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The Brian Lehrer Show

Trump and the Rule of Law; NIH Grants in the Crosshairs; Building Solutions

Donald Trump holds up an executive orders after signing it during an indoor inauguration parade at Capital One Arena on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.

On today's show:

  • Andrew Weissmann, professor of practice at NYU School of Law, MSNBC legal analyst, and the co-author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024), offers legal analysis of the ways the Trump administration has challenged the rule of law in the first few months, including on deportations, fired inspectors general and more.

  • The Trump administration is rapidly canceling grants at the National Institutes of Health. Katherine Wu, staff writer for The Atlantic, explains how the agency is being to terminate active research grants—seemingly on political grounds.

  • Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, author of the "Work in Progress" newsletter and host of the podcast "Plain English," and co-author, with Ezra Klein, of Abundance (Simon & Schuster, 2025), and Ezra Klein, New York Times opinion columnist and host of their podcast, the "Ezra Klein Show" and co-author, with Derek Thompson, of Abundance (Simon & Schuster, 2025), discuss their new book that argues limits placed by past generations to protect jobs and the environment are preventing solving shortages today.
Transcripts are posted to each segment as they become available.