Loading summary
Transcript56 lines
- [00:01]
Ben Miceli
This episode is brought to you by Meundies Underwear Drawers are like the Wild West.
- [00:05]
Michael Popak
You never know what you're gonna pull.
- [00:06]
Ben Miceli
Out or what shape it's in. So upgrade your collection with the buttery, soft comfort of Meundies. Meundies signature fabric is as soft as a warm hug from your favorite sweater. Plus, it's breathable and oh so comfy.
- [00:18]
Michael Popak
Making it ideal for all day wear.
- [00:20]
Ben Miceli
Get 20% off your first order, plus free shipping at Meundies.com Spotify with code Spotify that's Meundies.com Spotify code Spotify have I GOT News for you is back for another season. Roy Wood Jr. Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black are finding the funny in the week's biggest stories. Have I got news for you Saturday at 9 on CNN and stream next day on Max.
- [00:46]
Michael Popak
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Ten years from today, Lisa Schneider will train in her office job to become the leader of a pack of dogs as the owner of her own dog rescue. That is a second act made possible by the reskilling courses Lisa's taking now with AARP to help make sure her income lives as long as she does.
- [01:31]
Ben Miceli
And she can finally run with the.
- [01:32]
Michael Popak
Big dogs and the small dogs who just think they're big dogs. That's why the younger you are, the more you need AARP. Learn more at aarp.org skills I've often said that Trump's corruption is matched by his incompetence, and that is on full display this week as he not only has hired the worst people in connection with the Legal matters Department of justice and elsewhere, but also some of the most incompetent people. And we're actually now seeing a mass exodus, a mass resignation of the competent people. Even the competent conservative MAGA adjacent federal prosecutors are saying, you must think I'm a fool if you want me to do some of the things that the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General are ordering us to do here in the various Federal prosecutorial division. So let's cover first the mass resignations of some of these federal prosecutors, both in the Southern District of New York as well as in Main justice in the Public Integrity Section. But first, I want to just remind everybody as we go through this theme, incompetence and corruption. Who is Donald Trump's Attorney general? Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Pam Bondi, who represented him in the first Trump administration during the impeachment proceedings. Now, you may not be a lawyer watching this, but you've seen lawyers make oral arguments before. Let me show you Pam Bondi's in the Senate at the impeachment trial. Let's play it.
- [03:17]
Ben Miceli
He remained on the board until April of.
- [03:37]
Michael Popak
2019.
- [03:39]
Ben Miceli
We also know that.
- [03:43]
Michael Popak
Now I'm a law professor and I teach both law students as well as undergrad students. Now, if that was the very first presentation that my undergrad students gave, I'd probably still give them a B minus to a C. It'd be a failing score for a law student, that's for sure. That's our attorney general, who also this week announced that she was filing charges against the New York governor as well as the New York Attorney General, Letitia James. Let me play for you a portion of this so you can see the announcement. Let's play it.
- [04:21]
Ben Miceli
We're here today because we have filed charges against the state of New York. We have filed charges against Kathy Hochul. We have filed charges against Letitia James and Mark Schroeder, who is with dmv. This is a new doj, and we are taking steps to protect Americans, American citizens and angel moms. Like the mom standing right behind me who you're going to hear from in a moment. New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today. As you know, we sued Illinois and New York didn't listen. So now you're next.
- [05:06]
Michael Popak
Okay, well, there actually weren't charges that were filed when she made the announcement. Actually, nothing was filed. It turned out that a civil lawsuit was filed based on a 2019 law that existed during the first Trump administration. And it does none of the things that she said she was doing as she was using parents who had horrific stories as props on the stage. That's a commonality of the Trump administration. You think about Elon Musk using his little kid as a prop as the kid taunts Donald Trump. So, Popak, I wanna show you one other clip, but we'll break all of this down. It's kind of a one plus one equals two kind of things where you have that level of incompetence, that level of corruption. What it leads to, what it equals, is somebody like New York Mayor Eric Adams, who engaged in a massive, massive bribery scheme with foreign countries. Overwhelming evidence. In recent Department of Justice filings, they talked about that they got even more evidence about the severity of the crimes, the even more bribes than they initially expected. But a quid pro quo was entered between Trump and his Justice Department and Eric Adams. That Eric Adams would just have to do basically whatever MAGA wanted, whatever Trump wanted, and they would basically control him. They would dismiss his criminal case without prejudice, but they would control him. So then he and Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, went on Fox and just the brazen criminality as they laugh about the deal that was entered, which led to the resignations of a lot of conservative lawyers from the Justice Department and from sdny. Play this clip early. Anyway, if he doesn't come through, I'll be back in New York City and we won't be sitting on a couch. I'll be in his office, up, up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement we came to? So, and I want ICE to do.
- [07:13]
Ben Miceli
We're going to deliver for the safety.
- [07:14]
Michael Popak
Of the people of this city. Michael Popak, welcome to Legal afl, everybody.
- [07:21]
Ben Miceli
Welcome to, welcome to, welcome to my own show. How you doing? All right, all right. So let me, let me, yeah. So Eric Adams, let's, let's start there. And Pam Bondi. I know both of them reasonably well. I donated to Eric Adams, met him in person when he was campaigning originally, before all the corruption scandals broke out. Pam Bondi, I was in Florida when she was the Attorney General, worked under two different governors. She's not qualified to be leading the Department of Justice. As you said, if she was in a moot court competition, she'd come in dead last. She's not articulate. Her thought process is often mangled and muddied and, and, but let's be frank with the American people, you and I like to look them in the eye and not blow smoke or sunshine. The Attorney General of the United States is not Pam Bondi. Secretary of State of the United States is not, is not Marco Rubio. Treasury Secretary of the United States is not Scott Bessant. It's a combination of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and that is who is running. They've said it out loud. They said the quiet part out loud. A while ago, they said that the chief law enforcement officer for the United States is Donald Trump as the head of the executive branch and everybody is under him. These are all just meat puppets that are just tat, that are just tasked by a combination of Trump. I think his mouthpiece for most of this is Stephen Miller, who's the White House counsel, one of the White House counselors. Who gives the marching orders to these people and tells them what to do and what to say and who to sue and what positions to take and what. And what in what press release to give out in order to look like they're tough on something. And the one that I liked a lot when you talk about the weapons of mass distraction, because that's all we're watching it is already in the first three weeks, what I consider to be the beginnings of a failed presidency, accomplishing nothing for the American people. The 119th Congress isn't doing a darn thing about kitchen table politics or what's important to people's purses or pocketbooks. Not one law has been passed to help them, nor will it be in the first hundred days or the last hundred days. And Donald Trump's not going to accomplish anything other, other than implementing the Heritage foundation, arch conservatives, Christian right, conservative values, making good on campaign promises for which he put up his. His presidency up for sale. And we've seen since the election, it's hard to believe that was November 5th. We've seen that Donald Trump considers himself to be a short tracker. He's got a short time horizon here. I mean, literally has a short time horizon, given his age. But. But he has a short time horizon because he knows that it's likely that based on what he's trying to do now with the limited time that he has, that he's going to be run out on a rail, or at least the Senate and Congress will be at the midterms. He's worried about that. He's trying to do maximum damage in the shortest amount of time possible. The other thing that he cares about, to paraphrase Ty Cobb, one of his former lawyers, is that there's two sins that motivate Donald Trump. You touched on one of them. One of them is the sin of greed. The other is the sin of retribution. And what we're watching time and time again as the distraction, the distracting moments, the shiny objects, let's go. Let's buy Greenland or take it by force. Let's buy Panama Canal or take it by force. Let's turn our back on our allies in trade and in security and in military operations, while we let Elon Musk take a sledgehammer to things that are important to our way of life, to the things that are important to red states more than even blue states, and then blame Elon Musk down the road if he can. While he's doing all of that, the Trump family, since November 5, has made over $200 million over $200 million have lined their pockets. Melania $40 million deal with Amazon owned by Jeff Bezos. He paid four times, three times more than the next highest bidder, which was Disney. Okay, why the delta I suggest is a bribe. $40 million to Melania. That Trump meme coin dollar sign Trump that is now trading at about $1718 from some high. I'll tell you who made money. Two people, two entities. The Trump family made $100 million brokerage fee just broker the buy and the sell of the Meme Coin since it was launched. Doesn't matter what price to the stock. I mean to the Meme Coin. He's making it on the vic. That's a hundred million dollars. And there's some wallet, there's some bitcoin or crypto wallet in China that on day one made a hundred million dollars on a $1 million purchase. Insider trading, who knows. But those are the only ones. 8 out of 10 of the other investors all have lost a considerable amount of money. And then you add in the money that Donald Trump is getting from the social media platforms, including yesterday a $10 million payment from Elon Musk, who works for him. Where is the ethics in government when you get rid of the government of ethics head, the government ethics head and all the watchdogs, There isn't any. And Donald Trump is taking full advantage of the fact that there is no conflict of interest that a president is found to to have here. He doesn't need an ethics plan, so he's taking full effect. Elon Musk just gave and is about to settle a case that was dismissed by the trial court, was likely to lose at the appeal court just to pay off Donald Trump, which is a pittance to how much Elon Musk has made because he's doubled his wealth by $250 billion after buying a presidency for $200 million. So you add up all of these meta settlements and Amazon settlements or payments and the, and that. And then I haven't even turned to how much Don Jr. And Eric have been have made by being placed on boards of companies and gotten stock in return and watching that stock skyrocket because they're trying to curry favor with Donald Trump. The Biden crime family. We're watching the Trump crime family robbing banks in plain daylight. And so is it a shock to me as a native New Yorker to see that Donald Trump figured out that there was a way transactionally to go after Eric Adams, that he had an Achilles heel, a guy that was indicted not only indicted for bribery related to the Turkish government trying to get its consulate approved and have the fire department and the building department look the other way because building wasn't ready, the building wasn't safe. That's the bribery aspect of it. But there's a bribery inside of the bribery because now we've got the reporting that you and I have been doing here and on legal AF that that they decided after a meeting between the lawyer for Eric Adams, who's a lawyer for Elon Musk, Alex Spiro and Emil Beauvais, the former criminal lawyer for Donald Trump, who's now the number two henchmen running around. Those two got together criminal lawyer to criminal lawyer and figured out here's what we're going to do. We're going to dismiss the case, but without prejudice so we can bring it again if he doesn't get rid of the sanctuary city status for New York and do what Tom Holman tells him to do. The guy you just saw on Fox and Friends couch next to Eric Adams, that's called extortion. That is the reason seven, seven prosecutors have all resigned, including the heads of the Public Integrity Unit in Washington and the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, because they're not willing to participate in the extortion of a public official by the federal government and Donald Trump. And so and the last thing on that point before I turn it back to you is what came out of the letter, the resignation letter by Diane Sassoon. Diane Sassoon, Denise Sassoon, who, who was the acting U.S. attorney for, for Manhattan, the Southern District of New York, is that they were about they asked for permission from Pam Bondi to re indict Eric Adams just in the last week because of new evidence that he had destroyed evidence and lied to the FBI. Not only were they not interested in dismissing the case for political and commercial reasons, they wanted to re indict Eric Adams based on new evidence. Of course, that got rejected and now we are where we are. So I'm fired up today, Ben.
- [15:43]
Michael Popak
Fired up as well. I think it's a Danielle Sasson.
- [15:46]
Ben Miceli
Yeah.
- [15:46]
Michael Popak
And just so people know what her background is, she wrote in her resignation letter she clerked for the Honorable Harvey Wilkinson III of the U.S. court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. You don't get more right wing and conservative than Judge Wilkinson for those who know who he is. And then she also clerked for Justice Scalia, who was on the United States Supreme Court and as far right wing, although who knows what he would look like in today's right wing Court. She says in her letter that both men instilled in me a sense of duty to contribute to the public good and uphold the rule of law and a commitment to reasoned and thorough analysis. I have always considered it my obligation to pursue justice impartially without favor to the wealthy or those who occupy important public office or harsher treatment for the less powerful. And this is a powerful statement made by Danielle Sassone and her resignation from that position. I mean, to give some of our legal afers background, it's very hard to get those jobs. Clerking for the Supreme Court is, you know, only the top, top, top, top law students from the top top law schools can even compete to even be considered. It's the being in the Olympics. There's a small group of people in terms of being a law student and, you know, someone who pursues that path, you know, they usually clerk at a circuit court of appeals first, get a recommendation, then try to clerk at the Supreme Court. And that puts them on a track, usually to be top lawyers within the Department of Justice and private practice, which they may go back and forth, then take more senior roles in those various areas. Ultimately, that's where our judges and circuit court judges and Supreme Court justices once upon a time came from. I say once upon a time because, you know, certainly Trump's probably going to pick highly unqualified people who don't have any credentials, because if you have credentials, even working for old school right wing judges or justices, you're still instilled with some of these concepts with which Trump just wants to absolutely destroy. And so, you know, she was on a career path and her resignation when she was forced to do this, even if you look at it from a selfish perspective about her career advancement and some of the other top lawyers who have been resigning from the Justice Department, you can say, on the one hand, yes, they pursued this selflessly and they put the law above the orders. Yeah, I think that's one way to view it. Even if you viewed it selfishly, though, I think it gives you some sense of hope that these top lawyers are seeing a world in the future where doing these things will be a scarlet letter on their career advancement. And they see a future where anybody who follows these types of orders will be deemed a fool or a crook and be banished from polite society or the legal community. I mean, her underling who's a top lawyer as well, though, a guy named Hagen Scotten, I think he got two bronze medals. He served admirably in combat. He clerked for Justice John Roberts he's an assistant at that same office, the Southern District of New York. He resigned. And his resignation, he says, look, if no lawyer within the earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, that what he's doing is illegal, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion. But it was never going to be me. And in this Hagan Scott letter, it's interesting because he goes, look. He goes, look, I can understand how a chief executive, how Donald Trump, whose background is in business and politics, might see dismissing a case could give you leverage. I can see why they would think that this could be a good deal, but that's not what we as lawyers do. So any assistant U.S. attorney who would carry that out, who knows what the law is and who would not tell him, no, you can do that, you're almost worse is what he's saying. And so he's sending a message to who we saw at the beginning of this episode, Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, as well as Emil Bove, who was also Donald Trump's lawyer in the criminal case where Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York. Emil Bove is the Deputy Attorney General. And he, he brought in all of these lawyers into the Public Integrity section of Washington, D.C. and basically said, I'm firing everybody unless somebody, I need somebody to dismiss this action. So just the kind of events that transpired was they asked sdny, there's different. Just so you all know, there's the main justice department in Washington, D.C. right. And then there are federal acro, federal courts throughout the country. So, for example, there's a Central District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California. In New York, there is a Southern District of New York, an Eastern District of New York, a Northern District of New York. There are different districts in different states. Some states that are smaller only have one district. And then for each district court, you have a Department of justice, department or division in that state, and they're responsible and have a great deal of autonomy over that state. And then they report to Main justice, which is in Washington, D.C. but ultimately, what Main justice is supposed to give those individual departments in the different states their autonomy to prosecute, and they're not supposed to interfere with it at all. There are some protocols where maybe Main justice gets involved, but they're not supposed to interfere at all. So here, main justice in D.C. was ordering the Southern District of New York prosecutors. The acting head was a right wing lawyer, Danielle Sasson, who's like, you know, a MAGA adjacent. She's a right wing person. You know, hey, you got to dismiss this case against Eric Adams. She said, no. They said, you better do it. She resigned. Then a bunch of other lawyers there resigned. And then the Department of justice in D.C. because no one in New York would file it. They said, okay, transfer it over. Transfer it over to Washington, D.C. and we're going to have our Public Integrity Division were taking over the case, which is that that in and of itself is unprecedented. And SDNY is one of the most exalted offices too. So, like the fact that Main justice would punch at sdny, like, that's crazy, yet alone for this type of thing. Main justice takes it, says public Integrity, you dismiss it. And then when they're informed, John Keller, who was the acting head of Public Integrity, he resigns. Kevin Driscoll, the next highest person, he resigns. And then finally they put everybody in a room and some guy named Ed Sullivan, basically, he's like, look, I'll, I'll file it. Because he didn't want everybody else to have to resign and get fired. And they wanted to keep some people in the department who would still be able to be guardrails for the law in a Trump administration. So they're going to get it filed. When we come back from our first quick break, what I want to talk about, though, is now what's the process? Because it isn't automatically dismissed. It goes before the federal judge. The federal judge is going to now question this lawyer, Ed Sullivan, about what's this process, what went into this deal. I've a grand jury indicted, a grand jury saw all of this evidence and there was probable cause. And I've been hearing that there's more and more evidence. You'll hear, you'll see a scathing order that's going to come from the judge, even if the judge ultimately dismisses. We'll talk about that. Very briefly, though, I want to mention Popak. Since you've started the Popak law firm, I know it was a big risk to start your own firm. I know you were getting inundated with lots of, before starting the firm, people wanted you, people who had like, you know, you know, massive catastrophic injury cases and everything from, like car accident cases and trucking cases and, and, you know, sexual assault cases from bosses. And you'd get, you had no vehicle to do it, so you started your own firm, which you never had before. You wanted to start your own firm. What's the phone number for it? And just very briefly, how's that going?
- [24:19]
Ben Miceli
Thanks, Ben. It's 1-877-POPAK AF. What else? 1-877-POPAKAF. The website is at www.the popoc firm.com. i'm keeping it easy. Yeah, it's, it's, it's more the response from our audience, it has been more overwhelming than even I had thought when I decided to do it sort of standing on the shoulders of what you and I made here on Legal af. I mean, right now we're representing two families out of hundreds and hundreds that have contacted us that we're kind of sifting through the cases now, but two that we are representing. One is one of the families in the American Airlines disaster that ended up in the Potomac and we are proudly representing one of the families there and another case out in Oklahoma. So, you know, it is allowing me to sort of get involved throughout the country in cases and help people the way that I had always dreamed and searched for justice. So thank you.
- [25:22]
Michael Popak
Absolutely. And everybody make sure you check that out. I know, you know, got a case involving a death. Those are the types of cases you take that are the more kind of catastrophic. You want to take them all, but you know, the cases involving the serious injuries, the catastrophic, all injuries are serious. But you know, those serious catastrophic injuries are really the ones that your firm is taking. So you know, please, that you're handling that type of work, sexual assault cases, harassment cases, things like that. Okay, when we come back, I want to talk about more fallout from what's going on at the doj. Then let's talk about these charges that were filed by Pam Bondi. Let's talk about the various cases that are out there as well. Let's take a quick break.
- [26:02]
Ben Miceli
This episode of Legal AF is brought to you by Graza. Everyone knows I love food. And lately what's taken my food to that next level of flavor is Graza. Graza is my olive oil of choice. It's top notch extra virgin olive oil at an affordable everyday price. Graza is always fresh, never blended and made from one kind of olive from one place, the Picciol olive from high in Spain where over half the world's olive oil is produced. Graza has not one, but two olive oils that come in a super fun squeeze bottle for ridiculously easy sizzling, drizzling and everything in between. Sizzle. Their everyday cooking oil can handle the heat with a smoke point of 410 degrees Fahrenheit and it's great for baking, sauteing and, well, anything you cook. They also have Drizzle, a super punchy, flavorful finishing oil that can be used to whip up a salad dressing, dip a baguette into, or even drizzle over your ice cream. It's seriously the best olive oil you'll ever taste. Look, I'm a big home cook so quality olive oil is essential in my kitchen. First, I always have a giant bottle of olive oil right next to the stove for every occasion and I love Spanish olive oil. The sizzle has been great for cooking and I love the squeeze bottle format for easy cooking. I'd highly recommend it for any home chef who likes to cook with high quality and delicious tasting olive oil. Graze is just like what restaurant chefs use. Plus what pours out is vibrant, super fresh and aromatic in a way that supermarket olive oil. Well, it isn't. Listeners to our show will get 10% off your first order of any olive oil on their site, but I wholeheartedly recommend the Graza Starter Kit. You'll receive two squeezy bottles of olive oil Sizzle for cooking and Drizzle for finishing with an extra kick of flavor. Plus they'll include two refill cans so if you run out of olive oil, there's no need to buy a new bottle. Graza makes it easy to be eco friendly with their refill that are perfectly proportioned for your Sizzle and Drizzle squeeze bottles. You can also find their bottles and refill cans on shelves at a Whole Foods or Target near you. Both the Squeezy duo and the refill can seal in freshness and block out light to maximize flavor and quality. So head to Grazza Co and use legal AF to get 10% off your Graza Starter kit and get to cooking your next chef quality meal. Physio, chiropractic and massage therapy are all great resources for when you need them, but going to these appointments every few months does not give me the ultimate results I'm looking for when it comes to my well being. It's taking daily, even hourly opportunities to move my body that makes the biggest difference. This has only been made possible for me with this episode's sponsor, Uplift Desk. Uplift Desk is at the forefront of ergonomic solutions promoting better posture and health through adjustable standing desks designed to help you live a healthier lifestyle. Plus, they have all kinds of accessories to keep you moving throughout the day, even if you work for only a few hours at your desk. For me, I love the Bamboo Motion X board. It makes me feel like snowboarding without waiting for the lift. Standing while I work gives me the room to move and helps me get the creative juices flowing. Moving throughout the day helps me focus and stay productive and I'm way more alert when I'm using my standing desk and I have more energy. A desk should fit the user, which is why Uplift Desk has a lot of customization options so you can build your perfect workspace with more than 200,000 configurations. Uplift Desk allows you to tailor your workspace to perfectly suit your style and needs, empowering you to create an environment that inspires productivity and creativity. For me, I built the custom standing desk of my dreams from Uplift for my Pope POC Media offices where I make a lot of my hot takes and content for Legal AF and so I went all out with a heritage oak top and their advanced angled keypad for the lift part. Make this year yours by going to upliftdesk.com legalaf and use our code legal af to get four free free accessories, free same day shipping, free returns and an industry leading 15 year warranty that covers your entire desk and an extra discount off your entire order. That's U P l I f t--E-S-K.com legalaf for a special offer and it's only available at our link start 2025 right stand move Thrive with Uplift Desk.
- [30:43]
Michael Popak
Welcome back to Legal A F. Thank you to those pro Democracy sponsors. We're really grateful for them. We don't have outside investors here, so it's great that those pro Democracy sponsors step up. The discount codes for all of them are in the descriptions below. Popak earlier in the morning, Donald Trump posted the following he who saves his country does not violate any law. Let me repeat that this was his post. He who saves his country does not violate any law. We know that Donald Trump is a psychopath and he has a malignant narcissistic savior complex. So what he's basically saying there is, in my view, I'm going to start well, he's already has, but I'm going to make it very flagrant that I'm not following any of the judge's orders. I think that's where I think that's one of the things that is indicating and I think he is upset at the pace within which the authoritarian takeover was expected to go. I thought, I think in his mind he thought by now he would have quashed all resistance in totality. The fact that as we talked about in the first segment, you've got a lot of prosecutors who are standing up to him Attorney, you know, United States attorneys and assistant United States attorney standing up to him. The fact that you have Republican judges across the country, you know, judges he appointed, judges Reagan appointed, judges who Democrats appointed, all kind of together, by and large. Look, Trump and Doge got a few wins on procedural grounds this past week, so I'm not going to say Trump lost every case. But the federal judiciary slow down a lot of the most egregious acts, whether it was the funding freeze, whether it was taking down websites, whether it was birthright citizenship, the ghoulishness of bringing transgender women in prisons with female genitalia into the male populations, and having them take off their clothes to shower with the men. Injunctions stopping that. Talk, maybe more broadly, Popak, about the so many cases and why you think Trump may be posting that now. Because I think he's been flooded with cases and he's getting frustrated and Musk is getting frustrated, and they're basically signaling we're ratcheting it up to more dictatorship stuff.
- [33:17]
Ben Miceli
I don't think this is going the way that Donald Trump wanted it to go. We're averaging three cases being filed on a daily, on a daily basis. We're at 69 cases. It'll be 72 or three by the time Monday rolls around. We already have 19 different types of injunction, whether restraining order or preliminary injunctions from judges all around the country against eight or nine major aspects of Donald Trump's agenda. Because he has to operate through executive order, because he has a useless Congress, thank God. Best thing we got going for us is that the 119th Congress is useless and, and doesn't seem to be able to pass a darn thing. And so Donald Trump has to do it all by executive order. But that is the most, that is the weakest way for a president to, to control. It looks great on paper. A fiat, you know, people standing around them, a big sharpie pen, some sort of binder, and a executive order. It is the weakest of ways for a president to operate. Strongest would be to convince, using his bully pulpit, Congress of the American people to pass a law, law, actual law, or God forbid, constitutional amendments. But on the, on the food chain, executive orders, that's the one the Supreme Court dislikes the most because it's usually somebody like Trump trying to color outside the lines and violating separations of power, doing things that are only reserved for these, for the judicial branch or only reserved for the legislative branch, and that he's not allowed to do. That's why these executive orders are so easily dispatched. In temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. Of those 19, there's only two wins so far. Maybe, maybe it'll be three with Chutkin, they're 19 and 20. They're 19 and three. That's hall of fame numbers for democracy and for judges. The three are on procedural grounds. Like, well, if you wanted an injunction, where you been? It's 22 days since the firings of these attorneys general. Shouldn't you have been here a long time ago? Because if you're going to move for an injunction and ask the court to use that power, you have to show that you're being irreparably harmed, which means you have to show velocity at which you enter the courthouse, in the courtroom. I've been involved with cases in Delaware just to give you a little bit of, you know, sort of inside baseball for my own practice, where we filed or no against us. A motion was filed on day four after an event, and the judge says, where were you on day one? This is four days in. So, so maybe they win on that. But that doesn't dismiss the case. That just means you're not going to get injunction. You'll get damages of some sort. And then you get. Well, do you have standing labor union to argue this? Well, if you don't, then somebody else does. And these are a lot of overlapping cases because, as we said, the, the lawyers for justice that we cover and that we honor with legal af, they're, they're using a portfolio approach. They're representing different interests and they're filing in different courts on similar interests on similar issues. And they see where the ruling is, where the, where the great rulings are right now, they're getting great rulings everywhere. And it is frustrating the hell out of Donald Trump. Now, Donald Trump, to me, when he has the moment to speak directly to the American people, this is my impression, whether it's at a press conference where he looks gassed and already three weeks into his administration beyond fatigued and has this either there or in social media posts at any hour of the day, he looks to me like he's not only unhinged, but he's not kind of tethered to reality and he's not getting all the info. And he has this nasty habit which we have to then look the American people in the eye during our show and say, there, right there, he lied. He'll say something like, well, like the U.S. attorney in the Eric Adams case, he or she, like you don't even know which he or she, we fired her. Him. No you didn't?
- [37:32]
Michael Popak
No.
- [37:33]
Ben Miceli
You did. Then you missed the nine page single spaced resignation letter. Nobody, nobody told, nobody told him about that apparently. So he, he's always got to be the tough guy and it's up to the independent media here to hold him accountable and look the American people in the eye after it happens and say that's not true, that is a lie. The one thing I'm seeing is we do have the rapid response capabilities here on the Midas Touch network and illegal AF to hold him accountable in a way that we probably didn't have before now. Donald Trump is moving into dangerous territory as far as I'm concerned and the rest of the free thinking world where he's suggesting or at least running it up the flagpole to see trial balloon. If anybody's interested in this concept of I'll just ignore the orders now, so far they have not ignored the preliminary injunctions of the temporary restraining orders. Sure. Do we know exactly what's going on when something gets some conduct gets restrained? Whether Elon Musk is really not peering into our private and sensitive data? No. But as of right now, people have not risked in the law side, on the Department of Justice side have not risked in contempt orders by judges. Judges are calling people in for hearings immediately and they want to know about evidence. And it's up in this adversarial process that you and I cover regularly. It's up to the lawyers on the other side to bring to the judge's attempts attention wherever they are not complying with an order. And then we have the contempt motion. Now here in a contempt hearing. Here is what I've said at a recent hot take. We've never had a president on the executive branch who controls the Bureau of Prisons, the Federal Marshal Service and other things that are the muscle behind our justice system is really in the hands of the executive branch. We've never had an executive branch that is so willingly indicated that they're willing to flout their responsibilities. So I posited, what if the judges after they go through a contempt hearing order somebody to prison or order somebody into federal detention center, who is going to pick them up? If Donald Trump fires all of the federal marshals and all the bailiffs and anybody that's on the, that's on the Department of Justice budget, you know, and Congress doesn't do anything about it, what are they going to do? What is John Roberts, who's the head of the federal judiciary going to do? Are we going to have to have const constables? Are we going to have to have deputized local sheriffs, serve in the capacity of the police for the law, for the, for the court system, and have jails available to them like the DC Jail in DC and deputize their way through this. Because if Donald Trump tries to deny the court system the ability to enforce their orders, then where are we? And what's John Roberts and the other nine or the six of the nine, what are they going to do, wring their hands and say, well, I don't know? Or are they going to get all upset because the court's orders are being flouted? See, even John Roberts, even Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, I think, believe that at the end of the day, their orders need to be respected. But what if, and we're dangerously moving into that world, as you just posted, as Donald Trump floats these trial balloons now. And a call to action section of our podcast, because I don't, I don't ever want to make it all doom and gloom because there are things that we can do and they don't, they don't just have to wait until the midterms, when the public and the public reception and the public rebuke of Donald Trump remains very, very important. We just saw an example of it when they tried to announce that the government was going to give Elon Musk, I don't know, $40 billion, whatever it was, for armored cyber trucks. And then the press, we, the public came out and said, are you effing kidding me? And then suddenly, oh, no, it's, it's not, it's not. Eli. We're not going to give him that money. Or that's, or that's not. We have to continue to speak truth to power and call these things out if we have any chance of controlling Donald Trump with the two years until we get to the midterms. So I guess my takeaway is the following. I'll summarize it this way. The federal court systems and the federal judges that we are handpicking to handle these cases are doing the Lord's work, right? Are doing a yeoman work to preserve our democracy. It is working. So far. The process is working. Appeals, there's now two or three appeals. We're going to see how these moderate appellate courts do, and then we're on a fast track to the United States Supreme Court. Their term, Their last oral argument is usually in April, but I think they're going to be called back quite frequently this summer for emergency applications related to Donald Trump's, Donald Trump's Attempts here. What do you think, Ben?
- [42:23]
Michael Popak
This is all heading to the Supreme Court. That's where all of these cases, as you say, it's about a 19 losses for Donald Trump, about three procedural wins, which basically means Trump delaying emergency relief against him. Not that the cases are actually dismissed. These cases will work their way up the various court of appeals. Remember, there's district courts, court of appeals, and then the United States Supreme Court in cases of this magnitude and profile, will be heard by the Supreme Court for sure on a fairly expedited basis. I predict Trump's been losing so far in the Court of Appeals as well, where he has tried to overturn some of the district court orders that I referenced a bit earlier. The question with the United States Supreme Court, which gave Donald Trump absolute immunity, but the Supreme Court, rather naively with Chief Justice John Roberts saying, hey, why we need absolute immunity is because I'm worried about chilling what the executive functions can be. We don't think that the parade of horribles that are being referenced about why there shouldn't be immunity, that those things are ever going to be used. The bigger concern is stopping and inhibiting the president from exercising judgment. Not that somebody will actually want to be a dictator. To which Special Counsel Jack Smith's team and others were saying, no, no, he's actually saying he wants to be a dictator. So as we've always said, if you give Trump an inch in court, he takes your life. Trump is a very weak and pathetic individual. I won't even call him a man. He's a very weak and pathetic individual. When you ultimately confront him and you stand up to him, he backs down, he loses, he runs away. I'll give you a court reference. E. Jean Carroll continued to just persist and push her case forward. And when Donald Trump was called to testify rather than defend himself, he fled to Scotland and Ireland and pretended he was building something, didn't even show his face in the court. He wasn't obligated to be there because the parties took his deposition and it was an awful deposition against Donald Trump. So from the plaintiff's perspective, from E. Jean Carroll's lawyer's perspective, it was more powerful to have Trump not there. And the message that sent to the jury that he doesn't even value your time than having him there just plays deposition where he said in the deposition how fortunately or unfortunately wealthy people can sexually assault women. That's historically things that that happen where he confused Eugene Carroll for Marla Maples and he thought that Eugene Carroll was his other wife. And you know, one of his wives. And, and then he said that she's not his type. And Donald Trump made a bunch of other horrific statements that made that a very, very, you know, that made that deposition awful. So they were pleased to just be able to play it on the plaintiff side, but he fled. He ran away. I mean, just think about over the past, what, the three weeks, four weeks, how many things he's threatened. Canada, we want to annex you. We want to conquer you. Canada goes, okay, well, just, why don't we just do what we already did, which is invest the same amount of money, $1.2 billion, and we'll do a Fentanyl Czar. And Donald Trump's like, okay, great, I did it. Look, I won. Look what I won. Could you imagine if Vladimir Putin said to Zelensky, hey, we're going to conquer you. We're going to take you over. And Zelensky's response is, hey, we need to be sovereign, but we'll give you a Fentanyl Czar. And Putin was like, great, let's do that. I'm a win. That's a win. And then Putin posted, hey, this big win that I did. Donald Trump is using the rhetoric of Putin, and then he's showing the, the weakness of, like, a blowhard schoolyard bully who talks trash but then doesn't back it up. And so he's destroying our relations abroad. And he's also weak as can be, and it's, and it's shining through. I mean, just think about what he said, you know, for today, Trump said that if Hamas didn't return all of the hostages to Israel, all hell would break loose. Trump set a deadline for noon east coast time on Saturday, a holy day, but he said it for Saturday. And what did Hamas do? Hamas did. Hamas did nothing different. They were. They released the hostages that were going to be released anyway under the deal that Biden negotiated. And then Trump then claimed credit that his threat did that, but they didn't listen to his threat. And then there wasn't anything that happened. And, you know, he said this about Greenland. He said this. He said this about Mexico. You know, he said this about all of these countries. And then he doesn't back it up. He doesn't, he doesn't do anything. And so they all know that you just stand up to him and he backs down. And so there's a.
- [47:22]
Ben Miceli
Let me, let me interrupt for, Let me interrupt for one second before you move on from that. And then he sends somebody like J.D. vance to Munich to address our allies and tells them that they're supporting the wrong brand of democracy and that if they don't get with the Trump program and his brand of democracy, which looks an awful lot like fascism, then they're not going to. Then we are not going to support them. Another example of us withdrawing from our ally relationships, making us less safe. It was such a successful speech for Russia and for the alt right German party that Russia TV celebrated. Think about, it's hard for me as a person about my age to think about a presidency where the Russians on Russian television are celebrating a speech by our American vice president who said it was a public caning of democracy. This is Russia's wet dream to have Donald Trump and J.D. vance attacking democracies around the country. We are doing what Russia could never hope to have done every day, which is to destroy the brand of democracy in order to substitute it in for Donald Trump's brand of greed. An oligarchy.
- [48:35]
Michael Popak
Absolutely. Look, let's take a quick break. I want to remind Popak, what's the number again for that law firm, for your law firm that you started? I know it's, you know, if there's, you know, real catastrophic injuries, there's a trucking case where somebody passed away after a truck hit them and that family called you. I know you're doing, you know, sexual assault cases like that. Those are the ones that I would bring, you know, I would bring to Popox. Attention, Popak, where do they call?
- [49:01]
Ben Miceli
Yeah, I made it very easy for people because that's how my mind works. I got an 800 number that had POPOC in it. So 1-877- POPOC AF. And the law firm is also simple because it is what it stands for, what it says. It's the ThePopoc firm.com has all the information you need for the types of cases that we cover. Automatic free case review. We do all this on a no fee unless you're paid basis, meaning contingency fee.
- [49:28]
Michael Popak
As your co host, I'm so proud that you started. I know that was always a life goal of yours and I'm glad it's off to a success.
- [49:34]
Ben Miceli
Thank you, my friend.
- [49:34]
Michael Popak
Let's take a quick break. I'll remind everybody. Subscribe also to Popo's YouTube channel, the Legal AF. YouTube channel. It's crushing it. It's doing great. I want to see that legal af hit. 1 million subscribers.
- [49:47]
Ben Miceli
I got a goal 9 months to a million.
- [49:49]
Michael Popak
Let's do it. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.
- [49:52]
Ben Miceli
Millions of Americans grind or clench their teeth at night and most don't even know they're doing it. If you have jaw pain or headaches after a night's sleep, there's a high chance you grind or clench your teeth. Teeth grinding, also known as bruxism or tmj, is generally caused by stress and it can cause serious damage such as eroding away your enamel and broken teeth, which leads to expensive dental bills. The solution to protecting your teeth is a mouth guard. But mouth guards from the dentist, they can cost you around 500 to $800. The good news is that there's Remy. Remy makes dental grade professional quality mouth guards without the painful price tag. They're up to 80% cheaper than what you'd pay at the dentist and don't require you to visit a dental office. Remy's process is simple. They send you an at home impression kit to create molds of your teeth. You send those back to Remy and Remy's dental team will make your custom fit cards and send them right back to you. Remy's guards are so comfortable to wear that most customers forget they're even wearing them. Plus, with a 45 night satisfaction guarantee, you can try it risk free, sleep better and decide if it's the perfect fit. If not, Remy's got you covered. Look, stress can be my middle name sometimes, especially in the fast paced world of podcasting and content creation. I'm on a new cycle timer and at night sometimes I have trouble turning off the old brain engine and I have a lot of dental work that my dentist would love if I did a better job protecting including my smile. And then I found the Remy mouthguard kit and now my dentist is jealous. The in home process was so convenient, easy and affordable. Using their custom impression kit, it took me less than 10 minutes and Remy ships it to you for no additional cost and they keep your impression on file for future use. Remy is for anyone dealing with nighttime grinding, clenching or jaw pain who wants an affordable solution to protect their smile and say goodnight to jaw pain and headaches. Head to shopremi.com legalaf and use code legal af to save up to 50%. That's 50% off that. S h O-P-R-E-M I.com legalaf with code legalaf give your teeth a break without breaking the bank with Remy. Thank you Remy for sponsoring this episode. I want to tell you about one of my favorite brands in the entire health and wellness world, Qualia. I've never felt better lately, in part because of the Qualia's products I'm using regularly. Qualia's science team is tackling some of the most challenging aspects of health and wellness that we all face. Human longevity to optimizing mental health. Qualia's health formulas meticulously blend many ingredients with complementary relationships into easy once a day formulas. This makes supporting some of our most nutritionally complex health needs very simple. Qualia conducts pilot studies and double blind placebo controlled clinical studies on many of their products, all while keeping each Formula Vegan, non GMO, gluten free and backed by a 100 day refund guarantee. I encourage you to check out their rapidly expanding product line of supplements that support so many common health needs. One of my personal go tos is Qualia Senolytic, a clinically tested formula that helps the body naturally eliminate senescent cells so you can age better. These senescent cells cause the symptoms of aging such as aches and discomfort, slow workout recoveries, sluggish mental and physical energy associated with that, you know, middle age feeling. Take a look at Qualia's line of truly inspired health formulas. Go to qualalife.com legalaf and use code legalaf at checkout for up to 15% off your purchase. That's Q-U-A-L-I a life.com legalaf for 15% off your purchase thank you Qualia for sponsoring this episode.
- [54:05]
Michael Popak
Welcome back to Legal af. Thank you to all of those pro democracy sponsors right there. We don't have outside investors so it goes a long way to help the growth of this show. It should be mentioned also, Popak, that one of the things that the Trump DOJ also did, connecting this now to what I showed you at the beginning is they have halted or just completely dismantled the Foreign Corrupt Practices act and the Kleptocracy division that goes after specifically the attempt of Russians to try to bribe off American politicians. The Trump DOJ killed its elite anti corruption unit, the Kleptocracy Initiative, famous for seizing Russian oligarchs yachts, prosecuting the $4.5 billion 1 MDB fraud that was the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that was being used by. What was that guy's name? Jholo. I think the guy's name was Jholo and he would come here and you know, spend hundreds of millions of dollars at night and goes to tell you some of the problems that exist with these sovereign wealth funds and it's one of the things that Trump said he wants to create with Musk is his own piggy bank, his own sovereign wealth fund so you have the dismantling of the kleptocracy unit. Also indicate an executive order saying that the DOJ is not going to be prosecuting foreign corrupt practices. That case, bribery cases. So American businesses are open for bribes. I mean, maybe that's one of the reasons that American businesses were supportive of this regime, because they saw themselves as the oligarchs. But let me just, let me describe to you the game, though. Let me show you this clip first, though, and then I'll describe to you what's really going on here with Trump doing all of these things. And you always just got to follow the money, right? So let me just show you. This is in the Oval Office. This is Trump being asked a question. And the question, just like the worst framing of a question ever, because this is how you have to ask Trump questions, as he's banned the Associated Press because they refused to call the Gulf of Mexico Gulf of America. So now reporters are talk the way. I'm going to show you this question right here. And so Trump then says that he thinks USAID interfered with the 2020American election and the 2024 Indian election. Here, play this clip.
- [56:40]
Ben Miceli
Yeah. President Trump, first of all, congratulations for.
- [56:43]
Michael Popak
The fantastic 24 days of your presidency, historic and unprecedented decisions that you made.
- [56:50]
Ben Miceli
Transformational reforms and put.
- [56:55]
Michael Popak
I am particularly impressed by the expose on usaid. And I would like you to share with us if you think USAID had a role in election interference in the US in 2020 and Indian elections in 2024.
- [57:14]
Ben Miceli
So it could have had a role. There were a lot of bad things.
- [57:17]
Michael Popak
That happened in 2020. I think bad things happened in 2024.
- [57:22]
Ben Miceli
But it was too big to rig. We won by a tremendous margin.
- [57:27]
Michael Popak
We won every swing state.
- [57:29]
Ben Miceli
We won the popular vote by millions of votes.
- [57:33]
Michael Popak
So it was, it was too big to rig.
- [57:35]
Ben Miceli
But, yeah, I think they probably tried.
- [57:37]
Michael Popak
We're looking to go to a system.
- [57:39]
Ben Miceli
Now much different where one day voting voter ID and or anything, you just, we have to do that. And paper ballots, we want paper ballots. And when they do that, we're going to clean it up very, very well.
- [57:54]
Michael Popak
So they use USAID as the sword and the shield or the wand that distracts. And for the MAGA base, remember the MAGA base, what do they love? The QAnon Q drops. They, you know, they take these little parcels, these nuggets of information that, oh, this means that. So by going through and just dropping data from usaid, a lot of it either just outright misleading and false stuff, like just complete lies. Like, oh, there was $50 million that was sent to Hamas with condoms, which is like, false. In 2019, the Trump administration, as part of USAID, was sending contraception to a place called Gaza in Mozambique because the United States, as the leader of the free world, was promoting health across the world and prosperity across the world. Because American soft power led to our growth. It allowed corporations too. For all those corporations out there to be, have, have reciprocity and be viewed favorably in other countries, to even do business, it allowed America to be viewed favorably in many places in, in the world. But USAID, they go, oh, we found 8 million here, 12 million here, 20 million here, 6 million here. Look, it's all of these Hollywood actors getting paid to go to Ukraine. 100, 100% false. None of it, none of it is true. So it's a form of McCarthy ISM on steroids, with those steroids on steroids and those steroids on steroids, on steroids. It's something we've never seen before, but it's a tool of a fascist regime. But what are they doing? I mean, to all the people out there, Popak, what about no tax on tips? What about no tax on overtime? What about the no tax on Social Security? Is that in the Republicans budget? Answer no. What's in the budget? Oh, $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the billionaires. $880 million in cuts of Medicaid. See you later. Medicaid and Magazar and Medicaid too. $300 million or $300 billion in cuts or so on agricultural stuff, $350 billion on education cuts that red states also rely upon gutting fema. I mean, just think about it. Donald Trump sent a letter to Governor Kemp in Georgia rejecting Governor Kemp's request for FEMA debris assistance that Biden was providing based on Hurricane Helene. And Trump's FEMA said, nope, we're not giving you debris assistance, an extension of the, all of, of what you were getting in September. And then someone like Brian Kemp goes and says he's voting for Trump in 2024 and does so we're seeing this writ large. I just think that what all of this ultimately is about the legal challenges, the legal distractions, a lot of this stuff, we always have to bring it back, which is why I think we have to talk about it on our last segment, because we could get lost in the weeds a little bit. And I don't want to get lost in the weeds of ultimately, what are we talking about here, Popak? We are talking about Trump Delivering for the billionaires and Elon Musk and them distracting the masses and actually distributing wealth from the poor to the rich. Popak.
- [61:30]
Ben Miceli
So how do I unpack all that? So the, the things that he is destroying are things that generally benefit the red states. The Inflation Reduction act funding that the poorly named inflation Reduction act funding that Biden did with billions of dollars went 85% or more to red states. So all that clawback and all that no more funding and cut off the funding is just harming his own voters who are waking up now to realize that when he takes a position about the water crisis in California, your home state and he orders, he has ordered that they open up reservoirs to show off the water supply in California during the worst time possible which undermines water, proper water management and harms those places in California that are red, the farm districts. It just shows you that it's hard to believe this guy was once president the way he's operating. I just did a hot take Ben for Midas about the fact that we, we no Donald Trump and Elon Musk just let go all of our nuclear bomb experts from the Department of Energy, the ones that are responsible for our nuclear bomb making capacity, dismantling and creating bombs and weapons powering our nuclear submarines. The counter terrorism around nuclear weapons. We just got rid of them after we've invested each one of them took almost two years to properly train and get tops top level security clearance and through a just an email from Elon Musk and then they realized what had happened. That wait, those guys we just, or people that we just let go, they're responsible for our nuclear arsenal. They didn't even know that. That's because Elon Musk doesn't belong anywhere near the government and he's letting people who are unqualified and have their own personal agendas pull levers of power in America and only bad things can happen. We have a warped administration whose policies are warped by the ethical and financial conflicts of Donald Trump and the oligarchs around him led by Elon Musk. So they're never, they don't have the right poll star guiding them to proper policy that helps mom and pop America because that's not in their interest. Racking up trillions of dollars of more debt and deficit to make my great grandchildren pay for their profligate spending now is their goal. Donald Trump. If Donald Trump doesn't leave office. I'm not, I'm not making this number up. If Donald Trump doesn't lead or leave office, a billion dollars Wealthier than when he entered in one of the greatest criminal transfers of wealth that we've ever seen. I'd be shocked. So you know my predictions in my, in the popoc time capsule. 3,000 or more lawsuits being filed against his administration, 80 to 90% of which will be successful. He's going to accumulate $1 billion between himself and his family and the others, like Elon Musk, are going to triple, if not quadruple their net worth before this whole show is over. I've said nothing about how it impacts the American people and their economy, their personal economy, because it's not going to be favorable for them because none of the policies that are being generated by this warped mind and administration are going to benefit the American people. Except for the little bread and circus, as you mentioned it. No tap, no tax on tips. Oh, here, throw this little crumb over here, little crumb over there. Forget the crumb. Where's the bread? Where's the, I'll take a half a loaf at this point. And so we have to continue to open the American's eyes and get the, and get the scales to fall from their eyes and see what, what you and I so clearly see. And those on the Midas Touch network and illegally of which is another kleptocracy. When I hear the Department of Justice has decided to get out of the policing bribery business that they think it's better for American. We're supposed to have American business that reflects the values of our country. I'm riding around where I'm at now. I see all these like Trump signs. Take America back. Take America back from whom? From other Americans. We are supposed to have American ideals. That's supposed to mean something. And we want businesses to reflect those ideals. If we left businesses to their own devices, all they were, all they care about is shareholder value and, and, and a return on investment and the bottom line. They don't care about where you sleep tonight, how you eat tonight, how your kids go to school tomorrow, and, and what's in your refrigerator. They don't care about that because it doesn't make them money. Donald Trump says let's get rid of not only the Foreign Corrupt Practices act, let's get rid of the Foreign Extortion act because businesses in America should be able to freely bribe their way to the top. That's what America are we living in. As I, as I've said, he is taking the beating heart of the American democracy and he has shrink wrapped it in some sort, right? Like a wraparound, a car of this MAGA thing. And we gotta bust it out, right? Because you and I are just gonna spend the next three, four years or two years of the midterm election not only talking about the 2000, 3000 cases, but all of these value and policy propositions. This is the difference between the parties and between fair think fair minded and fair thinking people. And the. And the other thing on the other side, you know, we would never. We would never as a party be able to do the things that Donald Trump is doing because we have morals and we have values, and those are supposed to reflect America. And so that is the struggle. It's good and evil. It is that you and I are on the forefront of and by extension, our committed, engaged audience, you know, and.
- [68:00]
Michael Popak
For me, it's just about what is the objective reality? What does all of the data truly state? And I saw somebody, I think, on TikTok make this observation. I thought it was funny. Someone was like, you know, I really never like group projects in high school because I'd often get stuck with people in my group and they wouldn't work hard. They would, you know, lie or slouch or whatever it would be. And then they said, you know, America is one of these group projects that I just can't stand this group project. It was a funny analysis because you know what, what pains me throughout all of this is the manipulation seems fairly obvious, right? It seems pretty basic what the billionaires are doing. And it's not even a matter. And it shouldn't be a matter of, oh, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green Party, whatever. It should just liter. Literally be like, y'all realize that the rich people keep on fooling you and they're treating you like you're stupid and you're kind of proving them right that you are by keep on falling for the, you know, the, the same thing over and over again. Isn't. That's like the, the. The definition of. Of insanity. It's like, obvious. They're lying to you about no tax on tips because they're trying to get Vegas voters. They're lying to you about no tax on Social Security because they're gutting Social Security. They're lying to you about all of these things, and you keep on falling for it every single time. And all they have to do is use the word transgender or this, and it works you up and then you vote against your interest. I mean, I teach sports law at a university in Southern California, so I'm familiar with Title 9, which says, for example, that male and female sports are supposed to be treated equally. That's a law. It's called Title nine. Well, Donald Trump said, look, I'm supporting women, and that's why we're not going to allow the nine transgender athletes to play in the ncaa. He didn't say nine. He acted like you would think they were transgender athletes everywhere because he wanted to use this to. To bully. He signed an executive order to make a whole big show of this. And how was this framed? Oh, Donald Trump is helping women's sports. The Trump Title 9 guidance that just came out said that male sports don't have to share their name, image and likeness endorsement revenue now that they can make money with women's sports. So they, they just gutted the ability of women's sports and women athletes to get paid equally as male athletes. That's actually going to affect mostly all women athletes. There was going to be a rev share, which is what Biden proposed. Now there's not a rev share what Donald Trump proposed. And people got so angry at the one volleyball player in San Jose State who was just trying to live and exist that they literally just hurt their own pocketbooks and their own income. And they used it under the banner of championing women's sports, while women's sports was just gutted. What Donald Trump do, he walked around, you know, and said, fema's not doing this for the people of North Carolina. I'm going to help you. FEMA's not doing this for Georgia. Biden's FEMA is not doing this. What's Donald Trump saying about California? Oh, you know, you're not raking the land the right way. You got to rake it better. We're going to make sure we rake your land better. It's literally. It's just all lies and it's verifiable. And they've got you so focused on Hamas condoms in Gaza that you're not actually following the facts. That's how the billionaires are screwing you and they're dangling these things in front of you and they're giving themselves $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and taking away your medicine and your health care and your life. So with fema, Donald Trump says Biden's FEMA is not doing things when Biden's FEMA was. So what does Trump do? He says he's abolishing fema and he denies, he denies what FEMA was giving to these red states or states that voted for Trump. The Trump FEMA rejects it because Trump's trying to gut it that Biden was giving the States, all of this emergency relief, that's so wild to me. And y'all keep on falling for this crap. Look at this headline that's not getting enough attention in San Francisco Chronicle. Trump's spending freeze halts the key wildfire work. We can't even buy the rakes. Most of the land in California that Trump says needs to be raked right. It's not state owned land. It's federal land. And the federal agency overseeing 15 million acres of public lands in California has halted its critical fire prevention work because of the massive freeze in government funding directed by Trump. The Bureau of Land Management confirmed it stopped all plans to clear hazardous overgrowth on public lands across the country if the projects were to be paid through the bipartisan infrastructure law. Law. The law was slated to fund 113 million worth of fuels reduction work on 770,000 acres nationwide this year. Quote, we can't even buy the rakes if we wanted to rake the forest. Sean. Stephen Gutierrez with the National Federation of Federal Employees, the union representing the workers. The cuts also are gutting the firefighters positions. Remember all those firefighters for Trump and police office. He's screw. He's just literally screwing you, the veterans for him. He's taking away your benefits. So, like what, like what, what is. How did your mind go to mush? I mean, how did, how do you keep getting. You. You're watching this, but like, you, maybe you're undecided. I don't know. How did their minds go to mush and just become so easily manipulated? And that's why we do this show. I mean, that's why we've created this network to just get out the facts. And I can show you the data and do. Because corporate media wants to have six people on this side of the. Of the office and six people on this side of the. Of the table. Oh, Gulf of America. Gulf of Mexico. Gulf of America. Yell, yell, yell. That's stupid.
- [74:20]
Ben Miceli
Okay.
- [74:21]
Michael Popak
Who cares? Okay? At the end of the day, your life is being harmed by these policies, but you are stuck in rage algorithms that you're literally voting against you and your kids and your grandkids. And so we'll use this platform to continue to grow. That's the end of legal AF for today. We'll keep growing together. The Midas Touch YouTube channel hit 4 million subscribers. Thank you, everybody, for getting us there. The Legal AF YouTube channel's on its path to 1 million subscribers. So if our 4 million all subscribe to Legal AF, there would be 4 million there as well. So I'm looking at all 4 million of you. Please subscribe today. And again, as we said before in the show, Popak just started his new Popoc law firm off to a great start. He's already signed up some wrongful death cases, some catastrophic injury cases, some real sad cases. The case involving the plane crash over Washington, D.C. so proud of Michael Popak for taking the risk of starting his own firm. I know it was something he always wanted to do and I'm glad to see that it's taking off so quickly and we, you know, he's been inundated with so many of your requests of the injuries that you or family or loved ones or people you know have that now he has a vehicle to actually be able to help you. So it's great to see. Let me give you that number quickly. You call call 1-877-POPAK AF. That's 1-877-POPAK Af. Thank you everybody for watching. We're so grateful for all of your support. And again, thank you to our mods. Thank you to the legal A first, thank you to the Midas Mighty. We're in this together and have a great day. Like your favorite travel guide, T Mobile's network knows all the spots because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualified unlocked device credit service port in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card is no cash access and expires and sex month.