Serious Trouble

Josh Barro and Ken White
  • 0.0 (0)
  • NEWS COMMENTARY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Serious Trouble

An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White. www.serioustrouble.show

  1. Unconditional Discharge

    14 JAN

    Unconditional Discharge

    The Supreme Court declined to save Donald Trump from being sentenced in his New York criminal case, but the justices said that decision was in part because there wasn’t much to save him from: Judge Juan Merchan had indicated that he would sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge, i.e. no punishment. In other Trump-criminal-case-wind-down news, Judge Aileen Cannon has continued to make trouble for DOJ officials seeking to release parts of a report about Trump’s two federal criminal prosecutions. Plus: Smartmatic’s defamation case against Fox News (and Fox Corporation) moves closer to trial; an FBI informant lied to the government about Joe and Hunter Biden receiving $10 million in bribes from Ukrainian sources and he was also evading taxes, and so he ended up being prosecuted by the same prosecutor who was prosecuting Hunter Biden for evading taxes, and he pleaded guilty, and now he's been sentenced; and Rudy Giuliani is now in double contempt, in federal courts in New York and Washington. Visit serioustrouble.show to 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

    30 min
  2. I Am Not In Serious Trouble

    10 JAN

    I Am Not In Serious Trouble

    It’s already a busy 2025 for some of our favorite characters. On this episode: Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt in proceedings in Judge Lewis Liman’s courtroom, where he has stalled the liquidation of his assets for the benefit of two women he defamed. Donald Trump gets an "unconditional discharge" penalty from Judge Juan Merchan and is trying to stop the release of Jack Smith's report. George Santos asks a judge to delay his sentencing so he can develop and monetize his podcast (!), Eric Adams wants to know who's accusing him of what, and finally: did Josh defame Luigi Mangione? Visit serioustrouble.show to sign up for our newsletter and find transcripts of episodes. 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

    40 min
  3. Petite Policy

    3 JAN

    Petite Policy

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Welcome to the first Serious Trouble episode of 2025! For all subscribers this week, Ken and Josh discuss Luigi Mangione’s indictments in both Pennsylvania and New York, and he’s also the subject of a federal criminal complaint. Both New York and the Feds look eager to prosecute him, and there’s going to be wrangling over who gets to go first, with an important difference in the stakes — he’s facing a capital federal charge, while New York does not have the death penalty. New York’s top count — murder as an act of terrorism — poses some challenges for the state to prove. For paying subscribers: The dueling lawsuits brought by the actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, each accusing the other of wrongdoing during and after the making of their hit film “It Ends With Us;” a discussion of the appellate ruling that upheld one of the judgments E. Jean Carroll won against Donald Trump; a look at why Matt Gaetz, even after resigning from Congress, couldn’t block the release of the ethics committee report that alleges he had sex with a 17-year-old in violation of Florida law; and an update on the civil lawsuit against Jay-Z, who will continue to defend himself against a rape allegation from an anonymous plaintiff — and about how his hyperaggressive lawyer, Alex Spiro, is pissing off Judge Analisa Torres. Upgrade your subscription at serioustrouble.show to hear the whole thing!

    28 min
  4. An Expensive Settlement

    18/12/2024

    An Expensive Settlement

    This is our last episode of 2024! We'll be back right after the new year to discuss new messes. Today, we look at the substantial settlement that Disney-owned ABC has agreed to pay over George Stephanopoulos’s repeated assertions that Donald Trump had been found “liable for rape” by a jury or juries. And Trump sues CBS, Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register. Plus: Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that the Supreme Court decision establishing a sphere of presidential immunity does not compromise the guilty verdicts Trump faced in his court — we discuss the reasons. Meanwhile, Mike Flynn has lost an incompetently-litigated defamation case against Rick Wilson; a Blue Cross customer faces criminal charges for telling a call center worker “you people are next” in an argument over a claim denial; and Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Eric Adams’ longtime right-hand woman, continues to find ways to annoy Ken by not shutting up about her impending criminal charges. Visit serioustrouble.show to support the show and to 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

    49 min
  5. Six-Pack Abs Can't Save You Now, Luigi

    13/12/2024

    Six-Pack Abs Can't Save You Now, Luigi

    People get really weird when a murder suspect is hot, huh? Luigi Mangione needs to be extradited to New York, and he’s resisting that — we discuss why it can make sense for a defendant to delay the inevitable. Also in New York, Daniel Penny has been acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the killing of Jordan Neely. Juries can get weird. Plus: InfoWars may not be sold to The Onion after all, an expert witness in AI used AI to write his testimony and it hallucinated some fake cases (oops!), we have learned that John Doe is Jay-Z, and some Trump associates are now facing charges in Wisconsin related to defrauding the fake electors. 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

    41 min
  6. Pardon Me For All That I Have Done

    06/12/2024

    Pardon Me For All That I Have Done

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Joe Biden has committed the ultimate act of snowplow parenting: a presidential pardon for his son, and not just for the specific acts he faced charges over, but for anything he did between 2014 and five days ago. This week, Ken and I discuss exactly how unusual this pardon was and exactly what kinds of norms about pardons even remain to enforce, and rumors that Biden might hand out a lot more preemptive pardons for figures who could be targeted by an FBI led by Kash Patel — and what it would mean for the rule of law if he did. That’s for free subscribers. For paid subscribers, we have Atlanta criminal defense attorney Andrew Fleischman back with us this week, to talk about the ignominious end to the Young Thug RICO trial, plus a look at Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormack’s repeat rejection of Elon Musk’s $50+ billion pay package, a discussion of Judge Arun Subramanian’s repeat rejection of Sean Combs’s request for bail, and answers to listener questions about Drake’s legal beef with Kendrick Lamar. To hear the whole show, upgrade your subscription at serioustrouble.show

    24 min
  7. Diss Isn't RICO

    27/11/2024

    Diss Isn't RICO

    Did you know Ken is a huge Kendrick Lamar fan? Well, not really. But he is psyched that Lamar and Drake have produced some truly hilarious litigation to discuss. Their beef goes back years, and they have traded diss tracks — in Kendrick's latest, he calls Drake a “certified pedophile” who’s “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A Minor.” Is that defamation? If you’re a regular listener to this show, you know it very likely isn’t — and even Drake isn’t quite ready to sue for defamation. But he has filed — in two different states — petitions for pre-litigation discovery, to explore the possibility that Lamar and their shared label, Universal Music Group, may have committed various torts against him. What torts? Well, in the Texas petition, he wants to look at defamation. In New York, he wants to explore the possibility that Lamar and UMG competed against him unfairly, by nefariously over-promoting the song, or something. He also suggests this could be the RICO! Plus: Jack Smith has moved to dismiss the January 6-related case against Donald Trump on the grounds that the Office of Legal Counsel has long prohibited prosecutions of sitting presidents. DOJ is also dropping its appeal of Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision throwing out the documents against Trump — but the department is not yet dropping the appeal with regard to his co-defendants, meaning there will be at least a part of this prosecution left for Trump’s DOJ to cancel. Jussie Smollett’s conviction got tossed by the Illinois Supreme Court, and Ken answers several of the questions you sent in. 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

    46 min
  8. Matt Gaetz Pulls Out

    22/11/2024

    Matt Gaetz Pulls Out

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Wouldn’t you know we recorded this show Thursday at 11am Eastern, just in time for Matt Gaetz to withdraw his candidacy for Attorney General a bit after noon? Don’t worry — we went back and recorded a new beginning of the episode, tossing out the now moot (probably?) conversation we had about the ethics report everyone in Washington wants to see. Ken and I still took the opportunity to talk about how a DOJ under someone (probably?) more competent will look different than one that Gaetz would have run. And we look at another cabinet nominee — Pete Hegseth, slated to run the Department of Defense — who also stands accused of sexual misconduct that also never resulted in criminal charges. Paying subscribers (thank you for your support!) get a bunch more, including: * Drama over The Onion’s attempt to buy Infowars at a bankruptcy auction * Donald Trump’s new anti-SLAPP motion, and an update from Ken on a defamation case he successfully defended on anti-SLAPP grounds. * The raid on Diddy’s prison cell * Another lawsuit from a celebrity John Doe! Plus, more Rudy Giuliani nonsense. Visit serioustrouble.show to upgrade your subscription.

    17 min
See All (117)

Hosts & Guests

About

An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White. www.serioustrouble.show

Information

  • Creator
    Josh Barro and Ken White
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    117
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Very Serious Media
  • Show Website
    Serious Trouble

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada