Objections: With Adam Klasfeld

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Prosecuting an ex-leader: Lessons from Italy, from Berlusconi to Trump (Feat. Luca Arnaudo) Jun 15, 2023

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The United States has joined the community of developed and democratic nations to have launched a prosecution of a former government leader.

In this final episode of "Objections," host Adam Klasfeld gauges the reaction to the indictment of former President Donald Trump from Italy, whose former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi died shortly after that event. A front-page headline of a recent international edition of The New York Times read: "Berlusconi gave Trump a template," comparing their reputations as tycoons-turned-politicians known for praising Vladimir Putin, contesting elections that they lost, and now, facing repeated criminal accusations in court.

Guest Luca Arnaudo, a law professor currently based in Rome who’s also a distinguished lecturer at Syracuse University College of Law in the United States, analyzes Berlusconi's legacy, the differences between the U.S. and Italian systems of justice, and how both politicians used their criminal cases to rally their supporters.

Host Adam Klasfeld signs off on a proud run of the "Objections" podcast.

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Devil in the Dorm Jun 06, 2023

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Law&Crime Network’s twisted series ‘Devil in the Dorm’ is free and live on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by actress Elisabeth Rohm, the six-part podcast dives into the horrifying sex cult case involving Larry Ray, a disturbing man, who moved into his daughter’s college dorm to prey on young students.

LISTEN NOW: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/devil-in-the-dorm/id1667678268

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'A witness against himself': Trump's E. Jean Carroll deposition, annotated May 10, 2023

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Former President Donald Trump likely sexually abused author E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s, then defamed her by denying it, a federal jury found in an historic civil ruling. The panel, composed of six men and three women, reached their verdict in less than three hours and awarded $5 million.

On this week's episode, "Objections" revisits the only testimony at trial that has an audio record: Trump's deposition, annotating key passages with excerpts from Carroll's closing arguments.

During summations, Carroll's lead attorney Roberta Kaplan told jurors: "In a very real sense, Donald Trump here is a witness against himself."

By splicing portions of Trump's deposition next to recitations of her arguments, listeners can hear those passages as they apparently were understood by the jury.

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'Discord' leaks: Separating national security from politics (Feat. Tracy Walder) Apr 27, 2023

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The arrest of 21-year-old Jack Texeira in connection with the Discord leaks once again raises questions about what the United States is doing to protect its secrets. This time, by all accounts, the suspecting leaker isn’t someone who even has any pretensions of acting in the public interest.

A young airman in the Massachusetts National Guard, Texeira reportedly wanted to impress a group of teenagers in a chat room for gamers. Experts believe his online boasting could put Ukrainians at risk in their war with Russia.

Tracy Walder, an ex-CIA officer and the author of The Unexpected Spy, discusses why she thinks it'd be wrong to focus on age when it comes to mass leaks, and why she urges folks to set aside politics on the topic of classified disclosures.

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Fox's $787.5M defamation deal is record-setting, massive and painful: Experts Apr 19, 2023

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After Fox's $787.5 million settlement averted a historic defamation trial, pundits across the political spectrum rushed to play down the deal.

For Fox News critics on the left, the payout amounted to less than half of what Dominion Voting Systems demanded, averted an embarrassing six-week trial, and would be dusted off the shoulders by an unrepentant news giant. The Atlantic flatly declared: "Fox News Lost the Lawsuit but Won the War," and a prominent reporter for Mother Jones poo-pooed it as the network's cost of doing business. News outlets on the political right largely whistled past the legal earthquake that had just transpired. Fox News went on with its regular programming, and the pro-Donald Trump outlet The Federalist simply ignored it.

Inside the media bar, attorneys were far less blasé. Three prominent First Amendment lawyers uniformly agreed that Fox's settlement was record-setting, massive, and would be too painful for the network to ignore.

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Actual malice is Fox's 'only lifeline' as Dominion trial looms: Expert (Feat. Jeff Kosseff) Apr 12, 2023

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Fox has been fighting to prevent Dominion Voting Systems from landing a $1.6 billion judgment for conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election that the network aired, as the case heads for jury selection this week.

Even before trial begins, Fox heads into court with stinging defeats. A judge found, in a rare summary judgment ruling, that the broadcasts at issue in the case were false. Dominion only has to prove that Fox acted with actual malice.

In the latest episode, First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff explains why that standard, established by the landmark SCOTUS decision New York Times v. Sullivan, remains Fox's "only lifeline" shielding the network from massive liabilities.

Check out episode 79 for more information about what Dominion uncovered during discovery.

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The People v. Trump: Inside the 60-person capacity courtroom (Feat. Diana Florence) Apr 05, 2023

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The world was watching the arraignment of former President Donald Trump, but only 60 spectators were allowed in the courtroom. Some 210 others received the next best thing: seats in the overflow courtroom, where the proceedings streamed via closed-circuit TV.

This week's episode of Objections begins with host Adam Klasfeld's brief observations from inside the courtroom.

The episode then turns to an interview with former Manhattan prosecutor Diana Florence, who spent some 25 years inside the New York District Attorney's office and was DA Alvin Bragg's rival. She analyses the indictment through the lens of the office's historic cases.

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Introducing: Chasing Ghosts: The Hunt for the D.C. Snipers Apr 03, 2023

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Thirteen people were randomly shot across Washington D.C. — in just three weeks — back in October 2002. As each new victim was gunned down, the FBI and local detectives struggled to track down a killer — until a tip helped them piece together the murder mystery. Journalist Tony Holt hosts Law&Crime Network’s 10-part series, Chasing Ghosts: The Hunt for the D.C. Snipers, which takes a magnifying look at one of the most devastating killing sprees in U.S. history.

All 10 episodes are available here!: https://bit.ly/3nGNev3

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'Individual-1': Looking back at forgotten details in 'zombie' Trump hush-money case Mar 29, 2023

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Former President Donald Trump predicted he would be arrested a little more than a week ago. He was wrong, but the press has been on high alert for what would be a history-making indictment of a former president.

Still, nobody knows whether Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg will indict him — or with what charges, if he does. That’s up to a grand jury.

If this is about hush money to Stormy Daniels, there's an extensive public record about what happened. In this episode, "Objections" breaks down the forgotten details of those half-decade-old filings.

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Sidebar: JPMorgan and Deutsche must face lawsuits over Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking Mar 22, 2023

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Jeffrey Epstein survivors and the Virgin Island government can pursue claims that JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank knowingly benefited from participating in a sex trafficking venture.

The ruling ratchets up pressure on JPMorgan, whose CEO Jamie Dimon was recently served with a subpoena. Some of its former senior executive Jes Staley's roughly 1,200 messages with Epstein have spilled into the public sphere as a result of this lawsuit.

This week, "Objections" rebroadcasts a previous episode of another Law&Crime podcast, "Sidebar," whose host Angenette Levy interviews Adam Klasfeld on the topic.

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