Trump Gangs Up On The Cartels
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
President Donald Trump was dealt his first major legal blow since returning to the White House when a federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked his executive order to end birthright citizenship for the future children of some immigrants. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, called the order "blatantly unconstitutional." In all of the nonsense this week, one executive order that's received less attention is the administration's move to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Keegan Hamilton, senior editor for legal affairs and criminal justice at the Los Angeles Times, explains the real-world implications of Trump's cartel order.
And in headlines: Trump signed an executive order to declassify documents related to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., John F Kennedy, and Robert F Kennedy; the Department of Justice put a hold on all new civil rights cases until further notice, and the Senate advanced Pete Hegseth's nomination to be the next defense secretary despite allegations of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse.
Show Notes:
- Check out Keegan's work – www.latimes.com/people/keegan-hamilton
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Friday, January 24th. I'm Jane Koster, and this is Wadaday, the show that is |
| 0:07.0 | extremely disappointed that John Wick did not get an Oscar nomination. Yes, John Wick came out in |
| 0:12.3 | 2014. Yes, John Wick is an action movie that contains like 30 words total, but it was still |
| 0:18.4 | really good, so I don't see the problem. |
| 0:32.0 | On today's show, Trump's Department of Justice puts a hold on new civil rights cases, |
| 0:34.7 | and this year's Oscar nominations have been revealed. |
| 0:38.6 | But we start today with a common theme that we'll encounter over and over in the coming months. Well, probably years. President Donald Trump will issue an order |
| 0:45.1 | that will be followed by America's judicial system weighing in on said order. And on Thursday, |
| 0:50.0 | Trump was dealt his first major legal blow tied to the shitstorm of executive orders he signed upon |
| 0:55.3 | his return to the White House. A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's order to end |
| 0:59.9 | birthright citizenship for the future children of some immigrants. Not surprising, |
| 1:04.4 | given that the century-old right is quite literally written into the Constitution. In blocking |
| 1:10.0 | the order for 14 days, Seattle District Judge |
| 1:12.6 | John Kuhnauer, a Reagan appointee, called Trump's order blatantly unconstitutional. The judge |
| 1:19.2 | hasn't issued a written order yet, but he reportedly told the federal government's lawyer, quote, |
| 1:24.5 | I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally |
| 1:28.7 | that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind. Me too. Washington Attorney |
| 1:35.1 | General Nick Brown said that the judge's comments highlighted the seriousness of the case. |
| 1:40.1 | In order to man the United States Constitution, there is a pretty well-laid-out process to do that. |
| 1:44.8 | And I think what the order today reinforces is that no one individual, not even the President of the United States, can simply erase what it means to amend the Constitution and the process they're in. |
| 1:56.0 | The case is one of a few being brought by nearly two dozen states and various civil rights groups. |
| 2:01.6 | But the Trump administration surely knew it was headed for a legal fight on this one. A spokesperson for the |
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