Executive Summary
For years on this show we have talked about lawfare, and for years people have heard the word and assumed they understood it. Warfare using the law. Simple, right? It is not simple, and it is not new. This week independent journalist Jason Goodman of Crowdsource the Truth joined us to walk through what he has learned as one of the few citizens who has walked straight up to the people running it and asked them questions to their faces.
Goodman explained that the term itself was coined by Charles Dunlap Jr., a retired U.S. Air Force major general and JAG officer who described lawfare as a 21st century weapon of war. That was an academic study of how nations use law as asymmetric warfare. What we are living through now is something else: the same weapon turned inward, against American citizens, in American civil and criminal courts.
We traced the network. Goodman showed a December 28, 2016 email, produced as Senate committee evidence, in which Lawfare co-founder Ben Wittes wrote to then-FBI Director James Comey about a "very strange document" that had crossed his desk. We talked about Norm Eisen, the Brookings Institution senior fellow whose name sits near the center of hundreds of cases against Donald Trump, his administration and his allies. And Goodman explained how a web of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits can function, in his words, as tax-exempt, politically partisan law firms.
Most importantly, we talked about what one citizen can do. Goodman, who is not a lawyer, filed his own amicus brief in the Signalgate case and fought for two weeks just to get it on the docket. That is the lesson. The system only works when We the People show up.
Scroll to the bottom for Key Takeaways.
Where the Word "Lawfare" Actually Came From
Most people think lawfare is a cable news talking point. It is not. As Goodman explained, the term traces to Charles Dunlap Jr., a retired Air Force major general who served as a JAG officer. Dunlap's writing frames lawfare as a 21st century weapon of war — a way for nations to use legal systems as asymmetric weapons in international conflict.
There is a legitimate field of study there. But somewhere along the way, a group of very clever lawyers looked at that framework and asked a different question. What if we used this against our political opponents here at home?
That is the shift we need to understand. A weapon designed for conflicts between nations has been pointed at citizens. And the target, as we said on the show, is not really one man. It is every American who voted the way these people did not like.
The Law Schools Came First
We cannot talk about lawfare without talking about where these lawyers are trained. On the show we pointed out that Barack Obama and Norm Eisen both came out of Harvard Law School around 1991, during a period when the push for "social justice" law was already competing with constitutional law for the soul of the profession.
Many of our friends went to law school back then. They learned constitutional law. That is not what many of the elite schools are teaching now. Georgetown's constitutional law center has been associated with Mary McCord and Rosa Brooks — the same Rosa Brooks who ran the Transition Integrity Project. At NYU, the Brennan Center treats the Constitution as a document to be reinterpreted rather than defended.
When the schools change, the lawyers change. When the lawyers change, the courts change. That is how infiltration works — not through invasion, but one graduating class at a time.
The Wittes Email and the Network Behind It
Goodman did not set out to study lawfare. He was dragged into it. Back in 2017 he was producing interviews with researcher Charles Ortel, who was investigating the Clinton Foundation. During one of those interviews, Ortel received a call from Shane Harris, then a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, asking about a document that listed Ortel's name.
That same reporter's name turns up in an email Goodman showed us — Senate committee evidence, bates-stamped, not internet rumor. On December 28, 2016, after the election but before the inauguration, Ben Wittes, a co-founder of Lawfare, wrote to James Comey's personal email account about a "very strange document" from a private British intelligence firm that, he said, Harris had given him.
Why does that matter? Because it shows how close the people who built the lawfare brand were to the FBI director at the exact moment the Russia narrative was being built.
Lawfare is affiliated with the Brookings Institution. Norm Eisen is a Brookings senior fellow. Goodman alleges Brookings functions as a cutout — a respectable front that lets people do work that would draw far more scrutiny under any other banner. From 2016 forward, as we discussed, Brookings was publishing a running tally of cases and legal theories against Trump. Andrew Weissmann. Mary McCord. Ben Wittes. Ian Bassin. These names keep appearing together, in the same cases, at the same events.
Is that a coincidence? Or is it a network?
The Nonprofit Machine: Tax-Exempt Partisan Law Firms
This was the most important technical point of the hour, and we want every American to understand it.
A 501(c)(3) is a public charity. Donations to it are tax deductible. In exchange, it is prohibited from engaging in politically partisan activity. A 501(c)(4) can engage in more political activity, but donations to it are not deductible.
Goodman explained that Norm Eisen has helped build what he describes as a spider web of organizations that blur the line between the two — sharing resources and passing money through. The result, in Goodman's words, is a system of tax-exempt, politically partisan law firms.
Here is how he laid it out. A billionaire who hires a law firm the normal way pays tax all along the chain. Under this model, the billionaire donates to a nonprofit and takes a write-off. The nonprofit pays no tax. Money then moves to affiliated entities that pay lawyers to sue the government.
And who pays to defend against those suits? We do. On the show we discussed roughly 800 cases connected in some way to Eisen's network filed against Trump, his administration or his allies. Every one of them is defended with taxpayer money. Why is the IRS not looking at this?
One Citizen, One Amicus Brief: The Signalgate Case
Here is where the story turns from alarming to empowering.
When American Oversight, a 501(c)(3), sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Signalgate chats, Goodman noticed something. In his view, American Oversight has done little in its eight years besides sue Donald Trump and the people around him. So, as a member of the public and not as an attorney, he filed an amicus curiae brief — a friend-of-the-court filing.
His argument was straightforward. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(b)(2), a corporation's capacity to sue is defined by the law under which it was formed. If a charity is barred from partisan activity, and its entire record is partisan litigation, does it even have capacity to bring the case? He also argued the statute it sued under could only be enforced by the National Archives, not a private group.
The brief never appeared on the docket. When Goodman called the court, a clerk told him the judge — James Boasberg — had instructed them not to file it. So Goodman filed a constitutional declaration arguing that a judge who violates Article III cannot be holding office "during good behavior," the standard Article III itself sets. After two weeks, the brief was docketed. Not long after, that case stalled and a new one was brought with an individual plaintiff.
One man with no law degree, a stack of rules, and the courage to push. Imagine a thousand of him.
Captured Courts, Captured Cops, Captured Platforms
Goodman's own experience shows how deep this goes. He told us he was attacked outside Twitter's offices while trying to warn Elon Musk that the FBI had been embedded in the company — weeks before the Twitter Files were released. The responding officers, he says, gave him a ticket for disorderly conduct. When he returned with marks on his neck to file a report, he was turned away. He took that case all the way to the Second Circuit, where, he says, it was dismissed despite New York precedent that police must take a citizen's report.
He also shared footage from the COVID lockdowns in Midtown Manhattan, where he believed he was watching a child being handed off to strangers. When he called the precinct for the detective he had spoken to the day before, he was told no such detective existed. We have heard the same thing from friends in New York who reported suspected trafficking and were told nothing could be done.
Add to that what we discussed about Judge Boasberg — reporting by Natalie Winters on a law-student exchange program with China that he was involved with between 2015 and 2021 — and you start to see the shape of the problem. This is not one bad case. It is a pattern.
Why the Midterms Matter So Much
Here is the hard truth. The lawfare network has not been dismantled. The law firms that were named are still operating. The people who built the Russia case, the New York cases and the Georgia case are still writing, teaching, podcasting and filing. And they are already preparing for 2026.
Goodman was honest with us. He does not see justice coming from the top any time soon. We hear that. But that is exactly why this matters at the bottom.
We the People Are the Answer
George Washington warned us in his Farewell Address about factions that would put their own power above the republic. Read it again. It reads like a description of what we are living through.
The legal system belongs to us. Courts are public. Dockets are public. Amicus briefs can be filed by citizens. Police reports are a legal right. Nonprofit filings are public records. Every one of these is a tool the lawfare network counts on us never picking up.
Ready to work a Step? Here are three things you can do:
- Learn the names. Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord, Ben Wittes, Ian Bassin. Look up their organizations and their funders. Knowledge breeds confidence.
- Read a docket. Pick one case filed against your state or your community by a national nonprofit and read the complaint yourself. You will be stunned at what you learn.
- Show up locally. Attend a county commission or school board meeting this month, and ask who is suing your community and who is paying for it.
Key Takeaways
- The term "lawfare" traces to retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap Jr., who called it a 21st century weapon of war.
- A December 28, 2016 email from Lawfare co-founder Ben Wittes to James Comey's personal account is part of the Senate committee record.
- Goodman argues a web of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups operates as tax-exempt, politically partisan law firms.
- Roughly 800 cases tied in some way to Norm Eisen's network have targeted Trump, his administration or allies — and taxpayers fund the defense.
- A non-lawyer's amicus brief in the Signalgate case was kept off the docket for two weeks until he pushed back under Article III.
- Lawfare targets your reputation, your bank account and your freedom — and its real target is the voters, not one politician.
- Courts, dockets and public records belong to We the People. Use them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Isn't lawfare just a Trump talking point?
No. The term comes from a retired Air Force JAG officer, Charles Dunlap Jr., who wrote about it as a weapon of war between nations. What we are describing is that same weapon turned on American citizens in American courts.
How can a charity spend all its time suing one political figure?
That is exactly the question Jason Goodman put to a federal court. A 501(c)(3) is barred from partisan political activity, yet some of these groups appear to do little else. We think the IRS and Congress should be asking the same question.
Who pays when these groups sue the government?
You do. When a nonprofit sues a federal official or agency, the defense is funded by the taxpayer, and the donors who bankroll the suit often take a tax deduction for it.
Can an ordinary citizen really file something in federal court?
Yes. Goodman is not a lawyer, and he filed an amicus brief and a constitutional declaration on his own. Judges have discretion over amicus filings, but the courthouse door belongs to all of us.
Will anyone be held accountable?
Goodman told us he is not optimistic that accountability will come from Washington soon. That is why it has to start with us — informed citizens, local action and relentless sunlight.
Watch the full episode on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v7g5tky-mel-k-and-jason-goodman-lawfare-101-the-legal-system-as-a-weapon-9-29-26oke.html
Follow Jason Goodman on X at @JG_CSTT and find his show, Crowdsource the Truth.
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