Special Emergency Podcast Episode: Reactions from Judge Michael Luttig to the Trump indictment

COURTSIDE with Neal Katyal

Neal Katyal

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.9 • 614 Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Judge Michael Luttig was one of the most respected jurists and lawyers in our nation. Appointed by President Reagan and a deep conservative, he played a critical role on January 6. Listen to his remarkable reactions to the indictment brought by Jack Smith.

For more, please subscribe to Courtside at nealkatyal.substack.com. There you’ll get access to all the full episodes and written materials, including deep dives on historic Supreme Court cases with discussions from people like John Mulaney, Katie Couric, and Rob Reiner. I will also be launching a second emergency Courtside today with my own reactions to the indictment.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nealkatyal.substack.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Judge Ludig, as you know, you are such a legal hero of mine.
0:06.0	The way you have stood up for the rule of law is in my mind immeasurable.
0:13.0	And I think about you in the same breath as I think about people like Daniel Webster and Abraham Lincoln.
0:19.0	I think your service to this country is so, so profound, and there's no one I wanted to talk to more about this indictment in the United States versus Trump than you.
0:32.6	So thanks for being on.
0:34.6	Thank you, Neil, for those gracious words. There's no one that I'd rather be on with today than you.
0:41.3	Thank you. So what was your reaction to the indictment?
0:45.8	Well, it was, I think, anticlimactic in this sense. I have always believed that this day had to come.
1:00.0	Donald Trump had dared and taunted and provoked the Department of Justice and Jack
1:09.0	Smith to bring these charges against the former president.
1:16.6	And had the department not brought these charges, Neil,
1:22.6	the former president would have been allowed to make a mockery out of the Constitution of the United States
1:29.7	and the rule of law. So while none of us knew that it would happen, I have always believed
1:37.6	that it had to happen. And did you think that these four charges were the right charges to bring?
1:45.0	Over the course of the year, I've looked into any number of charges, different statutory criminal code provisions than the ones under which he was charged.
1:58.2	I had not previously looked at the Section 241 charges until it was publicly learned through
2:08.6	the target letter to the former president that that was a charge that Jack Smith was considering.
2:16.6	At that point, I looked at it and understood it
2:24.1	and was gratified yesterday
2:29.2	when I saw the conduct for which Jack Smith is charging the former president under Section 241.
2:39.0	And do you think that this trial on these four charges can happen relatively quickly,
2:45.5	or do you think Donald Trump is going to run out the clock with the 24 election?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Neal Katyal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Neal Katyal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.