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

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

We'll begin with Trump's latest cabinet choices, minus the outrageous choice of Robert F. Kennedy,

Jr. to be the head of Health and Human Services, which we'll obviously cover later.

But today talk about the recently resigned Congressman Matt Gates to be the Attorney General,

in spite of an outstanding verdict from the House Ethics Committee. They have investigated accusations of Gates'

sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl across state lines. A case federal prosecutors dropped only because

the girl is now a porn actor, and the pimp who arranged drugs and girls

for Gates is such a sleaze with a long record, neither would be useful witnesses for the prosecution

even though they insist Gates is guilty of the charges and more.

Joining us is Lisa Graves, the executive director of the new corporate watchdog group True

North Research and Court Accountability. She has served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the

federal government as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department as Chief

Council for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a deputy chief of the Article 3

Judges Division for the U.S. courts.

Then we'll look into Trump's choice for Secretary of Defense, a devoted Fox News propagandist

and grifter who hawks dubious products and supports for-profit colleges that rip off veterans.

Joining us as an expert on the military and special forces

who has covered the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine, Robert Young Pelton, an author, filmmaker,

journalist and explorer. He is the publisher of Dangerous magazine and had first-hand experience

on the war on terror from direct contact with the world's most

infamous jihadi rebel and insurgent groups. His books include the world's most dangerous places,

...