Serious Trouble

This 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 Scott McAfee has decided not to disqualify Fani Willis or her office from the RICO prosecution of Trump and his associates. But McAfee’s decision is otherwise scathing. Nathan Wade wins our Senate Twink Memorial Award for Belatedly Good Judgment for changing his mind about an interview on “Meet the Press." Good call, Nathan! In Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon has issued some more bizarre orders in the documents case. What she's doing is not exactly what you would do if you were trying to tank the case, but “incompetent” and “malevolent” are not mutually exclusive theories of what Judge Cannon is up to. And finally, we answer an excellent listener question sent in by Ben Dreyfuss about what lawyers in movies sometimes do when their clients to lie to them.Free subscribers get the conversations about New York and a bit of the goings on in Georgia. Paid subscribers get the whole shebang, including a conversation about why some of the charges in the Georgia case have been dismissed, and Ken’s explanation of why he’s less like those movie lawyers and more like Alan Dershowitz. Visit serioustrouble.show to upgrade and you'll hear the whole thing.

The podcast delves into Sen. Robert Menendez's superseded indictment, now including charges of obstruction of justice and directing lawyers to lie about a bribe. Trump's $92 million bond in a case against E. Jean Carroll ensures payment, but a larger bond in another case looms. The episode explores legal intricacies, presidential immunity arguments, failed appeals, and challenges of federal collateral attacks.

Supreme Court rulings on disqualifying individuals for insurrection, Trump's claims on presidential immunity, Weisselberg's additional prison time, Trump's media platform and financial strategy, legal battles involving Chesabro, Hunter Biden's congressional hearing, and strategic considerations on tax charges.

The 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 New York, District Attorney Alvin Bragg wants Donald Trump under another gag order — raising some questions that courts have gotten better at answering over the last few months. And out west, Biden accuser Alexander Smirnov got sprung from jail and almost immediately re-arrested, as Los Angeles-based Judge Otis Wright sought to ensure that he could not flee the country. And another SoCal federal judge, Cormac Carney, is in a spat with the Ninth Circuit over his unusually expansive view of when a defendant can get off on the grounds of selective prosecution.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

This 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-use licenses, but then broadcasting the videos for commercial purposes on ABC and across various social media platforms.Alexander Smirnov, Hunter Biden’s now-indicted accuser, says he had contacts with Russian intelligence. And Hunter himself remains combative with federal prosecutors — pointing out that one of their pieces of “evidence” that Hunter had a cocaine problem is a photo of sawdust that was sent to Hunter as part of a message urging him not to use drugs.For paying subscribers: in Georgia, we’re all waiting for Judge Scott McAfee to decide whether to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from the RICO prosecution of Donald Trump and others. And we took a number of the questions you sent in about the large judgment Trump now owes to New York State for business fraud — including about why this money even goes to the state, and about what will happen if he is unable or unwilling to post an appeal bond covering the amount he will owe if his appeal loses, and bankruptcy. Thank you to everyone who sent in questions — we plan to take more of them next week.

Discussing the $400 million judgment against Trump for fraud, Supreme Court case on Colorado ballot, legal immunity in DC criminal case, Mueller's comments on Biden, and allegations involving a Barisma bribe. Analysis on Trump's financial misrepresentation and its legal consequences, Judge Engeron's opinions, and Trump's eligibility on the presidential ballot. Exploring upcoming court decisions and Biden's relief over not facing charges related to classified documents.

The podcast discusses the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting Trump's argument of immunity from prosecution, potential start of a criminal trial, Georgia RICO case conflict of interest, Taylor Swift's lawyers sending a threatening letter to a college student who tracked her private plane, Jack Burkman giving up his law license, and the Senate employee exercising his Fifth Amendment right not to talk to Capitol Police after filming a sex tape in the Senate.

The podcast discusses the $83.3 million defamation case against Donald Trump, his trial strategy, and the possibility of the damages being reduced. It also covers the sentencing of Peter Navarro and the leak of Trump's tax returns. The chapter explores the nature of federal judges and compares the competence of attorneys using Michael Avenatti as a case study.

No Labels, a centrist political group, plans to run a third-party presidential ticket and is facing opposition from mainstream Democrats. They claim it's a criminal RICO conspiracy and want the DOJ to prosecute. The podcast also discusses the Fani Willis-Trump prosecution, the Ijean Carroll case against Donald Trump, and Alec Baldwin's indictment for involuntary manslaughter.

Donald Trump wasn’t supposed to give a closing statement at the New York AG’s civil trial, but he gave a brief one anyway — and why not? There’s no jury to influence and, let’s be honest, Judge Engoron seems to have made his mind up. Plus: Rudy Giuliani is bankrupt and faces the creditors’ committee of his nightmares. Michael Flynn has a performative defamation lawsuit against Andrew Weissmann, over the allegation that he was actually guilty of the crime he pleaded guilty to. And Bill Ackman says he’ll sue Business Insider for reporting that his wife, former MIT professor Neri Oxman, committed plagiarism — though really, Oxman would have to sue, and an unwinnable lawsuit (as it looks to be) is likelier to serve his PR goals rather than hers.Visit serious trouble.show to sign up for our newsletter and to support our 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