The Justice Department has released a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report detailing Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia and President Trump's attempts to impede the special counsel's investigation. The report states the campaign "expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts," but Mueller concluded, "the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." Mueller also outlined at least 10 instances where Trump attempted to impede the special counsel's investigation, but Mueller came to no definitive conclusion on whether Trump broke the law by obstructing justice. In the report, Mueller suggests that this is a decision for Congress to make. We host a debate on the report's findings between two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists: Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept and David Cay Johnston, who has covered Donald Trump since the 1980s. His most recent book is "It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America."

Mueller Report Shows No Trump-Russia Conspiracy But Leaves Open Question of Obstruction, Trump Admin to Spend $40 Million on New Immigration Detention Camps, Central American Migrants Claim Assault by Mexican Authorities, ACLU Warns of "Fascist Militia" Holding Migrant Border Crossers at Gunpoint, Nicaragua Bans Anti-Government Protests, Arresting Dozens, Mali's Government Resigns as Protesters Condemn Ethnic Violence, Sudan: Mass Protests Demand Civilian Rule After Omar al-Bashir's Ouster, Bangladeshi Teen Burned to Death After Reporting Sexual Assault, Saudi Court Suspends Hearing for 11 Women's Rights Activists Who've Faced Torture, Journalist Lyra McKee Shot Dead Amid Northern Ireland Riots, Florida Police Dept. to Investigate Officers Filmed Brutalizing Teenagers, New York City Approves Climate Plan Meant to Curb Emissions from Big Buildings, New Yorkers Rally Against Proposed Fracked Gas Pipeline, CIA Director Gina Haspel Confronted over Torture During Rare Public Appearance

As Attorney General William Barr releases Robert Mueller's long-anticipated report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, we speak with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky about what he sees as the political perils of "Russiagate."

Supporters of the Green New Deal are launching a nationwide tour Thursday to build support for the congressional resolution to transform the U.S. economy through funding renewable energy while ending U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Democracy Now! spoke with Noam Chomsky about the Green New Deal and the lessons of the old New Deal in Boston last week.

Program Date:  04/18/2019 mp3audio:  Full Program

Program Date:  04/17/2019 https://www.backgroundbriefing.org/2019/04/17/background-briefing-april-17-2019/ mp3audio:  Full Program

Program Date:  04/16/2019 https://www.backgroundbriefing.org/2019/04/16/background-briefing-april-16-2019/ mp3audio:  Full Program

Program Date:  04/15/2019 mp3audio:  Full Program

FEATURING WENDELL POTTER – Financial publications are in a tizzy over the falling stock prices of private health insurance corporations, using terms like “free fall” to describe the trend. The debate over a Medicare-for-All program is largely to blame for the falling stocks. The idea that everyone could get healthcare through the government has terrified companies...

FEATURING PATRICK HOUSTON – Hundreds of protesters gathered near New York City Hall on Thursday to demand that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his Department of Environmental Conservation oppose a pipeline that will transport fracked gas. Protesters are demanding that Cuomo, who five years ago banned hydraulic fracturing operations in the state of New York,...

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler has issued a subpoena for the full Special Counsel report, just a day after Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of the report. On Friday morning Nadler spoke with CBS News an hour before he issued a subpoena for the full Mueller report. He also had harsh words...

FEATURING JOHN BONIFAZ – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 400+ page report has been released to the public, albeit with the Justice Department’s many redactions. Journalists are scouring the pages to determine if Attorney General William Barr’s 4-page assessment which was released just days after he received the report, was accurate. Barr has come under strong criticism...

And a belated #Happy420Day to all who celebrated it! * * * Perry Dorrell blogs as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, usually on topics concerning the strange brew of Texas politics. He's also on Twitter @PDiddie.

On today's BradCast: It looks like Trump Attorney General William Barr's willingness to beclown himself to the level of Donald Trump didn't help much in protecting the President against his own clearly criminal and impeachable behavior as detailed by even the redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's long-awaited report. And Democrats in both the [...]

On today's BradCast: It should come as little surprise that Donald Trump's newly-appointed Attorney General William Bar has gone out of his way to obstruct justice in his attempt to misdirect from the repeated obstruction of justice painstakingly detailed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report [PDF]. Still, it's remarkable to see in action, as [...]

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hundreds arrested in London climate protests; March 2019 the third hottest March ever recorded globally; Bank of England issues stark warning to investors about climate risks; PLUS: Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg offers stark, tearful warning to EU Parliament... All that and more in today's Green News Report! Listen online here, or [...]