Hello and welcome to background briefing, available 24-7 at background briefing.org, I'm me and

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

We'll begin with the former party of Law and Order's embrace of lawlessness as a top

Republican who is second in line to the president trashes the judicial system and the rule of law

just to please the scofflaw in chief Donald Trump, who the nation's top court is bending over backwards to

protect. We'll discuss this shocking development as the GOP not only abandons democracy, but now

denigrates and undermines the rule of law. Joining us is Corey Brett Schneider, a professor

political science at Brown University where he teaches constitutional law and politics, as well as a visiting professor at Fordham Law School.

He's the author of The Oath in the Office, A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents, and Decisions of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Selection.

His forthcoming book out on July 2nd is

The Presidents and the People, five leaders who threaten democracy and the citizens who

fought to defend it. Then we'll look into the setbacks the Ukrainian military is suffering

as a result of the delay in weapons from the US, which Trump held up to please Putin.

Joining us is Simon Schuster, a reporter from Time magazine based in New York City by way of Moscow,

Kiev and Berlin. He has previously covered Russia and the former Soviet Union for Reuters,

the Associated Press, the Moscow Times and Foreign Policy, and is the author of

The Showman, inside the invasion that shook the world and made a leader of Vladimir

Zelensky.

We will discuss his latest article at Time magazine.

Putin's enemies are struggling to unite.

Then finally we'll speak with Austin Frerick, an expert on agriculture and

antitrust policy. He worked at the Open Markets Institute, the U.S. Department of Treasury,

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