Opening Arguments

In today's episode, Liz and Andrew break down all the developments in the two federal criminal investigations pending about former President Donald Trump that have been delegated to Special Counsel Jack Smith. First, in the documents case, Liz and Andrew discuss why -- all of a sudden -- Trump's team seems to be voluntarily turning over documents, along with a grand jury appearance by Trump's lawyer, Evan "the Cork" Corcoran. Is this normal? (No.) Then, Andrew and Liz break down the bombshell news that Mike Pence has been subpoenaed to appear before Smith's grand jury, presumably to discuss 1/6-related issues. Liz brings her journalistic instincts to bear and Andrew tells us all about that other executive privilege case involving a certain former President who also definitely was not a crook. Notes CNN Trump handover of docs https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/politics/trump-classified-records-laptop/index.html 18 USC § 793 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793 Washington Post on Judge Howell https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/08/trump-contempt-mar-a-lago-records/ Trump Subpoena Issued https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/12/trump-was-issued-subpoena-for-folder-marked-classified-evening-briefing-discovered-at-mar-a-lago OA13 https://openargs.com/oa13-hillary-clintons-damned-emails/ NYT Article on Pence Search ​​https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/politics/pence-fbi-home-search.html Bloomberg article on Evan the Cork testifying https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-11/trump-lawyer-in-mar-a-lago-search-appeared-before-grand-jury Washington post on Trump’s hiring of Evan the Cork https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/23/trump-records-mar-a-lago-fbi/ Order appointing Jack Smith - Appointment Order 5599-2022 https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1552896/download Pence subpoenaed https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/us/politics/pence-subpoena-trump.html US v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5132513257326080850 -Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law -Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and share our videos! -Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs -Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/ -For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki -And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com!

Today's episode begins with a brief mention of the breaking news about Mike Pence that we will be covering in depth as soon as we know more! Then, we look at a couple of lawsuits and learn why Liz isn't always a fan of the OA "read the complaint backwards" method. Does she convince Andrew? Listen and find out! We break down the latest conspiracy counterclaims from One America Network News, while learning the difference between the conservative persecution complex worldview -- that Big Tech is censoring conservatism because reasons -- and the reality: that big companies are funding and propping up garbage conservative outlets like OANN. After that, we move on to arguably the Worst People in the World: anti-vaxxers. Specifically, we look at a lawsuit by RFK, Jr. and a whole bunch of weirdos against All the Media for kicking them off YouTube and Twitter. It's... something, all right. But! At least we learn a little something about the Trusted News Initiative anti-trust and the media along the way. Notes SOTU Fact-check https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/us/politics/fact-check-biden-state-of-the-union.html Dominion complaint against OAN https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.234315/gov.uscourts.dcd.234315.1.0.pdf OAN California Lawsuit https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21410177/oann-lawsuit.pdf RFK lawsuit https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.371829/gov.uscourts.txnd.371829.1.0.pdf Liz Backgrounder at Wonkette https://www.wonkette.com/antivaxx-loons-rfk-jr-jim-hoft-other-idiots-sue-news-outlets-for-booting-them-off-twitter J.W. Howard Attorneys: We Have A Big Pirate Ship! https://jwhowardattorneys.com/ Trusted News Initiative https://www.bbc.co.uk/beyondfakenews/trusted-news-initiative/ Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1 (1945) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12116214944985887583

Today, Liz and Andrew have two stories for us, each touching on executive privilege. We begin with a quick fun Liz story where what comes around, goes around, particularly in Georgia. Then, for the first main story, Liz gives us a detailed update in the E. Jean Carroll litigation, where Trump has finally replaced Alina Habba with an actual lawyer. How's that going to go for him? Hint: probably still not great. After that, Andrew picks up a story involving the January 6th Committee, the New York Times, Politico, Judge Beryl A. Howell, executive privilege, and the world's longest minute order. It's a deep dive and a breaking news story all in one! Notes It's okay to vote while black in Georgia! https://www.gpb.org/news/2023/02/08/black-volunteers-passing-out-water-at-2020-albany-voting-site-cleared-of-wrongdoing Facts about Georgia's restrictions https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/29/josh-holmes/facts-about-georgias-ban-food-water-giveaways-vote/ Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1768307810279741111 The world's longest minute order https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65636836/application-of-the-new-york-times-company-and-charlie-savage-for-access-to/?order_by=desc Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 6 https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_6 McKeever v. Barr, 920 F.3d 842 (D.C. Cir. 2019) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3726944855474329424&q=mckeever+v+barr&hl=en&as_sdt=2006 -Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law -Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and share our videos! -Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs -Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/ -For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki -And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com

This is my apology for recent events.

A new record for him! Today Liz Dye has two stories for us. First, Trump has sued Bob Woodward for profiting off of his voice in his new book. Does he have a case? Well, almost assuredly not. But he happens to come close to a real argument, and you know, that's like really impressive! Then, Liz breaks down new news on Hunter Biden's laptop. It's still so confusing but Liz helps us make sense of it!

It's Liz ThursDYE! Lots has been made of the robots coming for the lawyer jobs... But is it all it's cracked up to be? Should a human use a lawyer to argue in front of the Supreme Court? Or is that... the single stupidest idea in history? Find out, with Liz Dye!

It's the return of Mo's Poplaw Lawpod! Ace associate Morgan Stringer breaks down the tragic death of up-and-coming cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Charges were filed against Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

Some people are pissed about this, but should they be? What's happening and will Trump be charged in Georgia over his "perfect phone call?" Find out! Click here for full links and show notes!

Lots of news today! Secret documents found in Mike Pence's house and also in your house and your spouse is actually secret documents. Then Andrew brings us some really interesting speculation on why Ken Cuccinelli was called in to before Jack Smith's grand jury that no one else has talked about. And finally, asshole Peter Navarro has pulled out all the stops in pursuit of his executive privilege claim, including now... time travel? Click here for full links and show notes!

It's Liz WednesDye! Liz brings us the delightful schadenfreude of Trump's many vexatious lawsuits blowing up in his face, resulting in paying a lot in legal fees for other people's lawyers. But is it enough?