BARACK OBAMA STUNS NATION WITH ANNOUNCEMEN
Barack Obama to Launch Six-Episode Books Podcast With Audible and Higher Ground
Former President Barack Obama is returning to podcasting with a six-episode series built around books that he says helped shape his thinking about politics, race, faith, family and American life.
The series, titled A Great Book with Barack Obama, is scheduled to debut on Audible on Sept. 24, 2026. It is being produced in collaboration with Higher Ground, the media company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama.
The Podcast Will Focus on Six Books That Shaped Obama's Worldview
Obama said the project grew out of revisiting books that remained important to him long after he first read them. Each episode will center on one title and include a conversation with a guest about why the work still resonates and what it can teach readers today.
The six selections are The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin; Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison; All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy; Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren; and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.
The list spans fiction, political literature, religious and moral themes, race in America and Cold War espionage. All but Gilead, published in 2004, were first published in the 20th century.
Obama Says Reading Helped Shape His Political and Personal Thinking
In announcing the series, Obama said books have long helped him understand his own beliefs and the world around him. He described the six selections as works that stayed with him over the course of his life and continue to offer lessons about the human experience.
That focus is consistent with Obama's public image since leaving office. He has regularly released summer and year-end reading lists, using them to recommend both contemporary books and older works he considers personally significant.
The podcast expands that tradition by allowing him to spend an entire episode discussing each book rather than simply placing it on a recommendation list.
The Guest List Has Not Yet Been Announced
Obama said he invited friends to join the discussions, but the identities of the six guests have not yet been made public.
Higher Ground has said the conversations are intended to explore how literature can shape people's understanding of themselves, other people and society. For now, the guest list remains the major unreleased detail ahead of the Sept. 24 launch.
Toni Morrison Has a Longstanding Connection to Obama
One of the most notable selections is Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, a novel Obama has praised for years. Morrison was one of the country's most celebrated writers and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama in 2012.
Obama has previously spoken about reading Song of Solomon when he was young and about the book's influence on how he thought about writing and identity. That history gives the Morrison episode a particularly personal connection to the former president's own development as a reader and writer.
The Project Extends Higher Ground's Growing Audio Portfolio
Higher Ground was founded in 2018 and has developed films, documentaries, television projects and podcasts. Its better-known screen projects include American Factory, Rustin and Leave the World Behind.
The company has also worked with Audible on audio programming, including Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast. A Great Book with Barack Obama adds another limited series centered directly on one of the Obamas rather than on a fictional or documentary production.
Obama has also appeared in previous audio projects, including Renegades: Born in the USA with Bruce Springsteen, making the new program a continuation of his post-presidency work in long-form conversation and storytelling.
The Series Is More Literary Than Political, Even Though the Books Touch Political Themes
Several of the chosen books deal directly with subjects that were central to Obama's political career, including race, morality, power, democracy and American identity. But the announced format is not a policy podcast or a campaign program.
The emphasis is on literature and the way books can influence a person's thinking over time. That makes the project different from a conventional political interview show, even though Obama's own experiences will inevitably shape the conversations.
The Sept. 24 Launch Turns Obama's Reading Lists Into a Full Discussion Series
Obama has maintained a strong association with books since leaving the White House in January 2017, frequently posting reading recommendations alongside lists of favorite films and music.
The new Audible series takes that habit one step further. Instead of simply telling followers what he has read, Obama will use six full episodes to explain why particular books mattered to him and to discuss their broader cultural relevance with invited guests.
With the six titles and launch date now public, the main remaining question is who will join Obama for each conversation when A Great Book with Barack Obama begins streaming on Sept. 24.
Source note: Based on Barack Obama's Aug. 10, 2026 announcement, Higher Ground materials, and reporting from The Guardian, The Washington Post and People confirming the six-book lineup and Sept. 24 Audible premiere.
Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme
The Trump administration says it has uncovered what it describes as a massive fraud scheme within the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Trump’s administration allege that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 because of weakened enrollment safeguards under former President Joe Biden.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
Administration officials say the findings are part of a broader government-wide effort to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs.
The report traces the alleged problems to changes made during the Biden administration that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.
At the start of Biden’s presidency, approximately 10 million people were enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, enrollment had surged to roughly 22 million.
Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number.”
According to the report, several different forms of abuse contributed to the alleged fraud.
Officials say some applicants intentionally understated their income to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Others allegedly received premium assistance despite failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Investigators also identified what they describe as “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly enrolled people in Obamacare plans without their knowledge to collect federal commissions.
The report argues that reduced verification requirements made those practices significantly easier to carry out.
Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating phantom policies.
Officials also say they have strengthened oversight of agents participating in the federal marketplace.
As a result of those efforts, nearly three million enrollments have already been removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.
The administration says its goal is not to reduce legitimate coverage but to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent only on individuals who actually qualify.
“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.
“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”
The report also says the administration will continue pursuing additional enforcement actions against brokers and others accused of exploiting the program.
“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”
The findings are likely to reignite debate over the Affordable Care Act and how aggressively eligibility rules should be enforced.
Supporters of the administration argue the report demonstrates that stricter oversight is necessary to protect taxpayers and preserve benefits for those legally entitled to receive them.
Critics of previous verification rollbacks have long warned that loosening enrollment safeguards could increase improper payments and fraud, while supporters of the Biden-era policies argued the changes made healthcare more accessible to eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.
The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with an estimated 2.6 million additional enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.
Trump has been pushing to replace Obamacare for over a decade, and this may give Republicans enough motivation to actually do something.
