• ICE and LA's Day Laborers
    Jun 20 2025

    The ICE raids in Los Angeles outside Home Depot stores and other public spaces have targeted day laborers seeking a day’s pay. Host Cristian Farias talks to immigration lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham about how these raids threaten a recognized First Amendment right of day laborers to seek work. Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, illuminates how day laborers have won hard-earned rights over decades of organizing and community-building.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    44 mins
  • Speaking Truth to Trump’s FCC
    Jun 13 2025

    The Federal Communications Commission, under Trump-appointee Brendan Carr, is acting less like a watchdog and more like an attack dog. Host Cristian Farias talks to Katie Fallow, the Institute’s deputy director of litigation, about the FCC’s efforts to punish broadcasters for airing content the Trump administration doesn’t like. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez speaks to the importance of an independent regulator unburdened by its leaders’ political objectives, and how the ongoing investigations threaten press freedom.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    39 mins
  • Episode 4: Public Broadcasting Digs In
    Jun 6 2025

    After issuing his own sweeping executive order, President Trump has sent a rescission notice to Congress seeking to eliminate all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes NPR and PBS. Host Cristian Farias speaks with Nadine Farid Johnson, the Institute’s policy director, to break down historical and ongoing attempts by both Congress and the Executive to defund independent public broadcasting. Tami Graham, executive director of Colorado-based public radio station KSUT, speaks about her station’s important work serving both tribal and broader communities, as well as KSUT’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over attempted funding cuts. In the face of major threats, public broadcasters are fighting to protect their independence.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    37 mins
  • Episode 3: We Want to Look at Your Phone
    May 30 2025

    The government has long invoked its authority to search traveler’s devices—whether owned by noncitizens or citizens—at the U.S. border. Under the second Trump administration, this practice only seems to be growing more aggressive and targeted. Host Cristian Farias speaks with the Institute’s Scott Wilkens, about the legal regime surrounding border searches, and with Amir Makled, an attorney whose smartphone was targeted for search by border agents following his legal representation of a pro-Palestine protester. They discuss how the omnipresence of digital devices and the presence of Ports of Entry at airports throughout the country have vastly expanded opportunities for the government to search and surveil travelers.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    38 mins
  • Episode 2: Farmers Fight Data Purge
    May 23 2025

    A mere ten days after President Trump took office in January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began purging climate-focused information from its web pages. Representing organic farmers and environmental activists, the Knight Institute and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit to restore the pages. Host Cristian Farias speaks with the Institute’s Stephanie Krent, an attorney on the case, and Wes Gillingham, organic farmer and board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff. They discuss how the data purge has already harmed farmers, how they’re fighting this form of “thought control,” and what this has to do with the First Amendment.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    34 mins
  • Episode 1: The Students Are Winning
    May 16 2025

    In the first episode of “The Bully’s Pulpit,” host and journalist Cristian Farias describes a harrowing bail hearing for Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University Ph.D. student who was detained by ICE for co-authoring an opinion piece in a student newspaper, and reflects on the meaning of her shocking detention and now her freedom. Knight Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer joins Farias to discuss the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on First Amendment freedoms and the awe-inspiring resilience of students who have been threatened with deportation for their constitutionally protected speech.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    27 mins
  • Extended Preview: “The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment”
    May 13 2025

    Cristian Farias, host of the new podcast by the Knight Institute, “The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment,” shares his goal for the show: “to chronicle in real time the coordinated, unprecedented assault by the president of the United States and his administration on the freedoms of expression, inquiry, association, and the press... all happening at this very moment.” Each episode will explore a major First Amendment story in the news and feature the people most affected by it. Launching May 16, with new episodes every Friday.


    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    3 mins
  • A Preview of "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment"
    May 9 2025

    “The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment," a weekly podcast from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, will follow the Trump administration’s assault on the freedoms of speech and the press and will feature the people, communities, and institutions that are fighting back. Hosted by legal journalist Cristian Farias and advocates from the Knight Institute, each episode will explore a major First Amendment story in the news and feature the people most affected by it. Launching May 16, with new episodes every Friday.

    "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think.

    To learn more about the Knight Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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    1 min