Carol Leonnig and Robert Putnam: Lies and Moral Obligations
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Who are the guests on this episode and what topics will be covered?
Hey guys, it's Tim. It's Wednesday. So we got this two-part episode to focus on specific issues. First, we got Carol Lennig, maybe my favorite investigative reporter over at The Post. Don't tell everybody else. She specializes in Justice Department and FBI issues. So we are going to drill down on this whistleblower report regarding... what Kash Patel knew about the firings of the FBI and whether he perjured himself during his confirmation hearing. So this is a massive story, and she's working on a bunch of other issues as well. So we're talking to Carol first, and then we're continuing kind of our series on the loneliness epidemic, and we're going to the OG to Bob Putnam in segment two, talk about that and kind of what his Bowling Alone book is. how that reverberates in our politics today. It's a super interesting convo.
On the other stuff, a bunch of other stuff in the news, the Elon presser yesterday, the news that's out this morning about how there was an uptick in inflation last month and a bunch of other issues, the elimination of the penny, all the fun stuff. I get into that on the next level with Sarah and JVL For newbies, that's always out on Wednesday afternoons. It's a little more politics focused. And so people can go either catch that on YouTube or download the next level feed on your podcast app of choice. So that will be up on Wednesday. So there's that. That's the agenda. Hope you enjoy as much as you can. Hold on to your hats. Up next, Carol Lennig. Hello and welcome to the Bulldog Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller.
I'm delighted to be here today with one of my faves, an investigative reporter at the Washington Post. She writes about government misconduct, presidential power, the Justice Department, and the FBI. A four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, her books include A Very Stable Genius, Donald Trump's Testing of America. It's Carol Lennig and her cat. How are you doing, Carol? Hey, Tim.
It's great to be with you as usual.
Good to have you. That beat is kind of not really relevant right now. Government misconduct, Justice Department and FBI, nothing happening for you, right?
No, just, you know, working on my self-care, my nails, nothing going on.
Tanning. Okay, that sounds nice. I want to start with Kash Patel. We'd reached out because what I think is the biggest story of the day, really, even though there's obviously a lot happening. We had these firings at the FBI. We talked about this with Andrew Wiseman last week. Top FBI officials pushed out. And then there was a broader mandate that anybody that was involved in the Donald Trump campaign investigations. There's going to be a review of their employment. You guys at the Post had reported that FBI officials sent out a questionnaire over the weekend to determine personnel involvement in cases related to the January 6th attack. So all that was happening at the FBI. Meanwhile, Kash Patel was going through his confirmation hearings. And at those confirmation hearings, Cory Booker asked him this. I want to play what Cory Booker asked Kash Patel.
Are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, FBI agents or personnel associated with Trump investigations? I'm not aware of that, Senator.
So now we have a whistleblower report out today that's indicating maybe Cash might have been aware of that. So a lot there, Carol. Why don't you get everybody up to speed on what we know?
You know, it's really been a breathtaking set of days. And I don't just mean this to complain about our work-life balance. I just mean, if you are an employee of the FBI, you have experienced every day, maybe two or three events that have been stunners. A week before last, a series of the executive leadership for Chris Wray, the FBI director, all career employees, right? They're not beholden to Chris Wray, but they are promoted by him into high-level jobs. All of them were brought into a meeting the day before Kash Patel's hearing and told, your names are on a list to go. And the next morning, while Kash Patel is testifying, they are brought again, a larger group of them brought into a meeting that
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