• Young Thug Pleads Out
    Nov 5 2024

    For your Election Day listening pleasure, we have an episode for you covering the news that has arisen in the lead-up to the election:

    * Updates on Eric Adams, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says her office is looking into whether Donald Trump illegally threatened Liz Cheney at a rally in Arizona.

    * Young Thug, the Atlanta rapper who has stood accused of running a street gang, pleaded guilty in the long-running, very messy RICO case where he has stood trial alongside several of his associates.

    Plus: MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is saying a lender did the RICO, Rudy Giuliani is having a rough time defending himself in litigation brought by his (alleged) ex-employee, Noelle Dunphy; can Elon Musk give million-dollar prizes to PA voters who sign his organization's petition? And Trump is trying to use the law against the media in various ways that are likely to prove unavailing.

    Visit serioustrouble.show to find a transcript and sign up for our newsletter.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe
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    41 mins
  • Michael Avenatti Is Still a Bad Lawyer
    Oct 24 2024
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show

    For all listeners, we have updates this week on Michael Avenatti, Aileen Cannon, Laura Loomer and Bill Maher. Our valued paying subscribers (thank you for your support!) will also hear about: the Central Park Five lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani being ordered to hand over assets to the election workers he defamed, FTX defendant Ryan Salame, who alleges (dubiously) that federal prosecutors double-crossed him and his girlfriend, and Ron DeSantis ordering Florida television stations to stop airing commercials for a pro-choice ballot measure.

    Upgrade your subscription at serioustrouble.show (if you haven't already) to get the full episode.

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    24 mins
  • Twelve Busybody Idiots
    Oct 18 2024

    SpaceX is suing the California Coastal Commission for objecting to a plan to increase the frequency of SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The commissioners did raise some concerns that actually relate to the Pacific coastline, but they also mouthed off about how they dislike SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s general political activities. And Judge Tanya Chutkan considers how the Supreme Court decision in Fischer affects the criminal charge against Donald Trump for obstructing an official proceeding, and considers a motion from Trump to delay the release of an appendix to Jack Smith’s long memo on the evidence he wishes to present in the case.

    Plus: Mark Robinson (the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina) is suing CNN, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss continue to seek to collect the $146 million judgment they won against Rudy Giuliani, and Fani Willis replies all. Yikes.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe
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    42 mins
  • XL Brief
    Oct 10 2024
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show

    The long memo Jack Smith promised is here: a 185-page document laying out evidence he’d like to present in his January 6-related case against Donald Trump. The memo has to be so long because the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity was so complex and vague: Smith must show, act by act, that he’s offering evidence either of Trump’s unofficial actions, or of official acts where he can overcome the presumption of immunity. Ken and I discuss how Smith argues that most of the acts he wants to present are unofficial, his case that Trump’s official efforts to coerce Pence are fair game, and how long it’s going to take courts to adjudicate all these questions before a trial can start (years). For paying subscribers, we also discuss:

    * One of the bitchiest motions Ken has ever seen

    * Clare Locke surviving a motion to dismiss in their nine-year-old-fan-of-Kansas-City-Chiefs client’s defamation case against Deadspin, for having accused him of wearing blackface and hating black people and Native Americans

    * Garth Brooks (a.k.a. the anonymous celebrity “John Doe”) facing an anonymous lawsuit from his former hairstylist, who he also tried to sue anonymously to stop her from suing him anonymously

    * Professor Joe Gow, who will sue the University of Wisconsin for dismissing him over his vegan porn side project;

    * Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters getting nine years in prison for her “Stop the Steal” efforts

    * Updates on the Eric Adams scandal

    To get the whole episode, subscribe at serioustrouble.show.

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    19 mins
  • To Be On Safe Side, Please Delete All Messages You Send Me
    Sep 30 2024

    Federal prosecutors allege that New York mayor Eric Adams accepted tens of thousands of dollars of free business-class upgrade on Turkish Airlines as part of a broader scheme to receive illegal support from foreign nationals (including concealed political donations from Turks) in exchange for official favors, including from the Fire Department of New York. This is a long, fun “speaking indictment” with juicy details.

    Plus, there’s other news: Three Iranian hackers indicted for the breach of Trump campaign documents; a hot bench in an appellate hearing over the $450 million Trump civil judgment that may or may not amount to anything; and a settlement in Smartmatic v. Newsmax that everyone is pretending to be happy about.

    Visit serioustrouble.show to sign up for our newsletter and find a transcript of this episode.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe
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    38 mins
  • Superseding Indictment
    Sep 26 2024
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show

    Ryan Wesley Routh has been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate. Ken and Josh discuss how proving Routh’s intent to kill the former president might be challenging (had he not left a note expressing his intent), and we talk about what “attempt” is — Routh never pulled the trigger, but there are a number of “substantial steps” he took toward killing Trump that should still make this case not that hard for prosecutors to prove.

    Plus: a light sentence for Caroline Ellison for her role in the FTX implosion, Judge Chutkan OK's a long brief from the special counsel on presidential immunity, an advocacy group tries to get criminal charges for Trump and Vance for their comments about Haitian immigrants in Ohio, Brett Favre can't sue Shannon Sharpe, and Matt Gaetz updates. Sign up at serioustrouble.show to listen to the whole episode.

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    24 mins
  • RICO Freak-Off (feat. Sean 'Puffy' Combs)
    Sep 20 2024

    We were kind of expecting Sean Combs to get indicted sooner or later, but we weren’t expecting the indictment to be for RICO. Federal prosecutors allege that Combs, as the leader of the “Combs Enterprise,” led a criminal organization for purposes including coercing female victims to have sex with male prostitutes at drug-fueled orgies known as “freak-offs.” Is that really RICO?

    Plus: just gun charges (for now) for the man caught laying in wait for Donald Trump at his Florida golf course with a rifle, and a lot of hot, hot defamation action. Visit serioustrouble.show to sign up for the newsletter and to support the show.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe
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    34 mins
  • Reversible Error
    Sep 13 2024
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show

    Josh and Ken discuss developments in the Data Colada-Francesca Gino-Harvard case, Sarah Palin's defamation case against the New York Times (for free subscribers), and (for paying subscribers) the different philosophies the judges have about how the presidential election should affect the scheduling of the Trump criminal cases they preside over.

    Plus: Hunter Biden's Alford plea, the Tenet Media FARA case and whether it’s okay to be an unregistered foreign agent if you’re the agent of a Belgian, and a pre-indictment preview of the serious trouble that awaits New York Mayor Eric Adams and many of his aides.

    Visit serioustrouble.show to become a paying subscriber and to find a transcript of this episode.

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    24 mins