Political Prosecutions Blow Up — Judge Rules Trump’s Prosecutor Was Illegally Appointed

The Oath and The Office

Corey Brettschneider

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A judge has blown up Trump’s indictments of James Comey and Letitia James — ruling the special prosecutor was illegally appointed. Corey and John explain why this strikes at the heart of Trump’s “retribution” agenda and how the fight raises fundamental separation-of-powers questions at the core of our democracy.

Then: Pete Hegseth threatens to court-martial a sitting U.S. Senator for warning the military not to obey illegal orders. Corey breaks down the rule that service members must refuse unlawful commands — and why Hegseth’s attack is so dangerous. Plus: Trump talks about disbanding DOGE entirely, and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani holds a bizarre press conference with Trump in the Oval Office.

A sharp, urgent episode on the week’s most alarming constitutional abuses — and what they mean for the rule of law heading into 2026.

Hosted by Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang, The Oath and The Office delivers clear, expert constitutional analysis at the moment democracy needs it most.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to another episode of The Oath and the Office.
0:13.0	I'm John Fiegel-Sang, and I'm not saying Pam Bondi's evil, but Macbeth just broke up with her.
0:19.0	Folks, please welcome the star of the pod, Professor Corey Brett Schneider, who you might know from his work. I don't know, the Political Science Department at Brown University, possibly his work in the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, Time Magazine, and of course the book, The Oath and the Office, a Guide to the Constitution for future presidents. Professor Brett Schneider,
0:38.2	it's good to see you again. Thanks, John. It's always such a pleasure. And, you know, every week
0:43.1	gives us so many topics here. We'll talk about a judge throwing out these really ridiculous
0:49.2	prosecutions of Comey and James. We'll talk about the Zoran Mamdani discussion and interview with Trump in the Oval Office in
0:59.0	front of his cronies. So there's so much to get to. I'm looking forward to the conversation.
1:04.6	Well, we got to talk about how a federal judge just nuked Donald Trump's ridiculous criminal
1:10.2	cases against James Comey and Letitia James,
1:12.9	because Trump's prosecutor, Lindsay Halligan, wasn't legally a prosecutor. Not unqualified, not inexperienced,
1:20.7	not maybe she shouldn't be in charge of imprisoning her boss's enemies. Like she literally, Corey,
1:25.8	wasn't allowed to do the job. The judge said all actions
1:29.9	flowing from Ms. Halligan's defective appointment must be set aside. Corey, like she's a
1:36.5	recalled blender from Costco. Now, break this down for us because Lindsay Halligan is not a
1:43.5	federal prosecutor, not even a traffic court prosecutor.
1:46.8	She was an insurance lawyer who competed in beauty pageant and Donald Trump likes her for some reason.
1:53.6	That's who Trump sent into a federal grand jury to indict former FBI director and the sitting attorney general of New York.
2:00.9	So let me just begin.
2:02.9	What exactly did the court say here and why about Lindsay Halligan literally not being a prosecutor
2:09.7	and how there's literally not an indictment against James Comey for that reason?
2:16.7	Wow, there's so much wrong with this case. And of course, we've talked about it before, but there's a huge update. And, you know, if I were to pick the things that are most wrong with it, I'd have to go with the destruction of democracy, simply using the power of the federal government to try to imprison your opponents. And we should never lose sight of the fact that that's what's going
2:34.6	on. But, you know, that's not how the law works. You can't just sort of say not guilty. There has to be
	...

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