Objections: With Adam Klasfeld Law&Crime

The United States has joined the community of developed and democratic nations to have launched a prosecution of a former government leader. 

In this final episode of "Objections," host Adam Klasfeld gauges the reaction to the indictment of former President Donald Trump from Italy, whose former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi died shortly after that event. A front-page headline of a recent international edition of The New York Times read: "Berlusconi gave Trump a template," comparing their reputations as tycoons-turned-politicians known for praising Vladimir Putin, contesting elections that they lost, and now, facing repeated criminal accusations in court.

Guest Luca Arnaudo, a law professor currently based in Rome who’s also a distinguished lecturer at Syracuse University College of Law in the United States, analyzes Berlusconi's legacy, the differences between the U.S. and Italian systems of justice, and how both politicians used their criminal cases to rally their supporters. 

Host Adam Klasfeld signs off on a proud run of the "Objections" podcast.

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Law&Crime Network’s twisted series ‘Devil in the Dorm’ is free and live on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by actress Elisabeth Rohm, the six-part podcast dives into the horrifying sex cult case involving Larry Ray, a disturbing man, who moved into his daughter’s college dorm to prey on young students.

LISTEN NOW: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/devil-in-the-dorm/id1667678268

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Former President Donald Trump likely sexually abused author E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s, then defamed her by denying it, a federal jury found in an historic civil ruling. The panel, composed of six men and three women, reached their verdict in less than three hours and awarded $5 million.

On this week's episode, "Objections" revisits the only testimony at trial that has an audio record: Trump's deposition, annotating key passages with excerpts from Carroll's closing arguments.

During summations, Carroll's lead attorney Roberta Kaplan told jurors: "In a very real sense, Donald Trump here is a witness against himself."

By splicing portions of Trump's deposition next to recitations of her arguments, listeners can hear those passages as they apparently were understood by the jury.

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The arrest of 21-year-old Jack Texeira in connection with the Discord leaks once again raises questions about what the United States is doing to protect its secrets. This time, by all accounts, the suspecting leaker isn’t someone who even has any pretensions of acting in the public interest. 

A young airman in the Massachusetts National Guard, Texeira reportedly wanted to impress a group of teenagers in a chat room for gamers. Experts believe his online boasting could put Ukrainians at risk in their war with Russia.

Tracy Walder, an ex-CIA officer and the author of The Unexpected Spy, discusses why she thinks it'd be wrong to focus on age when it comes to mass leaks, and why she urges folks to set aside politics on the topic of classified disclosures. 

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After Fox's $787.5 million settlement averted a historic defamation trial, pundits across the political spectrum rushed to play down the deal.

For Fox News critics on the left, the payout amounted to less than half of what Dominion Voting Systems demanded, averted an embarrassing six-week trial, and would be dusted off the shoulders by an unrepentant news giant. The Atlantic flatly declared: "Fox News Lost the Lawsuit but Won the War," and a prominent reporter for Mother Jones poo-pooed it as the network's cost of doing business. News outlets on the political right largely whistled past the legal earthquake that had just transpired. Fox News went on with its regular programming, and the pro-Donald Trump outlet The Federalist simply ignored it.

Inside the media bar, attorneys were far less blasé. Three prominent First Amendment lawyers uniformly agreed that Fox's settlement was record-setting, massive, and would be too painful for the network to ignore.

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Fox has been fighting to prevent Dominion Voting Systems from landing a $1.6 billion judgment for conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election that the network aired, as the case heads for jury selection this week.

Even before trial begins, Fox heads into court with stinging defeats. A judge found, in a rare summary judgment ruling, that the broadcasts at issue in the case were false. Dominion only has to prove that Fox acted with actual malice.

In the latest episode, First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff explains why that standard, established by the landmark SCOTUS decision New York Times v. Sullivan, remains Fox's "only lifeline" shielding the network from massive liabilities.

Check out episode 79 for more information about what Dominion uncovered during discovery.

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