“Me Too” Comes Back To Congress
The Intercept Briefing
The Intercept
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s primary season, this time against a backdrop of heightened concerns and awareness of powerful figures skirting accountability for sexual abuse and misconduct. Survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have “made accountability for sexual abuse and sexual violence an electoral issue,” says Intercept politics reporter Jessica Washington.
One of the biggest stories to shake up politics in recent weeks are sexual assault allegations that upended Rep. Eric Swalwell’s bid to become the next governor of California, forcing the Democratic front-runner to also resign from his House seat. “You also have to give some credit to Democrats as well for immediately moving on these allegations very swiftly,” says Washington.
This week on The Intercept Briefing, Washington and Intercept senior politics reporter Akela Lacy speak to host Jordan Uhl about the themes emerging this midterm election season. They talk about how the crowded California gubernatorial race is boosting Republicans to the top of the ticket to why powerful factions of the Democratic Party are hyperfixating on Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, rather than leveraging Trump’s sinking approval rating. “This is about not wanting to share power with the left,” notes Washington.
They also discuss what makes a candidate or elected official a progressive. “We've seen a lot of candidates, particularly 2028 candidates, whether senatorial or gubernatorial, who have had long-standing relationships with AIPAC or demonstrated pro-Israel policy records like Rahm Emanuel, Cory Booker, Josh Shapiro, Ruben Gallego, all come out now against AIPAC or distancing themselves from AIPAC,” says Lacy. “It doesn’t really matter if you’re rejecting AIPAC money, if you aren’t changing any of the policies that you adopt with respect to how the U.S. treats Israel.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I don't know what's happening. |
| 0:02.6 | Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend. |
| 0:06.0 | Louisville police shot and killed 26-year-old Brianna Taylor in her apartment during what her family calls a botched drug raid. |
| 0:13.6 | Before Brianna Taylor, there was Catherine Johnston. |
| 0:16.0 | Atlanta police officers shot and killed 92-year-old Catherine Johnston. |
| 0:19.8 | And Donald Scott. |
| 0:22.8 | Donald Scott died in his living room. |
| 0:27.7 | It all began as a metaphor to demonstrate the country's commitment to defeating drug addiction. |
| 0:31.9 | America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. |
| 0:43.9 | But the war on drugs metaphor quickly became all too literal, complete with helicopters, military vehicles designed for abuse on a battlefield, and the suspension of basic civil liberties protections. |
| 0:49.0 | And the judge were just signed a no-knock-one. They were kicking people's doors and violating people's rights. |
| 0:55.4 | The goal was to eliminate the enemy, and the people were the enemy. |
| 0:57.3 | This is collateral damage. |
| 0:59.8 | Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. |
| 1:07.3 | Welcome to the Intercept Briefing. |
| 1:13.2 | I'm Jordan Yule, an intercept contributor and your host today, joined by my co-hosts. |
| 1:16.1 | I'm Jessica Washington, politics reporter for The Intercept. |
| 1:18.9 | And I'm Akala Lacey, senior politics reporter at The Intercept. |
| 1:24.5 | Today we're bringing you a midterm elections update, except rather than diving into the various horse races, we're going to talk about some crucial themes emerging that we're |
| 1:29.0 | reporting on here at The Intercept. |
| 1:31.5 | Jesse, let's start with you. |
| 1:33.5 | One of the biggest stories to shake up politics in recent weeks are sexual assault allegations |
... |
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