Glenn Greenwald: Americans' Liberties Are in Danger

Why was a man who was legally protected from deportation sitting in one of the world’s most notorious prisons in El Salvador? This week on Just Asking Questions, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Glenn Greenwald returns to discuss a case that cuts to the heart of American constitutionalism and due process. Greenwald, known for his reporting on the National Security Agency and his founding role at The Intercept, has become one of the most consistent civil libertarian voices in politics. He joins Liz Wolfe and Zach Weissmueller to break down how and why the Trump administration ignored a court order to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and why this defiance should concern everyone, regardless of their politics.

But this episode goes beyond one case. It’s about the creeping normalization of lawless executive power—from the misuse of antiterror labels, to the fast-growing deportation dragnet sweeping up even lawful residents, to proposed federal overhauls of speech and campus expression.

Abrego Garcia was moved from El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, to a lower security facility in Santa Ana on April 20.

Sources Referenced:

• “FULL REMARKS: President Trump and El Salvador president Nayib Bukele hold press briefing,” by FOX
• Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia V. Kristi Noem in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
• Letter to Harvard by the General Service Administration and the departments of Education and Health and Human Services
• Pew Research poll: Negative views of Israel have risen in the U.S.
• The “homegrown” hot mic video
• The Chris Rufo X post we reacted to

The Right is learning new political tactics. We are not going to indulge the fantasies of the “classical liberals” who forfeited all of the institutions. We’re going to fight tooth and nail to recapture the regime and entrench our ideas in the public sphere. Get ready. pic.twitter.com/4EVdjZkrsf

— Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) April 17, 2025

• “The Emergency Is Here,” by The Ezra Klein Show
• Chris Rufo’s appearance on The Reason Livestream
• Just Asking Questions with Batya Ungar-Sargon

Chapters

• 00:00 Coming up…
• 00:21 Introduction and setup
• 01:13 The Abrego Garcia case and due process violations
• 11:00 Trump’s legal defiance and the Supreme Court’s unanimous rebuke
• 17:15 Parallels to the war on terror and the misuse of the word terrorist
• 23:30 The threat to American citizens and executive overreach
• 30:00 The limits of Supreme Court enforcement and implications for democracy
• 37:20 Civil liberties, citizenship, and the universal reach of the Constitution
• 42:00 Is this a constitutional emergency? Parsing Ezra Klein’s warning
• 48:00 Free speech crackdown: protests, deportations, and political enemies
• 56:00 Activist surveillance groups and foreign influence in U.S. policy
• 01:06:30 Chris Rufo, ideological capture, and the right’s new institutional strategy
• 01:13:45 Institutional cowardice vs. backlash: What happens next?
• 01:20:00 Can civil institutions resist authoritarian pressure?
• 01:24:00 Pardoning Edward Snowden and the unpredictable nature of Trump

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

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