Advertise on podcast: Andy Parks From The Washington Times

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig acknowledged this week that the tax agency faces “enormous challenges” in providing service this year, but he said taxpayers should direct their anger at Congress for not providing enough money. Stephen Dinan joins Andy Parks with more on how the IRS says the pandemic took a toll but cost-cutting has starved his agency of the employees and technology it needs to process returns, answer questions and chase after “ultra-wealthy” tax cheats.

First up, Andy takes a look at the Durham probe and Hillary Clinton, and the rest of the headlines from this week. And then, Washington Times foreign affairs reporter Ben Wolfgang joins Andy with the latest on the situation between Russia and Ukraine. As Ben reports, war felt a little less inevitable Tuesday as Russia announced it was pulling back some troops from their positions near the Ukrainian border, but U.S. and NATO leaders said they could not verify those claims and President Biden again bluntly warned the Kremlin of severe consequences if it started “a war without cause or reason” against its smaller neighbor.

Washington Times White House reporter Jeff Mordock checks in with Andy with the latest, including Secret Service agents rushed second gentleman Douglas Emhoff out of an event at Dunbar High School in Washington on Tuesday after a ‘security threat” was reported at the school. And then, desperate to revive his stalled $1.7 trillion economic spending package, President Biden meets with the heads of some of the nation’s largest utility companies to renew his push for the package’s climate provisions. As Jeff reports, despite the shift in strategy, the president’s bid to pass his climate agenda is filled with pitfalls.

Up first, Stephen Dinan tells Andy about the first in a six-part series on the two years of coronavirus spending. Uncle Sam has spent only a small fraction of that money — 15% or less, depending on who’s counting — on beating the coronavirus itself. Then, as Stephen reports, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued an official opinion saying the surge of illegal immigrants coming across the border meets the legal definition of an “invasion” under the U.S. Constitution. Brnovich‘s opinion is the latest salvo in a war of rhetoric over how bad the border has gotten under President Biden.

Look no further than CNN, with the exit of Jeff Zucker. Suddenly, journalistic standards matter? And the hiatus of Rachel Maddow on MSNBC seems to be sending that network into a tailspin. And in the rules for me but not for thee, Stacey Abrams happily joined masked students, maskless. Barack Obama was maskless, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blames carjackings on empty schools. Typical liberal, never her fault. But there is a simple fix to the soft-on-crime problem. Actual laws. And a closer look at what's happening with the Canadian truckers this week. Andy Parks has all of that and more.

Uncle Sam’s total debt now tops $30 trillion, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. As Stephen Dinan reports, it took just a month and a half to add the latest $1 trillion, after Congress approved a debt limit surge late last year to accommodate the government’s pandemic-fueled spending spree. Plus, Former President Donald Trump is sitting on an absurd amount of campaign cash — more than the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee combined. His political committees raised $51 million over the last six months of 2021, and he ended the year with $122 million in the bank, most of that in his Save America Political Action Committee.

Why does the U.S. care about Ukraine and a fight over obscure Soviet-era borders? Why is President Biden willing to risk World War III to stop Russia from invading? Washington Times Foreign Affairs reporter Ben Wolfgang joins Andy Parks and says these questions are swirling suddenly in Washington. For Biden critics, the foreign policy establishment consensus offers little justification for putting American lives at risk in Eastern Europe or dedicating a massive amount of time, money and energy to a border dispute on the other side of the world with no direct impact on U.S. citizens.

First up, get Andy's take on the craziness, lunacy, absurdity and nonsense coming out of Washington, DC. this week. So, defunding police departments have increased crime rates? You don't say! Plus, apologies to gang members in California. For referring to them as gang members. And then, Washington Times White House reporter Jeff Mordock joins Andy with more on crime rates and violent attacks on police officers. And, Jeff shares a candid peek behind the curtain of the White House briefing room. From insults to non-answers, to shutting out some media organizations, what is the relationship like for the media in this administration?

As Stephen Dinan reports, a new viral video shows illegal immigrants nabbed at the border in Texas being released, ferried to airports and dropped off to catch flights taking them deeper into the U.S. Stephen tells Andy, the video comes just after Homeland Security released its final southern border numbers from 2021, showing by far the worst year on record for illegal activity. Plus, the big news out of the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer will retire, closing out a decades-long tenure for the liberal-leaning justice and giving President Biden his first chance to shape the court.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee are probing the “historically low” rate of arrests of illegal immigrants by ICE, saying it appears the Biden administration, unwilling to abolish the agency outright, is instead paring it down through policy memos. As Stephen Dinan reports, Republicans are demanding data on why the agency, which has not lost any funding, is arresting and deporting people at a much slower pace than in the past. Plus, Homeland Security’s special visa program to grant legal status to victims of crime is plagued by fraud and mismanagement, according to an inspector general’s audit released this week that found the department doesn’t even know how many of the visas are issued. Stephen joins Andy to explain.

"Just when you think crime can't get any worse in America..." Andy takes a look a the wild week that was. New Yorkers elected a District Attorney whose "soft on crime" plan is not sitting well with voters. Is he putting up the welcome mat for thugs? Plus, the new mayor wants non-citizens to have the right to vote. If this can happen in the biggest city in the United States, will it happen everywhere? As President Biden's approval numbers sit in the dumpster, Stacey Abrams skips his visit to Georgia. Plus, the COVID debate in the US Supreme Court and much more.

Firearm purchases by a record number of Black Americans have accelerated a surge in gun sales since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis of government records. As Washington Times White House reporter Jeff Mordock explains, Black gun ownership increased 58.2% through the first six months of 2020, and it's expected that number will be similar for 2021, given the trends in purchases. Plus, President Biden takes on the meat industry, and the White House press room reverts back to limited capacity thanks to the omicron surge. The Washington Times is among the news outlets with a seat in the briefing room and is a member of the WHCA.