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- [00:00]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
hey everybody lady luck here and we're celebrating america's two hundred fiftieth birthday now all summer long i'm going to be celebrating by playing on spinquest dot com which is an american owned social casino it obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack live craps live
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Michael Popak
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Karen Freeman Agnifilo
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- [00:25]
Cory Booker
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- [00:29]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
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- [01:01]
Michael Popak
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- [01:18]
Cory Booker
to credit approval five percent can't be
- [01:20]
Michael Popak
combined with any other offer exclusions and restrictions apply points subject to loyalty terms at lowe's dot com terms and credit reward terms at synchrony dot com mlpra terms visit lowe's dot legal af at the midweek is back and we just completed day one of todd blanche's confirmation hearing and moving on to day two one hundred fifty zero zero zero people watched it on legal af youtube and i you know in kicking this around with karen there's other things to cover there's a couple of other stories that are interesting but what is more interesting to our audience than what at least twelve democratic senators and a couple of republican senators did in the judiciary committee today about one of the highest positions in law enforcement in the country i mean donald trump considers himself to be at the top of that apex but you know the attorney general matters and especially when the former attorney the the attorney general is the former criminal defense lawyer for donald trump and we are so fortunate to have senator cory booker joining us in about ten or fifteen minutes hang in there not only one of the twelve democrats but was so in insightful and so unrelenting in his questioning of todd blanche and at one point todd blanche literally gasped for air and said you don't even let me answer man you know some of these questions we don't need the answers to because we're making a broader point about the unfitness of todd blanche and so we're so fortunate to have cory booker join us here let's bring in karen friedman agnifolo hi karen hi popak how are you i'm doing great mall energized by what went down today let's talk about the stakes right now it's twelve twelve an evenly divided senate judiciary committee that'll be fixed when the senate republicans get around to filling lindsey graham's seat they didn't let that delay the hearing so democrats went and the republicans went most of them wasted our time and threw softballs or try to make todd blanche laugh about going after jack smith or whatever maga thinks is funny or go after joe biden that's always a good one no one though replaced the gravitas the lion that was lindsey graham in turn on the republican side i thought ted cruz would take a shot at it but no he was busy doing other things like talking about joe biden day two is tomorrow that will be up on legal af youtube alive tab as well i'll do the morning introduction at about eight forty five eastern time and then we go right gavel to gavel and that's going to be time for witnesses the senate the senate democrats have announced they're going to have danny bensky who's an epstein survivor and leader i've interviewed danny before in fact she's coming on with me next week and liz oyer the pardon lawyer liz oyer who's also going to be testifying we don't know it's amazing we don't know these things we don't know who the republicans are going to be putting on on behalf of todd blanche so karen i know you're a voracious consumer of all things confirmation hearings what was your sort of what was your big picture what was your personal takeaway by what you observed on with blanche the democrats and the republicans yeah with blanche
- [04:51]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
look it seemed pretty clear that he's going to be confirmed he on paper is eminently more qualified than so many other cabinet members right you know he's a former member of the southern district of new york by all accounts he was a well respected prosecutor back in the day and the republicans made sure to really kind of tout that background and to really prop him up and some republicans were just thanking him for his service and going on about all the great things he's done and every time a democrat would question him and start to get somewhere by asking some really important and hard questions that that weren't just performative right they were actual questions that people want to know about in particular his independence right his independence from the president and doing the right thing for the right reasons and at one point there was a slip up and he said when i think it was senator kennedy who was a republican asked him a friendly question and tried to say oh are you friends with donald trump we have the clip why
- [06:00]
Michael Popak
don't we play the clip yeah go ahead let's play the clip
- [06:08]
Cory Booker
are you and president trump friends i'm his lawyer was his lawyer and now i'm the deputy attorney general so i met him as his criminal defense well that's a
- [06:20]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
freudian slip yeah it was a freudian slip but it's really the whole point one of the major points of this hearing is is the problem is not you know were you a great prosecutor but are you going to be able to be independent and make the right calls here and i think that slip up was a little bit of a window into really the truth which is you can't even if you wanted to be independent you can't be under this administration but it was a little performative just generally because every time he'd get some hard questioning senator grassley would then when the questioning was over i'm going to read into the record now like cory booker senator booker who we're so lucky is going to be here today tonight and talk to us is from the state of new jersey after he finished questioning senator grassley has a letter from all the newark new jersey police officers and he reads it into the record about how great todd blanche is and how great he is for law enforcement and they would have these letters that they would read into the record every single time there was any kind of difficult questioning and so it just felt very like it wasn't a real hearing to try to get some real answers even especially the republicans because they were really trying to to i think make sure that this sailed through no
- [07:41]
Michael Popak
matter what yeah look on the let's talk about the math blanche does not have the luxury of losing any votes he loses one vote in that thirteen to twelve when lindsey graham seat is filled i don't mean his seat for the the senate that's his sister got that i mean the seat on the judiciary committee he if he loses cornyn texan who still says he has grave doubts about todd blanch after hearing his testimony and meeting with him separately that's the guy that donald trump went after as a rhino as a republican in name only and and backed ken paxton in texas and he's not coming back to the senate so he's got nothing left to lose tom tillis hard to tell with tom tellis thom tells said election denier is never going to be you know my nominee and he has big concerns about the jan sixth anti weaponization fund but you're not quite he's not coming back to the senate either after this term you're not quite sure where where they're going to fit either but you got to start picking off somebody and that's what people like corey senator booker senator blumenthal senator whitehouse senator klobuchar you know senator coons they're working the refs they're working their republican colleagues to try to make make them pay a price if they if they support todd blanche that and set up todd blanche for future impeachment proceedings when he lies under oath about something today i think those were the twin goals of the democrats try to get try to manufacture a vote that that peels away from the republican caucus and votes with the democrats just one they just need one in fact i like the way that senator booker from my home state of new jersey used it like it was like a can opener to like get at todd blanche and talk about character which which was for me a defining moment i've always people know me i have some very strong feelings about character and what it means let's play the clip of senator booker talking about
- [09:45]
Cory Booker
character with todd blanche you know lincoln it was said about him that if you want to see the true character of a man don't view him in adversity give him power i believe you've had a lot of power and so we don't have to speculate about what has been revealed with your time in that office we don't need to worry about what kind of attorney general you've already had that power this isn't a job interview like usually you've sat before this committee before you've made promises time and time again before you got the job actually to be the number two and the acting director so this isn't a confirmation hearing this is more of a performance review and clearly when it comes to the treatment of epstein victims when it comes to politically motivated prosecutions when it comes from avoiding appearance of impropriety with corporations you failed you're asking this body for a promotion and you've spent today making a lot of promises promises to follow the law promises to be independent promises to serve the american people and not the president but we don't need your promises we have your record we have watched you exercise one of the greatest powers entrusted to any public servant and what have you shown us one thousand two hundred victims waiting for justice what have you shown us there's two prosecutions while the party while the people involved the victims are waiting for action one of the people prosecuted gets the most cushy arrangement possible after you visit with her again and again you seem to be favoring the interest of a president and the powerful you've chosen trump over truth you've chosen corporations over the constitution and you fail to meet the test
- [11:37]
Michael Popak
yeah i mean that sort of frames the issue of are you going to vote for this guy given his body of work with chuck schumer referred to as a rap sheet and let's not talk about empty promises let's talk about your performance over the last nineteen months effectively in running the department of justice the deputy attorney general runs the day to day operation of the department of justice and when it came to epstein pam bondi already said he was responsible for everything related to epstein so why shouldn't we judge you on your record
- [12:11]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
yeah it was really frustrating the things that he wasn't really pushed on i thought things like he took such credit for crime going down across the country but really most of that those numbers and those crimes that's prosecuted by state and local police not necessarily the federal government and so for him to take credit as if he's sort of tough on crime they didn't really talk about the fact for example that cases are getting dismissed at a higher rate that cases aren't getting indicted the way they used to the fact that judges no longer trust this department of justice how many times have judges dismissed cases or said in decisions that they no longer are giving them the department of justice the benefit of the doubt and trusting their word because they're not trustworthy things like that that have been happening and he also kept going on and on about prosecuting fraud but no one talked about what about all the people that donald trump pardoned about that committed white collar crimes and that all you have to do is pay money to trump and get a pardon at least that's the allegation and just find out more about that sort of and so i just really think that there was a lot more questioning that could have happened and i think the record of this department of justice is really not great and unfortunately that didn't come out loud and clear from this hearing as i had hoped and i also thought senator tillis who was on the fence and is a lame duck therefore doesn't isn't beholden to donald trump i think he signaled that he's going to support todd blanche that was the impression i got well let's bring in
- [14:01]
Michael Popak
senator cory booker of new jersey who who cannot be faulted for for not doing a cross examination of a lifetime against todd blanche you had him gasping literally for air senator booker at one point he said you don't even let
- [14:17]
Cory Booker
me answer man he called me man
- [14:19]
Michael Popak
i like that i was like senator man to you yeah yeah yeah right
- [14:24]
Cory Booker
i i hate unfortunately i hate to i was listening to the conversation i hate to conclude with you about tillis to agree with you about tillis i i just saw them both cornyn was at least a little tougher on him but the feeling i got from tillis is that he's he's more inclined to vote for him in fact i saw when he walked in the two of them looked at each other and i saw smiles and nods not like he was getting prepared to ask him tough
- [14:48]
Michael Popak
questions and did he and did he ask him he he said earlier about other candidates if they're election deniers i'm not going to support him i mean what do you call todd blanche if not an election denier an enabler but
- [15:02]
Cory Booker
it's worse than that if any of us really effed up at our jobs we would not get to keep them this is a guy who clearly is doing his job when he betrays the survivors of epstein and releases their phone numbers and their pictures releases their home address that should be a major f up that should have people on the other side of the aisle up in arms but no let's overlook that that they were re traumatized and targeted with hate attacks and more he's a guy that has consistently in his very short time in that office shown himself to do the things that often they posture and say they're against like the weaponization of the department but they're not willing to stand up for it because you're weaponizing the department against people we don't like so comey is the best example there's not a serious republican i know in the legal profession that thinks there's any merit to that case and yet you are expending taxpayer resources resources that should be protecting us from sex traffickers drug traffickers white collar crime no you're spending it going after donald trump's enemy so this guy there's no justification no moral justification to allow him to keep his job or to get this promotion
- [16:22]
Michael Popak
and senator booker if i want to ask you about the multiple audiences that you were addressing with your cross examination and one of them being your fellow republicans to see if you can get work you can work the republicans to see if you can get one vote to peel away but you mentioned the epstein survivors ten of which were in the room there not for performative reasons but to continue to demand justice and there they are one of them in particular danny bensky is going to be testifying i believe tomorrow i've had the honor and pleasure of interviewing danny a couple of times on our show let me play for our audience who maybe didn't have an opportunity opportunity to watch any part of this and they're learning about the confirmation hearing tonight from us let me play a couple of clips of you on blanche about epstein matters
- [17:17]
Cory Booker
let's play the first clip now i was stunned earlier by your conversation with one of my colleagues that you wouldn't even commit to meeting with the survivors but you did meet with ghislaine maxwell your claim that you can't meet with these victims because they're represented by counsel is utter nonsense counsel can be present or a client can waive their right to have counsel but you're a lawyer you know this that was not truthful what you said to my colleague you said that they should meet with the fbi all of these women have reported their crimes decades ago but yet you won't meet with them what you will do is meet with ghislaine maxwell
- [18:01]
Michael Popak
i mean one of the things we've brought out to our audience is that and gotten from survivors like danny bensky out of the fourteen or fifteen hundred survivors only twenty five have come forward this is their choice the rest are you know in the shadows because they decided they want to be heard if they're going to get justice done and there's going to be a real and true investigation but in terms of being public and coming into congress and there's only twenty five of them who cannot cannot come close to telling the entire story most of the evidence is not in the epstein files which we need it's in the minds and hearts of the epstein survivors that have never been interviewed
- [18:41]
Cory Booker
by the fbi i mean again i ran a city i was very close to not only the newark police department which i was overseeding and running but i worked with multiple layers of law enforcement i know what an investigation looks like i know what the work it takes to build a case this is a department of justice led by someone right now who has no interest in the truth whatsoever and more than that they are sending signals that are dangerous you already have survivors watching donald trump what he's done to eugene carroll and the hell that she's had to go through trying to pursue justice even after a jury said that he was liable for sexual assault that the president of the united states raped that woman and so it is a horrible signal that's being sent out to survivors everywhere and that's why these women who are so courageous some of them who just came forward after their information was unjustly leaked i stood with some of them in a press conference i had trying to get them justice and restitution for what they've gone through since their information has been leaked and so again god bless the courage of these women i'm so grateful for the testimony we're going to hear tomorrow but this should enrage people that this is a president and a attorney general who are showing that yeah some people are above the law some people are out of reach some people if you're wealthy and connected get pardons some people get immunity from this justice department who are unworthy if you're really really rich you can get your mergers approved in so many ways this justice department is showing is on the side of the elected the connected and the wealthy and against people who have been survivors or victims of crime before i
- [20:35]
Michael Popak
turn it over to karen let me play danny bensky because i asked her about the confirmation hearing and if she thought justice would ever be done by this department of justice and todd blanche
- [20:46]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
let's play the clip the doj and so when you have somebody like todd blanche at the helm of the doj it's hugely problematic right like he has the president's best interest he does not have the american people's best interest at heart and he's proven that he was in that situation room he needs to be called in and questioned he needs to be in front of the oversight committee now to answer you know how like we also know that he was responsible for for so many botched redactions and how this rollout even happened and botched is like an understatement by the way but he's responsible for a lot of this bondi i'm not letting her off the hook she definitely had something to do with this too but but we know that todd blanche had a lot to do with this and he moved ghislaine maxwell so like there's so many things here that come back to blanche and now he is the nomination and that's like he he's so unfit to be the acting attorney general of our country i don't i can't even my words fail me yeah let me
- [21:47]
Michael Popak
turn it over to karen thank you
- [21:49]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
yeah i thought it was first of all thank you so much for being on the show senator and i really enjoyed watching you question todd blanche today i thought your questions were really incisive and clearly got under his skin skin frankly and i thought what you sort of the contrast in the epstein case that you showed how you're not willing to meet with the victims but you personally met with ghislaine maxwell and right afterwards she gets transferred to this cushy prison to much lower security to a camp basically than she was before and you know i just thought that was a really powerful moment in the hearing that really pointed that out but pivoting to the january sixth slush fund and that whole line of questioning i thought it was really great that todd was asked that mister blanch was asked about the federal tort claims act and whether or not you know kept saying the slush fund the weaponization fund whatever you want to call it is dead it's not going anywhere but it was pointed out right that there's still this federal tort claims act so i was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that and explain that to our audience because i thought that was such an important really important thing that people really need to understand well look stepping
- [23:18]
Cory Booker
back for a second to the to what this is all about so your viewers really understand and really what the federal judge in this case said is there is an inherent conflict of interest when you bring a case solely trying to create a case in controversy not for severe not not for sincere reasons but you bring a case forward simply because you want to create the opportunity to create a settlement so it wasn't a legitimate case they knew that the judge was going to decide against them they brought forward this case to create the opportunity to settle with themselves there were no conflicting parties they settled with themselves to create and present an opportunity for them to get to the conclusion they wanted which was to create an unjust slush fund to pay out to people who are political partners of theirs and whatever nefarious means and to get a liability shield from any tax from any tax law as possible so i'm not sure exactly what point one of my colleagues made about the tort claims but the fact that he was unwilling to commit to in any way the fact that he did not have a liability shield to me is one of the most disturbing takeaways yeah that's one
- [24:37]
Michael Popak
of the things senator booker here's my theory donald trump doesn't give a rat's ass about the anti weaponization fund because they could always pay these people through the back door of the federal tort claims act what he cared about was the next day amendment created by todd blanche unilaterally with a signature which created what jamie raskin has referred to as the super pardon where judge williams is referred to as the release of donald trump his family and affiliates and associates of tax and audit liability and criminal liability that's all donald trump and you see already not not here but you see how much your colleagues only focused on the anti weaponization fund creation and the settlement agreement and did not focus on the thing that donald trump i believe really covets which is that release
- [25:27]
Cory Booker
yeah in other words it's the it's the ultimate of the sort of a bait and switch right let's get everybody riled up about a fund but the value for his children and for him to be able to escape liability for the things that they are doing i am confident i am confident that what we know about the corruption we know about is the tip of the iceberg how many companies now are they consulting with or that they got on the board with that then turn around and get contracts what are they doing with these ill gotten gains that they're getting do they in any way in fact the new york times already i think they got a pulitzer for the prize of tracing all the tax crimes of this family already unfortunately the statute of limitations had expired so i agree with you if that's the point you're making about that they have other remedies in terms of the tortious claims that they can make but the reality is the big kahuna here is to get that that that that shield from tax liability
- [26:42]
Michael Popak
absolutely let me play the clip for our audience of you taking on blanche appropriately without colleen maxwell a five time convicted child sex trafficker how low donald trump must have sunk that he needed a convicted child sex trafficker to vouch for him let's play the clip well
- [27:04]
Cory Booker
just one week after your meeting miss maxwell was transferred from a low security federal institution to a minimum security prison camp were you involved with that transfer when as i've talked about before in the time leading up to me going down to meet with her we learned that she was receiving threats the that turned out i'm going to interrupt you for a matter of time because okay well it's not a question i can answer apparently in the sir you're giving me i'm going to tell you this because i deal with issues of criminal justice when people are under threats in a bureau prison facility they're put into solitary confinement or protective they're not moved to a camp that's not always true it is what is true is someone that is accused of child sexual trafficking under the bureau of prison's own policies is not put in a facility like this that seems clearly like a reward
- [28:03]
Michael Popak
there's a there's a i don't know if this is true but there's a rumor out there she has a puppy
- [28:07]
Cory Booker
okay but this is the thing that that really bothers me going back to where you all started which i'm so god bless you for for keeping this centered on the victims here's the absurdity he's telling me i am concerned about ghislaine maxwell's safety i'm concerned about her well being god i put her in a place that the bureau of prison's policy say i should never put her in but i'm doing i'm going this extra mile to protect a five time convicted sex offender but oh oh i am not going to do jack i am not going to even meet with the victims to get them the justice they deserve it is so profoundly offensive that you would bend over backwards and break doj and bop policy for you're saying for the safety of a sex offender but you care nothing about the women whose pictures and phone numbers and addresses and privacy you violated it is so so offensive and disqualifying for this man to have sat there today and said that to me yeah i mean
- [29:17]
Michael Popak
your your colleague dick durbin said will you commit right now well i have another person i have a sex crimes person he she could i couldn't i couldn't meet because how could i meet they might have lawyers like are you effing i know you took them on are you effing kidding me you meet with lawyers and clients all the time as prosecutors karen's a former number two in the manhattan da's office how many times you meet with clients along with their lawyers karen yeah no of course
- [29:42]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
i mean that that happens all the time and now as a defense attorney or as a as a private practice attorney i also go in with people sometimes to meet with prosecutors i mean that is not at all that's not a reason to not meet with him but he just didn't want to meet with any of the survivors and he didn't talk about any of the other investigations or victim or sorry perpetrators right he didn't talk about any open investigations or that they have this that they're looking into other perpetrators and they have those files i mean that's what i that's what i don't understand is no no one has ever suggested that jeffrey epstein was the only person who violated these women right there or these girls there are other perpetrators like where are
- [30:32]
Cory Booker
those investigations twelve hundred people twelve we know the numbers the amount of people and you're telling me you cannot build a case against anyone but these two people it is stunning to me and it should be disqualifying for this individual
- [30:51]
Michael Popak
so so senator booker i know you're
- [30:53]
Cory Booker
so generous i just want to say something because the clip you played of the survivor where she was talking i think i want your viewers to know when she said the situation room remember just a reminder it's really important that we now know that they had these strategy sessions where they pulled people in including to put together a strategy to shield the president from any possible implications in these files i mean that tells us all that this was a panicked white house that was taking extraordinary steps to try to protect someone who is in the epstein file hundreds if not thousands of times and so now we know what our attorney general acting attorney general was really focused on it is this ideal this metaphor that that attorney general is not the highest law enforcement in the land for the three hundred forty million americans he's there to provide a shield to the president and a sword for the president to go after people in unjust persecution and unjust prosecution
- [32:00]
Michael Popak
but for our audience there's a very good reason that we're trying to get the democrats to get control of the senate because there should be more than one day of the i don't know
- [32:11]
Cory Booker
if you all know this do you all know that they constantly were chipping away i was told we have thirteen minutes for questioning then they came down to ten now ten minute questioning for confirmation to the highest law enforcement in the land has never been done before it is unprecedented is the shortest amount of questioning time that any nominee for that office has had in modern history because they were so afraid to give us a chance to ask him the full battery of tough questions and to
- [32:41]
Michael Popak
answer the question from our audience you can't get another day no no we
- [32:45]
Cory Booker
wanted over two days and we obviously wanted a substantive amount of time especially given the legitimate questioning that is being done by conservatives democrats people across the political spectrum about his performance over his time as deputy attorney general and now as acting attorney general tomorrow's republican witnesses are i know it's is it ashcroft guys is that right no i i i know it's not ashcroft i know it's the i know one person they're having is a survivor of of of of criminal violence against by an undocumented immigrant i know that's one of them they're going to try to drive home what's that you guys say it hoyer i didn't mean to stump you there i'm sorry i i did have i have the witnesses somewhere i don't think
- [33:35]
Michael Popak
it was announced yet but okay that i figured well i i have the
- [33:38]
Cory Booker
list i have the list somewhere forgive me a lot of reading to do
- [33:41]
Michael Popak
tonight that you do i'm so proud of you i'm a lifelong resident of new jersey grew up next to asbury park exit one hundred five in the garden state and really appreciate you being our senior our senior senator from from new jersey and more importantly the work that you do on the senate judiciary committee so important and hopefully the democrats get the gavel and we won't ever see this mockery the sham type of confirmation hearing ever again i know my audience is very concerned about future supreme court nominees and certainly want the democrats to have the gavel then can i
- [34:16]
Cory Booker
just give you your whistle i hope you'll invite me back on to talk about this if the democratic party gets control of the house the senate the white house and does not reform the supreme court you do not need a constitutional amendment to put term limits on supreme court members we have jurisdictional we have oversight we have the right to curtail the jurisdiction of the supreme court dictate the jurisdiction of the supreme court so we need to put the highest court in the land should have the highest ethics law it's not the lowest and we should have term limits i hope you and i can talk about
- [34:44]
Michael Popak
that oh oh oh i would love that thank you for that thank you
- [34:47]
Cory Booker
for that and thank you for allowing an outlet for nerds like me everywhere to have a great show that we can that we can listen to so to all your audience and listeners thank you for your nerdiest fastidious attention to the details of how our nation's legal
- [35:02]
Michael Popak
systems work our legal af audience nerds out with you don't worry senator cory booker of new jersey on the senate judiciary committee good luck tomorrow thank you
- [35:11]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
very much thank you senator thank you
- [35:12]
Cory Booker
for being here so my pleasure thank
- [35:15]
Michael Popak
you and thank you to our audience for being here you're on legal af the podcast this is the midweek so many different ways to help us one of them is to download the audio of this show that helps it certainly does so there's a we gave you a little reminder on how to do that legal af the youtube channel that i curate we put about ten or twelve videos up every day we're trying to really build and strengthen our audience free membership over the summer as we turn into november and the midterms so important to have the largest audience possible at the intersection of law and politics legal af sub stack where i do a live report every day sometimes with guests sometimes on my own and then another ten or twelve pieces of content that i think you'll appreciate including all of the filings all of the orders we talk about judge williams order in miami it's there for your reading pleasure so many different ways to support what we do but and we got sponsors which have been with us some of them from the last six years some of them have just newly joined jordy puts them together and karen and i put our thumbs up and here's a here's a word from our sponsors have you ever thought i should really be doing something to protect myself from stalkers and scammers and hackers but you're not sure what well here's what you do go to www dot joindeleteme dot com legalif and enter code legalif you'll get twenty percent off delete me delete me removes your personal information that's being sold online i googled myself and i was surprised to find that just how much of my personal information was out there privacy is really important to me especially with an active youtube presence so i like having a service that helps remove my personal information from hundreds of data broker websites instead of trying to do it myself it's also reassuring that delete me was named the top pick for data removal services by wirecutter take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for delete me now with a special discount for our listeners get twenty percent off your delete me plan when you go to joindeleteme dot com legalaf and use promo code legal af at checkout now the only way to get twenty percent off is to go to www dot joindeleteme dot com legalif and enter code legalif at checkout one more time www dot joindeleteme dot com legal af code legal af feeling sluggish bloated not like yourself life bombards us with silent threats processed foods artificial light and modern stressors disrupt your gut and drain your energy and weaken your immune health your body isn't broken it just needs the right inputs that's why i've been using armruck colostrum i've noticed less bloating steadier energy and overall i just feel more like myself armruck colostrum is nature's original blueprint for health colostrum is packed with over four hundred bioactive nutrients that fortify gut health fuel fitness recovery and strengthen immune health supporting your best performance every day take back control of your health we've worked out a special offer for my audience receive thirty percent off your first subscription order go to armrud dot com legal af or enter legal af to get thirty percent off your first subscription order that's a r m r a dot com legal a f there are so many things i love about being on the midas touch network and universe and one of them is asen who is our clip artist has already posted not one but two clips of cory booker in the world of social media it's they're already going viral and they just happen like i just saw them like they wow they're up already i mean so so crazy how how delightful was
- [39:12]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
it to have corey on so delightful what first of all he was a great questioner today i can't say the same for everybody but asking questions in fairness is a hard thing to do you know as trial lawyers and as people who cross examine people all the time it is a hard thing to do and to only have ten minutes i didn't realize they only had ten minutes per questioner but he's really smart he's really thoughtful and he really asked really important questions that didn't feel like he was just making speeches and performing he really was asking incisive questions and then to have him on the show and that he is so delightful and lovely i'm a big run for president i like corey big fan big fan
- [39:59]
Michael Popak
i mean when he's not rescuing people from motor vehicle accidents or giving filibusters that go on for days like mister smith goes to washington he's just an all you know when you watch him he's he's a guy a person you want to share a beer with went to yale law school he did a hunger strike in order to get to bring attention to urban development and other things in newark new jersey ran for mayor all that and and then of course he's now the senior senator after bob menendez stole all those gold bars in bribery he's the senior senator from new jersey at the age of fifty seven he really is a gift a
- [40:36]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
treasure for america he really he really is and we're so lucky that that he's on our show i don't know what's happening to the light wave your arms around yeah yeah i'm gonna have to turn some lights on over here
- [40:48]
Michael Popak
excuse me by the way i'm only i'm only laughing karen moved into a brand new office and she's and she was really really psyched about it but people that know there we go people that know me they've i once had the sun go down i remember i was stuck in an alley of an old law firm that i was with it was the only place i could i had an extension court we started the show and the sun literally went down on me as the show continued so listen it's live tv everybody in fact put in comments questions we're going to answer a few of them in a moment as we turn to this kind of all confirmation hearing episode including the director of national intelligence jake layton who got tripped up with a third a third grader's question let me let me just go through some of the questions here karen that you and i can answer brian quarter says how can a senator even a republican senator justify voting to confirm a nominee for aggressive someone who engaged in fraud on a court and participated in a sham collusive lawsuit referring to trump versus the internal revenue service and judge williams fifty six page order one programming note i had an interview today with judge michael ludig friend of karen and mines and of our show judge michael ludic who led the thirty five judges who who supported judge williams and filed their motion to get her to to render this fifty six page decision ultimately he's got some amazing things to say i'm going to leave it at that as a little bit of a teaser he'll be up at nine thirty am eastern time on legal af youtube what do you think
- [42:30]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
about that question kurt yeah i mean you know it's it's you you answer it popa you answer it i mean
- [42:40]
Michael Popak
i think it's a rhetorical question no i mean under any other era donald todd blanche has more than a dozen black marks against him epstein jan six weaponization fund vindictive prosecution dismissals grand jury abuse the dismissal of of indictments by the department of justice because they've had to admit to fraud and forgery and false testimony being suborned everything about epstein epstein files the epstein cover up the COVID up of the COVID up any one of these black marks one one a whiff of one would be enough in any other era but when you have the maga cult like grip that donald trump continues to have on the republicans even the ones who shouldn't give a shit because they're going to be going to retirement homes next year when they leave and yet the siren call of donald trump pulls them in and this is once again so no the answer is no that in the week leading up to just the week leading up to todd blanche is sitting in that seat you had one judge judge williams say he committed fraud on the court it was deceptive and sent him for a bar discipline which he didn't
- [43:58]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
even which he wouldn't even admit by
- [44:00]
Michael Popak
the way i know you yes you've been referred and you there's a bar complaint against them anyway by one hundred one judges that filed the bar complaint in fact i'm having the one of the leaders of that organization on with me tomorrow for an interview because it got cited by judge williams it's all very circular here very incestuous here judge williams said and you're already the subject of bar review bar complaints in these different jurisdictions so any one of these things would be a disqualifier and this is again a reminder to our audience is why it's so important that this is a participatory democracy it's a contact sport you got to get off the sidelines you can't just say i hate both of them it i'm not going to i'm not going to vote because you see what happens even if you don't like the candidate and i don't even know who the candidate's going to be for the democrats yet and it's a midterm it's person by person right it's the entire house and half the senate you have to hold your nose and vote for the rule of law and vote for checks and balances and vote to control an out of control president that's what you're voting for and we can do it the power we yes we can to paraphrase barack obama yes we can if you give the senate gavel over to the democrats if you give the house gavel over to the to the to the democrats in the midterms good things better things will come out of it right karen yeah
- [45:23]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
including reforms to the supreme court according to senator booker i just you know
- [45:27]
Michael Popak
it's funny i texted his comms director first as we were doing it i said i'm taking senator booker up on that offer she said oh he'd love that and she already liked the fact that two clips are up in the world about him let me see if there's one more question here aside from trump and blanche who has the power to send maxwell back to hard prison well the bureau of prisons is under the department of justice plain and simple
- [45:51]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
by the way typically the bureau of prisons is who decides where a person is housed it's not the judge it's not the prosecutor and and i know this because we go through this all the time as as a defense attorney or or as a prosecutor you have no control over where someone goes that is completely up to the bureau of prisons but so the fact that todd blanch put his thumb on the scale because the bureau of prisons didn't think to put ghislaine maxwell into a camp right they had they just they didn't decide to do that this is something todd blanche as the head of the department of justice decided to do i
- [46:27]
Michael Popak
think she has a puppy i read that she has a puppy some or they bring puppies in this is a convicted child sex trafficker i mean i wouldn't i would i have a new puppy i wouldn't put my puppy anywhere near her you know let alone the actual quid pro quo the problem is i'll just say it now that senator booker's gone other than senator booker senator blumenthal and a couple of other ones like senator whitehouse the the questioning got really bogged down you know it's but but let me play you for example an extraordinary exchange with senator whitehouse who's been on with me before who who was a former us attorney in rhode island sheldon whitehouse about cash patel cash patel when lindsey graham died there were two reactions by todd blanch and cash patel they were very different todd blanche went holy shit i just lost the guy that was going to shepherd me through the process and cash patel was like because i was getting called into the white house that weekend to probably get fired and yet there is todd blanche defending cash patel let's play the sheldon whitehouse senator white house clip how
- [47:41]
Cory Booker
long do you intend to put up with that patel character are you good
- [47:45]
Michael Popak
with his airplane jaunts are you confident he's not drinking on the job are you sure none of his travel is a pretext for vacation activities like snorkeling olympics and visiting girlfriends are you sure he knows what he's doing do you vouch for him are you willing to look at whether he lied to this
- [48:01]
Cory Booker
committee that's an extraordinarily obnoxious question senator and i have full faith in director patel and the work that he's doing every day great you got to own that
- [48:13]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
you get to own that you
- [48:15]
Michael Popak
don't even need the answers to these questions that that it's not an obnoxious question it's a setup for a i thought it was great and i i applaud senator whitehouse as people know i've joked but this is true before he i did an interview with him a week or so ago i said listen you got to come out with hurting bombs against blanche are you guys ready like forget about the effing niceties and i played him a clip from rocky balboa rocky's getting coached about how he how at sixty years old how he can defeat this much younger boxer and it all comes down to you gotta gotta drop hurting bombs you gotta you gotta rock him until his ancestors shake and sheldon laughed and then i thought he he was it was powerful but but but to answer the question that's come up in the chat popac and kfa do you think blanche gets confirmed i'm back to where where karen started and where senator booker ended which is i can't find the vote if it's not corny it's not tillis and it's not then it'll come out of committee and if it comes out of committee the republicans have enough votes to get
- [49:25]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
him confirmed yeah it seems like that that's where this is headed and the scary thing is on paper he's qualified right he's not like some of the other people that this administration has put up for nomination that are not qualified on paper he is which makes him a little more dangerous frankly because he does know how to do things and he does know how the department runs and he knows what levers to pull and the fact that he that he couldn't affirmatively or definitively say that he is going to not be donald trump's kind of attack dog and go after his personal his personal enemies and work for the american people that was the thing that was most disturbing to me and you know there weren't a lot of hard questions about some of the prosecutions that have been brought you know like the james comey eight thousand six hundred forty seven case no one would ever bring that case that's a ridiculous case for the department of justice but his department of justice brought that case case why was maureen comey fired could have been a question that was asked she by all accounts is an excellent extraordinary prosecutor in fact she's the one who convicted ghislaine maxwell and at trial and so like there was just so many other questions that i think were left on the table it makes me wonder given that they and and let me start by saying it's hard to ask questions it's hard to cross examine so and it's easy for to sit here and say well you didn't ask this you didn't ask this and so i have a lot of respect for the people who asked the questions especially ones like senator booker but i wonder why given that they were only given ten minutes each why the democrats didn't get together and divide and conquer and say okay i'm going to use my ten minutes and i'm going to focus on this topic and here are and that way i can get to the bottom of it because imagine only having ten minutes to do your whole cross examination of a witness you could never do it so you'd pick like a topic or an area and kind of divide it up like that so you can really ask those extra questions and take it across the finish line like
- [51:37]
Michael Popak
why don't we do that while you were talking i wrote on my paper one hundred forty which represents the fourteen democrats and ten minutes apiece one hundred forty minutes and i was going to say why didn't they and their staff come up with a hundred questions that they wanted to ask assemble them and then divvy them out for each person's ten minutes so that there was cohesion and coherence and they didn't mean sometimes you have to not look you and i have done cross right there's the cross you walk up there with at the podium and then there's the cross you actually do because you have to
- [52:14]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
follow and then there's the third cross the one you wish you had done
- [52:17]
Michael Popak
we wish you had done sometimes they line up sometimes they line up but you can only go up with a rough outline because you have to go where the witness takes you i mean when you said it's hard to do cross i'm sure you also love doing cross because that's my that's the favorite part for a skilled trial lawyer is the crossing directs interesting cross examination is where it's at everybody that's why we got into this business so you and i right that's what they but they don't i think it's i don't know why they don't the next time we have senator booker on we'll talk about that so everybody kind of restarts and everybody wants to ask an epstein question everybody wants to ask as you said a ghislaine question or an fbi question and they should they should coordinate more but let's be honest they're all sort of you know big senators and they don't they don't want to coordinate in that way but they should it would be better for the process and and really really extraordinary stuff let me i
- [53:08]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
wanted to say one other thing that surprised me about this hearing i was surprised with how much time the republicans spent on mife preston the abortion drug and because it just the fact that they're talking about it in the context of a criminal of criminal conduct like having an abortion is criminal was so surprising to me that that was not for example being spoken at the health confirmation right of like robert f kennedy that this was talked about multiple times at blanche's confirmation i thought was really surprising they want to criminalize and punish people for mailing for for accessing mprestone in the mail and they kept talking about you know one or two cases of someone being slipped this drug in you know in in their by by by somebody you know slipped it in their drink or something and they didn't know it and how terrible that is but that's not that that was the b the story that they used to kind of frame the issue and when
- [54:12]
Michael Popak
it wasn't bad it was it was joe biden as one of our commenters said we were back to joe biden again like this is how you're gonna because there are most of the republicans did not want to use their time at all to try to do anything to undermine todd blanche i mean when john kennedy from louisiana asked the question are you friends with him well i'm as he didn't expect the guy would slip up and say i'm his personal lawyer i'm his lawyer that is not what he thought was going to happen but the rest of them were like how can we waste time oh let's do miffle preston let's do joe biden oh let's do jack smith let's go
- [54:49]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
after jack smith why not and anytime anytime anyone asked about the the slush fund and the you know the weaponization the anti weaponization fund the seventeen seventy six fund it turn it around and say well well jack smith started it the biden administration started it jack smith invented the weaponization of going after i
- [55:07]
Michael Popak
was vomited listening to josh hawley right the guy that ran out of the back you know like got out the back and saved his skin during jan six talking about all my text messages oh you don't even know he didn't even understand it's a subpoena that was against him you know oh my metadata all my text messages i'm like will you shut the ass yeah they were
- [55:26]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
so they just for those who did who didn't watch it the republican senators were more upset that they that their telephone records that their telephone records right were subpoenaed than they were about epstein
- [55:44]
Michael Popak
victims one thousand percent right and it wasn't even i said text messages because i bought into their it's not even text messages it was it was it was like call it's like what you used to get on your own telephone bill yep remember when you used to look at your telephone bill and it said this this call to this number for this many minutes and seconds that's all you got you didn't get who was on the other end what the subject of the call was why it was made that's all they're they're and they only did that because if they found a some sort of twenty minute phone call you know between this person and this person then they would go through the process but only then of doing a full investigation the other senator blumenthal who we've had on the show before also did a very very good job and he at least brought up judge williams fifty six page decision that just came out the other thing that came out just an hour or just the on the eve of this hearing was katie fang our colleague and public integrity projects motion for contempt against todd blanche because of his mishandling of the epstein files and him tell him effectively telling judge sullivan in dc to go pound sand i just had brendan ballou it's a video that's up on legal af youtube today the first video i think talking about those issues so they had a lot there was a lot of court rulings and observations to talk about let's play senator blumenthal the judge in florida referred your misconduct she concluded that there was misconduct misconduct and misrepresentation and improper purpose in that legal action
- [57:25]
Cory Booker
to the bar of new york for
- [57:28]
Michael Popak
potential discipline including losing your law license i know you disagree with the result of the ruling has that kind of referral ever happened by a federal judge for an attorney general of the united states can you i don't know but
- [57:45]
Cory Booker
i'll tell you something that judge never asked us to respond she never gave us an opportunity to respond to anything and she didn't refer me she just asked that a copy of the order be provided the new york bar because there are several activist groups that have filed complaints against me so so listen i as i said earlier i i think anybody on this committee especially the lawyers that have practiced can read that opinion and reach their own conclusions but i very much disagree with with with the judge's insinuations about me and and we're going to do what we can to make that right one one last
- [58:18]
Michael Popak
he lied let's just go over the lies it's not activist groups it's groups for good government and good lawyering that got together including one hundred one former federal and state judges that filed a bar complaint where you and i are licensed the appellate division first department in new york against todd blanche which was recited by the judge in her ruling that's one two knowing the case well because i practice in miami and i know judge williams they were given every opportunity to file or to intervene in the case she said that the only parties in the case were donald trump and trump's private lawyers even though the agreement they were using was also there on behalf of the department of justice and the irs at any time in order to defeat her order to show cause about whether fraud had been committed on her court at any time and we expected it the department of justice should have filed an affidavit along with donald trump's private lawyer refuting those allegations or appearing to testify but but todd blanche has a dirty little habit he refuses to testify in federal court he barely wants to testify in confirmation hearings but he certainly hasn't been testifying in federal courts even if it means that the department of justice is on the losing end of a court's decision he didn't testify when he should have and he was required to in order to come close to defeating the motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution the kilmer abrego garcia case in the middle district of tennessee the judge effectively begged him to testify and he refused to do it the department of justice lost you and i could spend an entire show talking about all the times todd bland should have appeared and or filed an affidavit for him to say we didn't have an opportunity he's lying again and the judge called i hit the wrong i hit my keyboard got so excited the judge called him out and said you are disingenuous to say that the court had no role in approving the settlement because i was standing by at any time for the department of justice to submit for my review the settlement agreement which you did not do this is a nasty little trick and habit of todd blanche and the problem is you got senate democrats who have ten minutes to try to you know do what i just did in in three minutes
- [60:35]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
yeah that's what that's why we have to get them to divide and conquer
- [60:39]
Michael Popak
yeah if you and i can accomplish that it'd be like the popoc it'd be the kfa popoc rule just one hundred forty minutes and divide up the hundred questions do that exactly exactly right so when we come back from our next break i want to talk about the another confirmation hearing going on for the director of national intelligence and which is jay clayton you and i know jay clayton reasonably well from his his time in new york at various stints southern district of new york prosecutor and sec commissioner or chairman and all of that but first if you like this kind of content which we do on legal af on a branded podcast every wednesday and saturday at eight pm eastern time here on the midas touch network you can help us by downloading the audio even if you're a a youtuber like we are you could go to the audio it helps i won't go into the details but the algorithms love the audio downloads it's very analog and so if you go there use that we gave made it easy for you scan the qr code in the top right and do that become a subscriber to midas touch become a a subscriber it's for free to legal af the youtube channel we're trying hard we're huffing and puffing to try to get to two million subscribers by the midterm i think we can do it with your help come over there you might be thinking i'm subscribed i assure you you're not okay if everybody was subscribed and told me they were subscribed we'd be at two million already and it's important to the show it gets us great guests like cory booker and and judge ludig and danny bensky you know i people don't turn us down because of the street cred we have and and because of the ethics and integrity that my co host karen freeman nifolo or my co founder ben mysalis i think people understand we don't blow smoke or sunshine and we tell the truth and and and that's our commentary you may not agree with it but that is our our best educated analysis and we get to the root of the issue we don't just do the top line of a story and then move 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for themselves especially from owners of picky eaters who had never seen their dog get this excited about mealtime before make the switch to sundays go right now to sundaysfordogs dot com legalaf fifty and get fifty fifty percent off your first order or you can use code legal af fifty at checkout that's fifty percent off your first order at sundays for dogs dot com legal af fifty sundays for dogs dot com slash legal a f fifty or use code legal af fifty at checkout and we are back thank you to our pro democracy sponsors one thing karen we're not done with judge williams because donald trump's department of justice jumped up and down and said oh ha the settlement release that todd blanch entered into the one that had the tail that wags the dog that we talked about with senator booker which gives a release a pardon if you will to trump and his family and his affiliates for tax and audit liability criminal liability right they jumped up and down and said aha she didn't say that was invalid because they're misconstruing one paragraph out of fifty six pages and one footnote out of fifty six pages where she said the issue of whether a department of justice can privately settle without the benefit of a lawsuit and spend taxpayer dollars and give this level of immunity to a president and his family was not before me what was before me is whether you can use you use a federal court and and the legitimacy of a federal court to put a phony imprimatur on it that's what was before me so they aha you know this is like dumb and dumber you're saying there's a chance and i had a local a really well known miami lawyer andres rivero on with me today with judge ludic to do the interview because he's local counsel in that case and he said they're not reading all the footnotes in one of the footnote the judge invited yet another motion to consider that issue as a continued fraud on the court so they again this is this is the gang that can't shoot straight in the department of justice they're just going to fall into the mouth of judge williams all over again they want an announcement that that settlement agreement is also invalid she's willing to do it and has invited the judges to file a new
- [68:32]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
motion yeah it's amazing how how footnotes are where you often get the the most interesting points in a decision right
- [68:41]
Michael Popak
absolutely so today confirmation day jay clayton talk about let's switch gears here go to jake clayton jay clayton you and i know well from in and around new york golf buddy of donald trump and howard lutnick i know that for a fact head of the securities and exchange commission that was his dream job in trump won never wanted to be the attorney general which he was rumored to be in the first trump administration and at various times when there were openings never wanted that he's a corporate transactional lawyer he's not like a litigator he's not a civil rights type you know at least todd blanche as you said about his resume at least he was a prosecutor at least he was ahead of a division i think at one time but jake clayton is just you know you could old golf country club republican transactional guy and he didn't want to be attorney general so he gets that job and does the job whatever trump wanted him to do in the first administration then trump's got so many problems in especially in new york in the southern district of new york after they over the mayor adams dismissal of his indictment and the complete shredding of the entire leadership that walked out the door because of what emil bovey working under todd blanche did to destroy that office and the reputation of that office they had to shove jay clayton in to be the acting us attorney for the southern district of new york which after the attorney general what do you think karen in terms of that before before trump that position to be the southern district of new york us attorney where did that fall in the hierarchy after after being like the attorney
- [70:17]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
general well look let's just say there's i think around ninety united states attorneys around the country and among those ninety united states attorneys the southern district of new york is in the top three or four most prestigious along with right along with the eastern district of virginia washington dc maybe the eastern district of new york and those are really but the southern district is they often joke that they're actually called the sovereign district of new york because they're they're so kind of in a league of their own partly because manhattan is their jurisdiction and manhattan is the financial capital of the united states and some would say even the world and so their jurisdiction is all financial crimes that occur and so that's partly why they've they've made this great you've worked with them when
- [71:15]
Michael Popak
you were at the manhattan da's office
- [71:16]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
office yes right yes i've worked with them they have an incredible reputation and frankly jay clayton had a really good reputation he's a really well respected lawyer in new york like todd blanche is but it's like something happens to people when they go into the trump orbit it's so strange i mean this confirmation hearing today i hope i hope we're going to play a clip he couldn't he let's play let's just play let
- [71:50]
Michael Popak
me know senator ostoff asking fourth grader social studies question just play it to jay clayton yes who won the twenty twenty election you know i'm not i'm not going to do this with you this is a job job interview we have established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee yes you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee yes who won the twenty twenty election like i said i'm not i'm not going to get into that with you but you do have an obligation
- [72:24]
Cory Booker
to be honest and forthright with the
- [72:25]
Michael Popak
committee is anything that i just said not honest or forthright yes you're not being honest or forthright who won the i think i've answered the question we can can keep doing this well we're going to keep doing it because you're not being honest and forthright i'm not going to engage in the theater it's
- [72:42]
Cory Booker
a simple question mister clayton and i've
- [72:45]
Michael Popak
answered who won the twenty twenty presidential election i've answered it you're here asking
- [72:51]
Cory Booker
for the support of senators to lead america's intelligence community we've established that you
- [72:57]
Michael Popak
have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this committee and with the
- [73:02]
Cory Booker
american public but you refuse to answer a simple matter of fact about the twenty twenty election is that right no
- [73:09]
Michael Popak
that's not right then answer the question who won the twenty twenty election i
- [73:12]
Cory Booker
have answered the question answer it what
- [73:15]
Michael Popak
is your answer i've given you my
- [73:16]
Cory Booker
answer what is your answer you refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election but you asked to lead america's intelligence community isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question to have to indulge the president's delusions we know you know everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question why can you not give
- [73:51]
Michael Popak
it i think i gave you the answer are you aware that director gab
- [73:58]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
that was masterful that was that was that was masterful i love that i love ossoff let's get him on the
- [74:06]
Michael Popak
show he's fantastic we will we'll reach out if anybody on this show is any of his handlers or bookers know give us a ring what i love about it is it stands also in not in contrast because it was same thing was happening you know dick durbin in asking todd blanche the same question he said this is a question that every third grader if not younger knows the answer to and yet there is just you're in this orbit as you put it karen of donald trump and fealty to him where you feel you can't answer the question and why it relates the director of national intelligence it wouldn't normally the director of national intelligence to which fourteen or fifteen different intelligence entities military and civilian including the cia ultimately report it was created after nine eleven because of lapses in coordination of intelligence and so they they made a director who sits over it all it's normally outward facing the intelligence community is not shouldn't be spying on americans but it should be protecting the homeland through intelligence gathering it doesn't normally have a role in us elections except the last d director of national intelligence tulsi gabbard which she had nothing else to do after they took away her remit and turned it over to the cia director she started showing up cloak and dagger remember her with her christy gnome action figure costume you know with the black hat and the pulled fulton county georgia to make sure that voting equipment from twenty twenty was was successfully seized and
- [75:43]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
all this other one is she the one that put the president on the phone with the agents who are seizing the machines right there yeah so normally
- [75:51]
Michael Popak
the dni does not have a role in midterm elections but we see and our audience is very concerned about all the different ways that the trump administration its civil rights division department of justice these are questions that didn't get asked today of todd blanche are going after voters election workers election equipment the midterms trying to federalize everything database creation and the rest and so there is not in a normal world but in a trump world there is a role for jay clayton you know being misused by trump and him having to follow what are unconstitutional illegal orders and all ossoff wants to know before he gets into the heart of the questioning is can you at least show independence of thought and tell me who won the election and rather than just say i'm just you know they had to be prepared they were going to be asked this and just say you know president biden was certified the winner of the election and move on yeah oh no he had to come out looking like a total douchebag and and demonstrate ost did it so masterfully and demonstrate that this guy is as captured and a wholly owned subsidiary of donald trump as todd blanche is as scott bessett the treasury secretary is as howard lutnick the commerce
- [77:11]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
secretary is right it was it was stunning to me absolutely stunning i i couldn't believe it i just like you said there's there's a there's a artful answer that he could give that that you know doesn't really answer it but kind of answers it but he instead he just looked just i don't know i don't know how he looked but it was not it was not a
- [77:34]
Michael Popak
good look it was not a good look for a guy as you laid out you know every sort of everybody likes and you know and then oh jay clayton and the reason they they trotted him out and they took him out of the job at this us attorney's office is they thought well he'll be a good face for donald trump for dni after tulsi gabbard made a
- [77:52]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
shambles of and bill pulte right was
- [77:55]
Michael Popak
bill pulte the temporary part time you know a political hack that's been running around trying to fire people now the only person i want to get your opinion about this product this is in insider prosecutor stuff so they nominate jamie jamie mcdonald from sullivan and cromwell do you know jamie no to be the us attorney at least he's a real guy i mean he was a us attorney he was an assistant us attorney he's very well respected you know he he served in an administration a long time ago like everybody likes jamie so it's so weird that trump picked him because you think he'd pick another you know loser like he did in the northern district of new york john sarcone or somebody else that has never been a prosecutor but it's interesting that for the southern district of new york which is donald trump's backyard he picked a another legitimate guy but as you said that guy could be converted like that into some crazy zombie that follows donald trump and does unethical things it's surprising
- [79:01]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
yeah i don't know anything about him so i'm looking forward to seeing how
- [79:07]
Michael Popak
he does that well in your private practice you may exactly but with all of that so listen this is a great show we made a decision that we curated it just to focus on the all important confirmation hearing programming notes for tomorrow day two of the confirmation hearing including friend of the show danny bensky we're big supporters of her she'll be testifying there and danny will be on with me next week on on some version of legal af as well along with liz oyer will be testifying but todd blanche sitting in the hot seat is over folks but join us for the live stream tomorrow one hundred fifty thousand people joined us on legal af for today's day one coverage tomorrow the first video up on legal af the youtube channel will be my interview with judge michael ludig and andres rivera about their big win in front of judge williams the fifty six pages tear down of todd blanch which will live on beyond this confirmation hearing i assure you as well and then you know some other things that are in the hopper but so many different ways karen for the audience to support what we do download see that big thing up there the qr code hit the download that's audio downloads doesn't cost you a penny but helps the show out immensely become a legal af youtube subscriber help us build to two million by the midterms we will with your help it is the gas in the tank it is the it is what moves us and moves our engine and gets us amazing guests like senator cory booker who came on the show today and of course we got legal af substack as well where you can see ten or twelve great pieces of content including a live feed that i do every day sometimes with guests sometimes without all different ways to support what we do here on legal af karen freeman agniphil looking spiffy in her new offices in manhattan if you want to know do ethical genius lawyers still exist in new york they do in the embodiment of karen freeman ignitfalo give us your final thoughts here about what we observed i just
- [81:23]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
am so in awe that we got senator booker on the day that he had time after his confirmation hearing of the attorney general of the united states of america and that he came on legal af i mean it's just it really is a testament to and the fact that he listens to us he said he kind of nerds out to us and that just meant a lot actually that that he listens to our show that he thinks enough about our show to come on and and he's such a just wonderful public servant and really what i wish i had said to him was thank you for your service senator so if you are listening to this thank you senator it was a true pleasure having you on the show and and i just i'm i'm just kind of giddy i'm just so happy he was here yeah that's that's
- [82:07]
Michael Popak
so great and glad that our audience is here not everybody has to love cory booker not every have to love all of our guests or karen or me but but you know there is power in our union in our being together here on legal ai for the midas touch network so saturday tune in to legal af the podcast with ben meisellis and me and then of course back again midweek with karen freeman nifolo thank you for being here thank you for being so generous with your time and with your support and sometimes with your money if you do paid subscriptions we we appreciate all of it so for karen freeman niflo and michael popak thank you for being here on legal af the podcast shout out to the midas mighty and the legal a fers
- [82:53]
Karen Freeman Agnifilo
summer is here which means we all want to look and feel our best a glp one may be right for you visit orderlymeds dot com to learn more about which glp one you could be eligible for getting started is fast easy and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals check it out for yourself go to orderlymeds dot com podcast that's orderlymeds dot com podcast taking care of yourself feels great compounded medications are not fda approved eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider individual results may vary
- [83:22]
Michael Popak
see website for details i started ornod in twenty thirteen and we make bike apparel the best part of shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people we're able to admin everything on the back end front end and sell things online easily if shopify were a bike accessory
- [83:44]
Cory Booker
i think it would actually be the
- [83:45]
Michael Popak
bicycle it's the thing that you do the thing on we run the business on shopify start your free trial on shopify dot com