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 the latest Republican presidential debate in which Nikki Haley called Vivek Ramaswamy

Scum and others on the stage wanted to go to war against Iran, China, Mexico and even Canada.

Joining us is a former Republican, Justin Higgins, who has worked as a policy advisor to a Tea Party,

now House Freedom Caucus Member of Congress, and worked on Trump's 2016 campaign at the

R&C, all before becoming a Democrat and an appointed official for the Democratic Governor

of Puerto Rico. He now hosts the Politics Plus Media 101 podcast. Then we'll look into

the Trump Organization fraud trial in which Ivanka Trump was a witness on Wednesday, repeatedly

claiming she did not recall details of the job she did for the family business, which she said

she is proud of. Joining us is David K. Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter and best-selling

author of the making of Donald Trump, a 13-year veteran of the New York Times.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting that uncovered loopholes and inequities in the U.S.

Tax Code, and he's uncovered so many tax dodgers that he's been called the de facto

tax enforcement

officer of the United States. Also the co-founder of DCReport.org. His latest book is The Big Cheat,

how Donald Trump flees America and enriched himself and his family. Then finally we'll examine

the military situation on the ground in Gaza with Daniel Biman,

who was a professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University,

senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,

and editor of the Lawfare blog.

He served on the 9-11 Commission staff and is the author of a number of books,

including A High Price,, the triumphs and

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