Excerpts from America This Week, October 7, 2022, with Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi. To hear the full audio of the podcast, click here. What follows are transcript excerpts of yesterday’s show:

On U.S. officials blaming Ukraine for the assassination of Russian nationalist Daria Dugina:

Matt Taibbi: There was a New York Times story that came out this week that by any definition was a blockbuster: “U.S Believes Ukrainians Were Behind An Assassination in Russia.” Essentially the Times quoted a group of unnamed officials blaming the assassination of Russian Nationalist Daria Dugina on Ukraine. The big question was, why? We both independently we’re struck about this issue. Walter, what were your thoughts?

Walter Kirn: It was a befuddling article. One first wondered why it was even published. If the US intelligence community is concerned about Ukraine going overboard with actions within Russia, committing assassinations and so on, it could have warned them privately. Instead, it chastised them publicly.