Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Feb. 6
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Eric Columbus, Roger Parloff, and Molly Roberts to discuss a congressional hearing into ICE’s use of force in Minneapolis and Chicago, oral argument over DHS’s mandatory detention policy, a district judge rejecting Minnesota’s 10th amendment challenge to Operation Metro Surge, and more.
You can find information on legal challenges to Trump administration actions here. And check out Lawfare’s new homepage on the litigation, new Bluesky account, and new WITOAD merch.
To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's the Lawfare podcast. I'm Natalie Orpet, executive editor of Lawfare, with Lawfare senior editors, Eric Columbus, Roger Parloff, and Molly Roberts. In the February 6th episode of the trials of the Trump administration, we discussed the congressional hearing into ICE's use of force |
| 0:21.8 | in Minneapolis and Chicago, a district judges rejecting Minnesota's 10th Amendment challenge |
| 0:26.7 | to Operation Metro Surge, and much more. |
| 0:34.4 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to Lawfare Live. My name is Natalie Orpett. I'm the executive editor of Lawfare. I am joined today by my colleagues, all senior editors, Molly Roberts, Eric Columbus, and Roger Parloff. It is Friday, February 6th at 4.01 p.m. And we are going to get started with what is a quite lengthy |
| 0:58.6 | overview of what happened this week. So we will try to move through it, but really a lot to talk |
| 1:03.9 | about. So let's start with something I think we are uniquely read in on, which is the drama unfolding in Fulton County. |
| 1:16.4 | So, Roger, I'm going to turn to you for this one. There's been a lot happening down there, |
| 1:21.9 | lots of law enforcement, lots of actions, things about elections, things about ballots. |
| 1:28.5 | What are we talking about and what happened this week? Well, actually, we talked last week about the search itself. |
| 1:40.6 | What happened this week, although it's the most important thing going on, we don't know a whole lot about, which is that Fulton County has filed a suit to get, at least to try to get some of this stuff back that was taken, the ballots and the 700 boxes. |
| 2:02.5 | And the suit is under seal, so we know essentially nothing. |
| 2:08.0 | We assume it's a Rule 41, and the crucial thing there is to try to show some sort of callous violation of your constitutional |
| 2:20.9 | rights. And Roger, apologies for interrupting, but just remind us, who are the parties in the suit? |
| 2:29.0 | Well, Fulton, it was announced, I think, by Fulton County's board of commissioners chairman, Rob Pitts. |
| 2:43.0 | So I think it's Fulton County. |
| 2:48.0 | And against the United States in connection with the FBI search. |
| 2:53.0 | Okay, thanks. |
| 2:53.7 | Sorry, go ahead. |
| 2:54.5 | Yeah. |
| 2:55.1 | And the other incredibly disturbing thing is that he gave a statement, Mr. Pitts, and said |
| 3:04.3 | that somebody was telling him that he and Brad Raffensberger and Gabriel Sterling were going to be indicted. |
| 3:14.5 | He didn't say who was telling him that, and that hasn't happened so far. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.