Hello and welcome to Background Briefing available 24-7 at Background Briefing.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the possibility that the United States Senate will do its job of advice and consent

under the separation of powers and not give Trump the blank check of recess appointments,

but do actual oversight with probing questions from Democratic and Republican senators

of his outrageous nominees, in particular,

Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hagseth, and RFK Jr.

Joining us is Robert Cutner, the co-founder and co-editor of the American Prospect and the Ida

and Meyer Kirsten Chair at Brown-Darce University.

He was formerly an assistant to the legendary I

of Stone, a chief investigator of the Senate Banking Committee, and for 20 years wrote a column at

Business Week. His books include Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism and Going Big? FDR's legacy,

Biden's New Deal, and the struggle to save democracy, and his latest articles at the

American prospect include, did Beebe get away with it, and Dr. Oz and the stealth destruction

of Medicare, which we will discuss. Then we'll look into the so-called peace plan to end Russia's war on

Ukraine from General Keith Kellogg, who Trump has appointed as his special envoy to Ukraine.

Joining us to assess whether Trump will sell out Ukraine to his buddy Putin or end up with a

reasonable deal to end the killing is William Arkin, one of America's premier military experts,

who has been a consultant to wide-ranging organizations, including

the United States Air Force, the United Nations Secretary General, Human Rights Watch,

and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the best-selling author of more than a dozen books,

including The Generals Have No Clothes, The Untold Story of Our Endless Wars.

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