Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Trump isn't making life easy for his party, which is trying to hold on to the Senate amid two runoff elections in Georgia, scheduled for next week. What's his angle? On Today's Show:Gabriel Debenedetti, national correspondent at New York Magazine, talks about the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs, and how Trump politics and tactics are coming into play even as the sun sets on his presidency.

Trump pardoned Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, two of his loyal defenders. He also pardoned Jared Kushner's dad. What should we make of the sunset of the Trump administration? On Today's Show:Andrea Bernstein, WNYC senior editor and co-host of the WNYC/Pro Publica podcast Trump, Inc. and the author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power (W.W. Norton and Company, 2020), and Ilya Marritz, WNYC senior reporter and co-host of the WNYC/Pro Publica podcast Trump, Inc., talk about the president's pardons so far, including those for Jared Kushner's father and Paul Manafort, plus what legal consequences Donald Trump could face post-presidency.  

After months of waiting, Congress passed a pandemic relief package on Tuesday morning. Now Trump is saying he won't sign it. On Today's Show:Lisa Lerer, New York Times reporter and CNN political analyst, looks at how blue-collar voters - especially but not only white blue-collar voters - continued the trend of voting Republican, and what this means for Democrats in the future.

Congress passed a $9 billion COVID relief package. So what relief is coming? But you don't have to read all 5,000 pages. We asked Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY8) for the rundown.

Trump has spent the past 4 years unraveling the EPA. What does Biden need to do to restore it, and direct it to address not only climate change, but local environmental injustices? On Today's Show:Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post senior national affairs correspondent, covering environmental and energy policy changes to the government in the Trump administration, talk about EPA in the Biden administration and the extent to which environmental justice will be a priority.

Officials say that Russian intelligence infiltrated several US government computer systems, including parts of the military. Plus, COVID relief in Congress and Hunter Biden. On Today's Show:Jonathan Lemire, AP White House reporter, talks about the COVID relief bill in Congress, the Russian hack of government agencies and more national news. 

Today on the radio, we held a Holiday Party on the air. Hear two selections: Can citizens pass the citizenship test, and some secular Hanukah laughs. On Today's Show:Andy Borowitz, author, comedian, and creator of The New Yorker's “Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, talks about his holiday traditions and keeping a sense of humor during such a dark winter.Maeve Higgins, comedian and contributing writer for The New York Times, tries to stump us with questions from the new citizenship exam.

Biden named his former campaign trail opponent Pete Buttigeig to be Secretary of Transportation. How will the former mayor of South Bend run the country's transportation efforts? On Today's Show:Janette Sadik-Khan, former Department of Transportation commissioner for New York City under the Bloomberg administration, principal at Bloomberg Associates and author of the book Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution (Penguin Books, 2017) talks about the news that President-elect Biden has nominated his former rival in the presidential campaign (and the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana) to be the next transportation secretary -- and what that means for the transportation and infrastructure needs of the New York area.

Sen. Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the nation's leading Republicans, just congratulated Biden on his victory, a month after the race was called. On Today's Show:U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D NY-4), shares the latest on the coronavirus relief bill, plus reacts to some of the big news of the day, including Barr's resignation, President-elect Biden's message of unity, and Mitch McConnell's acknowledgement this morning that Biden won the election.

More than a month after Election Day, and the result has been made official. But just because Biden's win is now concrete, it doesn't mean Trump will concede defeat. On Today's Show:Anita Kumar, White House correspondent and associate editor at Politico and Rebecca Green, professor of law at William & Mary and co-director of its Election Law Program, talk about the latest national political news.