The Lawfare Podcast · The Lawfare Institute

Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Feb. 27

March 2, 2026·1 hr 41 min·5 clips

Troy Edwards reveals the painful human toll behind the firing of FBI agents working on the Mar-a-Lago case.

This episode of Lawfare Daily, recorded live on February 27, 2026, covers five major legal developments with a panel including Benjamin Wittes, Anna Bauer, Molly Roberts, Scott Anderson, Roger Parloff, and Troy Edwards. The first segment examines a superseding indictment in the City Church protest case in Minnesota, which expanded the number of defendants from roughly 10 to 39, including Don Lemon and journalist Georgia Fort. The panelists note that despite adding defendants, the government did not correct factual inaccuracies identified in earlier Lawfare analysis or address legal issues with the conspiracy against rights charge and its First Amendment framing. Troy Edwards suggests this implies the government knows the case will not succeed and is more performative than prosecutorial. The second segment covers the FBI termination of approximately a dozen agents and analysts who worked on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation. Troy Edwards, a former FBI agent, delivers a personal statement about the human cost of these dismissals, noting these were among the Bureau best counterintelligence specialists whose loss creates real national security vulnerabilities at a time of increasing foreign adversary threats. The third segment discusses the Fulton County ballot seizure case, where Judge Bully unexpectedly cancelled an evidentiary hearing and ordered mediation after learning the government had previously offered to make copies of seized ballots and return the originals. Anna Bauer explains this may allow the judge to avoid ruling on the lawfulness of the FBI search warrant. The fourth segment covers a ruling in the Hannah Nathanson reporter search warrant case, where the magistrate judge found the government failed to inform the court about the Privacy Protection Act when seeking the warrant. The judge ruled the court would conduct its own review of seized materials rather than letting the government extract responsive content, calling the government the fox in the hen house. Troy Edwards highlights the downstream consequences for national security processes if line prosecutors can no longer trust that approved warrants have been properly vetted. The fifth topic is Judge Eileen Cannon permanently enjoining the release of the Mar-a-Lago special counsel report, with the panel debating whether intervention by American Oversight and the Knight First Amendment Institute could provide an appeals pathway. The episode closes with breaking news that the Trump administration announced it would ban Anthropic from all government contracts after the AI company refused to remove contractual restrictions preventing its systems from being used for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous military operations. Alan Rosenstein joins to explain the three options the government had and notes the critical question is whether this is merely a contract termination or a supply chain risk designation that could affect all companies doing business with Anthropic.

As heard by us

A Lawfare roundtable on the Trump administration trials, kept close to procedure and live developments.

The Lawfare Live panel tracks the Trump administration trials as a live legal and institutional story, with Benjamin Wittes joined by Anna Bauer, Molly Roberts, Scott R. Anderson, Roger Parloff, and Troy Edwards.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want the Trump administration trials decoded without the shouting.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Lawfare Podcast