{"podcast":{"title":"Americast","slug":"americast-89638","podcast_index_feed_id":89638,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p07h19zz.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07h19zz","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0k99j29.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":644,"summary":"Insight and analysis on what's happening inside Donald Trump's White House. Americast is the authoritative US news and politics podcast from the BBC. Each week we provide audiences with the best analysis from across the BBC, with on-the-ground observations and big picture insights about the stories which are defining America right now. The podcast is hosted by trusted BBC journalists including the BBC’s North America editor, Sarah Smith, BBC Radio 4 presenter, Justin Webb, the BBC’s social media investigation correspondent, Marianna Spring, and BBC North America correspondent, Anthony Zurcher. As well as political analysis, we also specialise in social media. Each week Marianna Spring brings listeners the latest updates from the BBC’s Undercover Voters, our award-winning investigation into the content that is recommended to US voters on social media. The team is also joined by special guests each week, like CNN anchor, Christiane Amanpour, Emmy Award-winning TV host, Rachel Maddow, and Succession actress, J Smith-Cameron. Podcasts are published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As well as being a podcast, we are also available every Friday on BBC Radio 4 and every Saturday on th…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-22T06:20:31.692128+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638"},"episode":{"title":"Americanswers! Is Iran really trying to kill Trump, and why is he threatening to bomb Oman?","slug":"americanswers-is-iran-really-trying-to-kill-trump-and-why-is-he-threatening-to-bomb-oman","published_at":"2026-08-17T18:45:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/americanswers-is-iran-really-trying-to-kill-trump-and-why-is-he-threatening-to-bomb-oman","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0p50ywz","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0p50yt2.mp3","summary":"Why was Donald Trump smuggled off Air Force One following a NATO summit in Turkey at the end of last week, and how credible is the president’s claim that he is Iran’s “number one target”? On this week’s Americanswers, Justin, Sarah and Marianna look at the ruse which led White House reporters to believe that Donald Trump was aboard Air Force One before discovering that he had been secretly hidden inside a catering truck to be transported to a military aircraft. The story has raised questions about how much danger those on board the plane were exposed to and the right of journalists to know the president’s whereabouts. The story has also raised conspiracy theories - pushed by Iranian officials - that it’s led to the resignation of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who has confirmed she’ll be leaving her role at the end of the month. Leavitt has said she’s leaving in order to spend more time with her two children while the president has called her “one of his most trusted aides”. Who are the contenders to take on the vacancy and is there more to her resignation than first appears? HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Marianna Spring, Senior Social Media Investigations Correspondent GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. You can now listen to A…","meta_description":"Why was Donald Trump smuggled off Air Force One following a NATO summit in Turkey at the end of last week, and how credible is the president’s claim that…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1652,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/americast-89638/episodes/americanswers-is-iran-really-trying-to-kill-trump-and-why-is-he-threatening-to-bomb-oman/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/americanswers-is-iran-really-trying-to-kill-trump-and-why-is-he-threatening-to-bomb-oman.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}