This is Brian Lair's Daily Politics Podcasts from WNYC Studios.

It's Monday, July 21st.

I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom.

There has been a flood of major media stories in recent days.

Some of them, things you might have considered unthinkable at another time.

Of course, there was that rescission package that seeks to clawback $1.1 billion

and already approved federal funding from public media institutions like this one.

We also saw a major blow to late-night television attributed to financial pressures with a looming

merger in the background. Then there were these seemingly endless stories about the late

disgraced former financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Fights are breaking out among some of President Trump's one-time supporters saying he's

failing to deliver on his promise to release more details about the case. And then there's

President Trump's own lawsuit against billionaire Rupert Murdoch in the Wall Street Journal

over their report on new information

connecting him in Epstein some two decades ago over a bawdy birthday note Trump allegedly sent him.

I could keep going. But thankfully, we have a reliable source joining me who can explain what's

happening across all these storylines and more.

Brian Stelter is chief media analyst for CNN worldwide and the lead author of the Reliable Sources Newsletter.

He's also the author of several books, including his latest, which came out last year, Network

of Lies, the epic saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for America. Brian, thank you so much

for joining me. Great to see you again. Hey, so good to be here. Thank you. So, Brian, as a point of

personal privilege, I want to start things off with that body blow delivered to public media

...