Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen team up to host Spotify podcast
CNN
Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen have teamed up to host a new podcast about masculinity, race, fatherhood and their professional and personal journeys. The podcast, called "Renegades: Born in the USA," is part of the multi-year partnership between Spotify and Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Spotify (SPOT) revealed the new show on Monday, along with dozens of other announcements as part of its virtual event, Stream On. The streaming platform that was once just home to popular music is continuing its expansion into podcasts and will soon include more exclusive shows on race, religion, politics and superheroes. Spotify's deal with Higher Ground, announced in June 2019, was one of its early big bets in the podcast industry. Earlier that same year, Spotify acquired podcast studio Gimlet Media and podcast creation platform Anchor. The company later bought Bill Simmons' podcast empire, The Ringer, and signed exclusive licensing deals with other big names such as Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
Donald Trump is considering a right-wing media personality and people who have served on his US Secret Service detail to run the agency that has been plagued by its failure to preempt two alleged assassination attempts on Trump this summer, sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking tell CNN.