Former federal prosecutor and National Review Contributing Editor Andy McCarthy is in while Jim Geraghty is under the weather. Today, Greg and Andy discuss new sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department against individuals and entities helping for finance Iran’s military and IRGC. But Andy explains why this step is hardly bold considering Iran’s recent actions against the U.S.

Andy also breaks down the legal and constitutional impact of Special Counsel Jack Smith not only demanding many different details about President Trump’s Twitter account but also Smith demanding the information of anyone who like, retweeted, or otherwise engaged with Trump in the months leading up to January 6th.

As the lines that used to distinguish the political and the legal are blurring, and the sense that the country is swirling down the drain is hard to shake, it’s nice to at least have good company. Rob and Peter chat with Andy McCarthy to discuss the ‘impeachment inquiry’ into the Biden Family’s influence peddling and the administration’s apparent obstruction.

And if you’re in need of a good cheering up, you can hear about swell innovations in toilet seating. Maybe political chaos will be good for Capitalism!?

Another week, another indictment. Another president, another scandal. So we call on the house prosecutor, Andy McCarthy, to weigh the evidence before us and join Messrs. Lileks, Long and Cooke as they debate the merits of the cases against both Trump and Biden and see where we think we stand.

But more importantly, James has thoughts on the cultural event of the decade. Yes, he has seen Barbie.

From the esoteric and the imperian to the specfic and the political. And then on to aliens! James, Rob and Steve Hayward chat with Patrick Deneen, author of Regime Change: Towards a Postliberal Future. They discuss the deliterious effects of liberty without restraints, the bipartisan quest for progress and consider a reassessment of some of our cherished philosophical forebears. Next fan favorite Andy McCarthy stops by to give his first take on the indictment of Donald Trump.

San Francisco and UFOs are on the docket as well.

Andy McCarthy returns to help us get through the shocking discovery that maybe it’s possible that the Bidens are a little bit not entirely 100 percent ethical. This week we’ve got money laundering, not one but two prostitutes; there’s another big chapter in the border crisis, and a good samaritan being charged for trying to protect New Yorkers on the increasingly infamous subway.

And as if our hosts are going to talk about American cities two weeks in a row without having a word about architecture… Pshaw!

Last August when the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago, we were told that DOJ finally had him where they wanted him. Now, five months later, we find out the real crime is that Trump forgot to store his documents under the little known and under-appreciated Corvette exemption clause of the Espionage Act.

Andy McCarthy stops by to explain how then Vice-President Biden’s mishandling of classified material is making life miserable for the politicized prosecutors in the Justice Department and how all this all originated in James Comey’s CYA operation for you-know-who.

Much as the world benefit from a new dance craze, it would behoove us to ensure that China doesn’t use our moves against us. Our first guest Geoffrey Cain is all too familiar with what the CCP can do with surveillance technology. He sits down with Rob, James and Charles to touch on the protesters, the extraordinary police state they’re up against, and he tries to convince a skeptical Rob and James that TikTok is more than just really annoying.

Next we’ve got Andy McCarthy back on the show. He explains how the record has been straightened somewhat by the Oath Keepers’ verdicts that came down on Tuesday. They get into the charges brought and the reasons the DOJ whiffed on 3 out of 5. There’s also some talk on the crime wave and the prospects of a return to law and order in our cities.

We’re not short on takes about the search (or whatever you wanna call it) at Mar-a-Lago this week; but one can’t ever get enough of people who know what they’re talking about when it comes to something as big as this!

Ricochet’s old friend Andy McCarthy joins to provide just that kinda commentary. He gives some essential vocab clarifications; lays out the charges he believes the Justice Department is actually seeking; and ponders how and when the ethos of the agency went awry – and how he thinks it could be brought back.

Former federal prosecutor and National Review Online Contributing Editor Andrew C. McCarthy is in for Jim. Join Andy and Greg as they break down a Supreme Court ruling on whether double jeopardy protections exist between different systems or “sovereigns” – in this case whether a conviction is allowed in federal court after a verdict was rendered on similar offenses in the Court of Indian Offenses in Arizona. They also parse two rulings on immigration cases that came down on Monday. Finally, Andy also lays into the January 6th committee for being little more than a political performance by not allowing Republicans to choose their own committee members and not permitting cross-examination of witnesses.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy is in for Jim agai today. Andy and Greg break down the four-part Washington Examiner investigation into the Hunter Biden laptop and everything that’s been uncovered thus far. They also discuss the push for red flag laws and the tension between trying to keep truly unstable people away from weapons that they might use to kill others and the desire to protect second amendment rights. And they fume over how Democrats make a lot of noise about the need to address various problems but won’t allow any ideas to be considered outside of their absolutist left-wing agenda.

Join Greg and National Review’s Andy McCarthy as they react to the release of a critical new text message from the Durham probe that catches Michael Sussman in an important lie. They also scrutinize the White House’s China policy as a letter of recommendation by the president for the son of Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partner comes to light. And Andy explains how the Senate Republicans could have been far more effective in showing just how weak Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson really is on crime.

We discuss the events of the week, we talk to AEI’s Yuval Levin about leadership in a populist age and Andy McCarthy about the 25th Amendment and pardons. One of our hosts is dealing with a medical issue which he discusses here and in some members only content with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (available here).  Keep calm, carry on, and be nice to each other. This too shall pass.

 

Now, that was a week. We try to put it all in some perspective — the protests, the riots, the looting, and the politics and we do so with the help of our guests, Andrew C. McCarthy and Victor Davis Hanson. And yes, the Lileks Post of The Week is back to blow the lid off knitting clubs. And, Rob outs himself as a super hero, Peter deals with civil unrest induced anxiety by reading biographies, and James, well, we’re not sure what James does.

Music from this week’s show: The Dream Police by David Byrne

On the most recent edition of the Ricochet Podcast, former Federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy was our guest to discuss the Michael Flynn case. In the course of that conversation, Andy mentioned to Rob that perhaps it might be valuable to have a longer, in depth conversation about the details of the case then was possible in a single guest segment on the Ricochet Podcast. As we are never one to let an opportunity to let a great guest give us more time go to waste, here is that conversation.

We know, we know — we’re 6 or 7 hours late with this. We had some technical difficulties during the recording of this show (we broke with tradition and training and left a bit of it in) which forced us to record this show in two sessions today, apologies for that. But that does not mean you, our faithful listeners are getting shortchanged. Far from it — this is one of the longest shows we’ve ever done — over 90 minutes of clever and civil conversation, featuring our guests, Andrew McCarthy, the WSJ’s Kim Strassel, and Ricochet’s own editor and senior citizen killer, Bethany Mandel, who joins to discuss her latest adventures on Twitter, which resulted in all of the right people getting mad at her.

We even crammed in a Lileks Post of The Week, and plenty of the banter that America’s Most Beloved Podcast has become so famous for. So strap yourself in or take a long, long (as in Rob) walk with the dog, cut a large lawn, do a lot of dishes, or whatever your podcast listening activity of choice is and consume this one from start to finish.

Was there ever a valid reason for the Mueller investigation? What are the lessons for the country about this two-year process and how it unfolded? And what about this new impeachment push? We speak about all this with Andrew McCarthy, author of the new book, “Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

 

Let’s just disclose this right upfront: we had some pretty big technical issues during the production of this show (Skype went down during the Andy McCarthy segment — Andy is preparing a criminal complaint against them on our behalf) and James Lileks could not get his computer to recognize his mic (he blames a cheap Chinese dongle — oh, the humanity), so apologies, this is another Lileks-defecient show (kudos to @hangon for winning the Lileks Post of The Week honors for his post The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking). That said, as previously mentioned, we’ve got the great Andy McCarthy (you must buy his new book Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency) on all of the legal machinations around impeachment, and political consultant to the stars (and NR contributor) Luke Thompson on why Trump did nothing wrong in his phone call with Zelensky and some expert analysis on the Senate races coming up next fall. Also, Peter Robinson is worried about Liz Warren; and finally, does the window seat control the window shade or should there be darkness throughout the cabin? We hash it out, but tell us your thoughts in the comments. Special note to Ricochet members: don’t forget to vote in this week’s Long Poll to the right (or below if you’re on a mobile device) of this post. What? You’re not a member? JOIN TODAY.

Music from this week’s show: Shot With His Own Gun by Elvis Costello

So where should U.S. Attorney John Durham start as he investigates the Trump-Russia investigation? Well, he might start by talking with former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy. Then: You want to get into the Trump-Russia weeds? This is the place. What about the CIA’s involvement in starting the investigation? How come we don’t hear much about that? Did the FBI, with Carter Page warrant, surf the “upstream part of the Internet” for Trump info? And what about that 2-hop thing? That and more from a man who really knows his Trump-Russia stuff.

We’re a tad late in publishing this week’s show, but we think it’s worth it: we’ve got Jon Gabriel sitting in for Rob Long, the great Thomas Sowell in the first segment to discuss the reissue of his classic book Discrimination and Disparities  as well as the rise of socialism, reparations, and more. Next up, the also great Andrew C. McCarthy, who stops by to discuss his famous recipe for banana pancakes. No, of course he’s here to talk about the Mueller Report — what it means, when we’ll see it, how much of it we’ll see, and who’s going to look foolish when we do see it. Also, the media and Mueller, and no flipping — it’s another edition of What Are You Watching?

Music from this week’s episode: Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley

This week, we cover Liz Warren’s plan to break up the big tech companies, Ilhan Omar’s latent (or maybe not so latent) anti-Semitism from the perspective of an actual member of her district, and chat about the Democrats boycotting of Fox News for one of their upcoming debates. Oh, yeah — we’ve also got the great Andy McCarthy on Manafort, Cohen, and what to expect on seemingly perpetual soon-to-come Mueller report.

Music from this week’s episode: Mayor of Simpleton by XTC