The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

Jonathan Jordan on his Terrific New Book IKE AND WINSTON: World War, Cold War, and an Extraordinary Friendship

Jonathan W. Jordan is a historian and an award-winning author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe. He is a regular book critic for The Wall Street Journal and the author of nearly two dozen articles appearing in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, World War II magazine, Military History, and World War II History magazine. He has made numerous live, televised, podcast, and radio appearances. Jonathan joins me to discuss his terrific new book, IKE AND WINSTON: World War, Cold War, and an Extraordinary Friendship, and how the events and leadership of that era can be applied to the current international political landscape. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446. Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud Design by Cricket Lengyel

Andrew Weissmann on his New Book Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America

Andrew Weissmann is the co-host of the popular podcast Main Justice and is a frequent legal analyst for NBC/MSNBC. He serves on the board of Just Security and writes frequently for it, as well as The New York Times, The Atlantic, & The Washington Post. From 2017-2019 Andrew served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office. His memoir about the Special Counsel investigation, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation , was a New York Times bestseller. He is also a Professor of Practice at New York University and teaches courses in national security and criminal procedure. He also served as the General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and from 2002-2005 he served as the Deputy and then the Director of the Enron Task Force where he supervised the prosecution of more than 30 individuals in connection with the company’s collapse. And he was also a federal prosecutor for 15 years in the Eastern District of New York, where he served as the Chief of the Criminal Division and prosecuted numerous members of the Colombo, Gambino, and Genovese families, including the bosses of the Colombo and Genovese families. Andrew's back to discuss his terrific new book, Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America, which is on sale May 19. We also discuss Bondi, Blanche, the DOJ SCOTUS, redistricting and more. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Nate Soares Explains How and Why AI May Ultimately Kill Us All

Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He has been working in the field for over a decade, after previous experience at Microsoft and Google. He’s the author of a large body of technical and semi-technical writing on AI alignment, including foundational work on value learning, decision theory, and power-seeking incentives in smarter-than-human AIs. Nate joins me for a fascinating yet terrifying conversation about the existential threat of Artificial Intelligence, which is the subject of his 2025 book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us. Don't miss this sobering, eye-opening chat you'll never forget! Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Jonathan Vigliotti on his New Book Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A.

Jonathan Vigliotti is an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award–winning CBS News national correspondent whose work has appeared on numerous platforms including CBS Sunday Morning, Face the Nation, 48 Hours, and more. His reporting has taken him to more than forty countries and territories across six continents. He is the author of Before It’s Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America, and his latest book, Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A., which went on sale this week. Jonathan discusses the origins of the devastating fires in Los Angeles in early 2025, how they could've and should've been avoided, and what the city must do going forward to prevent such a disaster from happening again. He also describes in harrowing detail his own real-time experience navigating through this nightmarish hellscape as he covered the fires. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Elie Honig on Epstein/Lutnick/Bondi; Patel; Comey; SCOTUS/Virginia; Kimmel, Disney/ABC and the FCC; and Birthright Citizenship

Elie Honig is CNN’s Senior Legal Analyst. He previously worked for 14 years as a federal and state prosecutor. He is also the national bestselling author of two books, “Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor’s Code and Corrupted the Justice Department” and “Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It”. He writes a weekly column for New York magazine and for Cafe.com, and he hosts two podcasts for Vox Media. He teaches at Rutgers University and is special counsel to New Jersey law firm Lowenstein Sandler. His latest book is, When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ’s Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, will be published September 16th. Elie and I discuss the latest involving the Epstein cover-up, including Howard Lutnick's recent testimony and Pam Bondi's upcoming interview on the 29th; the mounting Kash Patel troubles; the new James Comey indictment; the SCOTUS Virginia redistricting ruling; the Jimmy Kimmel/ABD/Disney witch-hunt; and Birthright Citizenship. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel