Two Attorneys Rank the Severity of Trump’s Indictments

With four ongoing criminal investigations, Donald Trump is the most indicted president in U.S. history. After years of defying unwritten norms, he will now be subject to a criminal justice system defined by norms and precedents. What does due process look like for a former president?

Ken White is a former federal prosecutor, a practicing criminal defense lawyer and a co-host of the podcast “Serious Trouble.” He writes the popular newsletter The Popehat Report, extensively covering the ins and outs of criminal trials. Among the many commentators on Trump’s unprecedented legal troubles, White stands out for his “lawsplainers,” which analyze the gap between what the law says and what it actually does.

This conversation walks through each of the four major criminal cases against Trump. Our guest host David French asks White why he loathes the overuse of the RICO statute and whether it was appropriately used in the Georgia election interference indictment. They also discuss the Florida judge whose “functionally lawless” decision halted parts of the Mar-a-Lago investigation, White’s view that prosecutors can get away with much more in state court than in federal court, how the district attorney in the Georgia case is approaching this “circuslike” indictment, why Trump’s legal intent is both more and less complicated than the public discourse suggests and much more.

This episode was hosted by David French, a columnist at The New York Times. Previously, he was a senior editor and co-founder of The Dispatch and a contributing writer at The Atlantic.

This episode contains strong language.

Book Recommendations:

Pax by Tom Holland

The Shadow Docket by Stephen Vladeck

The Enchanters by James Ellroy

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Annie-Rose Strasser. The show’s production team also includes Emefa Agawu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero and Isaac Jones.

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