Podcasts · Government · True Crime
The Asset
District Productive
62 episodes · in order
In 2016, Donald Trump conspired with a foreign government to become President of the United States. On July 25, 2019, with the 2020 election around the corner, he decided to do it again.
More about the show
The first time around, it was collusion, aiding and abetting Russia’s attack on American democracy. The second time, it was extortion, demanding the Ukrainian government manufacture dirt on Trump’s political opponents in exchange for help the country needs to fend off a Russian invasion and chart a democratic future free of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
To make sense of these recent events that have rocked American politics and led to very real concerns that the President of the United States may be a Russian asset, we need to dig a little deeper.
In Season 1, The Asset dives into Trump’s decades-long history with Russia, from his extensive business dealings with Russian oligarchs to his presidential campaign and the investigations that have sent some of his closest associates to prison.
In Season 2, The Asset explores the backstory to Trump’s infamous phone call with the newly-elected Ukrainian President, where he demanded an investigation into a political opponent and set off a series of events leading to the impeachment inquiry.
Hosted by Max Bergmann, a senior fellow and director of the Moscow Project at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and featuring expert guests, The Asset will put together the pieces of Trump’s relationship with Russia and Ukrainian extortion campaign.
The Asset is a partnership between the Center for American Progress Action Fund, District Productive, and Protect the Investigation. It is produced by Paul Woodhull, a 20-year veteran media executive and president of Build Better Media, and Peter Ogburn, the executive producer of the Bill Press Show.
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Trailer: Polezni Durak is Russian for Useful Idiot
For decades, Donald Trump has cultivated Russian money and investment to keep his hotels and other business interests afloat. But as Trump was cultivating Russian money; Vladimir Putin’s Russia was cultivating him.…
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Whirlwind
The scandal of Russian interference became Topic # 1 in the first six months of 2017. In a whirlwind of bombshell stories and breaking developments, Trump’s Russia ties went from a fringe topic, ignored by the national…
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Bankrupt
Donald Trump’s businesses failed; a lot. He bankrupted hotels, casinos, an airline and—even an entire football league. And when they failed Trump needed someone to bail him out. And up until the late 1990s that person…
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The Sistema
To understand the Russian interference in the 2016 election, it is essential to understand Vladimir Putin. And to understand Putin, you need to understand his KGB past, his rise to power, his fight for control of…
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From Russia With Cash
Russian Money was pouring out of Russia into the US real estate market and Donald Trump was all about it. We follow the Russian money flowing into the Trump Organization, highlighting the shady cast of characters that…
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New Cold War
The fight over Ukraine’s future is key to the Trump-Russia story. It is central to understanding why, in 2016, Russia undertook such a brazen and risky assault on American democracy. Russia’s attempt to reassert…
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Cultivating An Asset
Join us as we go through the murky world of Russian intelligence. In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the old-style KGB tactics didn’t go away. Instead, the Russian intelligence apparatus has been empowered. This episode goes…
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Running
We break down the beginnings of the two campaigns to elect Donald Trump: one run out of Trump Tower, and the other run out of the Kremlin. From the moment Trump announced he was running for president, he was…
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Hack and Collude
Friday, July 22, 2016 was the day it became clear that the 2016 presidential election would be like no other ever experienced in the United States. On that day, the Russian cut-out WikiLeaks released a massive trove of…
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Winning
October 7th, 2016, was one of the most important days in American political history. At 4:03 pm that day, the Access Hollywood tape was released. Just 29 minutes later, WikiLeaks – at 4:32pm on a Friday –began…
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Conspiring
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is the most damning document ever published about a sitting president. But as much as it told us, the Mueller report said it found…
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Payoff
After the election, Russia sought to cash in for its efforts during the election. Collusion didn’t end with the 2016 election, as the Trump transition team and the Kremlin continued working together to plot ways the…
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Cover Up
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report documents not only collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin to win the 2016 election but also Trump’s frantic efforts to cover up collusion with Russia. In this…
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Excerpt of The Asset's Exclusive Interview with former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa
As an FBI Special Agent, Asha Rangappa specialized in counter intelligence investigations, pursuing threats to our nation's security. In that role, Rangappa tracked down assets of foreign governments and neutralized…
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Excerpt of The Asset's Exclusive Interview with Journalist and Author Luke Harding
Donald Trump's deep and complicated relationship with Russia goes back to the 1980's with his trip to the Soviet Union. In this excerpt of our exclusive interview with journalist and author Luke Harding, who was the…
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The Ukraine Affair
On July 25, Trump had a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, the recently-elected president of Ukraine. According to notes on the conversation released by the White House, Trump asked Zelensky to do him a “favor” by…
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Excerpt of The Asset's Exclusive Interview with The Atlantic's Franklin Foer: What You Need to Know About Ukraine
In order to fully understand the impeachment inquiry, the United States' relationship with Ukraine, and how "All roads lead to Putin," you must first understand the recent turbulent history of the region. Max sits…
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Here We Go Again
In 2016, Donald Trump conspired with a foreign government to become President of the United States. On July 25, 2019, with the 2020 election around the corner, he decided to do it again. The first time around, it was…
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A Rock and a Hard Place
Donald Trump’s efforts to extort the Ukrainian government for his own political gain are now at the center of the ongoing impeachment proceedings. But how did we get here? To understand that, we’ll need to go back to…
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Scheming
On October 9, 2019, two Soviet-born Florida businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were arrested in Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. It would soon turn out that these two men had been involved…
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BONUS - This Week In Impeachment: November 15
Producer Peter Ogburn sits down with host Max Bergmann to find out what happened This Week in Impeachment. We discuss the testimony of Ambassador Bill Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and…
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Extortion
On July 25, 2019, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and asked him for a favor: a public announcement of investigations into Trump’s political opponents. After he hung up, White House lawyers…
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BONUS - This Week in Impeachment: November 25, 2019
Producer Peter Ogburn sits down with host Max Bergmann to find out what happened This Week in Impeachment. We discuss the stunning testimonies of Fiona Hill and David Holmes as well as the madcap antics of Devon Nunes…
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BONUS-Excerpt of The Asset's Exclusive Interview with Calder Walton, general editor of the Cambridge History of Espionage and Intelligence: What You Need to Know About Russian Spying
Max Bergmann, host of the Asset Podcast, sits down with Calder Walton, Ernest May Fellow in History & Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and general editor of the Cambridge History of Espionage and Intelligence, to…
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BONUS-"Follow the Trail of Dead Russians"
"Follow the Trail of Dead Russians" was the advice given by national security expert Clint Watts when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In this excerpt from our Patreon page, Max Bergmann leads us…
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BONUS-"Follow the Trail of Dead Russians" Part 2
"Follow the Trail of Dead Russians" was the advice given by national security expert Clint Watts when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In this excerpt from our Patreon page, Max Bergmann continues…
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Impeaching
Earlier in Season 2, we explained the backstory to the Ukraine scandal, tracing Trump’s efforts to extort a foreign government for his own personal gain. When a whistleblower complaint brought this scandal to light, it…
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BONUS -- I is for Impeachment
Max Bergmann, Executive Director of The Moscow Project and host of The Asset podcast, blazes the trail that could lead to a trial in the Senate with full witness testimony, something Senate Majority Leader Mitch…
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BONUS- O What a Tangled Web
In this teaser episode of This Week in Impeachment, Max Bergmann breaks down the the latest news of Parnas and Pence. In the full episode available on Patreon, Max triangulates the Republican Senators' positions,…
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What's Next?
Max Bergmann, the host of the Asset Podcast, assesses the Impeachment Trial to date and handicaps what's ahead, as the end of Donald Trump's trial before the Senate looms. To hear the full episode, become a Patreon…
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BONUS-Donald Trump's First Impeachment Trial
Now that Donald Trump's first Impeachment Trial has wrapped up, Max Bergmann and Peter Ogburn discuss what was lost and gained in the trial and the path forward to saving our democracy. To hear the full episode and…
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BONUS-The Truth about Vladmir Putin's Reign of International Terror
Russian investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan risk their lives every day to expose the truth about Vladamir Putin's murder sprees around the world, including in the United States and Great…
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The Michael Flynn Story
In this very special episode of The Asset, Max Bergmann brings us the back story of Michael Flynn's rise within the Trump adminstration and breaks down why Donald Trump can never let Flynn be incarcerated. See Privacy…
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Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia's Remaking of the West
Max Bergmann interviews The Guardian's Luke Harding about how Russia has sought to undermine the West by interfering and corrupting the politics of the US, UK, and other Western countries. Harding discusses his…
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Made To Fail
In this special episode of The Asset, we are showcasing a new podcast from our friends at the Sixteen Thirty Fund: Made to Fail. From health care, to unemployment insurance, to exercising the right to vote, COVID-19…
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Exclusive Interview with Senator Mark Warner
The Moscow Project Executive Director Max Bergmann sits down with Senator Mark Warner, Vice-Chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, for an exclusive interview on the committee's report of Russian Active…
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Rigged: America, Russia and 100 Years of Covert Electoral Interference
Max Bergmann, the Executive Director of the Moscow Project speaks with historian and author David Shimer about the alarming and disturbing pattern of electoral interference in American politics by Russia. See Privacy…
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Trump vs. Intelligence
In this bonus episode of The Asset Robert Draper, a writer at large for New York Times Magazine and the author of How the Bush Administration took America into Iraq, gives us a behind the scenes look at the Trump…
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Threats Foreign and Domestic
In this very special episode of The Asset, host Max Bergmann introduces a new podcast, Unconventional Threat from The Asset's production team, District Productive and the bi-partisan organization Keep Our Republic.…
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Epilogue: Rehashing
In the year since season one of The Asset concluded, we have learned a lot. There are tell all books about the Mueller investigation, explosive new reporting, and the bombshell Senate Intelligence Committee Report. In…
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Election Day Special: Too Big to Rig
President Trump on mail-in ballots: “A whole big scam.” Vice-President Joe Biden on claims of voter fraud: “He’s trying to undermine the election.” Unless we see a massive victory by either one of the candidates,…
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What Happened?
Max Bergmann sits down with Paul "Woody" Woodhull, the co-creator of The Asset podcast and president of the progressive podcast network, District Productive, to analyze the election outcomes and the future of Donald J.…
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A Shadow Falls on our Democracy
In Season 1 of the Unconventional Threat-- one of our other podcasts produced in partnership with the non-partisan organization Keep Our Republic--we issued warnings last year that were unfortunately made into a…
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Max Bergmann and Daniella Leger on Russia's History of Failure in Ukraine
In a cross-over event with The Tent podcast for the the CAP Action Fund, Tent host Daniella Leger interviews The Asset host, Max Bergmann. "When we think about Ukraine and how much it means to Russia and the Russian…
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Stoppable
Listen to Episode 1 Here From the team that produced The Asset, District Productive presents Stoppable, the true crime podcast that explores the riveting and dramatic stories of people who become enthralled with the…
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Stoppable: Murder/Suicide
On this very special episode of The Asset, we showcase an episode of the newest podcast from the creative team that produced The Asset. Subscribe here. An 18-year old traveled hundreds of miles from his home on a…
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Stoppable: "Be Careful"
On this very special episode of The Asset, we showcase an episode of the newest podcast from the creative team that produced The Asset. Subscribe here. A young man from a small town in Ohio, drove overnight 500+ miles…
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Stoppable: Strangers Welcome
On this very special episode of The Asset, we showcase an episode of the newest podcast from the creative team that produced The Asset. Subscribe here. A nursing student drove to a town 10 minutes from his home in…
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Stoppable: We Have a Visitor
On this very special episode of The Asset, we showcase an episode of the newest podcast from the creative team that produced The Asset. Subscribe here. One Wednesday evening, a young man began the drive from Columbia…
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Stoppable: Building 1200
On this very special episode of The Asset, we showcase an episode of the newest podcast from the creative team that produced The Asset. Subscribe here. It was Valentine’s Day. While waiting for his Uber ride, the…
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