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
The Government's Bar Tab at Mar-a-Lago [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:10
Spending taxpayer money at Mar-a-Lago is a such a "headache," the State Department got a special credit card for visits to the president's private club. This week, the intersection of money, presidential access and secur…
'Harm to Ongoing Matter' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:39
On Thursday, the “Trump, Inc.” team gathered with laptops, pizza and Post-its to disconnect — and to read special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. What we found was page after page of jaw-dropping details about the inner…
Trump, Inc. Goes Beyond Collusion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:34
In this Trump, Inc. podcast extra, we talk about what we know, what we don’t know and what we still want to know after Attorney General William Barr gave his summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Trump, Inc…
Trump’s Moscow Tower Problem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:57
This week, we’re exploring President Donald Trump’s efforts to do business in Moscow. Our team — Heather Vogell, Andrea Bernstein, Meg Cramer and Katie Zavadski — dug into just who Trump was working with and just what Tr…
What We’ve Learned From Michael Cohen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:35
For a year now, Trump, Inc. has been digging into the president’s business. We’ve reached out repeatedly to the Trump Organization with questions. Mostly, we haven’t gotten answers. Yesterday was different. Michael Cohen…
Trump Inauguration Chief Tom Barrack’s ‘Rules for Success’ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:30
Last year, our Trump, Inc. podcast with WNYC explored the mystery of how Donald Trump’s inaugural managed to raise and spend $107 million. A lot has happened since then. We now know the inaugural committee is the subject…
What We Now Know About Manafort, Cohen and ‘Individual-1’ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:06
Court filings by prosecutors last week shined a light on the business lives of two men who worked get Donald Trump elected president: former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chairman Paul M…