Mueller, She Wrote is a podcast with an all-female cast led by the pseudonymous A. G., a military veteran in a senior role in an executive branch agency. It mixes comedy, legal commentary and political analysis, from a liberal perspective, and centres on the Mueller investigation. The co-hosts are San Diego comedians Jaleesa Johnson and Jordan Coburn.[1]
| Mueller, She Wrote | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Starring | "A. G.", Jaleesa Johnson, Jordan Coburn |
| Genre | Politics, comedy |
| Format | Roundtable discussion Interview |
| Language | English |
| Length | Variable 45 - 90 minute episodes |
| Production | |
| Opening theme | "From Russia, With Love" (instrumental) with audio excerpts from Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, Jeff Sessions and the movie Clue |
| Composed by | Matt Munro |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 97 free 224 exclusive episodes for Patreon subscribers |
| Publication | |
| Original release | 2017 |
| Related | |
| Website | www.muellershewrote.com |
While the podcast is comedic in tone, it has been praised for capturing the minute detail of the Mueller investigation, and for a record of accurate predictions,[2] and The Guardian has described it as "an indispensable source of curatorial journalism for many Trump-Russia watchers".[3]
Format
This article needs additional citations for verification. |
Intro sequence
The show commences with the theme song, an instrumental version of the James Bond film credits theme "From Russia, With Love", with audio excerpts of Donald Trump, Paul Manafort and Jeff Sessions dubbed over, and concluded with an excerpt from the film Clue: "It is political, you're a communist!" followed by "No, Mr. Green. Communism is just a red herring. Like all members of the oldest profession, I'm a capitalist."[4]
Following this intro sequence, the hosts introduce themselves.[4]
Just the Facts
A.G. will read a recap of the general news related to the Special Counsel inquiry, the Trump-Russia relations, and other generally connected news stories, followed by a few minutes of general discussion of the news, and specilation as to the legal ramifications in which these may result.[1][4]
The segment title Just the Facts draws its name from the oft repeated line from the 1951 TV series Dragnet, and contains the double chime sound from the 1990 TV series Law & Order.
Historical investigation
Most weeks, Jaleesa and Jordan do research and present for discussion their findings, often relating to history on Donald Trump, his businesses, family, presidential candidacy in 2016, and his presidency itself, Russia and its leadership and oligarchy, to the U.S. department of justice, and the relevant parties contributing to the situation, and any other interesting and informative information.[citation needed]
Hot notes
Hot notes is a segment where A.G. presented the news highlights, with a segment musical theme based on the song "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer, but with A.G.'s voice replacing Summer's.[citation needed]
Fantasy Indictment League
The show commenced in November 2017 following the first indictments handed down by the Grand Jury from the Mueller Investigation, upon the speculation that there would be more indictments come to pass in the course of the investigation. This led to the trio making fantasy sports styled "picks" of people they believed were likely to be indicted before the subsequent episode. This later was opened up to the podcast's community to speculate on through social media. In 2019, they decided to alter the rules for themselves to avoid doubling-up, so any "pick" can be chosen by only one player (though this was limited only to the hosts, not to the community).[1][5]
Notable indictees include Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Roger Stone and Michael Cohen, all of whom were popular "picks" by both the hosts and their listeners and social media community.
The segment introduction includes excerpts from the 2005 movie Fun with Dick and Jane, wherein Dick hysterically repeats "I'm gonna be indicted!"
Sabotage
Sabotage includes last-minute matters which may alter the outcome of the picks for the Fantasy Indictment League, such as breaking news, ambiguous political activity, or activity by the Special Counsel with ambiguity regarding next steps. This segment previously took place after, but once picks became exclusive in 2019, Sabotage has since been moved to take place prior to Fantasy Indictment League.[citation needed]
The segment introduction includes the guitar riff excerpt from the 1994 Beastie Boys song "Sabotage".
Interviews
The podcast first interviewed a guest in the second episode, and has since had guests in most of the weekly episodes, including some recurring guests, and at times have had as many as three guests. Generally, their guests are legal experts and scholars, journalists and previous political operators. As of 2019, they have also interviewed at least one person who is directly involved in the Mueller investigation, publicist Rob Goldstone, who is noted for having worked with Russian oligarchs and organisations with history working with Donald Trump's pageants.[citation needed]
Other content
Outside of the weekly podcast, the trio also produces midweek content and digitally shares their notes with paying subscribers through the Patreon platform. This includes some exclusive content, such as the MSW Book Club, where they read and recap books relating to the investigations and Trump's presidency, such as James Comey's A Higher Loyalty and Bob Woodward's Fear: Trump in the White House.[citation needed]
Personnel
The three hosts of the show since its inception are A.G., Jaleesa Johnson and Jordan Coburn. The name A.G. is a pseudonym, to keep this host's identity confidential, as she is a federal United States employee, and given the political nature of the podcast, it would be considered a breach of the Hatch Act were she to promote the show using her real name publicly.[1]
Some episodes include interviews with a range of experts, journalists and witnesses to provide as much coverage and depth as possible to augment the basic reporting in the roundtable discussions. Guests have included law professor and author Seth Abramson,[6] political journalists Marcy Wheeler[7] and Scott Dworkin,[8] ex-Obama Communications director Dan Pfeiffer,[9] and Bill Browder, head of the global Magnitsky justice campaign.[10]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Stoeffel, Kat (2018-08-06). "The Trump Administration's Funniest Mole". ELLE. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- ^ Wells, Peter (2019-01-30). "Podcast Mueller, She Wrote captures the minutiae of Trump's Russia probe". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- ^ Abramson, Seth (2018-11-22). "Trump-Russia is too complex to report. We must turn to curatorial journalism". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- ^ a b c http://sdcitybeat.com/news-and-opinion/news/the-making-of-a-political-podcast-mueller-she-wrote/
- ^ https://www.muellershewrote.com/ufaqs/how-do-i-play-the-fantasy-indictment-league/
- ^ http://muellershewrote.libsyn.com/lodestar-supernova-feat-jack-bryan-of-active-measures-and-seth-abramson
- ^ http://muellershewrote.libsyn.com/so-you-think-you-can-dance-feat-marcy-wheeler-barbara-mcquade
- ^ http://muellershewrote.libsyn.com/michael-cohen-broidy-and-the-nra-feat-scott-dworkin
- ^ http://muellershewrote.libsyn.com/pod-save-america-crossover-feat-dan-pfeiffer-andrew-janz
- ^ http://muellershewrote.libsyn.com/trump-is-a-russian-asset-feat-david-rothkopf-bill-browder