Loading summary
Transcript109 lines
- [00:01]
Ben Meiselas
Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1per month trial@shopify.com SpecialOffer this episode.
- [00:30]
Michael Popak
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. Foreign Donald Trump Sues Rert Murdoch well, that's a first here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal af. Never thought we'd be reporting that, but let's dig into what this lawsuit is all about. It's Trump versus Murdoch. Wall Street Journal the writers of this article A bombshell article came out from the Wall Street Journal. This is this past week, with all of Donald Trump's dark past and connections with Jeffrey Epstein surfacing as Donald Trump covers up the Epstein files. The Wall Street Journal published this expose about a alleged birthday card that Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein when Epstein turned 50 in 2003. According to the Wall Street Journal, they said this was part of a leather bound book of other birthday letters from friends of Epstein. It was described as body. That's a new, new word in our lexicon. Body. But when you look at it, knowing that Epstein was running a sex trafficking ring at this time period, you pull up what Donald Trump wrote in this card, which was described as Donald Trump doodling a naked girl, signing his name in the pubic region of it and and then in the body area in typed words, was the following let's pull it up. A voiceover says, there must be more to life than having everything. Yes, there is. Donald says, but I won't tell you what it is. Then Epstein goes, nor will I, since I also know what it is. To which Donald goes, We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. To which Epstein goes, yes, we do. Come to think about it. To which Donald says, enigmas never age. Enigmas never age. Have you noticed that? To which Jeffrey says, as a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you. To which Trump says, a pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday. And May every day be another wonderful secret. Enigmas never age. May every day be another wonderful, wonderful secret. To be clear, as it was described by the Wall Street Journal, that was like the imaginary conversation that Donald Trump wrote that he and Epstein would have had together as part of this letter. And, and, and so Donald Trump's response to this Wall Street Journal article was, couldn't be me. I couldn't have done it. Let's bring in Michael Popak. Popak. He says, I couldn't have done it.
- [03:31]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
I'm not an enigma.
- [03:32]
Michael Popak
He goes, let me tell you, let me tell you, let me tell you why I don't use the word enigma. I don't know what it means for real. That's what. He goes, it's not a word that I use. Okay, well, guess what we have here at the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF evidence. So you do use the word enigma. Let's play it now.
- [03:47]
Jim Jordan
Carson's an enigma to me.
- [03:51]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
I didn't say it.
- [03:56]
Jim Jordan
Carsons and enigma.
- [03:59]
Michael Popak
Seem to like that word. You do say that you grab women by their.
- [04:02]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Carson, by the way, who he eventually appointed in his administration.
- [04:06]
Michael Popak
He does say that he grabs women by their genitals without their consent because you're rich and you get away with it and you just start kissing them and grabbing them wherever. If you're rich, remember, that's what he said. So play that clip.
- [04:18]
Jim Jordan
Did try and fuck her. She was married. Oh, no, Nancy, no. This was. And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, I'll show you where they have some nice furniture. I took off her. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married. And all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her looks. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. You just kiss. I don't. Either way. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, whatever you want. Grab them by the pussy. I can do anything.
- [04:57]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Pull them in the half. Hello, how are you?
- [05:04]
Jim Jordan
Hi.
- [05:06]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Well.
- [05:07]
Michael Popak
And around the time that Donald Trump would have sent that birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, Mar A Lago was used as a location where underage girls would get jobs as towel girl with Virginia Giuffre, who was homeless. Elaine Maxwell and Epstein lived down the Block. They'd walk over, they'd go to the towel girl, underage girl. Hey, you're a towel girl at the Mar a Lago spa. You like massages? How about I introduce you to Epstein? And then that's how Epstein would sex traffic. Virginia Giuffre hear it in her own words. This is Virginia Giuffre. Let's play it.
- [05:39]
Ben Meiselas
Virginia Roberts was working in the spa at Donald Trump's Mar a Lago club in Palm beach when British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell introduced her to multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
- [05:49]
Virginia Giuffre
The training started immediately. I mean, it was everything down to how to give a blowjob, how to be quiet, be subservient, give Jeffrey what he wants. A lot of this training came from Guylan herself. And being a woman, it kind of surprises you that a woman could actually let stuff like that happen, but not only let it happen, but to groom you into doing it. And then there's Jeffrey, who's telling you, I want it this way. No, go slower and don't do that and do this.
- [06:19]
Michael Popak
Donald Trump claims that he's been defamed Michael popak. In this $10 billion lawsuit. 10 billion dol dollar lawsuit against RERT Murdoch. He said his reputation has been harmed. Welcome to legal f there, Michael Popak. Let's start off with this lawsuit, then let's work our way back to how we got here. But what do you make of this lawsuit?
- [06:41]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Well, first of all, I don't see it the way, the way the mainstream media is reporting it. Donald Trump makes good on threat to sue Wall Street Journal and pants off of Rert Murdoch. I see this as Rert Murdoch taking on Donald Trump. Rupert Murdoch made a decision along with his family that they were going to publish that article. And let me just walk you through having done first amendment cases and represented media before, before that article got published, the one that you outlined so, so perfectly about and the facts that were alleged as fair reporting in that article that the reporters used, indicating that they had not only seen not a discreet card that Donald Trump made like a scrapbook album created by Ghislaine Maxwell in order to give to her co conspirator and boss and sometime boyfriend Epstein on his 50th birthday that included pages and pages. Think of it like a scrapbook where they pasted in different customade cards and, and salutations to Jeffrey Epstein. Alan Dershowitz is in there. Of course he's in there. The, and, and the sad part about we keep, we keep running as we should Virginia Du. Virginia dufresne's documentary and clips. She committed suicide about three months ago. Another, Another. Another victim of Epstein now in the ground. But in the scrapbook, there's lots of people in there. There's Alan Dershowitz, who's also alleged to have been part of the Epstein pedophile ring, although he's denied it. He had some comments in there, a fake Vanity Fair article comparing Jeffrey Epstein to Jack the Ripper. When he was reached for comment, he said, well, I'm basically old and I can't remember that far back. I'll put that down as a yes, you did it. But that's the difference here. This is pages. And one aspect of it is a homemade card that they believe based on their discussions with the FBI and Department of justice that was involved with the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions, including Maureen Comey. Potentially. Potentially. Who just got canned about whether it's in the book. Yes, it is. What does it look like? Let's see it. They've seen it. They've corroborated it with people in the Department of Justice that weren't named. They don't have to be named. They just need to be sufficiently corroborated to be credible, fair reporting about this issue under the First Amendment. And I assure you that before it got published, signed off by Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, there is a team of First Amendment lawyers that grilled those, the editor and the two reporters about their sources. Let me see your notes. Let me see the actual scrapbook facsimile that you looked at. Let me. Who did you talk to? What do the interview notes look like? What are they going to say? And then they gave the green light to the publishing of that. And that's why Dow Jones, which is the Wall Street Journal parent company owned by Murdoch, came out so strongly and said, we stand by the rigorousness of our reporting and we retract nothing. So the story headline should be Murdoch or revenge is a. To paraphrase Tony Soprano, the great philosopher, revenge is like cold cuts. Murdoch has been looking for a way to shiv Donald Trump since January 6th and since the $787 million Dominion settlement that the Fox News and the Fox Corporation had to settle because of all of the team crazies around. Donald Trump taking to the air, being put unwillingly by Fox for ratings purposes, including through Tucker Carlson, Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, to push the big lie of a conspiracy involving Dominion Voting system and smartmatic and flipping votes from Trump to Biden that led to a settlement In Delaware, after all of those emails and text messages came pouring out into the public because they got filed as part of a summary judgment motion in Delaware. And everybody did poorly on the Murdoch family side in their depositions in those cases and those videos and those transcripts all came out and people got fired, including Tucker Carlson separated and all of that. That did not sit well with Rupert Murdoch, who said out loud and has not denied that he made this statement that when January 6th happened, he hoped this would completely put an end to Donald Trump's political career once and for all. Or in his words, it is time to make Trump a non person that's now 2, 3, 4, 5 years old. That's where the revenge part is. A dish best eaten cold comes in. Now you've got. They go to Murdoch and say, we, we want to run this article. He gives the green light. He's already calculated that he will win the war against Donald Trump, that whatever MAGA wanted to leave has left Fox News already, that they will, they have more money than Donald Trump does. And this is the final breach. What I love about the story is that apparently, no, factually, Murdoch was being hosted about a day or two earlier in that big FIFA soccer match bullshit up in New Jersey that Donald Trump tried to use for public adulation and end up getting booed during. Rupert Murdoch was up there with Trump. I'm sure he didn't whisper to him, hey, we're going to run an article you may not like. Now, the last piece before I turn it back to you on the lawsuit is that I'm not so sure that it's coincidental that within a day of Wall Street Journal contacting the Trump administration and its press secretary, Carolyn Levette, and Donald Trump denying the story, that now all of a sudden Maureen Comey, James Comey's daughter, who prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, gets fired before a day later the story comes out. Now, I'm not saying I have credible evidence at the moment that Maureen Comey is the corroborator for the story. Of course, now she's out in the wind, so. But somebody involved with the prosecution, according to the Wall Street Journal, FBI DOJ confirmed the scrapbook's existence, that page's existence sufficiently that they didn't say alleged. They said in the headline there was a birthday album for Epstein and Trump's card was in it. The fact that they went so balls out, continuing our blue streak here on the podcast, that that indicates to me that they know they've got the evidence and they'll survive you and I can get into, over the course of this podcast, the different defenses, fair reporting, truth, actual malice that they will obviously bring up. And then I'll give you later, maybe after our first break, my own theory about why this was filed in Miami.
- [13:56]
Michael Popak
Trump's defense to the article is like how a toddler tries to defend that they weren't the one who dropped the vase or the vase on the floor and cracked it. And he comes up, it couldn't have been me. I don't. I can't even reach it. It's like. Well, yes, you know, it's like that, right? I mean, I've never done a drawing in my life.
- [14:20]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Wait, wait, wait, wait. He actually, before you run the clip, he's, he's.
- [14:24]
Unknown
You've.
- [14:24]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
You've done a lot of great reporting about the decline of Donald Trump's mental faculties and status. He said he never wrote a picture before. All right. Even my toddler knows. And you and I have toddlers. Even my toddler knows. You don't write a picture. You draw a picture. All right, go ahead.
- [14:41]
Michael Popak
But there's not a clip. It's just here's the photo of him drawing, like, the money tree. I think we have a photo of that. I mean, the guy doodles all the time and all these photos of buildings, and he loves sending people doodles. Like, that's one of his things. And you're able to easily dig this up. So I showed you before. He uses the word enigma a lot, and he doodles a lot. So that's kind of an odd defense. But let's just go back and just say, let's just assume for the sake of argument that the Wall Street Journal. Let's just assume they. They got it wrong, and let's just say it was false.
- [15:17]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
You mean sake of argument.
- [15:19]
Michael Popak
For the sake of argument, just. Just say, why would this even be defamatory as it relates to Donald Trump? Donald Trump's out there being quoted saying that Epstein is a great guy who likes women on the younger side. Okay, Donald Trump, one year before the card was sent. Exactly. Donald Trump. I'll show you this story from the Guardian. What's worse? Okay, what I'm about to read you, or. And by the way, what I'm about to read you, happened right around the time of that alleged letter being sent, or a birthday letter saying, enigma and our secrets. Enigma and secrets. And in the context of Epstein's running a sex trafficking ring, you know, is like, that's kind of a strange language to be using. Secrets and enigma at that time. But. But this is what happened at that time. So you had this guy named George Arani. He was a businessman whose American Dream Calendar Girl beauty contest was running in Vegas casinos since 1978. And he recalls encountering Epstein at Mar a Lago in January 1993. Or says that Trump asked him to organize a party that month with some of his pageants finalists, promising to invite heads of modeling agencies and prospective sponsors for his competition. He had me fly in all these girls and gave me a $30,000 budget for airfares and limos to pick them up at the airport. The girls were all decked out, expecting to meet all these VIPs, but after an hour at the party, or he says there seemed to be only one other guest, Epstein, I was like, donald, where are the other guys? What's going on here? And he said, well, this is it. Or. And he says he realized this is basically just a Jeffrey Epstein party. Or how about this? Around the same time period, he would comment on their genitals. Trump is accused of forcing models to walk on restaurant tables so he could stick his head up their skirt. What about Epstein's former girlfriend, Kyler? She was just on cnn, and she says, I'm not Kyler Williams. She was on the show with Kyler. And she goes, epstein, they were bros. She goes, I was around Epstein. They were bros. Trump was. Trump was the wingman. Epstein was Trump's wingman. This is the girlfriend of Epstein, one of Epstein's former girlfriends. Here, play this clip.
- [17:48]
Ben Meiselas
And how did Epstein talk about Trump? Sort of. What was. What was the quality of those anecdotes and how he described.
- [17:59]
Unknown
Well, there was a time when he mentioned he had to check in on him because he was unwell and very upset about something that had happened. I remember because he was late to pick me up, and he was explaining why he was late. They were just, you know, it was such a long time ago, but it was just. That was his bro. That was his wingman. It was clearly, I'd hear about Gilan, and I'd hear about Jeffrey, and I met Gilan in his house. She would come wafting in and out the home in New York. So he was clearly just someone that he talked about all the time. And again, I really. I met Jeffrey the second time, and we started dating based on the reintroduction that happened at the Plaza Hotel at a Christmas party in 1992 that Donald Trump threw. They were very, very close.
- [18:57]
Michael Popak
Okay, so my broader point, though, is like, again, let's just say Wall Street Journal, even though I believe they had rigorous standards for this. Let's say they whiffed. Okay? All of the stuff that I just showed you is arg, you know, is out there as undisputed facts that, that, that exists, you know, pretty much out there. So the question is, what are Trump saying? A letter that says that is. Is somehow a defamatory. Is defamatory. What you're saying that you were in friends with Epstein during that period? I want to analyze that because I think it's an important element. Then I want to analyze Popak the discovery that this opens up Pandora's box to Donald Trump's relationship with Epstein. It could factor Ghisain Maxwell as a key witness and she can speak her part right now. You can do depositions in prison.
- [19:50]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Dumbest lawsuit I've ever seen.
- [19:52]
Michael Popak
We'll talk, we'll talk about that. I want to remind everybody that Michael Popak has a law firm. A lot of our legal a efforts had been saying to Popak, you got to start your own firm. Popak started his own firm. And we've been getting a huge amount of calls from our audience and our listeners. So if you have been in an accident, if you're the victim of an accident, whether that's a bad car accident, a bad trucking accident, a medical malpractice, if you know somebody who's been in a bad accident or been involved in a catastrophic injury or a wrongful death or been a victim of sexual assault maybe at the workplace or somewhere else, or sexual harassment or any case like that, call up Popak. His firm will take the call. Free consultations. When they represent you. It's on a contingency, meaning they only recover if you recover. Popak, where can they reach out to you?
- [20:49]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Yeah, we made it very, very simple. Thanks, Ben for that, for that intro. It is a 1-800-number. If you want to talk to somebody directly, 1-877-popak. That's P O P O K A F made it easy for you and for me and website. If you want to go there and start the process through a free case evaluation contact form and read more about the firm and what we do. You can go to www the popoc.
- [21:19]
Michael Popak
Firm.Com everybody make sure you subscribe to the legal AF YouTube channel on their way to 1 million subscribers. And make sure you subscribe to the Legal A of substack and of course make sure you're subscribed here on the Midas touch network. All right. We will be right back after a quick break from our Pro Democracy sponsors.
- [21:40]
Unknown
The Weather it's heating up and your nighttime bedroom temperature has a huge impact.
- [21:44]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
On your sleep quality.
- [21:46]
Unknown
If you wake up too hot or too cold, I highly recommend you check out Miracle Maids bed sheets. Miracle made sheets are inspired by NASA and use silver infused fabrics that are temperature regulating so you can sleep at.
- [21:58]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
The perfect temperature all night long.
- [22:01]
Unknown
Using silver infused fabrics inspired by NASA, Miracle Maid sheets are thermo regulating and.
- [22:06]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Designed to keep you at the perfect.
- [22:08]
Unknown
Temperature all night long no matter the.
- [22:10]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Weather so you get better sleep every night.
- [22:13]
Unknown
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.
- [22:44]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Today you can save over 40% and.
- [22:46]
Unknown
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, you'll get a full refund. Upgrade your sleep with Miracle made. Go to trymiracle.com legal af and use the code legal af to claim your free three piece towel set and save over 40% off. Again, that's trymiracle.com legalaf to treat yourself. Thank you Miracle Made for sponsoring this episode.
- [23:21]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
In this crazy upside down world that we're working to make sense of, I.
- [23:25]
Unknown
Have no better judge of character than my lab border collie Lily, and having given her her forever home, we take pride in making sure that we feed.
- [23:33]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Her healthy fre dog food while making sure we don't break our back or.
- [23:37]
Unknown
The bank doing so. And my family is thrilled to have found sundaes for Lily, having tried other freezer box brands and we noticed the.
- [23:46]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Improved health of our dog almost right away. First, she loves the flavor and we love what it's done to her coat, eyes and breath.
- [23:52]
Unknown
And with her weight management, so much easier to manage her weight with a scoop of sundaes than any other product we tried and this product is super easy for us to store and serve. It doesn't require refrigeration or the delivery of dozens of pounds of ice packs. Sundaes is fresh dog food Made from a short list of human grade Ingredients, Sundaes contains 100% all natural meat and superfoods and 0% synthetic nutrients or artificial ingredients. Dog parents report noticeable health improvements in their pups including softer fur, fresher breath, better poops and more energy after switching to sundaes. Unlike other fresh dog foods, Sundays does not require refrigeration or preparation because of.
- [24:34]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Their air drying process.
- [24:36]
Unknown
Just pour and serve. Cancel or pause your subscription anytime. With their 14 day money back guarantee, every order ships right to your door so you'll never worry about running out of dog food again. Did I mention how easy and convenient it is to store the bags? Insert Big Wife smile here. Get 40% off your first order of Sundays. Go to sundaysfordogs.com legal AF or use code legal AF at checkout.
- [25:01]
Michael Popak
Welcome back to Legal AF. Thank you to our sponsors. They make this show possible without outside investors. That's how Legal AF and the Midas Touch Network grows. So thank you to all of them. Oh, and lots of people I saw were calling the Popoc firm. So also in the description below, if you want to, you can click the website in the description below. All right, Popak, let's get into it. You describe this as the stupidest lawsuit ever. From a legal perspective, it's frivolous. It opens up Donald Trump to discovery. Trump's like, I'm going to take Rupert's deposition. You probably aren't. Rupert will get dismissed right away in this case. Really no basis to sue Rupert Murdoch at all for this as an apex, you know, person in the organization. So good luck with that lawsuit, number one. Number two, they're going to take your deposition. And Michael Cohen, I think really showed the path of how you deal with the Donald Trump lawsuit. The way you deal with it is you, you, you right away, notice his deposition, call him out. It doesn't matter how many documents you need. Just, just call his deposition, put him under oath. And then Trump folds. He breaks right away and runs away from his deposition. Now in other cases where he's tried to get out of his deposition, where he's had to take the deposition, one of them in, in New York, he invoked his fifth amendment rights against self incrimination, you know, in case. And let me show you right here though, the deposition in the E. Jean Carroll case, which, which he sat for that deposition and he finally was compelled and had to speak. Here's what, here's what went down. So he was describing why it was that he wouldn't have sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and He said, she's not my type. Not my type of. And then he goes to the lawyer who's asking him the questions, Roberta Kaplan. And he goes, me, you're not my type either. I wouldn't sexually assault you because you're not my type. Here's what he says. Here, let's play it.
- [27:00]
Unknown
When you said in that video that Ms. Leeds would not be your first choice, you were referring to her physical looks, correct?
- [27:09]
Jim Jordan
Just the overall. Not. I look at her, I see her, I hear what she says. Whatever. You wouldn't be a choice of mine either, to be honest with you. I hope you're not insulted. I would not under any circumstances have any interest in you.
- [27:24]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
I'm being.
- [27:24]
Jim Jordan
I'm honest when I say it. She. I would not have any interest.
- [27:29]
Michael Popak
The question was sexually. He's saying, I wouldn't have sexually. He melds interest. Yeah, I won't rape you, Robby, because you're not my type. To the lawyer. And then earlier he goes regarding the Access Hollywood tapes that we played, he's like.
- [27:46]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
And.
- [27:47]
Michael Popak
And he's like, well, it's true, you know, that's what men say. You know, historically, for millions of years, that's just. That's just the way it is. Fortunately or unfortunately, rich men grab women by their genitals without their consent. And for fortunately or unfortunately, here's what he said at that deposition.
- [28:05]
Unknown
And you say, and again, this has become very famous in this video. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything. That's what you said, correct?
- [28:22]
Jim Jordan
Well, historically, that's true with stars.
- [28:24]
Unknown
It's true with stars that they can grab women by the pussy.
- [28:27]
Jim Jordan
Well, that's what. If you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true.
- [28:35]
Unknown
Unfortunately or fortunately, you consider yourself to be a star.
- [28:43]
Jim Jordan
I think you can say that, yeah.
- [28:45]
Michael Popak
And so you see, Michael Popak, he.
- [28:50]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Doesn'T do well in depositions.
- [28:52]
Michael Popak
Doesn't do well on this one. Will be about in this case against Murdoch. Murdoch will have the best lawyers out there. By the way, Roberta Kaplan's, you know, maybe he hires Roberta Kaplan, but he'll have the best lawyers out there like Roberta Kaplan, and they're going to go into all the connections with Epstein. I mean, could you imagine what that deposition will look like? Trump can't get out of that deposition. He's Sued.
- [29:17]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
You're. You're. Okay, let's go. And I'll connect it right to the lawsuit filed in Miami in the. Roberta, he is so disgusting. That there is reporting, including from Robbie Kaplan herself, that at the end of that, I don't know if it was that day of the deposition or another day of the deposition when he stood up, he called through a secret abbreviation that everybody knows, he called Robbie Kaplan the C word. On the way out. He said to her, on the way out, I'll see you next Tuesday. Literally. And she was confused. And she reports that she asked her staff, we don't have anything on Tuesday. What is he talking about? And they had to tell. Just called you the C word. That's how Donald Trump goes into a. Any relationship with a woman on the other side. It is. If. If we all. We all know by now his misogyny, his abuse of women. It's legion, it's legend. It's not legendary, it's notorious. And you didn't show the clip, although we have showed it before on Midas Touch, where he stepped in. He was easily. A trap was easily laid for him in the deposition, which he stepped right into about that same issue about whether somebody was his type or not his type. He then screwed up because he was shown a photo by Robbie Kaplan of a picture of himself with Eugene Carroll, his first wife, Ivana, and her. And her husband John Johnson, a reporter in New York. And he said, well, yeah, there's me with Marla Maples. And she said, I mean, Robbie was not ready for that. She said, I'm sorry, what. What. What are you. What are you talking about? The person you're pointing to, you think that's Marla Maples, Obviously somebody that he did found to be his type. And he said, yeah, that's me and Marla Maples. And then Alina Haba had to bail him out and say, that's. That's Eugene Carroll. That's Carol, you know, because she had to help out daddy. And he said, oh, wait, that's Carol. So. And that got played. And that was one of the major things that led to his losing an $83 million defamation case. The reason we're going on about this is Donald Trump is terrible in deposition. And the lawsuit that he filed, not only does it republish the very thing that apparently he thinks is defamatory in excruciating detail within the body of the complaint, which he didn't do. I mean, he goes over every detail that the. The black Sharpie marker being used on the woman's genitalia for pubic hair and the, and the obscene photo and the comment, I mean, over and over again. Then he lists all the social media places that republished it. I was hoping Midas would be in there. I look closely. He skipped Midas on purpose, I'm sure, because I'm sure we're giving him, we're giving that story the biggest, the biggest Runway. But that gets filed. He files in Miami, a short 18 page, relatively short complaint led by Alexander Brito, Coral Gables lawyer near my office, who already sued, I guess you'd say, successfully, the Paramount and CBS throwing the Tiffany network into the gutter along with 60 minutes, which ultimately ultimately led to Stephen Colbert losing a 30 year career on television because he criticized publicly his parent company for settling with Donald Trump over 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris and the same burrito brought the case against ABC News and Stephanopoulos because Stephanopoulos in an interview with Nancy Mace about E. Jean Carroll's case that we just talked about, said that he was adjudged to be a rapist instead of a sexual abuser. And Donald Trump was going to sue for defamation for the difference in a jury's mind between rape and sexual abuse, which the judge in that case already said had been resolved, that he was technically a rapist as a judge by the jury. So you, but you had these settlements by these parent companies. Again, this is why you and I so focus our careers on independent commentary and journalism without corporate parenting and look to our supporters, our audience, for our, the support that we need. So you've got that going on. The suit gets filed. I look carefully thinking, well, they're going to shoot for Cannon, right? File the case off of, off in the same division of the federal district, Southern District of Florida that I practice in, which runs from Fort Pierce down to Key west. File it in West Palm beach, over the bridge from Mar A Lago. Makes sense. You got a 50 chance of getting Cannon again. Try it. Why not? Can and so helped him out in the Mar? A Lago espionage, obstruction of justice case. I mean, who helped him out more than her? Declaring for the first time in 200 years that a special counsel can't be appointed without Senate confirmation by an attorney general. By the way, the Trump administration just did exactly that in trying to, they're going to do it again in New Jersey, trying to do an end run around the interim attorneys, the interim U.S. attorney problem that they have. This is an administration that's six months in the making. They haven't gotten One federal judge through. They haven't gotten one U.S. attorney confirmed. Well, that's for another day and another hot take, another podcast. So I'm thinking Cannon, right? Take the shot. Maybe you get Rosenberg, maybe you get Middlebrooks. But you got a pretty good shot of getting Cannon. No, they clicked the box from Miami. Now they filed some other cases in Miami that didn't go well for them. So it's not like, yeah, we'll do well in Miami. Michael Cohen case in front of Judge Gale.
- [35:00]
Michael Popak
Terrible.
- [35:01]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
You know, for them, not for Michael. Michael. Great. Terrible for that folded right when the deposition was about to be taken and other things. So no real great track record in Miami. So why Miami? So I have a working theory that I will develop and keep an eye on that they want to keep Cannon on the bench and they don't want the awkwardness of having a case in front of her in case Pamela, Pamela, Joe Bondi gets finally fed through the wood chipper completely by Laura Loomer and others and has to be removed as attorney general. Because there was very good reporting at the time, during that was never really denied by the Trump administration when he was president elect, that they had a. That there was a chart that had Alien Cannon, Eileen Cannon as the attorney general, Todd Blanche as the number two, not Pam Bondi. And now that Pam Bondi may be on the way out over the Epstein scandal, which it looks very likely, they may not want it. They did to me. I don't think they wanted the awkwardness of having a case in front of her and then having her slide over to be made attorney general and have to get Senate confirmed. That's a theory. I'll keep an eye on it. The case that just got filed. I agree with you. I don't understand it. First of all, I don't know about motion to dismiss, certainly summary judgment. Everybody likely gets out of this. Truth is a defense. Donald Trump has to carry his burden of showing actual malice, a standard under the Supreme Court precedent, which is still standing, of Times v. Sullivan, which says that the paper has to run the article, either knowing it's false, no way, or that they recklessly disregarded its truth or falsity. They have an insider, not the name. But the concept is in the article inside the Department of Justice who prosecuted Maxwell and gave them or showed them or confirmed for them. All of that. The scrapbook with the page devoted to Donald Trump's entry. So they have that. There's also the fair reporting defense, which papers get to use. And Donald Trump knows well because he tried to use the fair reporting privilege against E. Jean Carroll to continue this loop here on this segment because he tried to say when he was denying E. Jean Carroll's charge of rape that he was just doing fair reporting and should be given that defense, like a media outlet that got rejected. But he understands fair reporting. But here you've got a document. Whether it came out of the grand jury evidence toolbox or it came out of the cutting room floor of other evidence and materials Brady or other materials collected by the government that was or was not used against Ghislaine Maxwell, it's something that the paper, having gotten a copy of it, needs to be able to report on it. That's the principles of free speech and First Amendment and freedom of the press. What were they supposed. What's in Donald Trump's world? They're supposed to ignore this. Once they get it, they just have to confirm that it's authentic, that it's not a hoax, which they did, and that it's not fabricated. I mean, there have been stories in history, you and I would be remiss if we didn't talk about it. There have been papers that weren't really papers and diaries like Hitler's diary that wasn't really Hitler's diary, and papers ran with those stories. I get it. But not this story and not the Wall Street Journal and not Rupert Murdoch. This was done intentionally in order to draw out Donald Trump and see what his next move would be. And they figured out they can weather the storm with their. They assume they can weather the storm with their Fox News platform. But this is Murdoch in his final days because, you know, guys, almost 100 years old and Lachlan Murdoch saying we're going to take on Donald Trump and we don't care of the repercussions. The lawsuit has not yet, at least on our recording. Our live has not been yet assigned. But there's very few judges there that are going to be favorable for Donald Trump. And he could pull somebody like Gale's or one of the other judges like Williams, who have had cases involving the Trump administration that have not gone the Trump administration's way already. The judge is going to be important here. I'll report on that once it comes out. Process and procedure. The suit's been filed. If it's been served, there's 20 days, maybe 30 days in this case, depending upon how it was served, for the Wall Street Journal and the rest to file their response to the case. It could be an early motion to dismiss or it could be exactly what you proposed, Ben, which is once you're in the 30 day mark, they can set a deposition, whatever, whenever they want. And you and I in our cases have set early depositions, catching the other side off guard with like, well, don't you want to get my documents? No, I don't need your documents. You already denied the existence of this thing. Sit in the box, swear, you know, get sworn in and let's go. And I've done that as a strategy. I'm sure that's something they'll do there to call Donald Trump's bluff. Donald Trump doesn't think he's going to win this case. He thinks either. He didn't have to list the $80 billion number either in a pleading. All you have to say it's over the jurisdictional limit amount requirement, which it was for diversity jurisdiction, which is two different residents of two different states to get into federal court. But he did for a publicity standpoint. He doesn't care about this case. He doesn't think he's going to win this case. He just needs a talking point to distract from what you've outlined and you and I have outlined on Legal AF and Midas Dutch, which was a terrible, terrible Epstein week for Donald Trump. FBI caught scrubbing and searching for Donald Trump's names in all of the files. His former chief of staff going on Al Jazeera to say that he's sure that there's information about Donald Trump and the Epstein files. All of MAGA world and leadership coming out against Donald Trump to release the files. And then Donald Trump says, oh, release the files. But he doesn't really ask for the files to be released. It's a subset we don't give about the D. I care about the grand jury transcripts, but once they're completely sanitized, I don't care about that. I want the evidence box. I want the search warrant results from the search warrant in Morrow, in the home in Florida and in the Upper east side townhouse. I mean, Michael Wolf, Michael Wolf, the journalist who's been on Legal a been on Midas Touch, says, I interviewed for hours Jeffrey Epstein in 2014 for a book. He showed me the safe. I saw the photos. I saw the photos. This is Michael Wolf's testimony. I saw the photos of Donald Trump with a young girl on his lap with a stain on Donald Trump's pants. That's Michael Wolf's journalism, right? That's his story. That's what he has said. You never hear a denial from Trump World on that. And so what Happened to the safe? What happened to the materials in there? This is a pedophile. I'm sure he kept artifacts of his depraved conduct somewhere in there. That's what we want to see. Is there a client list? I don't know, but let's look through all of his papers, his documents, in his hard drive. Where is that? It's not the grand jury that we want. That's a distractor again for Donald Trump, hoping that the media will run after that. But the lawsuit is the dumbest thing at this moment. It's literally pouring. It's like pouring kerosene onto a barbecue as it blows up in your face.
- [42:24]
Michael Popak
He arms though his magazombies with their talking point. He filed the lawsuit. $10 billion. He doesn't doodle. He doesn't use this language. Why would the information not already be out there if Donald Trump was on it? It is out there. Like, that's what I'm trying to tell you. 10% of the file has been released. Donald Trump's name appears more than almost anybody else's other than Epstein and Ghislaine. I mean, Donald Trump is on the flight logs. He's on the call logs. He's in the black book. We showed you Virginia Giuffre talking about when she was an underage girl. She was recruited for the sex trafficking ring at Mar A Lago. That's an undisputed fact. Trump saying Epstein's a great guy. All of these stories about Trump partying with Epstein having the. What I read for you, it's out. Like, it's actually out there. And I think some of my frustrated frustration being a journalist was I'm saying, hello, like, do you see what this guy's saying? You know, and, and how, how are you okay with that? Like, his language. And by the way, he's been found liable by a jury for sexual assault. He's been found liable in a civil case. What's his defamation? That, that a letter hurts his reputation more than a finding by a jury that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and that he's on tape bragging about it. I've shown clips before of Donald Trump at Young Republican events recently, 2024, saying that he loved how he called sexually assaulting women on the Access Hollywood tape Locker room talk. He was speaking to, to high school kids. Locker room talk to kids. I mean, he's on videotape saying that, you know, I, I showed him in a high school in Iowa. I'm not going to play the clip because people get Grossed out when I play it. When during a speech, like, Melania knows that I don't like golden showers. They say that I like to get peed on by hookers. Melania knows I would never do that. Like, you're in a high school. Why are you bringing that up? And why, as a society, are we all just not like, this is outrageous. You know, there's a standard for intentional infliction of emotional distress. And the standard is like, would that just make you go outrageous? Is that beyond the bounds of a civilized society? And truly, Donald Trump's conduct always, in my view, met the standards of intentional infliction of emotional distress of the people, you know, because. But it was always like, well, Donald Trump gave a speech in Iowa today, and the speech focused on bringing down the price of mortgages. And, like, no, he. He talked about getting peed on by hookers. Did you hear what he just said? What. What are you talking about? Why are you normalizing? This is. Is your brain mush? And that's always been like. And I think why Midas Touch has grown the way it has is that the rest of the human beings out there, by and large, other than this MAGA mush crew, are like, yeah, thank you. We heard him say it. And I'm like, yeah, he's saying it. And. And now. And I think it's because we're leading the media now and leading cable news. It's like, at least for now, it's like, people are like, okay, I get it. Like, this is an important issue to focus on because he doesn't have the. To me, it deals with everything else, all of his other lies, whether it's about, you know, he's going to bring peace to Ukraine in 24 hours, whether he's going to make things more affordable. He now claims inflation is gone and he's fixed everything. He claims we're living in a golden age. He claims he's brought through 17tr. He's brought in $17 trillion, and everything's amazing. And it's like, guys, gals, this is a felon, okay? This is a bad guy. This is a sexual abuser in a civil case. This is. This is a bankrupter. This is a loser. This is a guy who hung out with Jeffrey Epstein and John Casablancas. This is who this guy is.
- [46:43]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Listen, this information that you're giving, which is so important, is aimed at the independents, the moderates, and the Democrats, because the Republicans, the MAGA Republicans, and even the country club Republicans don't care. The polling has gone up for Donald Trump. Since the revelations about Epstein, 92% of Republicans now think Donald Trump is doing a great job, up from 88%. So they are sticking with him and we have to stick it to them by using everything in our power on this network and on legal AF to draw attention to it, the way that you have, the way the brothers have, the way all contributors have. Because we're fighting for the heart and soul and the hearts and minds of not the maga, Google and the Republicans that believe we're attacking their fearless leader and therefore they're going to stand with them. And the more we attack in some perverse upside down world, the more they're going to support him. They are a lost cause we will never penetrate no matter how much content and how many views we get, we're never going to penetrate that self created bubble that they have placed themselves in of self preservation apparently to believe the mythology of Donald Trump. But fortunately we don't have to convert everybody in this country. We just have to tell the truth, which we do every hour, every day to the people that can make the difference in the vote count come the midterms and the 2028 election and beyond to reclaim this country. It's not about making America great again. It's about reclaiming the democracy that is the promise of our Constitution and ultimately our Bill of Rights. And so when we talk about, I want people to think that we're creating an echo chamber, that we're not, that we're immune, that we do live in a little bit of an alternate universe. But we have a lot of people here we're trying to continue to bring in. There's I think the reason as a flip side to that number I just gave that more than 70% of independents have headed for the exits on this administration six months in is because of the focus and the reporting and the commentary. I might as touch it on legal. I have that is for sure. So we have to keep up that heavy revelation of our reporting to go for there. But I don't want. I know the comments have come up like they'll never listen. Who. Right. Let them vote. But we need to outnumber them at the, at the midterms and beyond.
- [49:22]
Michael Popak
I want to talk about, I have a perspective on that as well. That's similar but slightly. I don't want to say different but how I view it. But I will talk about that when we get back. I want to remind everybody to check out the Legal AF YouTube channel. Let's get that channel. A million subscribers. No Reason it shouldn't have a million right now. Just go and hit subscribe there. Secondly, subscribe to the Legal AF sub stack and then as well Popo Pope the POPOC firm is crushing it. So many legal effers listeners, subscribers with their own legal cases have given a call. We've signed up so many clients. You've signed up so many clients. If you but the types of cases catastrophic injury meaning if you're the victim of a bad car accident where you had to have surgeries, a trucking accident where like surgeries were required. If you know people who were killed in an accident. Unfortunately wrongful death cases, sexual harassment and sexual assault cases whether it's at the workplace or elsewhere. Medical malpractice practice cases consultations free. The cases are handled on a contingency meaning you're not paying hourly for lawyers. They they only recover if you recover Popac. Where can they reach out?
- [50:38]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Thanks Ben. Easy 1-877-popak-af p o p O K A F and we have people standing by to talk about your case and evaluate it and all that good stuff. And then if you'd rather just go onto a website. I appreciate that. Go to www.the popoc firm.com we got an amazing group of national trial lawyers in every jurisdiction that are expert in what they do that work with me. In fact I'm getting together with them in a conference in August in Chicago. But this has been such a an honor and a blessing for me to be able to provide this kind of legal service off the back of everything that you and I do on Legal af.
- [51:25]
Michael Popak
When we come back, I want to talk about Jim Jordan had his deposition taken in the Ohio State University case involving a doctor on the wrestling team who was sexually assaulting the athletes. And Jim Jordan covered up for that doctor. We're going to talk about that. I'm going to show everybody what we know about that. I've actually interviewed Michael DiSabito, one of the victims. I'll be airing that interview tomorrow. He's given me exclusive email with Jim Jordan that nobody's seen. That'll drop tomorrow. We'll talk about that and we'll talk about a Supreme Court ruling when we get back as well. Let's take our last break.
- [52:07]
Unknown
This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack sponsor. IQ Bar is the better for you.
- [52:13]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Plant protein based snack made with brain.
- [52:15]
Unknown
Boosting nutrients to refuel, nourish and satisfy.
- [52:18]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Hunger without the sugar crash. Let me tell you staying sharp and fueled during long days of legal and Political analysis isn't always easy, but IQ.
- [52:27]
Unknown
Bar makes it a whole lot simpler. These bars are packed with clean plant based protein and nutrients that support both.
- [52:33]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Your body and your brain.
- [52:35]
Unknown
And they're free of gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs and artificial sweeteners. Which means no crash, no guilt, just a smart snack that works as hard as you do. When I tried the sampler pack, I didn't expect to love lemon blueberry as much as I did.
- [52:50]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Bright, refreshing and it powered me through.
- [52:52]
Unknown
A back to back to back recording day.
- [52:54]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
I keep one in my bag now always.
- [52:57]
Unknown
With over 20,000 five star reviews, it's no surprise IQ Bar has become the go to for folks who want to.
- [53:03]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Snack smarter with bars, hydration mixes and even mushroom coffee. And right now IQ Bar is offering.
- [53:09]
Unknown
Our special podcast listeners 20% off all.
- [53:12]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
IQ Bar products plus get free shipping.
- [53:15]
Unknown
To get your 20% off text legal AF to 64,000 text legal AF to 64,000 that's legal AF to 64,000 message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. 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 Popoc Media offices where I make a lot of my hot takes and content for Legal AF and so I went all out 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 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 D E S K for a special offer and it's only available at our link start 2025 right stand move thrive with uplift desk.
- [55:48]
Michael Popak
Welcome back to Legal af. Thank you to all our pro democracy sponsors. Support them. In the description below you'll see the discount codes. We don't have outside investors here. They go a long way to help build this independent media network. All right, Popak, you know, Donald Trump surrounds himself with enablers and people who cover up for him, cover up for everything. So, you know, Donald Trump gives his marching orders. Maga Mike Johnson and Jim Jordan and the Republican just go, he couldn't have done it. It's a hoax. Hoax. The Epstein hoax did this and that. And then MAGA Mike Johnson says Trump could never have wrote that letter because he doesn't do drawings and he doesn't talk like that. Obviously you've seen, he does draw. He does talk like that. He talks actually much worse than what we saw in the letter. But here, just play Maga Mike Sirens.
- [56:41]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
On Drudge because someone drew it in 2003, might have drawn a picture of a, I don't know, a body letter before the guy even, you know, all the, the real info hadn't even been out at that point. I don't think about this guy.
- [56:58]
MAGA Mike Johnson
The President and I talked about that ridiculous allegation this morning. He said it's patently absurd. He's never, never drawn such a picture. He's never thought of drawing such a picture. And he said, did you see the language of this bogus supposed communication or card or something I supposedly sent to Epstein? He said, I don't talk like that. I don't think like that. They're literally making things up. He's so frustrated by it and he's going to wind up, I think, suing some of the media outlets that, that, that have put all this out there because they informed them that it was totally contrived. So look, the President is the most malicious, maligned and attacked political figure in the history of American politics. There's no question about it. But he's also the most resilient. And you see at the same time his approval ratings.
- [57:38]
Michael Popak
And Popak, you make the point to me separately on our side chat that why is that even on cnbc? Well, because that one host is an ultra MAGA guy and they've allowed their financial coverage to be co opted by propaganda by the Trump regime and by other corporate interests that are collusive in nature and trying to screw over the regular folk. And speaking about screwing over the regular folk, I mean, you know, I agree, Popak, this is an important issue for the midterms, but I always view it very separate, you know. You know, separate. And to me, this is where my wife always says, well, Ben, you do like politics. Stop saying you don't like politics. And the reality is maybe I do, I don't know. I don't like politicians, but I like human beings and people and I like speaking to people and trying to offer my legal background, which I utilized for 15 years before doing this, to try to just to try to be helpful and navigate crazy and turbulent times and get to the truth. That's what I'm trying to be focused on. So to me, as I look at all of this, we know it's undisputed that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were involved in a sex trafficking ring involving dozens, potentially hundreds, maybe even thousands of young girls who were sexually assaulted and abused and had their lives destroyed. We know some of them through the cases, we don't know all of them. And we know that this sex trafficking ring involved rich men, DECA millionaires and billionaires who preyed on young girls. And when Donald Trump and MAGA say this is all a hoax created by James Comey and Obama and Clinton, it is. I'm at a loss of words to describe what an awful thing that is. And I just think sometimes in a political environment it does get gamified in the sense of, here's the Democratic position, here's now the MAGA position, here's where the independents are, and let's bring on the talking heads. You saw on cnbc. You have the Trump supporters, they have their talking points, okay? Now bring on a Democrat and a Republican and let's fight it out. Nah, F that. Like in my view, you're covering up for a sex trafficking ring of young girls that we know exist. When Trump says it's a hoax and not just shut down the investigation, not just don't produce the files, shut down the investigation, you're enabling the worst of the worst behavior imaginable out there. So to Me, I just think at a human level. And then when we see Donald Trump in these settings, you know, you know, in the Access Hollywood tape, you know, as he walks, he's about to see a woman that he's about to have a business interaction with, a professional interaction with. And he's saying all of these things about her body, how he grabs women by their genitals. He can't stop himself. He just does it. And he talks about her chest there, like, you know, and then he goes out and he goes. And he goes, good to see you. Good to see you. How are you after being in the bus like that? And we see that that's not, it's not a pol. It's. It's disgusting. It's disqualifying. It's vile. And it seems to me that these vile people have all found each other. I mean, you have maga, Mike, you have Jim Jordan. He had his deposition taken on Friday. He was an assistant wrestling coach at the Ohio State University where there was this guy, Dr. Strauss. And Dr. Strauss would bring in the male athletes and sexually assault them by performing examinations is what he called them, but they weren't examinations. He would sexually assault the athletes. And when I speak to him, you'll see the interview I dropped tomorrow with Michael de Sabato. He's like, Jim Jordan was in the showers with us. Jim Jordan saw it. Jim Jordan knew what was going. We all knew what was going on. We just, we were, we were men. We didn't know how to articulate what was happening to us. We were afraid of getting cut from the team or not being as part of the team. And so now let me. Knowing that. Let me show you a few data points. First, a super cut that Midas touch made of Jim Jordan and his relationship to Dr. Strauss. Strauss has since died. But here, let me, let me show you this. Here.
- [62:45]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
5 Former Ohio State wrestlers accusing Republican congressman Jim Jordan of knowing about a team doctor's alleged sexual misconduct.
- [62:53]
Michael Popak
43 men who say they were sexually.
- [62:55]
Ben Meiselas
Assaulted, abused, molested or harassed by Dr. Richard Strauss. Hundreds of sexual assault victims of Ohio State University Dr. Richard Strauss have never been closer to getting their day in court. The United States supreme court today rejecting OSU's bid to dismiss lawsuits brought against the university.
- [63:14]
Unknown
Today, the Supreme Court left in place a ruling to move forward with lawsuits against the late Dr. Richard Strauss.
- [63:20]
Michael Popak
And this allows more than 230 men.
- [63:22]
Unknown
To sue the Ohio State University over decades old sexual abuse by Strauss.
- [63:29]
Michael Popak
And now here is Michael disabitow, younger brother Adam Disabitow at a hearing in Ohio's legislature talking about how Jim Jordan called him Adam, who's one of the victims and said, you can't be with your brother anymore, you can't help him, you can't come out with what happened with Dr. Strauss. Keep it quiet, please. And Adam DiSabato, who is on the same wrestling team, who is also a victim of Dr. Strauss said that Jim Jordan called him crying. Please, you're going to ruin me. Please, you're going to ruin me. Here, watch this.
- [64:14]
J
This is disgusting. You people have the power to do something. Ohio State is too arrogant. They think it's going to go away. Jim Jordan called me crying, crying, groveling on 4th of July, begging me to go against my brother, begging me, crying for a half hour. That's the kind of COVID ups that go, that's going on there. Now you guys can sit and act like it's not going on, but I got a lot of other stuff here. Emails that were taken out of my mailbox. That's a crime.
- [65:14]
Michael Popak
Michael Popak so finally Jim Jordan has his deposition taken. I mean just think about how long these lawsuits are because Ohio State had been fighting this lawsuit on statute of limitations, went all the way up to the Supreme Court and backed down. Finally, Jim Jordan has his deposition taken. But we see so much of this, don't we?
- [65:35]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Popocar Yeah, I mean this is the ecosystem around Donald Trump that enables him. It's people who have equally have moral immoral blind spots in their own lives. It's a joke that somebody like non lawyer Jim Jordan heads things like the Judiciary Committee of the House when he himself is embroiled in his own sex scandal that in any other world, in any other corporate environment would lead to his downfall. But here he is celebrated and rewarded and fails up because Donald Trump needs as many people who are, who are as ethically and morally compromised as him to surround him as possible. And so the tone is set from the top in any organization, the administration is an organization, the tone is set by Donald Trump. And that's why you and I are so upset on episodes like this, because we have families, because we have daughters, that Donald Trump gives permission and creates a permission structure and reinforces that permission structure to allow people in government and outside of government to abuse and sexually abuse men, women and others in our society. And that is we always, you know, the presidency until Trump for me, as a child, as a young adult, as a college student, as a lawyer and as a now a legal and political commentator, was always Prior to Trump, a person to look up to, to be admired within the country. And we usually rated a ranked that way in polling. They think they stopped that polling after, after Trump. He is supposed to be the leader of the free world. He's supposed to be the moral center of the country. He's supposed to be the consoler in chief at times of crisis, unifier in chief in times of war and strife. And we not only don't have that in Donald Trump, but we have, along with his entire, his entire infrastructure of leaders, we have depraved people who are immoral and lack any type of ethics. I wouldn't leave my daughter with any of these people for an hour to go run and get a cup of coffee. I wouldn't let them run a bath, let alone run a government. And yet in the, in the MAGA world, in the Republican world, and I do agree with you, there's no, no daylight between our positions that it is. You just need to call out what is immutable facts that are disgusting and depraved and immoral that don't have, there's no aisle to it. There's no left side, right side, middle size. It's just, it's just immoral. And this normalization that has happened, which every so often we're able to pierce it with testimony and the interview you're going to be, you've gotten exclusively with victims. And it matters. It matters. And the fact that we have a commander in chief, it's hard to believe that, you know, has ordered his Department of Justice and his Civil Rights division, for instance, to go into court and declare that human life and especially that of colored people that are black or brown Americans don't have any value is disgusting. You know, Breonna Taylor, you know, the Justice Department now filed a brief for sentencing that said that the police officer that killed her should only get a day, including the time served, because they've taken the Civil Rights Division and turned it on its head and are now going after people and promoting people who violate civil rights. This is the administration that you have because it rots from the head. And we need to be empowered with this information in order to continue to form the resistance and the defiance that we have. I mean, we have. I'll just transition quickly. We have a Supreme Court that on the things that should matter and do matter to everyday Americans, show that the Supreme Court is completely out of step with the morals and the values of America. They live in a different time. They live in a time, as one of my Colleagues said that seems to be just a few years after the Reconstruction period in America. They don't live in 2025. They don't share our values. And so they go out of their way to defend and support not just the presidency, although that is the outcome from their precedent that they've established. But they are rallying around and supporting this particular President Donald Trump. And so in their most recent decision, which which everybody should be up in arms about, is the destruction of the Department of Education, created during, I believe, the Carter administration in a bipartisan way because of failing test scores and other major issues, including discrimination in public school and through higher education. And so the Department of Education was not an entity created to level society, to make us mediocre. It was made to lift us up and to support public education in America. I don't want to live in a country that doesn't have a strong public education component to it. And the Republicans, of course, and MAGA don't support that. One of you just have to go to Project 2025, created by Russ Fought, now your head of Office of Management and Budget and others. And right there it says Department of Education should be eliminated because they've seen it as a bane to their existence of having public money used for private institutions so they can send their kids to private school and private religious schools without having a Department of Education in their way. They also don't like the Department of Education protecting mainly women on college campuses from sexual abuse. I've handled cases, so have you, involving just that thing. And the Department of Education has a tremendous role in our society, or had until it was defunded and now allowed to be destroyed by the United States Supreme Court. We are a lesser society. By allowing and having allowed Donald Trump to destroy the Department of Education, Linda McMahon defunded it. She reorient it or reoriented away from its mission to protect students, to protect women on campus, to protect equality on campus, to make sure that testing scores and testing materials and educational materials lift up students in public school, to give them an ability to compete in society and to put them on equal footing with the rich and the powerful that send their kids to 200 or 2,000 private schools in America. That was created by Congress. It's now been destroyed by the United States Supreme Court. Now they'll tell you in private or even when they give their public speeches, we didn't make a final decision. That's been. All of their decisions has been by administrative stay or procedural defect. But they hand Donald Trump on purpose, complicitly a win. And what they're saying is, sure, destroy the Department of Education. We'll figure out through the appeal whether that was right or wrong. There won't be a Department of Education at the end of a normal appeal a year from now or more. And that's the point. And that's why Ketanji, Brown, Jackson and Sotomayor and Kagan have been writing for the history books and for law students and for the hopefully the near future. The opposition briefs the opposition position, which is the status quo. You should keep the Department of Education in place and fund it until the appeal is over, because we can't unscramble that egg once Humpty Dumpty falls from the wall. But to this administration, their natural instinct is to allow Donald Trump, through Doge and the wood chipper and defunding and everything else, to hand him win after win after win. And you and I have to cover it, along with the other contributors and legal AFL minus touch in order for us to have an appropriate report card and scorecard to use against Donald Trump and the Republicans because they're the only ones at the midterms that are on the ballot. Biden's not on the ballot. Kamala is not on the ballot. The only thing on the ballot is a pass fail for the Republican Party led by its fearless leader, Donald Trump, and we can't allow him to. We have to pin all of these depraved policies and events supported by the Supreme Court squarely where it belongs, on the back of the Republican Party, the Republican leadership, the Republican House and the Senate, when they, when they, in the middle of the night, rip away another $90 billion of aid and foreign aid to NPR and National Public Radio and public broadcasting and USAID abroad by doing another process after the reconciliation process on the bill. We need to hold them accountable, which I know Midas will do. Legal AF will do, so that people know why they need to vote against anything from dog catcher up to, you know, up to member of House or Senate at the midterms, and why it's so important. And then lastly, it is working. I want people to understand that. I think you do a good job with that, too, when you do your hot takes. The resistance and the defiance is working. I know there's a little bit of fatigue. Oh, another Supreme Court reversal of something that happened below. But we have to Continue with the 400 soon to be 4,000 cases, the public interest groups, the attorney general's groups, the plaintiffs groups, all of them joining together, filing almost daily, if not hourly. The lawsuits, that's one way. The resistance movement in the streets, the other way. The town halls and our participation there and this participatory democracy. You have to lean forward, not back in this moment in history and then and find community and fellowship on the Midas Touch Network and Legal af.
- [76:31]
Michael Popak
Michael Popak, well said. Difficult episode to talk about all of these things, but imperative that we do so fearlessly and lay it all out. And I'm glad that we dedicated pretty much the full show to it because it's an issue that is that is that important. Everybody make sure you hit subscribe on our YouTube channel here. Subscribe to the Legal AF YouTube channel. Legal AF YouTube channel is on its way to 1 million subscribers. I'd really want to see that hit 1 million by the end of this summer. Let's go subscribe to the Legal AF sub stack. It's doing really good as well. And also if you or anybody you know has a civil case, if you've been involved in a catastrophic injury or you know someone who's been involved in a catastrophic injury or wrongful death type situation, whether it's a car accident, a trucking accident, some other type of negligence where you're the victim, you've been the victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault at the workplace or anywhere else, frankly, if you've been the victim of medical malpractice or just have a case, reach out to the POPOC firm. Consultations free. They represent you at no cost unless there's a recovery and then there's contingency fee, as it's called in the profession. And lots of people who have watched this show and watched this network have reached out to Popak and you're representing, you know, you know, dozens and dozens of people right now. Where can they find you?
- [78:07]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Yeah, 1-877-popak AF and there'll be somebody on the other end of that phone call to help you talk about your case. And then alternatively, although it ends up with a live person, no AI here you go on our website www the popoc firm p o p o k firm.com read about the firm, read about me and the relationship I have with all the lawyers that are working with me and under me related to these cases and the different practice areas and different types of cases that we represent. And then of course, there's a mobile, multiple ways to fill out a form to end up talking to a human being.
- [78:42]
Michael Popak
Thank you everybody for watching this week's episode of Legal af. We appreciate you as always. Let's keep fighting let's keep staying true to the facts. And ultimately, I believe truth and democracy is going to win. But we got to stay in the fight together. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next time on Legal af.