Dear listeners,
Michael Avenatti, sentenced to over 11 years in prison for stealing money from his clients, has gotten out after a little over 4 years behind bars. He’s still not a free man — he’s living in a halfway house in the Los Angeles area, where he’ll be expected to find work, perhaps as a podcaster. And in part he owes thanks to his former nemesis, Donald Trump, for signing the First Step Act, which allows for earlier release of certain first-time offenders.
Meanwhile, Pam Bondi has been released from her own version of federal custody, and the Justice Department says this means she doesn’t have to comply with a subpoena to testify before congress about her handling of the release of the Epstein Files. Members of the House Oversight Committee, including some Republicans, are crying foul, saying their subpoena remains in force. Ken says, if Bondi were his client (lol), he’d advise her to comply. But if DOJ doesn’t care to make her talk, Congress will have limited ability in practice to force her to do so.
Meanwhile, Ed Martin wants his DC bar disciplinary proceedings removed to federal court. How can you remove something that’s not a lawsuit to federal court? That’s an excellent question, Ken says — one that Jeffrey Clark helped us find the answer to.
This week’s full show has all that plus:
Trump’s emergency motion to lift the stay on construction of the “desperately needed” White House ballroom, and a discussion of why the plaintiffs’ claims to standing are stronger than we gave them credit for last week.
A Clavicular-alligator update.
If you’re going to talk about how you want to do terrorism, don’t do it in front of your dash cam.
Long-suffering federal judge Lewis Liman’s 152-page order dismissing most, but not all, of Blake Lively’s claims against the producers of It Ends With Us (and their publicists), and Ken’s discussion of why you shouldn’t sexually harass your independent contractors, even if it might technically not be illegal.
Elon Musk’s antitrust loss.
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
