Episode 167 | Trump Indictment Falls Apart Instantly?!?!

It's Complicated

Renato Mariotti

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche unveiled a federal indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, a storied civil rights organization, and said it was defrauding its donors and “funding” right-wing extremist groups. Asha and Renato discuss how the narrative put forth in the indictment is totally misleading, why the legal theory in the case is disingenuous and whether the indictment is just to throw a bone to the MAGA base. Then, they turn to the bombshell report in The Atlantic that claimed FBI Director Kash Patel has been excessively drinking on the job and putting national security at risk. Renato and Asha evaluate Patel’s subsequent defamation lawsuit against the magazine and review the “actual malice” standard. Finally, they analyze the Justice Department’s investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan and why Todd Blanche is turbocharging the DOJ’s efforts to go after Trump’s perceived enemies. Listen up! Southern Poverty Law Center Indictment: https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1437146/dl?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdeliveryPatel v. Atlantic Monthly Complaint: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73213220/1/patel-v-atlantic-monthly-group-llc/Asha Substack: https://asharangappa.substack.com/Subscribe to our podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/its-complicatedFollow Asha on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/asharangappa.bsky.socialFollow Renato on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/renatomariotti.bsky.socialFollow Asha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asha.rangappa/Follow Renato on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renato.mariotti/Cruise with us! https://www.travelstore.com/group-travel/its-complicated-cruise-2026/Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection-with-michael-popok/id1818863274 Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unprecedented-by-legal-af/id1867023089 Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-court-of-history/id1867022920 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.0	So Renato, is the DOJ really going to convict the Southern Poverty Law Center?
0:35.7	It's complicated. It's complicated. I'm Renata Marietti. I'm a former federal
0:45.3	prosecutor, a practicing lawyer, and a legal analyst. And I'm Asha Rangappa. I teach national
0:50.8	security law at Yale University. I'm a former FBI special agent, and I'm the author of The Freedom Academy Substack.
0:57.9	And we're here to help you understand topics that can't be boiled down into a soundbite or a skeet.
1:07.6	Oh, well, Asha, look, I know you were traveling last week.
1:11.7	I've been traveling a lot myself, and I actually saw this indictment when I was on a plane.
1:19.4	I was a little glad.
1:20.7	I was glad I went to the indictment, looked at the press release, and I have um, I was absolutely floored that the United States
1:29.3	Department of Justice is bringing an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center.
1:33.9	Yeah. Well, it's not entirely surprising because the FBI, so FBI director, Cash Patel,
1:43.0	did break ties with the Southern Poverty
1:45.9	Law Center.
1:46.5	And we'll talk about how that organization has worked with the FBI.
1:51.2	But he broke ties with them last year, I believe, over what they had written or listed
1:57.8	about Charlie Kirk.
2:00.2	So Charlie Kirk was kind of one of the people whose rhetoric
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