Director, White House Transition Project
Professor of Political Science at Towson University and Director of the White House Transition Project, a nonpartisan effort by presidency scholars to provide information on presidential transitions and White House operations
Obama and Public Accountability After yesterday’s withdrawal of Tom Daschle as point man on healthcare reform, this was damage-control day at the Obama White House. But the big question was what went wrong. It wasn’t just Daschle who withdrew his nomination from the cabinet but also Nancy Killifer, who would have been the first chief compliance officer. Both failed to pay federal taxes, he a much larger amount than she. On this rebroadcast of today’s To the Point, we get an unusual perspective from a college professor who has a desk in the White House basement.
Obama and Public Accountability With top-level appointees admitting they didn't pay federal taxes, President Obama told TV interviewers last night, “ I screwed up .” The promise of tough standards to “change the culture” of Washington has created expectations that are hard to meet. The New York Times called it his “ rockiest day .” The Los Angeles Times said he was “ punching the restart button on his presidency .” Did the vetting process go wrong? Was there poor political judgment? Has the President's major asset, his popularity with the public, been put at risk? Will his personal efforts at damage control get his health reform and economic rescue programs back on track?
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.