Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Oct. 31

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4.7 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 102 minutes

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Summary

In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare Contributor Marty Lederman, Public Service Fellow Loren Voss, and Senior Editors Scott R. Anderson, Roger Parloff and Eric Columbus to discuss the Supreme Court’s handling of the legal challenge to the federalization of the National Guard in Chicago, James Comey’s motions to dismiss the indictment against him, ongoing politicization at the Department of Justice, litigation over the Trump administration’s attempt to suspend SNAP during the government shutdown, and so much 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.

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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 Lawfare
0:12.1	contributor Marty Leaterman, public service fellow Lauren Voss, and senior editors, Scott R. Anderson,
0:20.2	Roger Parloff, and Eric Columbus.
0:23.4	In the October 31st episode of the trials of the Trump administration, we discussed the
0:30.4	Supreme Court's handling of the legal challenges to the federalization of the National Guard in Chicago.
0:37.6	James Comey's motion to dismiss the indictment against him,
0:41.8	litigation over the Trump administration's attempts to suspend snap
0:46.5	during the government shutdown and much, much more.
1:05.6	It is Friday the 31st of October. I bet you can't guess what day that is. It is 24. It is 4 o'clock p.m. in Washington.
1:13.8	No trick-or-treaters have yet come to my house.
1:18.7	And I can't do the entire show with this mask in front of my face.
1:21.7	So I have layered costumes here.
1:24.9	Yes, there is the mask thing.
1:30.4	But then when you pull away the mask, when you rip it away, I've got a barrister's wig as well. You're watching Lawfare Live. I'm Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare,
1:37.4	and I am here with a pregnant skeleton, Lauren Voss. Yeah. And we've got a cow, Roger, moo. And we've got, I think,
1:56.8	Alexander Hamilton, maybe. Is that right, Eric?
2:07.1	And Scott R. Anderson, who comes dressed as himself as always senior editor. A lazy middle-aged father, as is my want.
2:10.9	And we got a whole lot of material to cover this week, folks.
2:16.0	And for those who are wondering, yes, we have abandoned
2:19.9	Zoom after last week's technical disaster, which was not the fault of anybody associated with
2:28.3	Lawfare. It was, in fact, Zoom problems and a lot of them.
2:34.5	So we're going to be migrating Lawfare Live over to Riverside,
	...

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