Episodes

  • Trump’s DOJ Is Hiding the Epstein Files. Katie Phang Is Suing.

    Trump’s DOJ Is Hiding the Epstein Files. Katie Phang Is Suing.
    Jun 25 2026
    Katie Phang joins The Oath and the Office to discuss her legal fight to force Trump’s DOJ to release the Epstein files. This is not about money. It is about whether Trump’s DOJ can defy the law and keep records from the public.

    Phang explains how she is using the Epstein Files Transparency Act, her role as a journalist, and statutory interpretation to challenge DOJ secrecy. We get into the harm Epstein caused, why transparency matters, and what it means when a citizen uses the law to fight for democracy.

    But first, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down three alarming stories about presidential power: Trump tying FISA surveillance renewal and a national intelligence confirmation to his SAVE Act voter bill, Gavin Newsom’s claim that Trump’s DOJ is investigating him and his wife, and Pete Hegseth’s alleged loyalty tests in military promotions.

    This episode is about secrecy, retaliation, loyalty, and the fight to make law matter again.

    Subscribe to The Oath and the Office wherever you get your podcasts.

    The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It
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    57 mins
  • Trump’s War on Habeas Corpus and DOJ Independence — with Harry Litman

    Trump’s War on Habeas Corpus and DOJ Independence — with Harry Litman
    Jun 18 2026
    Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang open with explosive new reporting that Stephen Miller pushed a plan for President Trump to suspend habeas corpus — the fundamental constitutional safeguard that allows people detained by the government to challenge their imprisonment in court.

    They explain what habeas corpus is, why it has been central since the Founding, and why suspending it to speed mass deportations would mark an extraordinary expansion of presidential power.

    Then Harry Litman joins Corey and John to discuss the crisis at the Justice Department: the fight over Trump’s so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, the destruction of DOJ culture, the role of Todd Blanche, and what it would take to rebuild a Justice Department committed to law rather than personal loyalty.

    Plus: threats to mail ballots, the Epstein files, and whether courts and Congress can still constrain an increasingly unbound presidency.

    https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/its-the-fraud-stupid

    https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/playing-chicken-in-a-pinto
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    1 hr
  • Trump Melts Down as Congress Pushes Back

    Trump Melts Down as Congress Pushes Back
    Jun 11 2026
    Trump melts down in a chaotic Meet the Press interview, lashing out when pressed on his “anti-weaponization” fund and his false claims of rigged elections. Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down what the moment reveals about Trump’s larger project: turning government power into personal protection, personal revenge, and an attack on democratic legitimacy.

    Then: Congress pushes back. The House rebukes Trump over Iran war powers and passes new Ukraine aid over his objections, raising a central constitutional question: can Congress finally reclaim its role in foreign policy?

    Corey and John also look at the next front in the separation-of-powers fight: appointments. Todd Blanche may be headed for a permanent attorney general nomination, while William Pulte’s appointment as acting DNI avoids Senate confirmation despite serious concerns about experience and politicized investigations.

    Plus: the crisis at 60 Minutes, John Bolton’s guilty plea, selective prosecution worries, and a federal judge blocking Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee.

    It’s a week of meltdown, weaponization, war powers, appointments, and resistance — with the constitutional stakes coming into sharper focus.
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    59 mins
  • Trump’s Bad Week Is Democracy’s Opening

    Trump’s Bad Week Is Democracy’s Opening
    Jun 4 2026
    Donald Trump’s revenge politics hit resistance this week — not by accident, but because citizens, journalists, lawyers, judges, and lawmakers kept pushing.

    This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down a rare hopeful stretch for democracy: a judge blocks payouts from Trump’s so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, another judge reopens questions around Trump’s IRS settlement, courts reject Trump’s attempt to put his name on the Kennedy Center, and thousands of federal lawyers are leaving rather than serve an authoritarian agenda.

    Corey and John also discuss the fight inside CBS and 60 Minutes, the role of independent journalism, and why democracy depends not just on courts, but on citizens willing to expose corruption, demand accountability, and keep the constitutional system alive.
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    57 mins
  • Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Bogus Charges and Foreign Wars

    Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Bogus Charges and Foreign Wars
    May 28 2026
    Trump’s claim of power above the law is showing up on every front: bogus prosecutions, deportation threats, attacks on speech, war powers, and military escalation abroad.

    This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang start with the dismissal of human trafficking charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A federal judge found the prosecution vindictive and selective, a major rebuke to a Trump DOJ that tried to punish a man after he fought back against his unlawful deportation.

    Then Corey and John turn to Mahmoud Khalil, where the Trump administration is pushing another dangerous claim: that noncitizens can be detained and deported for political speech. They also discuss new congressional pushback against Trump’s war in Iran and the DOJ indictment of Raúl Castro, as the administration invokes “law and order” while expanding American military power in Latin America.

    Then filmmaker Andrew Glazer joins the show to discuss "Spring of the Vanishing", his investigative documentary on the American military’s alleged complicity in killings of innocent civilians by the Mexican military during the drug war. The conversation becomes a broader warning about how the war on drugs has been used to destroy civil liberties at home and abroad.

    The theme running through all of it: Trump’s imperial presidency is not just a foreign policy problem. It is a threat to constitutional democracy here at home.

    Subscribe to The Oath and The Office wherever you get your podcasts, and help us expose abuses of presidential power before they become the new normal.

    Watch Spring of the Vanishing: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0LAGR1QS4QZ2PIWOMLFK18KJ2K
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • The Secret Memos Behind the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket (with Jodi Kantor)

    The Secret Memos Behind the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket (with Jodi Kantor)
    May 21 2026
    What is the Supreme Court doing when it acts without full briefing, oral argument, or a real explanation?

    This week on The Oath and The Office, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor joins the podcast to explain the Court’s shadow docket: the emergency orders process that has become one of the most powerful and least understood parts of American government.

    Kantor discusses the Supreme Court memos she obtained with Adam Liptak, what they reveal about Chief Justice John Roberts, and how they relate to the Court’s supposed image as a neutral “umpire".

    Corey and John also discuss Trump’s proposed “anti-weaponization” compensation fund, the politics of abortion and the abortion pill at the Supreme Court, and the Court’s emergency order allowing Alabama to move forward with redrawn congressional maps.

    In this episode:
    • What the shadow docket is and why it matters
    • Jodi Kantor on Supreme Court memos
    • The two sides of John Roberts
    • Why the “umpire” model of judging has collapsed
    • Abortion, Alabama, and emergency Supreme Court power
    • Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund and the politics of grievance
    • The immunity case and presidential power
    Link to Jodi Kantor's book, How to Start: https://jodikantor.com/how-to-start

    Link to Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak's reporting on the secret memos of the Supreme Court: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/politics/supreme-court-shadow-docket.html
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Can Trump Undo Our Citizenship Rights? (with ACLU’s Cecilia Wang)

    Can Trump Undo Our Citizenship Rights? (with ACLU’s Cecilia Wang)
    May 14 2026
    This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang begin with the new redistricting wars, as southern states move to dilute Black Americans’ voting power after a green light from the Supreme Court. They look at Tennessee, Alabama, and the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision striking down a voting plan approved by voters.

    Then, they turn to citizenship itself: DOJ support for stripping citizenship from naturalized citizens and Trump’s attacks on his own Supreme Court justices.

    Corey then speaks with Cecilia Wang, National Legal Director of the ACLU, who argued before the Supreme Court against Trump’s executive order attacking birthright citizenship, with Trump himself watching from the courtroom. Wang explains why the text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment are on her side, how Reconstruction transformed the Constitution, and why the fight over citizenship is part of the larger battle for voting rights, civil liberties, and democracy itself.
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • The Supreme Court’s Assault on Our Rights (with Kate Shaw)

    The Supreme Court’s Assault on Our Rights (with Kate Shaw)
    May 7 2026
    The Supreme Court is reshaping American democracy — weakening voting rights, empowering the presidency, and narrowing the protections that have defined modern civil rights law.

    John Fugelsang and Corey Brettschneider begin with the Court’s assault on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the fallout for democratic participation across the country. They also discuss Trump’s attacks on James Comey, threats against ABC and Jimmy Kimmel, and the broader campaign of intimidation against critics and dissenters.

    Then constitutional law scholar Kate Shaw joins the show to discuss how the Court is enabling Trump’s authoritarianism, including the pending fight over Temporary Protected Status, the shadow docket, emergency rulings on immigration and executive power, and her recent exchange with Senator Josh Hawley over nationwide injunctions.

    What happens when the courts weaken voting rights while expanding presidential power? And what does it mean for the future of constitutional democracy?

    Subscribe to The Oath and The Office wherever you get podcasts.
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    1 hr and 13 mins