Next week, as we’ve done every four years since 1988, we will present our election-year special, The Choice.

This installment — The Choice 2020: Trump vs Biden — comes at a perilous time for our country, and the decision voters make will influence how we confront the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, the climate-stoked wildfires that have displaced thousands, and the ongoing crisis over race and policing.

With so much at stake, we have decided to start releasing some of the journalism that has gone into The Choice in advance of the premiere on PBS and online September 22. Beginning today, in conjunction with our ongoing Transparency Project, we are publishing extended audio interviews with some of our key sources, including President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; his niece, Mary Trump; Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens; and Biden’s former Senate colleague Carol Moseley Braun.

What they have to say is illuminating, at times provocative, and, we believe, valuable in piecing together the lives and characters of the two men who are competing to lead our country for the next four years. These interviews are just the start of our commitment to showing you what has gone into making The Choice: Along with the documentary, we will be publishing nearly 50 original interviews conducted by Michael Kirk and his team during the making of the film.

It is an impressive body of work, and we hope it helps you navigate these fast-paced and tense times.

You can listen to the first interview today, with Mary Trump, on our FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast. Find it at the top of this post, and on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Sign up for our FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter to receive emails as we release more interviews from the making of The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden via our podcast. And please stay tuned in the days and weeks ahead for more from FRONTLINE.