Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Jan. 23
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2026
⏱️ 101 minutes
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Summary
In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Anna Bower, Roger Parloff, and Eric Columbus and Lawfare Associate Editor Olivia Manes to discuss discussed the FBI searching the home of a Washington Post reporter, the Supreme Court oral arguments in President Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve, the criminal inquiries into Minnesota state officials and protestors, and more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Lawfare podcast. I'm Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, with senior editors |
| 0:11.0 | Anna Bauer, Roger Parloff, and Eric Columbus, and Lawfare Associate Editor Olivia Maness. |
| 0:18.5 | In the January 23rd episode of the Trials of the Trump administration, we talked about the FBI's |
| 0:25.2 | search of the home of a Washington Post reporter, the Supreme Court's oral arguments in President |
| 0:32.5 | Trump's attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, the criminal inquiries into Minnesota state officials and |
| 0:40.3 | protesters, and much, much more. |
| 0:46.8 | It is Friday, January 23rd, 2026. It is 4.01 p.m. And you are watching Lawfare Live. The trials and tribulations of the Trump |
| 1:03.9 | administration. I am Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, and I am here with Lawfare Senior Editors, Roger Parloff, Anna Bauer, |
| 1:15.8 | Eric Columbus, and Lawfare Associate Editor, Olivia Maness, for whom I think this may be the first |
| 1:23.2 | time she has been on Lawfare Live, the trials and tribulations of the Trump administration. Is that |
| 1:28.9 | right, Olivia? That is correct. Happy to be here. Wow. Well, welcome. We've got a fair bit of ground to cover. |
| 1:38.6 | We're going to start in Minnesota, which is where everybody normally starts discussions of the politicization of the |
| 1:45.6 | Justice Department. |
| 1:47.1 | You say politicization of the Justice Department, and the mind goes straight to Minnesota, |
| 1:52.6 | where this week we have a criminal investigation by federal authorities of the governor and mayor of Minneapolis. We also have |
| 2:06.7 | the arrest of protesters. So let's start in Snowy, Minnesota. Roger, what do we know about the apparently ongoing criminal investigation by federal authorities of |
| 2:26.3 | state officials and local officials in Minnesota? |
| 2:32.6 | We know that six grand jury subpoenas, at least six, have been issued to the offices of six people. |
| 2:44.1 | Governor Walls, the Attorney General Keith Ellison, the mayors of both Minneapolis and St. Paul, Jacob Frey, and Cowley |
| 2:55.4 | Herr, and two other offices, the Ramsey and Hennepin County, I believe they're county attorneys. |
| 3:08.2 | And we've seen one of the subpoenas that the mayor Fry or Frey, I don't know how it's |
| 3:17.0 | pronounced, has made available. |
... |
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