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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

How Jane Mayer exposed Eric Schneiderman, Bush’s torture program, and the Kochs

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.511.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2018

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On May 7, Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow published a story in the New Yorker detailing New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s alleged history of sexually and psychologically terrorizing the women he dated. Hours later, Schneiderman stepped down. Schneiderman was only Mayer’s most recent investigation. Over the course of her career, she’s exposed America’s torture programs, the Koch brothers’ takeover of Republican Party politics, the role the reclusive Mercer family had in funding Donald Trump’s rise, the real story of what happened between Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, and more. She’s among the greatest investigative reporters of her generation, and I’ve always wondered how she breaks so many huge stories on such a vast range of topics. And so, in this podcast, I asked her. The result is a conversation that not only helps make sense of the moment we’re living in — from #MeToo to how the Kochs tamed the Trump administration to why Gina Haspel is our CIA director — but also acts as a primer on the art and practice of investigative reporting. Enjoy! Recommended books: Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal by Kim Phillips-Fein Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

From having written about a number of people who've done things that are way over the line

0:06.4

They almost always find a way to justify it to themselves and to hide it from themselves

0:13.6

So I mean I think to this day Clarence Thomas probably thinks he was deeply wronged and that he never said those things to a need a hill

0:30.0

On May 7th Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow published a story in the New Yorker detailing New York Attorney General Eric Schneidermann's history of

0:43.8

sexually and and psychologically

0:46.9

terrorizing the women he dated hours later of the New York governor Andrew Cuomo he called on Schneidermann to resign

0:53.0

hours after that Schneidermann step down

0:56.6

Journalism comes in many forms and it has many uses but the most honored and necessary form is a form that Jane Mayer excels at

1:04.6

Investigative journalism the revelation of what the powerful do not want us to know so that we may as a citizenry

1:11.2

Hold them accountable so that we can protect ourselves

1:14.3

Over the years mayors done more than anyone else to map the Koch brothers influence on their public and party

1:19.8

She has added immeasurably to our understanding of America's torture programs to our knowledge of need a hills allegations against Clarence Thomas

1:26.7

To our understanding of Donald Trump and Michael Pence and the influence the financiers like Robert Mercer have on this

1:32.6

Administration she's one more words and I can count and she's deserved them all

1:37.1

I've known mayor for years and I've always wanted to know

1:41.1

How she does what she does?

1:42.6

How she breaks stories on everything from waterboarding in Iraq to sexual devancy and the New York government

1:48.4

But I've never gotten a chance to do to sit down and ask her that isn't until now

1:53.1

Of course if there's anything you want to sit down and ask me you can email me at as a client showed box.com

1:57.9

You see that smooth transition how I did that

2:00.6

I hope you've sat down and watched boxes at new Netflix show explained a lot of my work is going into that these days

2:05.8

And I would love to know what you think of it

...

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