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The men of Law Talk reconvene between their respective journeys to Greece and there’s a very full docket. On this episode: could President Trump’s conversations with Ukraine lay the predicate for impeachment? What’s the proper role for the U.S. in the Iran-Saudi Arabia conflict? Is the FDA within its rights to crack down on vaping? Should California be able to go its own way on regulating automobile emissions? Can the president solve West Coast homelessness? And why has New Mexico made it a little more dangerous to get married?
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The worst “Animal House” remake ever
Fun fact: The intact version of the Parthenon that serves as the backdrop for EJ’s photoshop– the real Parthenon is, you know, in tatters — is located in Nashville’s Centennial Park. It’s a full-scale replica of the original and comes complete with the over-40-foot-tall gold-clad sculpture of Athena inside.
“…could President Trump’s conversations with Ukraine lay the predicate for impeachment?”
The answer is no. Do I have to listen to these lawyers to explain why? I don’t think so.
Are unicorns eligible to vote? Discuss.
Slight difference from the original, Athena is wearing golden Daisy Dukes and golden Lynyrd Skynyrd tee shirt instead of robes.
Look, man, they’ve got tickets to sell.
Why are these distinguished members of the bar pontificating about foreign policy?
Why are these distinguished members of the bar wearing Roman togas in at the Parthenon?
As we have discussed several times @franco , listening to the lawyers (or any other podcast) is completely optional, but I suspect this comment is not going to age well. At all.
It could be argued that you are trying to take the post off course.
@ejhill, Bulushi on John’s toga was a nice touch.
Thanks for your ongoing wonderful podcast.
I was hoping for some discussion on the legal norms violated by “deep state” operatives listening to the President of the United States private conversations and using them to fuel petty political fights – or if that is legally routine. For all the talk of Trump breaking norms, the left seems to the one shattering all norms. Did other presidents have to guard their private conversations with world leaders worrying that someone was going to leak them? Is this legal? Are the presidents communications private or protected? In the future I would be very interested in some discussion of this and whether this is normal or unprecedented.
Kevin,
This was actually one of the questions I cut for time. Hard to know exactly what was going on here without knowing the identity of the complainant, but this is one of the few questions that I’m qualified to answer.
It is perfectly routine for national security staffers to be on presidential calls with foreign leaders, as well as for transcripts to be made of those conversations. So the fact of someone knowing the content of the call is not in and of itself evidence that the president was being illicitly surveilled. Multiple people were surely authorized to have that information.
Also probably worth noting that reporting this to the inspector general is among the more responsible ways a federal employee could handle it (as opposed to leaking to the press). So, to the extent the reporting can be trusted, it seems like the complaint was probably lodged by someone who came by the information honestly and attempted to go through the correct channels to report it. That doesn’t mean the complaint itself is justified, but it does suggest that the process by which it was lodged was likely above board.
And since I didn’t mention a word about the fact that we also spent several days in my wife’s native Albania, including an Albanian-American in the Photoshop also has the pleasant ancillary effect of keeping her from killing me. @ejhill: No better friend. No worse enemy.
It’s not the inland empire?
Can you vape at the Parthenon?
toga party duh
@franco, impeachment is a legal/constitutional question.
Can the President as commander in chief and leader of the free world have private candid conversations with foreign leaders? also a legal/constitutional question
You don’t have to work for the deep state to opine on foreign policy.
I think you do.
John Yoo laid a scenario where this could be impeachable but you wouldn’t know since you didn’t listen.
Whistle blower laws don’t apply to the executive branch.
Rumor is the person who lodged the complaint is a partisan Democrat and overheard something inappropriate.
In 2014 Joe Biden threatened to withhold payment to Ukraine for investigating the natural gas company his son Hunter is on the board for.
Hunter by the way has no experience or knowledge in natural gas.
I’m sure he has plagiarized notes about natural gas and his resume.
He also made 50,000 bucks per month sitting on the board of a foreign company.
I wonder if he participated in the climate change strike on Friday.
I love the episode covered vaping.
next episode Bitcoin right?
Ricochet should accept Bitcoin payments
Thanks so much! Appreciate that information.
A. I was really worried this was 154 minutes long. I mean I enjoy the podcast but maybe not that much. B. Where was the authentic Albanian folk costume for Mr. Senik? Or do the Albanians say that they are the root of Greek culture and the toga comes from them?
I would like to hear Mr. Epstein’s and Mr. Yoo’s thoughts on Mr. Yang’s offer to give twelve random families a year of his proposed UBI payments. Wouldn’t that run afoul of some election law?