Dirt

Dirt

Author: WNYC Studios January 8, 2020 Duration: 41:04
In 1996, an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor and refugee to America sat down with an interviewer from the USC Shoah Foundation to recount what she had experienced. “If we’re not going to tell now, in 20 years I don’t know who’s going to be to tell,” Rae Kushner said in her Yiddish-accented English. “And now we have still the strength and we have the power to do this and to warn the rest of the world to be careful who is coming up on top of your government.” Rae’s grandson Jared is now one of the most powerful people in the U.S. government. President Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, he is an influential voice on some of the nation’s most pressing issues, including immigration across the southern border. And to understand him, you need to understand his family story. This episode is based on reporting from host Andrea Bernstein’s new book “American Oligarchs: the Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power.” Read more about the Kushner family at ProPublica and find an excerpt of Bernstein’s book at The New Yorker.

The presidency of Donald Trump presented an unprecedented puzzle, one where the lines between political power and private enterprise became profoundly blurred. Trump, Inc., from WNYC Studios and ProPublica, is a forensic examination of that puzzle. This podcast moves beyond the daily headlines to investigate the enduring architecture of the Trump business empire during his time in office. Each episode is built on meticulous reporting, asking the straightforward yet complex questions that remained: where were new deals being struck, what foreign partners were involved, and was the promised separation between the Oval Office and the family company actually being maintained? The series doesn't just outline controversies; it follows the money, documents the paper trails, and interviews the people on the ground. You'll hear a detailed account of the mechanisms, the key players, and the potential conflicts of interest that defined an era where governance and brand became intertwined. It's a persistent inquiry into the nature of modern power, accountability, and the very definition of public service. By focusing on the operational realities-the leases, the loans, the licenses-this podcast provides a crucial, lasting record of how business was conducted, offering clarity long after the news cycle has moved on. Tune in for a deep, narrative-driven investigation that connects the dots across global projects and political decisions.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Trump, Inc.
Podcast Episodes
Ukraine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:31
Why Ukraine? It’s the question we at Trump, Inc. have been asking ourselves for over a year. Donald Trump has taken money from Ukrainian oligarchs. Paul Manafort went to prison because of work he did in Ukraine. Michael…
Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:52
In August, at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, a tall man with a Viking beard and an elegant gray suit walked out on a stage, carrying a stack of red Make America Great Again hats, tossing them to an adorin…
The Family Business [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:26
Trump, Inc. takes a step back to make sense of the seemingly endless scandals swirling around the White House. They're not random. They fit a pattern and that has a precedent. It turns out, Trump is running the governmen…
The Questions Mueller Didn't Ask [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:33
Perhaps you’ve heard: Special counsel Robert Mueller testified on Wednesday. There’s plenty of analysis about who won and who didn’t. We’re skipping that part.
A New Kind of Influencer: Friend of the President’s Kid [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:34
Tommy Hicks Jr. isn’t in government, but he’s a longtime pal of the president’s son. That has put him in the room when the administration talks China and 5G policy, and it lets him help others — including one friend who…
An Opportunity for the Rich [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:46
Under a six-lane span of freeway leading into downtown Baltimore sits what may be the most valuable parking spaces in America. Lying near a development project controlled by Under Armour’s billionaire CEO Kevin Plank, on…
Pay Day at the Trump Doral [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:52
At the president's resort west of Miami, Payday lenders celebrated the potential death of a rule intended to protect their customers. They couldn’t have done it without him.
Trump and Deutsche Bank: It’s Complicated [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:12
Whispers of money laundering have swirled around Donald Trump’s businesses for years. One of his casinos, for example, was fined $10 million for not trying hard enough to prevent such machinations. Investors with shady f…