Sup.

Anything going on? Eh, not much.

Dear listeners,

Well. The day people have been wishcasting since 2015 is here: Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury, apparently on charges related to his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his criminous Formica palace by the sea. He reports on Truth Social, a popular platform for racist tumbleweeds, that the U.S. Department of Justice informed his lawyers of his indictment, and that he has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday. New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, citing “two sources,” reports he’s been indicted on seven counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and willful retention of documents.

Rumors swirl. But until we get the indictment in our eager little hands, friends, we won’t be recording an emergency podcast¹. That’s because 90% of what you will hear until we get the indictment will be speculation. The indictment will tell us the facts.

What exactly is he charged with? What are the elements of those crimes — that is, what does the government have to prove? What are the potential penalties? (The real probable ones, not the silly statutory maxima you’ll hear a lot in the news coverage.) What’s the significance of where he was charged? Is Josh going to make me talk about venue law even though I have been trying to establish firm boundaries regarding that? What’s next? How does a federal criminal case like this progress? Whose head has exploded most entertainingly? Is this, in fact, “selective prosecution,” as Trump’s lawyers are already yelling?

All of this — and more — is coming soon. Watch for us. We won’t disappoint.

Ken

P.S. from Josh and Sara:

As it happens, this indictment is coming down almost exactly at the one-year anniversary mark for Serious Trouble. What better timing could there be than that? If you are a paying subscriber on the yearly cycle, and you signed up right around our launch last June, you’ll be imminently getting an email notifying you of your subscription renewal. We thank you for your support and hope you’ll be joining us for another year.

If you’re not a paying subscriber, there’s never been a better time than right now to become one. As a paying subscriber, you’ll get every full episode — including the full version of next week’s episode about this indictment. We usually say we’ll release “at least 40 episodes a year” to paying subscribers, but last year we actually released 48, and we don’t see any sign that the volume of serious trouble to cover on Serious Trouble will be slowing.

So come on in, the water’s warm! And thanks for being a part of this show.

1. As Josh says, there is no such thing as an “emergency podcast,” but we will record an episode for you as soon as we have the indictment and can get on mic together. We promise.