Surprise episode! Josh Barro and Ken White talk about the unsealed indictments of the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. They’re alleged to have engaged in a fifteen-year tax fraud scheme that protected Weisselberg and other Trump Organization employees from paying tax. In Weisselberg’s case, that’s over $1.7 million in compensation. But what’s really at stake here? And is this actually just a way for prosecutors to get to the man for whom the Trump Organization is named?

As of Wednesday morning, there have been no charges yet against the Trump Organization or any of its senior officials. The Wall Street Journal reported that charges for tax related crimes are expected Thursday for the organization and its CFO, Allan Weisselberg. Ahead of those charges, there have been reports that the New York District Attorney gave Trump Organization lawyers a deadline of this Monday to talk prosecutors out of charging the organization. What’s the purpose of that meeting? What can really happen at this point?

Attorney General Merrick Garland will not conduct a broad review of the politicization of the Department of Justice during the previous administration, disappointing many Democrats. He says the Department’s inspector general is best positioned to investigate such matters. Is that a good decision?

Then: Josh and Ken answer a bunch of questions from listeners about why there probably won’t be any repercussions for President Trump related to his role in the insurrection, a hard-number prediction about whether he will be arrested “at some point,” how Josh and Ken met, and our signature swear jar sound effect. Thank you for sending in your questions and please keep them coming.

The show will return July 14.

The first Capitol riot defendant received her sentence today, more than six months after the insurrection. Ken White and Josh Barro analyze the sentencing memos from the woman’s lawyer and the government. Both agreed that a lenient sentence with no jail time was appropriate for her one misdemeanor count (to which she pleaded guilty) and the government seemed to set a standard for the hundreds of sentences that are expected. What is the criteria and will it determine how other people are sentenced?

Next: some legal analysts worry that because the government will continue to defend Donald Trump in the defamation lawsuit against him E. Jean Carroll, that indicates the government would also defend the former president in civil cases arising from the insurrection. Ken says that the government actually has a better reason to do so in that case than they do in the E. Jean Carroll case. Also: Trump’s attempts to use the Department of Justice and the FCC to get SNL to stop making fun of him were amusing and predictable but not legally feasible.

Also in this episode: the swear jar runneth over as Ken and Josh discuss a Ukrainian oligarch named Pavel Fuks with ties to Rudy Giuliani. Finally: the DOJ drops its fight with John Bolton, Manhattan prosecutors appear to be investigating another Trump Organization exec, and the Trump Organization sues the entire city of New York for canceling its contracts to run a golf course, two ice rinks and a carousel.

It’s been an interesting week for Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, despite the fact that Donald Trump isn’t president anymore. This week, we saw communications from Trump administration officials pressuring people in the Department of Justice to investigate increasingly erratic claims about the November election. In one exchange, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows asked then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to look into a matter dubbed “Italygate.” Rosen forwarded the request to his acting deputy attorney general, who replied “pure insanity.” What’s revealed in these communications? Why didn’t they ultimately bend to the will of the Trump White House? Was anything about their communications legally irresponsible? Ken says you shouldn’t underestimate the motivating forces of self preservation, institutional preservation, and the likelihood that many people in Trump’s Department of Justice were about to be on the job hunt.

Then, we knew that the Trump administration had subpoenaed journalists’ information as part of its leak investigations, but this week, we found out that extended to lawmakers too. Did they necessarily suspect certain lawmakers were leaking material? What were they looking for?

Plus: former White House counsel Don McGahn finally testified and it was kind of boring, new indictments and new plea deals for those involved in the Capitol riots, and Ken makes a connection between Ewoks, Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti because Ken’s gonna Ken.

Before the election, the Department of Justice under President Trump was at work defending him in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit, arguing that when Trump denied Carroll’s accusation that he had raped her, he did so in his official capacity as president, and therefore he couldn’t be sued. It’s customary for the Department of Justice to represent the president in situations like this, though a federal judge rejected it. The Trump DOJ appealed, but after he lost the election, there was a question about whether the DOJ under Biden would continue the appeal. Carroll and her lawyers were strongly opposed. Well, now the Department of Justice under President Biden has spoken: they will continue to represent the former president in this case. Why? Was this unexpected?

Ken and Josh discuss that, plus the audio of Rudy Giuliani pressuring Ukrainian officials to announce investigations into Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine and whether Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, if it’s a sweet gig to be a special master, how you go about searching through millions of documents anyways, messing up a PDF and hurting the opposing party, serving subpoena realness and more.

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn made some news this week at a rally when he seemed to say a coup like the one in Myanmar earlier this year should happen in the United States. Flynn denied saying this, even though he was caught on tape. Flynn’s old boss, former president Trump, is supposedly telling people he expects to be reinstated as president by August. While Ken says it’s not a crime to believe or wish you’ll be reinstated, it can tip over into seditious conspiracy if an agreement is made.

Court documents related to prosecutors’ investigation of Rudy Giuliani show yet another redaction mistake. The documents didn’t reveal much about the investigation, but they did give Josh the opportunity to explain the right and wrong way to redact information from a PDF. And the Manhattan DA’s probe of the Trump Organization may use New York’s “Little RICO” law.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has empaneled a special grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former President Donald Trump, his business, or his business associates. It could be a few months before we know anything, or if there will be anything, about indictments. Is this an indication that Vance expected to indict anyone at all? Ken White and Josh Barro discuss the coverage of the grand jury announcement and the part of the memo sent to then-Attorney General Barr that underlay his decision to announce (purporting to summarize the Mueller report) that the Justice Department lacked sufficient evidence to indict Trump for obstruction of justice. What went into this order by LSFJ Amy Berman Jackson that the memo be released?

Plus: Judge Jackson unseals some Manafort documents, McGahn will testify soon, remember Gordon Sondland?, and why you should be nice to your exes if you’re going to crime.

We know that allies of Rudy Giuliani have been pushing for former President Trump to pay his legal fees or to pay him so he can pay his legal fees. But there’s another urgent ask that The Daily Beast reports Trump has demurring on: “a strong verbal or written statement saying Giuliani’s work during the Trump-Ukraine saga was done on behalf of then-President Trump—and therefore not part of an illegal foreign lobbying effort.”

Josh and Ken agree this would be inadvisable for Trump if he wants to avoid legal exposure, so does that mean he’s being a good client?

New York Attorney General Tish James says her prob eof the Trump Organization is “no longer purely civil” and that she’s work on a criminal inquiry with the Manhattan DA. So...what does that mean? Plus: Proud Boys, insanity defenses, how not to talk about your clients and more.

Do you remember Essential Consultants, LLC? Michael Cohen’s company established to make hush payments to Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) and Karen MacDougal to stop them from publicly disclosing their affairs with Donald Trump before the 2016 election. Michael Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to making an excessive campaign contribution, but nobody else faced legal consequences for the concealed payment. And now the FEC has dropped its investigation into the matter, citing prosecutorial discretion. What does that mean? Why? Is this the end of the road?

Plus: would Giuliani flip on Trump and would Ken want him as a witness? Can Trump use campaign funds to pay Rudy’s legal fees? Is “Foxitus” a legal defense? And: more reasons why being in lock-up is horrible and dangerous (but not a reasons judges are sympathetic to when considering pretrial detention) and FOIA-ing for information about Champ and Major Biden, the First Dogs.

On a typical Wednesday, just hours after Josh Barro and Ken White recorded an episode to capture the news of the week, federal investigators executed a search warrant at Rudy Giuliani’s home and office, confiscating electronic devices, because of course they did. News reports indicate the investigation is about whether Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of foreign interests. This is bad, right? It’s a big deal to execute a search warrant on a lawyer. What can the feds look for? What if they find other stuff during that raid? Did Rudy do a good job defending himself on television? And is Hunter Biden a good legal defense?

Plus: in continuing coverage of corrupt small-time local officials in mid-size counties, Josh Barro and Ken White talk about Joel Greenberg, the former Seminole County tax collector who’s under indictment for sex trafficking and other charges. Greenberg, who’s buddies with Congressman Matt Gaetz, has been negotiating a cooperation deal with prosecutors, and last week The Daily Beast obtained a confession letter he apparently wrote to Roger Stone when he was trying to get Stone’s help to secure a pardon in the last days of the Trump administration. If there’s one thing Ken wants you to learn from listening to this podcast, it’s this: “If Roger Stone asks you to write out a confession to crimes, don’t.”