Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news. We'll begin with the FBI raids on the homes of Scott Ritter and Dimitri Simes

and investigate the Kremlin's influence operations underway to help re-elect Trump and hurt the Harris-Wolf's campaign.

We'll discuss the Justice Department's efforts underway along with Canada and the Netherlands

to take down 968 inauthentic accounts the Russians have created pushing Kremlin propaganda

on social media accounts using commercially available artificial intelligence tools.

Joining us is Casey Michelle, the director of the Combating kleptocracy program at the Human Rights Foundation,

as well as a writer, analyst and investigative journalist working on topics ranging from kleptocracy,

illicit finance, stark money, foreign lobbying, and foreign influence to the legacies of Russian and Soviet colonialism.

He is the author of American kleptocracy,

how the US created the world's greatest money laundering scheme in history,

and foreign agents,

how American lobbyists and lawmakers threatened democracy around the world,

his new book out next week.

Then we'll look into last night's rousing speech at the DNC by Tim Wolfe

during which his son tearfully pointed to the vice-presidential nominee and said

that's my dad an endearing moment the MAGA world is viciously ridiculing.

Joining us to discuss last night and preview tonight at the DNC is Jacob Harbrun,

the editor of the National Interest and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

His books include They New They Were Right, The Rise of the Neocons, and America Last, the right century-long romance with foreign dictators and

we'll discuss his article at the national interest Project 2025 the real star of the

Democratic Convention then finally we'll speak with David Cleon a Brooklyn

...