Shows
Serious TroubleArenas Poker ClubThis week Ken and Josh discuss the next steps the Trump administration may be considering to deal with the Epstein mess: what to do about the files, what to do about the transcript of Todd Blanche's meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, who was moved to a much nicer federal prison, has a colorable argument that her conviction should be thrown out because she was supposed to be covered by the sweetheart deal Jeffrey Epstein cut with federal prosecutors back during the Bush administration.Plus: Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl are pleading no-contest to Michigan state crimes relating...2025-08-0743 min
Serious TroubleTo Most People It's Extremely TediousDonald Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal over its story saying he wrote a weird poem to Jeffrey Epstein and drew a caricature of a naked woman with his own signature as her pubic hair as part of a book wishing a happy 50th birthday to the New York financier. Ken and Josh discuss the suit, which looks more like an exclamation point on his claims that he never even liked that Epstein guy! than a serious effort to win damages from (or extort) the Rupert Murdoch empire. Meanwhile, Trump is seeking the release of grand jury testimony...2025-07-2248 min
Serious TroubleNationwide Injunctions Are EnjoinedThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showFor all subscribers: a discussion of the Sean Combs jury deliberations and a look at the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. CASA that says trial courts (generally) can no longer issue nationwide injunctions. As Ken and I discuss, the ruling is sure to greatly change how aggressive executive branch actions get litigated, but the exact nature of the change is not yet clear.Paying subscribers also get a look at Gavin Newsom’s new defamation suit against Fo...2025-07-0221 min
Serious TroubleOf And ConcerningIt’s been a big week for some of the dumber litigation we follow around here. It’s not all dumb — we start with an update on California’s litigation over the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, where the state has gotten relief at the trial court level but faces a tough road in the appeals courts. And we look at a case in Boston where a federal judge has blocked, for now, the cancellation of certain grants the National Institutes of Health have deemed excessively DEI-related.Then we have updates on Mike Lindell, who says...2025-06-1942 min
Serious TroubleNewsom v. TrumpDonald Trump has activated the National Guard in California over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom, and Newsom has sued, claiming the activation is illegal. Ken and Josh discuss Newsom's chances of prevailing against the president's broad authority to use the military for various purposes. Meanwhile, union leader David Huerta has been charged for his actions of civil disobedience. One of Huerta’s legal problems stems from his choice to yell at the federal agents, “What are you going to do, arrest all of us?”Also this week: Trump has gotten stays from appeals courts blocking the implem...2025-06-1343 min
Serious TroubleThe Lindell DefenseIn the ongoing defamation trial of Mike Lindell, who accused Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer of personally conspiring to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump, Lindell isn't bothering to argue that his claims were true. Instead he's saying he believed them at the time he said them. Is that a good defense?Plus: a federal appellate decision upholding an injunction against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's efforts to harass the pressure group Media Matters for America over its campaign against Elon Musk, an unsuccessful lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania claiming the school fostered an anti-semitic...2025-06-0647 min
Serious TroubleThe Emerging Presumption of IrregularityThis week, Ken and I have a discussion of Harvard’s lawsuit fighting the Trump Administration’s effort to punish the university for failing to submit to what amounted to a demand to place the university in a kind of federal receivership. We look at the Supreme Court's middle-of-the-night, weekend rebuke to the Trump administration, ordering a halt to Alien Enemies Act removals from the Northern District of Texas. The subtext of this order is that four of the court’s conservatives have noticed the administration’s nose-thumbing over the orders in the Abrego Garcia case and aren’t pleased ab...2025-04-2343 min
Serious TroublePlease Take Judicial Notice that Drake Is a Little BitchThe latest, most brutal entry in the rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake comes in the form of a motion to dismiss. Drake, you will remember, sued Lamar’s record label (which is also Drake’s record label) for defamation, alleging that Lamar’s hit single “Not Like Us” defames him by calling him a pedophile. But as UMG’s attorney Rollin Ransom points out, rap battles are well known to feature hyperbolic accusations and insults that are not necessarily factual, which means they are unlikely to be defamatory. Plus, Drake explicitly dared Lamar to call him a pedophile —...2025-03-2045 min
Serious TroubleThe New George SantosThe Trump administration continues to ice out the Associated Press, and now the AP is suing. We discuss how the administration changed its argument (not great, from a policy perspective, but it may actually put the White House on stronger legal ground). Ed Martin — the conservative activist serving as acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia, whom Trump has named to be the permanent US Attorney for that district — continues to send out weird, threatening letters about non-criminal behavior by Democrats. Ken has instructions about what you should do if you get such a letter.Plus: Eric...2025-02-2739 min
Serious TroubleThank You For Suing, DrakeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showIt's the first Serious Trouble of the new Trump administration. We start with a discussion of pardons: the ones Joe Biden gave on his way out of office and the ones Donald Trump gave on his way in.For premium subscribers: the Jack Smith reports (the one about the January 6 prosecution which was released publicly, and the one about the documents prosecution, which Judge Aileen Cannon has blocked from being released to Congress), New York Mayor Eric Adams’ overt ca...2025-01-2421 min
Serious TroubleI Am Not In Serious TroubleIt’s already a busy 2025 for some of our favorite characters. On this episode: Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt in proceedings in Judge Lewis Liman’s courtroom, where he has stalled the liquidation of his assets for the benefit of two women he defamed. Donald Trump gets an "unconditional discharge" penalty from Judge Juan Merchan and is trying to stop the release of Jack Smith's report. George Santos asks a judge to delay his sentencing so he can develop and monetize his podcast (!), Eric Adams wants to know who's accusing him of what, and finally: did Josh defa...2025-01-1039 min
Serious TroublePetite PolicyThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWelcome to the first Serious Trouble episode of 2025! For all subscribers this week, Ken and Josh discuss Luigi Mangione’s indictments in both Pennsylvania and New York, and he’s also the subject of a federal criminal complaint. Both New York and the Feds look eager to prosecute him, and there’s going to be wrangling over who gets to go first, with an important difference in the stakes — he’s facing a capital federal charge, while New York does not have the d...2025-01-0327 min
Serious TroubleAn Expensive SettlementThis is our last episode of 2024! We'll be back right after the new year to discuss new messes. Today, we look at the substantial settlement that Disney-owned ABC has agreed to pay over George Stephanopoulos’s repeated assertions that Donald Trump had been found “liable for rape” by a jury or juries. And Trump sues CBS, Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register. Plus: Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that the Supreme Court decision establishing a sphere of presidential immunity does not compromise the guilty verdicts Trump faced in his court — we discuss the reasons. Meanwhile, Mike Flynn has lost an...2024-12-1848 min
Serious TroublePardon Me For All That I Have DoneThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showJoe Biden has committed the ultimate act of snowplow parenting: a presidential pardon for his son, and not just for the specific acts he faced charges over, but for anything he did between 2014 and five days ago. This week, Ken and I discuss exactly how unusual this pardon was and exactly what kinds of norms about pardons even remain to enforce, and rumors that Biden might hand out a lot more preemptive pardons for figures who could be targeted by an...2024-12-0624 min
Serious TroubleDiss Isn't RICODid you know Ken is a huge Kendrick Lamar fan? Well, not really. But he is psyched that Lamar and Drake have produced some truly hilarious litigation to discuss. Their beef goes back years, and they have traded diss tracks — in Kendrick's latest, he calls Drake a “certified pedophile” who’s “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A Minor.” Is that defamation? If you’re a regular listener to this show, you know it very likely isn’t — and even Drake isn’t quite ready to sue for defamation. But he has filed — in two different states — petitions for pre-litigati...2024-11-2745 min
Serious TroubleMatt Gaetz Pulls OutThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWouldn’t you know we recorded this show Thursday at 11am Eastern, just in time for Matt Gaetz to withdraw his candidacy for Attorney General a bit after noon? Don’t worry — we went back and recorded a new beginning of the episode, tossing out the now moot (probably?) conversation we had about the ethics report everyone in Washington wants to see. Ken and I still took the opportunity to talk about how a DOJ under someone (probably?) more competent will look d...2024-11-2216 min
Serious TroubleXL BriefThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThe long memo Jack Smith promised is here: a 185-page document laying out evidence he’d like to present in his January 6-related case against Donald Trump. The memo has to be so long because the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity was so complex and vague: Smith must show, act by act, that he’s offering evidence either of Trump’s unofficial actions, or of official acts where he can overcome the presumption of immunity. Ken and I discuss how Smith...2024-10-1019 min
Serious TroubleSuperseding IndictmentThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showRyan Wesley Routh has been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate. Ken and Josh discuss how proving Routh’s intent to kill the former president might be challenging (had he not left a note expressing his intent), and we talk about what “attempt” is — Routh never pulled the trigger, but there are a number of “substantial steps” he took toward killing Trump that should still make this case not that hard for prosecutors to prove.Plus: a light sent...2024-09-2623 min
Serious TroubleReversible ErrorThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showJosh and Ken discuss developments in the Data Colada-Francesca Gino-Harvard case, Sarah Palin's defamation case against the New York Times (for free subscribers), and (for paying subscribers) the different philosophies the judges have about how the presidential election should affect the scheduling of the Trump criminal cases they preside over.Plus: Hunter Biden's Alford plea, the Tenet Media FARA case and whether it’s okay to be an unregistered foreign agent if you’re the agent of a Belgian, and...2024-09-1323 min
Serious TroubleDefamation ClaimsOn this week's episode, Josh and Ken delve into two defamation cases where Trump has survived motions to dismiss, and the close legal questions that allowed those cases to proceed. They also look at a civil lawsuit where Hunter Biden is making headway, and at Hunter's effort to rely on Aileen Cannon's favorable ruling toward Donald Trump to fight his own criminal cases. They discuss settlements for Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, and they look at the latest headache facing New York judge Arthur Engoron. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this...2024-07-3036 min
Serious TroubleBad Week for ProsecutorsWell, it’s been a more eventful week than usual. President Trump was shot in the ear at a rally — a shocking security failure by the Secret Service, and now the subject of an FBI investigation; there is much to look at even though there is no shooter to pursue. Ken and Josh discuss why “stochastic terrorism” isn't a useful concept when talking about law or policy, and how admonishments that people should be careful about what they say lest they inspire violence are now being thrown back at liberals.In addition to still being alive, Trump is also...2024-07-1731 min
Serious TroubleHe'll Be An Old Thug By The Time This Trial Is OverWe’ve had some time to digest the Supreme Court decision on immunity, so this week Ken and I talked through the various criminal proceedings involving Donald Trump to discuss how they’ll be impacted. The short answer is: a lot.Also in this episode: Missouri has sued New York, saying the Manhattan DA’s prosecution and associated gag order have deprived Missouri voters of their First Amendment right to hear from political candidates. Alec Baldwin’s trial is starting in New Mexico; the Young Thug case continues to be stalled and it's even messier now; and in Louis...2024-07-1131 min
Serious TroubleDonald Trump Wins The Immunity IdolThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showRemember when most people thought that the Supreme Court would find a way to help Donald Trump without making crazy new law? Well. About that. Ken explains why the Supreme Court’s decision on Donald Trump's appeal in the January 6 prosecution is the worst of all possible worlds. Josh and Ken discuss how this snarls all of the criminal cases against Trump. Plus: more SCOTUS opinions that involve serious trouble, including the end of Chevron deference.Visit serioustrouble.show to...2024-07-0320 min
Serious TroubleThe VerdictThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThe verdict is in! Ken and Josh discuss the jury's relatively quick decision, the path to sentencing, whether Trump is likely to face a custodial sentence or community service or what, and (for paying subscribers) the arguments Trump will raise on appeal, which courts he can raise them in, and what prospects he has for getting his conviction overturned.Visit serioustrouble.show to upgrade your membership for the full episode.2024-06-0217 min
Serious TroubleG.L.O.A.T.It’s Wednesday, and the jury in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial has had his case for about half a day. On Wednesday morning, Judge Juan Merchan instructed the jury on the law — a long and boring process that Ken says jurors often basically ignore — and sent them out to deliberate. And now we wait.Ken and Josh discuss closing arguments in which prosecutors dryly laid out the facts of the case they had presented, while Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche employed the “cockroach in the spaghetti” strategy, arguing the government’s case relied on claims and observations...2024-05-3040 min
Serious TroubleYo Momma So Dumb She Thought These Trials Were Happening Before The ElectionJosh thoughtfully attempted to wreck Ken right out of the gate by using the terms “missionary position” and “Donald Trump” in the same sentence of the cold open, live, in person, in Ken's office. He’s referring, of course, to Stormy Daniels’ frankly disturbing testimony about a sexual encounter with Trump, an encounter that sounded not particularly consensual. The rest of the proceedings were more substantive than salacious, with the prosecution steadily building a case through notes, Michael Cohen’s secretly recorded conversations with Trump, and witness observations. But can they convince the jury this was all in service of a different...2024-05-0937 min
Serious TroubleContemptThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showJudge Juan Merchan has found Trump in contempt of court and fined him $9,000 — $1,000 per violation of the terms of his gag order, the maximum authorized by New York law. He also noted those fines might not be large enough to influence Trump's behavior, and he threatened to jail him if he violates the order again. Is that threat credible? Ken says so.Plus: witness testimony in Merchan's courtroom, another New York judge declines to reduce E. Jean Carroll's award, th...2024-05-0122 min
Serious TroubleIf You Voir Something, Dire SomethingThe trial has begun! Judge Juan Merchan seated 12 jurors and 6 alternates in three days of voir dire. We discuss the pace of jury selection and complicating factors (that strong opinions about this defendant are common and often expressed on social media), plus: Ken discusses his philosophy of choosing a jury as a defense lawyer, why it’s more of an art than a science, and how it will matter that this Manhattan jury is unusually highly educated.We also discuss a question that, as we sent out this episode, remains before Judge Merchan — should Trump be held in c...2024-04-2338 min
Serious TroubleBlasts From the PastThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showDonald Trump’s criminal trial in New York has begun, with jury selection underway. Ken and I discuss Trump’s last-ditch efforts to get this trial delayed, and public support he has gotten from a surprising advocate: imprisoned ex-attorney Michael Avenatti, who phoned into MSNBC from his oceanfront Los Angeles home to say he thinks the case is seriously flawed. Meanwhile, in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon did something we said she might: She declined to make any decisions about those jury inst...2024-04-1635 min
Serious TroubleThe Low, Low Price of $175 MillionA panel of New York appellate judges has reduced Donald Trump’s bond in the New York Attorney General’s civil case to $175 million, an amount he can probably afford. Ken and I discuss possible reasons the court took this surprise action — as is typical for this kind of decision in New York, the judges didn’t really explain their reasoning — and the likely course of Trump’s appeal to come later this year. Meanwhile, in New York Supreme Court (which is the trial court), Trump’s criminal trial over falsification of business records starts next month — we have pretrial updates...2024-03-2836 min
Serious TroubleBelatedly Good JudgmentThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showDonald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan was slated to start next week, but it will be delayed due to the late production of a large volume of documents from the US Attorney’s office. And Trump has said he can’t find a bond for the New York Attorney General’s civil judgment against him, so you can expect to see Attorney General Letitia James starting to collect on that judgment by other means quite soon. In Georgia, Judge Sc...2024-03-2023 min
Serious TroubleDON'T LIE TO YOUR LAWYERIt’s a hat trick for Sen. Robert Menendez: his superseding indictment has been superseded once again, this time with charges that he and his wife obstructed justice, including by directing their lawyers to lie to the government about a Mercedes C-300 convertible she received as a bribe. Ken says this sort of thing — lying so your lawyer will lie for you — is not a good idea, but just because it’s a bad idea doesn’t mean it doesn't happen...a lot. Plus: Trump posted a bond of nearly $92 million in the second case E. Jean Carroll won against hi...2024-03-1328 min
Serious Trouble9-0, but also 5-4The Supreme Court is asserting itself in matters related to Donald Trump. The justices held unanimously that states may not block Donald Trump from their election ballots on the grounds of 14th Amendment disqualification, though the justices did have a sharp disagreement about the court’s choice to foreclose other non-congressional federal paths to disqualifying Trump or other candidates who may have engaged in insurrection. Meanwhile, the court will consider Trump’s claims about presidential immunity, and on an expedited basis — oral arguments will be next month, with a decision expected by late June. That sets up the awkward possib...2024-03-0644 min
Serious TroubleG.A. LawThe mess in Georgia continues. As a reminder, this all bears on the question of whether Fani Willis and her office will be disqualified from conducting the RICO prosecution of Donald Trump and his various co-defendants over his efforts to steal Georgia’s electoral votes. This week, Ken and I invited Georgia attorney Andrew Fleischman back on the show to talk about just how this case got so prurient and stupid, what might happen with it next, and whether this is just what happens when prosecutors have to defend and defense attorneys have to prosecute.Meanwhile, in Ne...2024-02-2940 min
Serious TroubleFursona Non GrataThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showGeorge Santos is back, and Ken couldn’t be happier about it. This time, George is on the left side of the v., for once: he’s suing Jimmy Kimmel over copyright infringement. The most shocking part is he may have a good case. Santos says Kimmel committed various torts when he ordered many embarrassing Cameo videos from Santos — in one instance, the request was for a video congratulating “Beav-a-Pus” on going to work at Arby’s in his “fursona” — paying only for personal...2024-02-2324 min
Serious TroubleBig JudgmentThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showLate Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron issued his long-awaited verdict in the civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, and it orders Trump and his affiliated entities to disgorge nearly $400 million to the state of New York for what he says are ill-gotten profits and interest savings made possible by financial misrepresentations. It’s a big judgment — and like the judgment in the E. Jean Carroll case, one he’ll have to put cash up for pretty soon, even i...2024-02-1724 min
Serious TroubleImmune ResponseA little less than a month after hearing oral arguments, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected Donald Trump’s argument that he is immune from being prosecuted for acts within the “outer perimeter” of his presidential duties. That should clear the way for Judge Tanya Chutkan to again move toward the start of a criminal trial, unless the Supreme Court decides it wants to consider the case. Ken and Josh talk about the judges’ reasoning, reasons the Supreme Court might decide to sit this one out, and when Chutkan could realistically proceed toward trial under various scenarios.Plu...2024-02-0740 min
Serious TroubleEstop! or My SEAL Will ShootIt’s a big week for Donald Trump being literally, physically in court — on Thursday, he'll be in court for closing arguments in the New York AG's civil case against him, and he attended Tuesday’s appellate hearing over his claim that presidential immunity shields him from Jack Smith’s prosecution related to January 6. Ken and I talked about how those arguments went — the judges had some interest in procedural issues, like whether they should even be hearing an appeal before the case is decided, and whether Trump is judicially estopped from saying he can’t be tried since Alan Dershow...2024-01-1139 min
Serious TroubleUncivil ProcedureThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThank you for all the questions you sent in this week! On a related note: take our “explicit” content warning extra seriously this week. All subscribers get our discussion about the Colorado Supreme Court deciding Donald Trump may not appear on that state’s presidential primary ballot, the multiple routes that SCOTUS has available to overturn their ruling, and what might happen if SCOTUS upholds the decision.If you've been thinking about becoming a paying subscriber to the show, this i...2023-12-2123 min
Serious TroubleJustice DelayedWe have two episodes coming for you this week, one right now and one near the end of the week. On the second episode, we’ll be taking your end-of-year questions — if you have a burning question for Ken, please send it to the RICO hotline by Wednesday morning so we can consider it for inclusion.On today’s show, we talk about a couple of significant matters that stand to delay former President Trump’s federal trial for actions related to the aftermath of the 2020 election. One is his appeal of Judge Tanya Chutkan’s ruling that he is...2023-12-1946 min
Serious TroubleOfficers of the United StatesUnfortunately we taped this episode before Elon Musk urged Disney CEO Bob Iger to go fuck himself. If we had waited, we would have been able to discuss how Musk had reinforced one of Ken’s points about Twitter’s lawsuit against Media Matters for America over its report showing that Twitter served up ads for major brands next to neo-Nazi content. That discussion is at the end of this episode. We also talked about Judge Tanya Chutkan’s gag order against former president Donald Trump that looks likely to produce some judicial clarity on the under-litigated question of how co...2023-11-3039 min
Serious TroubleIncitementDonald Trump “re-truthed” a post calling for a “citizens’ arrest” of Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Normally, when people ask Ken whether a statement is illegal incitement, the answer is a quick “no,” but this case is closer. Also in New York, Mayor Eric Adams looks to be in somewhat serious trouble. The FBI raided the home of his chief fundraiser and his own electronic devices were seized. Hunter Biden wants to subpoena documents about his prosecution from Trump administration officials, going all the way up to the president himself, as part of an effort to make...2023-11-1752 min
Serious TroubleA Whole Lot Of Finding OutWelcome to this week’s episode of Serious Trouble, in which Josh attempts to troll Ken about maximum sentences. Sam Bankman-Fried was speedily convicted by a jury that took only several hours — one of them spent at dinner — to deliberate. Will the government bother to try him on the remaining charges? Meanwhile, also in New York, Trump and his lawyers continued on a strategy best described as “burn everything down and see what emerges from the ashes.” Plus: former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ publisher sues him because he’s allegedly made statements to Special Counsel Jack Smith that con...2023-11-0841 min
Serious TroubleSerious Trouble Episode 69This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showDonald Trump may be in serious trouble, but Michael Cohen’s testimony isn’t the reason. On this week’s episode, Ken and I talk about the thud with which Cohen’s testimony landed at the civil trial over alleged fraud at various Trump businesses. Judge Arthur Engoron called a little impromptu hearing in which Trump took the witness stand, testifying about who exactly he was referring to when he told reporters a person sitting “alongside” the judge was even more partisan tha...2023-11-0118 min
Serious TroubleYou Wouldn't Like Me When I'm AngryIt’s been a heated week at Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York. Judge Arthur Engoron was enraged at Trump’s failure to fully comply with an order to take down a web post attacking his law clerk and he imposed a $5,000 sanction. Trump attorney Christopher Kise also drew the judge’s ire for his rude and dismissive comments to that same law clerk and to one of the attorneys from the New York Attorney General’s office. Not great.Plus: we're up to four guilty pleas in DA Fani Willis' RICO prosecution, Judge Tanya Chut...2023-10-2543 min
Serious TroubleDonald Trump's Second Gag OrderWhen it rains, it pours: Donald Trump is now subject to not one but two gag orders, and the new one is more expansive than the first. Judge Tanya Chutkan's order isn’t as broad as the government requested — Trump is still free to criticize Judge Chutkan herself, as well as the US government and the Justice Department, though not the individual prosecuting attorneys — but it’s broad enough to be constitutionally questionable. Trump will appeal the gag order — and Ken is pleased that this case will present an opportunity to develop law in this area, since it’s currently un...2023-10-1747 min
Serious TroubleWhat About All the People I Didn't Indict?This episode starts in Georgia and with Mark Meadows, who lost harder than we expected in his efforts to keep his RICO trial in federal court. And we discuss the report of the investigative special grand jury, which recommended charges against 39 individuals — way more sweeping than the already-cumbersome 19-person indictment that DA Fani Willis got from the regular grand jury. Plus: a very strange open letter from some criminal defense attorneys to Ken Chesebro, urging him to protect his interests by pleading guilty. A reminder: You shouldn’t take unsolicited legal advice offered over the internet, and you shouldn’t real...2023-09-1225 min
Serious TroubleSeverance PaysThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showHere’s what’s on tap in this week’s episode of Serious Trouble.- The sentences that have been coming down for some of the prime movers behind the January 6 riot at the Capitol- Fulton County DA Fani Willis says it will take her four months and 150 witnesses to try her big election RICO case — and that each trial will take that long, whether it involves one defendant or all 19. Really?- Sidney Powell a...2023-09-0844 min
Serious TroubleNo! Bad Lawyer! Bad!This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showRudy Giuliani and Michael Avenatti both used to be good lawyers — or, they at least used to seem to be good lawyers — but those days are long past. This week, Ken and Josh discuss Giuliani and Avenatti — a two-fer — and how Giuliani’s drinking actually poses multiple problems for Donald Trump’s likely legal defenses in Jack Smith’s January 6-related case. We also talk about the trial date that’s been set in that case — March 4 — and the mess that could ensue if Trump...2023-08-3131 min
Serious TroubleRemovalThe big action this week was again in Georgia, where 3 of the 19 defendants in Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s RICO case sought to remove their cases to federal court. Removal of criminal cases is unusual — it’s much more common in civil court — so the law on when a federal officer must be tried in federal court is less well developed than you might hope. Ken and Josh talked about the varying strength and creativity of the removal arguments from Jeffrey Clark, Mark Meadows and David Shafer. And we’re still waiting for the removal notice from Trump himself. T...2023-08-2352 min
Serious TroublePenal ColadaThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showAnother serious week on Serious Trouble! In Washington DC, Trump's attorneys are fighting with prosecutors about what Trump can say in public about his case and what's obtained in discovery. It's not a gag order, and Ken says what Trump's already saying about Mike Pence and others on social media aren't true threats either. Speaking of dumb things to post online, Ken’s been writing/complaining about bad, misleading coverage of the Trump cases: clickbait-y stories about potential sentences and whether or...2023-08-0946 min
Serious TroubleTrump Is Indicted for Trying to Steal the ElectionThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showDonald Trump got indicted again. (And this time, we hadn’t started recording the week’s episode. So we set about doing so, on an urgent but non-emergency basis.) This new federal indictment, issued in Washington DC, is for trying to steal the 2020 election. This was a grave abuse of his office, for which he was impeached though not convicted. Special prosecutor Jack Smith says it was also a crime — actually, several crimes. On this week’s episode, Ken and I discuss...2023-08-0226 min
Serious TroubleThis Episode Has Been SupersededWhen Sara, Ken and I discussed when to record this week’s episode, we were concerned about when a new federal indictment of Donald Trump might drop. Naturally, one dropped literally minutes after we finished our recording session — but not the one we’d been preparing for. A federal grand jury in south Florida has issued a superseding indictment in the documents case, which adds new charges, some new amusing color about security cameras, and a new defendant.So, we re-started the recording to produce a superseding opening segment to this week’s podcast (while preserving our original...2023-07-2859 min
Serious TroubleNot-So-Speedy TrialsThis week, we talk about the arguments before Judge Aileen Cannon about when she should schedule the federal criminal trial of Donald Trump. The Trump team has made arguments for a long delay, some of them very splashy and aggressive — most prominently, their insistence that he should not be tried until he is no longer a prominent political candidate. But there are lots of other reasons a trial like this would take a long time to start and it seems likely that Trump’s side will succeed, one way or another, at pushing back the trial’s start well into n...2023-07-1846 min
Serious TroubleSpecial Episode: How To Be A Smarter Consumer Of Legal NewsHappy Fourth of July Week! Josh and Sara and I will be back to breaking news next week. For now, enjoy this deep dive special episode about how to be a critical consumer of legal news, and hear a useful explainer of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines — helpful for anyone who has ever read the words "they face a maximum of __ years in prison."Visit serioustrouble.show to see notes about this epsiode, including a transcript, and we welcome you to support our podcast for $6/month or $60/year there. This is a public episode. If...2023-07-0353 min
Serious TroubleI'm a Legitimate PersonThe goat is back. You can thank Rudy Giuliani, who — for some unknown reason — sat for a voluntary interview with federal investigators. This week, we talked about The Tape — the recording of Trump bragging about his possession of a classified Iran war plan he now says he didn’t possess at all. Trump says it’s a misunderstanding: he’s a “legitimate person,” and if he was talking about having “plans,” they were probably for buildings or golf courses. But what the documents were or weren't about is, as far as his legal case goes, unimportant. The key legal thing about the reco...2023-06-2946 min
Serious TroubleDon't Admit Your Crimes in Televised Interviews or Soul-Baring AutobiographiesWe’re back with another episode of Serious Trouble. And this week, Ken feels compelled to summon the scream of a goat to express his feelings as we add two more items to the list of contexts in which one should just shut up if under criminal investigation. One of those contexts is a televised interview with Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier. We look at the admissions Donald Trump made about which documents he retained and why, and how those could help the government, particularly if Judge Aileen Cannon were to throw out other evidence of Trump’s knowle...2023-06-2247 min
Serious TroubleLuck Of The DrawThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWe got a lot of listener feedback about last week’s episode, especially about Kenny Raincloud’s take on how Judge Aileen Cannon could tank the government’s case against Donald Trump if she cares to. This week, for paying subscribers, Ken responds to a lot of that feedback — getting especially specific about the attorney-client privilege issues that are likeliest to trip up the government, and how the government could (maybe) get an appeals court to remove Cannon from the case. We also...2023-06-1521 min
Serious TroubleBig-Boy Federal FeloniesThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThere is no such thing as an emergency podcast. But… this is as close as we get. Serious Trouble is back for a second time this week because Donald Trump has been indicted. Again. But this time in federal court — and on a set of charges that can’t (easily) be dismissed as chickenshit. The 49-page indictment has remarkable and hilarious detail, including Trump making the sorts of statements prosecutors can only dream of when trying to prove a crime with a chal...2023-06-1031 min
Serious TroubleThe Legal Brief: Beyond the MachineIn this eye-opening episode of "The Legal Brief: Beyond the Machine," renowned attorneys Ken White and Josh Barro explore the potential risks and limitations of using AI, specifically ChatGPT, for drafting legal briefs. Joined by esteemed legal professionals and experts, they delve into the allure of technology, the nuances AI may overlook, and the potential ethical dilemmas and risks of inaccurate information. Discover why relying solely on ChatGPT for your legal briefs may not be as foolproof as it seems. Tune in to gain valuable insights that challenge conventional perceptions and reshape the way you approach legal writing in...2023-06-0622 min
Serious TroubleShopping With RudyIs Rudy Giuliani in serious trouble? He’s facing two lawsuits. One is for getting a supermarket employee arrested. The other is… well, it’s for a lot of stuff. Ken and Josh discuss the prospects for ShopRite employee Daniel Gill’s lawsuit over Rudy crying “assault” over a tap on the shoulder. s for Noelle Dunphy, she has some pretty shocking claims about several areas of alleged misconduct, and we want to see what does (or doesn’t) come out in discovery to support them. We also talk about Mark Pomerantz — the former Manhattan prosecutor who somehow took the Fifth when H...2023-05-2442 min
Serious TroublePreclusionKen and I started this week talking about the CNN town hall with Donald Trump. On CNN’s air, Trump repeated his denials of his assault of E. Jean Carroll — denials for which he was ordered (the day before the town hall) to pay a defamation judgment. Carroll has mused about suing him again, and she could, though her main challenge in court would be showing that his fresh denials further harmed her, beyond the damages she’s already been awarded compensation for. We also talked about the legal considerations facing CNN or any other network that might interview a pers...2023-05-1738 min
Serious TroubleAt Least George Was WorkingThis week, Ken and I discussed the verdict — and the $5 million judgment — in the Carroll v. Trump case, and whether Donald Trump erred, in retrospect, by not showing up for trial. We also talked about his prospects for appeal (slim) and when E. Jean Carroll can expect to get her money. We talked about Rep. George Santos, who has been indicted for crimes including unemployment insurance fraud. (How pedestrian!) We talked about his best strategy going forward from this point, and the major bargaining chip he holds — his ability to resign from the office he olds (for now) as part o...2023-05-1135 min
Serious TroubleA Detailed Explanation of the Rule Against PerpetuitiesThis episode of Serious Trouble, live and in person with Ken and Sara! This week, Ken and I talked about the Walt Disney Company’s lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which raises an interesting legal question: When is an otherwise-constitutional government action made unconstitutional by the motive that elected officials had for acting? The Disney case also gave me an opportunity to make Ken talk about the rule against perpetuities, which was almost as enjoyable as when I make him read out the RICO Hotline email address.There’s more in this episode. We also talked abou...2023-05-0546 min
Serious TroubleTucker Said ItThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show*This episode contains un-bleeped profanity, as usual, but the swear jar is used once.Tucker Carlson has been dismissed from Fox News. Media accounts on why he was fired differ, but the departure looks like it was, in one way or another, downstream of the lies Fox broadcast about Dominion Voting Systems and the legal proceedings that ensued. Ken and I talked this week about the stresses that litigation can impose on any organization, and about what you can...2023-04-2724 min
Serious TroubleWow, That's a Lot of CashThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWell, holy crap. As you’ve likely heard, Dominion v. Fox will not be going to trial. We recorded this episode on Tuesday morning, and then when the settlement came out, we recorded again — so this is some fresh, fresh content, looking at what forces would have driven the parties to get to ‘yes,’ and how the settlement came to be so large — likely the largest settlement ever paid in a defamation case in the US.Read more from Josh and K...2023-04-1931 min
Serious TroubleGoat's DominionThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThis week, Ken and Josh discuss major developments in Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News, which will imminently go to trial in Delaware. So far, pre-trial rulings have been in Dominion's favor, but as we saw a few months ago in the Tesla shareholder lawsuit against Elon Musk, it’s possible to win big on the pre-trial motions and still lose at trial. We discussed that outlook as the parties proceed into jury selection. We also talked about a goat — you ha...2023-04-1325 min
Serious TroubleThe IndictmentThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWell, this one’s a doozy. There’s a reason this week’s episode for paid subscribers is more than an hour long. After years of hearing that “the walls are closing in on Donald Trump,” after two impeachments, and after Ken and Sara and I produced hundreds of podcast episodes regarding his legal travails, Donald Trump has finally been charged with a felony — 34 of them, actually. It’s quite complicated and interesting, and we have a lot of analysis of how we got her...2023-04-0611 min
Serious TroubleBecause I Got SuedThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showKen is back from his vacation, and there were no Trump indictments while he was gone. Isn’t that nice? We discuss the evidence that led many people, including Trump himself, to declare an indictment was imminent; and we discuss what we might infer about whether there will even be an indictment. Plus, updates on other Trump-related legal proceedings: anonymity for the jury in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, and a not-yet-released ruling that requires Mike Pence to testify about some...2023-03-3015 min
Serious TroubleThe Week Of Unintended ConsequencesIt appears that E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump might actually go to trial pretty soon — the court is behaving like it does when a trial is about to begin. This week, we talked about evidence of Trump’s prior behavior — two other accusations from women who say he committed sexual crimes against them, decades apart — that Judge Lewis Kaplan has decided may be admitted in court. Usually, testimony about prior bad acts isn’t allowed in evidence because it’s prejudicial, but there’s a special, legislated exception for evidence about sexual assaults. Even the Access Hollywood...2023-03-1533 min
Serious TroubleThe Anti-Privilege of Being Donald Trump's AttorneyFirst: Yet another of SBF's top lieutenants has pleaded guilty to crimes including wire fraud and commodities fraud, and in the plea documents we learned more about SBF’s ill-advised campaign finance schemes. Plus, prosecutors and his own lawyers are proposing an agreement to further restrict SBF’s access to technology — including taking away his smartphone. Then Josh and Ken catch up on Donald Trump’s legal affairs. There are signs that special counsel Jack Smith is trying to move swiftly toward charging decisions — though “swiftly” means something different to a federal prosecutor than to most people, and legal wrangling over...2023-03-0834 min
Serious TroubleBad News for Fox NewsDefamation litigation tends to be unavailing. Many offending statements don’t meet the definition of defamation — they may be opinions, or insults, or false statements against a public figure made without actual malice, or even true factual statements you just didn’t like hearing. This week’s episode is mostly a deep dive into defamation lawsuits brought against Fox News (and related parties) by two voting technology companies, Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. This litigation looks different from most defamation litigation. Smartmatic and Dominion are large companies whose business has likely been impaired by the lies told about them. Those li...2023-02-2235 min
Serious TroubleA Jury So Special and GrandDear listeners,We’re back with more serious trouble!On this week’s show, we take a look at the (partial) report of a Georgia special grand jury that had been investigating efforts to interfere in that state’s reporting of its 2020 presidential election results. The report says the grand jurors think they heard some perjury. And its unreleased portions may contain recommendations about criminal charges — recommendations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could bring to a regular grand jury for indictment.We talk about Mike Pence’s effort to avoid a subpoena f...2023-02-1732 min
Serious TroubleElon, Being Elon, Gets A WinThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showElon Musk got a big win in the civil trial over whether his “funding secured” statements defrauded shareholders. We talked about how “that’s Elon being Elon” can be an effective defense. We also talked about Sam Bankman-Fried and the ever-sprawling pool of potentially-cooperating witnesses who might tell prosecutors about his and FTX’s wrongdoing. For paying subscribers, there’s more: the California State Bar might disbar attorney John Eastman, Mark Pomerantz has written a book about how he thinks the Manhattan DA's...2023-02-0825 min
Serious TroubleSTFU SBFThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThis week, we talk about how not to stay out on bail (yes, once again, it's Sam Bankman-Fried), and how the judge is likely to respond to him contacting FTX employees. We also talk about David DePape, who seems pretty nuts — but not nuts enough to have an effective insanity defense for his attack on Paul Pelosi. That’s the end of the free episode. For paying subscribers, we continue on with answers to your questions about Alec Baldwin, who has offi...2023-02-0119 min
Serious Trouble10 Ways To Incriminate Yourself If You Really Need ToThis week, Ken and I talked about a substantial sanctions order — nearly $1 million — that Donald Trump and his attorney Alina Habba must pay for the frivolous RICO lawsuit they brought against dozens of defendants. As sanctions orders go, this is really big — and Ken thinks Habba should worry about being disbarred — but is this really an effective deterrent against Trump, who got lots of publicity and fundraising opportunities from the suit? We also looked at criminal charges against Alec Baldwin. He is to be tried for involuntary manslaughter related to his fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of h...2023-01-2535 min
Serious TroubleShut Up Shut Up Shut UpThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showKen is utterly dismayed that Sam Bankman-Fried has started a Substack, where he’s writing in great detail about FTX. Then: Ken and Josh talk about the classified documents found at President Biden’s home in Wilmington and the Penn Biden Center in Pennsylvania, if there is legal exposure for the president, among other questions. For paying subscribers, Ken and Josh preview the trial in the securities fraud class action suit brought on behalf of Tesla shareholders (related to Elon Musk's famo...2023-01-1819 min
Serious TroubleReliable LiarsIn some ways, George Santos is having a pretty good year. The congressman-elect's new salary is $174,000 a year, which is a lot more than he was making at the Dish Network call center. Of course, there are some other things that aren’t going so great for him. He is a big lying liar who lies, and while lying about whether you ever worked at Goldman Sachs isn’t a crime, some of the lies Santos told could have legal consequences. We talk this week about problems that could arise from statements he made to the government about his fina...2023-01-0537 min
Serious TroubleHow To Be A Good ClientWe talk a lot on this show about bad clients — people in legal trouble who disregard advice, talk when they should shut up, and generally make their lawyers' lives miserable while increasing their own odds of facing a large judgment award or ending up in prison for a good, long time. You know, clients like Sam Bankman-Fried and Donald Trump. So we thought it would be good to talk about what it takes to be a good client. If you're in legal trouble, what can you do to ensure you leverage your lawyer's skills to get a good outcome, ins...2022-12-2249 min
Serious TroubleAll About SBFThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showSam Bankman-Fried… boy, is he in serious trouble. He’s been indicted on several counts, with the central accusation being that he defrauded customers, lenders, and equity investors doing business with his now-bankrupt companies, FTX and Alameda Research. Importantly, the story Bankman-Fried has been relentlessly telling about himself is a story the government says is still fraud even if it’s true. Ken and I talk about Bankman-Fried as a masterclass in what-not-to-do as a criminal defendant. He seems woefully unprepared to fac...2022-12-1423 min
Serious TroubleTweeting Through ItThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showSam Bankman-Fried is in serious trouble! And he has a strategy: tweet through it. We talk about the legal risks that come from tweeting through your legal risks — it’s not just that SBF risks providing evidence to help the government prove he committed crimes; he may also be committing new crimes, like wire fraud, in real time. For all listeners, we have a breakdown of the lessons in what-not-to-do from SBF. For premium subscribers, we also look at serious trouble for...2022-11-1720 min
Serious Trouble'taint tortious interference, 'taint actual malice, 'taint unregistered agencyIn this episode of Serious Trouble, we discuss:- An order granting the New York Attorney General’s request for a monitor to oversee Trump Organization financial activity, and some troubles the Trumps face in this civil action that they would not face in a criminal case.- An acquittal on all counts for Tom Barrack, a businessman and associate of Donald Trump’s who was accused of acting as an unregistered agent for the United Arab Emirates.- The dismissal of Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy’s defamation case against my former employ...2022-11-0832 min
Serious TroubleSerious Trouble in the Chess WorldWe answer a listener question about what’s likely to happen to InfoWars, now that Alex Jones and his companies are subject to a $965 million defamation judgment. We also talk about legal difficulties at Fox News — including one that’s overblown. And, after receiving a lot of requests from you to discuss this topic, we talk aboutd the prospects of chess prodigy Hans Niemann’s lawsuit, in which he says world chess champion Magnus Carlsen and others defamed him by accusing him of cheating. Finally, we bring you an update on Jacob Wohl and his guilty plea to a big-boy...2022-10-2637 min
Serious TroubleMaking Attorneys Get AttorneysThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showSomeone close to attorney Christina Bobb is making sure reporters hear it was definitely not her fault that she incorrectly told investigators in June that Trump had already handed over all the marked-classified documents remaining at Mar-a-Lago. Bobb insisted on adding a caveat to her declaration, saying it was based on information provided to her. Bobb likely did that with the intention to insulate herself from legal risk, but Ken says it could actually harm her position.For paying...2022-10-1226 min
Serious TroubleSnippy Judges, Busy CourtroomsThere’s been a lot of legal news in the last ten days, and so today’s show is on the long side: nearly an hour and it’s also free for all listeners in its full length. We talked about the oddly snippy correspondence between Judge Aileen Cannon and the much more senior federal judge she’s named as special master overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents, we answer a listener’s question about whether Trump’s position as a former president vests him with any added responsibilities, in the eyes of the courts, in addition to the ability to gain special...2022-10-0549 min
Serious Trouble11th Circuit SmackdownThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWhew, it’s been a big news week! Big enough that we had to record this episode one and a half times: on Wednesday, following the first conference with Special Master Raymond Dearie; and again on Thursday, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals made Dearie’s job much easier by saying the DOJ is free to use approximately 100 marked-classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago and that Dearie need not review them. This episode covers the 11th Circuit order, what's left for Judg...2022-09-2234 min
Serious Trouble'Sir, this is a Hardee's, and you are served.'This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showIf you are a lawyer, it is important to make sure you get paid for your work, especially if your client is someone like Donald Trump, who has very complex legal needs and a history of trying not to pay his vendors. So we weren’t surprised that attorney Chris Kise, one of the big shots on Trump’s legal team, has collected a $3 million fee deposit in preparation for what could be very extensive legal billings. Plus: we discussed how it w...2022-09-1922 min
Serious TroubleWe Can Have a Little of the Warrant Application, As a TreatThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showDear listeners,It’s another week of serious trouble!This week, Ken and I talk about the unsealed application for the Mar-a-Lago warrant, such as it is — most of the juicy bits are blacked out, but we did learn some things about what the government is investigating and who does not seem to be a target.The government says its “privilege review team” — an alternative, loser terminology for the taint team — is already done reviewing the document...2022-08-3027 min
Serious TroubleThe taint team is tainted, Trump allegesIt’s another action-packed week for Serious Trouble! On today’s episode, we talk about former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s plea deal that will send him to Rikers Island for about three months for tax crimes — and won’t involve testifying against Donald Trump personally. We look at the legal fight over the sealing of the application for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, and at Trump’s… filing, of sorts, demanding the return of “his” documents and the appointment of a special master to weed out any potentially privileged materials, instead of a taint team that he considers to be tainted. Plu...2022-08-2339 min
Serious TroubleThe Mar-a-Lago WarrantThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showNow we’ve seen the warrant! On this week’s show, we talk about the search of Mar-a-Lago, and what it tells us about why the FBI wanted to poke around there. We discuss how Merrick Garland avoided pulling a Comey, when we might see the affidavit supporting the search warrant, we answer a question from a listener about how the government handles public trials involving classified documents it can’t share publicly, and how we might be able to assess whethe...2022-08-1625 min
Serious TroubleThey Even Broke Into My Safe!This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showWell, there’s been some serious trouble this week. The FBI executed a search warrant, looking for documents at Mar-a-Lago. According to former president Donald Trump, they even broke into his safe! What had to happen for such a warrant to be approved, and why federal prosecutors would have sought it — can it really be just about the Presidential Records Act? Who is entitled to what information, and when? Trump has been complaining a lot about the raid, but he hasn’t show...2022-08-1009 min
Serious TroubleAlex Jones and the Very Good, Totally Brutal Cross ExaminationIn this episode, Ken and Josh discuss the cross examination of Alex Jones in the trial that will determine the damages for the defamation claim on which he already lost to parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. After Jones repeatedly failed to comply with orders to turn over records and documents (to the point that he lost by default because he was so uncooperative), Jones’ lawyer accidentally shared the entire contents of Jones’s phone — including texts about Sandy Hook — with the plaintiffs’ attorney and then failed to take the necessary steps to assert privilege over any o...2022-08-0417 min
Serious TroubleConsider This a Target LetterOn this episode of Serious Trouble, we talk about developments in Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s investigation of efforts to steal Georgia’s electoral votes in the 2020 election. Willis sent “target letters” telling all 16 members of the fake Trump slate they might be prosecuted. When do DAs send letters like that, and what should you do if you get one? Plus, we discuss a memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland, which lays out the cautions US Attorneys should take before bringing politically sensitive indictments. And, Indiana’s Attorney General called the doctor who performed an abortion for a 10-year-old...2022-07-2131 min
Serious TroubleElon Musk, Chancery Courts, Specific Performance, and the Pride of DelawareElon Musk agreed to buy Twitter. He doesn’t want to buy it anymore. Twitter wants to enforce the contract that requires him to buy the company, and so they’re arguing in the chancery court in Delaware about what will happen next.What is a chancery court? What is “specific performance”? Will a Delaware court actually force this company — an entity with employees, customers, and significant societal influence — into the hands of a buyer who doesn’t want to own and operate it?Listen to this episode where we discussed all those matters. For a transcript o...2022-07-1515 min
Serious TroubleThe Return of Patsy BaloneyKen and Josh discuss an apparent agreement for Pat Cippolone (or “Patsy Baloney,” if you ask an auto-transcription system) to talk with the January 6 committee, and why his interview will be a little complicated because of privilege issues — both attorney-client privilege and executive privilege. We look at how that might matter, and what he might say that’s of interest. Plus: grand jury subpoenas in the Atlanta DA’s investigation, what happens when an interested third party is paying your legal expenses, and a Washington Post op-ed claims it’s easier than people say to show Donald Trump had the requisit...2022-07-0736 min
Serious TroubleSPECIAL EXTRA EPISODE: 'They're Not Here to Hurt Me'Surprise! This is an extra, unscheduled episode of Serious Trouble, about some breaking news in investigations related to the January 6 riot — a federal search of attorney John Eastman’s electronic devices, and a unexpectedly scheduled hearing with testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. (We said we’d do at least 40 episodes a year, but that’s a floor, not a ceiling!) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe2022-06-2920 min
Serious TroubleSerious Trouble, Episode 2: Why Is It So Hard To Hold Police Accountable For Failures Like Uvalde?To find episode notes, transcripts, a discussion thread and to become a subscriber (so that you receive all Serious Trouble episodes), visit us at serioustrouble.show.This week's episode is all about the Uvalde massacre, the botched police response, and what legal rights you have to expect the police to perform their jobs. You may be surprised to learn they’re pretty limited. Ken and Josh also talk about where the idea of qualified immunity comes from, and when it does (and doesn’t) protect police from liability for their actions. And they discuss why Texas law may pu...2022-06-2342 min
Very Serious with Josh BarroThe Political Purpose of the January 6 HearingsWhat happened on January 6 (and in the lead-up to it, with Donald Trump trying to steal the election) was very important. But I have been very bearish on the usefulness of talking to the public more about it — it happened right in front of our faces, it’s not a top priority for persuadable voters, and more time spent marinating on it can simply distract Democrats from more urgent political tasks to hold onto any part of power. As such, I wasn’t very eager for the televised January 6 hearings. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the effectiv...2022-06-1735 min
Serious TroubleSerious Trouble, Episode 1: The Show, The January 6 Committee Hearings, And The Depp/Heard TrialTo get this episode into your premium RSS feed, please click the button below from your phone:Dear readers,Serious Trouble is not a Trump show — it’s a show about law. But the top legal story this week is about Trump, so that’s how we’re starting: with a discussion of the theory of Trump’s criminality advanced by the January 6 investigating committee.What would it entail to prove in court that Donald Trump criminally sought to interfere with an official proceeding, and should the Justice Department try? What sort of criminal d...2022-06-1655 min
Very Serious with Josh BarroKen White on defamation and Donald TrumpIt’s an All the Presidents’ Lawyers reunion with Josh and attorney Ken White! Josh and Ken discuss the implosion of the Manhattan DA investigation into Donald Trump’s financial statements. Did DA Alvin Bragg lose his nerve, or was this a weak case he was wise to drop? Plus, Josh and Ken talk defamation: There’s been a lot of lying and litigation about lying lately, but most of it hasn’t amounted to much. Why did Sarah Palin lose her case against the New York Times? Why is E. Jean Carroll the most fearsome defamation plaintiff Trump has faced...2022-03-1744 min