Agree to Disagree: Debating Today's Biggest Political Stories
President Trump is back at it on twitter again. Did he dig his own grave with a tweet about Michael Flynn over the weekend? Nick Givas, Media Reporter at The Daily Caller, and Emma Vigeland, Politics Producer at The Young Turks, debate whether President Trump's tweet confirms that the president obstructed justice.
That tweet from President Trump came after Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn agreed to testify in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. ABC News' Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross inaccurately reported that Flynn would be testifying that it was President Trump who directed him to contact the Russians. In the wake of the false report, ABC News suspended Ross without pay for 4 weeks. Our round table debates whether ABC News did enough to remedy the situation.
While Ross's report was wrong, other sources have confirmed that senior officials on the Trump transition team asked Michael Flynn to contact the Russians. A number of those sources claim Jared Kushner is one of those officials. Vigeland and Givas discuss the likelihood that Jared Kushner is next on Robert Mueller's hit list.
Cheddar Politics takes a deeper look at the takeaways from the Georgia primary elections on Tuesday. Georgia Public Broadcasting's local and state politics reporter, Stephen Fowler, joins us to discuss the limits of Trump endorsements and break down what the outcome in each race means.
After learning that the suspect in the Uvalde school shooting posted about his intentions on Facebook, activists are urging social networks to make changes. Lena Derhally, a licensed psychotherapist and author of "The Facebook Narcissist," joined Cheddar News to discuss the role social media plays in school shootings. "They're not really invested in taking down hateful content," she said about social platforms."In regards to the shooting, it was 15 minutes before that actual threat. It would be pretty hard for a social media company to trace that threat that quickly. But what they can do better is take down threats and hateful content much faster and more than they're doing now."
Following the mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead, the debate over gun control has been reignited. While studies have shows most Americans agree on some additional regulations, there hasn't been much legislative traction even as gun violence worsens in the country. Brian Lemek, the executive director of Defend The Vote and the former executive director at Brady PAC for gun control, joined Cheddar to discuss reform efforts. "The lawmakers that we have aren't passing these at the federal level," he said. "That's the problem. We have the wrong people in charge."
The crypto industry is still reeling from Terra's recent crash. The company's blockchain was temporarily halted earlier this month after the collapse of its cryptocurrency Luna (LUNA) and its stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which led to almost $45 billion being wiped from the tokens' market caps within a week. Now, many are left wondering what Terra's struggles mean for the broader crypto market. Reeve Collins, CEO of the NFT platform BLOCKv, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell from Davos 2022 to discuss.
The average city in California has a 38% higher cost of living than the average American city, according to a cost of living index. For many, the general minimum wage of $15/hour just doesn't cut it. Anti-poverty activist Joe Sanberg wants to get the minimum wage changed to $18/hour. He joins Cheddar News to discuss the Living Wage Act of 2022.
