Michael Isikoff

I mean, people always ask-

And Mike Isikoff

... you know, "What's the most, uh, outrageous thing that you've left on the editing room floor?" Nothing.

People see everything.

It's about, it's about the public's interest.

But yeah, I, when I went to Isikoff, I don't think he intentionally burned me, but again, that, that's not, it's kind of cold comfort when you're going through a living hell.

But he didn't realize that Newsweek, he protected my identity in the hard copy of the article, but it was only just going digital.

All outlets were only just going digital, and in the digital version of the article, my name was fully out there in the correspondence, which had been anonymized-

It was just out there.

Not in the electronic version.

And I don't think that was Mike Isikoff trying to screw me.

I think it was, like, a digital, a new digital universe that people aren't, weren't used to navigating.

David, this isn't your first book on the subject.

Back in 2018, you published a book with Michael Isikoff, Russian Roulette, the inside story of Putin's war on America and the election of Donald Trump.

Writing this book, what new things did you learn in your research? Things that went, I didn't know, that's

astonishing.

I'm Karen Greenberg.

I'm Michael Isikoff.

welcome to another edition of the spy talk podcast our special guest today is veteran national security journalist sharon weinberger who has a new book out it's called valley of death how big tech is fueling the future of war we're talking about you elon musk peter thiel alexander carp and the rest of you billionaire tech bros but first Xi Jinping is in town.

It'd be nice if he were here to negotiate or begin setting the map for an international agreement on the control of artificial intelligence.

See you around.

I'm Jeff Stein.

I'm Michael Isikoff.

I'm Karen Greenberg.

I am your host, Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer of the journalistic thriller, Mr. Jones, the film the Kremlin doesn't want you to see, so be sure to watch it.

And I was on set in Kharkiv, Ukraine, reading Russian Roulette, a book co-written by this week's guest, David Korn and Michael Isikoff.

And I was reading the section where they talk about my sister, Alexandra Chalupa, the independent consultant who warned anyone who would listen that if longtime Kremlin operative Paul Manafort was managing Donald Trump's campaign, that meant the Kremlin was managing Trump's campaign.

And the reason why she was motivated to do that, as David Korn wrote in Russian Roulette, is because of our Ukrainian roots and all the horrific things that Russia did to Ukraine, including the Holodomor, Stalin's genocide, famine, and so on.

And Putin standing up against them or the enemy of the enemy is my friend.

And, you know, I used to have some debates or discussions with these people and I could just, you know, never get them to look at the facts.

And, you know, I would even a couple of times, you know, when Russia, Russia, a couple of times when Russian roulette came out, you know, and I was being attacked by Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, I said, listen, If you guys want to read my book, the book I wrote with Michael Isikoff, which focused just on the 2016 attack, unlike my current book, which takes a wider view of things, if you want to read that book, I'm happy to have a conversation with you.

You can point out to me all the things that you think are false.

I know what I thought you said to me.

But I will say, you know, people were not on video, but if they were on video, they'd see my book behind me with Russian roulette, which when I wrote that with Michael Isikoff, we said clearly there was no evidence.

that you were in Prague regarding the Steele documents.

And I do think the interesting thing about the Steele dossier, well, it put you in Prague and said things about you that weren't true.

Hmm.

And the, um, she knew about Linda Tripp and how, how, uh, you know, the gal had been planted there because Michael Isikoff and the whole group knew about her a year ahead.

Uh-huh.

That there was a movie, Wag the Dog, that was done ahead of the Isikoff story, but the Isikoff story came out because if you remember, Clinton welcomed, uh, what was the guy's name, from Palestine, but he wouldn't see Sharon.

I'm Karen Greenberg.

I'm Michael Isikoff.

Welcome to another edition of the Spy Talk podcast.

Our special guest today is Bruce Hoffman, who I suspect many of our listeners know is one of the world's most eminent scholars on terrorism and political violence.

See you around.

I'm Jeff Stein.

I'm Michael Isikoff.

I'm Karen Greenberg.