The Takeout with Major Garrett

Major sits down with authors Brody and Luke Mullins to talk about Washington’s favorite pastime - and it’s not baseball. Their new book, “The Wolves of K Street,” argues that the last few decades of lobbying members of congress and policymakers has only benefited corporations and the lobbyists themselves, leaving behind the general public. Join us at The Dubliner on Capitol Hill (where lawmakers and lobbyists have been meeting for 50 years!). To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the U.S. Navy needed something in the South Pacific or Asia, Leonard Francis seemed to be able to provide just about anything. Nicknamed "Fat Leonard," Francis showered senior officers with bribes - lavish dinners, prostitutes and gifts. In exchange, the officers kept lucrative contracts flowing to Francis's companies, which often overcharged the government for services and supplies. Francis was also able to extract something even more valuable than Navy contracts: classified information. Join us for a conversation with author and Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock whose scintillating new book "Fat Leonard" dives into one of the wildest scandals in U.S military history. We're at Ris in Washington, D.C.'s West End neighborhood. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a freshman Democrat from the Dallas area, joins Major in the Longworth House Office Building for a lively chat about the speakership, Democrats' congressional prospects in 2024, Israel and Gaza and much more. Crockett weighs in on Donald Trump's appeal to voters, how abortion will play as an issue this cycle and President Biden's re-election chances. Join us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bestselling author and New York Times reporter David Sanger joins Major at Macintyre's Pub in D.C.'s Woodley Park neighborhood. Sanger's new book, "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West," looks at some of the knottiest foreign policy challenges facing the Biden White House and how previous administrations have dealt with them. Join us for a trip around the world. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re at Daru, a bustling Indian restaurant in D.C.’s H St. corridor, with Ali Zaidi, the National climate advisor to President Biden. How does the government decide where to build electric vehicle charging stations? Why has this administration approved more oil and gas drilling permits on federal land than President Trump’s administration? Will the president declare a national climate emergency? Do Americans know what climate-related actions President Biden has taken? Answers to those questions - and some delicious scallops - on this week’s show. Join us. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join us at Carmine's in Washington D.C.'s Penn Quarter for epic quantities of rigatoni, calamari and garlic bread - and an equally delicious conversation with California Congressman Ro Khanna. Khanna, a progressive Democrat and ally of President Biden, says it's time for the U.S. to halt offensive weapons transfers to Israel. He weighs in on Mr. Biden's electoral prospects in key states and explains his very public critique of Robert F. Kennedy's runningmate. Join us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After an extraordinary junior golf career and a battle with personal demons, Lisa Cornwell got what should have been a dream job: on-air reporter for The Golf Channel. Cornwell spent seven years covering professional and collegiate golf but she writes few things about the job were all that dreamy. Cornwell describes a toxic, misogynistic workplace culture that punished women for speaking up. Her new memoir, “Troublemaker,” details a life of birdies and bogeys and what she’s learned along the way. Join us at Ris in Washington’s West End for a Masters week special. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti joins Major to discuss his new book, Before It's Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America, out this week from Simon & Schuster. Vigliotti, who is frequently called upon by CBS to cover natural disasters and their impact on American communities, shares stories of survivors with, "lessons to teach us all of what they have been through, of what they have witnessed." He recounts the near-death experience he and his photographer encountered during the 2019 Kincaid Fire in Sonoma County, California: "There was no way out. There was no exit." Plus: the roles that beavers play in combating climate change. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we focus our attention on the new nine-part Netflix documentary series Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War, which offers viewers a comprehensive look at the Cold War and its aftermath. Major chats with Turning Point director Brian Knappenberger, an accomplished documentary filmmaker whose team conducted over 100 interviews with a variety of subjects: survivors of the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, current or former world leaders and many other key figures of the Cold War era. Knappenberger says his doc series aims to tell a story about the reverberations from the invention of the atomic bomb and that while it's primarily a look back at the events of the Cold War, it also reflects "the tension we're feeling now" with Russian President Vladimir Putin's ongoing quest to make Russia powerful again. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's guest wears several hats: he's an author, a data analyst, a tech businessman and a former gubernatorial candidate in his home state of Rhode Island. Ken Block, who joined Major for breakfast at Any Day Now in D.C.'s Navy Yard neighborhood, was also briefly employed by the Trump campaign to hunt for voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Block's new book, Disproven, details his unbiased search for evidence of fraud that ultimately, "wasn't there." He tells Major that he's worried about the election fraud narratives bubbling up ahead of the 2024 presidential election and warns that former President Trump, "has to be mindful that the election denialism is not a winning message." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices