Opinion: Potomac Watch

Opinion: Potomac Watch

From the award-winning opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal, Paul Gigot, Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Kyle Peterson discuss the latest from Washington. Get critical perspective and the analysis you need on developments from the nation’s capital. Join them every weekday. Send your feedback to pwpodcast@wsj.com

RECENT EPISODES

4/30/2024 5:47:00 PM

Protesters Occupy Columbia / Trump Held in Contempt

Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University escalate by seizing an academic building in the middle of the night and barricading themselves inside. What should President Minouche Shafik do now, and where are the school's trustees in what has quickly turned into an institutional crisis for Columbia? Plus, New York Judge Juan Merchan holds Donald Trump in contempt and fines him $9,000 for violating a gag order by attacking the jury and witnesses in the New York hush-money trial.

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4/29/2024 3:16:00 PM

Trump Goes After RFK Jr. While Joe Biden Roasts Trump

Donald Trump has increased his criticism of third-party presidential candidate RFK Jr. as a man of the left. Could the heir to the Kennedy name be a bigger threat to Trump than to Joe Biden? Plus, Biden says he's willing to debate Trump as he roasts the former President in front of a friendly press corps, and Trump tries to make peace with Ron DeSantis. 

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4/26/2024 6:08:00 PM

What the Donald Trump Jury Has Heard So Far

As the New York hush-money trial ends its first week of testimony, why are Alvin Bragg's prosecutors talking about "conspiracy" and "election fraud," considering Trump is charged with neither? Plus, the court hears testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, and listeners weigh in on the widening anti-Israel protests on college campuses, including Columbia University.

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4/25/2024 3:48:00 PM

The Supreme Court Weighs Immunity for Donald Trump and the Presidency

In Trump v. United States, the Justices consider if a President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution, and what constitutes an official action as opposed to a personal one? The implications extend far beyond Trump's fate in 2024.

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4/24/2024 4:32:00 PM

A Constitutional Right to Homeless Camps? The Supreme Court Considers

Grants Pass, Ore., wants to enforce a prohibition on public camping, but a lower court said no, citing the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. What does the Constitution say, and don‘t cities have the right to keep their streets clean and safe? Plus, the Justices also hear a challenge by Starbucks to a power of the National Labor Relations Board. 

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4/23/2024 4:18:00 PM

Anti-Israel Protesters Occupy Columbia University

After New York police cleared an encampment on the Ivy League campus, arresting more than 100 people, the school says it will offer hybrid remote learning for the rest of the semester, while similar protests also engulf Yale, NYU, and other elite colleges. Why are university presidents apparently so reluctant to draw a hard line, especially considering the antisemitism on display?

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4/22/2024 4:52:00 PM

Bipartisan Majorities Show Support for Beleaguered U.S. Allies

House Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line in seeking floor votes on bills to provide weapons for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. It paid off in victory, as bipartisan majorities united to pass the bills and defeat a rump group of GOP opponents. Will the same coalition be willing and able to save Mr. Johnson from a motion to vacate the Speaker's chair?

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4/19/2024 5:28:00 PM

The Trump Jury and the New York Judge's Gag Order

The first week of Donald Trump's hush-money trial concludes with the seating of 12 jurors, while the former President fumes about a gag order by Judge Juan Merchan that bars him from criticizing jurors, witnesses and court staff. Plus, the Senate summarily dismisses the impeachment articles passed by the House against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

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4/18/2024 3:48:00 PM

House Speaker Mike Johnson Puts His Job on the Line Over Ukraine Aid

Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead with bills supporting Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan against their enemies. What's in the bills, what are their prospects for passing, and could they cost Johnson his job as a small group of Republicans threaten to move against him?

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4/17/2024 5:52:00 PM

Can Jan. 6 Rioters Be Charged with Obstruction?

The Supreme Court hears an appeal from a former Pennsylvania cop, who says his conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6 does not qualify as obstruction under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Prosecutors have charged more than 300 people using that law, but are they stretching it too far? Plus, the Justices rule that a local $23,420 permitting fee is covered by the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause.

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HOSTED BY

Editor, editorial page, The Wall Street Journal

Paul Gigot is the editorial page editor and vice president of The Wall Street Journal, a position he has held since 2001. He is responsible for the newspaper's editorials, op-ed articles and Leisure & Arts criticism and directs the editorial pages of the Journal's Asian and European editions and the OpinionJournal.com Web site. He is also the host of the weekly half-hour news program, the Journal Editorial Report, on the Fox News Channel.

Mr. Gigot joined the Journal in 1980 as a reporter in Chicago, and in 1982 he became the Journal's Asia correspondent, based in Hong Kong. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his reporting on the Philippines. In 1984, he was named the first editorial page editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong. In 1987, he was assigned to Washington, where he contributed editorials and a weekly column on politics, "Potomac Watch," which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Mr. Gigot is a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, where he was chairman of the daily student newspaper.

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