On May 30, former President Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made during the 2016 election, making him the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. In this episode, two leading historians of the presidency—Stephen Knott of the United States Naval War College, and bestselling and author and attorney David O. Stewart—join Jeffrey Rosen to explore presidential attacks on the judicial system and rule of law throughout American history. They also discuss what this history can teach us in the wake of the Trump criminal verdict.
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Today’s episode was produced by Lana Ulrich, Samson Mostashari, and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by Greg Scheckler and Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Samson Mostashari, Cooper Smith, and Yara Daraiseh.
Participants
Stephen Knott is an Emeritus Professor of National Security Affairs at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He previously served as co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books about presidential history, including The Lost Soul of the American Presidency: The Decline into Demagoguery and the Prospects for Renewal (2019) and his most recent, Coming to Terms with John F. Kennedy (2022).
David O. Stewart is a best-selling author and former trial and appellate lawyer. He is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction works, including Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy (2009), and George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father (2001). His most recent work, The Burning Land (2023), is a novel set during the Civil War and its aftermath. In 2023, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Independent Review of Books.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. Rosen is also a professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. His most recent book is The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.
Additional Resources:
- The Trump Manhattan Criminal Verdict, Count By Count The New York Times (May 30, 2024)
- The Indictment of Former President Trump, NCC’s We the People podcast, (April 6, 2023)
- History of Impeachment from Andrew Johnson to Today, NCC’s We the People podcast, (February 1, 2018)
- David O. Stewart, Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy (2009)
- David O. Stewart, American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America (2011)
- Stephen Knott, The Lost Soul of the American Presidency: The Decline into Demagoguery and the Prospects for Renewal (2019)
- Myers v. United States (1926)
- United States v. Cruikshank (1875)
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