{"podcast":{"title":"Slate News","slug":"slate-news-494234","podcast_index_feed_id":494234,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/696fee067668cfdea3a2870a","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/696fee067668cfdea3a2870a/cover-1ac7369a-6073-451d-b9a6-5326c942d419.jpg","author":"Slate Podcasts","episode_count":4897,"summary":"After the Trump administration launched a massive Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operation in Minnesota, protesters gathered to defend immigrant neighbors. Renee Nicole Good, a mother of a six year old, showed up with her wife and dog to film altercations between officers and community members. What happened next changed everything. Guest: Jon Collins, senior reporter on the Minnesota Public Radio News race, class and communities team. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T06:20:34.669540+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/slate-news-494234"},"episode":{"title":"Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Trump’s Slush Fund Is Even Worse Than You Thought","slug":"amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought","published_at":"2026-05-23T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/slate-news-494234/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/slate-news-494234","url":"https://shows.acast.com/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts/episodes/6a10c6794c45d20ee2b63177","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/695ea2381c1db1c5bdf7c59b/a/slatenews-podcasts/e/6a10c6794c45d20ee2b63177/media.mp3","summary":"Donald Trump's $1.8 billion \"anti-weaponization\" settlement fund has stunned legal experts—not just because it's corrupt, but because of how skillfully and transparently it is designed to protect the Trump Family and reward loyalists. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick brings together two of the sharpest observers of Trump-era lawlessness to map exactly what this is and why it matters. J.P. Cooney, a career federal prosecutor and former top deputy in Jack Smith's special counsel's office, explains how President Trump sued his own IRS as a private party, settled the case through attorneys who have also been his personal lawyers, and then secured an addendum—signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche—immunizing Trump and his family from any IRS audit or tax-enforcement proceeding. Cooney calls it \"practiced, skillful corruption\".  As Investigative journalist Andrea Bernstein, host of The Law According to Trump , author of American Oligarchs , and a veteran of five Trump trials, points out, this settlement enshrines Trumpian language— such as \"unlawful raid at Mar-a-Lago\" and \"Russia collusion hoax\"—in official U.S. government documents. Bernstein says it’s vital to be clear about  who stands to receive payouts: people convicted of seditious conspiracy, assaulting Capitol police officers, and other crimes they admitted to in open court.  Cooney and Bernstein agree this fund doesn't just reward insurrection—it incentivizes future violence, chills legitimate dissent, and systematically erases the historical record of Jan. 6.  Later, Slate executive editor Susan Matthews joins to preview the new season of Slow Burn, Becoming Justice Gorsuch —and explain why the most anonymous justice on the court is so pivotal to understanding the power and the po…","meta_description":"Donald Trump's $1.8 billion \"anti-weaponization\" settlement fund has stunned legal experts—not just because it's corrupt, but because of how skillfully an…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4316,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/slate-news-494234/episodes/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/slate-news-494234/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}