Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

The Senate voted overnight to fund key parts of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA.  On Today's Show:Evan McMorris-Santoro, national politics reporter at NOTUS and co-author of the NOTUS daily newsletter, and Mary Clare Jalonick, congressional reporter for The Associated Press and the author of Storm at the Capitol: An Oral History of January 6th (PublicAffairs, 2026), talk about what has to happen next to end the crisis at airports, the status of the SAVE Act and more.

Ceasefire negotiations over the war in Iran continue, and so do reports of possible escalation. On Today's Show:Kian Tajbakhsh, Iranian-American scholar, visiting professor of international relations at New York University, fellow of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University and former political prisoner, and William Christou, Middle East reporter for The Guardian, break down the latest on U.S.-Iran negotiation efforts, and offers analysis and insight into the state of the war.

After Tuesday's oral arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee on Tuesday, the Supreme Court appears likely to overhaul the way many states count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day but are postmarked before the deadline. On Today's Show:Carrie Levine, editor-in-chief of Votebeat, talks about the impact of that change.

Donald Trump's relationship with the rule of law, and with various investigative bodies has always been tense, at best. On Today's Show:Andrew Weissmann, professor of practice at NYU School of Law, co-host of the podcast Main Justice and and the co-author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024), draws on his experience working with Robert Mueller to reflect on his legacy after his death this past weekend at age 81, and discusses President Trump's recent actions through a legal lens.

John Heilemann, political journalist and Puck columnist with a knack for national affairs analysis. He unpacks Trump's surprising social media reaction to attacks on Persian Gulf energy sites. He explores whether Israel coordinated strikes with the U.S. and why Netanyahu might benefit from escalating conflict. He contrasts shifting U.S. public support with enduring Israeli security concerns.

On Today's Show:Daniel Immerwahr, historian, contributing writer at The New Yorker, the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University and the author of How to Hide an Empire (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019), offers historical context on the war in Iran and Trump's overall foreign policy.

With leadership changes at the Department of Homeland Security, how have conditions changed for migrants in detention centers? On Today's Show:Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker staff writer and the author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis (Penguin Press, 2024), talks about the scale of the U.S. immigrant detention program, health and safety issues and expansion plans, following the firing of DHS Sec. Kristi Noem.

As the war in Iran enters its third week, how have structural changes at the Pentagon impacted the U.S. military apparatus?  On Today's Show:Dan Lamothe, U.S. military and Pentagon reporter at The Washington Post, shares his reporting on the latest U.S. military actions in Iran, especially what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, and more.

With President Trump's agenda including massive priorities like the SAVE act, and the war in Iran, a look at recent news from Congress. On Today's Show:Burgess Everett, congressional bureau chief for Semafor, talks about the latest news out of Congress this week, including a bipartisan housing bill that passed the Senate, the president's push for the SAVE Act and more.

On Today's Show: David Graham, staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of The Atlantic daily newsletter, plus author of The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2025), offers analysis of how President Trump is changing the way he describes the status of the war with Iran, and why his public statements about it have shifted around so dramatically. Plus, Mohammed Sergie, editor of Semafor Gulf, talks about how the war has affected the Gulf states.