Chuck Todd is joined by Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, to break down the widespread legal violations committed by the Trump administration during Donald Trump’s first three months in office.Chuck opens the episode by underscoring the gravity of the moment and why Trump appears to show little respect for the law or the authority of the courts.Ben Wittes then joins the conversation to discuss the constitutional amendments the administration may have violated, whether Trump is defying Supreme Court rulings, and what a potential legal showdown over his immigration policies could look like.They examine the administration’s targeting of law firms and universities, where institutional pressure could serve as a check on executive overreach, and whether lawsuits filed by state attorneys general stand a chance in court.Finally, they unpack Trump’s use of executive orders against his critics, why the U.S. is losing its reputation as a global “beacon of freedom,” and Ben shares one reason he still holds onto a sense of optimism.0:00 First 90 days of the Trump administration has been tumultuous 1:45 Congress is sitting on its hands2:45 The administration is slowing down routine investigations 4:00 This is a dangerous moment for the country5:30 Trump is “flooding the zone”8:15 There are legal ways to handle deportations but Trump isn’t interested9:30 They’ve violated amendments four through nine11:30 Trump left Biden a legal quagmire over the border, but Biden didn’t handle it well12:30 Prices will rise in the next 60-90 days 14:00 Incompetence has defined Trump’s administration thus far15:00 Administration is trending toward monarchy 16:45 Lindsey Graham has gone radio silent18:55 Benjamin Wittes joins the show! 21:10 Trump is violating multiple constitutional amendments 23:30 Is Trump violating the Supreme Court ruling? 25:55 Did the Supreme Court water down their ruling? 27:05 All 9 justices agreed on the premise 28:05 What would satisfy the court's order to "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia? 29:40 If Trump asked for the prisoner back, Bukele wouldn't say no 30:45 The White House is brazenly violating court orders 32:10 The administration is extorting law firms 36:45 How will Harvard's decision to fight back affect them? 38:35 Is the administration going out of their way to pick fights? 39:55 They're creating criminal impunity for allies 40:45 Administration is using civil litigation to target enemies 41:55 The government will pay more in damages than money saved by DOGE45:00 John Roberts is issuing rulings meant to avoid confrontation with Trump 46:25 SCOTUS justices are aware Trump is flaunting their ruling 48:45 Trump is putting tremendous stress on his own party 49:25 Are Trump's actions uniting SCOTUS against him? 52:25 What to make of the three liberal justices putting out a press release? 54:55 How alarmed are the six conservative justices? 56:05 Expectations for California's tariff lawsuit? 58:55 The president has civil immunity from defamation lawsuits 1:01:15 Targeting Krebs and Taylor are two of the most egregious acts so far 1:05:25 Trump 2.0 is an entirely different proposition 1:06:55 What authoritarian model does Trump most emulate? 1:07:55 Ben projected "Trump and Vance betrayed the country" on the Washington monument1:10:55 The beacon of freedom has been turned off1:12:25 Ben's hammock studio 1:14:15 Administration is targeting people the public doesn't care much about 1:16:05 The goal is to stop it from getting worse1:18:03 Showdown with SCOTUS looming?1:19:30 Chuck’s Nats rant - Fix the bullpen!(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
Full Episode
Happy Monday and welcome to another week of the Trump administration. We are getting awfully close to the 100 day mark. And just to just to put this in perspective, think about how tumultuous this first 90 plus days has been on the American economy, on the American judicial system, on the American democracy, on foreign affairs. Just think about the things that have happened that we have.
not had follow up on. I think about here as a D.C. person who uses National Airport a lot. I'll be honest with you. I'm still would like to know what happened the night that we had that deadly plane crash where a military helicopter was essentially got in the way of the landing of a commercial airliner. We've not gotten the after action report. There's not been the
The congressional investigations that you would expect yet. We really haven't had anything. And, you know, and part of this you can maybe chalk up to the news cycle. Part of it is the whole Trump administration's throw a thousand things at the wall and things get lost. And you sit there and it appears as if.
We only have the band that generically the media only has the bandwidth to do one story at a time. So when we were in the middle of the rescue operation, we got a lot of details on everything we could figure out in the 72 hours in and around that plane crash. But we haven't had any good reporting since. Congress, as usual, has been sitting on its hands.
I mean, look, we have an issue here where we have a very tumultuous period in American government and in American history. It's a busy executive branch and a busy judicial branch. The legislative branch is sitting on its hands. Doesn't appear to be doing anything other than figuring out how to not, at least the Republican majorities, not to alienate Donald Trump or Donald Trump's MAGA base.
Beyond that, It doesn't look like Congress is doing much. There's some rhetoric about things that they could be doing or should be doing. I think we're all waiting for the oversight hearing on Signalgate and exactly what did Pete Hegseth declassify to put on vulnerable private communication systems.
We think we have the backstory as how the National Security Advisor put a reporter on that group, but we still don't know why. There was so much ease with which the secretary of defense shared what was classified information on that. We're still waiting for those hearings. We're still waiting for that investigation.
We know that Donald Trump fired so many inspector generals that it is slowing down investigations that would really be sort of routine. I mean, the fact of the matter is there's always issues that the government has to figure out what went wrong.
So Bob Gates, the former secretary of defense for George W. Bush and Barack Obama, once said once said that he tells presidents that on any given day, somebody is fucking up. And pardon my French there in your name, Mr. President. And he has said that to President Bush and he has said that to President Obama, meaning the federal government is so big.
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