Jack Smith Testifies, and Senate Republicans Come Up Empty

The “Meet You at the Hawks Game’ Edition Jack Smith testifies, again, but Senate Republicans only entrap themselves; Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to continue third-country deportations for now; and a bipartisan Senate vote passes a college sports bill. Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Get Your Slate Plus Podcast If you can't access your feeds, please contact customer support. Listen on your computer: Apple Podcasts will only work on MacOS operating systems since Catalina. We do not support Android apps on desktop at this time. Listen on your device:RECOMMENDED These links will only work if you're on the device you listen to podcasts on. Set up manually: Episode Notes This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host David Leonhardt discuss the GOP’s failed witch hunt against Jack Smith and bizarre moments from the hearing, the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Trump administration’s cruel third-country deportations to continue for now and broader issues of immigration and asylum, and the mixed bag of a college sports bill that sidesteps the key question of whether college athletes count as employees. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Devlin Barrett and Charlie Savage for The New York Times: As Jack Smith Testifies, a Senator’s Accusation of Perjury Falls Apart Kyle Cheney and Chris Marquette for Politico: Republicans wanted Jack Smith to give them a smoking gun. They got a gaffe instead. Aaron Blake for CNN: Analysis: An embarrassing moment for the GOP, a confident witness and other takeaways from Jack Smith’s hearing Don Moynihan for Can We Still Govern? (Substack): What happened at the Jack Smith hearing? Will Saletan for The Bulwark: Jack Smith and the Republican Smear Squad Abbie VanSickle for The New York Times: Supreme Court Allows Rapid Third-Country Deportations, for Now David Nakamura and Adam Taylor for The Washington Post: Exclusive: How Trump turned a refugee bureau into a $410 million deportation operation Ryan J. Foley for Associated Press: AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders Nicholas Casey for The New York Times: He Was Deported to a Country He’d Never Heard Of. He May Never Go Free. The Economist: Scrap the asylum system—and build something better Becky Sullivan for NPR: The Senate passes the Protect College Sports Act, but the bill’s future is unclear Matt Stoller for BIG by Matt Stoller (Substack): Monopoly Round-Up: Why the Senate Is Weirdly Obsessed with College Sports Instead of Real Problems Chris Murphy and DeMaurice Smith for Chris Murphy’s Substack: The ‘Protect College Sports Act’ Doesn’t Actually Protect College Athletes Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: A Woman’s Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering by Elinor Cleghorn David Plotz: Explore D.C.’s Secret Fort with David Plotz; Owen Gleiberman for Variety: ‘Heart of the Beast’ Review: Brad Pitt Is a Veteran Stranded With His Combat Dog in David Ayer’s Stirringly Crafted Survival-in-the-Wild Saga; Paramount Pictures on YouTube: Heart of the Beast | Official Trailer 2 David Leonhardt: ESPN: WNBA playoffs 2026: How the Liberty swept the Lynx and the Fever stayed alive; WNBA Playoffs News 2026 Listener chatter from Dileep Rao in Los Angeles, California: Annie Roth for The New York Times: What Did Jurassic Forests Sound Like? Like This.; J. Gu, F. Montealegre-Z, T. Jonsson, C. Woodrow, E. Celiker, M.N. Islam, J.B. Linde, F.A. Sarria-S, F. Shi, H. Song, D. Robert, & D. Ren, Reconstruction of an extinct soundscape reveals ultrasonic communication in the Jurassic, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (36) e2615107123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2615107123 (2026). For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, David, and guest host David Leonhardt discuss the viral story about the infighting over COVID-masking policy at a Massachusetts bar. They explore the long shadow of COVID overhang, hard tradeoffs and how to think about them, and the problematic impulse to eat your own on the left. Gabfest is coming to Providence, RI on October 21st. Tickets available now! In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with journalist Annie Lowrey about her new book, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time - and How to Fix It, an investigation into the hours Americans lose to broken bureaucracy, from 12-hour tax filings to multiyear waits for housing vouchers and building permits. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Nina Porzucki Research by Emily Ditto You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Find out more about David Plotz’s monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.