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Trump indicted (again)
Trump indicted again | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Trump indicted (again)

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody, Ian Bremmer here and a Quick Take from Nantucket.

Another exciting week, far more eventful than we'd like in the US political environment, particularly because of more indictments that have come down on former President Donald Trump. You're used to me saying that these are unprecedented times in US politics. Unfortunately, all of the new precedents that are being set are about eroding political institutions. They are corrosive. The guardrails are being weakened, and it is very hard to find structural changes that are strengthening US democracy. All sorts of things that we can say that are promising about the US economy, maybe being able to avoid recession, about the US defense sector, and about its ability to protect not just the US but other countries around the world.

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Trump's uncertain future amid new indictments
Trump's uncertain future amid new indictments | US Politics In :60 | GZERO Media

Trump's uncertain future amid new indictments

Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, DC shares his perspective on US politics.

Will these new charges finally sink Trump?

And the answer is probably no. Special counsel Jack Smith this week announced a new set of indictments against President Trump for tampering with and destroying evidence in the case related to his mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. President Trump has survived multiple rounds of scandal, legal challenges, and ethical lapses that would've sunk any other politician. And politically, it sure looks like this one's not going to make much of a difference. He's still on top of the dog pile. That is the Republican presidential nomination process, and there probably won't be any consolidation or action on that until the first votes are cast in Iowa in January. What this does mean, however, is that it increases his legal jeopardy because it seems unlikely that the special counsel would've brought these additional charges if he didn't think he had sufficient evidence to find him guilty in a court of law.

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Too many people have US security clearance: former House Intelligence Committee member
Too many people have US security clearance: former House Intelligence Committee member | GZERO Media

Too many people have US security clearance: former House Intelligence Committee member

The US government has an over-classification problem. Too many documents are marked "secret" that shouldn't be. And according to this week's guest, the over-classification problem has also created an over-clearance problem. Jane Harman, a former nine-term Congresswoman who led high-level intelligence committees, says that the two problems are closely related. "We over-classify, we over-clear. Our clearance problem is very cumbersome" Harman tells Ian. As a result, many people with clearance tend to err on the side of classifying information rather than risking their position by making public the wrong document.

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US Government information: What's the threshold for "classified"?
US Government information: What's the threshold for "classified"? | GZERO World

US Government information: What's the threshold for "classified"?

There are many reasons for a government to classify information. The US does not want Vladimir Putin getting his hands on our nuclear codes, for example. An estimated 50 million documents are classified every year, though the exact number is unknown—not because it’s classified, but because the government just can’t keep track of it all. But in the words of the former US Solicitor General Erwin Griswold, some “secrets are not worth keeping.”

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Is it time for the US government to rethink how it keeps its secrets?
Is it time for the US government to rethink how it keeps its secrets? | GZERO World

Is it time for the US government to rethink how it keeps its secrets?

Here’s one of the United States' worst-kept secrets: its flawed classification process. Whether it’s the unnecessary classification of material or the storage of top-secret documents behind a flimsy shower curtain in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, it’s crucial to address our approach to confidentiality. Joining GZERO World to discuss all things classified, including those documents in Trump’s bathroom, is former Congresswoman Jane Harman. As the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee after 9/11, the nine-term congresswoman has insider knowledge of the matter.

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Podcast: How to fix the US government's classified information problem with Jane Harman

Transcript

Listen: Maintaining secrecy can be invigorating, whether you're a child with hidden treasures or a CIA agent safeguarding classified information. However, the more secrets you bear, the heavier the burden becomes. This week’s guest, Jane Harman, who served nine terms in Congress and was a ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee after 9/11, understands the weight of secrecy firsthand.

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Ian Explains: Why America is bad at keeping secrets
Ian Explains: Why America is bad at keeping secrets | GZERO World

Ian Explains: Why America is bad at keeping secrets

Here’s a secret: the US government’s system for classifying documents doesn’t work very well, and it hasn’t for decades. If you follow the news, you’ve likely seen stories a-plenty about former President Donald Trump’s penchant for holding onto classified documents, not to mention less egregious examples like former Vice President Mike Pence and current President Joe Biden doing the same. But what you might not know is that the US government has a tortured history of overclassifying information, sometimes with disastrous results.

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What's Vladimir Putin reading these days?
What's Vladimir Putin reading these days? | PUPPET REGIME

What's Vladimir Putin reading these days?

Forget Goodreads. The president of Russia and other world leaders give us their summer reading recommendations. #PUPPETREGIME

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