Harry talks with federal courts and constitutional law expert Steve Vladeck about the hailstorm of Trump executive orders in the first week. Professor Vladeck explains in general terms what executive orders can accomplish and what they can’t. The two then zero in on the orders concerning birthright citizenship, TikTok, and immigration. They finish with some up-to-the-minute accounts of the harrowing goings-on in the Department of Justice, where new political appointees are issuing orders for DOJ litigators that are designed to implement some of the farthest reaching Trump edicts.

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Trump’s anticipated reprisal campaign against the DOJ began with a series of moves aimed at punishing professionals involved in his prosecutions while simultaneously destabilizing the department as a whole. In this special emergency episode, some of the most outstanding and experienced DOJ alumni—Paul Fishman, Amy Jeffress, Mimi Rocah—take stock of the damage inflicted and assess the department’s ability to recover after enduring the chaos of Trump’s rule.

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No need to mince words: it was the most damaging week for the constitution, and the Founders’ carefully calibrated system of checks & balances, since at least the Civil War. Trump put into place a series of executive orders & actions that if upheld will expand his power enormously and cut out the legs from most opposition. A great roundtable of Susan Glasser, David Jolly, and Bill Kristol joins Harry to assess the damage and what it portends for degradations of American law, politics, and life.

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Harry talks with Mark Greenblatt, one of the Inspectors General fired suddenly in the “Friday night purge” of the vast majority of Senate-confirmed IG’s. They discuss the origin, function, and nature of Inspectors General, who have saved taxpayers nearly $700 billion. Greenblatt talks about his own 20-year + service in the IG community, during which he rotated through several agencies and was elected by his peers to lead the IGs’ council. Then they zero in on Friday night and exactly what happened before moving to Greenblatt’s current thoughts about how the IG community, Congress, and country should respond to the purge, and whether and how it is possible to safeguard the paramount goal of oversight with integrity and credibility. It’s the longest and most detailed and nuance discussion with any of the fired IGs, going well beyond quick sound bites to an in-depth examination of who IGs are and what the country has lost in the purge.

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There is understandable frustration at the failure to release volume 2 of the Smith Report dealing with the Mar-A-Lago documents case, but we are able to construct strong surmises about what is in that volume based on already available material. Harry checks in again with Marcy Wheeler, whose blog, emptywheel.net, consistently presents the most in-depth and comprehensive accounts of the public record. Through a methodical scrutiny of documents that have come to light in various ways – including a FOIA request from Donald Trump that produced 60 important emails and other documentary records – we can make a detailed sketch of much of the information that Smith likely passed along to Merrick Garland. Critically, some of the information bears on the qualifications for FBI director of Kash Patel, who asserted the 5th Amendment when called to testify about his claim that Trump had declassified the records he took away. Listeners’ alert: some of the discussion is fairly microscopic but that’s because some of the known information is quite detailed.

Read Marcy's blog: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/01/19/found-dozens-of-damning-documents-about-trumps-hoarding-of-classified-documents/

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Published on the day of Trump’s inauguration, this episode takes brief stock of Biden’s unusual farewell address before pivoting to the perilous future. A great roundtable of Talking Feds stalwarts--Jonathan Alter, Norm Eisen, & Jen Rubin--assesses the confirmation hearings & what they suggest about the nature of Trump rule, as well as the prospects for the most controversial nominees, especially Kash Patel. We end with a set of open-ended reflections about what to expect in the next few months.

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Harry speaks again with Marc Elias, the nation’s most important election-law lawyer, about some of the sharpest challenges on the current landscape and that he anticipates will come our way once Trump takes office. There is a battle being waged in North Carolina, where the Democratic candidate won an election, verified by two recounts, but the Republican party is looking retroactively to invalidate some 60,000 votes. That contest should be receiving more attention than it has, both in its own right and as a possible harbinger of brass-knuckle tactics to come.  The two then switch gears to talk about the continuing appeasement of Trump by traditional media, based on its larger corporate interest. Elias offers a number of thoughts about the dangers of the development and what we all can do about it.

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After six weeks of special episodes to prepare for Trump 2.0, Talking Feds returns to its normal format of 3 stellar commentators—Jason Kander, Charlie Sykes, & Ali Vitali—working through the big news. Trump was sentenced, becoming the first-felon President, though the Supreme Court nearly saved him. Trump fought publication of the Jack Smith report, but at least volume 1 probably will be made public. January 6 came and went. Trump gave a semi-incoherent press conference. It’s déjà vu all over again.

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Harry sits down with Representative Ro Khanna, who from his perch in the heart of Silicon Valley has become a national leader on issues of artificial intelligence and economic innovation. Rep. Khanna is bullish on new technology but keenly aware of its risks. Harry and Rep. Khanna discuss the marketing of AI products; AI’s contribution to social misinformation and how to regulate it; and antitrust protections against undue aggregation of market power by one or two platforms. Along the way, they also touch on others of Khanna’s wide-ranging interests, including term limits for Supreme Court justices

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Continuing with our series of subject-specific episodes to gear up for Trump 2.0, a great panel of healthcare policy experts—Dan Diamond, Ezekiel Emanuel, and Kavita Patel—sizes up the critical series of issues about to confront the country. RFK Jr’s potential confirmation to head HHS is an issue in itself, given the huge challenges of the $2 trillion agency. Then there are a serious of potential overhauls in different medical areas to consider, especially vaccines but also ACA, abortion, more.

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Harry sits down with Greg Casar, the youngest member of the Texas delegation in Congress and an unapologetic progressive in the some-time hostile landscape of Texas (albeit the famous enclave of Austin). A charismatic campaigner, Casar made his mark in Congress by leading a nine-hour thirst strike in 2023 to advocate for workers’ protections from extreme heat. Cesar discusses his against-the-tide electoral success and his work in Congress for immigrant rights, abortion rights, worker’s rights, voting rights, and other signature progressive issues.

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