CAFE Contributor Elie Honig reacts to listener responses to his recent article criticizing special counsel Jack Smith’s brief in his election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
Then, Elie is joined by Westchester County, New York District Attorney Mimi Rocah to break down the criminal indictment of music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. They discuss the prosecutors’ decision to include references to salacious evidence in the indictment, the impact of Combs’ civil cases on the criminal investigation, and what special considerations go into prosecuting sex trafficking cases.
This is the second episode of a new special series exclusively for members of CAFE Insider. Each week, Elie Honig and special guests will tackle one major legal or policy issue, helping you stay informed. Let us know what you think. Write to us at letters@cafe.com.
In other news, Stay Tuned is going live! RSVP here to our live remote taping with Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, taking place on 10/15 at 5pm ET.
Elie Honig:
From CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network, I’m Elie Honig and welcome to the latest installment of the second weekly episode of the CAFE Insider podcast. Now, as you may know, we’re trying something new over the next few weeks exclusively for you members of CAFE Insider, along with other CAFE contributors, I’ll be tackling one major legal or policy issue per episode, helping you stay informed in, we promise, 30 minutes or less. Let us know what you think. Write us to letters@cafe.com. Before we get to the show, a couple of quick notes. First of all, next Tuesday, October 15th, 5:00 PM Eastern, Preet Bharara will be joined by Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, in a live taping of Stay Tuned with Preet, they’ll discuss the state of the election in battleground states and I imagine one particular battleground state that will be high stakes. To sign up, head to cafe.com/live. That’s cafe.com/live.
And another bit of good news, Stay Tuned is nominated for a Signal Award in the category of Best Podcast for News and Politics. To vote, head to cafe.com/signal or click on the link in the show notes of this episode. Now, onto this week’s show. So we’re going to do two things in this episode. First of all, as many of you probably know, my most recent CAFE note criticized special counsel Jack Smith’s brief in the Trump election interference prosecution, Preet and Joyce talked about it. I’m going to talk briefly about it before we get going. And then later, I’ll be joined by my good friend, the Westchester County District Attorney, Mimi Rocah. We will discuss the many legal troubles faced by Sean Combs or as he’s known to many, and in the indictment, Diddy or P. Diddy. Last month, of course, Combs was charged by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, where Mimi and I both used to work together.
So here we go. Those of you who listen to the podcast know that every week, there comes a moment when I say, “Send me your thoughts, questions, and comments to letters@cafe.com.” Well, listeners, this week, you certainly have sent your thoughts, questions, and comments to letters@cafe.com. And what I’m going to do now is read a bunch of them. We got a lot. I really do love to hear from you. I say that every week. It’s not just boilerplate. Because when you’re on this side of it, when I do the podcast or write the piece, I’m usually in an empty room talking into a microphone or typing into my computer, and I do want to hear what people think and it’s much more constructive to get your letters, which as we’ll see in a moment, are thoughtful and substantive even if they disagree, as opposed to seeing stuff on name your social media outlet, Twitter.