A stunning national security scandal takes center stage in Ep. 13 of On Background, as investigative journalist Susan Crabtree breaks down a Secret Service sting that exposed shocking lapses in judgment, discipline, and leadership. Crabtree explains how an agent assigned to Vice President J.D. Vance was allegedly compromised in a honeypot operation. This raises urgent questions about manpower shortages, internal culture, and the agency’s ability to protect America’s leaders.

The conversation widens to a broader crisis: ICE agents being doxxed, sensitive government information leaked, and the FBI raiding journalists’ homes in pursuit of sources. Crabtree warns that media double standards, aggressive federal tactics, and foreign adversaries exploiting internal chaos are converging at a dangerous moment.

With Iran escalating threats and trust in institutions eroding, Crabtree argues the country is nearing a breaking point—and accountability may finally be unavoidable.

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Explosive fraud allegations in Minnesota and California are shaking Democratic leadership—and this episode of On Background breaks it all down. Investigative journalist Susan Crabtree explains why Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s sudden exit may be tied to massive fraud scandals and mounting political pressure from Amy Klobuchar.

Then comes California, where Crabtree draws chilling parallels to Gavin Newsom, detailing alleged failures involving homelessness spending, wildfire recovery, utilities, COVID relief, and education funding. She argues that audits were blocked, accountability was avoided, and entrenched political interests benefited. In the meantime, the legacy media largely looked the other way.

As federal scrutiny intensifies, Crabtree predicts 2026 will be a year of investigations, whistleblowers, and political reckoning for one-party rule.

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In this episode of On Background, Susan Crabtree and Eric Eggers are joined by former FBI Special Agent Rich Staropoli to expose the catastrophic breakdown in security and leadership following the Brown University shooting. From delayed alerts and missing camera footage to the complete absence of command authority, the response was disorganized, unserious, and dangerous. Officials prioritized optics over action, messaging over manhunts, and political caution over public safety. Staropoli explains why this was not confusion but institutional failure, and why these same patterns are now spreading nationwide. This episode lays out exactly what went wrong, who is responsible, and why these failures will continue unless they are confronted directly.

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