Should Vanity Fair Put Melania Trump On The Cover?

Hey Everyone,

I was thrilled to chat today with new substacker, Kate Brower, the author of many books, including the New York Times bestseller: The Residence (now a major Netflix TV series) and First Women.

We discuss the peculiarity of Melania Trump’s letter to Vladimir Putin; and the possibility that the First Lady is much more influential in this administration than polls suggest. Is she an “accidental feminist?” asks Kate, citing the significance of the fact that Melania broke with tradition and refused Jill Biden’s invitation to tea.

We also get into this President’s micromanaging of the re-design of the Rose Garden and the White House, which is so extensive parts of it won’t be finished by the time his term ends. (Or, perhaps I should say, this term ends, because, as you know, that’s a question).

And, we debate the controversy supposedly raging at Vanity Fair: should the new editor, Mark Guiducci put Melania on the cover? (Some of the staff have reportedly threatened to walk out if he does).

Watch the rest of the conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

“Steve Witkoff is the new Lev Parnas”

Hey Everyone,

Many of you know I have a soft spot for Lev Parnas, whom I met when I was working at CNN in 2019, soon after he’d been arrested for campaign finance violations. It emerged that Trump and a bunch of cronies, including Rudy Giuliani, had told Parnas to go to Ukraine and try to dig up dirt on the Bidens as part of a “shadow diplomacy”. Yet, when Lev was arrested, they suddenly had amnesia about it and hung him out to dry.

“Lev who?” was the party line – until, it emerged that the canny Lev had got photographic and video evidence of being in rooms with “the Big Guy” as he once called Trump. He had recorded a conversation in which he talked about trying to oust the then US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch as part of the campaign to dig up dirt on the Bidens.

I remember feeling very sorry for Parnas, who is immensely charismatic, as you can see in this video – and who was just as sunny when he was under a lot of pressure.

I remember watching him in court, his pregnant wife Svetlana by his side, as his lawyer tried, unsuccessfully, to get him out of house arrest while on bail. He wound up being sentenced to 20 month in prison. But in all that time, in his many conversations with me, he never lost his sense of humor or his verve for life.

Watch the full conversation and read the full write-up on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Mikhail Zygar: “This Was A Major Win For Putin…”

I was hoping for an upbeat conversation.

I was hoping that Mikhail Zygar, one of the few journalists who understands how Putin thinks, would come bouncing on to our live video chat and tell me that he was hopeful that, like Trump, he could see peace in Ukraine around the corner…

But sadly, no.

His read of the last four days is that Putin’s trip to meet Trump in Alaska brought him exactly what he wants, which is more stalling time so he can continue the forever war.

And, that the European leaders who flew into DC to flank Volodymyr Zelensky in his meeting with Trump, came cynically just for the “photo opp,” to massage Trump’s ego, and, yes, also to bolster Zelensky, but without any expectation that the talks would get anywhere practically.

Further, Mikhail asks: what happens when we get to October? “I am really scared…”

Watch the conversation and read the full write-up on Vicky Ward Investigates.

“Jeffrey Epstein Claimed Putin Was A Client” — I Discuss And Cross-Examine Findings With Former CBS News Producer Zev Shalev On Epstein’s Money And Intelligence Ties.

Hey Everyone,

I was about to write up an account of today’s interview with the host of Narrativ, Zev Shalev, when I saw he’d already done an excellent break-down on his newsletter.

So, with apologies to Zev, I am saving time and copying and pasting his below. But please, do also go to his newsletter, Narrativ, and see the excellent deep dives he’s put together, particularly this one about Robert Maxwell, which spurred me to re-listen to Chasing Ghislaine, my 2020 podcast series about Ghislaine Maxwell, her father, and Epstein. I discovered that certain things leapt out at me this time, that I hadn’t thought much about five years ago:

 

Here’s Zev’s write-up of our conversation, which you can also watch above:

Read Zev’s write-up and watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

VICKY WARD: I’ve felt the darkness that consumed the Idaho ‘killer’ and it raises a terrible thought – could it drive my own sons to such evil, too?

Some Personal News!

Hi Everyone,

So, I can now talk about by next book project.

James Patterson and I are teaming up again. We have signed with Little,Brown, the publisher of The Idaho Four, to write a book about the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson.

Here’s what we said in the press release that went out this morning:

“This is a story about the American Dream Gone Wrong. It’s also a story of one young man’s descent from Ivy League graduate to notorious accused killer to so-called political martyr. The Idaho Four was inspired by the photo of the four tragic victims. Like millions around the world, Vicky and I were riveted by coverage of the five-day manhunt from Midtown Manhattan to Altoona, Pennsylvania,” said James Patterson.

“This story touches all of us. It goes to the heart of the social, cultural and political issues dividing the US right now. Nothing is more of a reviled black box than the health insurance industry, and it’s time to open it up, through a crime that has caught the attention of the country,” said Vicky Ward.

Read the rest of the Substack article at Vicky Ward Investigates.

“How Do You Reconcile Yourself To Facing Evil?”

Thank you, Steve Schmidt, author of The Warning, for a very deep, thought-provoking discussion that forced me to pull back and think hard about the bigger picture:

Why do I choose to pursue the dark people and dark topics that I do?

What’s it like for me emotionally going down dark rabbit holes?

And how do all the dark rabbit holes connect?

And, yes, most often, they do…

Watch the video of our live conversation above.

And a reminder: You can buy The Idaho Four here.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates. 

Live With Mo News!

Great to talk About The Idaho Four with Mosheh Oinounou, the inspiring TV News producer-turned-entrepreneur and founder of the wildly successful Mo News that is here on substack, but also on Instagram and other platforms.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Rick Wilson And I Discuss “Monstrous Maxwell”

Thank you Tom Kudla, Char Grant, Barbara Grinell, Danielle, Kris O, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Ava Wood From The Idaho Four Joins Me For A Live Video Chat

Yesterday I spoke to Ava Wood, a University of Idaho graduate about how she’s feeling in the aftermath of Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing for a quadruple homicide.

Ava was close friends with Kohberger’s four victims: Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Had Bryan Kohberger gone to trial, rather than opting for a plea deal at the eleventh hour, she would likely have been in the witness box because she had received a subpoena from Ann Taylor, Kohberger’s defense lawyer, something that confused and worried her.

In The Idaho Four, James Patterson and I describe how Ava went to 1122 King Road late morning on November 13th 2022 because she heard police sirens, and when she looked out of her kitchen window she saw an ambulance arriving and Emily Alandt, Xana’s best friend sitting on the ground, shivering and crying. (Emily and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson had been called to the house by Dylan Mortensen who had seen Kohberger the night before and had thought she was hallucinating, until, hours later, none of her roommates answered their phones). Hunter Johnson had entered the house and discovered the bodies of Xana and Ethan Chapin.

Watch the two part conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.