{"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":592,"summary":"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 disinformation and social media 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 the World Service. Oh, and by the way, you can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to l…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638"},"episode":{"title":"Trump gets “forever” immunity on his past tax affairs","slug":"trump-gets-forever-immunity-on-his-past-tax-affairs","published_at":"2026-05-20T20:48:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/trump-gets-forever-immunity-on-his-past-tax-affairs","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nmcs7t","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nmd3xz.mp3","summary":"US tax authorities will be barred from pursuing claims against Donald Trump, some members of his family and the Trump organisation. This pledge is part of an extraordinary new settlement, announced yesterday, between the US president and the US Department of Justice. In this episode, Sarah and Anthony look at the implications of the deal, which includes the creation of a fund worth almost £1.8 billion for victims of alleged “lawfare”, aswell as supporters of the president who claim to have been unfairly prosecuted. Also this week, Donald Trump has continued his purge of those he sees as disloyal within the Republican Party through primary elections throughout the US. In Kentucky, Congressman Thomas Massie lost his bid for re-election after Trump endorsed his challenger and his donors threw unprecedented amounts of money at the campaign. In Louisiana, veteran Senator Bill Cassidy lost out to a Trump backed challenger (Cassidy angeredTrump by his 2021 decision to impeach him in 2021). What do these victories tell us about Donald Trump’s popularity within the Republican party? And what does that mean for Republicans who disagree with him? HOSTS: Sarah Smith, North America Editor Anthony Zurcher, North America 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 Purvee Pattni, Tom Gillett, Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. 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 Amer…","meta_description":"US tax authorities will be barred from pursuing claims against Donald Trump, some members of his family and the Trump organisation. This pledge is part of…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1883,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/americast-89638/episodes/trump-gets-forever-immunity-on-his-past-tax-affairs/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/trump-gets-forever-immunity-on-his-past-tax-affairs.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}