Talking Feds

Several important showdowns building to a head, starting w/ the debt crisis, and Aaron Blake, David Gura, & Amna Nawaz join Harry to break them down. Biden & the R’s telegraphing possible agreement, but still far apart—will the White House possibly pull the trigger on an out-of-the-box solution? Meanwhile, Jack Smith makes steady progress towards a Trump indictment; Fani Willis telegraphs her timi...

We present a special topical episode this week featuring three of the most prominent and respected trial lawyers in the profession--Barry Berke, Leslie Caldwell, and Lisa Wayne. Law typically involves compromise, but trials typically involve all-in win-or-lose big bets. For that reason, trial practice has a special mystique, and trial lawyers are considered the ultimate badasses of the profession....

This week’s episode is a special discussion on a crisis in the U.S. that is as grave as it is underappreciated. There has been an alarming rise in levels of loneliness, so that today 60% of American adults regularly feel lonely, while 61% of young adults feel “serious loneliness.” In “Loneliness in America,” Prof Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Senator Chris Murphy joi...

It was a week when the gloves came off in several high-stakes and historic battles, and a great set of Washington insiders—Jon Alter, Carol Lee, and Norm Ornstein—break it all down. Trump took it twice straight on the chin with the historic testimony of Mike Pence in the Grand Jury and the E. Jean Carroll trial. The House Rs passed a debt-reduction bill that put the White House on the defensive. A...

It’s our periodic DOJ Report Card episode, in which 3 stalwart DOJ-experts provide an insider’s perspective on the goings-on at the Department. NY Times Reporter Katie Benner joins deeply experienced former DOJ alumns Paul Fishman, Andrew Weissmann, and Harry to suss out questions such as will Jack Smith decide to indict Trump and what exactly would happen next; what is the current state of play b...

It’s our periodic deep dive into the economy, with a killer group of commentators—Dean Baker, Paul Krugman, & Stephanie Ruhle. Two recent reports seem to set out a remarkable state of economic affairs of cooling inflation combined with low unemployment and recession for now held at bay. Are the current landscape & immediate horizon as encouraging as they appear, or are we overlooking big warning s...

The week was dominated a dramatic and somewhat surreal arraignment of former President Donald. A glum & glowering Trump pleaded not guilty then returned to Florida to trash the prosecution and judge. Meanwhile, other civil & criminal cases continued to close in around him. A terrific group of guest –Alisyn Camerota, Jason Kander, & Sam Stein–join Harry to analyze the political repercussions before...

Where were you when you learned Donald Trump had been indicted? A landmark in history, but even as it marked the crossing of a vital line for the rule of law, it brought both the legal and political system into new and very challenging territory. Congressman Eric Swalwell, Greg Sargent, & Ali Vitali join Harry to break down the political and legal seismic implications, including the portents for o...

Laura Coates, David Jolly, and Jen Rubin join Harry to analyze the legal nooses tightening around Donald Trump. The Manhattan DA investigation stalled on the very precipice of bringing criminal, but while the internal workings in that office were inscrutable, there’s scant reason to think that the office won’t move ahead. And the federal court delivered two strong blows against Trump and in favor...

It was a week when things got real: Fromer President Donald Trump prepared to be arrested on charges in New York City, a first in US history; the DeSantis-Trump squabbling came suddenly to unnerve Ukraine and the EU and threaten the U.S’s future support; and China made a dramatic move to be a Middle East power broker, with implications throughout the region and world. A superb group of seasoned po...

It was a week when you could feel the vibrations of coming battles all over: the first ever indictment of a former President; Fox staring down the barrel of a jury trial in Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation suit; the schism between R elites, who favor DeSantis, and immovable Trump supporters; & bitter struggles over abortion rights in several states. A superb group of guests-Laura Jarrett, Alicia...

The unseemly political alliance between the MAGA right and Fox Corp. burst into plain view. Filings in a defamation suit showed Fox knowingly pushing the Big Lie and Speaker McCarthy hand-delivered to Tucker Carlson alone some 44,000 hours of security footage from Jan. 6. A terrific panel of savvy commentators–Sen Al Franken, Jon Alter, and Juliette Kayyem–work through the toxic implications and f...

The anniversary of the Ukraine war marks a time to reflect on the current state of play on the battlefield; the strategic interests of Ukraine and Russia but also the U.S., Europe, & China; the war’s broader geopolitical and in fact historical implications; and the miserable prospect of an endless conflict so long as Putin remains in power. A truly fantastic group of experts—Ben Rhodes, Garry Kasp...

With the vantage points legal and political worlds locked on the coming few months, to possible indictments new Presidential candidates, a fantastic group of prominent commentators–Maggie Haberman, Josh Marshall, and Charlie Sykes—join Harry to analyze the political and legal stress points and consider likely outcomes. They discuss the series of aggressive prosecutorial moves by Special Counsel Ja...

At the end of a week featuring the State of the Union, the debut of the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government, and the delivery of a subpoena to former Vice President Mike Pence, Aaron Blake, Susan Glasser, Carol Lee join Harry to analyze the political substance & theater. Each of these events involved clashes between representatives of the Trump era and the Biden presidency, which...

In a very special 1-on-1 episode of Talking Feds, Rachel Maddow joins Harry to discuss the stunning, and relatively unknown, historical episodes of American flirtation with fascism and armed insurrection in the 1940s, which she chronicles in her latest tour-de-force podcast, Ultra. After delving into some of the highlights of the remarkable 80-year-old story, the two discuss the possible lessons f...

Calls for police reform in the wake of the killing of Tyre Nichols dominated the weekly news, along with the slash-&-burn moves of R committees in the House and two NY cases acting like pincers in applying pressure to Donald Trump. A fantastic set of guests–Congressman Ted Lieu, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Carol Leonnig, and former Congress and DOJ official Elliot Williams–join Harry to iden...

It was a week when the new Republican majority in the House showed its colors. Speaker McCarthy announced committee assignments that empowered some of the country’s most unhinged political figures and a committee structure featuring a special committee on the weaponization of government that promised a steady stream of vitriolic battles with the White House and executive branch. David Frum, Kavita...

Perhaps our most lively and informative repeating series of episodes is the quarterly deep dive into the DOJ from 3 analysts who know the Department inside and out: Katie Benner, Matt Miller, and Andrew Weissmann. This week is the latest one and in the nick of time: there has been detailed factual coverage of the Biden docs, Garland’s appointment of Hur, Smith investigations, the House lying in wa...

Divided government comes to DC and the gloves are off, 3 of the country’s most prominent analysts of the ways of Congress and DC—Jackie Alemany, Luke Broadwter, and Norm Ornstein, join Harry to break it down. The discovery of classified documents in Biden’s office & residence forced the hand of Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel. In the House, Kevin McCarthy & his far-right allies pushed...

The longest speaker battle since the Civil War played out in a slow-motion humiliation of Kevin McCarthy, who offered repeated concessions to the Freedom Caucus before finally mustering a majority of votes. A stellar set of guests – Gloria Borger, Jonathan Capeheart, and Robert Costa–breaks down the battle and its aftermath. They then turn to the 2-year anniversary of Jan 6, discussing what need h...

A special topical episode with 3 of the country’s most eminent historians & social critics–Eric Foner, Eddie Glaude, and Heather Cox Richardson. The group first discusses the degree to which our tempestuous period resembles prior flirtations with authoritarianism. We broaden the focus to those features of our democracy that expose us to the menaces of Trumpism and a critical examination of whether...

This special topical episode focuses on municipal government, and the mayors who exercise it, featuring 3 of the country’s most distinguished recent mayors. The last few years have been a crash course in federal and state power. But it’s at the municipal level that the potholes and garbage pickups hit the road and an American ideal of representative democracy can be most directly achieved. And in...

It’s the last days of the year, & 4 separate govt hubs are in overdrive: the January 6 Committee, finalizing its report & referrals; the lame duck Congress, w/ important final legislation such as the Electoral Count act; the Republican caucus, full of intrigue over whether Kevin McCarthy can squeak into the Speakership; & the DOJ, where investigations of Trump continue to pick up steam. A great se...

A week of high-profile critical developments for Trump, the Supreme Court, the DOJ, and Congress. A phenomenal group of expert commentators—Emily Bazelon, Prof Laurence Tribe, and Sen Sheldon Whitehouse—joins Harry to break it all down. They begin with lessons from Georgia Senate runoff; go on to Supreme Court argument in Moore v Harper, which carries the potential to upend democratic rule itself;...