My name is karen. Thank you for joining us here at the center on National Security. We are delighted to be bringing you this afternoons conversation. With me today is awardwinning author, journalist, documentary maker. His new book is the spymasters how the cia director shaped the future and we are going to talk about this book today but first i want to say welcome and thank you for joining us. Its a pleasure to be here thanks for having me. So this is a wonderful read. When i started it i was like this is going to be too much information i wont be able to take it in but its fantastic. Its based on your own knowledge and research over 70 interviews and among those the directors of the cia except for the current ones and its not so much about the cia directors of their relationshitherelationship to te and the president would you agree with that . Thanks for the kind words about the book because what i try to do may be above all else is humanize these directors. I was lucky because as a
Thank you for having me. When i started it this will be too much information i cannot take it in is based on your knowledge and research over 70 interviews. And billy it is not so much about the cia director but the relationship to the white house and the president. Do you agree . Thank you for your kind words because what i really tried to do above all else is to humanize these directors and with his cast of characters those that were the quintessential cia director is a james bond character cigarette in one hand and the dry martini and another to walk into the oval office to tell lbj the domino theory was god and then Going Forward to me was the corleone of the cia and then you have okc and an amazing cast the characters all the way up to gina haskell the first woman to run the cia. The book focuses a lot on the relationship between the president and the cia director its almost an impossible balancing act for a cia director because he or she have to tell the president a hard truth wi
the indictment, i believe you said 38. we are still counting, going through it. 37 or 38. i m going like this, sandra. you know. sandra: yeah. it s it s over three dozen and it s 40-something page document. john: the 38th count is false statements allegedly on the part of the president s valet and personal assistant. but 37 related to trump and notta together, and then that one separate one, number 38. but i mean, this thing reads like a book. sandra: hard to print. so, we are still going through it, and the top secret records seized by the fbi from the trump home as we learn more, andy, as we touched on earlier, they detailed on foreign nations nuclear capabilities. we obviously have prepared for and had some inkling so far. is this more or less than you expected, where are you on this, andy? it s much more than i expected, sandra, on the substance of the documents. ordinarily when you have a classified information case they have a defense tactic that s known
investigate biden s handling of these classified documents from his time as vice president. we are also at this hour awaiting a white house press briefing where the press secretary to the president is very likely to be pressed on these issues. john: very likely indeed. all of this comes after the white house counsel revealed that second batch of documents was found in a garage at one of the president s delaware homes, which you can see in the campaign ad from 2020. even a glimpse of a stack of papers toward the end of the ad. top house republicans addressing the matter moments ago. i think congress has to investigate this. here is an individual that s been in office more than four years, sat on 60 minutes so concerned about president trump s documents locked in behind and now we finds it as the vice president keeping it for years out in the open in different locations. we are not gonna let up, and we were already investigating the biden family influence scheme, this i
aishah: former president trump pushing to release the affidavit but the justice department is urging the court to keep the documents secret, saying releasing it publicly would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation. john: documents show the government is investigating trump for potential obstruction of justice and possible violations of the espionage act. aishah: and what s at stake at today s hearing, and peter doocy how the white house is responding. john: mark meredith live outside the courthouse in west palm beach florida, mark, what can we expect in the next coupon of hours? good afternoon. we can expect the judge to listen as lawyers are trying to push to get him to unseal a federal affidavit which would likely outline where the investigation stands into the former president. this is going to be fascinating, we have also seen the judge already agree to release some materials. the search warrant came out, which detailed not only what was collected fro