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Talking Feds

Purges, Payoffs, and Paxton

Talking Feds

Harry Litman

News, Government, Politics

4.8 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 59 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As Trump puts a blue Texas in reach, Harry talks with Jonathan Alter, David A. Graham, and Senator Heidi Heitkamp to discuss the fall’s premier Senate race and the latest outrages from the DOJ. Should Democrats go all out to beat scandal-plagued Ken Paxton? Or does an obsession with Texas distract from other, less flashy pickup chances elsewhere? Can Trump’s “self-deal steal” survive sudden gusts of political and legal headwinds? And why is the DOJ now reportedly targeting E. Jean Carroll, a private citizen?Mentioned in this episode: Jonathan’s Substack: https://oldgoats.substack.com/David’s reporting: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-a-graham/Harry’s latest column: https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/not-too-shabbyHarry’s conversation with Congressman Jamie Raskin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7rpqMubPEQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Some follow the noise.

0:03.0

Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion

0:07.7

dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story.

0:13.5

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0:18.2

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0:24.3

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If eligible, treatment is delivered discreetly to your home with ongoing support whenever you need it.

0:37.2

You're not alone in this.

0:38.3

Visit medexpress.co.combe.uk slash podcast to learn more.

0:42.3

Welcome to Talking Feds, a round table that brings together prominent former federal officials and special

0:55.5

guests for a dynamic discussion of the most important political and legal topics of the day.

1:01.6

I'm Harry Littman.

1:03.5

In Texas, a bruising Republican Senate fight ended with Ken Paxton's writing a late Trump endorsement to a dominant win over incumbent

1:14.0

John Cornyn. That sets up a showdown between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico that

1:21.8

figures to be the most closely watched and most expensive race of the midterms.

1:28.4

Back in D.C., Trump's grotesque slush fund continued to royal his own party and drew new

1:35.6

pushback from the courts, with one judge's ordering a temporary halt to its creation.

1:42.0

And shortly after we taped, another judge reopened the case that generated

1:47.6

the settlement, applying new intense scrutiny. The whole thing is shaping up to be a scandal that could

1:54.9

persist through the midterms. Pam Bondi's much-anticipated trip to Congress was an anti-climax.

2:03.2

Her responses, not under oath, to the questions about the department's handling of the

2:09.1

Jeffrey Epstein scandal, offered up predictable bromides and pinned blame on her then-deputy

...

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