Loading summary
A
Running a business comes with a lot of what ifs, but luckily, there's a simple answer to Shopify. It's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses, including Thrive Cosmetics and Momofuku, and it'll help you with everything you need, from website design and marketing to boosting sales and expanding operations. Shopify can get the job done and make your dream a reality. Turn those what ifs into Sign up for your $1 per month trial@shopify.com SpecialOffer.
B
Today we'll attempt a feat once thought.
C
Impossible, overcoming high Interest Credit card debt.
B
It requires merely one thing, a SoFi Personal Loan.
C
With it, you could save big on interest charges by consolidating into one low fixed rate monthly payment.
B
Defy high interest debt with a SOFI personal loan. Visit sofi.com stunt to learn more.
C
Loans originated by SoFi Bank NA member.
B
FDIC terms and conditions apply.
C
NMLS 696-891 Morning Zoe got donuts.
A
Jeff Bridges why are you still living above our garage?
B
Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T Mobile commercial like you teach me.
A
So Dana oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly AT T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
C
Wow.
B
Impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
A
Nice. Jeffrey, you heard them.
C
T Mobile is the best place to.
B
Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition. So what are we having for lunch?
A
Dude, my work here is done.
C
The 24 month bill credits on Experience.
B
Beyond for well qualified customers plus tax.
C
And $35 device connection charge credit send and balance due to payoff earlier Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs $1099.99 and new line minimum $100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and FE mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oakland Speed Test Intelligence data. 182025 is a T mobile.com we've got a lot to discuss today on legal AF. Michael Popak and I are both on the west coast where missiles are being launched over our heads by the Trump regime. Donald Trump has placed his Navy ships in the Pacific Ocean where they're lobbing missiles over the I5 highway as the Midas Touch Network reported earlier this week that that was the plan. Then the Trump regime denied it. And then there were people who were saying fact check Time. Let's fact check. Midas touch and legal af. The Trump regime says they're not going to do it. So fact check. This is rage bait. We're like, you think it's rage bait with, with the military invasions taking place within the United States, with ICE agents disappearing human beings. You trust Trump's word. We'll talk about that and more. George, I guess this is a nice segue to George Santos getting his prison sentence commuted. Yeah, just get everybody while you're at it. George Santos, I think, is the appetizer to Ghislaine Maxwell, who Trump is going to be gearing up to either pardon or commute. Just wait for that one coming down the pipeline via George Santos, let out of prison, free to go. I want to be very clear about what he was actually charged with. The dude stole people's credit cards, he stole people's identities, and he would swipe it to buy himself, like, clothes, and he would then misreport what the, what was going on on his financial reports. He literally ran a theft ring. He wasn't charged for being a serial liar, which is just freaking weird that he lied about his parents in 911 and everywhere he went to school and volleyball team his whole past life. He wasn't charged with that as a crime. He was charged with stealing people's credit cards and identities as part of the campaign and buying himself crap. Talk about that and more. So as that was taking place earlier this week, you had Donald Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton was indicted. We'll try to break down what's in that indictment. We'll go to the Eastern District of Virginia, where that James Comey case is already kind of falling apart there. The prosecutors are losing every one of its motions where it's trying to delay, delay, delay. Comey's like, show me the dirt, show me the discovery. We're going to see some bombshell motions there filed early next week, I expect, because the motions to dismiss are due. Comey's got his discovery now, I believe, over the objections of the Eastern District of Virginia. Speaking of Eastern District of Virginia, we'll talk about some of the fallout as lots of those prosecutors who did not want to bring charges against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who's also being tried in the Eastern District of Virginia. More prosecutors being fired there if we have time for it. We'll talk about the Smartmatic indictment as well. And briefly touched upon the New York Times defamation case. Frivolous case by Trump being refiled after the judge Said this is the stupidest case he's ever seen. Frivolous, vexatious, etc. Let's bring in Michael Popak, who's on the best coast, the West Coast. Big interviews today out there. Popak, great seeing you.
B
Yeah, great seeing you. I had a great interview with Attorney General Rob Bono. We talked about the missiles flying over i5. We talked about the cosplay counter programming that Donald Trump is trying to do. They've got this all choreographed. Try to make our followers and listeners and those that believe in democracy, trying to make them out to be anti patriotic against America when all they're doing is expressing their First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of association, and to demand a redress of their grievances to their government.
D
We fight. I know we will win, but we have to stay engaged and active. Democracies die in the dark, with neglect and with apathy. They thrive with engagement and participation and advocacy. So we have to stay focused and just remember three things are really important. Courts, crowds encourage. Courts are where ags and others are going to achieve justice and hold an unlawful president accountable and make sure we block unlawful actions. Crowds is what is happening today when people power is on full display. We're demanding of our leaders because we are their bosses, what they must do and rejecting what we will not accept. And then courage is important. It sounds obvious, but with all of the intimidation and the bullying and the targeting, literally the political persecutions and political prosecutions, some people want to keep their head down and don't want to speak up and don't want to speak out and don't want to rise up. But it's important that we do that. We have the courage to fight for the founding principles of this nation, our democracy, our rule of law, rights and freedom, separation of powers, checks and balances, and no kings, no tyrants, no monarchs.
B
61% of this country does not agree with Donald Trump and has rejected Trumpism and it's driving MAGA mad. And instead they stand up with their, their palm cards and their scripted cards and all. If you just, if we just had clip after clip after clip after clip, starting with Carolyn Levitt to the Treasury Secretary to the speaker of the House, all saying that the Democratic Party, we can't, we can't sit down for this anymore. This attempt at rebranding this party, rebranding fair minded people as being, you know, who's going to be on the streets, those 10 million people on the streets, Alberto Kring's protest, it's all Hamas terrorists. It's all radical left Marxists. It's all illegal immigrants and try to say it's unpatriotic. If that's the case, then we got to start using that vocabulary to brand and rebrand, as we do every day, the Republican MAGA Party. They are a party of sexual deviants. They are a party of sexual predators. They are a party of child sex molesters. They are a party of sexual abusers. They are a party of fraudsters. They are a party of convicted felons. That is their party. And the fact that we're not willing, and I don't mean Midas touch on legal af, the fact that we're not willing to use and engage in that dialogue to try to rebrand a failing political party, which is all that we're watching. We have to start upping our game and we have to start taking it to them and using things like a George Santos commutation of a sentence and wiping out of $350,000 worth of restitution for a set of crimes. Ben. That he admitted he confessed because he pled guilty. Some people are like, was there. I don't remember that trial. There was not a trial. He pled guilty to it. And to have everything we need to know about that. And as you said, the Ghislaine Maxwell what's going on in the streets in Illinois, in Oregon, this is all a reflection of a depraved, soulless, soulless party. And we have to hold them accountable. And I've had it. And that's why the interview today in real time, in real life with Rob Bonda, the attorney general for California, where we talked about the missiles over California and Camp Pendleton and shutting down of i5 as a show of force about a video that they're not even producing until the middle of November. Did anybody think that this is just happenstance, that on the day of no Kings Day, JD Vance and Hegseth are doing a review of the troops and the Marines and an amphibious assault presentation on the day of no Kings. And this just emboldens our audience. You're fired up this morning. Today. I'm fired up today. And here we are.
C
Absolutely. Michael Popak. And to get into all these cases, all the updates, I'm not trying to be like whiny about, like, well, why are people saying that Midas Touch was rage baiting? When we reported on the back that the i5 was going to be closed and that the missiles were going to be shot over the cars. And you know, when we reported this on Wednesday, we got a Lot of, a lot of grief from this reporting and not from just the MAGA people. Like from people who you would expect, you know, would be sympathetic to the message. Ah, why would you Rage bait. They're not going to do that. And I said they're going to do that. All my sourcing tells me they're going to do that. Yeah, but Trump and the Marines are saying, I'm like, how in this day and age, in October 18, 2025, are you saying Trump and the Marines said they lie about everything? There's military invasions of blue cities, using the National Guard from red states. Like, what world are you living in? Isis? Disappearing people off the street and throwing them into concentration camps. You look at Alligator, Alcatraz, what was the number? Like over a thousand twelve hundred people or so were like missing. We don't know where they are. They could be dead, they may be deported. Who the hell knows? You've got people. We've got the war crimes taking place in plain view as these fishing boats are just being blown up where a four star admiral resigned one year into the three year tenure as the head of Southern Command, which never happens because there's war crimes taking place in plain view. So perhaps rather than getting angry at the article and calling it rage bait, you focus your rage on what's happening in the country, to this country and who's the one doing it to the country. As the expression goes, don't shoot the messenger. We're just trying to give you the right and accurate facts. Let's get into those right and accurate facts. Michael Popo, let's tie this all together right from the outset because we could talk about what's going on in the United States Supreme Court. And there the Trump regime filed an emergency stay application because it says that under Donald Trump's essentially plenary authority, it's basically the argument that's being made. Courts should not have the right to question if Donald Trump believes there's an insurrection or a rebellion or if there's the need to put National Guard and military into states. They've really kind of moved past the argument, Popac, that yeah, we're just trying to guard federal buildings and we're being surgical about it. What they're saying in this appeal, in this stay request to the Supreme Court and the State of Illinois has to respond on Monday. Right. Is Trump saying courts do not have the right to question anything? I do and Supreme Court, you need to stay the decision by the district court in Illinois, by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeal, where there were two GOP judges, one Trump appointed, one George H.W. bush appointed, and Obama, who all agreed Chicago's not a war zone. Just because people are protesting that does not make it into an insurrection. You can't make up your own facts. And Trump's argument, I'll toss it to you, Popak, is, yes, I can. I can make up my own facts. And it's also in response to the ruling that we saw basically in Portland, Oregon, where the Trump appointed judge there said, you're making up fake facts. What you're saying is happening in Portland isn't. We have people in Portland who are dressing up like frogs, mocking you at this point, and other, you know, and furry animals, like, mocking you. People are roller skating in circles. It's not a war zone. You can't just say war zone. And Trump's argument, I'll toss it to you, Popak, is I can, I can. My reality, Trump's argument in the brief, when you read it, my reality is the reality. And courts cannot come up with their own reality, which is the actual reality. That's dystopian. Popa. Talk about that and then maybe you pivot there into talking a little bit about Santos. Can you weave that? Can you weave that?
B
That's a, that's quite a weave, my friend. That is, that is a, that is an Afghan I'm not familiar with. All right, 10 minutes, here we go. Let's, let's start with what's going on because I had a lot of, a lot of information that I obtained today in the interview that we live streamed, first live stream we ever did on Legal AF, the YouTube channel, a live stream. While I'm here in California at an event, we had Rob Bonta, the Attorney General, talking about the National Guard and what's happening in, you know, we got it. We got three pieces here. We've got the 9th Circuit, the 7th Circuit, we've got Oregon, California and Illinois. And now we've got the emergency application, not from Oregon or California rulings against the Trump administration, but from the 7th Circuit, Illinois ruling against the Trump administration. And what judges are struggling with is giving Donald Trump and the presidency a level of strong deference about certain aspects of his power, but not deference on facts, because the Supreme Court has said it, because the ninth Circuit has said it. And so other courts are mimicking it, which is, well, in the area of kind of this quasi foreign policy. It's not foreign policy. You're on the streets of America. This quasi military policy. Why is the commander in chief turning, turning Cannons towards his, towards Americans. That's a Posse Combatantis Act. But they seem to get wrapped around their own axle. The judges, I mean, federal trial judges, up to appellate judges about how much deference to give to the power of the presidency in this area. And where they struggle is how much deference they give them about facts on the ground in real life. And is Donald Trump allowed to point to a guy in a frog in a chicken suit and say, that's a rebellion? Or along a continuum when there was things going on, let's say, in Portland, where cars were set on fire back in June, but Now you've got 30 people chanting in front of an ICE detention center and no impact on federal enforcement of the law. Is this a rebellion or domestic violence that's making it impossible for the president to exercise the federal law or not? What's interfering with it? In fact, in the 7th Circuit, they pointed to press releases from the Department of Homeland Security itself touting Operation Midway Blitz's success. Despite the protest, we're picking up thousands of people on the streets. And the judges said, where is your inability to execute federal law when you're bragging about how well you're doing with the operation? Yes, there's peaceful protest on the streets. Yes, occasionally it turns violent, but that does not a rebellion make. And the R word, we're just Republican here. The R word of rebellion is a driver for whether a, a president can commandeer the state militia, the National Guard, whether he can federalize them, whether he can. They use the term mobilize, which is a little bit weird. Mobilize them. And now where the 7th Circuit and the 9th Circuit have left it, is that you can mobilize, meaning you can take over the National Guard for now, because that's sort of the status quo, because you did it already. But you can't deploy them, stay in your barracks, keep them off the streets. Now, at the 9th Circuit level, we're waiting on a ruling any minute now. That's not just to warn our audience. Not going to be great. Because I listened to that oral argument and to, you know, what's, what's the old, the old joke, how many Trump judges does it take to screw up constitutional democracy? Two. So two out of the three judges were Trumpers, and they gave a lot of grief to the Oregon position about, well, things might be better now, but they were terrible in June, so why can't the president send them in now? I mean, just totally buying the Trump argument. So I think that's going to be a ruling in which they're going to allow, like in California, the actual deployment of troops in Portland to guard federal federal detention centers. But facts on the ground matter, and deference to those facts matter. And in Illinois, all the judges that have looked at it have said, we do not have an outside invasion of another country. Venezuela hasn't come to Illinois. We don't have rebellion and we don't have your inability to execute with regular forces the law of the state. In other words, blocking. It's not stopping them from detaining, arresting, detaining and processing people. So that John Sauer, Donald Trump's appellate lawyer, didn't like. So they decided now is our chance on a administrative stay at the Seventh Circuit. We're going to take an emergency application up to the United States Supreme Court. And that was already a day ago. As of our tonight podcast, they have not yet. The Supreme Court has not yet blocked the 7th Circuit and allowed for the deployment of the streets of Illinois, the federal troops. Fast moving story. Stay on Legal AF YouTube and Legal AF Substack Live, where I'll do updated reportings as we learn more. But as of now, that hasn't happened. Not saying it won't, but it is now the first time in two months or so that the Supreme Court has at their doorstep this decision about Donald Trump's use of the National Guard to try to take over blue states and violate their state sovereignty. And yes, every time, as you said, Ben, in every case, regardless of the subject matter, Donald Trump starts off singing from the same page of the hymnal, which is judges, I don't know why we're here. You can't review anything that I do. If I say it's a rebellion, it's a rebellion. If I say it's an enemy incursion, it's an enemy incursion. If I say it's a war, it's a war. And you guys can't do anything about it. And then. Are we done here? No, sit down. We're not done here. Every judge that's looked at it has said we get to do oversight over. You know, there's certain deference we have to give you. But even giving you the deference, the strong deference, you know, we still have oversight as to whether this is being done in good faith or not and whether the facts really merit what you're saying. And so that's like the first issue is whether judges and that's what the Supreme Court's going to have to take a stand on about whether judges have that right to Interpret statutes, which is what their job is or not. So, you know, and this is what Banta was great because we, we also talked about how things that Donald Trump is doing, facts on the ground that he's doing in one state is helping their argument at the ninth Circuit. I mean, we still have an appeal at the ninth Circuit about California. And in that one, you know, they said, well, we need all those troops. We gotta take them away from all of their National Guard duties. We gotta put them on the streets to protect federal property in California. And then he took 200 of them and sent them up to Oregon or into Illinois. So, you know, that was Bonto's like, that's a gift that way. We brought that now to the attention of the appellate courts there. So we're gonna have to follow here. But this is all coming quickly, Ben, for our audience to ahead here about this use of the National Guard. Let me just put this in last perspective before I do something with Santos.
C
I'm gonna spare, I'm gonna, I'm gonna.
B
Spare me Santos, Santos.
C
And maybe I'll take a little bit.
B
All right. Okay, fine. That's fine. Let me just make one comment it. Everything that we're watching, I'll put up this in historical and long view perspective. Everything we're watching this phony National Guard rollout that's costing the American people billions of dollars. Just got new reports, for instance, that Kristi Noem is spending $200 million to buy Gulfstream G5 jets so she can run around in luxury with other leaders of the Department of Homeland Security to go stand on top of buildings and look at chicken suits. That's what they're doing with your taxpayer dollars during a shutdown. The billion want, the billions of dollars they are spending on this National Guard cosplay, $200 million at least in D.C. alone. To pick up litter, to stand in front of a building and to do local law enforcement is nothing more than an attack on and trying to undermine and crush the second party in this country that's currently out of power, the Democrats and undermine their brand. That's all we've been. When people are wondering, I wonder why we're seeing this. The indictments of Democratic leaders, the investigations of Democratic leaders, the, the attacks on the icons of our, of our brand, going after the brand, recasting the brand as being made up of terrorists and pedophiles and the rest. This is all Donald Trump's effort, like any good dictator, is to try to crush the other, to have one party rule. And that's where he's going. That's why he's trying to embarrass Gavin Newsom. Although it's backfiring or JB Pritzker, it's backfiring. Or Letitia James. This, this is what we're watching and we need to call it out and train our fire on it in order to regain the narrative and start making. We now have to pivot as a group of people to start making our case to the American people for the midterms. And it starts now. Not, not six months from now. It starts now.
C
Take our first quick break of the show. A reminder. Michael Popak has started his own law firm, the Popoc Firm. Check it out at the popoc firm.com or call 877-popak for you. If anybody you know has been injured in a car accident, a trucking accident, any type of negligence where you're the victim, wrongful death cases that, you know, people may be involved in, sexual assault or sexual harassment cases, go there. Popox got a team of people. Pick up the phone live. People will let you know what's going on. The consultation is free. The Popox representing a ton of people from Legal af. So give them a call if you think that there's a case. If you have a case, give them a check out the Legal AF substack and also check out the Legal AF on YouTube channel. Both are doing great. Make sure you subscribe to all of the Legal AF channels. First break of the show, we'll come back. We'll talk about George Santos. We'll talk about John Bolton. We'll talk about New York Attorney General Leticia James, talking about more firing at the Eastern District of Virginia. In other words, we got a lot to talk about. You think you can handle it? Popac? Of course he can. He's Michael Popac. Let's take our first quick break of the show.
B
Life's been, well, a little crazy lately. And one thing that helps people unwind, Cornbread Hemps CBD gummies. These gummies are designed to help you feel calmer and more centered, providing a moment to relax and reset during a busy day with no fuss and no weird taste. They're an easy addition to any wellness routine. Cornbread Hemp Scummies are made to help you feel better, whether it's stress, discomfort or just needing a moment to relax. They use only the flower of the hemp plant, which means you're getting the purest and most potent cbd. And every batch is USDA organic and third party lab tested. So you know exactly what you're getting right now. Legal AF listeners can save 30% on their first order. Just head to cornbreadhemp.com LegalAF and use code legalaf at checkout. That's cornbreadhemp.com legalaf with code legal af to get 30% off your first order. The weather it's heating up and your nighttime bedroom temperature has a huge impact on your sleep quality. If you wake up too hot or too cold, I highly recommend you check out Miracle Maid's bed sheets. Miracle made sheets are inspired by NASA and use silver infused fabrics that are temperature regulating so you can sleep at the perfect temperature all night long. Using silver infused fabrics inspired by NASA, Miracle Maid sheets are thermoregulating and designed to keep you at the perfect temperature all night long no matter the weather, so you get better sleep every night. Miracle sheets are luxuriously comfortable without the high price tag of other luxury brands and feel as nice if not nicer than sheets used by some five star hotels. Stop sleeping on bacteria. Bacteria can clog your pores causing breakouts and acne. Sleep clean with Miracle. Upgrade your sleep as the weather heats up. Go to trymiracle.com legalaf to try Miracle made sheets today and whether you're buying them for yourself or as a gift for a loved one, if you order today you can save over 40%. And if you use our promo legal AF at checkout, you'll get a free 3 piece towel set and save an extra 20%. Miracle is so confident in their product it's backed with a 30 day money back guarantee. So if you aren't 100% satisfied with, you'll get a full refund. Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made. Go to try miracle.com legalaf and use the code legal af to claim your free three piece towel set and save over 40% off. Again, that's trymiracle.com legal af to treat yourself. Thank you Miracle Made for sponsoring this episode.
C
Welcome back to Legal af. Thank you to all of our sponsors. All right, we got a lot to discuss. Popoc. Let's talk about George Santos having his sentence commuted. In other words, gets to leave prison. He was sentenced to 87 months. He pled guilty about a year ago and what he pled guilty to doing was some really bad crimes. I want to make the distinction here. Yes, he's a massive liar. He's lied about where he lived, where he was born, the job that he had, the schools he went to, awards that he won, everything his parents were in 9 11, like literally everything about the guy's life is a lie. That wasn't the crimes that he committed. Arguably, some of them may have been, but that wasn't what he was charged with. What he was charged with was part of his serial lying and theft and stealing was he would take his donor's credit cards and he would swipe them for his own personal well being. He would literally do credit card theft and identity theft and he would take the person, let's say they were a donor and he would steal their money and then he would buy himself outfits and pay his rent and he made a living off of literally robbing people. That's what he was criminally charged with. So I don't want people to get confused about, well, why is lying? Lying is bad. But that's not what he was actually charged and pled guilty to. And there was so much evidence there against him. He was charged in the federal courthouse in Long Island Central Islam. These are serious crimes. But, you know, he's this ultra maga guy and he's saying, donald, I love you. I'm going to do all of your bidding. And part of, I think commuting the sentence of Jorge Santos is also Donald Trump just saying laws don't matter. It sends a broader message. Outside of Santos, it's Trump saying, I'm the law. I'll do whatever the hell I want. Look, I'll do George Santos. I'll do Ghislaine Maxwell. Look, Kristi NOEM can have $172 million private jet. It doesn't matter. You the American people. I don't work for you. Okay? You are basically, you know, you know, not even a second. Y' all are the pawns in all of this. I'm going to focus on my triumphal arch and golden ballrooms and UFC fights in front of the White House. And I don't care about you. I don't care about the legal system. I'm going to do things that show I. My level of disdain for the DOJ will be shown as, look what I just did for Jorge Santos. Look what I did for the January 6th insurrectionist, Michael Popak. I'll bring you in right there with that intro right there. I don't think there's much more that needs to be covered on Santos because I don't want to give him that much attention. There's broader principles there.
B
Yeah, I'm into the broader principles. This is a crucible of the depravity of the Trump administration. And you're so right. He lets it slip out all the time. And he was talking about his get ready, folks while he was pitching his. And if you listen closely, you're going to hear Ben's head explode when he was talking about his ballroom that he's building off the White House and had all the donors there for it. And he talked about the triumphal arch, like the arch in Washington Square park or the arc, the triumph that he he's going to build near the Lincoln Memorial with I don't know whose money, I'm sure in violation of some law. He said when they said at the end, because the architect for the triumphal arch said this is a testament to all people and to unity and to justice, because he understands as an architect its placement would be so close to Lincoln Memorial. And the reporter asked the question about that, about what the designer of the arch and what his comments were, and he said, no, it's Trump said, no, it's for me. I mean, he just says out loud every and we can't fault him for saying out loud, as you said in the past, exactly what he's going to do at any given moment. And then does it we've said he's going to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. Is this the, is this the starter kit for it? Probably because he sees that there's no political fallout. He thinks there's no political fallout for what he does. Of course, the polls say something quite differently. And I think we're able to take the George Santos commutation of a sentence, which is another Ed Martin special. Ed Martin, the director of weaponization for the Department of Justice, who's leading the charge against Letitia James, who will update later, who's really the shadow attorney general. He's the henchman in the trench coat who's doing all of Donald Trump's bidding. You want a political enemy gone after boss? I'm on it. You want to pardon or commute the sentences for people like the Jan6 insurrectionist or George Santos or Ghislaine Maxwell? I'm on it. Keep an eye, as we will, on, on Ed Martin, Eagle Ed Martin, he's going to be the one, the conduit through which Ghislaine Maxwell is ultimately pardoned. And he just wiped out and then bragged about it on a social media post. Ed Martin, almost $350,000 or more of restitution to victims of Santos. And how did Santos get out? Because he's been writing these sobbing reports from prison for some Long island newspaper. You're from Long Island. You ever hear of this South Shore Press, some South Shore press decided to let him spill ink and spill tea about his time in solitary confinement. Lord knows how they get those articles out. And Donald Trump and Ed Martin read him and he wrote a letter and said human dignity, you know, the human dignity that's being deprived of people who are protesting on the streets. The human dignity that's being deprived of people who, migrants who are entitled to due process rights. Human dignity demands that any human being that's in prison be given a certain amount. And Donald Trump goes, you're right. And I have a way to get back to the Democrats. I'll tie it to Richard Blumenthal, a senator in Connecticut, about his puffed up Vietnam service or not. Oh, you know, he's a rogue. And I love this. You hear it in Don Jr. You hear it in J.D. vance. You hear it with Donald Trump. You talk about grabbing a woman by her genitalia. It's harmless locker room talk. Young Republicans, which is a misnomer, it's people up to 40 years old who use racist misogynists, use the N word, talk about exterminating Jews, celebrating Hitler, raping women, all show up in text messages. And JD Vance says boys will be boys. Boys. Well, first of all, they're 40 year old men and women up to including lawyers and everything is just written off as. And Donald Trump calls George Santos in his social media posting. He's a rogue. Well, there's been a lot of rogues like Donald Trump. When you have a criminal felon, fraudster, sexual abuser in chief, that's the output. You get the George Santos and the Ghislaine Maxwells commuted. And this is what the messaging needs to be for the Democrats whenever they stand before cameras, whenever they stand, they get interviewed here on Legal af. This is the messaging. This is the party that people will be voting for with R next to their name from now until the midterms and special elections along the way. And it's time for the silent majority that makes up the 61% that don't like and hate Donald Trump that are with us here on Legal AF and Midas Touch. It is time for the silent majority to be silent no longer and to be heard.
C
Michael Popak, I'm going to ask you to do a weave right now. Do you think you can handle a good old fashioned Virginia weave? I can do a good old fashioned lot going on in Virginia and then we'll take you to Maryland afterwards. But let's start with the good old fashioned Virginia weave. The firings in Virginia relating to these indictments, particularly New York Attorney General Letitia James, but also tangentially related to the Comey case. You have the Comey case moving along on that rocket docket in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia. The prosecutors, I guess, who picked the short straw from the North Carolina federal district, who are, who parachuted into Virginia. I'm not sure if they fully knew how bad that Comey case was going to be for them in their careers, but they've been begging the judge, could we have a delay? We don't want to turn over the discovery right now. We need some more time. Judge. The judge basically has been rejecting the Trump prosecutors. Oh, no. You filed this case. You get ready. And Comey's won most of those motions. So why don't you start by talking about the Comey motions. Why don't you talk about the firings related to New York Attorney General Letitia James, and then if you want to weave a little bit up north to Maryland, you can do that. You could do that. And talk about what's going on with John Bolton there, where he was charged in the Maryland federal court. They can handle it.
B
Take I95 right from Virginia to Maryland or back.
C
Let's start with missiles are being shot over it like in the West Coast.
B
Trust me. I mean, I almost thought I was going to have to do this. This podcast tonight from a bomb shelter.
C
You know, you're literally there where the missiles are being.
B
Seriously, I'm in San Diego. Yeah, right near. Right near. Right near Quantico. All right, so I'm weaving. I'm weaving. Eastern District of Virginia, once proud member of the U.S. attorney's office. It actually one of the first federal districts created in 1780 and 87 or 1789 and is now incompletely has been set aflame by Donald Trump, who is demolishing with a, with a, with a wrecking ball, the Department of Justice, its leadership. He's installed sycophants and shadow attorney generals like Ed Martin. Lindsay Halligan has apparently decided that she's going to side with Ed Martin. There's a war that's broken out between Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche on one side and Cash Patel, Ed Martin and Lindsey Halligan on the other. Lindsey Halligan has decided to take a wrecking ball to the Eastern District of Virginia being manipulated, I'm sure, by Ed Martin. And now we've got the sixth or seventh major leader in the Department of Justice's office in the Eastern District of Virginia being fired, including one that I predicted. I thought every Time I recorded about Beth Youse, the major Crimes prosecutor who let it leak that she was not going to recommend a case against Letitia James because there wasn't a case against Letitia James. As soon as we saw that and 72 hours later, an indictment that was obtained by Lindsay Halligan, I said, whenever I started recording about Beth, I said, I'm not sure she's still there. We might have to update this on Legal AF Substack Live. And now she and her, her number two have been fired from that office. That's a badge of honor, by the way. And I applaud Beth UC for taking a stand against the, the depraved retaliatory conduct of Donald Trump to go after his political enemies and critics. Comey on tomorrow. No, sorry, Monday. You know, when I'm traveling between the time zones and the days, I forget where I'm at. On Monday, there will be at least two, if not more motions that are going to be filed by James Comey. How do we know? Because he said it aloud in court and he made a court filing to tell us about one. One is going to be, I am sure, about what we call prosecutorial abuse, which is vindictive prosecution and selective prosecution about this case should never, never have been brought. Many of the things that have been turned over and have had to be turned over to the, the Comey side. The former FBI Director and U.S. attorney includes and has to include the interview notes of people like John Durham. The special counsel for four years investigated everything related to James Comey and said there's no case and told that to the career prosecutors in the Eastern District before Lindsay Halligan arrived. All that stuff, all of those interview notes and witness notes and things, all of that goes into the exculpatory pile that, that Comey uses to prove that he's innocent, if he even goes to trial. In the meantime, he'll use it to support his vindictive prosecution motion. To the extent, I think that's why the judge forced them. They were asking for the Trump administration like, we need more time. We need another week. Another week. He's like, no, motions are due on Monday. Your discovery is due here. You turn over your documents there. And we're going to trial on January 5th. And that's Judge Nachmanoff. That's it. It we're going to trial whether you like it or not. And that's certainly what the defense wants to have happen. The first motion, that is the one I just talked about. The second motion is going to be a motion to disqualify or declare illegally appointed Lindsey halligan As a U.S. attorney who's the only person to sign the indictment. Therefore, the indictment must fail. This is similar to, but not exactly like what was used against Alina Haba. That's going to be heard this week, or I think it's coming up this week before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals about whether she was illegally appointed. Slightly different, because how they were appointed was slightly different. But under the way that we believe in the argument that I'm sure we're going to see on Monday, the way that we believe Lindsey Halligan was appointed as the interim U.S. attorney for Virginia or Eastern District of Virginia. It's a single use. You only get one appointment for that and then it goes to the judges of the, of that particular district to pick the, the U.S. attorney until there's one that's confirmed through the Senate. They already picked one. His name was Eric Seibert or Siebert, a conservative Republican. Trump fired him because he wouldn't indict Comey and Letitia James. That's it. That was the one pick by Pam Bundy. Second pick goes to the judges. So they've already given notice last week, the Kobe side to the judge. Get ready. We're filing this on Monday. And you're likely you're going to have to send this to another judge outside of the Eastern District of Virginia because everybody's effectively disqualified because they're going to pick, if we're right, the new U.S. attorney. So that process has, I assume, has already begun. It means when they get the, when they get the motion, Judge Nakmanoff is going to have to send it to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Judge Diaz, who sits over Virginia. He then picks another judge somewhere outside of the Eastern District of Virginia. It could be in Virginia, just not in the Eastern District or in places like North Carolina. And he assigns it to that judge, similar to what happened to Alina Haba when her New Jersey motion got sent to the Middle District of Pennsylvania to be ruled by a judge there. So this is all going down. I mean, they're going for the knockout punch early, Ben, with, with Halligan. And I don't know about any other indictments that have been coming out of there besides Letitia James and Comey. But certainly this would apply to anybody else that gets indicted by her. And the reason she's by herself is because no career, first of all, there's no career prosecutor left. They've all been fired or resigned in the top leadership of that Office, what, You know, and so she's left by herself. Even Ed Martin isn't sitting next to her. Even. We don't see Jeanine Pirro or anybody from D.C. flying down, driving down to help her. She's completely by herself. So that's on the comey side.
C
And pop, I'm going to throw right back to you. But what's interesting too is that kind of makes her a witness, you know, in this. So. And we see how horrible she is in court. I mean, people who have described her.
B
In court, rocking back and forth.
C
I mean, like, she, she doesn't know how to talk in a courtroom. So she could be put on that witness stand and be grilled about. What'd you do? When did you sign up? Did you know this? Did you read this? Did you. Were you authorized? She gonna be on the witness stand? I just want to make that point.
B
No, that's a very.
C
He's an idiot.
B
That's also very good. I call her Insta prosecutor. She spent more time in hair and makeup than she's ever had in a federal court, let alone as a federal prosecutor. So now she's got her hands full with Letitia James. Because if you thought the comey indictment, which nobody can understand or make heads or tail out of, and was. And then you have the Letitia James one, which had typos over it, and you already have the new reporting coming out where. And I just want to make sure people understand this. Letitia James was indicted because she's a political critic of Donald Trump. That's the reason. That's what Rob Bonta said to me today during our livestream with the attorney, as the Attorney General of California working closely with her. This is, this is Donald Trump trying to round up his political enemies and critics. Get ready, Ben. And put them in prison, you know, as any good dictator would do. That's all that we're watching. Because when you look at the 30 year prison sentence that she's staring at and you look at the facts, she bought a second home that the bank that gave her 100 grand for this very modest second home in Virginia that apparently she bought for family members, knew it was the second home because she's the New York Attorney General. She doesn't live in Virginia. And so there's no, of course, fraud there. And then somebody, not her, likely a niece with power of attorney, checked the box that said she wouldn't be renting it out. Okay? And she's not renting it out. Family members are staying there. And that's it folks, we got a, we got a mortgage fraud of epic proportion over $18,000 because Letitia James is big hearted and is letting her family stay in a house she purchased for them in Virginia. Now you wonder why Beth UC quit or effectively got herself fired for not bringing this, this case. Look, there's a difference between. And we'll get to it. The Bolton indictment brought by career prosecutors in Maryland who checked all the boxes to at least get a legitimate indictment out against, against Bolton. A, a investigation that started under the Biden administration. This is a Biden prosecution, if you will, not a Trump one. That's different. That, that's, that's completely different than this frame job against Letitia James that nobody would sign on to and still haven't signed on to other than Lindsey Halligan. There's an arraignment coming up this week, middle of the week, for, for her. For Letitia James. She's going to plead not guilty. Her lawyer is Abby Lowell. You and I are going to be taught we could have a drinking game. How many times we're going to be saying Abby Lowell's name because he's like the lawyer of choice for many targets of Donald Trump. He's representing Lisa Cook, he's representing Letitia James and I think he's representing Bolton. Right. So he's got them all. You know, he's got a trifecta there. So Letitia James arraignment. She's not going to be perp walked. I just, they're not perp walking anymore. I guess that's fallen out of favor. And the. Then I'm going to take the car up to the Maryland. Whole different set of prosecutors. At least this was career prosecutors who looked at it and made it clear. We knew coming in that based on the raid of his house and the pickup of all of his electronic devices, we knew weeks ago what the argument was going to be that he had been keeping diaries, not just in writing, but electronically, that contained top secret and classified information even after he no longer had that clearance and shared that information, according to the indictment, with members of his family as a lead up or a ramp up to a book that he was going to write in 2020 called the Room Where It Happens. And they also cut and pasted in some emails that they showed to the grand jury that demonstrated that John Bolton knew and as the people that received it knew that this was confidential information and should have been encrypted and they it do it and all of that. That is, you know, with 12 or 15 examples of when he, they didn't list it but 10 because it's, you know, that wouldn't be appropriate on the public docket for right now. But of times when confidential, you know, classified, even human intelligence information was shared inappropriately. How do we know about all this? Because in paragraph 14 of the indictment, it says that while America was hacking Iran, we saw in their servers AOL emails and diary entries that they had obtained from John Bolton. Because they hacked John Bolton. John Bolton had confessed that he had been hacked to the government, but didn't say that he had been keeping a diary of top secret information. And so because we had that, that was allegedly the delay in the indictment, they had to tell the Iranians that we have been, period. So we were willing to compromise of diplomatic relationships and, or our surveillance operations in order to indict John Bolton. Now look, that's the indictment. The guy pled not guilty. He said, you know, his lawyer's already, you know, on the, on the trail talking about, look, he's done what every civil servant who's been at the highest level of national security for 40 years has ever done. He kept diaries. There's nothing. He hasn't done anything different than anybody else. And just as a side note before I shove it back to you, Ben, you know who's a notorious. No, no, that's the right one. You know who is a well known diarist? Joe Biden. Joe Biden had volumes throughout his entire career up on his shelf of like leather bound handwritten diaries, even towards the very end that he kept about all the rooms that he was in where it happened, whether he was senator or vice president or president. I mean, just copious, copious note taker. And it looks like, and, and yes, he got caught up in a couple of boxes that were in his garage or in his center that should have been returned or not returned and all of that with the special counsel at the time. But this may be different in that Joe Biden didn't digitize these things and send it to people as he was writing a book. So look, as I've said, if John Bolton did something wrong and compromised national security, even though he's also a political enemy and critical of Donald Trump, then we're going to let the chips fall where they are. Although it is suspicious that now they've gotten around to trying to chill his speech. What do you think about it?
C
I just think this John Bolton is George W. Bush's guy. Like, let's not forget who John Bolton, not some liberal hero or like this guy was Trump's national security visor. This guy's a. Trump was a Trumper guy who was there, and he's like, man, I could really deal with George W. Bush, but when it comes to Donald Trump, this guy's like, a total fascist. And they had a falling out. Remember how Trump says, I picked the best guys? Like, I don't want to conflate, like, who Bolton is. I'm glad that Bolton was outspoken against Donald Trump, and I think that we should always have an open door to people who expose the criminality and the fascism that exists. But, like, let's. I don't want to, like, make Bolton out to be like some, you know, some crusader for. For. For my world view or perspective. So let me just kind of, you know, put that number one. And it seems that lots of Donald Trump's enemies are the people who, like, work for him, you know, who see his behavior. So let's just put that out there. But then I just think this is one of those situations where it's not like the Comey case and the Letitia James case. I could say these are the dumbest cases, the most frivolous, the most vexatious. Nothing there. And the government's going to get absolutely embarrassed. That's obvious. On the Bolton one, My. My view is, you know, Bolton wrote a book on this. Bolton is, you know, relatively. I would be surprised if he truly was kind of that sloppy where he was giving away things that were national security information just because of his history in the national security apparatus. To me, the fights Popak here will be over parsing. Was this the Trump regime saying, no, this was classified and confidential, while they're out there posting videos of, like, you know, Donald Trump's in the Oval Office saying, the CIA is in Venezuela right now. Okay? We're doing covert operations in Venezuela. He's out there saying that. So to me, what the case ultimately comes down to, and this is going to be a confusing one for the jury, I think, you know, and. And why, you know, I think Bolton will have good arguments here is I think Bolton's gonna say, this stuff's not like, class. This. This is not national security information. This is not highly classified stuff. This is the type of stuff that I put in my book. So if I put it in my book, I could share with my family there. This is not. This is not to that level, but we'll see, but we'll talk about that, you know, and we'll follow the case. But I draw a slight distinction between Comey's case and Letitia James case and, and, and this bolted case. All right. When we come back, though, we pretty much covered a lot of it. Popoc. We've got a few more topics that we're going to be discussing. Smartmatic, New York Times. Let's take our last quick break. A reminder, ThePopocFirm.com check it out or call 877-popak AF if you or anybody you know has a, has a case, if you've been in a car accident, if you've been in a trucking accident, if you know someone who was killed in an accident, sexual harassment, sexual assault victim, whatever, if you think you have a case, call popoc. He's got a team of people across the country, consultations free. When they represent you, it's on a contingency, meaning they only recover if you recover. Check it out. Subscribe to Legal AF YouTube. Subscribe to Legal AF substack. Both are growing rapidly. Last quick break of the show, Homestretch. Popoc. Thanks everybody. We'll be right back.
B
Deleteme makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. As someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me. Every week we're covering stories about data leaks and hacks people's personal information being exposed. And it really hit home. I've seen how easily your private details can end up all over the Internet. And that's why I use Delete Me. Delete Me does all the work of wiping your and your family's personal information from hundreds of data broker websites. And it's not just a one time thing. Delete Me is always working for you. Constantly monitoring and removing the personal information you don't want on the Internet. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your delete me plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com and use promo code legal AF at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com legal AF and enter code legal AF at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com legal AF code legal AF. You know what they say, first impressions matter. Whether I'm in court, on camera or just heading out to meet friends. Looking sharp isn't optional, it's essential. And staying well groomed, that takes tools you can trust. For me, that's Harry's. I've been using Harry's for a while now, whether to clean up around my beard or when I'm clean shaven and I'm hooked. The trial set I got came with a sleek weighted handle that feels like it belongs in a high end barbershop. A five blade razor, their signature foaming shave gel and a travel cover. All delivered straight to my door. The packaging is clean and modern and yeah, it looks pretty good sitting on my bathroom counter. I keep a short beard and I like a clean shave on the neck and cheeks. Harry's gives me a close smooth result around my beard or when I shave it all off every time without the irritation and the shave gel. Rich lather fresh scent. Honestly, it's a game changer. Here's the best part. You get top quality German engineered blades, customizable refills for as low as 2 bucks. And that $10 trial set, right now it's just 6 bucks bucks. Show everyone you mean business. Get Harry's. Normally their trial set is ten dollars, but right now you can get it for just six dollars at harry's.com legalaf that's our exclusive link. Harry's.com legal af for a six dollar trial set.
C
Welcome back to legal af. Thank you to all of our sponsors. Support our sponsors. They help make this show possible. Discount codes in the description below. Jordy works really hard with them to get you those discount codes. Let's get into it. Michael Popak. Donald Trump refiled that case against the New York Times where the federal judge before sua spontane on his own. So this is like the most frivolous case. What was different about that case then? Let's talk about Smartmatic and then we'll round it up there. But talk about New York Times. What happened?
B
Yeah, thank you very much. Yeah, New York Times. We've been waiting because the judge look, took one look at the 70 pages, which was really just as one judge referred to it, a political screed masquerading as a lawsuit, forcing the judge to wade through all sorts of irrelevant narcissistic comments about Trump's ego and the size of his landslide victory against Kamala Harris and all the movies he's ever been in and the fact that he really was a bigger star on Celebrity Apprentice than people give him credit for. And the fact that his carpets and his rugs at Trump Tower really don't stink. I mean, just really ridiculous slop. And the judge looked at it and said, this violates. And I predicted this one. I said this violates Rule 8. This is not A short and concise statement of your, of your case about defamation. Let me just put it up on the, on the blackboard here for our TED Talk Meets Law School class that we do twice a week here on Legal AF on the podcast. Defamation requires that somebody say something about you that is untrue, that a reasonable person would find to ruin your reputation, defame you in the, in the local parlance, and for which you were damaged. And if you're a public figure like Donald Trump, the person, the, the Trump side, the defamed party side, allegedly has to prove that the party that did it also did it with what's called actual malice. That's a defined term, a term of art, that the United States Supreme Court has said that the person saying it has to know that what they were saying was not true or recklessly disregarded whether it was true or false. So you have to make that out in your complaint. I mean, I've been litigating and pleading in course in cases for 35 years. You've got to get the elements of your, the basic elements of your case have to be present in order for you to survive a motion to dismiss. Pardon me. And he's. And this is about it. I'm not sure the judge gives him another chance after giving him this chance to file this new 40 pages, which is no better than the original because it doesn't hit the elements. It doesn't show what's untrue and why it's untrue. It doesn't show. And when it gets to actual malice, I'm like, okay, here's the actual malice part. Where is it? New York Times doesn't like me. New York Times never liked me. New York Times has a policy of not liking me. I mean, I'm barely sarcastically paraphrasing, and I'm like, that is not going to survive a motion to dismiss. So while they got rid of the original introduction, which started with Donald Trump was the greatest president ever and you got the most electoral vote. It was a landslide. He beat up common hours. I'm like, what does this have to do? Half the time I go through the complaint, even this new one, and I'm like, what does this have to do with the case? There's actually a section. Then maybe we could put it up on the screen in the complaint, where he not only lists all of his ridiculous guest appearances in Home Alone, two movies you've never heard of Sex in the City, and then actually wastes the judge's time by giving him the YouTube location. So he can hyperlink, he could click it and go watch Home Alone 2 with Donald Trump in it.
C
It.
B
What's completely missing in the section about Donald Trump's reputation, which is ultimately fatal to his case, ultimately, is any reference to the fact that he is. He's been convicted of 34 felony counts of crimes in New York. A company of his, two companies of his were convicted of 19 felony counts in New York. The fact that he's gone bankrupt five times, he's been adjudged to be a sexual abuser by not one, but two federal juries in New York. All of that he's indicted in multiple places, including in Georgia. All of that which goes into a person's reputation is completely ignored and substituted for. He was at home alone too. Okay. And then when you look at the 13 or so allegedly defamatory statements, he never court takes the time to tell the court how they're defamatory, in what way? How are they untrue? So he spends a considerable amount of time because he's upset about it. This is what this is all about. Donald Trump's upset. So he's going to file a billions of dollars of damages claim against the New York Times to get some political mileage out of it. And he actually has a section where he doesn't like the fact that when the, the crew of these apprentice went to Trump Tower, they were struck by the stench. This is their words of the car, the musty carpet and how dilapidated Trump Tower looked when they were thinking this was going to be this opulent, wealthy, you know, trappings of success. And it was nothing of. He hated that. The stench. The stench. Carpet. No, but he didn't even write, that's not true. That couldn't happen. He just said these are the statements I think are not true. They're not true. Here's, here's my reputation. I'm leaving out all the parts where I'm a criminal or I'm a sexual predator or I've been or women have accused me of attacking them, but my reputation is pristine and I've been damaged. Look, I don't think the judge, Judge Meredith, who's Republican in the middle district of Florida, is going to dismiss this one on his own initiative, on his own dimension. But now the New York Times rubs their hands in glee because this is now what they're shooting at. And they've got amazing First Amendment lawyers. You and I know them well, that they're the go to law firm out of New York that handles libel and defamation cases along with local counsel that I know in Florida, Gunster Yokley. Very, very good. And they're now going to go in front of Judge Merriday and they're going to move to dismiss this complaint and ask for it to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning we don't ever see it again. And the judge, having already given him one opportunity, he might give him one more opportunity if he thinks certain things can be fixed or he may not. It's, you know, it's a little bit of a gray area. He certainly doesn't have to give him three opportunities. There's a little bit of a gray area with courts. Like, is one enough or I really have to give him two? I think this is it. I think if he having given him the opportunity and given him the guidance, the judge on Trump's lawyers on how to redo their complaint and now seeing this as the output, I think he will eventually, over the course of the next 60 days, ish, he will grant a motion to dismiss with prejudice, putting this case and the rest of America out of its misery. One final note. I looked at the lawyers that were involved in the case. He's got Alejandro Brito, some guy in the in Coral Gables, keeps filing these things for him. But then he's got a guy who lists as his, this is a federal pleading for the President of the United States against the New York Times for billions of dollars. And the lawyer lists as his address and his signature to the judge a weird address in Florida that I looked up on Google Maps. It is a postal center mailbox inside of an original Pancake House shopping center on Glades Road in Boca Raton, Florida. That's his office for official business. It's box 3A inside of like Mailbox America. I'm like this, what is happening here? Nothing says quality lawyering like a mailbox at the original Pancake House shopping Center.
C
Popak, here's what I think is going to happen. I think the judge is going to actually allow leave to amend with the warning that they're going to have Rule 11 sanctions. I think that they'll say, I'll give you one, but you didn't cure it the first time. I'm warning you now that there will be serious sanctions if you don't cure this. So either dismiss this case on your own or there will be Rule 11 sanctions. And I think that New York Times will file a notice putting the Trump regime on notice of Rule 11 sanctions. And for those, what that means is under the federal rules, any lawyer who puts their name to a Pleading verifies that they're actually asserting legitimate claims. And I think when New York Times is going to. And under Rule 11, there's a safe harbor provision where before you basically seek these massive sanctions, you give the other party an opportunity to dismiss the case. And I think New York Times will, if they haven't already sent a Rule 11 letter, they'll be sending one very soon. And then I think they move for Rule 11 sanctions. Let's not forget that in the Southern District of Florida, Trump previously with Alina Haba as his personal lawyer, who's now the unlawfully. I won't even know what to call her. She's the federal prosecutor in New Jersey who's like basically, what's the word called Popak. When you live in someone's house and you don't leave and you're not supposed to be. What's it called? Called trespasser. But I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. But she's refusing to leave. She's like refusing to leave the home.
B
Squatter. Squatter. She's squatting.
C
Just think they're squat. Trump has multiple federal prosecutors who are squatting waters and they're not allowed to be there. They're pretending it's like Halloween, that they're federal prosecutors. Anyway, Alina Haba and Trump were sanctioned a million dollars for bringing frivolous cases in this federal courthouse. Finally, Popak, briefly, briefly, briefly. Because I know you've got to run in San Diego, so try to do it in three minutes or less.
B
Smartmatic. I got to dodge missiles in San Diego. Terrible. The Smartmatic. There's really two pieces to it, but I'll do it in under three minutes. Smartmatic has a very slow moving lawsuit in New York which is similar to the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit that in which they recovered almost $800 million for defamation against Fox News. There's another one in New York about, about Fox that was filed at the same time. It's just, it's just how slow New York state court cases work for those. I practice in New York for 35 years. To me, it's no shock that they're just getting to summary judgment maybe in the first of the year after they can. And whereas there's already been a settlement like two years ago in Delaware, Delaware moves at one rate, sort of like the Eastern District to Virginia. New York State court moves at its own pace. Doesn't matter who the parties are. There's been a bunch of, much like Virginia, there's been a bunch of documents that have come out in that case that we now have on our in our hands that show that people employed by Fox believed, as we all did and do that Fox News run by Rupert Murdoch has been a propaganda machine for the Trump administration. And this is all around the 2020 period as all that was coming out. In an obvious attempt to help Rupert Murdoch, even though there's a weird relationship with Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch, he sues Rupert Murdoch in a case that's like going nowhere in Miami for defamation through the Wall Street Journal because it published the birthday book containing Donald Trump's obscene birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein before anybody else published it.
C
I don't know.
B
I mean it's all part of the public record now. Congress published it it. But there's that suit that's going nowhere down in Miami. At the same time there's reporting that Donald Trump allowed Reuper Murdoch and Fox to have an ownership interest in TikTok at the same time they sat next to each other at the Royal Dinner. And here I think this is a help out by Donald Trump having his Department of Justice in Miami bring a indictment against Smartmatic for bribe bribery back in 2016 in the Philippines. Smartmatic is a election equipment company and software company. And that is now right exactly the way that the Trump administration wanted to to curry favor with Fox and Rupert Murdoch helping them out in the New York case. The discovery magistrate or referee has said that Smartmatic now has to turn over the documents about the indictment because part of what they're suing for I in that case is reputational harm. So back to what we just said about the New York Times. I believe that Donald Trump is somebody who can't be, who literally legally cannot be defamed. That his reputation is so shitty that there are just some people you can't defame. Like you can't defame Charlie Manson, like you can't defame Adolf Hitler. And I don't think you can defame Donald Trump. And that has come up in filings. Similarly, though, reputation matters when it comes to defamation and the measure of damage. So you could just see some hand rubbing glee over helping Rupert Murdoch in the Smartmatic case, which I think he likely loses much the way he lost down in Delaware. And I think this is just a freebie, a helpful hand by Donald Trump's Department of Justice to waste our time to go after smartmatic. Now look, the other reason I believe it's BS just to wrap it up here is Donald Trump mothballed through his Department of Justice and Pam Bondi, the Foreign Corrupt Practices act, and anything related to bribery. He put it on ice. He basically said, we're getting out of the business of litigating and prosecuting over bribes. So now all of a sudden, the office is back open and the only target of it is smartmatic, which is in a fight for money against Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump's buddy, in front of me. Come on.
C
Michael Popak, you covered a lot in a little bit of time. Go. I know. We appreciate everybody who showed up at the no Kings. We're grateful for everybody here. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. We will be, of course, covering all the no Kings protests, fallout, celebrations. Everything that went down will be covered here on the Midas Touch Network. As always, thanks to all the organizers of that event. Y' all are the true heroes, the grassroots organizers. Everybody from Indivisible 50, 51, move on. All of the unions and all of the other groups, the chapters within the groups. There are so many who are involved that if I name it all, well, the show will go on forever. So I just want to let. And the leaders of these organizations will tell you, too, that they are a leaderless movement, though. And then it's about the people. And so everybody who showed up, all the grassroots activists, all the people, people who were there today, it's great seeing you. And on Legal af, we'll see you next time. We appreciate you. Just get out the facts, get out the truth. I'm Ben Myellus, joined by Michael Popak. This is Legal AF hit. Subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers here. Subscribe to the Legal AF YouTube channel. Subscribe to the Legal AF substack. And if you or anyone you know has been injured in a auto accident or a trucking accident or is a victim of sexual assault or harassment, or you know somebody who is the victim of wrongful death, or you know somebody who was injured and has a case, call the Popoc firm, Michael Popox law firm. Go to thepopocfirm.com or call 877 POPOCF. If people across the country willing to help and answer your calls and see if you got a case. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next time on Legal af. Shout out Legal A for shout out Midas Mighty.
A
Take the next 30 seconds to invest in yourself with Vanguard. Breathe in. Center your mind. Recognize the power you have to direct your financial future. Feel the freedom that comes with reaching your goals and building a life you love. Vanguard brings you this meditation because we invest where it matters most in you. Visit vanguard.com investinginyou to learn more. All investing is subject to risk.
Episode Date: October 19, 2025
Host(s): Ben Meiselas, Michael Popok
Guest: California Attorney General Rob Bonta (interviewed)
This high-intensity episode of Legal AF, hosted by civil rights attorney Ben Meiselas and trial lawyer Michael Popok, dissects the legal and political chaos under the so-called “Trump regime.” The hosts tackle a wide array of stories at the crossroads of law and politics—ranging from controversial National Guard deployments to the commutation of George Santos’ sentence, the evolving court battles over federal power, retaliatory prosecutions against Democratic figures, and Trump's sustained attacks on journalists and democracy itself. The tone is urgent, unflinching, and unapologetically progressive.
“Missiles are being launched over our heads by the Trump regime…with ICE agents disappearing human beings.”
— Ben Meiselas [04:46]
“Part of, I think, commuting the sentence of George Santos is also Donald Trump just saying, laws don’t matter. It sends a broader message... I’m the law, I’ll do whatever the hell I want.”
— Ben Meiselas [28:07]
“Trump’s argument in the brief…my reality is the reality. And courts cannot come up with their own reality, which is the actual reality. That's dystopian.”
— Ben Meiselas [12:56]
“Are we done here? No, sit down... every judge that’s looked at it has said we get to do oversight... even giving you the deference, the strong deference, we still have oversight as to whether this is being done in good faith or not.”
— Michael Popok [19:23]
“Billions of dollars they are spending on this National Guard cosplay... is nothing more than an attack on... the Democrats and undermine their brand. That’s all we’ve been... like any good dictator, [Trump] is to try to crush the other, to have one party rule.”
— Michael Popok [21:05]
“She [Letitia James] was indicted because she’s a political critic of Donald Trump. That’s the reason. That’s what Rob Bonta said to me today... This is Donald Trump trying to round up his political enemies and critics... and put them in prison, you know, as any good dictator would do.”
— Michael Popok [44:10]
“Let’s not forget who John Bolton is... George W. Bush’s guy... Not some liberal hero. But, like, let’s... have an open door to people who expose the criminality and the fascism that exists... the fights here will be over parsing... is this classified, did he actually do this...?"
— Ben Meiselas [49:17]
“Half the time I go through the complaint, even this new one, and I’m like, what does this have to do with the case?... What is happening here? Nothing says quality lawyering like a mailbox at the original Pancake House shopping Center.”
— Michael Popok [61:39]
“I believe Donald Trump is somebody who literally legally cannot be defamed... Like you can’t defame Charlie Manson, like you can’t defame Adolf Hitler. And I don’t think you can defame Donald Trump.”
— Michael Popok [68:25]
“If I say it’s a rebellion, it’s a rebellion. If I say it’s an enemy incursion, it’s an enemy incursion. If I say it’s a war, it’s a war. And you guys can’t do anything about it.”
— Michael Popok, describing Trump’s legal stance [19:15]
“This is the party that people will be voting for with R next to their name from now until the midterms... It’s time for the silent majority to be silent no longer and to be heard.”
— Michael Popok [32:47]
“He literally ran a theft ring. He wasn’t charged for being a serial liar, which is just freaking weird...”
— Ben Meiselas on George Santos [03:33]
Fiercely direct, deeply concerned with rule of law, and unafraid to use strong language when describing what they call the “depraved, soulless party” of contemporary Republicans. The hosts alternate between legal deep dives and sharp political messaging. Their urgent tone reflects the seriousness of the ongoing erosion of democratic norms.
To stay informed on these cases in real time, the hosts direct listeners to the Legal AF YouTube channel and Substack for continuous breaking analysis.