x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Talking Feds

Talking Feds is a roundtable discussion that brings together prominent former government officials, journalists, and special guests for a dynamic and in-depth analysis of the most pressing questions in law and politics.

news politics

All Episodes

66:46

Bagging Bolton

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/25

A jam-packed discussion following hot on the dramatic news of the raid of John Bolton’s home, the stunning scenes in a militarized D.C., and the latest escalation in the gerrymandering arms race. Talking Feds regulars Jason Kander, Norm Ornstein, and Tara Setmayer join Harry to break down how long Trump can sustain his flagrant campaign of weaponizing law enforcement and politicizing the military—as well as how long the country can endure it.Mentioned in this episode: Jason’s

en

47:36

J.B. Pritzker takes on the Bully-in-Chief

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/21

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has a message for Donald Trump: if you want to mess with my state, “you have to come through me.” In this wide-ranging sit-down, Pritzker reveals to Harry why he thinks the gerrymandering fight, ICE arrests, and troops in D.C. are all a blaring signal to Democrats that they need to finally fight the president on his own terms, no-holds-barred. They also discuss Pritzker's very personal reasons for going into public service, Trump's direct attacks on the governor, and

en

54:07

Checkpoint D.C.

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/18

With a totally false picture of crime in D.C. as his pretense, Trump sought to turn the capital into a federal law enforcement enclave over local objections. Michael Podhorzer, Stuart Stevens, & Jacob Weisberg analyze Trump’s move and what it means for the rest of the country. The panel then takes up the gerrymandering wars coming to a rolling boil in Texas & California, before ending with an in-depth discussion of whether some Democrats' new combative style is the right tonic for the party.Learn

en

29:34

E. Jean Carroll’s Knock-Out Punch

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/14

Harry talks with E. Jean Carroll about her harrowing but high-spirited new book—”Not My Type”—which is a tour of her exceptional legal victories over Donald Trump. The pair go inside Carroll’s triumphant legal strategy and talk through details from the trials—all brightly illustrated by Carroll’s inspired and colorful turns of phrase. The conversation closes with a dive into a shared fascination with boxing, of all things, and Carroll’s urgent advice for what the rest of us can do to take on

en

56:39

Department of Vengeance

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/11

It was the week when the Department of Justice fully embraced its new status as the corrupt, ruthless agent for Trump's endless retribution agenda. The president’s lieutenants in the department launched a legal barrage against Trump foes like Barack Obama, Adam Schiff, and New York AG Letitia James. We chronicle the steep descent with 3 DOJ experts: Kristy Greenberg, Perry Stein, and Glenn Thrush. Rough but essential listening. Plus: a special sidebar on the beleaguered Voting Rights

en

36:24

2026 Election Interference Has Begun

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/07

Harry talks with top election law expert Marc Elias about the efforts by Trump and Republicans across the country to stack the deck in their favor for the 2026 midterms. They delve into the effort in Texas to gerrymander five new seats for Republicans. They then turn to the Department of Justice's extraordinary effort to acquire information from state and local officials, and the specific dangers it poses. They close with some thoughts about what all of us can do to fight back. It's always timely to

en

54:25

Incriminating—Or Just Skeevy?

Talking Feds ·

2025/08/04

It was another week dominated by the Epstein scandal, which grew ever more murky. A stellar only-on-Talking-Feds roundtable of Alisyn Camerota, Josh Marshall, and Asha Rangappa joins Harry to work through both the law and politics of Trump’s efforts to disentangle himself. The panel then moves on to apparent capitulation to Trump’s shakedown by a series of universities including Harvard, the former poster child for resistance. We close with a quick look at the Alina Habba mess in New

en

28:26

A Molly Mashup on the MAGA Mess

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/31

Harry and Molly team up once again to swap burning questions about law and politics. The standout topic: Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Harry gives Molly the lowdown about the Justice Department’s bizarre and deeply suspect dealings with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Molly reads Harry the tea leaves on whether masses of young men — and even Fox News mastermind Rupert Murdoch — might be ready to ditch Trump. Lots more besides!Molly's piece in the Times:

en

58:10

Justice Blanched

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/28

It was the week when the Epstein scandal showed up in earnest and looked as if it would be staying for a while. Susan Glasser, Adam Klasfeld, and Bill Kristol join Harry to break down what is powering it and assess Trump’s various efforts to shake himself free, including dispatching the Deputy AG to Florida to interview Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislane Maxwell. But the week also brought key advances in Trump’s totalitarian agenda, with successful shakedowns of prominent civic institutions.Learn

en

63:07

Justice Abandoned: Rachel Barkow on the Supreme...

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/24

With just 5% of the world’s population, the United States holds nearly 25% of its prisoners. In this one-on-one, NYU Law Professor Rachel Barkow joins Harry to discuss her new book Justice Abandoned, which reveals how a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions helped enable the rise of mass incarceration. From pretrial detention to stop-and-frisk, Barkow explains how the Court’s embrace of “law and order” politics quietly gutted constitutional protections—and how today’s conservative majority could,

en

61:06

Epstein, Emil, and Elmo’s Eventful Week

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/21

Another scandal erupted for Trump this week, but this time it was MAGA up in arms over the Administration’s doublespeak & failure to release the promised files involving Jeffrey Epstein. He also notched successes elsewhere, notably when Judiciary Committee Republicans unanimously approved his atrocious nomination of Emil Bove, and Congressional R's eliminated public funding for NPR & CPB.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

28:11

Fighting Trump’s Bills, Bombs, and Baloney

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/17

Harry speaks with Representative Ro Khanna, who’s spending the summer fighting Trump on a range of fronts, from the Big Beautiful Bill to the unauthorized bombing of Iran. Lately Rep. Khanna has flashed a maverick streak to go with his progressive bonafides. Can his "Benefits Over Billionaires" tour bring political punishment to Republicans who backed Medicaid cuts? Why is he standing up for professional gamblers? And how come a CA congressman is so excited about an NYC mayoral race? As always with

en

55:27

ICE Age

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/14

Our latest Contrarian episode, with Norm Eisen, Michael Podhorzer, and Jennifer Rubin — each from the all-star cast of the dynamic new media venture. Republicans felt buyer's remorse as Americans learned the contents of their "Big Beautiful Bill." ICE, soon to be the country's biggest law enforcement agency, kept up its aggressive raids. And the DOJ sprinted toward the cliff's edge in its totalitarian activities. Plus Emil Bove, Justice Jackson, and a lot more.Learn more about your ad choices

en

24:28

Happy Days Are Here Again

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/10

Sometimes you just need a break from the relentless pace of legal and political developments and the enormous stakes they present for the future of the country. That’s what this 1-on-1 is. Harry speaks with Henry Winkler, Hollywood icon for 50 years and among the most unspoiled, upbeat well-adjusted figures in a famously dyspeptic industry. Henry relates his crazy fun summer – featuring a one-on-one meeting with the Queen (not to mention Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell)--and provides his

en

56:59

Supreme Court Roundup: Revenge of the Six

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/07

It’s our annual end-of-term Supreme Court special episode, with a roundtable of three of the most eminent Court watchers in the country: Leah Litman, Melissa Murray, and Steven Vladeck. The nationwide injunction case capped off a conservative juggernaut of a term in which the 6 conservative justices expanded Executive power, contracted individual rights, augmented the Court’s own power vis-a-vis lower courts, and pretty much had their way in all important cases.Learn more about your ad choices

en

33:24

Iran’s Next Move

Talking Feds ·

2025/07/03

Harry talks with Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the country's foremost experts on Iran. Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at least damaged their targets and a ceasefire is holding. But will the U.S. strikes force Iran to abandon its drive for a nuclear weapon, or just fuel its desperation? Should the U.S. fear reprisals? And what would it take to bring real, lasting change to Iran? Sadjadpour offers some answers. Learn

en

65:38

The Corrections

Talking Feds ·

2025/06/30

It was a week of legal, political, & military battles. Trump bombed Iran but with less definitive results than he had proclaimed, leaving next moves up in the air. A relative unknown stormed to victory in the NYC Dem primary, triggering widespread analysis of what if anything it showed about the state of the party. The Supreme Court ended its term with a series of 6-3 rulings. And Trump DOJ enforcer Emil Bove had a hearing for a judgeship amid widespread accusations of improper conduct at

en

66:43

Cory Booker’s Long Stand

Talking Feds ·

2025/06/26

Recorded live at Talking San Diego, Senator Cory Booker charts the personal and political path that led him from the streets of Newark to the well of the Senate—and to the longest speech in congressional history. With urgency and candor, he reflects on what it means to watch democracy erode in real time, and why moral imagination is now a political necessity.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

75:15

Trump at War

Talking Feds ·

2025/06/23

The episode starts with a 20-minute discussion with War Powers expert Rich Bernstein about Saturday’s bombing of Iran. From there we go to our Friday roundtable of Talking Feds stalwarts–Jason Kander, Norm Ornstein, & Jacob Weisberg. We focus on both the prospective bombing of Iran and the domestic use of force in CA & elsewhere. The court of appeals opinion green-lighting the federalization of the national guard in CA raises the prospect of an expansion to different big cities in blue

en

50:59

How Social Media Broke Democracy and Childhood

Talking Feds ·

2025/06/19

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt joins Harry Litman to discuss his bestselling book "The Anxious Generation" and how the shift to smartphone-based childhood around 2012 triggered a mental health crisis—especially among liberal girls. Haidt explains his moral foundations theory, why Americans can't agree on basic facts anymore, and how social media created a "curse of Babel" that's undermining both democracy and child development. Plus: his four practical norms for rolling back the phone-based

en

465 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci