Jack Goldsmith on 'In Hoffa’s Shadow'

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

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4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2019

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1975, labor union leader and American icon Jimmy Hoffa went missing. Forty-four years after Hoffa’s disappearance, the crime remains one of America's greatest unsolved mysteries. One of those frequently considered a suspect in Hoffa’s murder is Chuckie O’Brien, Hoffa’s longtime right-hand man. O’Brien also happens to be the step-father of Lawfare co-founder and Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith. In a new book, "In Hoffa’s Shadow," Goldsmith details his own rigorous investigation of Hoffa’s disappearance and explains why the long-held assumption of Chuckie’s role in Hoffa's death is misguided. Yet, the book is more than a murder mystery. Goldsmith also reflects on the evolution of his own relationship with his step-father.

At the Texas Tribune Festival, Benjamin Wittes sat down with Goldsmith to discuss his new book, how he came to write it, and his relationship with Chuckie.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair
0:07.2	podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair.
0:14.7	That's patreon.com slash LawFair.
0:18.2	Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair
0:25.6	no bull and the aftermath.
0:34.0	O'Brien version of the United States was my stepfather and Hoffa version of the United
0:37.0	States was Hoffa.
0:39.0	It turned out that these were two somewhat obscure opinions from the 1960s that had, in
0:45.1	fact, indicated claims by Hoffa and O'Brien that the government, especially the O'Brien
0:49.5	case, my stepfather, that the Justice Department had actually overstepped and engaged in unlawful
0:55.4	surveillance and this was something of a famous case back in the 60s and I was amazed
1:01.4	when I read it for so many different reasons because it just brought a completely different
1:05.2	part of my life, this stressful period when I was a young man into the sixth floor of the
1:09.7	Justice Department and it also made me realize my stepfather, he had always told me about
1:15.2	Justice Department malfeasance and how that he had this famous case in the Supreme Court.
1:19.5	I never believed him.
1:21.0	I'm Jacob Schultz and this is the LawFair podcast.
1:24.8	October 5th, 2019.
1:28.3	In 1975, labor union leader and American icon Jimmy Hoffa went missing.
1:34.2	44 years after Hoffa's disappearance, the crime remains one of America's greatest unsolved
1:39.1	mysteries.
1:41.0	One of those frequently considered a suspect in Hoffa's murder is Chuck E. O'Brien,
	...

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