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

and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with Trump's appeal to the New York courts for extra time to find the

billion dollars he will need to appeal his fraud conviction, which is not going well

after 30 bond companies turned him down.

And as of March the 25th, Trump faces the prospect of his assets being seized

and Trump Tower bolted shut by New York's Attorney General. Joining us to discuss the possibility

of someone like Putin coming up with the money, which might have been a reassuring message

from Putin, Orban, recently delivered to Mara Lago, is Scott Horton,

a professor at Columbia Law School, and a contributing editor at Harper's in Legal Affairs and

National Security. He serves on the American branch of the International Law Association and has

represented a variety of journalists and whistleblowers.

Then, following his promise of a bloodbath, if he does not win the election, we will examine the growing possibility that Trump will call for a civil war, just as he called for the

January 6th insurrection, and speak with Barbara Walter, a professor of political science and raw chair in Pacific

international relations at the University of California, San Diego.

Her current research focuses on the behavior of rebel groups and civil wars,

including inter-rebel group fighting, alliances, and the strategic use of propaganda and extremism,

and is the author of how civil wars start

and how to stop them.

Then finally we'll discuss the imposition of repressive laws on the previously free people

of Hong Kong as China's she moves to restrict speech to the point any interaction with

anyone abroad could be seen as, quote,

...