Serious Trouble

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showJack Smith is attempting to salvage his two federal prosecutions of Donald Trump with a superseding indictment that removes evidence about Trump’s presidential acts from the document backing his charges over Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election. The new indictment removes the allegations that are closest to the core of presidential powers — for example, Trump’s efforts to get the Department of Justice to open a bogus investigation — while retaining other acts Smith believes he can successfully argue were unofficial. Plus: Jack Smith counters Judge Cannon's dismissal of the documents case; Arizona defendants in the case about the state’s fake-elector scheme are using the state’s very odd anti-SLAPP statute to argue their charges should be dismissed; onetime-superlawyer Tom Girardi was convicted of stealing huge sums from his clients; the Ketamine Queen now has a prominent defense lawyer; LiveNation’s CEO may have to be deposed in a lawsuit over the Astroworld music festival disaster, despite the apex witness doctrine and Texas’s efforts to position itself as the pro-business court state.Finally, we have a correction from last week. When we talked about a motion Disney made in a wrongful death case arguing a litigant would have to arbitrate because he entered into an arbitration agreement as part of his Disney+ service contract, we misidentified the prestigious law firm that surprised us by making the argument. It was White & Case, not O’Melveny & Myers. We regret the error.Visit serioustrouble.show and sign up to support the show in order to hear this entire episode.

George Santos has pleaded guilty and will likely be sentenced next February to several years in federal prison. Santos also lost his copyright claim against Disney over his Cameo videos that were broadcast on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Disney had less luck trying to argue that a customer whose wife died of an allergic reaction would have to arbitrate any wrongful death claim because of an obscure clause in the service contract for Disney+. Several associates of Matthew Perry were indicted for their roles in getting him the ketamine that killed him, and DC Councilmember Trayon White, last seen saying dumb things about the Rothschilds, is now a defendant in a very dumb bribery case. 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/subscribe

Elon Musk has produced some new legal issues for us this week. He has sued a coalition of advertisers for colluding to boycott the Twitter platform, saying this is an antitrust violation, and Musk is also the subject, along with Donald Trump, of a labor law complaint before the National Labor Relations Board, filed by the United Auto Workers.Plus: Trump may sue the federal government over the Mar-a-Lago raid, Missouri will not get the Supreme Court to consider whether its voters were harmed by the gag order in Trump’s New York criminal case. Saying that JD Vance fucked a couch isn’t defamatory (it’s satire) and saying Trump wasn’t almost in a helicopter crash with Willie Brown isn’t defamatory either (it’s true). And Trump’s campaign was hacked. And oh my god, the Young Thug Georgia RICO trial, it’s an even bigger mess than the Trump Georgia RICO trial.Visit serioustrouble.show to sign up for our newsletter and find a transcript of this episode. 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/subscribe

As we’ve discussed, the Supreme Court threw a major wrench into the various prosecutions of Donald Trump with their ruling on presidential immunity. The RICO prosecution in Atlanta was already so hopelessly fucked that they probably won’t need to think about it for a couple of years, and the documents case in Florida is, for now, dismissed. But in New York, Judge Juan Merchan is proceeding toward sentencing, notwithstanding immunity being one of Trump’s several issues for appeal, and in Washington, DC, Judge Tanya Chutkan is trying to figure it out, though the issue probably won’t even be fully briefed until after the election.Plus: Judge Chutkan has ruled that Trump was not a victim of selective or vindictive prosecution. A committee of the District of Columbia Bar Association has recommended that Jeffrey Clark’s law license be suspended. Sen. Bob Menendez has been convicted — showing that bribery is still illegal. The Washington Post has a somewhat odd story about an investigation in a possible Egyptian effort to bribe Donald Trump that did not amount to much. And the QAnon Shaman has won a court order instructing the government to return his headdress. 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/subscribe

On 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 with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe

Well, 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 no longer a federal defendant in the documents case, for now — Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed that case, saying the appointment of a special counsel to prosecute him was never authorized by law. Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy case has been dismissed — a mixed blessing. Judge Ural Glanville has been removed from the Young Thug RICO trial, which is likely to lead to a mistrial. And Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter case is dismissed with prejudice due to extreme incompetence on the part of prosecutors in New Mexico.Find episode transcripts and sign up for our newsletter at serioustrouble.show. 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/subscribe

We’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 Louisiana, a federal judge will review rapper Baby Gangster’s lyrics, as BG tries to return to work while on supervised release.Sign up for our newsletter and find episode transcripts at serioustrouble.show 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/subscribe

This 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 upgrade your subscription and get the whole episode.

We have a real parade of idiots on tap for you this week. Jacob Wohl, Alex Jones, Robert Menendez, Nathan Wade, Justin Timberlake…oh, and Donald Trump too. Strap in, because they’re all doing shit that’s pretty stupid. Visit serioustrouble.show to sign up for our newsletter and find a transcript of this episode. 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/subscribe

Nathan Wade went on CNN, and had to be stopped by his handlers mid-interview because he was about to answer a question about when he and DA Fani Willis started having sex. Then, he went on The Daily Show and said he wasn’t sleeping with his boss because Willis was never his boss, but was more like his client. Shut up, Nathan Wade! Why does he do this?This week, besides that debacle: the Supreme Court’s 8-1 decision in U.S. v. Rahimi, which doesn't bode well for Hunter Biden; Steve Bannon reports to prison; continuing chaos in the YSL trial; and a news report that Judge Aileen Cannon turned down some colleagues’ polite suggestions that she might want to let a different, better judge handle the Trump documents case.Visit serioustrouble.show for transcripts and to sign up for our newsletter. 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/subscribe

Hunter Biden has been convicted on three federal felony gun charges. In this case, Hunter has the same misfortune as Donald Trump in the Manhattan DA’s case: were he less famous, he’d likely never have ended up in court over these charges.Plus: updates on Trump's probation interview, an update from FLorida and election-related charges in Wisconsin, and then there's Georgia.In Georgia, Fani Willis’s RICO case against Trump and company remains on hold indefinitely while an appeals court considers whether Willis should have been required to recuse herself. It’s not like this case was going to trial anytime soon, but now it is surely going to be years. Shouldn’t have slept with the special counsel! And another one of Willis’s RICO cases — the one against rapper Young Thug and alleged members of (what prosecutors allege was) his street gang, Young Slime Life — has gone completely off the rails, with Judge Ural Glanville holding an ex-parte meeting with prosecutors and a key witness, getting very angry when defense attorney Brian Steel found out about the meeting, and then ordering Steel to jail for contempt of court. Steel is supposed to serve ten weekends in jail; Judge Glanville granted his request to be jailed alongside Young Thug so they can keep preparing for trial. Steel has also appealed the contempt order; this case, too, is likely to be getting appellate review before it’s even over. 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/subscribe

This 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.

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 from Michael Cohen, whom a reasonable person would not trust. Indeed, Blanche deemed Cohen the G.L.O.A.T. — the “Greatest Liar of All Time” — a phrase that may overstate how great Cohen is at lying.Plus: updates from the documents case in Florida, Rudy agrees to stop lying, Jenna Ellis gives up her law license and the Menendez case hits a speedbump.We'll be back when there's a verdict... Sign up for updates at serioustrouble.show. 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/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showHappy Birthday to America’s Mayor, now 80 years old! Rudy had a big bash to celebrate his 80th birthday last Friday, down in Palm Beach. He posted a photo from the party on social media, taunting Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for her failure to serve a summons on him for his indictment for trying to steal that state’s presidential election. And then, around 11pm, agents from Mayes’s office approached him to serve his summons on person.Plus: the cross-examination of Michael Cohen, Trump reportedly edits the statements of the given by his surrogates who say what he’s not allowed to under the gag order, Paul Pelosi's attacker is sentenced but there's a hitch, and Hunter Biden is in serious trouble.Visit serioustrouble.show to sign up for our newsletter and upgrade your subscription to hear the whole episode.

New York prosecutors have been using Michael Cohen not just as a vehicle to introduce documents, but to offer his own recollections and assessments of Donald Trump’s state of mind, including why he chose to pay for Stormy Daniels’ silence. Meanwhile, Trump has had friends visiting him at court — Republican politicians, some of them vice presidential hopefuls, who have made statements to the press that Trump himself is gagged from making. Indicted Rep. Henry Cuellar looks to be in even more serious trouble than he was last week, and Sen. Bob Menendez's trial has begun, with jury selection aided by a high-priced jury consultant. Steve Bannon has lost his appeal and will likely to have to serve out his (short) sentence for contempt of Congress before Trump has a chance to pardon him. And Rudy Giuliani is being sued again, this time in pursuit of a court order to bar him from lying — good luck with that. 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/subscribe