The Lawfare Podcast

Brandon DeBot and Kelsey Merrick, of NYU’s Tax Law Center, speak to Senior Editor Roger Parloff about Attorney General Todd Blanche’s purported waiver of President Trump’s past tax liabilities on May 19, as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion suit against the IRS. DeBot and Merrick discuss whether those who negotiated the deal might face criminal liability under 26 USC § 7217 or § 7212, an...

In a live conversation on YouTube , Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett sat down with Senior Editors Eric Columbus, Molly Roberts, and Roger Parloff to discuss the D.C. Circuit rehearing the case over Judge Boasberg’s criminal contempt inquiry into the Justice Department in sending Venezuelans to CECOT, a federal judge squashing grand jury subpoenas to top Minnesota political officials, update...

On today’s episode, Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sits down with Jasper Craven, a freelance reporter covering the military and veterans’ issues, to discuss his new book, “ God Forgives, Brothers Don't: The Long March of Military Education and the Making of American Manhood .” They speak about why the son of a peace activist embarked on this project, how military education helps explain our...

From December 9, 2024: Kevin Xu, founder of Interconnected Capital and author of the Interconnected newsletter , joins Kevin Frazier, Senior Research Fellow in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin and a Tarbell Fellow at Lawfare , to analyze China’s AI ambitions, its current AI capacities, and the likely effect of updated export controls on the nation’s AI effort...

From February 21, 2025: Before January, most Americans had probably never heard of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), a Treasury Department agency that distributes payments from the federal government. But over the last month, this corner of government has appeared again and again in the headlines, as aides working with Elon Musk’s quasi-governmental DOGE initiative successfully gained access...

From May 31, 2022: A few weeks ago, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the latest FISA transparency data . It was notable in at least two major respects: the continued decline of traditional Title I FISA applications—that is, warrants for individual surveillance—and separately, the rather large number of U.S. persons who had been searched under so-called 702 surveillance....

This week, Scott sat down with cohost emeritus and Lawfare Research Director Alan Rozenshtein, Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien, Lawfare Public Service Fellow Julia Curlee, and Lawfare Contributing Editor and Vice President of Research, Security and Defense at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Ariane Tabatabai, to talk through the week’s big national security news stories, including: “Fis...

Lawfare Senior Editor Michael Feinberg sits down with Devlin Barrett, a journalist and author of the new book, “ The Department of Revenge: How Trump Took Control of American Justice ,” to talk about the seismic changes in personnel and policy which have shaken the Justice Department over the past 18 months. To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfar...

Ukraine Fellow Anastasia Lapatina sits down with Chris Powers, the Brussels correspondent at the Kyiv Independent, to discuss the recent progress in Ukraine's bid to join the European Union and the many political dramas that surround that process both in Kyiv and in Europe. To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare . You can also support Lawfare by...

Brendan Ballou, founder and CEO of the Public Integrity Project, speaks with Senior Editor Roger Parloff about his group’s case, Douglas v. National Parks Services , seeking to enjoin the UFC cage-fighting event on the White House South Lawn. Ballou alleges that the event is a “volcano of corruption,” the first for-profit sports event ever staged at the White House, and a turning point in American...

In a live conversation on YouTube , Lawfare Senior Editor Eric Columbus sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Anna Bower and Roger Parloff to discuss litigation over President Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center, a judge denying a TRO in the lawsuit challenging the White House UFC fight, the status of the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” and more. You can find information on legal challenges to Trump admi...

From December 3, 2024: Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor and Georgetown professor Daniel Byman sits down with Charles Lister, Director of Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism Programs at the Middle East Institute for an update on the Syrian opposition taking Aleppo and the prospects for the civil war going forward. They discuss the status of the Syrian conflict; the nature of the key group,...

From November 1, 2024: Lawfare Senior Editor Anna Bower and Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes sit down with Senior Editor Roger Parloff to discuss David Clements, who has led religiously inspired "trainings" across the U.S. teaching citizens how to stop local election officials from certifying elections the trainees consider fraudulent. Anna describes a training she attended, and Ben discusses, and...

This week, Scott was joined by his Lawfare colleagues Benjamin Wittes, Michael Feinberg, and Molly Roberts to talk through the week’s big news in national security, including: “Blanche Check.” DOJ may soon have a new permanent leader, as President Trump has now formally nominated Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the role permanently. But to secure Trump’s support, Blanche has indulged some...

For today’s episode, Lawfare Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson sits down with Joel Braunold, the Managing Director of the Center Project, for the latest in their regular series on recent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and related issues. Together, they dig into recent escalations between Israel and Lebanon and their bearing on the broader Iran conflict, including tensions between P...

The Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies have resulted in an unprecedented number of people being held in detention facilities. Now, lawsuits across the country are alleging horrific conditions in those facilities, including excessive force, unsanitary conditions, and denial of medical care. On today's podcast, Executive Editor Natalie Orpett speaks with Elora Mukherj...

On today's podcast, Executive Editor Natalie Orpett speaks with Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson about what Congress can do to direct the president to end the war in Iran. Scott's recent article in Lawfare , “ What Congressional Resolutions Mean for the War in Iran ,” explained why a likely presidential veto of a War Powers Resolution is not the end of the story. The War Powers Resolution gives Con...

Senior Editor Michael Feinberg sits down with Andrew Weissmann to discuss Weissmann’s new book, “ Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America ,” falsehoods in political discourse, and how to possibly disincentivize lies on the campaign trail. To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare . You can also support Lawfare by making a one-ti...

In a live conversation on YouTube , Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Anna Bower, Eric Columbus, Roger Parloff, and Molly Roberts to discuss argument at the D.C. Circuit over the White House ballroom, the status of the Trump administration’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” the superseding SPLC indictment, and more. You can find information on legal challenges...

From February 12, 2024: On January 15, Bernardo Arévalo took office as the new president of Guatemala. The transfer of power had been far from assured: after Arévalo triumphed in August elections as an anti-corruption reformer, Guatemala’s political elite did their best to throw legal obstacles in his way and prevent him from taking power. His presidency represents a stunning victory for Guatemala...

From May 2, 2025: As the Trump administration seeks to escalate its immigration crackdown, the government has turned to a concerning source of information for data on immigrants: the Social Security Administration.  Reports   indicate  that Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative and the Department of Homeland Security successfully pushed Social Security officials to provide access to what’s co...

In a new report for Lawfare , Associate Editor Katherine Pompilio finds that 97 of the more than 1,500 individuals granted clemency by President Trump for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack have been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of crimes separate from Jan. 6 since their participation in the Jan. 6 riot. On today’s episode, Pompilio joins Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes t...

This week, Scott sat down with his Lawfare colleagues Ukraine Fellow Anastasiia Lapatina and Managing Editor Tyler McBrien, and Lawfare Contributing Editor and Vice President of Research, Security and Defense at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Ariane Tabatabai, to talk through the week’s big news in national security, including: “The Empire Strikes Out.” Russia’s ground offensive in Ukraine...

"Jackie" is the call signal of an American Army veteran who volunteered in 2022 with the Ukrainian military and has been fighting the Russians ever since. He's become a significant figure in the storied Third Army Corps, which is one of the elite units of the Ukrainian military and has pioneered major advances in drone warfare. He joins Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes at the Goat Rodeo stu...

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical treats AI as the defining social question of our time: not just a technical shift, but a moral fight over dignity, labor, truth, war, and power. In a Lawfare Live on Substack on Wednesday, May 27, Lawfare Contributing Editor Renée DiResta talked with Christopher Hale , author of the Substack newsletter “ Letters from Leo ,” about the Vatican entering the AI debate,...