Shows / Serious Trouble
Serious Trouble
An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White.
www.serioustrouble.show
Episodes
Serious TroubleGhislaine Looks for a Deal
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Ghislaine Maxwell has sat for a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd…
Serious TroubleTo Most People It's Extremely Tedious
Donald Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal over its story saying he wrote a weird poem to Jeffrey Epstein and drew a caricature of a naked woman with his…
Serious TroubleOh Mann
This week, we discuss the mostly favorable verdict for Sean Combs, a.k.a. P. Diddy and his upcoming sentencing. In another bizarre sex-related case, two…
Serious TroubleNationwide Injunctions Are Enjoined
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show For all subscribers: a discussion of the Sean Combs jury deliberations…
Serious TroubleOne-Way Ticket to South Sudan
More shadow docket news on this week’s show: The Supreme Court’s conservative majority blocked an order from a federal judge in Boston that had imposed due…
Serious TroubleOf And Concerning
It’s been a big week for some of the dumber litigation we follow around here. It’s not all dumb — we start with an update on California’s litigation over the…
Serious TroubleNewsom v. Trump
Donald Trump has activated the National Guard in California over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom, and Newsom has sued, claiming the activation is…
Serious TroubleThe Lindell Defense
In the ongoing defamation trial of Mike Lindell, who accused Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer of personally conspiring to steal the 2020 election…
Serious TroubleMy "I Didn't Make the Fed Unconstitutional" Shirt Is Raising Questions Already Answered By My Shirt
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week’s show is heavy on economic policy. Yay! We discuss a ruling…
Serious TroubleItty Bitty Diddy Committee
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week, we look at the indictment of Judge Hannah Dugan and the end of…
Serious TroubleVoir Diddy
This week on the show: Jury selection for Sean Combs' eight-week RICO trial, which is moving along very quickly for for a complex federal criminal case. Plus…
Serious TroublePlease Forget My Oopsie
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show We've got a lot for paid subscribers this week: Updates on several…
Serious TroubleThe Emerging Presumption of Irregularity
This week, Ken and I have a discussion of Harvard’s lawsuit fighting the Trump Administration’s effort to punish the university for failing to submit to what…
Serious TroublePlease Explain What You Mean By 'Effectuate'
The Supreme Court is getting increasingly involved in the sprawling litigation over Donald Trump’s many aggressive executive orders. In J.G.G. vs. Trump — the…
Serious TroubleVenue and Jurisdiction
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show There has been a cat-and-mouse game about venue in several of the cases…
Serious TroublePlease Don't Hit Me
Paul Weiss is the third law firm to come under attack from the Trump administration and the first one to cut a deal, agreeing to certain terms about its…
Serious TroublePlease Take Judicial Notice that Drake Is a Little Bitch
The latest, most brutal entry in the rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake comes in the form of a motion to dismiss. Drake, you will remember, sued…
Serious TroubleAt Least Everyone Knows How to Pronounce It Now
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show For all subscribers: we have a discussion of President Trump’s jihad…
Serious TroubleShort Staffing
Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin continues to make bizarre and political use of the DOJ for Trump’s political purposes — this time…
Serious TroubleThe New George Santos
The Trump administration continues to ice out the Associated Press, and now the AP is suing. We discuss how the administration changed its argument (not great…
Serious TroubleNot Like U.S. Attorneys
Emil Bove's weaponization of the Justice Department is leading to resignations, including of a former protégé; Pam Bondi's bark is worse than her bite; Alex…
Serious TroubleEveryone Is Fired
This week: more firings — dozens of DOJ line prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases. Trump’s flurry of executive actions has drawn a flurry of litigation…
Serious TroubleSettlements and Separations
Just a week and a half back into the presidency, Donald Trump has seen to it that various federal prosecutors who were involved in prosecuting him have been…
Serious TroubleThank You For Suing, Drake
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show It's the first Serious Trouble of the new Trump administration. We start…
Serious TroubleUnconditional Discharge
The Supreme Court declined to save Donald Trump from being sentenced in his New York criminal case, but the justices said that decision was in part because…
Serious TroubleI Am Not In Serious Trouble
It’s already a busy 2025 for some of our favorite characters. On this episode: Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt in proceedings in Judge Lewis Liman’s…
Serious TroublePetite Policy
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Welcome to the first Serious Trouble episode of 2025! For all subscribers…
Serious TroubleAn Expensive Settlement
This is our last episode of 2024! We'll be back right after the new year to discuss new messes. Today, we look at the substantial settlement that Disney-owned…
Serious TroubleSix-Pack Abs Can't Save You Now, Luigi
People get really weird when a murder suspect is hot, huh? Luigi Mangione needs to be extradited to New York, and he’s resisting that — we discuss why it can…
Serious TroublePardon Me For All That I Have Done
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Joe Biden has committed the ultimate act of snowplow parenting: a…
Serious TroubleDiss Isn't RICO
Did you know Ken is a huge Kendrick Lamar fan? Well, not really. But he is psyched that Lamar and Drake have produced some truly hilarious litigation to…
Serious TroubleMatt Gaetz Pulls Out
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Wouldn’t you know we recorded this show Thursday at 11am Eastern, just in…
Serious TroubleThe Aftermath
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Last week’s presidential election, which has made Donald Trump once again…
Serious TroubleYoung Thug Pleads Out
For your Election Day listening pleasure, we have an episode for you covering the news that has arisen in the lead-up to the election: * Updates on Eric Adams…
Serious TroubleMichael Avenatti Is Still a Bad Lawyer
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show For all listeners, we have updates this week on Michael Avenatti, Aileen…
Serious TroubleTwelve Busybody Idiots
SpaceX is suing the California Coastal Commission for objecting to a plan to increase the frequency of SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The…
Serious TroubleXL Brief
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show The long memo Jack Smith promised is here: a 185-page document laying out…
Serious TroubleTo Be On Safe Side, Please Delete All Messages You Send Me
Federal prosecutors allege that New York mayor Eric Adams accepted tens of thousands of dollars of free business-class upgrade on Turkish Airlines as part of a…
Serious TroubleSuperseding Indictment
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Ryan Wesley Routh has been charged with attempting to assassinate a major…
Serious TroubleRICO Freak-Off (feat. Sean 'Puffy' Combs)
We were kind of expecting Sean Combs to get indicted sooner or later, but we weren’t expecting the indictment to be for RICO. Federal prosecutors allege that…
Serious TroubleReversible Error
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Josh and Ken discuss developments in the Data Colada-Francesca…
Serious TroubleOne Weird Trick
You probably saw the moronic TikTok trend in which check fraud became trendy and was rebranded as a “glitch” that allowed you to get large amounts of money out…
Serious TroubleTake Two
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Jack Smith is attempting to salvage his two federal prosecutions of…
Serious TroubleOh, You!
George Santos has pleaded guilty and will likely be sentenced next February to several years in federal prison. Santos also lost his copyright claim against…
Serious TroubleHacks
Elon Musk has produced some new legal issues for us this week. He has sued a coalition of advertisers for colluding to boycott the Twitter platform, saying…
Serious TroubleHot Hot Scheduling Action
As we’ve discussed, the Supreme Court threw a major wrench into the various prosecutions of Donald Trump with their ruling on presidential immunity. The RICO…
Serious TroubleDefamation Claims
On this week's episode, Josh and Ken delve into two defamation cases where Trump has survived motions to dismiss, and the close legal questions that allowed…
Serious TroubleBad Week for Prosecutors
Well, it’s been a more eventful week than usual. President Trump was shot in the ear at a rally — a shocking security failure by the Secret Service, and now…
Serious TroubleHe'll Be An Old Thug By The Time This Trial Is Over
We’ve had some time to digest the Supreme Court decision on immunity, so this week Ken and I talked through the various criminal proceedings involving Donald…
Serious TroubleDonald Trump Wins The Immunity Idol
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Remember when most people thought that the Supreme Court would find a way…
Serious TroubleThis Is Going to Ruin the Tour
We have a real parade of idiots on tap for you this week. Jacob Wohl, Alex Jones, Robert Menendez, Nathan Wade, Justin Timberlake…oh, and Donald Trump too…
Serious TroubleNathan Wade Speaks (Please Stop Speaking, Nathan Wade)
Nathan Wade went on CNN, and had to be stopped by his handlers mid-interview because he was about to answer a question about when he and DA Fani Willis started…
Serious TroubleYSLRICO
Hunter Biden has been convicted on three federal felony gun charges. In this case, Hunter has the same misfortune as Donald Trump in the Manhattan DA’s case…
Serious TroubleThe Verdict
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show The verdict is in! Ken and Josh discuss the jury's relatively quick…
Serious TroubleG.L.O.A.T.
It’s Wednesday, and the jury in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial has had his case for about half a day. On Wednesday morning, Judge Juan Merchan…
Serious TroubleRudy Got Served!
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Happy Birthday to America’s Mayor, now 80 years old! Rudy had a big bash…
Serious TroubleIs Michael Cohen a Good Witness?
New York prosecutors have been using Michael Cohen not just as a vehicle to introduce documents, but to offer his own recollections and assessments of Donald…
Serious TroubleYo Momma So Dumb She Thought These Trials Were Happening Before The Election
Josh thoughtfully attempted to wreck Ken right out of the gate by using the terms “missionary position” and “Donald Trump” in the same sentence of the cold…
Serious TroubleContempt
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Judge Juan Merchan has found Trump in contempt of court and fined him…
Serious TroubleIf You Voir Something, Dire Something
The trial has begun! Judge Juan Merchan seated 12 jurors and 6 alternates in three days of voir dire. We discuss the pace of jury selection and complicating…