Mueller, She Wrote
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 centers on the Mueller investigation. The co-hosts are San Diego comedians Jaleesa Johnson and Jordan Coburn.[2]
| Mueller, She Wrote | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Starring | "A. G.,” Jordan Coburn, Amanda Reeder |
| Genre | Politics, comedy |
| Format | Roundtable discussion Interview |
| Language | English |
| Length | Variable 45 - 90 minute episodes[1] |
| 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 – present |
| Website | https://www.muellershewrote.com |
While the podcast is comedic in tone, it has been praised for capturing the minute detail of the Mueller investigation,[1][3] and for a record of accurate predictions,[4] and Seth Abramson in an opinion piece for The Guardian has described it as "an indispensable source of curatorial journalism for many Trump-Russia watchers".[5]
Format
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."[6]
Following this intro sequence, the hosts introduce themselves.[6]
Just the Facts
A.G. will recap 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 speculation as to the legal ramifications in which these may result.[2][6]
Hot Notes
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.[6]
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).[2]
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.[4]
Personnel
The three hosts of the show since its inception were A.G., Jaleesa Johnson and Jordan Coburn. The name A.G. is a pseudonym, to keep this host's identity confidential, as she was, until recently, 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.[2]
As of late 2019, Jaleesa Johnson is no longer with the podcast.
See also
References
- Katherine Miller (December 2, 2018). "The Best TV Show Donald Trump Will Ever Create". BuzzFeed. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
- Stoeffel, Kat (2018-08-06). "The Trump Administration's Funniest Mole". ELLE. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- "Much of the Mueller report is already public. What does it say?". The Economist. 8 December 2018 – via The Economist.
- 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.
- Dio, Ombretta Di (19 September 2018). "The making of a political podcast". San Diego CityBeat.