Dear listeners,
It’s already a busy 2025 for some of our favorite characters. 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, and he may also soon be in contempt before Long-Suffering Federal Judge Beryl Howell in Washington. As we’ve discussed, it’s unclear exactly how Giuliani can be compelled into compliance — financial sanctions don’t mean that much when you’re already insolvent. But Giuliani’s antics may cost him in another way — Liman will soon assess whether his Florida condo is truly his homestead, and thus exempt from seizure, and Giuliani’s failure to be forthcoming with evidence about where he really lives has led Liman to say he will draw inferences adverse to Giuliani about what’s the truth.
Donald Trump is not in serious trouble in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom — he’s now been sentenced, and Merchan had been indicating his intent to hand down a penalty of “unconditional discharge,” which is approximately nothing. Trump will remain a convicted felon but he’ll face no community service or supervision, let alone jail time. Merchan’s intended sentence is a reflection of the circumstances — it’s impractical to have a New York probation officer try to supervise the sitting president. It’s also a reason the Supreme Court declined (after we taped) to take up Trump’s appeal to stop the sentencing — the burden of an unconditional discharge on the president’s duties is “relatively insubstantial,” say five of the nine justices.
Trump apparently thinks the release of Jack Smith’s report into his now-ending investigations would cause him some serious political trouble, and he’s trying to stop their release. Smith has indicated he only intends to release the report related to the January 6 prosecution — since Trump has co-defendants who could theoretically be prosecuted in the documents case, that one will be kept confidential. But Judge Aileen Cannon has been doing her creative best to help Trump keep any of it from getting out, and even though her legal reasoning is poor, she is trying to run out the clock until January 20 (though the Eleventh Circuit may once again get in her way.)
George Santos asked Judge Joanna Seybert to delay his sentencing from February until August so he can better develop his podcast. That’s not a joke — Santos says his new podcast, “Pants on Fire,” is going to make a lot of money, money that will help him make restitution for his crimes, and so sending him to prison too soon will only hurt the government and his victims. Prosecutors were deeply unamused by this argument and called for sentencing him on schedule. Judge Seybert ordered a sentencing delay as a “one-time courtesy,” but only until April, and Ken says Santos should worry that he is annoying the judge, who may actually give him a sentence close to the guideline — that is, in the 6-7 year range.
Eric Adams, meanwhile, wants a “bill of particulars” giving more specificity about exactly who is accusing him of what. He especially wants to know who all his unindicted co-conspirators are. The government strenuously objects, saying Adams is essentially trying to conduct discovery to which he’s not entitled — and noting, to much press attention, that they have uncovered yet more criminal acts by the mayor.
And finally, listener Jonathan has written in about an editorial mistake I made on last week’s podcast. Regarding Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson, I remarked, “we have a pretty good idea why he shot him.” Shouldn’t I have said “allegedly”? As an editorial matter, yes, I should have. Oops. But Jonathan further wants to know whether I may have defamed Luigi by accusing him of a crime for which he hasn’t been convicted, and my co-host reassures me that I did not — my comments were an assessment of news coverage, not a claim to hold undisclosed information about Mangione’s culpability. Phew.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode,
Josh
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