McCain, Wyden on Trump Turmoil; Internet Equality; Weekend Culture Report

Coming up on today’s show:

• U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) appears to be growing more critical of the president in the wake of the investigation into Russian interference in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Senator McCain joins The Takeaway to discuss the Justice Department’s decision to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation. 

• Democratic Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee and joins the program to respond to the latest string of reports surrounding President Trump and the investigation into Russian influence in the election.

• On Wednesday night, a jury acquitted Tulsa Police Officer Betty Jo Shelby in the death of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed African-American man who had his hands up when Shelby shot him in September 2016. Mechelle Brown, program coordinator at the Greenwood Cultural Center, explains how the community is responding. 

• On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to roll back the net neutrality rules put in place under the Obama Administration in 2015. Michael Copps, former commissioner of the FCC, explains what you need to know. 

• Iranians are going to the polls today to elect a new president. Current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric, is seeking a second term as he faces off against a range of hard-line conservative candidates. Trita Parsi, the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and the author of “Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy,” weighs in. 

• President Trump departs for his eight-day overseas trip on Friday, and his first stop will be Saudi Arabia, where the president is expected to deliver a speech on radical Islam, written by aide Stephen Miller. Shadi Hamid, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the new book, “Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East,” discusses what viewers should watch for in the president’s speech. 

• Melissa Locker, culture reporter for TIME, The Guardian, and The Takeaway, reviews three new web series created, produced by, or starring women, including “Brown Girls,” which focuses on interracial friendships; “Eighty-Sixed,” a satirical comedy about handling break-ups in the social media age; and “Kate of the Damned,” a vampire comedy.

• Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday and The Takeaway, reviews the new films hitting the box office this weekend, including the romantic comedy “The Lovers,” the children’s movie “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul,” and the highly-anticipated action film “Alien: Covenant.”