to Vilnius to a NATO summit in which he's set to snub the UK government's attempts to have Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary, become the next Secretary General of NATO. The famous 'special relationship' doesn't feel so special any more. Former US Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker joins Emily and Jon in News Agents USA HQ.This, all while US news outlets report that the President is a lot less mild-mannered in private than he appears in public. We ask Washington Post National Politics Reporter Olivier Knox, who's spent decades with US Presidents and in the White House, if that's really the case. And then, we turn to Trump and DeSantis, the two main candidates in the race to win the Republican candidacy for the 2024 election. Trump battles against court dates; DeSantis battles his lack of personality. And, an ode to Marjorie Taylor-Greene, the Republican congresswoman who, despite believing that Jewish people and their space lasers are to blame for Californian wildfires, is deemed too moderate for the right-wing Freedom Caucus in Congress. Another normal week on The Hill.

Joe Biden - that's President Joe Biden - has said the Supreme Court is "not normal". He's referring to the recent judgements the 9 justices have made - overturning Roe v Wade last year, overruling affirmative action policies at two US universities, refusing to allow the government to cancel student debt, and wading into LGBTQ+ issues on a spurious basis of complaints that don't even exist. Is this overreach? Or is this the logical consequence of the polarisation of America?And who polices the Supreme Court?

On Tuesday morning, CNN obtained leaked audio of Donald Trump showing classified documents to people who definitely shouldn't be seeing classified documents. He's still denying he didn't have classified documents... but we now have him admitting to it on tape. Surely he can't fudge his way out of this one....Meanwhile the Republicans have been wooing evangelicals and Robert Kennedy Junior is offering a bizarre counter factual to the Biden democratic nomination.On today's episode of The News Agents USA, Emily and Jon are joined by Investigations Reporter for The Washington Post, who's covered Trump extensively, Josh Dawsey.

Breaking news - that has left Republicans speechless for all the wrong reasons. Biden's son Hunter pleads guilty to three federal charges. But they are all miniscule. None of the ones the MAGA (Make America Great Again) gang really care about anyway. Meanwhile, Trump appears on Fox News to explain that he was too busy sorting out his golf shirts from his newspaper clippings to hand back hundreds of boxes of classified highly confidential documents... but does he incriminate himself in the process?

For a historical indictment it was an ignominious entry: Donald Trump entered the Miami courthouse via a freight lift from an underground garage. For once, the Reality TV president ducked the cameras as he appeared on 37 charges of mishandling classified documents and espionage. This is America 2023.The question is how big a role will he play in America 2024- and the next presidential election.

Welcome to The News Agents USA - a new weekly podcast hosted by Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. Episodes are available every Tuesday on Global Player and on all other platforms from Wednesday.