The Josh Marshall Podcast

Preeminent civil war historian James McPherson, the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University, joins Josh Marshall to discuss the fraut politics of 1850s and 1860s — and where we see their echoes today. Listen

Seth Hettena, author of "Trump/Russia," talks about Donald Trump's pursuit of a real estate deal in Moscow dating back decades. Now that Michael Cohen has admitted that he pursued the Moscow real estate project deep into the 2016 campaign, we revisit Seth's reporting on why Trump wanted the deal so... Listen

Robert Mueller's quiet period appears to be over. On Thursday he struck a deal with Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the proposed Trump Tower deal in Moscow. And Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi continues to spiral on live TV. TPM reporters Tierney Sneed and Josh... Listen

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joins the podcast to talk about the changing political dynamics in his home state. He also gives his take on the ongoing debate within the Democratic Party about whether Nancy Pelosi should retake the speaker's gavel. Listen

TPM reporter Tierney Sneed has been covering a trial in NYC on a controversial question that Wilbur Ross has pushed for on the Census. If Ross prevails, the question could have the effect of dramatically shifting political power away from Democratic areas and toward Republican ones. Tierney helps us break... Listen

Washington Post writer Greg Sargent talks about his new book, "An Uncivil War," which focuses on current threats to American democratic institutions and how the left can capture a new pro-democracy spirit and run with it. Listen

While most of the country focused on the results of the U.S. House and Senate races, Democrats also had a big night in state legislative elections. Future Now's Daniel Squadron is back on the podcast to discuss the results of state-level elections, where Democrats may gain as many as 400-plus... Listen

On the eve of Election Day, TPM's senior political correspondent Cameron Joseph breaks down the state of the 2018 race. Josh and Cameron take us through the key races that could determine control of the House and even Senate. Listen

TPM reporters Tierney Sneed and Josh Kovensky catch us up on the latest developments in the Mueller probe, which has been relatively quiet as the midterm elections fast approach. Tierney also takes us inside a particularly bizarre story involving conservative grifters targeting Robert Mueller's reputation. Listen

Former New York state Sen. Daniel Squadron, the executive director of Future Now, a group that tries to turn state legislatures blue, explains why state races are so important. He lays out several scenarios for how state elections could go on Election Day. Listen

After a brief hiatus, we are back. This week we are diving into the 2018 campaign as we enter the final stretch of election season. We discuss a few key races to watch and why what’s going on in state elections is just as important to pay attention to as... Listen

TPM’s own Tierney Sneed and Caitlin MacNeal have been covering Paul Manafort’s legal woes for months. On this week’s episode, they share what it was like to cover his weeks-long trial in Virginia and his guilty plea last week. They also discuss where the Mueller investigation goes from here. Listen

Josh talks to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about his new book, “Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence.” Their conversation ranges from his early days in the military during Vietnam to the Obama presidency and President Trump’s perplexing relationship with Russia. “I’ve seen a... Listen

Historian Rick Perlstein talks to Josh about how the 1960 presidential election helped catalyze decades of bogus voter fraud claims which we’re still hearing, constantly, today. Listen

We talk to fabled Watergate figure John Dean, Richard Nixon’s White House Counsel who was part of the cover-up and then went to the authorities. Find out why Dean trusted Nixon not to cross some lines he believe Trump will cross. Is Dean talking to Michael Cohen’s lawyer? And how... Listen

Marcy Wheeler, the investigative journalist behind the blog Empty Wheel, joins the podcast to dig deeper into the infamous Trump Tower meeting. She also shares one aspect of the Trump-Russia story that people aren't necessarily following closely enough. Image Credit: Getty Images / TPM Illustration Listen

We attempt to pick up the pieces Rudy Giuliani left all over cable news this week. Did Trump's lawyer inadvertently reveal damaging information about his client, or was his revelation of yet another Trump Tower meeting part of his master plan all along? Image Credit: Getty Images / TPM Illustration Listen

Historian Gregory Downs discusses his feature article for TPM — the first in TPM’s ten-part series on voting rights and democracy. He discusses how today’s voter suppression battles date back to the post-Civil War period, how voter suppression tactics were developed not just to target freed slaves in the south... Listen

John Sipher, a former member of the CIA Clandestine Service, helps us figure out what in the world is going on with Trump and Putin. Sipher draws on his decades of experience in the CIA to explain that matters of intelligence and tradecraft are not always black and white. Image... Listen

Campaign data guru Ken Strasma joins the podcast this week to help us understand a key part of the new Mueller indictments: that Russian hackers accessed DNC campaign analytics information in September before the 2016 election. Strasma worked on data operations for John Kerry's campaign in 2004, Barack Obama's 2008... Listen

TPM’s lead reporter on the Russia story, Tierney Sneed, joins us from Washington D.C. to talk through the first of Manafort’s trials, getting underway in Virginia later this month. Manafort’s sneaky attempts to push back the trial start date haven’t worked out quite the way he hoped, despite a judge... Listen

TPM managing editor David Kurtz joins the podcast to discuss how he came to the site and how it's grown over the years. After that, we discuss some of the big upcoming stories on TPM's radar and how we will go about covering them. But before that, we take your... Listen

The New Yorker's Adam Davidson joins us again to discuss the ongoing saga of Michael Cohen, including Cohen's recent sit-down with ABC. Does he understand the situation he's in? Davidson also helps break down the civil suit against the Trump Foundation. But before all that, we take your calls. If... Listen

Today we're talking oversight — specifically, what Congress could investigate under Democratic control. From environmental issues to civil rights lawsuits, TPM's Matt Shuham helps us delve into the issues. Before that, we tackle a bizarre scene described in a recent New York Times report on investigative reporter Ali Watkins' relationship... Listen

The big DOJ Inspector General report is notable for what it omits — evidence of anti-Hillary Clinton bias at the FBI, which appears to have influenced James Comey's actions leading up to the 2016 election. We break down some key questions the IG never addressed in his report on the... Listen

Russia's election meddling wasn't restricted to the U.S. A bombshell report out of the UK over the weekend suggests that Russia also worked to swing the Brexit vote in favor of leaving the EU. We also preview two big stories to keep on your radar this week. Image Credit: TPM... Listen

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, author of the new book "Assault on Intelligence," discusses efforts Russia made to latch onto controversial narratives in the United States even before Donald Trump was running for President. Remember "Jade Helm"? Or Ebola coming across the southern border? Hayden, who served as NSA director and... Listen

We just learned that President Trump dictated his son's statement about the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting, so we decided to take a look back at what else was happening around the time that the story came out in July 2017. It turns out there is a lot of evidence... Listen

New Yorker writer Adam Davidson has covered some of Donald Trump's shadiest deals. In this episode, Davidson walks through the recent global financial history that paved the way for Trump to pursue business with unsavory characters. Image Credit: TPM Illustration / Getty Images Listen

The Middle East thread in the Trump-Russia story was substantially fleshed out this week. This thread comes with a new cast of characters — Elliot Broidy, George Nader, Erik Prince, and Israeli social media strategist Joel Zamel — and raises a new set of questions about the Trump administration’s dealings... Listen