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Michael Popak
Screen Paraday presenta ojos con alerque Picasso
Ben
contral jardinero miel ganadores Paraday extra fuerte para libier la Picasso de los ocos por alerja CU amar rapidu y supera
Michael Popak
clarity Mi flo ney za una las
Ben
veinti cuatro horas para de adelante.
Mackenzie
My name is Mackenzie and I started a GoFundMe for the adoptive mother of a non verbal autistic child. The mother had lost her job because she wasn't able to find adequate care for this autistic child. So she really needed some help with living expenses, paying some back bills. So I launched a GoFundMe to help support them during this crisis and we raised about $10,000 within just a couple of months. I think that the surprising thing was by telling a clear story and just like really being very clear about what we needed, we had some really generous donations from people who were really moved by the situation that this family was struggling with.
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Ben
We've got a busy, busy legal week and a busy, busy legal AF that we got to cover everything there. Michael Popo so where do we start? We got a lot of updates regarding the Democratic oversight investigations into Trump's cover up at the Epstein matter. There were some actually big depositions. Epstein's money guy was deposed and gave kind of conflicting answers about financial settlements that were paid on behalf of the estate that also may have been involving victims who accused Donald Trump. And so we should talk about that. Obviously the war, an unlawful war that was started by Donald Trump continues to rage on in Iran and the Middle east and is expanding as well. State devastating war. Thirteen service members had been killed in this war, 200 or so injured, 10 seriously wounded, and you have the Trump regime. Sadly, you know, our government lies about everything. So it's unclear if those are the real numbers, what's really going on. But we got to talk about this unlawful war because, you know, it was, I think, launched significantly as part of a distraction from the Epstein files, and now it's basically embroiled the entire world in a war. Let's talk about Donald Trump being handed a massive, massive loss in his attempt to try to criminally prosecute Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. And this scathing ruling by Judge Boasberg. Yep, Judge Boasberg is back. And he starts this incredible opinion by reading Donald Trump's social media posts. And just when Boseberg frames all of these posts that Donald Trump was making attacking Jerome Powell as like, you know, stupid Jerome Powell, just the way Boasberg framed it, we'll talk about that. That was absolutely brilliant. And he really rejected Donald Trump's ability to issue these subpoenas to the Federal Reserve. And Boasberg said, this is all obviously pretextual. Like, we're not that the judiciary is not going to close their eyes to what you're really trying to do here, Donald. We see current judges finally speaking out against the Trump regime as well. I'm going to give you an update on what's going with, with TikTok and some of the legal ramifications there as well. Let's bring in Michael Popak from Legal AF and Popak. You know, it's interesting because, you know, Donald Trump has really made the United States look as weak as his failed bankrupted casinos. Now, internationally, the same pathologically defective and loser mentality is playing out. Not having the right types of planning and not listening to experts and not listening to the facts and just continuing to bloviate and spew deranged nonsense, Right? This is why this guy's bankrupted everything. And we should have as a country, we did, you know, recognized, hey, maybe the guy who, you know, had zero plan during COVID and made things much worse and said like a miracle, it was all going away. Not the guy, not the guy, you know, but here, you know, he's created and he's manufactured, you know, a global crisis, an economic crisis that gets worse by the second. And as he looks so weak abroad and he just looks so weak at home as well. And I think finally, you know, again, you have judges, you have a lot of people who weren't speaking up saying, this ain't it, this Ain't it? This is. Regardless of your politics, this guy's a loser and he's turned America into a loser nation modeled off his loser, his entire loser life. We need to get rid of this loser and we need to just start bringing back competent and successful people who are smart, who can think, who know what they're doing, who are empathetic. Michael Popo.
Michael Popak
Yeah, absolutely. Like, what we're watching in year two of the Trump administration is the world and judges the American voter, all seeing that the emperor has no clothes and fighting back in ways that they were incapable of or unwilling to, or in the shock and awe of 200 executive orders and all of the, all of the attacks on the American way of life that happened in the first month of the Trump administration, they, they, but now, now they are, they're back and all we're watching is, you know, history. They say history sometimes repeats itself, but if it doesn't repeat itself, it certainly rhymes. We're watching kind of Nixon all over again, but a turbocharged, more criminal version of Nixon. Nixon tried to bomb his way to popularity at home after a failed domestic policy, behind the scenes, a criminal presidency where, you know, they were spying on Americans, spying on the Democratic Party, funneling and channeling money into the pockets of. This sounds familiar. Into the pockets of friends and cronies of Richard Nixon calling the Department of Justice to approve deals so that itt back in the 1970s could get a transaction approved. And Donald Trump really saw that as a playbook for him. Nixon had a Cambodia Vietnam problem, tried to bomb his way abroad, use global policy to fix his failing popularity at home. And Donald Trump, desperate, weakened, has been. All we've been watching is him trying to do the same thing. He looks at the 30%, whatever it is, approval numbers, right direction, wrong direction, consumer confidence numbers, GDP down a. A completely sterile, jobless economy. Doesn't make any jobs, literally does not make any jobs. If you total up all the few jobs he's made with the losses of every month, he's net almost zero in 16 months. He sees all of that. So he says, I got an idea. This is where he's at war with the American people as well. I'll go to war with Venezuela. Oh, that didn't really pump me up. I'll go to war with Ira Iran. And you're talking about this lack of executive function in the executive branch that's writ large here. The primary source of information for Iran is Steve Witkoff, an inexperienced golf buddy, real estate developer friend of Donald Trump's. That's a special envoy to the Middle east, along with Jared Kushner, the son in law in chief. Both of them with no technical experience to negotiate nuclear issues with Iran. You let alone the diplomatic experience to know when they were being played or what intel was right or wrong. Donald Trump completely boxed out the CIA Tulsi Gabbard as the intelligence director and relied solely on two conflicted friends or relatives of his who are real estate developers, at the same time that Jared Kushner is running around trying to raise $5 billion from the very same people that he's negotiating with in the Middle east for his private wealth fund based in Miami. And you've got Witkoff and Kushner getting played in Geneva the night before the bombing happened. That led Donald Trump to say, oh, I think they're going to fire first. And the small group of decision makers are even worse. And there's not an adult in the room. J.D. vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hagseth. I wouldn't let them run a bath, let alone run a war plan. And this was Donald Trump's inner circle. He even rejected the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General Kane, who said, you know, they're gonna. They're gonna do a blockade of oil in the world's number one shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz. You know that, right? Oh, I don't think they will. Based on what? And it's exactly what's happened. So now, as you said, we've exported the same chaos and failure at home. We've now exported that abroad. And who bailed us out? 37 Western nations, led by France and Germany and Canada that came together in Paris to take 400 million barrels of oil from a strategic reserve and dump it into the market to save the American economy. The very same people that Donald Trump. Trump bashes and undermines and attacks in NATO, the European Union, Canada and all that. Who is the first one that came to our rescue? Those very same people. Because, of course, it's in their best interest that America survived the Trump era.
Ben
Well, and even that, though, ain't working. I mean, you look at the price per barrel surgeon, again, gonna pass $100. You know, it just seems that it's decisions being made based on, as Donald Trump says, don't be a panicking. That's something that people who panic say, because who else says, don't be a panicking?
Michael Popak
That phrase.
Ben
Who's ever said that phrase, like, during a trial, don't be a panicking Anybody where I'm not a panic. In right now. I mean, what are we, what are we talking about right there? Because, you know, even you put those, what, 400 million barrels into the market and Donald Trump removes sanctions against Russia, allowing not just India to buy Russian oil, but allowing the rest of the world apparently to buy Russian oil that Russia's basically has been unable to sell as a result of these sanctions. While the price is so high, even though there's all this. You can't just like release it all at once though, right? Like when you release these strategic reserves. So I think it ends up adding like a million barrels of oil per day into the United States where consumption's over 20 million or so barrels per oil per day. And when you make a move like that, I think the futures markets, which were thinking, well, we'll get through this, there'll be a taco situation. A Trump always chickens out situations, they come to realize now when it comes to war, unlike Trump's tariffs against the world, where Trump would claim fake victories in a war situation, it takes two to taco. And Iran has made it very clear that they have no interest right now in surrendering anytime soon because they've been emboldened. You do mention those, those countries like, you know, what France is doing with Italy and others, but they're now speaking to Iran bilaterally and saying, can we make deals with you strategically so maybe we can get our ships through the Strait of Iran is stronger now than
Michael Popak
it was on February 20th.
Ben
Like significantly, like actually turning Iran into like a, like a mega power within the Middle east, showing the capabilities of its Shahid drones and making America look so much weaker with the fact that our security guarantee, you know, you know, as you and I always talk about, and this is a good way to talk about it on, in the context of the law, you know, these, you and I both believe are these emolument clause violations of the Constitution. You know, where Trump's getting these gifts, especially from these Middle east nations, these quid pro quos you and I have covered in the legal context which you and I both believe or have expressed our opinions, I should say our legal opinions are fraud. And but for absolute immunity that was granted by the Supreme Court seem clearly kind of criminal in nature. And our opinion, and you know, it seemed like bribe in our opinion, but in a pay for play scheme at some point, the people who pay want you to play. Right? And so the Middle east country, like, hey, we, we, we've given your world Liberty Financial the money, we've given this company money you wanted the Stupid Trump Hotel in Doha. You wanted the Trump Riyadh. We gave you those things. But, dude, it's not because we like you. You know, we think that you're a good guy. The whole point is that you were supposed to provide protection. This is a protection racket. And when you're not providing the protection, the racket ain't working. And when you ain't playing, we ain't paying.
Michael Popak
Wait. On that note, the report is the Arab world. The Arab Gulf states are furious at Trump right now, and he's busy making phone calls because of his own vested interest and Jared Kushner's vested interest in that region in the very same countries that were like, we were just a peaceful place where people could do business and you could live in, in Dubai, and you effed it up by blowing up Iran and setting the Middle east on fire. So Donald Trump is spending a lot of time that shows you, as you and I have talked about the such conflicts of interests between Donald Trump's personal family business interests and those of the Middle east which warp American policy. That's why when you and I talk about American policy, like, why is Trump doing that? It's always follow the money back to a family trust or business operation of Donald Trump or somebody in his family. And that will explain why that policy has just been passed, has nothing to do with what's right for the American people or what's going to benefit them or help them in their daily lives. It's only about Trump and Trump dollars. That's what. And that was what our founders were worried about. Whether you call it the mount the emoluments clause of taking money directly in order to influence American foreign policy or otherwise, that is what we are watching. That Donald Trump does not make daily decisions based on what's right for the American people in honest public service, he makes decisions based on what is right for his, Trump Incorporated and those around him.
Ben
And that's why you have these laws. That's why you have, you know, a constitution that prevents things like these emoluments and why we have laws against bribery. And when those get ignored, it also has these massive national security implications. What we're seeing play out, where one man, Donald Trump, made all of these promises that he couldn't keep, did not involve our national security apparatus because he was so interested in enriching himself that it's left the nation really, really screwed. So it has this broad. That's why we build these legal structures. And similarly, there's a reason why we don't Want people with very flawed and questionable moral character or worse, oftentimes running organizations. Right. And so we would never hire somebody who, you know, was found civilly liable for sexual assault to be a Fortune 500 CEO or run a medium sized company. I mean, would you hire someone if you knew a jury found that a person was found civilly liable for sexually assaulting a person, and then you've heard the person say, I grab women by their genitals but use the P word because I'm rich and they let me do it. Or I inspect the girls naked in beauty pageants and that's why I buy these pageants. Like, would you would hire that person to lead your organization at any size? Of course you wouldn't. And that person is leading the United States of America. And it's having a serious implication in the war, Popak, because if you look at the propaganda that's coming out from Iran, I believe it's actually effective. And one of the things they're talking about specifically in addition to the affordability crisis and never ending wars and all of the things that they're saying is they continue bring up Epstein class and Trump's connection to Epstein and Epstein Island. And one of the ways they're rallying their people in the war is basically to say, hey, you see Trump and Netanyahu in these videos they're beaming into, you know, when they hacked into the Iranian TV networks and you see Donald Trump saying he wants to pick the ayatollah. What Iran is saying, this is like they're doing videos on this popoc and you see it at their national security advisor level, their foreign minister level. You want the guy who's covering up a child sex trafficking ring who runs a cabinet of people who hang out on Epstein Island. You want these people running Iran. And so they're framing it as we may be, you may not have liked us before, but you've got Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth and all these people saying, we're gonna rain down hell and death from the sky and we're going to obliterate the entire nation. And also Trump's the Epstein guy. He's Epstein's friend. You want Epstein's friend. And so he's compromised by those connections, in my opinion, being in this leadership position. So it has these national and international implications as well. That's why Popak, in the uk, in France and these other countries, even if you were a degree or two removed from Epstein. Right. But you like made an introduction that led to an introduction that led to Epstein, these people are resigning or getting pushed out. Why? Because they're compromised on the world stage. That's also why we talk about, you know, the broader international implications of Epstein accountability for Donald Trump and his regime because it compromises us as a nation where they're just like, yeah, whatever, this is what we do. Sure. What else do you expect us to do? We're not doing anything about it. Popak, I want to talk about some of the updates there as it relates to Epstein because there are a lot of updates this week. We did a long intro there. So why don't we just take a quick first break. Let's come back. Let's talk all things Epstein. I want to talk about Judge Boasberg's ruling as well, because Judge Boasberg issued a powerful ruling against Donald Trump quashing the subpoena regarding the Federal Reserve, by
Michael Popak
the way, which almost never happens. A district court judge almost never quashes a grand jury subpoena, finding the criminal underlying investigation to be effectively fraudulent.
Ben
Unprecedented. You know, the word unprecedented sometimes feels overused, but in the Trump regime, it isn't. And it's unprecedentedly bad. Bad, bad, bad. Oh, we know. We should talk about Janine Pirro's press conference after as well. I mean, what the hell was. How bizarre was that? All right, let's take our first quick break of the show. Reminder, subscribe to the Legal AF YouTube channel. Subscribe to the Legal AF substack. Get that Legal AF YouTube channel. Two million subscribers in the next few months. I think it's possible. Let's get it there. Let's keep that Legal AF sub stack on top of the substack charts. And then also, if you or somebody knows been injured in an auto accident, car accident, trucking accident, the victim of somebody else's negligence, if you know somebody who's been injured or you know, or very badly hurt or even killed as a result of the negligence of other people, and you may be. Or corporations and you may be speaking with, like, family members of them. Go reach out to the Popoc Firm, 877- POPOCAF. Call or text 877- POPOCAF or visit thepopocfirm.com Available 24. 7. The consultation is free and they've got lawyers across the entire country. All right, let's take our first quick break of the show.
Michael Popak
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Ben
Thank you to our sponsors right there. So, Popak, give us some of the latest updates in the Epstein investigation. Obviously, we know that there have been more documents that have been coming out. The FBI has been hiding kind of critical docs regarding people who have made serious accusations as well against Donald Trump. We know that the Post and Courier of South Carolina, Charleston, where this survivor was from, the South Carolina area, they've been able to corroborate a lot of elements of the story. They weren't able to corroborate the stuff, the stuff with Trump happened in New York is what the allegations were that this survivor alleges that, you know, Trump sexually assaulted her in the New York area when Epstein brought her from South Carolina to New York. So the Post and Courier couldn't confirm any of the stuff that was in New York. What they were able to confirm, though, was a lot of the very minute details as it relates to South Carolina. There's very specific stuff. And they said all of that stuff happened and was true in the South Carolina piece in the 80s in this report. So talk about that one. Then there was another one, Popak, involving a victim who was about 16 years old. And this came out in the FBI, you know, some of the new documents that have been released after Pam Bondi was subpoenaed where when Epstein was going into his townhouse, he was getting, he called Donald Trump when he was getting a massage and sexually assaulting a survivor. A survivor alleges that Trump was on the phone when Epstein was in his townhouse right around the time she was sexually assaulted. And Epstein called Trump and like Trump was on speakerphone. And so that one came out and then you had the money man, the accountant was deposed, who gave mixed, mixed messages. Try to walk through it.
Michael Popak
Yeah, yeah. And I'm not, I don't feel sorry for Pam Bondi, but I am rubbing my hands in glee that all of this new information, including a major bombshell about the New Mexico ranch of Epstein by James Comer, of all people, that the MAGA head of the oversight committee. For a minute, I forgot what side he was on after he went on Jesse Waters and said that the, he's glad that the state officials in New Mexico are now going over with a fine tooth comb this New Mexico ranch that Epstein operated because he said that the Trump administration first time around under its Department of Justice and Bill Barr told the New Mexico officials to stop doing their investigation in 2019 of the ranch. Now, soon thereafter, they indicted Epstein. But even Comer on Jesse Waters was like, we got to get to the bottom, what's going on in that ranch? Are there dead girls buried there or not? Yeah. Are there dead girls buried there or not? And that's something. Why did the Trump administration help out Epstein by having the New Mexico officials stand down from an investigation that the feds did not take over? And that's from Jane. When on your best day, your MAGA leader is throwing you under the bus. That tells you all you need to know about Donald Trump's efforts to try to make the Epstein stain and scandal go away. This is all before Pam Bondi. She must not be in this military base that she's now living on, apparently, because now they had to move her because of threats against her. Not that she was involved with any of the military operations in Venezuela or Iran, but they apparently have to move her into a military base. She's not getting much sleep in there as she, as all of this new information comes out. So you got the New Mexico ranch information, James Comer, you got Richard Kahn, a little known guy who is the bookkeeper, estate trustee and accountant for Jeffrey Epstein. That's a nice way of saying he enabled Jeffrey Epstein's child check, a child sex trafficking ring, for years by making sure the flow of money among all the properties and the jets and the people and the gifts and everything all flowed properly. You know, kept the, kept the wheels spinning there. And of course, he tried to come off like, well, I, I only knew about his charge in 2006 in, in West Palm beach. In Palm Beach. I had no idea that I was, that he was a pedophile, really. I mean, nobody believed that. In fact, Democrats have come out and said he made contradictory and concerning statements about women who made allegations against both Epstein and Donald Trump. Look, at least one member of Congress who was in the room has said that. And again, this is behind closed doors, unfortunately. But we'll be getting the transcript one day. Khan said that out of the victim survivor fund that Epstein created, or the estate created $120 million, at least one person who made accusations against Donald Trump was paid off. So we're gonna have to wait to get our hands on that transcript. But at least one person who sat through the testimony, took that down as a note and put it up on his social media platform. So you've got the accountant the money man who may or may, may or may not have lied to Congress about his true knowledge. You've got this Jane Doe number four that you referenced, who has accused the President of abuse. I think that ties back to somebody who's at the time 13 years old that claimed that Donald Trump tried to force her to commit oral sex on him. She bit him and then he assaulted her. Now, I've always said the following and I think this is consistent with the Midas touch and legal AF channels. I don't know if that's true or not, but you all. Who also doesn't know if that's true or not? The FBI, the Department of justice, because they refuse to conduct any investigations. How is it there are 1200 victims, including one of my clients, Lisa Phillips. How is there 1200 victims acknowledged victims of a child sex trafficking crime ring that has brought down 40 to 50 people worldwide, including a member of the Royal Family. And there's not one known investigation or prosecution of anybody in the United States by the Department of Justice. Not one. What does that tell you about the corruption of the Department of Justice, its capture by Donald Trump, its complete lack of independence? Why isn't there a special counsel that's been appointed to go over the 3 million or 8 million or whatever pages there are of the, of the Epstein files to bring the predators to justice? Why? Because we have a predator in chief who's in the Oval Office and who runs and controls the Department of Justice. This is why Pam Bondi's being dragged back in, I'm sure kicking and screaming. There's no burn book that's going to get her out of this one. About her cover up of the Epstein files and why there's no prosecutions of anybody that would, that has been implicated by it. Yeah, we heard from the accountant, the Five, the Five, the Rothschilds and the Lex Westers of the world and the, and the Leon blocks that gave Epstein billions and billions and billions of dollars. And maybe the connections between Epstein and Russia. Right. And then we had new reporting. Get this one. It says a lot about an administration when a cyber hacker has more morals than our own administration. Apparently in 2023, a cyber hacker, not knowing he was breaking into the FBI, broke into the FBI Epstein database. Got to see things that you and I and the public haven't been able to see, including disgusting photos related to child pornography. In the words of the cyber hacker, the cyber hacker was going to go public thinking he had broken into a, a pedophile's database. The FBI, apparently in New York had to get on with the cyber hacker, convince them by flashing their badges that they were the FBI and that he had broken into a criminal database of theirs. The fact that he was repulsed or she was repulsed, the cyber hacker. And yet no one in our government led by Donald Trump seems to be equally repulsed or feel that they have the duty to justice in the American people. To go after those that created those pictures that were, participated in those events is just depraved. And this is what America, this is why America is rejecting the Trump administration and why we are winning or why the Democrats are winning in race after race after race. It is this the indelible stain of the Epstein scandal, which is not the only sex scandal going on in the Trump administration. You got one over at labor. You had one with Kristi Noem over at Homeland Security. You got Donald Trump and everything he does. And then you've got the Epstein matter and what it means in terms of the lack of character and fitness for those that serve in this government. And that is the reason why that the other party, the party out of power, is winning 90% out of 280 races that have happened since the beginning of the Trump administration. They've won 90% of them. Okay. Or they've overperformed in 90% of them. They're 28 and oh, in flipping seats, including in weird places. It could be 29 and 0, including the northern Northwest district in Georgia that Marjorie Taylor Greene. But this is why, because America will tolerate a lot, but they won't tolerate a heartless president and they won't tolerate a corrupt, morally bankrupt president. And that's what we're watching as, as Pam. I don't even know. When does Pam Bondi come in for that hearing?
Ben
Whenever they let her out of the military bunker. You know, it's unclear. She's supposed to be deposed pretty soon, but, you know, I bet you that she'll do everything and anything in her power to delay that. That's, that's for sure. Let's, let's just turn to what's going on with Judge Boasberg. Everybody remember Judge Boasberg and the intersection, as you like to say, of law and politics. But the intersection of law and politics here is Judge Boasberg and the intersection of law and criminality and Donald Trump seeking retribution against the chair of the Federal Reserve. So Popak, what went down here as Donald Trump was impaneled this grand jury basically to gin up criminal charges against the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, and this case was in front of Judge Boasberg. Tell us why, how Judge Boseberg got this case in Washington D.C. and then what did Judge Boasberg rule?
Michael Popak
Yeah, and the reason we're just talking about it now is you don't generally know about what's happening in grand juries because they, there is a, there's a level of secrecy that goes around them to protect the innocent, to protect people that have not yet been charged. You're not supposed to know, although the government often leaks that somebody's a target of an investigation here, they purposely leaked that Jerome Powell, particularly as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was a target of a criminal investigation, presumably about him making a statement about the renovation of two buildings that are 100 years old that make up the Federal Reserve complex in, in Washington D.C. and it's in a response to a question by Senator Tim Scott in which he honestly said there are no opulent golden ballrooms or dining rooms or private elevators. We've kind of re engineered the project to save money. And this is the project, but the project to take 200 year old buildings with asbestos and old elevators and old H VAC systems and something called Covid that impacted the global logistics related to a building material and something called Donald Trump's tariffs that did the exact same thing. There's no Wonder it's a 50% or more cost overrun in developing. It doesn't make it criminal any more than Donald Trump's ballroom going up 50%. It makes him. Well, maybe in his case it does. In any event, Trump has been very public, as has everybody in his administration, that he wants Jerome Powell to cut interest rates to save the Trump failed economic policies. Because who doesn't want cheap money firing out of a fire hose when your own economy is on the skids? So, and that is the problem even recognized by economists that worked for Donald Trump. You never want the guy in power, the person in power who already controls fiscal economic policy, to also get his greedy little dirty hands on the monetary policy and turn on the spigot of US Money and have cheap dollars prop up artificially the economy, which would lead to inflation going. You think it's high now. You think 3.3% year over year at the supermarket. And I think it's higher than that is bad. Now wait till you see what happens when the, when he starts lowering interest rates or is able to below 2% and money starts flying out. Cheap money starts flying out into the economy and then he's out of office. Right midterm and beyond. And we're stuck with hyperinflation that the next presidency has to fix. Much like Obama having to fix what happened with Bush, much like Biden having to fix to fix what happened with Trump. It's always a Democrat cleaning up behind the. The elephant, right? Literally having to fix the economy. Biden, Obama inherited such a terrible economy. We almost lost the auto industry and the banking industry at the same time. Biden comes in after Covid, has to restart the heart of the American economy with several trillion dollars of public money in order to save the economy. Okay? And Trump is the beneficiary of all of that. Right now. He's got no job creation. He's got zero. He's got a GDP that a manufacturing sector in America that's slowing to a crawl. He's killed the family farms. Tens of thousands of them have closed. Manufacturing is the one that has lost the most jobs, even under his tariffs to bring home manufacturing. Right. And so he wants cheap money. He keeps beating up Jerome Powell, who is one. But a big vote on the Federal Open Markets Committee that sets interest rates on a monthly basis, generally based on. They have two goals at the Fed. Independent Fed, Right. Try to create as much jobs as they can in the economy while keeping inflation low. And those sometimes are difficult to do at the same time. And they calibrate with the only tool they really have, which is interest rates. They calibrate how to keep job creation, job growth going, while also making sure we don't have hyperinflation. Well, Trump doesn't like it. He doesn't like the seven votes. And he's always wanted to have cheap money. So he's been bashing the guy that he appointed to the Federal Reserve back in the first term, Jay Powell, who, by the way, his chairmanship is up in May. He stays on the board, but his chairmanship is up in May. But he wanted to. So he said, well, how can I get rid of him? Well, why don't we do. Why don't we try, like what we're doing with Lisa Cook, who's on the Federal Reserve. We'll accuse her of a crime. Yeah, that's it. And we'll embarrass. He's a modest man. He'll be embarrassed. He'll resign, won't he? No. So they went and tried to figure out whether the cost overrun on the Fed was a crime or not, which is ridiculous. So when Jay Powell doesn't budge and interest rates aren't being cut by this 7 at the speed at which Donald Trump wants, and Donald Trump's bashing constantly of Jay Powell. He's an idiot, he's a dummy, he's a moron. He's cost the American people billions of dollars. That's very self. That sounds like Donald Trump talking about himself. But over and over and over again, when that didn't work, he had Jeanine Pirro, his political ally and the U.S. attorney in D.C. open a criminal probe investigation against Jay Powell around the holidays. And apparently it went to a grand jury. And they got a couple of subpoenas from the grand jury to get all of the construction records related to the Federal Reserve's construction project. Now, as pointed out by Jeb Boasberg, the judge who as the Chief Judge in D.C. is responsible for all grand jury proceedings, okay, but it's very rare for a judge to be asked to quash subpoenas based on improper purpose, basically calling out the Department of Justice as being corrupt. So even Jeb Boasberg said there is an Office of Inspector General that is responsible for reviewing whether there is fraud or crimes related to the construction project. And yet there's no evidence. So the Fed Reserve NJ Powell, unbeknownst to us, because it was sealed, brought a motion to quash the subpoenas issued by Jeanine Pirro's grand jury and to end this folly. And Jeb Boasberg, who is the chief judge and also no stranger to the Trump administration, they've already been brought a judicial complaint against them that got rejected. He, he moved to find them in criminal contempt twice related to their taking human beings to El Salvador and the torture prison prisons there over, over court order without due process. And, but he's the chief judge. And so he had to make a ruling. He unsealed all the papers so the public would know and he issued this memorandum opinion. And as you said, the first paragraph is not the judge commentary or ruling. It's just line after line of Donald Trump through social media posts bashing Jay Powell in order to change policy, to change interest rates. There it is right there. And we have it posted on legalif Substack as well. And he says, and when social media posts fail to cut rates, Donald Trump went to plan B, which is, which is what he's done as, as the judge pointed out to other political critics like James Comey, the FBI, former FBI director, Letitia James, Attorney General, New York, Adam Schiff, the senator from your home state of California. And now he turned Jeanine Pirro on to go after and sic the dogs on Jay Powell. And the judge says, what I got to look at is whether this was for a predominantly for an improper purpose to bring these subpoenas to try to influence policy and get him to resign or lower interest rates. And he's, that's, I love that line. And Boasberg concludes that there is a mountain of evidence, his words, that indicate that this is about Donald Trump trying to get Jay Powell to resign and that there is no credible evidence that of any crime in the cost overruns related to the renovation of those two buildings. In fact, he says in the, in the second to last page of his order is I gave the government the opportunity to show just me in camera. It's called an in camera or ex part, in camera review. Show me what? Show me the goods. You got more evidence that demonstrates that I'm not aware of, that demonstrates the criminality, the probable cause for criminality. Show it to me. And, and he says, and the Department of Justice in past cases has taken him up on that offer. He says in the hearing they, they refused and post hearing, they never submitted anything to show that they had any evidence whatsoever to support a criminal case against Jeff, against Jay Powell. This should subject to what we'll show a clip here from Jeanine Pirro's response, crazy response. But if this is the end of the subpoenas, this should be the end of the criminal case subject to an appeal. They'll argue that the judge is interfering with the executive branch's investigative function as the prosecutor. We'll see a whole appeal up to the D.C. court of Appeals again. But this should, for now, give Donald Trump an exit strategy because he can't get his Federal Reserve next pick who, who he also wants to make the chairperson. He can't get it through the Senate confirmation process because Tom Tillis, the outgoing North Carolina senator, has said he is not going to vote for the new Fed chair or even the guy coming onto the board at all until the cloud over the Federal Reserve and Jay Powell is lifted. Now, if Donald Trump's smart, he'll take this, he'll go, well, I wanted to, but a judge won't let me. And then get his guy confirmed and make him the Fed chair in May. But Donald Trump, we know he's not. What do you think he's going to do next, Ben?
Ben
I don't think he has a plan. I don't think there's, I mean, the thing about all of this, and let's connect it back to the war. He has no plan for everything, for anything. And this has been his entire M.O. his entire life. And so I think that Tillis is someone who, while I disagree with him a lot on things, when he says he's going to do something, he's going to put the hold on and he's not going to confirm Donald Trump's new pick. And then Donald Trump's what? He's going to start attacking Tillis. They'll probably launch a criminal investigation into Tillis. Right. Like he'll make the world. Like he'll make the worst possible decision. He'll turn a bad decision into a devastating decision, into a catastrophe, into a bankruptcy. This all follows the same exact pattern. I mean, look who he surrounds himself to. Do we have the. Let's just play the clip of Pyora right now. I mean, this is his crew Popac here. Let's play it.
Jeanine Pirro
Oh, cut it out. Do you know how many convictions we've got? Cut it out. You're in one lane. We have cleaned up this city. Yeah. Historic, really. I'll tell you what's historic. What's historic is that I prosecute everything other than 10% of the cases where the United States attorney before me didn't prosecute 67% of it. The cases. That's what's historic. I'm willing to take a not guilty. I'm willing to take a no true bill because I'll take all the crimes and put them in. Thank you.
Ben
Thank you. That's all the time we have. I mean, think about that. That's who's on his team right there. That's Piro.
Judge Michael Ludig
That's.
Ben
That's who he surrounds himself with. And so, you know, the short of it is Donald Trump will continue to try to appeal. It'll go to the Supreme Court. Then he'll whine that his pick as the federal chair is not going to be there. The economy's already continue to crash because of the disastrous war. We're not going to have a pick for the Federal Reserve. That's what's going to happen. Popak. It seems pretty evident that that's where it's going to go. Let's talk more about it when we come back from our last quick break of the show. A reminder, everybody, make sure you hit subscribe on Michael Popak's YouTube channel, the Legal AF YouTube channel. Let's get it to million subscribers. Also subscribe to Popox Legal AF substack. Let's keep growing that substack community there. If you want to subscribe to our YouTube channel here, you can. We'd love for you to do that. But make sure you subscribe to the legal AF ones for sure. And then also make sure if you or someone you know have been injured in a car accident trucking accident caused by the negligence of others. If you know someone who's been injured or seriously hurt, or if you know a family that may have lost a loved one due to the negligence of others, reach out to Popa. Call or text 877- POPAK or visit thepopoc firm.com They've got lawyers across the country who are here to help you out. 877- POPOC or visit the popoc firm.com they're available 24 7. The consultation is free right? Let's take our last quick break of the show. We'll be right back. We've got a lot more to discuss.
Michael Popak
Well, I was getting ready to talk about the news and politics today and my cat Chanel decided she was the headline. She doesn't care about politics, but she has extremely strong opinions about her food. If this show ever runs late, it's because she refuses to let me talk about law and politics until her Smalls cat food is handled first. It's 2026. Do you still feed your cat like it's 1926? This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. Smalls is protein packed cat food made with preservative free ingredients you'd actually recognize, delivered right to your door. And cats.com named Smalls their best overall cat food. Last time I fed my cat Smalls, she destroyed the bowl and followed me around like I changed her life. I even did a legit taste test. No, not that kind. Two bowls side by side and she immediately chose Smalls. Her fur is softer, her breath is better, and she honestly handles the news better than I do. And Smalls is so confident your cat will love it, you can try it risk free. They'll refund you if your cat won't eat it. Make 2026 your cat's healthiest year yet for a limited time because you are a Legal AF listener. Get 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com legal af one last time. That's 60% off your first order plus Free Shipping when you head to smalls.Com legalaf legal af is brought to you by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The First Amendment isn't ambiguous and it isn't optional. It's clear government may not establish religion and it may not favor one belief system over another. But across the country, lawmakers and public officials are testing those limits, pushing prayer into public schools, carving out religious exemptions that undermine civil rights and blurring the line between church and state in ways the Constitution accepts expressly forbids. That's where the Freedom From Religion foundation comes in. FFRF is a national nonprofit that uses education, advocacy and the law to hold government accountable when it crosses that line, protecting the rights of believers and non believers alike. Because religious freedom doesn't mean government endorsed religion. It means freedom of conscience for everyone. If you care about the Constitution, the rule of law, and a government that works for all of us, not just the loudest or most powerful, now is the time to act. Visit FFRF US newyear or text the word legal AF to 511511 to learn more and join, go to FFRF US newyear or Text legal AF to 511511 and help protect our country that belongs to all of us. Go to FFRF US newyear or text legal AF to 511511 today. Message and data rates may apply.
Ben
Welcome back to Legal af. Thank you to all of our incredible sponsors. The discount codes for those sponsors are in the description below. Jordi and Popak spend a lot of time vetting and going through those sponsors, making sure that they are sponsors that we think that you'll like. So check them out if you can and support them. They support our show. Right? Let's get into it. Popak here. So, you know, you saw Judge Boasberg's scathing ruling and as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, as Donald Trump gets weaker abroad, weaker here, you know, you finally are starting to see a lot of judges, you know, really speak out in the most forceful of terms that you never would really think that they'd be talking about a United States president, even one as diminished, as disgusting as Donald Trump. They're basically using, finally the language of Legal af, you know, whereas, you know, a few people may have accused us of being hyperbolic. I just said we're described, we are painting the picture of what's actually happening. And if the, and in fact the words that I use and you use sometimes in the titles or in our intros, frankly, don't do it justice, there, there needs to be, you know, the words don't fit the moment sometime at all because Trump is truly this, this rogue, horrible, disgusting actor. So even as I do it right there, I'm like, how do I describe someone who so doesn't belong in this position, who frankly belongs behind bars, who's bringing our nation into this, you know, this, this, this horrific situation, or who's brought us there so Popak, talk to two topics before we, before we go. One, current judges speaking out. What types of things are they saying? Number two, tick tock updates there. You know, I know maybe people's attention, you know, is, is not necessarily focused on, on that one, but I think it's an important one to discuss.
Michael Popak
Yeah. Yeah, thanks, Ben. I don't know what the opposite of hyperbolic is. Is it bollock? I think, I think at best we've been bolic and yeah, it's. Stay on that for a minute. It been hard for independent media like us for commentary where the only thing that goes into our analysis is our own research and thought process. And sometimes you and I bouncing some ideas around with each other about what we're observing and then trying to communicate that the way you and I have in our past careers as successful trial lawyers and how to communicate that to an audience, an educated audience that's concerned of patriot made up of patriots. And to do it in a way that, that transmits the import and the historic nature and to, of, of the event without being accused of being clickbaity or hyperbolic. I mean, when I said, leading into the Bozberg discussion today, that district court judges quashing subpoenas because of finding that there's a Department of justice criminal investigation that is not in good faith is remarkable and it is unheard of. And so when we talk about it, I don't want people to think because it's just another segment on legal AF or another hot take that Pope Bucker or Ben made, that it's part, it's just par for, it is par for the course, but that it's normal because we can't lose that. The, the, the, the understanding or try to put it into a context that what we are watching with is an abnormal aberrational presidency and relationship with the Department of Justice and the American people. And we shouldn't allow Trump to, to gaslight us into convincing us that what we're watching is normal politics, Politics as usual. It's not. It's criminality as usual, but it isn't. And we shouldn't accept it and, and allow him to patronize, patronize us, talk down to us and demean the American people. He, he already calls the American people fools if literally, if they don't agree with his Iranian policy or oil pricing or impact on their pocketbook. Sure. Because he's in a, he's in a trillion dollar cocoon of his own making. You know, wait till you see the final tally of how much the Trump family and Donald Trump and those around him will have made by the time they leave office. I mean, we were aghast when we, when we learned that Jared Kushner and Ivanka made $700 million while they were in office the first time around. Those numbers are good. That's a rounding error. That's chump change to what the family is going to make now. We're talking hundreds of billions of dollars, dictator level dollars of kleptocracy and corruption. And how do we put that into words? So I will take it on the chin for those that think all we're trying to do is calibrate and to use the appropriate vocabulary and adjectives to demonstrate what's going on here. So when I talk about this next segment about current federal judges, not even X, it's one thing for former judges like Judge Ludic, who I just interviewed. I have a great interview up on Legal AF YouTube right now, this morning. It's one thing for Judge Ludig or Judge Wolf who leaves the who leaves the Massachusetts bench to become an opponent of the Trump administration. It's quite another for current active presiding federal judges, appellate and district court level, to not only write in their opinions such scathing rebukes against the Trump administration, citing too our founders, our framers, the Federalist Papers, the inaugural speech or the farewell address of George Washington, lyrics by Bob Dylan, you name it, they're like we are. They're struggling to try to communicate to the American people how aberrational, how unpatriotic, how illegal and unconstitutional what we're watching really is. And so I've said it, and I said it in my interview with judge ludic. My 35 years of reading thousands of court decisions, I've never seen a judiciary, especially in the second year of this administration, use the vocabulary and the language and the citations the way they are doing it now against the Trump administration. But not just in their writings. Here's, here's something else unheard of. The American Bar association has, which is one of the which is the leading national bar association, voluntary. I mean, you join it. I joined it from the day I left law school and I've been a member ever since. But the American Bar association has these conferences. They're devoted to subspecialties within the law. Usually there's one in San Francisco for the white collar Criminal Defense bar. And just the other day, three judges, an appellate judge on the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, federal, a Nevada trial judge, court judge and a California trial court judge federal got together and talked about, effectively, the depravity of the Trump administration and the Department of Justice while they're still presiding judges. You know, we thought it was remarkable. Gatanji Brown Jackson, during Law Day last year or even now, has publicly said during meetings or conferences or Sotomayor has done the same thing, attacking in their own polite way, the fellow justices on the Supreme Court in real time, in real life about things that are happening in the court. But to hear federal judges now kind of getting their groove back, having been flummoxed, having been dropped to the canvas and looking for their teeth after the first year of the Trump administration, they're getting their groove back. And as I joke with Judge Ludick, they're finally waking up to realize that they are federal judges and they have the power and they shouldn't be concerned about phony judicial complaints against them being brought by the Trump administration or, you know, other attacks on their character or their family's character. They've got to do what's right under their oath for the American people. In fact, here's Judge Ludig, who has become, who's gone from, think about his evolution. He's gone from rock rib Republican, not maga, conservative icon like on the Mount Rushmore of conservative icons, who Mike Pence consulted with to save our democracy. To make Mike Pence certify that election on January 2020, it's because Judge Ludig told him he needs to certify the electoral win for Biden of the, of the electoral count, that, okay, former fourth Circuit Court of Appeals judge. He should, he should have been the right now the Supreme Court chief justice over John Roberts. He was that close to getting the job. And now he's, he's not only a constitutionalist, but he is going out on a regular basis attacking the Trump administration, calling it out for being lawless and unconstitutional, attacking and criticizing the United States Supreme Court. He has, he has said in the past that everybody needs to vote Democrat. I mean, if you would have told me, Michael Ludig would have told me that I got to vote Democrat to save democracy. And he said, this is a turning point, the way the Revolutionary War was a turning point about our resecuring our liberty. Here's a, here's a clip from my interview with Michael Ludig.
Judge Michael Ludig
Every single lower federal court judge has honored his or her oath to the Constitution of the United States, to the letter, honored their oath. And in almost every single instance, those judges collectively have struck down as unconstitutional, essentially every single initiative of this present as the Constitution required them to do so. That today the. The only. Well, today the only people who can save America are the lower federal court judges of the United States of America. And they are determined to do so simply by honoring their oath in every one of these cases now, of which there are hundreds, every single time Donald Trump opens his mouth or takes an action, the American people are forced to go into court and litigate it. That's the tragic place that America finds itself in today. But to complete the thought, at this point, it is only the Supreme Court of the United States that is standing in the way of the American people saving their country.
Michael Popak
So when you put this all together, what are we watching? At least since February, at least in the last month, federal judges are rising up and grabbing torches and pitchforks and realizing that they have a job to do and they've got to do it now. And they're speaking out in court cases and court rulings, speaking to us, the parties, the litigants, and history and the future and future generations. And they're doing it in conferences and meetings. And that is encouraging because without the district court judges and the appellate court judges below the United States Supreme Court doing their job, which is basically the justice that most of us are entitled to, then all hope is lost for our democracy. And just a final wrap on Ludic. Ludic has joined with 175 other judges, former judges, to file a brief with the United States Supreme Court attacking and criticizing their continued use of the shadow docket to benefit Donald Trump and his policies. Enough. And then use the shadow docket, which is effectively not your normal appellate process. It's not your, you know, three briefs, three legal memoranda, oral argument, full record developed below. No, now it's two briefs, no oral argument, 48 hours worth of deliberation, and a ruling, allegedly not on the merits, only on procedure, but it really is on the merits. And then use that literally, one paragraph or less of a ruling, not the normal 50 or 100 pages of a Supreme Court decision, but use that paragraph as the Supreme Court to chastise lower court judges who didn't follow the precedent of that one paragraph. And Judge Ludig, who I think wrote the brief, he wouldn't admit it during my interview, but he got awful close, is telling the Supreme Court, you can't do that to the district court level. You want to give them guidance and write a proper opinion, but you can't point to a one line or a one paragraph and say, why didn't you follow? Because you didn't give us any rationale because you didn't give us any logic, you didn't give us any guidelines. And it's important now to finally take on the shadow docket. And now you see 175 former judges joining together to go and effectively attack the United States Supreme Court. All very, very, very important. So I wanted to, as Ben, as you might have guessed, had to depart to go handle something really important for the Midas touch and the channel. Not more important than the podcast, but certainly this evening something that he had to attend. And I told him just go and I will, I will do the wrap. Let me talk about TikTok, not from the who gives a crap about that platform standpoint, but from a money laundering, extortion, bribery scheme that may be part of what we're watching. Let me explain. TikTok was banned from the United States by law of Congress, supported by the United States Supreme Court because of its propensity, controlled by the Chinese government to spy on Americans. I know everybody loves TikTok, right? I love all the little dances and ice, ice box, ice bucket challenges or whatever else is going on these days. But at the end, it's also accumulating a lot of algorithmic and other data that lands in the hands of the Chinese. And that was all outlined and Biden signed the law, Congress passed the law. Trump had been in favor of the law until a buddy of his at a company called Susquehanna Investments said, I have a big investment in ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, and you know, you should really reconsider. And then Trump started using TikTok to try to get elected. And suddenly Donald Trump became a big lover of TikTok. But here's what happened. Since Trump decided he was going to use the TikTok sale to a non Chinese set of entities as a way to extort money and maybe, follow my logic, maybe use it as a slush fund through a sovereign wealth fund that he's been dying to create since February of 2025, which would give him billions and billions of dollars to use without congressional oversight and funded by a 10 billion dollar payment that apparently is being made or has been made by the buyers of TikTok. Now let's look at the buyers of TikTok for a minute because they're all in bed with Donald Trump and his companies, Oracle. Larry Ellison, big Trump supporter. His son owns Paramount, Skydance, which owns cbs, which is about to acquire Warner Brothers, which owns cnn. So CNN and CBS are going to be maga right wing under the Ellison family. Ellison Family's reward for that or payment to Donald Trump is a $10 billion contribution payment to the Trump administration for letting them buy TikTok. Why is that so obscene? And really shows you there's a possible extortion or bribery pay to play going on here is because the $10 billion represents 70% of the value of TikTok. Yes. J.D. vance, who is responsible for brokering the deal, declared that the the deal's enterprise value is 14 billion. So let me get this straight. Larry Ellison MGX, which is controlled by the the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf states and Susquehanna, which is controlled by a friend of Donald Trump's that's also in business with him. In truth, social media and MGX owns 49% of Donald Trump's cryptocurrency company. They're going to pay a 70% fee 10 billion of a $14 billion deal into the government. For what reason? Because Donald Trump obviously told them, you want to be in business with me on the crypto thing, you want to be in business with me, you want, you want cnn, you want to be in business with me. In truth, social, you got to pay a $10 billion fee into the government. This parallel to this Jared Kushner son in law in chief who said in 2024 that he was not going to raise money in the second Trump administration because of the ethics conflicts, is now suddenly changed course. And while he's the Middle Eastern envoy screwing up the Iranian war and intel is busy raising $5 billion for his private equity firm, he has no experience in private equity, by the way, from the same Middle Eastern Gulf state partners that are involved in TikTok and that are part of the Iranian war and the Iranian war solution. The Trump family benefiting from foreign policy led by Donald Trump. Donald Trump extorting a $10 billion payment representing 70% of the cost of the value of TikTok from his friends and buddies that he's in business with, including the United Arab Emirates, in order to do what with it? If anybody thinks that's just going to sit on the ledger of the general treasury as a deposit, you got another thing coming. Because one of the things the Democrats are going to have to do now, not wait for midterms, is figure out where the $10 billion is and where it's going. My working theory is that the sovereign wealth fund that Donald Trump has been itching to create, which would give him a fund of money that he is the President alone can control, much like his peace board and the money generated there, the billion dollar entry fee for the peace Board also under Donald Trump's control sovereign fund funded by Things like a $10 billion fee, exorbitant fee for TikTok, then goes into the slush fund without congressional oversight that Donald Trump can keep doling out to people in his life, businesses that he's related to or others that he wants to curry favor with a giant carrot he can use to encourage some some conduct some transaction that he's in favor of. That's what I believe. We're we're watching in slow motion. I'll continue to follow it where here on Legal af. I'm glad everybody has joined us. Great news about Legal AF and the Midas Touch Network. Legal AF regularly in the top 50, sometimes in the top 30 of all YouTube podcasts. That is a puts a chill down my spine. It's such an honor. We're so blessed to have our audience supporting us in that way. Legal af, of course, also up on audio podcasts on Google, Spotify, Apple and all the rest. We're regularly in the top 50 to 100 of of news podcasts there as well. We're up for a Webby Award for best for best podcast. So many ways to Support the Legal AF ecosystem of which Legal AF, the YouTube channel is a major part of. I'm the editor in chief there. I curate everything related to the YouTube channel. With your help, we're going to cross 1.1 million subscribers hopefully this weekend on our way to 2 million in 2026. The importance of it so you don't think it's ego because it's not at all. It's it gives us the street credibility to bring on the Judge Ludigs. This week alone I had Representative Mary Gay Scanlon from from Pennsylvania, who's on the House Judiciary Committee. We have authors, we have senators, we have judges, of course, our own amazing commentators and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward, All Rise News, Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz on Court of History. Four podcasts that are all part of that Legal AF community or ecosystem. And your membership, which is you can be unpaid, just hit the subscribe button. Really helps go a long way to keep us on the air and as a vote for this type of content and if you can swing a paid membership, we've got that available to you too. The other there, there we go. The other major part of our of our ecosystem that I manage is the Legal AF substack. What an amazing if you don't know about substack, go check it out anything in your life that you have an interest in, a hobby, a a side gig, an interest. You're going to find it on substack, somebody writing and doing amazing content related to that thing that you really enjoy. And if your thing is law and politics, legal AF substack, probably the best place under one pane of glass to learn about law and politics. You're going to find all the resource material that I use and others use to prepare the filings in courts. You can read them for yourself. We've got two lives a day that I try to do about rapid developments in the cases and update you in the cases. We'll get a couple thousand people at lunchtime or in the evening together to talk about that. Talk about that issue with me. Literally talk to me in talk back in, in chat that I'm able to handle and all of that. And then finally, as for our legal AF community, I formed the Popoc firm a couple of years ago. It's dedicated to helping people in the area of personal injury, catastrophic illness, medical malpractice, even employment law. We got some great things going on in expansions in those relationships. We're about to announce our deal with Survivor Strategies, a group out of California that's going to focus on sex abuse victims and getting them the help and legal help that they need in collaboration with Survivor Strategies. More to come on that hopefully we'll be able to announce the 1, 800 number and the website related to all that. But that is also in the works and we thank each and every one of you for being such a fervent supporter and part of our audience. Many of you have been here. Some of you have been here from the very, very beginning almost six years ago. Some of you are new today, but we have something in common. We vibrate on the same frequency. We believe injustice in a brand of patriotism that's missing in the White House. And we believe that in learning together, in speaking truth to each other, we will ultimately regain control. Re secure our liberty and run the bastards out. Starting at the midterms, I'm Michael Popak. Shout out to the Midas mighty and the legal A effers. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With usaa, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply.
Ben
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Ben
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Michael Popak
I don't know if you knew this,
Ben
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Michael Popak
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Hosted by Ben Meiselas, Michael Popok, and featuring legal insight from Karen Friedman Agnifilo, this episode dives deep into the extraordinary legal and political fallout of the second Trump administration. Major topics include new developments in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation (and its links to Donald Trump), the ongoing war in Iran and the Middle East, judicial pushback against Trump administration overreach, explosive court decisions around Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and the emerging TikTok/ByteDance controversy with suggestions of corruption at the highest levels.
Throughout, the tone is passionate, advocacy-driven, and deeply critical of the Trump administration, with the hosts emphasizing the unprecedented legal and moral challenges facing the country.
This Legal AF episode provides a comprehensive, critical examination of the Trump administration’s compounding legal, political, and ethical crises—a country caught between an escalating international war, evidence of systematic corruption and legal stonewalling, and an awakening judiciary ready to push back. Hosts repeatedly draw modern and historical parallels, emphasizing the unprecedented and aberrational nature of current events. The urgency: legal accountability, vigilance, and continued reporting are essential not only for legal reforms but for the restoration of American democracy itself.