Opening Arguments

The napkin with crayon scribbling on it that Trump's lawyers submitted was somehow... granted? by Judge Cannon, whom we now know to be a complete MAGA hack. This ruling was such an embarrassment to the rule of law that even Republican judges will recognize it. So what comes next? What will an appeal look like? Also Andrew covers the brilliant strategy undertaken by DoJ lawyers that will give them an advantage in this next step. Before that, more on the Alaska ranked choice election, and can states charge income tax on student loan forgiveness? Links: Kel McClanahan article, 28 U.S. Code § 1292 - Interlocutory decisions, Hoosiers will be taxed hundreds of dollars on student loan forgiveness, AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021, 26 U.S. Code § 108 - Income from discharge of indebtedness, 42 U.S. Code § 300gg - Fair health insurance premiums

It's a situation as confusing as it is incredible – Sarah Palin, who won an open primary for the AK House Seat, has LOST. The Democrat, Mary Peltola, despite coming in LAST in the primary, has WON! How did this happen? Ranked choice voting! But is that good? Does this make sense? Imagine if this were the Democratic equivalent, would we be happy? Or would it not happen? Then, Better Call Saul is being sued by a tax company that is virtually identical to the dirtbag one portrayed in the show. Is the lawsuit credible? Links: Alaska's Better Elections Initiative, Al Gross for Congress, JTH Tax, LLC d/b/a Liberty Tax Service v. AMC Networks

The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, took a large toll on America’s sense of security. In the dawn of this new era, Congress moved to take swift action by creating the Patriot Act. The stated goal was to identify and strike back against terrorists, but in practice, the law had much wider-reaching effects. But everything changed in 2013 when an intelligence contractor named Edward Snowden decided to expose the truth, leaking more classified documents than any whistleblower in American history. This four-part series from American Scandal follows Edward Snowden’s transformation, from a respected intelligence officer, to the most wanted whistleblower in the world.    This is just a preview of Edward Snowden from American Scandal, but you can listen to the rest of this episode at wondery.fm/AS_OpeningArguments

The more we learn, the worse it gets for Trump. It's almost like he's a pathological narcissist without any regard for laws. Today Andrew breaks down two ways to convict Trump, using two different provisions of the law. Links: motion opposing special master, DOJ exhibits, United States v. Gonzalez, 18 U.S. Code § 793 - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, Proving Intent at Mar-a-Lago, The Trump Warrant Had No Legal Basis - WSJ, 44 U.S. Code § 2201, 44 U.S. Code § 2202 - Ownership of Presidential records, 44 U.S. Code § 2203 - Management and custody of Presidential records, 44 U.S. Code § 2205 - Exceptions to restricted access, 44 U.S. Code § 2204 - Restrictions on access to Presidential records

For real, things are not going well for Trump. We get that he's Teflon Don, but even those teflon pans get messed up if you scratch them with a knife or if they steal a bunch of top secret documents. Listen and enjoy as Andrew details the many ways Trump is having a very bad law thingy. Links: Response to Media Queries About Presidential Records, Redacted warrant affidavit, Trump's terrible motion, Cover sheet, rule 41g, Judge Slapdown, trump response, "Anomalous" Federal Jurisdiction, Rule 65. Injunctions and Restraining Orders, letter from archives, Navarro reply brief

Biden not only kept his campaign promise, but expanded on it! Andrew breaks down the history of the student loan debt problem and what Biden's plan is. It's good news!

Perhaps we can have good things? Andrew breaks down Williams v. Kincaid, a 4th Circuit case that actually sets a positive precedent for trans rights! After that, we interview Jalessah Jackson, Executive Director of ARC Southeast - one of the abortion funds that OA listeners raised an incredible amount of money for! Links: 42 U.S. Code Chapter 126 ADA, 42 U.S. Code § 12211 - Definitions exception

There's still SO much to talk about in the Mar-a-Lago Treason Trove! Lots of updates on that, plus the Weiselberg plea, Trump passports, and more! We also squeeze in a wildcard on Alex Jones's loser lawyers. Links: The Atlantic article that is wrong, 42 U.S. Code § 2274 - Communication of Restricted Data, Jonathan Toebbe case, 10 CFR Part 1045 -- Nuclear Classification and Declassification, Classification of Nuclear Weapons-Related Information, Dep’t of the Navy v. Egan, Trump’s passports returned, Norm Pattis Sanctions order, Reynal order, Pattis "moved to dismiss", Alex-Jones-Kyng-S.-Lee-Affidavit

The unfortunate answer is... yes. BUT. There may be a one weird trick that actually could sidestep this! Listen in for the breakdown and why there is a sliver of hope on this really terrible nonsense. After that, we talk about our Matthew Hoh interview and the response we have gotten. Links: Texas bill, More TX statutes, Texas Constitution, Hanna v. Sweeney, 78 Conn. 492,  NCSBE certified GP as a political party, new Demw lawsuit

So much breaking news, we did an extra episode for you!

If you're anything like me, you've been waiting for the Andrew breakdown of the FBI warrant service on Mar-a-Lago. Well, here it is, PLUS breaking news while we were recording! We didn't yet have the info that it might be nuclear documents, which makes everything Andrew said EVEN MORE right. Links: 18 U.S. Code § 3109, 18 U.S. Code § 3103a - Additional grounds for issuing warrant, List of attorneys who tried to steal your 2020 vote, What were FBI agents looking for in Trump's Mar-a-Lago? : NPR, Dep’t of the Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518 (1988), Basic Laws and Authorities | National Archives, The FBI Just Raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home, Justice Dept. using grand jury to probe Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents, National Archives had to retrieve Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago, 44 U.S. Code Chapter 22 - PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS, 44 U.S. Code § 2202, 18 U.S. Code § 1924 - Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material, 18 U.S. Code § 793 - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense infor

Listeners will know we have been incredibly hostile to the idea of voting for or running as a third party candidate. Despite that, Matthew Hoh, Green Party candidate for Senate in NC, accepted Andrew's invitation to come on the show. So why is he running? Can we convince him it's a bad idea? Listen and find out!

This is... wow. Just wow. Jones's lawyers accidentally handed over his entire cell phone and didn't remedy it when they could have. Just staggering. Get Andrew's full breakdown of this glorious happening. Also, GOOD NEWS FROM KANSAS! The people of Kansas did a good thing. And Pat Cipollone was subpoenaed by the Justice Dept! All in all just a really good news episode. Links: Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt, House Concurrent Resolution No. 5003, Justice Dept. Subpoenas Pat Cipollone, Justice Dept. Asking Witnesses About Trump, U.S. v. Nixon, Cassidy Hutchinson kept working for Donald Trump for 9 weeks, Jones video, Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)

In today's doom coverage, Andrew breaks down Moore v. Harper and how it is completely outrageous that the Supreme Court granted cert. It's bad. It's real bad. But guess what! It's also worse. In the first segment, we talk about the likelihood that the Secret Service texts were lost accidentally. Lots of tech people contacted us about prior coverage. Links: Cert petition, Amicus by the national Republican redistricting trust, Bush v Gore, McPherson v Blacker, Smiley v Holm, opposition brief

There was a truly amazing moment in the Alex Jones trial that we can't wait to share with you. And, it's a chance for some law talkin'! Jones' lawyers are completely inept and we should all enjoy nice things. Then, Andrew takes us through an interesting election situation in North Carolina involving the Green Party. Guess what, they still suck and are helping Republicans win! So much so that Republicans are literally fighting legal battles for Green Party candidates. Links: Rule 801, Strickland v. Washington, Matthew Hoh, NC § 163-122, NC Stat. § 163.96:  create a new party, Candidates - North Carolina Green Party, Docs from state board meeting on Green Party, Matthew Hoh tweet, Republicans financed Montana Green Party

The 8th and final(???) Jan 6. Hearing happened in prime time on Thursday. We saved our Monday deep dive for it! As usual, Andrew breaks it down with clips! Also, Bannon found guilty! and Jeff Clark hit with disciplinary hearings! What a great day! Links: 2 U.S. Code § 192 - Refusal of witness to testify or produce papers. Jeff Clarke proceedings, Opening Arguments live tweet thread, 18 U.S. Code § 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense, 18 U.S. Code § 1512 - Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant, Hearing video

You may remember the ripoff scam that is Christian Health Share Ministries from such episodes as OA497: Christian Health Sharing Is a Scam and OA530: Andrew Testifies to Congress on Christian Healthshare Ministries! Well, as a direct result of Andrew's House testimony, Rep. Jared Huffman has sponsored and introduced a new bill to fight back against this scam! It's H.R.8324 - Health Share Transparency Act of 2022. Rep. Huffman is also a co-founder of the Congressional Freethought Caucus! He joins us today to explain the bill. Before that, I grill Andrew on the Secret Service deleted texts, with such questions as "what the f?" and "how the h?" There's a lot we can't know yet, but Andrew explains what we do know. Finally, we go through the first gun control legislation passed in two decades. It's good!

If you or anyone you know is President Biden, please dear god listen to this episode and then get the word out. The FEC has been broken and corrupted by Trump appointees. Biden could have easily done something about it from day 1 of his administration and he just... hasn't. Listen to the full story and see example #9,576 of why Trump and Republicans can never be trusted in office. In the first segment, we get a big update on the Musk Twitter deal. Andrew nailed another one! Links: 52 US Code § 30106 - FEC, 52 US Code § 30107 - Powers of Commission, 52 US Code § 30108 - Advisory opinions, 52 US Code § 30104 - Reporting requirements, Hillary campaign FEC, FEC ruling, conciliation

We haven't gotten a chance to pat Andrew on the back enough for nailing the Cipollone prediction, so let's do so! Tuesday was the first hearing since that bombshell news, and it featured a little bit of Cipollone testimony, but also teased much more to come. Andrew takes us through the hearing, with some clips. And, he has another prediction! Given his track record, we'd better take note! Links: Meadows docs, Cleta Mitchell docs

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Andrew gave a brilliant talk to the Houston Oasis group on how we got here and what we can do. Note in the QnA section, the questions were not recorded, sorry. They are reasonably easy to figure out with context clues though! Check out his slides here.