Talking Feds

Harry sits down with Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck to dissect the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. From the UN Charter and head-of-state immunity to the infamous 1989 Barr memo, they unpack the administration’s legal gymnastics, multiple legal illegalities, and tenuous positions.  In particular, they zero in on the interplay between U.S. criminal law and the international law that we appear to have knowingly violated. They then turn to the long-term practical moral consequences of the operation, including the possible severe damage to U.S. credibility and strategic interests going forward. Mentioned in this episode: Steve's Substack post about Maduro's arrest: https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/200-five-questions-about-the-maduro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the Talking Feds team is on holiday break, we are re-airing a roundtable conversation with Steve Adler, then-mayor of Austin; Jenny Durkan, then-mayor of Seattle; and Bill Peduto, the former long-time mayor of Pittsburgh. This special topical episode focuses on municipal government and the mayors who run it. The first year of Trump 2.0 has brought to the forefront the clash between federal and state authority. But it’s at the municipal level that the potholes and garbage pickups hit the road, and an American ideal of representative democracy is most in play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry talks to Anne Applebaum about the Trump administration's chaotic and slanted approach to ending the war in Ukraine. Applebaum exposes the perverse heavily pro-Russian underpinnings of the U.S. plan that kicked off the latest round of talks. After contrasting Ukraine's repudiation of corruption with Trump's embrace of it, the pair zoom out to discuss the global battle for democracy and what's still at stake on the frontlines in Eastern Europe. Plus, a bonus: a discussion with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, on the rise of authoritarians around the world, and their shared tactics. Mentioned in this episode: Applebaum's Substack: https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/ Applebaum's writing for the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/anne-applebaum/ Ruth Ben-Ghiat's Substack: https://lucid.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Feds closes out 2025 with a close look at the institutional damage and lawlessness Trump has imposed on an essential arm of the U.S. government: the Department of Defense. CNN's Natasha Bertrand, the Washington Post's Alex Horton, and retired Major General Steven J. Lepper take Harry inside a Pentagon transformed by cowboy-in-chief Pete Hegseth. Why is the U.S. blowing up boats near Latin America? Did Hegseth oversee a war crime in the Caribbean? And what are the potential domestic dangers of the legal reasoning powering Trump's new uses of the military?   Mentioned in this episode: Natasha's reporting:  https://www.cnn.com/profiles/natasha-bertrand-profile#about Alex's reporting:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/alex-horton/ General Lepper's analysis:  https://www.justsecurity.org/author/leppersteven/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry talks to veteran reporter Chris Whipple to get the inside scoop on his bombshell account of the Trump White House's inner workings. The two discuss why Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was so unguarded in her interviews with Whipple. They cover Wiles's sharp criticisms of administration officials and her admissions of serious wrongdoing by the president, including misleading the public on the Epstein files. The two dig deep into the details—several as yet overlooked—from one of most important stories written about Trump. Mentioned in this episode:  Whipple's reporting:  https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/chris-whipple Harry's interview with Marty Lederman: https://youtu.be/JhN8PZNic9Y Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices