Episode description

A year ago, Donald Trump was facing four separate criminal indictments, and had become the first President to be charged with and convicted of a felony. Now that Trump is President-elect, and with the Supreme Court having granted sitting Presidents broad immunity, the Justice Department’s efforts to hold Trump accountable appear to be over. Even so, Trump’s legal saga has radically changed American law and politics, the New Yorker staff writer Jeannie Suk Gersen argues. “These prosecutions forced the Supreme Court to at least answer the question [of Presidential immunity],” Gersen says. “It will affect the kind of people who run for President, and it will affect how they think of their jobs.”

This week’s reading:

• “Pete Hegseth’s Secret History,” by Jane Mayer
• “Stopping The Press,” by David Remnick
• “The Fundamental Problem with R.F.K., Jr.,’s Nomination to H.H.S.,” by Dhruv Khullar
• “Did the Opioid Epidemic Fuel Donald Trump’s Return to the White House?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
• “Biden’s Pardon of Hunter Further Undermines His Legacy,” by Isaac Chotiner.
• “A Coup, Almost, in South Korea,” by E. Tammy Kim.

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.