All the Presidents' Lawyers

Thumb-headed henchman

January 15, 2020 23:09 - 33 minutes - 31 MB

Lev Parnas, Rudy Giuliani’s thumb-headed henchman, who is under indictment for campaign finance violations, has been really trying to cooperate with Congress in their investigations of President Trump. A judge allowed him to share seized documents with Congress and well, they turned out to be pretty interesting. Ken and Josh talk through the dump of documents and what this new character Robert Hyde was/is up to. Then: it looks like the impeachment trial could start next week. Nancy...

The standoff continues

January 08, 2020 22:32 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MB

Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are still in a standoff over the rules for the Senate impeachment proceedings. Pelosi still hasn’t sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate, and it looks like McConnell is ready to start the impeachment trial with no witnesses. So, is Pelosi’s strategy to hold onto the articles pay off? We’re still waiting. Josh and Ken discuss the influence Chief Justice John Roberts might have as he presides over the trial, with Republicans having enough vote...

Impeachment Day

December 18, 2019 22:30 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MB

With the impeachment vote, All The President’s Lawyers is wrapping up for 2019. Ken and Josh will be back on Jan. 8, 2020. As the House of Representatives debates the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Josh and Ken ducked into a nearby studio to discuss all the other news from this week. The president’s 6-page tweet/letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about why impeachment is wrong and bad. Mitch McConnell is signaling how he might run an impeachment trial in January. Do Democ...

Two articles of impeachment

December 12, 2019 00:09 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MB

House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment for President Trump this week: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. What’s in the articles? Should Democrats have added more charges? And what happens next? Given the outlook in the Senate, Ken says this “lean and mean” approach is the right one. Ken and Josh also discuss the Inspector General report on the origins of the FBI’s investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign, upcoming sentences for Rich Gates and Michael Flynn...

Judiciary, take the wheel

December 04, 2019 23:30 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MB

Adam Schiff and the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee lay out their case for the impeachment of President Trump. How strong is the case? And should they have taken more time to gather more information? Republicans also submitted a report, which Ken says is more like creative writing than a report. As Ken and Josh taped this episode, the House Judiciary Committee began its first hearing. When can we expect articles of impeachment and what will be in them? Also, what the h...

The king of frivolous lawsuits

November 28, 2019 00:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MB

President Trump is a litigious person, but when it comes to winning defamation and libel lawsuits, his record is pretty terrible. He’s 0-8 in fact.Ken White andJosh Barro talk about the president’s First Amendment record withSusan Seager of USC’s Gould School of Law, and take questions from a live audience of lawyers, law students and alumni.

Bonus: All The President’s Lawyers at USC

November 21, 2019 22:39 - 20 minutes - 18.8 MB

Josh and Ken discuss the impeachment testimony of Gordon Sondland, Laura Cooper and David Hale and other timely topics in this special episode of All The President’s Lawyers, recorded in front of an audience at USC Gould School of Law. More of their conversation with Gould law professor and First Amendment lawyer Susan Seager will be released next week.

Who should be afraid right now?

November 20, 2019 22:43 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MB

Seven witnesses have appeared for public testimony in the impeachment inquiry, and more are testifying today. There are all witnesses who have previously testified in closer session. What have we learned that’s new and important? (EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland was beginning his testimony as Josh and Ken recorded this episode — check back Thursday for a bonus episode.) At this point, should any of these people be worried about criminal liability, either now or in the event that a ne...

Impeachment, now in public

November 13, 2019 18:00 - 36 minutes - 33 MB

The impeachment of President Trump is out in public and on TV now. What does the schedule look like? How long will this take? And will testimony always take place while Ken and Josh are recording this podcast? John Bolton has joined his former colleague John Kupperman in asking a court for clearance before they testify to Congress. Bolton has also been sending some signals that he has some interesting things to say, but he’s not going to just show up, and Congress doesn’t seem that...

Dishonesty or bad preparation?

November 06, 2019 23:22 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MB

EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland has provided an update to his testimony. He now says his recollection has been refreshed, and he remembers now that he communicated to Ukrainian officials that release of military aid was conditioned on President Zelensky announcing an investigation into Burisma, the company whose board Hunter Biden sat on. Is it possible that Sondland’s recollection on the quid pro quo is a good legal strategy? And will the rest of his testimony stand as others (includ...

Fruit of the poisonous tree

October 30, 2019 22:20 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MB

For weeks, Republicans have been claiming that the impeachment inquiry isn’t a real impeachment inquiry because the House of Representatives never held a formal vote at the outset. But now, House Democrats are saying they will have that vote this week. Many Republicans still aren’t satisfied. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the investigation was started improperly and therefore cannot be fixed: “it’d be the fruit from the poisonous tree.” Did he get that legal doctrine rig...

Quid pro quo

October 23, 2019 21:08 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MB

In his testimony to Congress, William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, described a quid pro quo: US military aid would be released to Ukraine if the Ukrainian president made a public statement pledging an investigation into Burisma. Ambassador Taylor heard that from someone on the National Security Council, and then he spoke with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who clarified that “everything” depended on Ukraine complying with President Trump’s wishes about Joe Biden. This ...

Does Rudy Need a Lawyer?

October 17, 2019 00:00 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MB

Rudy Giuliani has lots to worry about this week. He has refused to comply with a subpoena in the impeachment inquiry and says that he doesn’t need a lawyer. But Ken begs to differ. Giuliani did have a lawyer write up a letter defying the subpoena, which Josh and Ken agree was the written equivalent of giving the middle finger. Adding to Giuliani’s full plate, federal prosecutors are looking into whether he may have broken foreign lobbying laws. And Ken says investigators are almos...

Recognize the legitimacy of this podcast

October 09, 2019 22:30 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MB

White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent a letter to Congress laying out why they won’t be participating in the impeachment inquiry. Ken says it’s eight pages of bloviation and very short on rule of law. And what’s really new here? Shouldn’t we have expected this reaction from President Trump and the White House legal team? Ken says this shows a level of defiance from the White House that hasn’t been there before, but what happens if a court eventually makes a call on the relative pow...

Hearsay

October 02, 2019 21:34 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MB

A lot of Republicans are defending President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president because the contents of the whistleblower’s complaint are hearsay. But that’s a weird defense -- we already have independent confirmation of a lot of the events described in the complaint. Ken and Josh discuss hearsay, and whether anything the president said or did in those calls broke the law. Abuse of power? Bribery? Thing of value? Witness tampering? Obstruction of justice? Ken says some might ...

President Trump. Ukraine. Joe Biden. Impeachment.

September 25, 2019 19:55 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MB

Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with her caucus on Tuesday and announced the House is beginning a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump. The impetus for this is a whistleblower report Congress hasn’t seen, because the acting director of national intelligence overruled his inspector general, saying Congress isn’t entitled to see it. But we’ve been learning more and more about what’s in that report, and it seems to concern President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. On Wednesday morning...

All kinds of privilege

September 18, 2019 21:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MB

The White House claims top advisers have absolute immunity from testifying to Congress about their interactions with the president. Is there any legal basis for that? And does either side of the argument want a court to weigh in on this? Not really. Ken White tells us why. Former Trump campaign chair Corey Lewandowski, who testified (or rather, tried very hard to not give any answers to any questions about possible incidents of obstruction of justice) in a House Judiciary Committee ...

It’s an impeachment investigation

September 11, 2019 21:44 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MB

Congress is back, so we’re got some investigation action in the committees. The House Judiciary Committee will vote this week on a resolution setting rules for an impeachment investigation into President Trump. What significance will this vote have? And if there is an impeachment inquiry, will it help Democrats get documents they are seeking? Committees are also looking into whether the Trump administration improperly pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden and h...

A conversation with Asha Rangappa

September 04, 2019 22:27 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MB

Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa joins Ken White for a special All The President’s Lawyers. Ken and Asha talk about what the media gets wrong (and right) about how the FBI and federal investigations work, and the wall between counterintelligence and criminal investigations done by the FBI. Plus, Ken asks Asha about the counterintelligence side of the Mueller investigation, and what her advice would be if a federal agent comes knocking.

The most commonly committed federal crime

August 28, 2019 00:00 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MB

The New York Times reports federal prosecutors are nearing a decision about whether to prosecute Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI. McCabe was fired last year (on the day he was set to retire) based on an inspector general report that found he repeatedly lacked candor in interviews with investigators looking into a leak to the Wall Street Journal. According to the IG, the leak essentially confirmed the existence of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation ...

When federal judges hit ‘reply all’

August 21, 2019 23:43 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MB

Fallout continues this week from Jeffrey Epstein’s death, which has now been officially ruled a suicide. Where’s his longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s widely suspected of participating in a conspiracy to sex traffic girls for him? She’s been missing or at least she hasn’t been in public. Those photos of her at an In-N-Out Burger in the Valley? They appear to be fake. Josh and Ken talk about those dupes and if they were likely to have misled the Feds. Should we assume the...

What happens next in the Epstein investigation

August 14, 2019 17:30 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MB

Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Manhattan Correctional Center on Saturday, as he awaited trial. What happens next in the investigation? Attorney General Bill Barr said the Department of Justice would still come after his co-conspirators. What happens to his estate and his assets? Plus: your questions about emoluments and if anyone has standing to sue President Trump for an emoluments clause violation, the latest in former White House Counsel Greg Craig’s trial, Pe...

Impeachment ifs

August 07, 2019 17:30 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MB

The House still isn’t moving to impeach the president, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said *if* his committee *were* to proceed in that direction, articles of impeachment could pass his committee in the late fall. Nadler cited key court decisions about the committee’s efforts to obtain evidence and witnesses coming in October or November. But: is there a need for more fact-finding? Ken and Josh take some questions from listeners on impeachment and the new Calif...

Nope, it’s still not RICO.

July 31, 2019 17:30 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MB

This week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee, which had alleged that the Russian Federation engaged in a RICO conspiracy with Donald Trump, the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort, Julian Assange, Roger Stone and others. RICO, of course, is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (as you ATPL listeners already know). It’s a law designed to allow prosecutions and lawsuits aimed at the mafia and others who operate criminal enterp...

It’s Finally Mueller Time

July 24, 2019 17:30 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MB

At long last, members of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees got to question special counsel Robert Mueller about his investigation of President Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Special guest former prosecutor Renato Mariott spoke with host Josh Barro about whether the little that Mueller said was noteworthy. Mariotti says Mueller was trying to be very careful with his words because he did not want to say something that could become a soundbite. One t...

Should Jeffrey Epstein be released on bail?

July 17, 2019 20:30 - 33 minutes - 30.4 MB

There have been arguments this week about whether Jeffrey Epstein should be released on bail — is he a danger to the community? Would he commit other crimes if he’s released? Is he a flight risk? Could he be trusted to fund his own house arrest in his New York mansion? Should it matter to the judge that so many other defendants struggle to post even a couple hundred dollars in bail? Then: CNN is reporting that Trump Organization executives are unlikely to be charged in the case whe...

Non-prosecution...disagreement?

July 10, 2019 20:30 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MB

Reclusive billionaire (or multi-multi-millionaire) money manager Jeffrey Epstein, a one-time associate of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, has been indicted by SDNY prosecutors for sex trafficking. The broad allegations — that Epstein had an apparatus to bring girls to his homes in New York and Florida for paid sex — are not new. A decade ago, facing federal charges, Epstein assembled an all-star legal team (Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz among them) that obtained for him a much-...

All the Presidents Lawyers: You asked, we answered

July 03, 2019 07:00 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB

This week on All The President’s Lawyers, Ken and Josh take questions from listeners. Several of your questions were about impeachment. It’s a complicated topic and one without a lot of legal precedent and case law. You also asked what would happen if Trump was defeated in 2020, yet refused to give up the presidency. Here are a selection of questions and answers (note: these questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity If the Democrats decide to impeach Trump, wi...

Mueller says yes

June 26, 2019 20:30 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MB

Robert Mueller will testify before two House committees in mid-July. The announcement came shortly after the committees subpoenaed Mueller to testify. The question is how much we’ll learn from Robert Mueller’s testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, and about what. Mueller is, as you all know, very tight-lipped and Ken White says it’s unlikely that will change between now and his testimony date. Then: does President Trump have any l...

How not to lawyer (with Alex Jones’s lawyer)

June 19, 2019 20:30 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MB

A decision from the Supreme Court this week might affect some potential pardons that President Trump may or may not be considering. In Gamble v. United States, the Supreme Court upheld (7-2, with Justices Gorsuch and Ginsburg dissenting) the dual sovereignty doctrine that says states and the federal government can separately charge and try the same crime if an act is illegal under both federal and state law. Paul Manafort’s probably paying attention to this. Ken says the decision wa...

This could take a while

June 12, 2019 20:30 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MB

President Trump and congressional Democrats want to expedite the president’s appeal of a ruling that would allow Congress to subpoena his financial records from banks, and a federal judge agreed. This is one of two lawsuits where the president has sued a third-party company to stop them from complying with congressional subpoenas and has lost initial rulings in both. How quickly might this be decided, even if it’s expedited? To be clear: the president and Democrats want this to be e...

Can you just ‘nope’ a subpoena?

June 05, 2019 20:30 - 30 minutes - 28 MB

The White House has instructed former staffers Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to comply with congressional subpoenas. In this case, Congress seeks documents related to their White House services. It appears the White House is appearing to assert executive privilege without actually doing it, and it’s not clear they have the power to give an overall ‘nope’ to producing documents, but they’re trying it. Your move, Congress. Judge Emmett Sullivan has been trying to get a better pi...

Mueller speaks

May 29, 2019 20:30 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MB

Special Counsel Robert Mueller re-emphasized what was said in the report: because a president cannot be indicted while in office under current Justice Department guidelines, and because there’s no other similar mechanism for the executive branch, it would not be fair to make the accusation; therefore: he didn’t. Mueller described such an indictment as unconstitutional. Mueller also said any congressional testimony he gives (or anyone else from the special counsel’s office) would not...

Delays work, until they don’t

May 22, 2019 20:30 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MB

President Trump’s legal strategy for the congressional investigations into him has been to delay, delay, delay. Well, as Ken mentioned a few weeks ago, that’s not as effective as you might think. Sure enough, a federal judge ruled against the president’s argument that his accounting firm should be blocked from complying with a subpoena for the president’s financial records. The judge sided with the argument that Congress is allowed to take measures to investigate and gather facts so...

All the president’s lawyers’ lawyers

May 15, 2019 20:30 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MB

This week we had the first court hearing to test President Trump’s new-ish legal strategy of maximum resistance to investigations of him. It didn’t seem to go very well. Federal Judge Amit Mehta did not appear impressed with the president’s contention that a Congressional committee could not subpoena his financial records from an accounting firm. “Say a president was involved in some corrupt enterprise — you mean to tell me because he is the president of the United States, Congress ...